http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news The Security Resource for Everyone Thu, 23 Mar 2006 00:45:59 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Cyber-attacks, hacks, and acts of online vandalism perpetrated by loners in attempts to direct attention to themselves were at one time the biggest threat companies had to worry about. For those individuals, breaking into a company’s network produced no direct gain. Instead, they did it for the glory of becoming ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/cyber_crime_zombie_client.wpml The Internal Revenue Service released what it calls its “Dirty Dozen” list of tax scams for 2006 this month (http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article). The scams range from tax filers making frivolous claims that income tax is illegal, to misuse of trusts and offshore transactions. While most of the top twelve involve fraud perpetrated ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/top_tax_scam_phishing.wpml Rearing its ugly head in January was the Nyxem worm, also known as Blackdoom, Tearec, Kama Sutra, and Win32/Mywife.E@mm or W32.Blackmal.E@mm. The mass-mailing worm requires users to click on a link or open a file attached to an email to become active. According to a report from US-CERT, the worm ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/nyxem_worm_kama_sutra_virus.wpml Cisco Systems recently published a security alert and a fix for its Cisco CallManager product, a piece of call-processing software that works with Cisco’s IP telephony solution. According to the alert, all versions of CallManager are vulnerable to Denial of Service attacks, which could result in interrupted VoIP services or ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/voip_security_threat.wpml The Federal government has been attempting to force Google and other major search engines to turn over information from their databases. Since September 11, the Bush administration has rankled privacy advocates with a host of new measures that infringe on the rights and privacy of citizens, in the name of ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/google_subpoena_privacy.wpml Security experts discovered a serious vulnerability in late December, through which hackers can attack a fully patched Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 system. The vulnerability involves the OS handling a corrupted Windows Metafile (.WMF) graphic file. Microsoft has not released a fix for the vulnerability, which has already caused ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/microsoft_zero_day_attack.wpml During the holiday season, e-mails and electronic greetings fill every electronic mailbox, and recipients eagerly open them up in expectation of seeing friendly messages from friends, acquaintances, and relatives. But despite the temptation to let down one’s guard when presented with a festive “Merry Christmas” message, it’s still essential to ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/merry_x_a_trojan.wpml Microsoft issued two security bulletins on December 13. Microsoft Security Bulletins MS05-054 and MS05-055 resolve several newly discovered vulnerabilities, which could, in a worst case scenario, allow an attacker to take complete control over a user’s system. The extent of damage depends on the administrative rights of the user. If ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/microsoft_update_05_12.wpml A small group of individuals doing business under multiple company names has been disseminating spyware by offering consumers free music files, browser upgrades, and ring tones. Embedded in the free programs, however, were small trojans that downloaded dangerous spyware onto each target computer. In other instances, the group also disseminated ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/spyware_company_shut_down_by_ftc.wpml Spyware has overtaken viruses as the biggest security threat facing Windows computer users. A survey of Australian and New Zealand consumers conducted by Symantec in 2005 revealed that spyware and adware is creating chaos. The survey revealed that spyware is affecting more than 59 percent and adware more than 85 ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/spyware_virus_threats_05.wpml According to a research done by IBM’s Global service division different companies and government organizations are becoming the target of computer security attacks at a very increasing rate. This Global service division supervises and maintains business network in Boulder admitted that the number of attacks it had handled have increased to ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/businesses_governments_-computer_security_attacks.wpml Zotob (BotOZ spelled backwards?) has emerged as the reining champion in the contest to most quickly exploit an announced Microsoft Security Bulletin. Unseating the existing champion Sasser, which took two weeks to emerge, Zotob has appeared only seven days following the announcement of a vulnerability and an associated ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/zotob_microsoft_virus.wpml A Florida-based software company discovered a server containing personal information, including bank account information and social security numbers, from thousands of computers across the country. Obtained through the use of spyware, the data on that server apparently has been, at the least, accessed by identity thieves. The company responsible for ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/sunbelt-coolwebsearch-identity-theft.wpml The first ever virus to breach the security of Microsoft Pocket PC operating systems has been discovered. The credit for this discovery goes to antivirus researchers at the security software firm, Sophos. The virus, named ‘Duts (W32/Duts-A)’ was developed by someone called ‘Ratter’, belonging to the well known ‘29A VX’ virus ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/first_pocket_pc_virus.wpml The Computer Crime and Security Survey conducted by Computer Security Institute (CSI) released its tenth annual report today amidst growing instances of security threats in the financial services industry. A positive aspect outlined in the CSI report is the decrease in the amount of financial losses resulting from security breaches. The ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/csi-reports-glaring-security-issues.wpml Bank of America has taken many proactive steps in the past to counter the threat of online banking frauds. With an online banking customer base of 13.2 million, Bank of America needs to exercise extra caution. So in a recent move, it has decided to roll out a robust security ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/sitekey-security-boa-system.wpml Nicknamed the “Sheriff of Wall Street” for his widely recognized vigilance in matters of consumer protection and business fraud, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office settled a big spam lawsuit against OptInRealBig.com of Colorado last year. Now, he has set his sights on spyware. “Spyware and adware are more than ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/ny-attorney-general-targets-spyware.wpml Computer Security Institute of San Francisco, with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s local Computer Intrusion Squad, conducts an annual survey, Annual Computer Crime and Security Survey. There were 494 respondents in the survey conducted in 2004. The respondents belonged to U.S. corporations, government agencies, financial institutions, medical ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/2005-computer-crime-prevention.wpml Computer security firm, Sophos, estimates that the Sober computer worm has a share of more than 5 percent of all e-mails sent worldwide. In early May, the Sober-N worm infected thousands of computers by pretending as a medium to get tickets for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The first ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/sober_worm_spam.wpml A new virus has started infecting computers globally. Waikato University is struggling hard to fight against this virus which has infected four other systems around the world. At first students of Waikato University were facing a lot of problem in sending and receiving messages through the internet but now it ... http://www.pcsecuritynews.com/news/virus_attacks_university_email.wpml