 Security
Port
A Security Port Blog
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| Have a Safe Thanksgiving |
11/27/2008 | |
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Have a secure and Happy Thanksgiving!
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| Security Tech Incubator |
11/26/2008 | |
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The University of Texas at San Antonio
launched a new incubator that will help commercialize
security technologies.
The Institute for Cyber
Securitys (ICS) new incubator will provide start-ups
access to seed capital, business advise, and office
space and infrastructure on the campus. It is getting
$5.5 million in funding from the state of Texas.
The first two start-ups being incubated are
Denim Labs, which developed technology that protects
PHP-based Web sites against certain types of intrusions,
and SafeMashups, which enables Web mashup applications
to authenticate with each other before exchanging data.
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| Joe
Lieberman Retains Post |
11/25/2008 | |
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Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman will remain
as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, after
Democrats voted overwhelmingly to let him to stay
despite his support for Republican presidential
candidate John McCain. |
| Netwitness Security Software |
11/25/2008 | |
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NetWitness, a vendor of networking
threat-analysis software, is offering a free version of
its NetWitness Investigator package by download, the
company said Monday.
NetWitness Investigator is
different from most other network-scanning software in
that it uses forensic tools to examine applications and
changes on content on the network, as well as attacks
coming from outside the network, said Amit Yoran,
NetWitness chairman and CEO. The software package gives
users detailed analyses of malicious activity on their
networks, he said.
NetWitness Investigator is
designed to address gaps in other cybersecurity
products, he said. It can help users identify
cybersecurity problems, insider attacks and
sophisticated outsider attacks, and it can help with IT
audits and antifraud investigations, the company said.
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| Inauguration Security |
11/24/2008 | |
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Law enforcement officials bracing for the
largest crowds in inaugural history are preparing
far-reaching security – thousands of video cameras,
sharpshooters, air patrols – to safeguard
President-elect Obamas swearing-in. People attending the
ceremony and parade Jan. 20 can expect to be searched by
machines, security personnel or both.
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| Phony Security Software |
11/23/2008 | |
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Microsoft said that the anti-malware tool
it pushes to Windows users as part of Patch Tuesday
removed fake security software from nearly a million PCs
during nine days this month. |
| Internet Addiction |
11/22/2008 | |
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Internet addiction is on the rise in the
world's largest Net market, and now Chinese doctors have
officially defined it as an ailment.
Users who
spend six hours or more per day online, and exhibit at
least one symptom including difficulty sleeping or
concentrating, yearning to be online, irritation, and
mental or physical distress are classified as meeting
the definition of addiction.
Being hooked on the
Internet has been considered a problem in Chinese
society as early as 2005, when the first clinic
dedicated to Internet addiction opened in Beijing. It
began accepting patients who exhibited dependency
symptoms for those of substance abuse.
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A U.S. Internet service provider suspected
of aiding cybercriminals in online scams and hosting
child pornography was at least partially cut off from
the Internet on last week.
The ISP, McColo, had
been under the watchful eye of computer security
analysts for years. It is one of a handful of so-called
bulletproof hosting providers that provide safe
haven online for cybercriminals selling Viagra and fake
security software. |
| UK
Identities Sold |
11/20/2008 | |
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Internet fraudsters sell complete
financial identities for just £80, according to an
online safety group.
The details packaged and
sold online include names, addresses, passport numbers
and confidential financial data such as credit card
numbers. |
| Spam Drops 75 Percent |
11/19/2008 | |
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Global spam levels have dropped by as much
as 75 percent following the shutdown of a US web host
that provided the backbone for most of the worlds
spam.
The bust has sent spammers scrambling and,
although it occurred on last week in the US, spam
volumes remain down, security companies say.
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| Economy Hurts Security |
11/18/2008 | |
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Intelligence officials are warning that
the deepening global financial crisis could weaken
fragile governments in the world's most dangerous areas
and undermine the ability of the United States and its
allies to respond to a new wave of security threats.
U.S. government officials and private analysts
say the economic turmoil has heightened the short-term
risk of a terrorist attack, as radical groups probe for
weakening border protections and new gaps in defenses. A
protracted financial crisis could threaten the survival
of friendly regimes from Pakistan to the Middle East
while forcing Western nations to cut spending on
defense, intelligence and foreign aid, the sources said.
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| Dramatic Security Increase Around
Obama |
11/17/2008 | |
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The dramatic security increase around
Obama since the election has made a sizable impact in
the Loop, where the president-elect is running his
transition office at the Kluczynski Federal Building,
straining an already-stretched Chicago police force and
city budget.
The Chicago Police Department Union
that represents police officers, has been told that in
addition to the dozens of officers detailed to the
perimeter near the Obama home, about 60 officers are
being temporarily assigned to protect the transition
headquarters. |
| Google Flu Tracking Impinges on
Privacy |
11/15/2008 | |
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Googles recent announcement that it may
have found a way to predict U.S. flu trends has led to
the inevitable expressions of concern from some privacy
groups.
The Electronic Privacy Information
Center and Patient Privacy Rights sent a letter this
week to Google CEO Eric Schmidt saying if the records
are disclosed and linked to a particular user, there
could be adverse consequences for education, employment,
insurance, and even travel. It asks for more disclosure
about how Google Flu Trends protects privacy.
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| Personal Use Causes Security
Breaches |
11/15/2008 | |
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IT professionals surveyed worldwide said
they think their own employees pose a more serious
security threat than outsiders, and often it is because
of personal use of corporate assets, according to the
third and final report based on a 2008 survey
commissioned by Cisco Systems and released Wednesday.
