Matthew Hines

The security world is abuzz with news today that both the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns had their IT systems hacked and infiltrated in recent months. As originally reported by Newsweek, “The computer systems of both the Obama and McCain campaigns were victims of a sophisticated cyber-attack by an unknown foreign entity, prompting a federal […]

Now that Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is still a few weeks off, it’s time to sink our teeth into something different, or really something that’s rapidly becoming equally as familiar a taste. That’s spam of course. BitDefender’s Malware City security blog has launched a weekly spam analysis piece dubbed the “Spam Omelet” that looks […]

On a day of endless polling, here’s one that you might find even more interesting than all the political postulating. Well, maybe not, but it’s probably worth noting anyways… In case you missed it, the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), a consumer security collaborative spanning the non-profit, academic, government and industry sectors, published a pretty […]

A vast majority of the world’s most prevalent malware attacks ranked high-risk/critical, or severely dangerous, on researchers’ threat rankings during the month of October. According to the latest trends report issued by security gateway maker Fortinet, some 14 of the world’s 18 most active exploits during Oct. rated as critical or extremely high-risk. Conventional wisdom […]

That’s the big question that some people think needs to be answered, or at least one of them, if ICANN is indeed to play a more active role in helping to keep larger numbers of cyber-criminals and schemers offline. As notorious registrar EstDomains sits in limbo waiting to see if the Internet Corporation for Assigned […]

The Internal Revenue Service substantially upped the efficacy of its security review programs during fiscal 2008, according to a new report issued by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). The federal review of the IRS’s security policies, procedures and standing, carried out in accordance with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), revealed […]

Communication break down, it’s always the same. Led Zeppelin likely wasn’t talking data security when they penned their classic rock tune low those many years ago, but based on a new report issued by Cisco, the biggest issue in data security today remains the disconnect between IT departments and their end users. The latest installment […]

Malware-laden e-mail attacks surged during the third quarter of 2008, according to researchers at endpoint security vendor Sophos. Based on the company’s latest report, there was a dramatic rise in the proportion of e-mail messages sent carrying malicious programs between July and September, when compared to the total volume of e-mail. According to the paper, […]

A new research report sponsored by messaging security specialists FaceTime Communications indicates that companies are spending more time and money on malware infections and data leakage driven by the use of Web 2.0 technologies. According to the survey of over 500 U.S. workers compiled at FaceTime’s behest by NewDiligence during Sept. 2008, the study, which […]

Following reports that malware activity is increasing in direct relation to the ongoing uncertainty in the U.S. banking and stock markets, Kaspersky has issued a new research note that outlines the continued and evolving targeting of banks by cybercriminals. According to an online paper on the topic authored by Roel Schouwenberg, a senior AV researcher […]

PandaLabs’ newest report on the ties existing between economic market trends and cybercrime traces an intriguing arc between recent activity in the U.S. stock market and malware attacks. The security company’s prediction last week that the recent rise of phony anti-virus applications stands as proof that cyber-criminals won’t be slowed by worldwide economic turmoil seemed […]

I have to apologize for the sporadic nature of my posts this week, I just returned from the Ziff Davis Enterprise Security Summit in Seattle where industry experts including NASA CIO Linda Cureton were talking shop. I was mostly there to talk software. It’s a long way to go out and back to from the […]