Security

SPOTLIGHT ON SECURITY

Flashback Mac Trojan Sputters and Stalls

A week after the Flashback Trojan began running rampant on Macintosh computers, the malware appears to be in remission. The number of infections from the Trojan have plummeted to around 270,000, from a high of more than 600,000, according to the latest numbers from Symantec. "Many of the domain na...

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which seeks to improve cybersecurity in the United States, is receiving a mixed reception. Supporters include big names in the U.S. tech industry. Facebook, security vendor Symantec, Verizon, CTIA, IBM, Intel, Microsoft and Oracle are among them. Ho...

Facebook has begun rolling out an updated version of its Download Your Information tool that gives users more access to their account history on its site. The move adheres to recommendations made by the Office of the Irish Data Protection Commissioner in December following an investigation into Face...

Google can claim the title as the most popular tech brand over competitors Apple, Facebook and Twitter, according to a new poll from ABC and The Washington Post. Eighty-two percent of Americans said they have an overall favorable opinion of the search engine giant. Apple didn't come in far behind -...

SPOTLIGHT ON SECURITY

Flashback's Mac Malware Mess

In what could be the largest mass infection of Mac computers to date, the Flashback Trojan was estimated to have reached some 700,000 Macs by the end of last week. The Trojan is being planted on the Macs by owners who've been lured to infected Web pages that send a malware downloader to their comput...

Hackers purporting to be members of the nebulous online hacker community Anonymous have reportedly hit almost 400 websites in China. The attacks have apparently been going on since March 30. They are listed on the Anonymous China Twitter page. "China is seen by many as a repressive regime that sever...

If you find out everything about someone by talking to lots of people, then put the information together and tell everyone else, are you being creepy? Or are you just a gossip? That's the gist of the argument raging around the controversial Girls Around Me iOS app. The app scours Facebook and FourSq...

Online text depository Pastebin has decided to more closely monitor its site to quickly remove potentially sensitive information, according to a report from the BBC. The site is intended as a way for Internet users to post large amounts of data outside of somewhere such as a comment forum or a blog ...

SPOTLIGHT ON SECURITY

Bad Week for Botnets

Two zombie networks infamous for stealing banking information and spewing spam were hit with a right-left combination last week by botnet fighters. Using the power of the federal RICO Act, Microsoft, along with organizations representing the financial services industry, took down two command-and-con...

We live in times when technology is exceeding the understanding of educational institutions and corporations. A highly social Web and a bad economy is making the Dark Side -- the Internet underworld where cybercrime and hacking run rampant -- overwhelming. Hacktivism is the new, hip thing; it has be...

Google has launched a new tool called "Account Activity," designed to give users a detailed glimpse into their Web usage across all Google sites and services. Account Activity is a personalized, detailed monthly report on Web activity with Google search, Gmail accounts, YouTube and social network Go...

Google is reportedly planning to launch its own third-party commenting system soon. It will apparently be tied into its Google+ social platform, its Web services and the company's Web search products. Google, according to reports, will make the platform available to third parties in much the same wa...

Nine months after shutting down operations -- and just weeks after several suspected members were arrested -- the LulzSec hacker community has apparently sprung back to life, hacking the website of military dating site MilitarySingles. However, there's some controversy over whether that site had ind...

SPOTLIGHT ON SECURITY

Iran Still Stuck With Stuxnet

Iran apparently has developed an antivirus program to neutralize the notorious Stuxnet virus that put a kink in the country's nuclear development program in June 2010. Iran has vowed to distribute the antivirus program for free in about a month, according to Trend, a publication that describes itsel...

Reacting to recent reports that some organizations are demanding that job seekers turn over their Facebook passwords, the social network on Friday criticized the practice for undermining members' privacy expectations and security. It also pointed out that such a move could expose employers who ask f...

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