Fahmida Y. Rashid

Hackers are often perceived as isolated, alienated individuals, working alone or in small groups. In reality, hackers are quite social, frequenting online forums and chat rooms to brag about their exploits, exchange tips and share knowledge, according to a recent analysis of hacker activity. Online forums are critical to the hacking community, and are used […]

The Blackhole exploit kit is increasingly mimicking some of the attack techniques initially popularized by Zeus, AppRiver researchers said. Traditionally used to infect legitimate Websites to launch drive-by-download attacks, Blackhole is beginning to employ mass email and other attack methods used by Zeus and SpyEye crimeware kits, Fred Touchette, senior security analyst for AppRiver, wrote […]

Symantec and Armorize Technologies have teamed up to launch a new cloud-based scanner to find and block malicious advertisements online. Symantec AdVantage will give publishers and site administrators the ability to inspect ads running on their Websites for hidden malware, Symantec and Armorize Technologies said Oct. 17. The service was announced at the Online Trust […]

The week was marked by several service outages. BlackBerry users in Europe, Asia and North America were unable to check their messages over the week as Research In Motion worked to bring all its servers online. RIM claimed it was aware of the problem and was working to resolve it, but didn’t explain what was […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission warned staffers their personal brokerage account information may have been compromised, according to Reuters. The contractor hired to operate the ethics compliance program provided names and account numbers to a subcontractor without permission from the SEC, Thomas Bayer, the regulatory body’s CIO, wrote in a letter to employees Oct. 7. […]

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued some guidelines suggesting that companies should report cyber-incidents that may affect the bottom line. The SEC’s Corporate Finance Division issued the guidance on Oct. 12, explaining how organizations should report any cyber-incidents that could have an adverse effect on their finances or operations. Under current SEC guidelines, companies have […]

The same group that went targeted information belonging to Goldman Sachs CEO and a New York police officer has struck again. Members of “CabinCr3w” posted personal data belonging to The New York Community Bank’s Joseph Ficalora and Kerry Killinger on to Pastebin on Oct. 14. The data dump was in support of protesters at New […]

Know What Your IT-Related Risks Are Every company should conduct an IT risk assessment at least once a year. A thorough IT risk assessment will help identify and prioritize problem areas. Know Where Your IT-Related Risks Are It’s not enough to know “what” the problems are, the “where” is critical, too. A good IT risk […]

Akamai Technologies has introduced new products designed to simplify compliance management and protect organizations from cyber-attacks. The Akamai DDoS Defender is designed to help customers fight off distributed denial-of-service attacks and the Akamai Compliance Management Modules will help customers meet the challenges of ensuring they are compliant with information security standards and regulations. The products […]

The malware that infected the system that controls the United States’ fleet of unmanned aircraft was never a real threat, just a “nuisance,” according to the Air Force. Reports emerged last week of a mysterious keylogger that was found on the systems used by Air Force pilots to communicate with the Predator and Reaper drones. […]