Dennis Fisher

Two new low-threat worms are making the rounds on the Internet Thursday, continuing the plague of malware that began in January and has shown no signs whatsoever of abating. Of the two worms, known as Mywife and Snapper, the former appears to be the more worrisome and have the greater potential for spreading widely, security […]

Until recently, the term “XML security” essentially has been used interchangeably with “Web services security.” Because XML is the basis for Web services, many vendors and enterprises have treated the two as one. But one vendor, Sarvega Inc., is hoping to change that perception with its Guardian Gateway XML security appliance, which it unveiled this […]

While the number of vulnerabilities found in software essentially has plateaued, the flaws are increasingly easy to exploit and, more often than not, quite severe, according to a new report. As bad as the vulnerability problem is, the virus plague currently tormenting Internet users may well be worse. In the second half of last year, […]

The Witty worm, which took hold of the Internet for a short time during the weekend, appears to have peaked thanks to its habit of destroying the machines it infects. Witty made a dramatic entrance Saturday morning, quickly infecting more than 6,000 computers, which then began scanning the Internet for other machines to attack. But […]

Cisco Systems Inc. on Monday continued its push into the security market by acquiring Riverhead Networks Inc., a small developer of tools to prevent denial-of-service attacks, for $39 million in cash. Cisco plans to add Riverhead to its Internet Switching Business Unit and use the companys technology to enhance its Threat Defense System portfolio of […]

The release of the first set of recommendations from two task forces formed last year at the National Cyber Security Summit has spurred a fresh round of criticism from security experts who say the governments reliance on vendors is stifling progress. The recommendations were produced by the Awareness for Home Users and Small Businesses and […]

Vulnerabilities weaken two of Symantec Corp.s more popular security applications, Norton AntiSpam and Norton Internet Security, researchers have found. Both flaws enable attackers to run code on remote machines. The two weaknesses, one in each product, are similar in that they both involve ActiveX controls. The vulnerability in Norton Internet Security and Norton Internet Security […]

For the third time in less than three years, a federal judge has ordered the Department of the Interior to disconnect a large number of its employees from the Internet over concerns about the agencys security practices. The order, issued Monday in United States District Court in Washington, is part of a longstanding conflict between […]

A task force formed by the Department of Homeland Security is set to unveil a set of security recommendations this week for both enterprises and home users, but many industry observers say the guidelines are too little, too late. The guidelines are the work of the Awareness for Home Users and Small Businesses task force, […]

Microsoft Corp. is betting heavily that changes it has made to Windows XP in Service Pack 2 will prove the company is sincere in its security efforts. The improvements, which include an upgraded Windows firewall, more memory protection and changes to the way Outlook treats attachments, are getting high marks from security experts, who have […]

While the number of vulnerabilities found in software essentially has stabilized, the flaws are increasingly easy to exploit—and more often than not, quite severe—according to a new report released on Monday. Furthermore, as bad as the vulnerability problem is, the virus plague currently tormenting Internet users may well be worse. In the second half of […]

When news of the leak of a portion of Windows source code broke last month, many in the security community cautioned against overreacting, saying that the leak likely wouldnt lead to a slew of new vulnerability discoveries. But that attitude has changed in recent weeks because researchers said that crackers have uncovered several previously unknown […]