Cyber Security Institute
Monday, February 28, 2005
Spam Could Cost Businesses Worldwide $50 Billion
Spam will cost the world $50 billion in lost productivity and other expenses this year, according to a new report issued by Ferris Research.
Costa Rica May Criminalize VoIP
The growing surge in international VoIP calls has caused the state-owned telecommunications monopoly in Costa Rica to propose legislation that could criminalize the use of Internet telephone calls.
Cisco Jump-Starts Wi-Fi
Cisco Systems Inc. is moving ahead with plans to add Wi-Fi capabilities to its router and switch products.This summer the San Jose, Calif., networking company will introduce a WLAN (wireless LAN) radio module for its family of branch-office routers, said sources close to the company.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
U.K. to issue public virus alerts
The British government has created a Web site with virus alerts and security advice for home PC users and small businesses.
China Walks Out Of Wireless LAN Security Talks
China walked out of a wireless standards meeting this week, accusing the International Organization for Standardization of favoritism.
Banks ordered to tell customers about breaches
Four federal finance agencies have issued rules that force banks to tell customers when their personal data has been exposed.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Superficial Security
Too many organizations deploy security technologies because they feel they have to, yet they often leave them so poorly configured that they do more harm than good.
Four passwords needed to foil hackers
Every computer user should have at least four different types of password to securely access websites and work systems, according to the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).
You Are Your Worst Security Liability
While IT managers scramble to buy products to guard against external threats, they’re ignoring the enemy within: Their own errors in setting up network security.
Spyware Has Become Corporate Scourge: Report
Forrester says infection level will reach 25%; 65% of companies plan to invest in new and upgraded anti-spyware tools this year.
Monday, February 21, 2005
New cyber security protocol for online banking, and more
A new security approach could improve safeguarding of credit card numbers, bank passwords and other sensitive information for those who surf the Internet using wireless connections, researchers told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)on Saturday.
IT administrators told to get hacking
The best way for IT administrators to test their systems is by using hacking tools against them, according to a leading security specialist.
Online dangers increase
Antivirus firm McAfee has released the results of its study into “virtual criminology”, identifying changing patterns of IT crime and weaknesses that criminal gangs can exploit.
Saturday, February 19, 2005
PGP moving to stronger SHA Algorithm
PGP Corporation is planning to migrate to a more secure version of the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) in the upcoming releases of its PGP Desktop and PGP Universal encryption solutions.
Friday, February 18, 2005
Security Is Growing As A Senior-Management Priority
A survey by the Business Software Alliance and Information Systems Security Association found that 44% of companies now consider security a senior-management priority, compared with 39% in 2003.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
RSA: Microsoft on ‘rootkits’: Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Microsoft security researchers are warning about a new generation of powerful system monitoring programs, or “rootkits,” that are almost impossible to detect using current security products and that could pose a serious risk to corporations and individuals.
Clarke rips Microsoft over security
Don’t expect Richard Clarke to rely on Microsoft Corp.‘s anti-virus or anti-spyware programs to protect his own computer.
Warning on hard drives’ security
Organisations are failing to remove important information from computer hard drives when they dispose of them, researchers are warning.
Chinese researchers compromise SHA-1 hashing algorithm
A team of three Chinese researchers have compromised the SHA-1 hashing algorithm at the core of many of today’s mainstream security products.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
IE 7.0 Leaves Windows 2000 Users Out in the Cold
After months of hemming and hawing on plans for a standalone Internet Explorer upgrade before Longhorn, Microsoft Corp. now plans to push out a browser refresh by July or August this year. But the news that IE 7.0 will be available only to Windows XP SP2 (Service Pack 2) customers isn’t likely to sit well with security experts who argue that the threat from the Firefox browser is at the center of Microsoft’s aggressive anti-spyware and anti-virus plans.
Security firms show united front
With an eye to guiding companies on which software problems to patch first, Cisco, Symantec and Qualys plan to launch a joint grading system for security vulnerabilities.
Cisco set on security spending spree
Networking giant Cisco Systems plans a rapid increase in security buys and partnerships, as it seeks to offer products that can defend against the latest threats.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Cybersecurity: It’s Dollars and Sense
Cybersecurity: It’s Dollars and Sense Few CEOs grasp the case for investing in safeguards against hackers, worms, and the like.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Study: Anti-spyware market to boom in 2005
This may be a good year to be an anti-spyware vendor.
Cisco readies security product blitz
Cisco is preparing to announce a major overhaul of its security portfolio, with upgrades to several of its existing products.
Where the Metrics are
It’s not good enough to maintain a quiet, reliable security service until something goes wrong. And metrics can provide the hard numbers and context on the performance of the security function, proving that nothing happening was the direct result of an effective security management program.
MasterCard turns to text to foil fraudsters
MasterCard is trialling a new system to try to cut fraud - by adding mobile text messaging to the security mix.
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
Case Study: Virtual Patches Defend Web Applications
How can a company protect its all-Microsoft application infrastructure against unknown attacks? That was the problem faced by Baker Hill, a software company and application service provider (ASP) that provides loan-origination services.
Phones, Car Engines Face Security Threats—Report
Daily computer security headaches such as viruses and spam threaten to spread to a far wider range of devices—- from phones to car engines, a survey to be published by IBM has found.
Trojan attacks Microsoft’s anti-spyware
Virus writers have created a malicious program that can disable Microsoft’s new anti-spyware application, security experts warned on Wednesday.