Security
Port
A Security Port Blog
McAfee and SiteAdvisor |
05/31/2006 | |
A few weeks ago, the
otherwise-conservative security firm McAfee shocked many
by paying $70 million for a startup, SiteAdvisor, that
was less than a year old, had barely 15 employees, and a
product that had been in the market for only about four
months.
What made SiteAdvisor so
valuable was its idea: the company scanned the links
thrown up by search engines like Google and Yahoo,
checked them for malware, and marked out the ones that
could be dangerous. SiteAdvisor then displayed the
safety ratings right next to each search result in real
time.
SiteAdvisor's idea isn't unique. The company already
has competitors. On Monday, U.K.-based security firm
ScanSafe, released a similar product called Scandoo.
When the search page loads, Scandoo looks through all
the results and offers a threat rating as well as a
definition of the link.
SiteAdvisor
Purchase
|
Rebuilding Security Forces |
05/31/2006 | |
Australia must now plan to take a
leading role in helping East Timor to rebuild its
shattered security forces. The tragedy of the
past few days has starkly revealed the failure of the
fledgling nation's security institutions.
The police force has
disintegrated, the prisons are unguarded, the judiciary
has ceased to function and criminal gangs roam the
streets of Dili.
Rebuild Security Forces
|
Tony
Blair On Security |
05/30/2006 | |
There is universal agreement now that
that the characteristic of the modern world is
interdependence. But we haven’t yet had time to think
through its consequences or understood that the
international rule book has been ripped up.
Interdependence — the fact of a
crisis somewhere becoming a crisis everywhere — makes
a mockery of traditional views of national interest.
Nations, even as large and powerful as the USA, are now
affected profoundly and at breakneck speed by events
beyond their borders.
Complete
Article
|
Security Solutions |
05/30/2006 | |
Finding the balance between George
Orwell's 1984 and assuredness that your privacy is
protected, has become a more difficult balance with the
emergence of new technologies.
Finding the Right Security
Solutions
|
AusCERT Protecting
Infrastructure |
05/30/2006 | |
Computer security outfit AusCERT will hire
additional staff after being handed an expanded role in
helping protect critical federal government IT
infrastructure.
AusCERT general manager Graham
Ingram said a landmark agreement with the
Attorney-General's Department would lead to a bigger
workload and a fatter budget.
|
BSA
Wants Stricter Piracy Penalties |
05/30/2006 | |
Twenty-seven per cent of PC software
used in the UK is illegal, according to the Business
Software Alliance. That is exactly the same figure that
it revealed last year, so it now wants stiffer penalties
from the Government in the hope of cutting the
rate.
The BSA released its 2005
Global Piracy Study, which was conducted by the IDC, on
Tuesday. It showed that the piracy rate has not moved
since 2004 and reckons the losses to software publishers
in the UK amount to more than $1.8 billion, the fifth
highest total in the world.
|
Symantec is Flawed |
05/29/2006 | |
Symantec's leading anti-virus software,
which protects some of the world's largest corporations
and U.S. government agencies, suffers from a flaw that
lets hackers seize control of computers to steal
sensitive data, delete files or implant malicious
programs, researchers said
Thursday.
Symantec said it was
investigating the issue but could not immediately
corroborate the vulnerability. If confirmed, the threat
to computer users would be severe because the security
software is so widely used, and because no action is
required by victims using the latest versions of Norton
Anti-virus to suffer a crippling attack over the
Internet.
Symantec is
Flawed?
|
Phishing Arrests |
05/29/2006 | |
More than 565 people on three continents
have been arrested over the past year as part of an
international operation targeting mass-marketing fraud
schemes, according to the U.S. Justice
Department.
Phishing
Arrests
|
Motion Picture Association of America
Sued for Hacking |
05/28/2006 | |
The Motion Picture Association of
America has been sued by Valence Media, parent company
of the TorrentSpy search engine, over its employment of
a person to steal private information from
them.
Attorneys for TorrentSpy said
in the suit the MPAA paid $15,000 to an unnamed
"informant" who entered their computer systems without
authorization to collect information on TorrentSpy for
his employer.
