Money in Jobs with Security Clearance 05/28/2009

Companies are cutting jobs or slashing pay to cope with the sagging economy but there is money to be made of you have a government security clearance. ClearanceJobs.com, an online career management resource company, reports workers holding security clearances are enjoying an average pay increase of nearly 2 percent to $73,961.

Invasion of Privacy or Piracy Prevention? 05/27/2009

Software vendors fed up with software piracy have responded by beefing up their licensing and activation procedures, only to have pirates crack their code again. A company called V.i. Laboratories Inc. is proposing a new approach called CodeArmor Intelligence, which embeds stealth algorithms inside programs that phone home with information about the unauthorized usage of software, including their Internet domain and even a company location on a Google Map.

Iowa Women Goes to Prison for Software Piracy 05/26/2009

A federal judge in Madison has sentenced an Iowa woman to prison for pirating software. U.S. Attorney Erik Peterson said Kelly Garcia, 39, of Dubuque, posted online advertisements selling software at reduced rates in March 2003. The Business Software Alliance bought several titles and discovered they were pirated copies of Macromedia software programs. In November 2003, federal investigators searched a home in Boscobel, Wis., where Garcia lived at the time, and uncovered records showing she made about $85,000 selling pirated programs.

Teen Hackers 05/25/2009

One in five teenagers are able to used advanced internet-distributed hacking tools, says Panda Security. Research by the security firm revealed that casual hacking is as much a part of teen life as downloading music to an iPod. Two thirds of those surveyed revealed they had succeeded in hacking instant messaging or social network accounts of people known to them, with 20 percent admitting to having published embarrassing photographs or videos of acquaintances on the internet.

Security Flaws 05/25/2009

Should you use WEP or WPA encryption with your wireless router? WEP is now considered obsolete, as it contains security flaws and is much more easily hacked. It is still used widely, however, because some older devices still do not support WPA. Most recent routers, however, do offer WPA data encryption, which is far more secure.

Facebook Hacker 05/24/2009

Facebook has been working to clean up its site after its 200 million members were targeted by hackers. Facebook spokesperson Barry Schnitt would not comment on how many accounts had been hit but he did confirm it was blocking any that had been compromised.

Craigslist Targeted by District Attorney 05/23/2009

Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster pointed out Saturday there are plenty of places in South Carolina other than his Web site to find prostitution ads and obscene photos, saying in a blog that he wants to know why the states top prosecutor is targeting his company. South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster has threatened to prosecute Craigslist executives for aiding and abetting prostitution if an ad on the Web site leads to a prostitution case in South Carolina. In the post on his companys blog, Buckmaster linked to a publication in Greenville he said has a larger number of adult ads and more explicit content than his Web site. He later updated the post to point out a publication in Charleston that listed 19 adult ads on Friday.

Elliptical Curves May Improve Security 05/22/2009

An approach based on the mathematical theory of elliptic curves may pave the way much more efficient cryptography — which underpins privacy, confidentiality, and identity to provide the fabric for e-commerce and secure communications — that will be capable of strengthening security against cyber crime and any terrorist attacks via the Internet.

Inspected Air Cargo 05/21/2009

Thousands of boxes of Washington cherries will be loaded onto passenger planes in coming weeks, bound for Pacific Rim countries like Japan and Korea. Or so farmers hope. Growers and shippers of highly perishable crops like cherries worry that a new requirement that all cargo on U.S. passenger flights undergo a security scan could create huge delays, leaving crops to rot in hangars as they await inspection.

Swine Flu May Not Be Done 05/20/2009

The World Health Organisation warned on Friday against a false sense of security from waning and apparently mild outbreaks of H1N1 flu, saying the worst may not be over. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, who raised the United Nations agencys pandemic alert to the second-highest level, said there remained great uncertainty about the strain that could pose particular threats in Southeast Asia.

Cybercriminals 05/19/2009

The scale of the threat posed by cybercriminals has been revealed after researchers took over a network of computers for 10 days, gaining unrestricted access to thousands of bank and credit-card accounts. They showed how a botnet, a network of 180,000 compromised or zombie computers, allowed thieves to steal thousands of bank account and credit-card details and computer passwords and to spy on the browsing habits of the users.

