Security

The Source Code Club is back in business, if you can call it that. The anonymous hacker group began peddling proprietary source code last July, disappeared, and now has reemerged with a bargain basement deal of US$24,000 for the source code for Cisco's Pix security firewall. "SCC is proud to announc...

An "information age undercover investigation" led by the U.S. Secret Service has arrested 28 individuals in eight states and six foreign countries who were accused of being involved in a global cyber organized-crime network. Charges against the suspects include identity theft, computer fraud, credit...

New data shows the popularity of alternative browsers continues to erode the once monolithic market share of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, even before the latest version of Mozilla's Firefox, which formally hits shelves next week. The latest data from Web analytics firm WebSideStory shows that the ...

In a possible reaction to hacker concerns, the Bush Administration has blocked at least some foreign visitor access to its official re-election site. The British Internet traffic analysis company Netcraft reported several locations have not had access to the site since Monday. A message that reads "...

Hoping to revive its approach to using sender identification to curb e-mail spam, Microsoft announced it has tweaked its Sender ID specification and that leading Internet service provider America Online has agreed to back it. Less than a month after a lack of consensus about the prudence of making S...

In another move to exterminate worms and viruses in networked businesses, Cisco today said it would buy Perfigo for $74 million in cash. Perfigo's CleanMachines is a "shrink-wrapped" network admission control solution that recognizes users, their devices and roles; evaluates the security posture of ...

Security experts are warning of a newly discovered security flaw in several alternative Web browsers, some of which recently have begun to chip away at the dominance of Microsoft's Internet Explorer as users seek more secure alternatives. Secunia issued a warning that the so-called tabbed browsing f...

Search engine company Google has found itself under intense scrutiny over privacy concerns just days after releasing its new desktop search tool. Google released a beta version of Desktop Search just last week with the typical media fanfare and analyst glee. The free downloadable tool allows users t...

With their bottom lines and corporate reputations at risk, many security professionals, tired of only being able to react to viruses, worms and compromised network performance are looking for ways to prevent degradation and infection. DeepNines Technologies has developed a scalable, platform-indepen...

Governments at both the state and federal level in the U.S. are getting serious about addressing the void in the legal framework for fighting "spyware." To begin with, we need to define the term "spyware," due to the fact that this term has been used to describe everything from keystroke loggers, to...

Security companies have identified a new worm spreading through Microsoft's instant messaging platform. The worm, known as the Funner worm, originated in Asia but is quickly spreading to the U.S., according to instant messaging security firm IMLogic. The worm has only been spotted to date on the Mic...

Moving to shut down alleged purveyors of spyware before a slew of legislation aimed at curbing the practice can become law, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has targeted a New Hampshire man it says ran a spyware and pop-up advertising ring. The FTC filed a complaint in federal court in New Hampshi...

For the second time this week, U.S. lawmakers have approved a bill aimed at stamping out the spread of spyware, malicious software that is installed onto the computers of unsuspecting users and can track their online activities. However, the flurry of activity might actually have a downside for thos...

It's still at least a year from being available to consumers, but already questions are being raised about whether some parts of Microsoft's Longhorn might actually make the operating system more vulnerable to some relatively primitive kinds of viruses. A Symantec security researcher first sounded t...

Spyware and its intimate partner, adware, are among the fastest growing threats to computer users. Many Internet security experts now view spyware and adware as variations of the same thing -- intrusion. Industry analysts say spyware and adware together infect at least 90 percent of all Internet-con...