Robert Lemos

Unknown attackers have targeted the Internet-connected systems of natural-gas companies, using brute-force attacks to attempt to access the companies’ business and process-control networks, according to a report published last week by the Internet Control System Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT). The incidents, which occurred in January and February, were first reported to the ICS-CERT, a […]

Many mobile-application developers rely on advertising to offer their apps for free yet still turn a profit. However, a lack of rules on what constitutes good behavior in advertising on mobile devices has allowed many advertising platforms to adopt aggressive practices. On June 26, mobile-device management firm Lookout announced it would warn users of installed […]

A Chinese attack tool, dubbed PinkStats, is being actively used to infect South Korean university networks and install denial-of-service attack tools, security firm Seculert stated in a June 25 analysis of the malware. PinkStats has infected at least 1,000 computer systems, mostly in educational institutions within the country, using a technique known as Address Resolution […]

Criminals have begun targeting smartphones with software that locks up the devices until the victims pay a ransom to get the unlock code, security firm Symantec stated in a brief analysis of the malware. Known as ransomware, the scam has typically targeted personal computers, where it has become a profitable way for cyber-criminals to fleece […]

For nearly a year, startup security firm CrowdStrike has talked up the concept of active defenses: technologies and tactics that identify the attackers and their targets so companies can use the information to protect their data systems. The company announced a managed service designed to allow companies to track attackers not by their malware or […]

A team of industry and law-enforcement partners—including Microsoft, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and financial firms—have successfully disrupted a collection of botnets running on the Citadel Trojan, freeing more than 1.2 million computers from the control of cyber-criminals, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit said this week. On June 6, Microsoft announced that it had executed its […]

Breaking a longstanding moratorium on paying for information on vulnerabilities in its software products, Microsoft announced June 19 that the company has created two programs that will pay researchers for information on software flaws and a third that will reward researchers who create defensive measures. The software company will pay $100,000 to any researcher who […]

A group of criminals using the popular Zeus banking Trojan have started advertising for accomplices, displaying ads for job scams whenever the victim visits a popular job site, financial security firm Trusteer said on June 13. Typically, victims whose computers are infected with Zeus have to worry about their bank accounts being drained. Yet if […]

Although small and medium-size businesses who have not adopted cloud services distrust their level of security, reliability and privacy, the firms quickly become enamored of online services for their improved security and level of service, according to a survey released on June 11 by Microsoft. The study, carried out in the U.S. and three European […]

While early botnets eschewed peer-to-peer communications because the relatively noisy protocol is easier to detect, today’s networks of compromised systems increasingly use the communication technique to harden bot operators’ command-and-control infrastructure against defenders’ takedown efforts, according to researchers from security firm Damballa. In a brief analysis published last week, Damballa researchers found that the number […]

A security contractor for the National Security Agency identified himself as the source of top-secret documents leaked to The Guardian, a U.K. newspaper, that have stirred up controversy in the past week over the extent of the surveillance activities of the U.S. agency. The reported relationship between the contractor, 29-year-old Edward Snowden, and the newspaper […]

The National Security Agency, a U.S. government organization tasked with breaking enemy communications and protecting the nation’s information technology, has collected data on the domestic calls made by millions of Americans from one telecommunications provider “on an ongoing daily basis,” according to a copy of a secret court order leaked to the media. The court […]