Ryan Naraine

SAN FRANCISCO-Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff says the U.S. government is working on the equivalent of the “Manhattan Project” to defend federal networks and national security interests from large-scale cyber-attacks.During a keynote presentation at RSA Conference, Chertoff painted a gloomy picture of the government’s readiness for a determined attack on critical communication networks and […]

Two of Microsoft’s newest operating systems-Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008-are vulnerable to serious remote code execution attacks, according to a warning from the software giant. The “critical” warning comes April 8 as part of Microsoft’s April batch of Patch Tuesday updates, which include eight security bulletins covering at least 10 documented software vulnerabilities. The […]

SAN FRANCISCO-Buoyed by the success of Trustworthy Computing at Microsoft-a five-year initiative that saw the company move from security pariah to industry trendsetter-the software giant is proposing a vendor-neutral push to build an ecosystem of trust on the Internet. Microsoft used the spotlight of the RSA Conference 2008 here April 8 to start the dialogue […]

Apple is quietly adding several key anti-hacker security features into its flagship QuickTime media player as part of a deliberate plan to reduce the effectiveness of malicious exploits.The XPMs (exploit prevention mechanisms) have been fitted into the WIndows and Mac OS X versions of QuickTime 7.4.5, a new update that also patches 11 high-risk security […]

Some of the biggest names in the anti-virus industry have flunked detection tests for known malware samples on Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Seventeen of 37 anti-malware products pitted against “in the wild” viruses on the latest version of Vista failed to obtain VB100 certification, an industry benchmark used to rate product quality, according to […]

Worried about the state of security incident response among open-source software projects, a group of computer security professionals has launched an ambitious effort to manage the coordination of vulnerability warnings and patch release information between open-source vendors large and small. The new organization, called oCERT (Open Source Computer Emergency Response Team), emerged from stealth mode […]

Microsoft plans to release eight security bulletins on April 8 to patch multiple security vulnerabilities affecting Windows, Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer users. As part of its pre-release advance notice mechanism, the Redmond, Wash., software vendor said five of the eight bulletins will be rated “critical,” Microsoft’s highest severity rating.The remaining three bulletins will be […]

Using a zero-day vulnerability in Adobe’s ubiquitous Flash Player, hacker Shane Macaulay hacked into a Windows Vista laptop to win a $5,000 cash prize at this year’s CanSecWest Pwn2Own challenge. Macaulay, who uses the “K2” hacker moniker, also won the Fujitsu U810 laptop running Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 that he hijacked with the exploit. According […]

A targeted malware attack described as “new and sophisticated” is to be blamed for the data breach at Hannaford Bros. Co. that exposed more than four million credit and debit card numbers to identity thieves, the supermarket chain said in a letter to regulators in Massachusetts.In the letter, which was sent by Hannaford general counsel […]

Using a drive-by browser exploit, security researcher Charlie Miller has hacked into Apple’s shiny new MacBook Air, winning himself the machine and a $10,000 cash prize.Miller, a well-known hacker who was among the first to break into the iPhone, hijacked the MacBook Air within minutes of the opening of this year’s CanSecWest Pwn2Own hacker challenge.According […]

A hacker picking apart the security model of Microsoft’s brand new Windows Server 2008 has found serious design weaknesses that render some of the product’s new security protections “useless.” Cesar Cerrudo, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Argeniss Information Security, in Parana, Argentina, says the weaknesses could lead to privilege escalation attacks opens the door […]

Mozilla is shipping a “critical” Firefox update to provide patches for at least 11 security vulnerabilities affecting the open-source browser.The most serious of the flaws affects the browser’s JavaScript engine and could lead to privilege escalation or arbitrary code execution attacks, Mozilla said in release notes on March 25 that accompanied the Firefox update.The new […]