Intelligence Docments 11/30/2009

President Obama will maintain a lid of secrecy on millions of pages of military and intelligence documents that were scheduled to be declassified by the end of the year, according to administration officials. The missed deadline spells trouble for the White Houses promises to introduce an era of government openness, say advocates, who believe that releasing historical information enforces a key check on government behavior. They cite as an example the abuses by the Central Intelligence Agency during the Cold War, including domestic spying and assassinations of foreign officials, that were publicly outlined in a set of agency documents known as the family jewels.

Cyber Monday and Security 11/30/2009

Cyber Monday is a great way for parents to shop online without the crazy crowds of Black Friday. So, how can you get the best deals on Cyber Monday, while making sure your identity is protected? With a bit of research and a few safeguards, parents can still get amazing deals online without having to stand in line for hours. Cyber Monday is a win-win for both retailers and consumers.

Acorn Wants Trash Back 11/30/2009

20,000 documents were taken from ACORNs trash behind their office in National City and they want them back. Derrick Roach, a private investigator, said he took more than 20,000 documents from the caged trash area behind ACORNs office, on October 9th and posted them on the web site biggovernment.com. The documents shown on the website and also displayed for a news conference on Monday, show driver's licenses, Social Security numbers, immigration records, credit reports, tax returns, credit card statements and bank accounts numbers from ACORN members or job applicants.

Security Software 11/29/2009

In security software, you have plenty of options, from free antivirus programs to paid ones to full-blown, multifunction security suites. The big issue, of course, is deciding which approach is right for you. These usually include an antimalware program and a firewall, plus other features such as protection against phishing and scams, spam filtering, parental controls, and Website filtering. Some suites also bundle system tune-up tools. Prices typically run about $50 to $70 for a one-year, one-PC subscription. Take a look at the best Internet security suites.

Comcast Hackers Sentenced 11/25/2009

Three hackers have been indicted for redirecting the Comcast.net Web site to a page of their own making in 2008.

Senate Goes After Membership Clubs 11/24/2009

The U.S. Congress needs to take action to protect consumers tricked into signing up for membership clubs that charge a monthly fee when they buy products or services from other Web sites, the chairman of a U.S. Senate committee said Tuesday. Many legitimate Web sites selling items such as flowers or airline tickets have partnered with companies that lure consumers into signing up for monthly payments after being promised cash-back rewards, said Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

Security Vulnerabilities 11/23/2009

Two-thirds of the sites that tend to care most about security still have serious unfixed vulnerabilities, according to an analysis from web security firm WhiteHat Security. The statistics from WhiteHats report, released today, cover vulnerabilities found in custom Web applications on 1,364 different Web sites. That number is only a small fraction of the number of sites online, but it represents those companies that have contracted with WhiteHat for additional security scanning, and therefore likely care more about security flaws than the average Web site. Historically, 83 percent of the sites WhiteHat looks at have had a serious vulnerability at some point, according to WhiteHat founder Jeremiah Grossman. Currently, 64 percent still have at least one flaw. These numbers represent flaws in custom apps the companies make themselves, and not basic security holes resulting from a missing operating system or Web server patch, for instance.

The Internet Achilles Heel 11/21/2009

THE internet is an amazing productivity tool for sending documents but security has long been its achilles heel. Which is why a plethora of security solutions have been pursued with varying levels of success. Small Sydney software company Cocoon Data is now making big strides in protecting data sent on the internet with numerous applications across the law, banking, medical records, media and the military.

Computer Security is A Social Issue 11/20/2009

Computer security is not just a cyber or technical issue but has become a social issue.

7 Deadly Internet Sins 11/19/2009

To avoid a scary experience on the Internet, computer security company Symantec is advising people to avoid the Seven Deadly Sins of Internet Security to keep their PCs, cash and their personal identities safe. David Freer, vice-president of Symantec Consumer Business, Asia Pacific and Japan, says there are simple steps people can take to protect themselves, but often people don’t follow this advice.

Internet Firm In Trouble Over Giveaway 11/18/2009

French authorities planned legal action against an Internet company yesterday after it organised a cash giveaway in Paris that turned into a security nightmare when thousands of people showed up. The Rentabiliweb firm was forced to cancel the publicity event advertised on its Mailorama site when a crowd of about 7,000 gathered near the Eiffel Tower on Saturday, several thousand more than expected.

Uncensored Internet Is Healthy 11/17/2009

President Barack Obama gave China a pointed, unexpected nudge to stop censoring the Internet access of its own people, offering an animated defense of the tool that helped him win the White House — and telling his tightly controlled hosts not to be wary of a little criticism.

Verisign 11/16/2009

VeriSign, Inc the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure for the networked world, announced its strategic approach for working with the Internet community to deploy DNS Security Extensions in the .com and .net Top Level Domain Names TLDs. Through a collaborative industry-wide effort, VeriSign, and the ICANN and business communities can play a part in helping to protect the Internets Domain Name System DNS from man in the middle and cache poisoning attacks.

FDA Safety Logo 11/15/2009

A drug industry group on Monday urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to adopt a universal safety symbol for Internet content containing FDA-approved information about a medicine or medical device. The proposal from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which represents some of the biggest drug makers in the world, came ahead of an FDA public meeting this week on how FDA-regulated prescription drugs and medical devices are promoted in social media and on the Internet.