MPAA Sued
|
Gmail Users Locked Out of
Email! |
05/28/2006 | |
Google said it is "working to resume
normal service soon" for Google Mail after a number of
users of the e-mail service were left without access.
The search giant on Thursday confirmed the
outage after some people complained they couldn't access
their e-mail accounts. Problems were also reported with
Google Desktop.
Complete
Article
|
New
Security Portal Focuses on Information |
05/23/2006 | |
Security Port is an innovative web site
that provides news, resources and information about
critical security issues. The new site located at http://www.security-port.com/ makes it
easy for individuals searching for security solutions
and information. Security Port helps users locate the
latest security news and technology in one convenient
location.
Security industry professionals and
consumers can visit http://www.security-port.com/ and
browse a large directory of security resources.
Information contained in the Security Port web site
covers a wide range of security alerts, and warning
subjects. Items such as security forums, security
newsletters and security software are just a few of the
topics covered. Each topic contains manufacturer links
and brief descriptions. The software titles are
specifically related to updates, alerts and warnings on
security issues.
Security industry professionals
and consumers can visit http://www.security-port.com/
and browse a large directory of security resources.
Information contained in the Security Port web site
covers a wide range of security alerts, and warning
subjects. Items such as security forums, security
newsletters and security software are just a few of the
topics covered. Each topic contains manufacturer links
and brief descriptions. The software titles are
specifically related to updates, alerts and warnings on
security issues.
|
Academic Security Paper |
05/24/2006 | |
In an academic paper to be presented
next month at the University of Cambridge in England, a
research team will make a compelling and somewhat
surprising mathematical case for how enterprises should
spend their IT security budgets.
The three researchers, from the
Florida Atlantic University in Orlando, looked at how
companies can evaluate their vulnerabilities, analyze
the risk and calculate the potential for damage.
The paper, called "Economics of
Information Security Investment in the Case of
Simultaneous Attacks" breaks threats into two
categories
Complete
Article
|
Computer Security Molded After Human
Immune Response |
05/23/2006 | |
The way the body's immune system responds
when its cells are under attack has inspired a new way
of protecting computer networks from viruses and
hackers.
An intrusion detection system for
networks that listens for distress signals from besieged
computers is being developed by a team led by computer
scientist Uwe Aickelin at the University of Nottingham
in the UK. It is designed to offer networks better
protection from the ravages of email viruses and denial
of service attacks, and in tests has already defended a
network against simulated hacker attacks.
Computer Security
|
Computer Security Survival
Guide |
05/23/2006 | |
New threats to your computer
infrastructure emerge every day. Baseline's Security
Survival Guide provides tips and techniques to help you
safeguard your organization.
Computer Security Survival
Guide
|
Technology Has Uneven Record on
Securing Border |
05/22/2006 | |
Applying lessons the U.S. military has
learned in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Bush administration
is embarking on a multibillion-dollar bid to help secure
the U.S.-Mexican border with surveillance technology --
a strategy that veterans of conflicts abroad say will be
more difficult than it appears.
One
component of the Strategic Border Initiative provides
the technological underpinning for the bold prediction
by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that the
United States will gain control of the Mexican border
and the Canadian border in as little as three
years.
Complete
Article
|
RFID
to Track People |
05/22/2006 | |
The Department of Homeland Security's
Privacy Office has issued a draft report that strongly
criticizes privacy and security risks of using radio
frequency identification devices for human
identification. Public comment on the paper is being
taken until May 22.
The privacy
office says the technology offers little performance
benefit for identification purposes compared with other
methods and could turn the government's identification
system into a surveillance system.
RFID to Track
People
|
iPods a Security Threat? |
05/21/2006 | |
The Inquirer is concerned that those
sneaky Chinese could use the fact that they make most of
the world's iPods to help roll out their plans for world
domination.
Since the US State
Department wants to ban Lenovo PCs which are made in
China, because they may contain spyware, we feel it our
duty to alert the world to the potential threat of the
iPod.
