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Zeus variants are back with a vengeance
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Scanner identifies malware strains, could be future of AV
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AusCERT 2013: Visibility critical when selling IT security to execs, says Foxtel CSO
Everybody owns [infrastructure] when they don’t want you to touch it, but nobody owns it when it’s their bum on the line if things go wrong
Building on the MSS relationship not only allows Foxtel to be more proactive in maintaining its security posture, but supports interactions with executives who are less concerned with technical minutiae but think of IT security in terms of business risk.
Analysis of internal cost-recovery claims is a great way to marry IT-security activity to potential business change: once the IT staff know which business units are paying for what systems and services, it’s much easier to know how any potential security issue will affect which parts of the business. Everybody owns it when they don’t want you to touch it, but nobody owns it when it’s their bum on the line if things go wrong.”
Shaw has often found it’s easier for an internal security organisation to get leverage with other business units by handballing the bad news to the MSS: “it’s always effective bringing in external parties to talk to your executives,” he laughed. “Your executives are not going to give you budget unless you can marry together the value from MSS, actionable intelligence – unless you can demonstrate the value to the business and where the business is trying to go.
Malware fight goes public on the web
Formed in 2005 to help address the problem of compromised computers – sometimes referred to as bots, or drones – connected to the internet, AISI collects data from various sources on devices exhibiting odd bot-like behaviour on Australian IP addresses.
The detailed statistics on malware infections show that on average during this financial year about 16,500 malware reports have been provided to AISI participants each day – representing what the authority says is a “significant level of malware” affecting Australians.
“Once infected with malware, a user’s personal identity information can be stolen and their infected computing device used to harm and infect other internet users,” said Richard Bean, the authority’s deputy chairman. “Just as the internet increasingly provides rapid access to information about news, events and the activities of friends and family, it should also enable Australians to quickly get information about online risks and threats such as malware infections.”
The authority said the most prevalent infection type currently being reported are numerous variants of Zeus, which is primarily used for banking fraud, and, among other things, can intercept and modify an infected user’s online banking transactions.
Link: http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/malware-fight-goes-public-on-the-web-20130522-2k036.html
Twitter steps up security with two-factor authentication option
Jim O’Leary from Twitter’s product security team acknowledged in a blog post on Wednesday that “even with this new security option turned on, it’s still important for you to use a strong password and follow the rest of our advice for keeping your account secure.”
Some of the more recent and widely-reported attacks have hit targets ranging from The White House to the Associated Press to more than 250,000 users at large earlier this year.
At the end of April, the San Francisco-based private company penned a memo to news media outlets warning that such cyber attacks would continue.
In regards to the media, Twitter added at the time that most of the security breaches appeared to be “spear phishing attacks” targeting corporate email.