News
Topic: Security
Why a Wyoming bank ditched its big-name security solution for GFI Cloud
Central Bank & Trust in Wymoning thought it was doing things right when it came to security: it invested in a big-name antivirus solution, but some malware snuck by anyway. That's when the bank's one-man IT team, Travis Homi, decided to invest in a cloud-based security service specifically designed with small and midsize businesses in mind to protect the roughly 100 workstations and servers under his watch. (Central Bank & Trust already uses the antivirus options and is adding the Web Protection features to control Internet access on the company's systems.).
How Computer Viruses Can Go Airborne
According to two German scientists, new computer viruses can infect other computers within 60 feet simply by emitting high-frequency sounds. One day Dragos Ruiu noticed that his MacBook Air was behaving like it had a virus. According to Hanspach and Goetz this transmission can take place over a considerable distance: up to 64 feet if both systems are infected.
28 Android security apps tested
The problem of malware on Android is a controversial one: Clearly there is a lot of malware — AV-Test says that in November of this year they received about 6,000 unique samples per day, for a so-far total in 2013 of over 1.5 million — but there isn't as widespread a perception of the need for security products as there is, for instance, on Windows.
The five most dangerous email subjects to watch for
Once clicked upon, the cybercriminal attempts to make consumers input valuable information, such as bank account details or account passwords. From Facebook to Adobe, 2013 has been a tough year for companies looking to defend against cybercrime. In addition, the U.K. has moved up from the sixth spot in 2012, and Russia is hosting more phishing URLs than ever before, being bumped up from the 10th spot last year.
Chinese hackers spied on Europe before G20 Summit, researchers say
Once opened, the emails provided the channel for malicious code to be loaded on to the computers -- which became the conduit for the Chinese hackers to spy on ministry activity. However, FireEye lost its link to the hackers once they shifted their activities to a different server just before the G20 Summit took place in Russia. The firm said it believes the hackers moved the command center as they began preparations to steal data from the compromised systems.
Firefox 26 bumps up security by letting users screen plug-ins
Security In an attempt to improve both security and stability, plug-in software components — such as Java and Apple QuickTime Player — will not load by default. Mozilla has also improved support for web page Content Security Policy, which limits which third parties can run scripts, apply CSS styles and load other content on that page. Developer changes The release continues to implement support for EcmaScript 6, introducing compliant syntax for Generators (yield) and a new mathematical method, Math.fround(), which returns the nearest single precision float representation of a number.
Match Maker: How LiveRamp Activates CRM Data For Marketing ...
Back in August, San Francisco-based LiveRamp released GetOnboard, a CRM "data onboarding" software system designed to bridge the gap between marketers' customer data and their online marketing efforts. We have direct integration to over 60 applications and can push data to whichever ones our customers request, and we typically do it in real time or daily so the data is as useful as possible as quickly as possible. Then we use our match network to connect data from our clients’ files to online devices and browsers.
Google's Compute Engine now ready for business
The Compute Engine promises 24 by seven support and a 99.95 percent monthly SLA for "mission-critical" workloads, the company said, and offers "virtual machines that are performant, scalable, reliable, and offer industry-leading security features like encryption of data at rest.". Google also said it is lowering prices on its "most popular" standard Compute Engine instances by 10 percent in all regions. The price of Persistent Disk is reduced by 60 percent per Gigabyte and the company is also dropping I/O charges, "so that customers get a predictable, low price for their block storage device", the company said.
Cybersecurity in 2014: A roundup of predictions
One of the many signs that the year is drawing to a close is the appearance of predictions for the coming 12 months by security vendors and analysts. Sophisticated threat actors will continue to hide behind traditional mass-market crimeware tools to make identification and attribution hard for network defenders More attack binaries will use stolen or valid code signatures Mobile malware will further complicate the threat landscape Java zero-day exploits may be less prevalent Browser-based vulnerabilities may be more common Malware authors will adopt stealthier techniques for command-and-control (CnC) communications Watering-hole attacks and social media targeting will increasingly supplant spear-phishing emails More malware will fill the supply chain. More details on FireEye's 2014 predictions.
Executive's guide to IT security and risk management (free ebook)
With the explosion of mobile device usage, public cloud services, and social networking — along with emerging technologies such as those built around machine-driven intelligence — the digital world is changing at a breakneck pace. Attack surfaces keep expanding, cybercriminals keep developing new tricks (and new ways to use old tricks), and security professionals are facing a barrage of threats that have outgrown traditional solutions. In a year of high-profile breaches, revelations about the NSA's surveillance practices, and heightened concerns about information privacy, malicious damage, and massive data theft, IT leaders are turning to next-generation tools and strategies to address the latest breed of multifaceted attacks.
Research: 41 percent increasing IT security budget in 2014
Security is always a concern for IT professionals, and media news reports of breaches and leaks, combined with internal threats, have further increased worries. A recent Tech Pro Research survey focused on IT security. Overall, 41 percent of survey respondents said they will increase their IT security budget next year.
IT Security and Risk Management: An overview
In developed countries, it's common for people to use multiple digital devices and live a near-permanently internet-connected life — at home, at work and in transit. The chilling effect: Snowden, the NSA, and IT security Read more. In the past, enterprise security was all about circling the wagons and making sure you only had friendly folks on the inside: firewalls, intrusion prevention systems (IPS) and secure email/web gateways looked after the perimeter, with antivirus software and other endpoint protection solutions providing additional security.