US Risks Increasing 05/18/2009

Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he believes the U.S. has become more vulnerable to a potential terrorist attack since the Obama administration took power. Cheney cites interrogation and surveillance policies put in place after the Sept. 11 attacks. He says those policies kept the U.S. safe, but the Obama administration is now critical of them — and raising the possibility of prosecuting government lawyers who signed off on some policies.

Online Trolling Could Result in Jail Time 05/17/2009

A new cyberbullying bill aims to punish those who intend to cause emotional distress online with fines, jail time, or both. The problem—as usual—is the vague language used in the bill, which leaves many critics concerned that it could be used to censor speech on the Internet.

Google Regulation 05/17/2009

Googles unabashed success as an Internet search and advertising juggernaut has placed it in the crosshairs of regulators worried the firm will trample free market competition.

Online Applications Reduce Security 05/16/2009

Bruce Schneier, author and computer security expert, wrote a good reality-check essay on the subject of online privacy, or the lack thereof. In it, he points out how using Webmail or an online document service like Google Docs not only allows for more easily snagging your information, but also severely waters down legal privacy protections. For example, he points out that the courts have ruled that the police can search your data without a warrant, as long as others hold that data. If the police want to read the e-mail on your computer, they need a warrant; but they don't need one to read it from the backup tapes at your ISP.

Must Have Software Applications 05/15/2009

Applications I Can not Live Without! FeedForAll Used daily for updating RSS feeds. The Bat! Used hourly for managing email. FTP Voyager Used for FTPing up new web design layouts and images. Dreamweaver Used for Web Design. MS Office Used for correspondents and administrative tasks. PaintShop Pro Used for graphic editing and image enhancement. RecordForAll Used occasionally for recording audio files for podcasts. RSS Submit Used weekly to submit RSS feeds to RSS directories and search engines. FeedDemon Used to manage reading of RSS feeds on a regular basis. GroupMail Used for sending email newsletters. PDF995 Used regularly for converting documents to PDFs. TNT Screen Capture Used occasionally for capturing screen shots TopStyle Used occasionally for making changes to Cascading Style Sheets -CSS SureThing CD Labler Used occasionally for designing CD inserts and labels. FireFox Used hourly for navigating the web, also use plug-ins for search marketing research.

US Military Cuts a Big Problem 05/14/2009

Last week, the Pentagon embarked on a yearlong review of its strategic priorities. In the months to come, defense officials will be facing some exceptionally painful choices about where to focus their limited resources in the wake of the economic crisis and the ever-rising tab for seven years of war. The Defense Department got used to being on the receiving end of blank checks to fight tough military campaigns on two fronts, but money is tight now. Indeed, budget constraints are making it increasingly difficult for the U.S. military to project power to hot spots around the globe, with an alarming and growing effect on national security, some longtime military analysts say.

Supreme Court Limits Identity Theft 05/13/2009

The Supreme Court on Monday took away one of the governments tools for prosecuting and deporting workers in this country illegally, ruling that the crime of identity theft was limited to those who knew they were using another person's Social Security number. People who use false documents can be jailed, the court said. But they cannot be convicted of the more serious crime of aggravated identity theft without proof that they knew the identification number belonged to someone else, the court ruled unanimously.

European Commission Wants Software Makers Held Liable for Code 05/12/2009

Software companies could be held responsible for the security and efficacy of their products, if a new European Commission consumer protection proposal becomes law. Commissioners Viviane Reding and Meglena Kuneva have proposed that EU consumer protections for physical products be extended to software. The suggested change in the law is part of an EU action agenda put forward by the commissioners after identifying gaps in EU consumer protection rules.

Internet Just Not Safe for Children 05/11/2009

Leaving children unsupervised on the internet is like giving them the keys to a Porsche and letting them loose on the motorway, Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff says. Privacy Awareness Week began yesterday, with events focused on two privacy hotspots: the security of official information and internet awareness for young people. Shroff said cases like that of Kaiapoi man Malcolm Spark who last week was jailed for 2 1/2 years for offences that stemmed from his prowling through internet chatrooms and enticing underage girls into discussions about sex highlighted the dangers the internet posed.

Spammers Attempting to Profit from Flu 05/10/2009

Worried about Swine Flu? If so, do not let your fear and anxiety dupe you into clicking dubious links in emails. Spammers are increasingly using Swine Flu in subject lines and messages to take advantage of people's fears of the rapidly-spreading Influenza strain, according to McAfees Advert Labs Blog.

