Ryan Naraine

There was an uncharacteristic edge to David Litchfields voice when he took the stage at the Black Hat Federal Briefings in Arlington, Va., this week. Five minutes into his presentation—which centered on an unpatched vulnerability in the Oracle PL/SQL Gateway—it was clear that Litchfield, a noted database security expert, had completely given up with trying […]

ARLINGTON, Va.—British security researcher David Litchfield used the spotlight of the Black Hat Federal Briefings here to call attention to a gaping flaw in the Oracle PL/SQL Gateway that remains unpatched three months after it was first reported to the database server giant. In a rare departure from his companys policy of withholding technical details […]

Web search powerhouse Google has joined with Sun Microsystems to fund a new anti-spyware coalition that is on tap to launch on Jan. 25, according to information reaching eWEEK. The nonprofit group is setting up shop at StopBadware.org to help computer users deal with the scourge from adware, spyware, rootkits and other malware threats. Sources […]

A high-powered group of security volunteers are raising an “urgent alert” for a potentially destructive e-mail worm crawling through inboxes, warning that the worms payload is capable of completely destroying important documents on an infected machine. The worm, which uses the lure of sexually explicit Kama Sutra photographs to trick e-mail users into executing an […]

With the threat from kernel-mode rootkits on the rise, Microsoft plans to make a significant policy change to block uncertified drivers from loading on x64 versions of Windows Vista. Starting with Windows Vista and Windows Server (Longhorn), kernel-mode software must have a digital signature to load on x64-based computer systems. The decision to block unsigned […]

Security vendor Sunbelt Software has snapped up anti-spyware expert Eric Howes to head up its team of malware researchers. /zimages/6/28571.gifClick here to read about how Sunbelt researchers discovered an ID theft ring. Howes, well-known in security circles for his forensic work on spyware and its malicious mechanisms, has been named director of malware research and […]

A high-profile consumer advocacy group has asked the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) to pull the plug on the “illegal and deceptive practices” used by adware vendor 180Solutions Inc. to install unwanted software on millions of computers. A complaint from the nonprofit CDT (Center for Democracy & Technology) accused 180Solutions of using a complicated web of […]

A new version of the popular Skype VOIP application has been released to correct a bug that caused Skype to be misread as a potential security threat. The Skype 2.0.0.73 for Windows update fixes a flaw that triggered a DEP (Data Execution Protection) warning on systems running Windows XP SP2 with DEP-enabled Intel or AMD […]

Anti-virus vendors have detected a new batch of Trojans spreading on Symbian Ltd. smart-phone devices. According to definitions from Symantec Corp., the latest malware samples are capable of seriously disrupting the operations on Bluetooth-enabled Symbian devices. The Symbian operating system powers some cell phone models manufactured by Nokia, Siemens AG, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, […]

Finnish anti-virus specialist F-Secure Corp. has pushed out patches for multiple code execution vulnerabilities in its security software suite, prompting a new round of warnings that flaws in security products present a lucrative target for malicious hackers. The updates from F-Secure, rated “highly critical” because the vulnerabilities put users at risk of security bypass and […]

A vendor-neutral push to find an unambiguous way to describe rootkits has received backing from anti-virus specialist Symantec Corp., but security experts are suspicious of the plan, warning that strict definitions only serve to legitimize the use of a dangerous piece of technology. The issue has taken center stage after Symantec admitted to using a […]

Oracle Corp. has released a “moderately critical” batch of patches to plug a total of 82 security vulnerabilities in several database and server products. As part of its quarterly critical patch update release cycle, the Redwood City, Calif.-based vendor shipped fixes to ptach holes that could put customers at risk of data manipulation, system exposure […]