Robert Lemos

Free apps are far more likely to track users’ locations and access their address books, behavior that companies should take into account when crafting policies to handle employees who bring their own devices into work, Juniper Networks stated in a report released Oct. 31. For the report, the company scanned Google Play and other popular […]

The theft of approximately 3.6 million Social Security numbers and information on 387,000 credit and debit card accounts is yet another reminder that all IT operations should lock down their sensitive data by segmenting their networks, using better access controls, and regularly performing vulnerability assessments, security experts said. On Oct. 26, the South Carolina Department […]

As Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system launches Oct. 26, the company will not be making a great leap forward in securing the desktop against attackers, but a number of baby steps will help make users more secure, say security experts. Unlike the major security improvements in Windows Vista and Windows 7, in the latest release, […]

Different industries need to worry about attackers taking different tactics to compromise their systems and steal data, according to five new analyses of data from Verizon’s annual Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). The financial industry, for instance, has to worry more about targeted attacks that are looking to steal money from bank accounts, while health […]

Attackers are continuing to focus more heavily on mobile devices, and in particular those running Google’s Android operating system, posting 175,000 malicious or suspicious programs to app stores, according a report published by security firm Trend Micro on Oct. 22. The activity in the third quarter is a steep increase from the previous quarter when […]

Attacks exploiting unreported vulnerabilities, commonly called zero-day attacks, are both more numerous and more stealthy than previously thought, according to an academic paper released this week by two researchers at security firm Symantec. Using data from millions of actual computer systems, the researchers found evidence of 18 zero-day attacks that occurred in the last four […]

In the past year, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks have nearly doubled in frequency and more than tripled in size, according to the latest quarterly report released by network-attack mitigation firm Prolexic. In September and October, massive floods of data exceeding 70G bps and coming from servers compromised with the “itsoknoproblembro” denial-of-service toolkit targeted financial institutions, […]

The cyber-espionage tools, Flame and Gauss, are not alone in targeting Middle Eastern firms and government agencies. Security firm Kaspersky has found a third program linked to the two spy tools, this time focused on stealing data from and providing access to the computer systems of high-profile targets in the Middle East, the company stated […]

Capitol One and SunTrust Banks have become the latest targets of hackers who have leveled attacks at U.S. financial institutions in alleged retaliation for the posting of a movie on YouTube that has offended some Muslims. On Oct. 8, a group calling itself the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters posted a message on Pastebin stating […]

A report by a Google researcher has connected commercially-made malware with attacks on Middle East dissidents, an increasingly common occurrence that has fueled controversy over the selling and buying of information on software flaws. A human-rights activist based in the United Arab Emirates has become the latest victim of such an attack, this time using […]