Matthew Hines

The other day I dropped my shiny new iPhone 3GS for the first time since acquiring it several weeks ago. My first reaction was to hop online and order the best carrying case I could find. (Sidenote: Why is that we typically only move to protect such possessions from harm after we’ve already scratched them? […]

As the Chinese government reconsiders its recent ban on individuals attempting to register its designated .cn domain names – in response to massive outcry over the newly implemented rules from its online population – they may have an unexpected constituency hoping that they do indeed reverse their course – spammers. Security researchers have tracked significant […]

In years past there’s been a lot written and said about the rise of mobile malware, but over the years there’s been a stunningly low number of actual attacks on wireless handheld devices compared to the level of dire prognostication. The main reason why the predicted attacks never truly materialized was based on a number […]

After several years of downward trending in the attempted use of illegal programs such as file sharing clients — which have long been a breeding ground for all manner of attacks based on their underground status — security researchers are noting a recent uptick in attempted of the applications. Perhaps driven by the lagging worldwide […]

Trojan attacks once again led the way in terms of the sheer volume of threats tracked by security researchers during the month of December. According to experts with Sunbelt Software, based on their month-long scanning efforts, the mix of attacks seen over the course of Dec. 2009 was very similar to what was observed during […]

We often give attackers credit for their ingenuity when they’re finding new ways to game people using social engineering, or more commonly when they’ve created some new form of malware threat to circumvent security defenses. But one of the skills being shown off of late by some savvy scammers is their ability to understand the […]

Of all the potential security evolutions expected to manifest themselves during 2010, smarter social engineering will remain the leading issue, researchers report. As security defense mechanisms continue to get stouter and trends like mobile malware and attacks on Apple Mac technologies will continue to play out on a smaller scale, the efforts of scammers and […]

Canadian online pharmacy spam has been piling up for years as scammers seek to take advantage of interest in lower-cost pills and other medications. However, in a new twist, the messages have actually begun speaking their minds to recipients. Researchers at Sophos have uncovered a unique variation of the time-honored pharma spam theme, as some […]

If you’ve ever found yourself standing in front of a half-destroyed wall wondering whether or not you should have just hired a contractor instead of smashing it down on your own… congratulations! You may also be capable of running a sophisticated botnet! All joking aside, the do-it-yourself botnet kit phenomenon has been raging on for […]

Researchers are reporting as new phishing attack aimed at stealing web site content management system log-in credentials in order to poison involved targets’ sites with fraudulent e-banking attack code. According to a new report issued by financial services anti-fraud specialist Trusteer, which last week released an interesting report on larger e-banking phishing trends, the attack […]

Large organizations continue to struggle to lock down their critical database assets despite years of work aimed at doing so, according to a new report issued by Enterprise Strategy Group. According to the paper, authored in cooperation with database security vendor Applications Security Inc., over 60 percent of the 175 North American enterprises (1,000 or […]

Despite the longstanding efforts of banks and the IT security community to warn end users, specifically people using online banking applications, to beware of phishing schemes, many people who open the e-mails and visiting the phony sites still end up handing over their credentials, researchers claim. In a new paper that seeks to scope the […]