Robert Lemos

Anonymous-linked hackers with an anti-security group claimed on Sept. 3 to have stolen sensitive information on more than 12 million Apple devices and their users from an FBI-issued laptop, releasing one million redacted records from the file as proof. The FBI denied that the file came from the agency and refuted claims that a computer […]

A group of intellectual-property thieves has adopted the latest exploit for Java and continues to target companies in critical industries such as chemical manufacturing and defense, Symantec officials said Aug. 30. The attacks-by a group that the security firm calls the “Nitro gang”-hit four-dozen companies between July and September 2011, but have since continued at […]

Late last year and earlier this year, attackers snuck into Iranian systems and did-something. Exactly what happened will likely never be known, however, because their last act was to run a program-now known in the security community as “Wiper” malware-that deleted almost every trace of the attack and then effectively destroyed compromised systems. On Aug. […]

Security firms warned business users and consumers to remove Java if possible, after one company identified an attack against its customers using a previously unknown vulnerability in Java. On Aug. 24, threat-protection firm FireEye stopped an attack targeting the flaw and over the weekend confirmed that the security issue was previously undiscovered. The attack exploited […]

The Crisis virus poses no real danger for virtual machines, but the malware does presage a likely move by criminals and attackers toward finding better ways of infecting virtualized servers and infrastructure, security experts said this week. While Crisis can infect Windows machines and spread from there to VMWare virtual machines and Macs, the software […]

A computer virus that aims to infect Windows machines and steal data can also opportunistically infect Apple’s Mac OS X and VMware virtual machines, security firms said this week. The malware, called Crisis, can spread through the autorun functionality of removable disk drives, install components on Windows Mobile devices and copy itself to virtual machine […]

Seven risque wallpaper apps available through China’s largest mobile marketplace, GFan, are actually Trojan horses, infecting Android smartphones by downloading malicious content after the applications are installed, mobile security firm TrustGo warned in a recent analysis. The malware, which has infected the smartphones of an estimated half million Chinese users, allows the attackers to remotely […]

A limited number of energy companies have been targeted with a destructive virus-dubbed Shamoon-that spreads through shared network drives and deletes important data from computers. The virus, which some are calling Disstrack, has destroyed data belonging to at least one energy firm, according to an analysis published Aug. 16 by security firm Symantec. Reports of […]

Google is raising the rewards it pays to security researchers who find bugs in its Chrome Web browser, following a decline in the number of security issues found by flaw finders. On Aug. 14, Google boosted the bounties it pays as part of its Chromium Vulnerability Rewards Program, an initiative for recognizing researchers who submit […]

The United States and China have participated in informal bilateral discussions about restricting the use of online attacks, better crisis communication and mitigating the risk of attacks by third parties. Still, there is one issue notably missing from the dialog: any agreement on limiting cyber-espionage. Organized by the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) […]

The complex piece of malware known as Gauss has a number of mysteries that have grabbed the attention of security researchers: Where did the attack tool originate, what is the function of the encrypted payload, and why does the malware focus on stealing financial data? A fourth question popped up Aug. 10. Researchers found that […]

A recent study of cyber-spying malware discovered by Middle Eastern pro-democracy activists has found that it is a commercially developed Trojan apparently purchased and distributed by government authorities to keep watch on dissident citizens. Late in July, pro-democracy activists, security researchers and journalists from Bloomberg News collaborated to uncover details about a mysterious piece of […]