Google Adwords targeted in phishing attacks
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Google Adwords customers are being warned to watch out for fake emails claiming to be from Google Adwords, which attempt to steal login details.
Google Adwords has become the latest service to be targeted by phishers, using spoof emails […]
March 2, 2008
Email spammers use blogspot against filters
by Brian TurnerBlogspot URLs are being used in a new deluge of spam in an attempt to circumvent anti-spam filters. Until Blogger open communications for spam reporting, this problem is just going to continue.
There’s nothing new about email spam - especially when the email spam often carries an affiliate URL.
Over the past few days, however, there’s been […]
November 22, 2007
Government boosts Information Commissioner’s powers
by Jan HarrisFollowing HM Revenue & Customs’ loss of personal data belonging to the 25 million recipients of child benefit in the UK, the government has given the Information Commissioner the power to conduct spot checks on data security.
The Information Commissioner will be able to carry out security checks across all Government departments and agencies, which […]
November 1, 2007
Government dismisses cyber crime recommendations
by Jan HarrisLord Erroll, a member of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee, has expressed disappointment at the Government’s response to the committee’s report into personal internet security.
According to Lord Erroll, the Government has failed to react appropriately to the report and has dismissed every recommendation out of hand.
The forward-looking report addressed emerging […]
October 26, 2007
Microsoft finds manufacturers risk data theft
by Jan HarrisAccording to the Microsoft Collaboration in High-Tech Manufacturing Survey 2007, manufacturing firms regularly use insecure forms of communication, which places their data at risk of theft
The research, which was conducted by US-based KRC Research, found that 78 per cent of business decision-makers (BDMs), and 85 per cent of technology decision-makers (TDMs), used services such as […]
October 4, 2007
Yahoo upgrades email with DomainKeys
by Jan HarrisYahoo is upgrading Yahoo Mail with DomainKeys technology designed to block phishing spam and bogus emails purporting to come from eBay and PayPal.
Phishing scams usually consist of emails which claim to be from trusted sources. They direct the recipient to a Web site where they are instructed to enter their user name and password. […]
October 3, 2007
Blog spammers hack archive.org
by Brian TurnerBlog spammers have exploited a vulnerability in the archive.org website, in order to redirect users to paid-for pharmaceuticals listings.
The practice has unfortunately become increasingly common, with innocent websites being hacked or otherwise exploited in order to try and capture traffic from Google.
The method arises because Google Search has an element in its ranking algorthm that […]
Technology companies call for data breach law
by Jan HarrisAccording to a survey by Intellect, the trade association for the UK technology industry, over 50 per cent of the UK’s technology companies would support legislation requiring companies to notify customers of data breaches.
The preliminary results of the survey also show that 50 per cent of respondents believe the legislations should cover both public […]
October 1, 2007
UK least affected by malware in Europe
by Jan HarrisA study by Panda Software, using an online malware measuring tool called Nanoscan, showed UK PCs as having the lowest level of malware infection in Europe.
France had the highest percentage of PCs with active malware, at 28.2 percent, followed by Mexico with 23.1 percent of PCs infected, Brazil with 18 percent, the US with […]
September 3, 2007
NEC group website ‘hacked’ by Russian Spammers
by Brian TurnerPlatinax has discovered that the NEC Group website has been hacked, with pages inserted onto the site to promote pharmaceuticals sales.
A specific search on Google reveals a small number of pages added to the site, which offer to sell a variety of pharmaceutical products, including soma, phentermine, tramadol, xanax and fioricet. For example, as seen […]
August 23, 2007
Report highlights failings in SMB’s IT security
by Jan HarrisAccording to new research commissioned by Websense Inc, employees of small and medium sized businesses (SMB’s) regularly visit high-risk sites in work time, but IT Managers are failing to implement adequate IT security measures.
The research, which was carried out by Dynamic Markets, surveyed 750 IT managers and employees in SMBs across five European countries. […]
August 15, 2007
Researchers identify Spam’s weak spot
by Jan Harris
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), believe they have identified a weak spot in the spam infrastructure which could be used to stop spammers gaining financially from their activities.
According to UCSD researchers, spammers use powerful distributed delivery networks to send out junk e-mail, but this isn’t the case for the internet […]
May 24, 2007
Symantec update brings down Chinese PCs
by Jan Harris
Symantec’s antivirus signature update for Norton Antivirus, Norton Internet Security 2007 and Norton 360, released by Symantec on May 17, contained a flaw that disabled millions of PCs in China last week.
According to the Chinese Internet Security Response Team (CISRT), the update mistakenly quarantined two critical system files in the Simplified Chinese version of […]
March 23, 2007
McAfee conflicts with Zonealarm
by Brian Turner
Windows users with multiple security programs installed may be in for a rude awakening this morning - the latest update to McAfee Security Suite 9 won’t allow the software to work in conjunction with the free Zonealarm firewall.
According to McAfee technical advisor Bill Chapman, this is due to a software conflict between McAfee Security Security […]
March 1, 2007
New Storm Worm inserts links in user messages
by Brian Turner
A new variant of the Storm Worm has been detected, which inserts unsolicited links into blogs and forums which can infect other users if clicked on.
The original Storm Worm was rand was mass emailed to hundreds of thousands of people in January this year. It was embedded in an attachment claiming to provide dramatic information […]
Seriosity launches e-mail management system
by Jan Harris
Seriosity, a California-based software company, has developed a system to help companies manage e-mail overload.
Unwanted e-mail can take up a lot of employee’s time and Seriosity’s solution, known as Attent, aims to help workers prioritise the e-mails they send and receive.
The system is based on the virtual economies and currencies used in the […]
February 22, 2007
Google Unveils Apps Premier Edition
by Brian Turner
Google is launching a business version of its application suite, with 24-hour telephone support and 10GB of storage, at a cost to companies of $50 per user. Additional storage capacity is available at an extra cost.
Google Apps Premier Edition provides email, calendars, instant messaging word processor and spreadsheet applications and also features APIs (application […]
UK Government refuses to ban DRM
by Jan Harris
Although the UK Government has rejected a call for digital rights management (DRM) to be banned in the UK, it also acknowledged that consumer rights could be undermined through the use of the technology.
Blogger Neil Holmes posted an online petition, calling for DRM to be outlawed, on the government’s e-petitions Web site. The petition, […]
February 14, 2007
Greenzap claims it’s not a scam
by Brian Turner
Greenzap has unleashed a $57 million lawsuit against webhosting company LiquidWeb, claiming that it is hosting defamatory content.
Greenzap is a company that claimed itself to be a Paypal killer - offering incentives of $25 per sign-up - apparently for payment processing.
However, according to a Yahoo! News report, users would not be able to withdraw […]
February 9, 2007
Hackers targeted ICANN
by Brian Turner
It has emerged that a concerted DDoS attack by cyberhackers attemped to disrupt the heart of the internet earlier this week.
A Distributed Denial Of Service (DDoS) attack can involve tens of thousands of PCs - usually hacked PC’s networked together - which then try to flood a target server network with useless information, until the […]