Complete Article
|
Tyco
Recalls Smoke Detectors |
05/21/2006 | |
The smoke detectors could experience
reduced sensitivity to smoke in conditions of high
humidity and high temperature. If this occurs, these
detectors could delay detecting the presence of smoke in
the event of a fire.
|
Security Alert in Delhi |
05/19/2006 | |
In a late development on Tuesday, the
Delhi Police sounded an alert in and around the US
embassy after a tip-off from Intelligence Bureau (IB)
that American diplomats are likely to be targeted by an
Islamic group based in Ramallah, West Bank.
Complete Security
Article
|
China Tightening Online
Security |
05/18/2006 | |
China will improve a supervision system
over its Internet security by developing and adopting
new technologies, Xi Guohua, vice minister of
information industry, said Wednesday at a conference
marking the 38th World Telecommunications Day.
China faces severe security problems in Internet
information, and the country will enhance its protection
system of information security and build backup
information copies in case of emergency and disaster.
|
Cyber Security Threats Looming |
05/19/2006 | |
Attacks on U.S. computer networks could
escalate from mere inconveniences to disasters that ruin
companies or even kill people, according to the head of
a cyber-security unit working with the U.S.
government.
Scott Borg, director of
the Cyber Consequences Unit, or CCU, a Department of
Homeland Security advisory group, said increasing
intelligence "chatter" was pointing to possible criminal
or terrorist schemes to destroy physical infrastructure
such as power grids.
Complete
Article
|
Privacy vs Domestic Security |
05/18/2006 | |
For years, Britain has run computer
analyses on millions of domestic phone calls to hunt
terrorists, a national security consultant points out.
But then, Britain doesn't have a Bill of
Rights.
That helps explain the budding
controversy in this country over new disclosures that
the National Security Agency has similarly amassed tens
of millions of domestic phone call records of ordinary
Americans.
Privacy Issue vs Domestic
Security
|
Liberty Versus Security |
05/17/2006 | |
Comment collection regarding the NSA's
collection of phone records of US
citizens.
|
Google Information Collection a Cause
for Concern |
05/16/2006 | |
Anti-Google sentiment is on the rise. Web
pundits have tossed around monopoly theories and privacy
advocates have warned of a day of reckoning. While
Google has made friends on Wallstreet, it has
disappointed the technical evangelists who were once its
fiercest followers. Google has grown into a big scary
company and web watchers are expressing their concerns
about the information Google gleans from their various
services.
Google Privacy
Concerns
|
Proposal for National Security
Court |
05/15/2006 | |
Columnist Glenn Sulmasy, a professor of
the law at the US Coast Guard Academy, says it's time
for US military commissions to evolve and morph into a
national security court appropriate to handle the
international jihadist threat.
The
Global War on Terror has created ambiguities in both the
laws of armed conflict and how best to fight the new war
of the 21st century. The asymmetric threat of terrorism
itself, no defined nation state to fight against, the
relative problems with the Military Commissions in
Guantanamo Bay (GITMO), allegations of torture and the
recent constitutional issues surrounding wiretap efforts
of the National Security Agency all highlight the lack
of appropriate laws to govern this new conflict. Nowhere
is this ambiguity more evident than in the United
States’ handling of detainees.
Complete
Article
|
Increase in Nations Defense |
05/14/2006 | |
Australia will spend more money on the
nation's defense and anti-terror war under the budget
for the 2006-07 financial year announced
Tuesday.
Defense budget for 2006-07 will be 19.6
billion dollars, rising 12 percent over that in the
previous year. |
RCN
Statement on Alleged National Security Agency's
Warrantless Surveillance Program |
05/14/2006 | |
We are committed to the privacy and
confidentiality of our customers' personally
identifiable information. RCN maintains a privacy policy
under which RCN does not disclose such information
unless disclosure is required by legal process," said
Richard Ramlall, RCN's Senior Vice President, Strategic
& External
Affairs.
|
Security Risks of Stolen
Notebooks |
05/14/2006 | |
With businesses relying more on laptops
and mobile technology, more and more sensitive
information is leaving the office, often unprotected.