China Upset with Yahoo 11/14/2009

A Chinese government watchdog has ordered Yahoo China to clean pornographic content from a photo-sharing site it hosted, a reminder of the regulatory challenges often faced by foreign Internet companies in China. The government-linked Internet Society of China on Friday said Yahoo China and other local Web sites had violated social morals by allowing porn to appear on their domains.

Virus Damages Reputations 11/13/2009

Of all the sinister things that Internet viruses do, this might be the worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography. Heinous pictures and videos can be deposited on computers by viruses — the malicious programs better known for swiping your credit card numbers. In this twist, it is your reputation that's stolen. Pedophiles can exploit virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash without fear they will get caught. Pranksters or someone trying to frame you can tap viruses to make it appear that you surf illegal Web sites.

Cuban Blogger 11/12/2009

A Cuban blogger who has gained international attention for her searing commentary about life on the communist island said she was briefly detained Friday and warned by state security agents about her opposition activity.

DC Security Conference 11/11/2009

The suspected Fort Hood shooter has participated in homeland security conferences since 2008 at George Washington University while based in the Washington area. Most recently, Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan was listed as an attendee in January for a conference on new security priorities for the Obama administration.

Base Security 11/10/2009

One day after a shooter opened fire at Fort Hood, Army Chief of Staff George W. Casey Jr. ordered a review of all force protection policies at Army bases worldwide.

Security Flaw 11/09/2009

An unusual cloak-and-dagger operation being run by internet security experts has been exposed this week, after details of a flaw in the SSL protocol were made public. The problem with the Secure Sockets Layer standard that keeps e-commerce websites, mail servers and more safe from attack was first discovered in August by a phone-security firm called PhoneFactor.

Internet Voting Insecure 11/06/2009

An Internet security expert says there's no way Internet voting can reliably replace paper ballots to ease the expense of election day. John Hopkins University computer science professor Avi Rubin spoke one day after Lake County, Ind., sat out a transit referendum because county commissioners did not have a spare half million dollars to fund the election. Professor Rubin says there are several problems with Internet voting. He says voters do not know if their votes have been counted, if the vote was private, if others cast votes in the name of someone else.

Non Latin Internet 11/05/2009

The Internet is set to undergo one of the biggest changes in its four-decade history with the expected approval this week of international domain names — or addresses — that can be written in non-Latin script, an official said Monday.

School Safety 11/04/2009

The internet is an information superhighway that has completely changed the way schools teach. But for students, that unlimited access can often become overwhelming — and even dangerous. A local school district is taking more steps to ensure that the learning environment remains safe while giving students opportunities to search the web. At a public hearing earlier this week at the Bell County Board of Education building in Pineville, David Smith, Chief Information Officer for the Bell County School District, spoke about updates the board has taken to ensure internet safety.

Illegal Windows 7 11/03/2009

Microsoft issued a friendly reminder in a blog post earlier this week that if you installed Windows 7 on a blank hard drive using an upgrade disc, your Windows installation is illegal.

Gizodo Malware 11/02/2009

Popular US gadget blog Gizmodo apologized to its readers on Tuesday after being duped by malware masquerading as an advertisement. Guys, I am really sorry but we had some malware running on our site in ad boxes for a little while last week on Suzuki ads, Gizmodo editorial director Brian Lam said in a message at Gizmodo.com. They somehow fooled our ad sales team through an elaborate scam, he said.

Blackwater Needs Security 10/30/2009

Lawyers for five former Blackwater contractors facing manslaughter charges over an alleged massacre in Iraq are demanding that the U.S. government arrange armed security for the defense team as it heads into the dangerous streets of Baghdad to gather evidence and interview witnesses. The Obama administration could soon face a stark choice: Order U.S. commanders in Iraq to give the defense attorneys a military escort for their trip, or throw into jeopardy the prosecution of one of the worst alleged atrocities of the Iraq war.

Securing Information 10/29/2009

More Australians would be happy to offer their fingerprints to prove their identity as concerns over internet security rise, a poll shows. Increasing use of the internet for banking and shopping online has led to a 15-point rise in fears over protection of information, the Unisys Security Index survey of about 1200 people found, The Courier-Mail reports. Of those, 92 per cent supported fingerprint scans, while 86 per cent backed the use of iris scans.

Cable Modem Security Hole 10/28/2009

A blogger helping to tune a friends wi-fi network uncovered a gaping security hole in Wi-Fi cable modem routers installed in 64,000 Time Warner subscribers homes, leaving them open to attack.

China Preparing for CyberWar 10/27/2009

Looking to gain the upper hand in any future cyber conflicts, China is probably spying on U.S. companies and government, according to a report commissioned by a Congressional advisory panel monitoring the security implications of trade with China. The report outlines the state of Chinas hacking and cyber warfare capabilities, concluding that China is likely using its maturing computer network exploitation capability to support intelligence collection against the U.S. government and industry by conducting a long term, sophisticated computer network exploitation campaign.

Security PowerPoint Templates for Presentations 10/26/2009

Use a security PowerPoint Template for presentations about security!

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