Paul F. Roberts

The serial scandals at Bank of America Corp., ChoicePoint Inc., LexisNexis and now CardSystems Solutions Inc. are prompting a growing number of companies to turn to new technologies and services that spot compromised internal systems, low-level attacks, and fraudulent activity inside and outside their networks. But experts warn that getting ahead of a new generation […]

Mastercard International Inc. revealed details of a massive hack at third-party credit card transaction processor CardSystems Solutions Inc. in late June, but little is known about how CardSystems network was compromised, and most major credit card issuers are mum about how many customers were caught up in the breach. The hack, which may be the […]

Authorities in the UK have sentenced two men to prison for their role in a phishing scam, according to a statement from the UKs National Hi-Tech Crime Unit. Douglas Havard and Lee Elwood were both found guilty of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to launder money, and were sentenced to a combined 10 years in […]

Continuing its security-technology buying spree, Computer Associates on Monday announced that it is buying Tiny Software, a desktop firewall software maker, for an undisclosed sum. Computer Associates International Inc. completed the acquisition of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Tiny Software Inc. on May 26 and plans to integrate Tinys wares with its eTrust Integrated Threat Management software. […]

Consumers will soon be able to benefit from the same anti-fraud services that banks and financial services companies enjoy, with a new service from online risk management company Cyveillance and Intersections Inc., an identity theft protection company. Intersections will introduce a range of new products at the end of third quarter that combine Cyveillances online […]

Anti-virus vendor Symantec is ending its relationship with online market research company ComScore, which makes the “Marketscore” spyware program. Symantec Corp., of Cupertino, Calif., is in the process of severing its e-mail scanning services from ComScore Networks Inc.s online behavior-tracking programs, according to Genevieve Haldeman, a Symantec spokesperson. The relationship had raised the eyebrows of […]

They have innocuous-sounding names—ShopAtHomeSelect, CoolWebSearch, Searchex, IEDriver—and are called many things: spyware, adware, scumware or the euphemistic PUPs (for “potentially unwanted programs”). But theres no disputing that, by any label, programs that monitor users online behavior, legally or illegally, are a big business and a big headache for computer users and IT administrators. Spyware is […]

With two anti-spyware bills gaining passage in the U.S. House of Representatives, Beltway observers say the chances for some kind of anti-spyware law being enacted by Congress this year are good. But experts warn that new laws will go only so far toward ending the plague of spyware on users desktops. An equally effective tool […]

Increasingly, spyware is making its way onto users systems through so-called drive-by-download sites using nefarious methods that circumvent disclosure. One example is iFrameDollars.biz, which claims to be a Web site affiliate company just for drive-by sites, using a model similar to aboveboard affiliate networks such as Commission Junction and LinkShare. The Web domain, which is […]

Three days after MasterCard International revealed details of a massive hack at third-party credit card transaction processor CardSystems Solutions, little is known about how CardSystems network was compromised, and most major credit card issuers are keeping mum about how many of their customers were caught up in the breach. The hack, which may be the […]

The makers of one common spyware program are borrowing techniques from another type of malicious program, known as “rootkits,” to help evade detection on systems they infect, spyware experts say. Recent versions of the Cool Web Search spyware have rootkit-like features that allow the spyware authors to hide their program files on Windows systems. The […]

Symantec on Monday will announce a beta version of Symantec Security Information Manager 9500 Series, a new security information management appliance that the company hopes to release in the fourth quarter of 2005. The new appliance will replace Symantecs Security Incident Manager software and will allow organizations to automatically correlate security intelligence information from Symantecs […]