And when a laptop is lost or stolen, it's not
only an inconvenience but potentially a security breach.
|
Windows Security Market |
05/12/2006 | |
Know that thriving US$3.6 billion
Windows security software market? You know, the one
dominated by the likes of Norton and McAfee? It's about
to get beat up, kicked to the ground, and have its lunch
money taken, or such is the tone of a report by the
Yankee Group. The analyst firm believes that Microsoft's
next OS is going to take a bite out of existing
market.
Complete
Article
|
Ultralight Causes Security
Concerns |
05/12/2006 | |
Two French adventurers in an ultralight
plane touched off a security scare last week when they
flew across the Florida Straits from Cuba and made an
unauthorized landing in Key West.
Agents from the
Border Patrol, Customs and the FBI rushed to the Florida
Keys tourist town's airport with lights flashing when
the tiny, zebra-striped two-seater touched down.
|
Turkey Taking Charge of
Security |
05/12/2006 | |
Turkey will take the necessary measures
to not permit any other country to handle its security,
said Namik Tan, Turkish Foreign Ministry
spokesman.
Tan’s weekly news
briefing touched upon the Turkish military’s
preparations along the Eastern and Southeastern borders
of Turkey.
|
Security Beefed Up |
05/11/2006 | |
Security officials in Germany are bracing
for two very different threats when more than a million
people stream into 12 German cities in less than a month
for the soccer World Cup.
|
US
Team Bus Without Flag for Security Reasons |
05/10/2006 | |
The official team bus to be used by the
United States during the World Cup will not bear a flag
for security reasons.
|
Security Breaches |
05/10/2006 | |
A leading fraud investigator has said
the retailer at the centre of a recent credit card
details security breach cover-up should definitely
disclose details of the breach and admit what has
occurred.
And it's a view shared by
the heads of IT at a number of
organisations.
Bryan Sartin, VP
investigative response at Cybertrust, has worked on many
large security breaches and this week told silicon.com
companies rarely make the right decision when they
decide to hide what has happened, adding "the damage is
tremendous" when that decision backfires.
Security
Breaches
|
Apple Users Complacent About
Security |
05/09/2006 | |
A new report from US security firm McAfee
has suggested that Apple users are complacent about
security.
McAfee's Avert Labs said that Macintosh
platform vulnerability discovery rates have increased by
228 per cent in the past three years alone, from 45 in
2003 to 143 in 2005, compared to Microsoft's products
which saw only a 73 per cent increase.
|
Middle East Security Concerns |
05/08/2006 | |
Hamas's new security force is expected to
start operating in the Gaza Strip next week, sources in
the Palestinian Authority Interior Ministry said on
Saturday.
Meanwhile, Hamas leaders warned over
the weekend of a new intifada and said they would "chop
off" the head of anyone who works to bring down their
cabinet.
Complete
Article
|
Security Succession |
05/08/2006 | |
The nomination of Gen. Michael V. Hayden
to take over the CIA would trigger a fresh battle over
the secret warrantless surveillance program he oversaw
on behalf of President Bush, a debate that could help
shape the contours of the fall midterm congressional
elections, officials in both parties said
yesterday.
Complete
Article
|
Google Profitted From Child
Porn |
05/07/2006 | |
A Long Island politician who describes
himself as a "quality of life guy'' on his Web site
filed a lawsuit Thursday claiming the Google search
engine company is profiting from child
pornography.
"This case is about a multi-billion
dollar company that promotes and profits from child
pornography,'' said a 16-page complaint filed in state
Supreme Court in Mineola by Jeffrey Toback, a member of
the Nassau County Legislature.
Complete
Article
|
Cool
Vendor for Internet Security |
05/07/2006 | |
Prevx, a leading developer of Intrusion
Prevention technologies, has been named a 2006 Cool
Vendor in Gartner's March 2006 Security and Privacy
report for its ability to detect and defend against
new and prevalent Internet security threats.
|
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