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Finally — a solid measurement of the scale and scope of cyber attacks
September 16, 2009
Metrics precisely quantifying the scale and scope of cybercrime activity have historically been hard to pin down. But now comes a milestone survey, buttressed by another report, that defines the degree to which the Web is infested with malicious code.
The SANS Institute’s report on Top Cyber Risks is by far the most comprehensive accounting of ongoing cyber attacks ever made public. SANS is the well-respected Washington D.C.-based tech security …More
The Internet’s 40th anniversary timeline of milestones
September 2, 2009
The Associated Press and Symantec have each compiled timelines to mark the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Internet. The compilation below begins with LastWatchdog’s description of the current threat landscape. Combined and supplementing the timelines reveal how a military grade experiment, designed with an open architecture that preserves s anonymity, evolved into a global force, embraced with equal fervor by corporations, braggarts and criminals.
Summer of 2009: Bad URLs swamp the Internet. …More
Twitter now using Google filter to block some bad URLs
August 5, 2009
Without much fanfare, Twitter has begun to put up some defenses against malicious web links circulating in Tweets. The social network told veteran security blogger Ryan Naraine, of ThreatPost, that it is now using Google Safe Browsing API to block some bad URLs.
In recent weeks, Twitter has been hit with porn spam, infectious worms that steal data and trigger fake scareware promotions, and phishing attacks.
Twitter’s solution is …More
Bots used in South Korean attacks begin self-destructing
July 10, 2009
The cyber attacks that continue to cut off access to dozens of government and commercial web sites in the U.S. and South Korea has taken a bizarre twist.
Some of the PCs used to carry out attacks on Thursday (July 9th) were freshly botted machines. A botmaster took control of them, probably by tricking the users into clicking on bad URLs sent via email spam, says Vincent …More
Tools to Twitter more safely
July 6, 2009
THE WATCHPOST: The tainting of Twitter
There are tools available that can help you lower your risk of clicking to a corrupted Web link (bad URL) while using Twitter and other popular social networks. They include:
SecureTwitter. This free tool from Israeli security vendor Finjan uses a browser plug-in that alerts users about the safety of URLs that turn up in Tweets and other social net messages.
Twitter attacks are latest refinement of Blackhat SEO trickery
July 6, 2009
No one in the tech security world should be surprised that criminal exploitation of Twitter has commenced in earnest, as I’ve written in this story on page 1B of the July 6th print editions of USA TODAY.
Coding and social engineering techniques that spammers and malware purveyors have been refining and perfecting in the email realm over the past several years couldn’t mesh more smoothly into the world of …More
Scareware attacks spreading to Twitter, Google and legit media websites
June 10, 2009
My USA TODAY cover story on the proliferation of scareware – and the ostentatious profits earned by top scareware affiliates — has struck a nerve.
Readers’ comments include musings about why banks and credit card companies don’t do more to police the online payment systems they supply for use by scareware traffickers. Some consumers bedeviled by obnoxious scareware promos are beginning to wonder why big media websites and the …More
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