Ryan Naraine

Microsofts Windows defender anti-spyware tool has hit the Beta 2 milestone with a major user interface facelift and integration with Windows Vista. The revamped Windows Defender Beta 2, which has been expanded to scan for rootkits, keystroke loggers and other forms of malware, has shed the former Giant AntiSpyware look and feel in favor of […]

Security intelligence outfit iDefense Labs is offering a $10,000 reward to any hacker who finds a worm hole in Microsofts products, but the software maker isnt exactly thrilled by the gambit. One day after iDefense, of Reston, Va., announced the bounty as part of a newly implemented quarterly hacking challenge, a spokesperson for Microsoft, based […]

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Microsoft has found an unlikely backer for its ambitious InfoCard online ID management system. At the RSA Conference here, Verisign dispelled the notion of a rivalry with Microsoft over identity management and announced that its new VIP (Verisign Identity Protection) network—which is backed by Yahoo and eBay—will work seamlessly with InfoCard in Windows […]

Sony BMG is not the only company to dabble in using copy-protection technology that resembles rootkits. According to anti-virus vendor F-Secure, based in Helsinki, Finland, the German DVD release of “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”—a recent movie starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie—contains a DRM (digital rights management) protection scheme that uses rootkit-like cloaking technology. Rootkits […]

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, speaking on Feb. 14 at the RSA Conference here, acknowledged that weaknesses in the “trust ecosystem” could put a damper on the future of secure digital computing. Gates pointed to the tangled state of password management as one area that needs desperate improvement and issued a call for partners […]

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Microsofts Windows Defender anti-spyware application has hit the Beta 2 milestone with a major user interface facelift and complete integration with Windows Vista. The revamped Windows Defender Beta 2, which has been expanded to scan for rootkits, keystroke loggers and other forms of malware, has shed the old Giant AntiSpyware look and feel […]

Exactly one year after the introduction of the Common Vulnerability Scoring System as a vendor-neutral standard to get around the confusion of measuring the severity of security flaws, the ambitious initiative appears stalled by the indifference of some of its own heavyweight backers. The standard, which was unveiled at last years RSA Conference, has largely […]

A high-profile privacy watchdog group has a terse warning for business and consumer users: Do not use the new version of Google Desktop. The nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation said a new feature added to Google Desktop on Feb. 9 is a serious privacy and security risk because of the way a users data is stored […]

Exactly one year after the introduction of the Common Vulnerability Scoring System as a vendor-neutral standard to get around the confusion of measuring the severity of security flaws, the ambitious initiative appears stalled by the indifference of some of its own heavyweight backers. The standard, which was unveiled a year ago at the RSA Conference, […]

Microsofts security response center wont be playing Cupid this Valentines Day. On Feb. 14, the Redmond, Wash.-based software plans to release seven security bulletins with patches for multiple software vulnerabilities, at least two of which will be rated critical, the companys highest severity rating. One of the critical bulletins will address remote exploitable code execution […]

Thousands of Web sites in Denmark and Europe have been hacked and defaced in apparent retaliation for the publication of cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad. According to Zone-H.org, an outfit that tracks server intrusions worldwide, more than 600 attacks against Web servers in Denmark have been recorded. Servers in Israel and Europe have also been […]

Microsoft late Feb. 7 issued two separate advisories with pre-patch workarounds for a privilege escalation vulnerability in Windows and a new code execution hole in older versions of the Internet Explorer browser. The IE flaw could allow an attacker to use a rigged WMF (Windows Metafile) image to take complete control of an affected Windows […]