Fahmida Y. Rashid

Former and current faculty and students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee may have had their Social Security numbers exposed by malware. Malware planted on a document-management database server may have exposed 75,000 student and staff Social Security numbers and names, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee said Aug. 10. Considering the amount of critical research data stored […]

AT&T customers will soon be able to take advantage of a mobile security platform designed to protect the data on their devices in case it ever gets lost or stolen, as well as from malware threats. AT&T has partnered with Juniper Networks to help customers protect their mobile devices against security threats, the telecommunications company […]

In a project to classify more than 60 custom malware families used in advanced persistent threat attacks, a security researcher discovered several of them originated from command and control servers based in “a few networks” in China, namely in Beijing and Shanghai. The attack on RSA Security earlier this year when attackers stole information relating […]

Nearly half the cyber-attacks hitting Chinese systems, whether they are botnets, Trojans or Web attacks, originate abroad, and the United States is the source for the largest share, Chinese officials said. Close to 493,000 Trojan attacks hit Chinese systems in 2010, with nearly half originating from outside the country, China’s National Computer Network Emergency Response […]

A YouTube video purporting to be from hacktivist collective Anonymous threatened to “destroy” Facebook for spying on users and abusing people’s privacy. But is it just a hoax? A YouTube video posted July 16 under the Anonymous banner and entitled “Message from Anonymous: Operation Facebook, Nov. 5, 2011” suddenly went viral this week. The video, […]

Microsoft released 13 security bulletins addressing 22 unique vulnerabilities for its August Patch Tuesday update. Of the 13 bulletins, two were rated as “critical,” nine as “important” and two as “moderate,” Microsoft said Aug. 9 in its Patch Tuesday notification announcement. The patches addressed bugs in both desktop and server versions of Microsoft Windows, Office, […]

Many mobile applications are storing sensitive user account information unencrypted on the mobile device, according to a recent survey of popular smartphone apps.The survey included 100 apps spanning multiple categories, including financial management, social networking, productivity and retail, ViaForensics said Aug. 9. The digital security firm tested apps for both Android and iOS devices over […]

Facebook is testing changes to its security tools to allow users report instances of cyber-bullying and reset their passwords from their mobile devices. The Mobile Social Reporting tool allows Facebook users to request someone to remove offensive posts, profiles and photos directly from their mobile device, according to an Aug. 8 post on the Facebook […]

A group of hackers defaced Research In Motion’s BlackBerry blog to protest the company’s plans to help United Kingdom police apprehend individuals involved in the London riots. After reports emerged that rioters in London and surrounding areas are using BlackBerry’s free Messenger system and Twitter to communicate with other like-minded individuals, RIM said on Aug. […]

Microsoft announced a contest to encourage security researchers to think about defensive security technology. Dubbed the Blue Hat contest, researchers would submit the “most effective ways to prevent the use of memory safety vulnerabilities,” Microsoft said Aug. 3 at the annual Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. The Microsoft BlueHat Prize contest will award […]

Researchers have long highlighted some of the security issues with the Secure Socket Layer system used to secure Internet communication. One of the issues happens to be one of trust as the SSL Certificate Authorities have been compromised in recent months, a researcher told Black Hat attendees.The attack on certificate authority Comodo in March highlights […]

Security researchers pointed out the vulnerability of industrial-control systems, such as programmable logic controllers and other units, during the recent Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems are used to run power plants, manufacturing processing, petrochemical production and other critical infrastructure. At the Black Hat conference in Las […]