Security

Online attackers today are using popular sources of pornographic images to target a recently revealed weakness in Microsoft software and to spread a Trojan that can provide remote access and control of infected computers. Just two weeks after Microsoft warned of a vulnerability in virtually all vers...

Amazon.com and Microsoft have joined forces for what they described as a "wake-up call" to spammers, filing lawsuits seeking damages from defendants they say sent millions of pieces of spam and attempted phishing and spoofing against the two companies' customers. The companies together sued a Canada...

The Internet has delivered dramatic productivity improvements. Executives now have a simple way to exchange electronic mail messages, large and small companies are able to market their products worldwide and corporations have replaced manual procedures with automated ones. Along with these advances ...

Microsoft is taking flack for saying it won't offer some key security patches and upgrades for older versions of its Internet Explorer (IE) browser, some of which are still widely used, that are available as part of its much-ballyhooed Service Pack 2 update. In a move that some observers say is desi...

Microsoft announced today that it has filed nine new lawsuits against alleged spammers, including a Web-hosting company that offered services specifically for people who send unsolicited mail. The suits are part of a larger effort by Microsoft to target the perpetrators of spam. With this batch, fil...

Online malice again was targeted at one of the backbones of the Internet, with the launch of a denial-of-service attack against credit card processor Authorize.net reportedly coupled with an attempt to extort money to halt the barrage. Authorize.net, which offers credit card processing services to o...

Internet-based hacker attacks are being developed more quickly, becoming more sophisticated and are increasingly focusing on two high-profile targets -- e-commerce and Microsoft's Windows operating system -- according to a report from leading antivirus firm Symantec. In its "Internet Security Threat...

Eyeing a million-dollar prize, a mathematician claims to have made progress in solving a 150-year-old riddle. The solution to the problem could render secure payments and other sensitive Internet transactions vulnerable. A Purdue University professor has begun to publish what he claims is a proof of...

While eager to take advantage of the enhanced security features of Microsoft's long-awaited SP2 update, many corporate users of Windows XP will be cautious in activating it. Microsoft did extensive compatibility testing aimed at ensuring SP2 would work with as many third-party applications as possib...

A new variant of the Bagle worm is spreading more quickly than anticipated, infecting computers in Brazil, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Taiwan and the United States. According to McAfee, the industry leader in antivirus software, the majority of infections occurred among home users, not in corpo...

While eager to take advantage of the enhanced security features of Microsoft's long-awaited SP2 update, many corporate users of Windows XP will be cautious in activating it. Microsoft did extensive compatibility testing aimed at ensuring SP2 would work with as many third-party applications as possib...

A computer virus has spread to handheld versions, Symantec and Kaspersky Labs report. A program, known as Backdoor.Brador.A, attacks PDAs running the Windows CE operating system. Once installed, the program activates when the PDA is restarted and begins to search for a remote administrator to take c...

Internet security firms are gearing up for an onslaught of new attacks that hackers will hurl at inboxes and against Web sites. As the computer industry awaits the release of Service Pack 2 of Microsoft's Windows XP -- which will feature improved security capabilities -- hackers are waiting too. The...

Interactive advertising firm DoubleClick became the latest high-profile Internet company to be hit by hackers as a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack knocked out the company's advertising servers for several hours, slowing many of the most popular Web sites as a result. The attack hit Doubl...

MessageLabs, Sophos and Keynote Systems have released alerts about the new W32.MyDoom.O worm variant that has been circulating the Internet today and causing traffic slowdowns. This latest variant in the MyDoom virus family was first identified by MessageLabs at 4:40 ET July 26th 2004. "Sadly, peopl...