Paul F. Roberts

Uganda, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Ecuador, Haiti—name any impoverished country in the world, and the U.S. Agency for International Development is probably there on the ground. Increasingly, however, USAIDs humanitarian offense is relying on a solid IT security defense. With a new financial record-keeping system due to come online within the next six months, USAID has […]

Debit card fraud that has affected customers at a number of credit unions in central Massachusetts is linked to transactions at office supply retailer OfficeMax, according to investigators. Dozens of credit union members in the towns of Leominster and Fitchburg, Mass., have been defrauded of more than $45,000 in the last few weeks by criminals […]

Credit unions in central Massachusetts reported a rash of fraudulent debit card transactions March 8 in what appears to be a widening scandal involving the exposure of credit and debit card account information on hundreds of thousands of U.S. consumers. Police in Leominster and Fitchburg, Mass. are investigating the fraudulent transactions reported this week by […]

A Citibank spokesperson has confirmed that the company is blocking some customer transactions in Canada, the United Kingdom and Russia because of fraudulent transactions stemming from a past security breach affecting Citibank customers. The bank recently became aware of fraudulent ATM cash withdrawals on Citibank-branded MasterCard credit and debit cards in those countries and says […]

Cisco Systems said on March 7 that it was buying video surveillance firm SyPixx Networks for $51 million. The San Jose, Calif., networking equipment maker said it plans to integrate SyPixxs network video surveillance technology in a range of new security applications that make live and recorded video available online. The acquisition may not be […]

RSA Security on March 1 announced its first products using fraud detection technology from Cyota, which it purchased in December. RSA Adaptive Authentication is a multitiered authentication scheme that combines RSAs SecurID tokens and tokenless “risk- based” authentication from Cyota. The new service will allow banks and financial services companies to extend more security to […]

Days after a hardware security expert demonstrated jaw-dropping security holes in FedEx Kinkos ExpressPay cards, company officials said the company doesnt think the security holes pose a risk to customers. After initially denying that any security hole existed in the Kinkos ExpressPay technology, FedEx officials said on March 2 that it is “continuing our evaluation […]

The author of the Hacker Defender rootkit said hes taking a break from developing the popular hacking tool—but that he may soon return to developing new rootkit programs. The author, who uses the name “Holy Father,” posted a message on the Hacker Defender Web site calling a truce with security companies that make anti-rootkit technology. […]

Chip maker Intels investment arm is putting $3.1 million into Lockdown Networks, a maker of network access control software, and plans to form a strategic partnership with the company. Intel Capital plans to announce a strategic joint initiative with Seattle-based Lockdown on March 6 that includes a plan to integrate Lockdowns Enforcer product with Intels […]

The U.S. federal government agency at the center of a political controversy over foreign management of U.S. ports is scrutinizing a deal by Israeli company Check Point Software Technologies to acquire Sourcefire. Check Point, of Redwood City, Calif., notified investors in February that its planned acquisition of Sourcefire was being investigated by the Committee on […]