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| China Targetted |
11/14/2008 | |
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Chinese computer users have become chief
targets for online criminals, according to a security
report released by Microsoft. |
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Perhaps the biggest threat to Googles
increasing dominance of Internet search and advertising
is the rising fear, justified or not, that Googles
broadening reach is giving it unchecked
power.
This scrutiny goes deeper than the
skeptical eye that lawmakers and the Justice Department
have given to Googles proposed ad partnership with Yahoo
Inc. Many objections to that deal are financial, and
surround whether Google and Yahoo could unfairly drive
up online ad prices. |
| Security Web Templates |
11/12/2008 | |
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Creating a security related website? Keep
it simple, use a security web template.
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| Technology in Politics |
11/10/2008 | |
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Can, and will, the next generation of
politicians exploit the communication mediums available
to them? Will the new communication mediums have the
power to influence public opinion? Will politicians be
the victims of technology, or will they use it to their
benefit? Will one party benefit from the use of the
technology more than another? All reasonable questions,
considering the role technology plays in todays society.
Technology is Influencing Politics
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| Cracked McEliece Encryption
System |
11/09/2008 | |
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Researchers at Eindhoven University of
Technology in The Netherlands have managed to crack the
so-called McEliece encryption system. This system is a
candidate for the security of Internet traffic in the
age of the quantum computer - the predicted
superpowerful computer of the future.
The attack
succeeded this month by means of a large number of
linked computers throughout the world.
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| Private Security Fees Add Up |
11/08/2008 | |
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No one knows for sure, but auditors think
the United States has paid well over $6 billion to
private security companies who have been guarding
diplomats, troops, Iraqi officials and reconstruction
workers in Iraq. |
| Transition Risks |
11/07/2008 | |
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Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Chertoff says the federal government is monitoring
dozens of potential terrorists in the U.S.
Chertoff tells The Record of Bergen County the
government has quietly blocked dozens of potential
terrorists from entering the country in recent years.
Chertoff says there is a risk that some would
see opportunity during the transition between
administrations.
Chertoff says he doesn't want
to stay with Homeland Security after a new president is
in office and the lawyer says he does not have a job
waiting. |
| USB
Stick Security |
11/06/2008 | |
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IBM was set to unveil on Wednesday a
prototype USB device designed to protect people doing
online banking from having their data stolen or
compromised.
The device, which looks like a memory
stick with an integrated display, creates a secure
channel to a banks online transaction server. The
connection bypasses the user's PC, which could be
infected with viruses and other malware that make
sending financial information over the Internet unsafe.
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| Internet users are Unsecure |
11/05/2008 | |
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Recent findings show that only 51% of
internet users have current up-to-date internet security
on their computers, and only 55% have anti-spyware
software installed. |
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All eyes are on the US presidential
election. If you feel security is an issue be sure that
you vote if you are able to.
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| Comodo Security Release |
11/03/2008 | |
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Comodo Security Solutions, Inc, the
computer security company has released Comodo Internet
Security, a complete antivirus and firewall security
package free to all PC users. Among its many powerful
features, this security software detects and prevents
malware such as viruses, adware, spyware, Trojans, bots
and rogue software, and includes always-on, real-time
protection against threats. |
| SafeWeb from Norton |
11/03/2008 | |
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Rate the safety of websites using http://safeweb.norton.com/ enter the
URL of the website and then you can rate the security of
the website based on your experience.
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| Google Phone Security Flaws |
11/02/2008 | |
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Just days after the T-Mobile G1 smartphone
went on the market, a group of security researchers have
found what they call a serious flaw in the Android
software from Google that runs it.
One of the
researchers, Charles A. Miller, notified Google of the
flaw this week and said he was publicizing it now
because he believed that cellphone users were not
generally aware that increasingly sophisticated
smartphones faced the same threats that plague
Internet-connected personal computers.
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| EU
Joint Efforts |
11/01/2008 | |
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European Union governments agreed to set
up a common platform to fight illegal activities on the
Internet and said they would cooperate more closely to
block narcotics imports via West Africa.
Interior ministers of the 27-member EU agreed
today at a meeting in Luxembourg that the platform would
be managed by Europol, the European police agency. It
would allow any cyber criminality alert to be instantly
shared among police forces across the continent.
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| Halloween Spirit and Piracy in
Pictures! |
10/30/2008 | |
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Dress up your website or image for
Halloween there are web templates that can be customized
for the holiday!
Piracy Web Template for Halloween.
or add a Halloween Logo to show that you have
the holiday spirit.
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Celebrate in style with Halloween Logos!
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| Miley Cyrus Email Hacked |
10/30/2008 | |
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A 19-year-old Tennessee resident is
claiming that he hacked into entertainer Miley Cyrus
Gmail account.
According to the blog Wired.com,
Josh Holly admitted to several bloggers and a radio
station in Arizona that he hacked into Cyrus' e-mail
account and retrieved suggestive pictures of the teen
singing star. The pictures soon began circulating on the
Internet.
According to Holly, there were plenty
of photos of Cyrus, but only the most provocative ones
were published. He told a Phoenix radio morning show in
August he held on to the pictures for a while.
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| Windows Anti-Piracy Tool |
10/29/2008 | |
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Chinese Users are furious at Vole for
daring to launch a version of its Windows anti-piracy
tool which targets Chinese computer users to ensure they
buy genuine software.
Microsoft has released its
glorious Windows Genuine Advantage program into China
where the software is often pirated.
The Chinese
version turns the users screen black if the installed
software fails a validation test.
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