Robert Siciliano Security Analyst at Safr.me
We’ve known for some time that the long-haired, lowly, pot-smoking, havoc-reeking hacker, sitting alone in his mom’s basement, hacking for fun and fame is no more. He cut his hair and has now graduated into a full time professional criminal hacker, hacking for government secrets and financial gain. His contacts are global, many from Russia and E
16 April 2009 /security
The holy grail of hacks may make banks have to completely revamp their payment systems. At an ATM or cash register, most debit card users are blissfully unaware of what occurs when they swipe their cards and enter their pin numbers. A magical mystery takes place and we get to walk away with our new purchase, simply by swiping a card and tapping
15 April 2009 /security
Now, a new form of vigilante justice is occurring: scammers are illegally scamming, blackmailing and extorting other scammers. Who doesn’t love vigilante justice? Some readers may remember Charles Bronson, an American actor who starred in the popular series Death Wish. Bronson played Paul Kersey, a man whose wife is murdered and whose daughter ra
13 April 2009 /security /regulation
The security community has bombarded the media with fascinating claims of gloom and doom. (I’m guilty of it, too.) The hype hasn’t entirely met the hyperbole. There have been no major catastrophic issues. The power hasn’t gone out, and data breaches haven’t occurred in the 3-15 million PCs that have been compromised by Conficker. But that doesn’t
10 April 2009 /security /regulation
Conficker has updated to what is believed to be keylogging software. Conficker's botnet, which includes anywhere from 3 to 15 million PCs, has a peer to peer (P2P) feature that allows each PC on the network to talk to one another. Each PC has the ability to become the command server. This characteristic allows Conficker to fluidly update each PC
09 April 2009 /security /regulation
Both Microsoft Certified Professional and Computerworld report on a variation of Conficker known as “Neeris.” Neeris is a 4 year old virus that has resurfaced and is now behaving like a Conficker wannabe. It is believed that the criminal hackers who created Conficker and Neeris are either the same person or are working together, double teaming t
08 April 2009 /security
A recent study conducted by the Unisys Corporation shows that identity theft as it pertains to credit card fraud is Americans’ number one concern. When people ask me, “How do I protect myself from credit card fraud?” I tell them, “Cancel the card, or never use it.” Because that’s the only way. Personal security (as it pertains to violence) and n
07 April 2009 /security
But we should act as it is and put systems in place to prepare. The boy did not cry wolf. Cyber crime profits are running into the trillions Weekly, and often daily, I remind readers of how potentially screwed they are once they boot up their PCs and access the Internet. Identity theft is a real problem that messes up people’s lives. When someone’...
07 April 2009 /security /regulation
Conficker’s rise and fall and the passing activity of the worm on April 1st has allowed researchers and anti-virus companies to better understand the virus and its impact. While April Fools was supposed to be the day of reckoning for Conficker, it wasn’t and still isn’t a joke. Viruses often come with a trigger date, as pointed out by CNET. And
03 April 2009 /security
With the world watching Conficker has reached out but has not delivered any new malware. Computer World reports “We have observed that Conficker is reaching out, but so far none of the servers they are trying to reach are serving any new malware or any new commands,” said Toralv Dirro, a security strategist at McAfee Avert Labs, in Germany. The se...
01 April 2009 /security /regulation
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