Swine Flu in 18 Countries 05/09/2009

Doctors have confirmed 898 cases of the H1N1 flu virus in 18 countries and, for the first time, a sick farm worker has infected pigs, according to the World Health Organization. A farm worker who had recently traveled to Mexico has infected a herd of pigs in Alberta, Canada, said Peter Ben Embarek, a food safety scientist at the WHO at press conference Sunday morning. The worker returned to the farm in mid-April and the animals began getting sick eight to 10 days later, Embarek said. The infection was mild, however, and the farm worker and pigs have recovered. The Pan American Health Organization Sunday said there are cases in Colombia, but this in not reflected on the WHO site.

Web 2.0 White House 05/08/2009

The White House took a major leap into the Web 2.0 world, launching pages on social networks MySpace and Facebook and sending its first tweets on hot micro-blogging service Twitter.

Feds Looking to Buy Security 05/07/2009

Among the suggestions for improving federal cyber security that were proposed at a hearing by the Senate Homeland Security Committee Tuesday, one that appeared to garner a fair amount of interest from lawmakers had to do with the use of government buying power to boost security. The suggestion from Alan Paller, director of research at the Bethesda, Md.-based SANS Institute is one that is shared by several others within government and outside it as well. The basic premise is that the government which purchases over $70 billion worth of IT products a year can use its enormous buying power to force vendors to make their products more secure. Most often, cyber criminals and foreign adversaries are able to penetrate systems and networks because of common programming errors and insecure configuration issues that are pretty well understood at this point but which vendors keep repeating all the same in their products. So getting them to fix these issues before they are permitted to sell into government is a surefire way to improve security and reduce costs, says Paller. An example of where this approach has worked is the U.S. Air Force which has deployed over 500,000 desktops with a secure, standard Windows desktop configuration, Paller says.

Sensitive Identifiable Information 05/06/2009

CBS News has learned of another data breach potentially compromising the personal information of thousands of people. Companies Lexis Nexis and Investigative Professionals have notified up to 40,000 people whose sensitive and personally identifiable information may have been viewed by individuals who should not have had access.

Facebook Boosts Security After Dual Phishing Attacks 05/05/2009

Facebook has brought in some soldiers to fight the war against malware and phishing Relevant Products - Services scams on the social-networking site. After two different malware attacks this week, Facebook announced it would begin using San Francisco-based MarkMonitors antifraud services as an additional layer of protection against attacks.

Pros set to Tech Tech Security 05/04/2009

The Department of Homeland Security and several technology giants are launching a nationwide volunteer program to put tech pros in kindergarten through 12th-grade classrooms to make the younger generation aware of Internet dangers.

College Spammers Prosecuted 05/01/2009

Two brothers from Missouri and two of their cohorts have been charged with conspiracy and violations of the CAN-SPAM Act thanks to their $4 million e-mail scheme targeting university and college students across the US. The scheme originated out of the University of Missouri, but the group took numerous measures to obscure the origins of their e-mails.

Send Network Alerts 05/03/2009

Send network alerts to pagers and cell phones immediately.

What is Software Piracy 05/02/2009

Software piracy refers to the unauthorized duplication and use of computer software. Software developers work hard to develop solid software programs. If those applications are pirated and stolen, the software developers will often be unable to generate the revenue required to continue supporting and expanding those applications. The effects of software piracy impact the entire global economy. The reduced revenues often divert funding from product development, and result in less research and less investment in marketing. In 2007, economists indicated that software piracy cost the industry $39.6 billion. What Is Software Piracy?

Software Industry Conference 05/01/2009

The Software Industry Conference is scheduled for July 16-18th, 2009 in Boston MA. Sign-Up now.

Chilling Truths about Internet Drugs 04/30/2009

Headache pills made of rat poison and Viagra made of chalk, the truth about internet drugs. They cause hundreds of thousands of deaths per year.

Security Logos 04/30/2009

Large collection of security logos.

Fighting Cyber Terrorism 04/29/2009

The Pentagon is completing plans for a new military command that would coordinate the security of the nations computer networks. It would also develop new offensive cyber-weapons, U.S. officials said. It comes as hackers, criminals and spies have increased attacks on the countrys utility grids, stock markets, airline systems, military networks and other government computer systems that contain sensitive information.

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