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NEWS ABOUT: computer security

69 Nuke Lab Computers Missing

Los Alamos probing thefts; Blackberry lost in 'sensitive foreign country'

(Newser) - The nuclear weapons lab at Los Alamos is trying to find 69 missing computers, including three stolen from a scientist's home and a Blackberry lost in "a sensitive foreign country" in the last two months, reports AP. No classified information was on the computers but they contained names and... More »

New Virus' Worst Punch May Be Yet to Come

(Newser) - The devious worm that has infected up to 9 million personal computers worldwide may be just the first stage of a malicious attack, the New York Times reports. The so-called Conficker or Downadup virus, which exploits a Microsoft Windows vulnerability, pulls infected computers into systems called botnets that can be... More »

Computer Experts: The Bad Guys Are Winning

Security researchers outflanked by well-funded cybercriminals

(Newser) - There's a war on for your computer and the bad guys are winning, the New York Times reports. Malware that stealthily hijacks a computer to send more malware is spreading like wildfire, and efforts to battle the constantly evolving threat often amount to little more than a game of online... More »

The Next Big Viral Thing on Facebook: a Virus

"Koobface" spreads disguised as a friend's message

(Newser) - Once an unfriendly place for spammers and malware, Facebook today is dealing with a virus circulating among its 120 million users, the LA Times reports. “Koobface” comes disguised as a message from a friend with a subject like “You look so amazing funny on our new video,”... More »

Spammers Bounce Back After Host Shutdown

Zombie spam-sending computers reactivated from foreign ISPs

(Newser) - Spammers are surging back onto the Internet again, 2 weeks after being dealt a body blow by a server shutdown, CNET News reports. Spam volumes dived 80% after the California-based McColo hosting firm was pulled offline. They remained flat until a few days ago but have now risen to around... More »

Spam Plummets (for Now) as Big Provider Goes Offline

(Newser) - Notice less spam in your mailbox today? If so, it's because Internet service providers yanked a California outfit offline that had been responsible for sending about 75% of the world's electronic junk mail, reports the Security Fix blog in the Washington Post. The providers—acting on information provided by the... More »

Brits Say Errant Flash Drive Jeopardized Data of 12M

Gov't system shut after find in parking garage

(Newser) - UK ministers shut down a government computer system after a memory stick containing sensitive personal data was found in a parking garage, reports the Daily Mail. The government insists the system hasn’t been breached, but an expert says the blunder jeopardizes the security of 12 million people. “The... More »

Microsoft Releases Emergency Security Patch

Unplanned patch addresses critical weakness

(Newser) - Microsoft has discovered a Windows security vulnerability dangerous enough that it's released an “out-of-cycle” security patch for the first time since April 2007, reports the Tech Herald. The weakness could allow a computer worm to spread malware around networks. More »

Accused Palin Hacker Pleads Not Guilty

David Kernell free for now but faces up to 5 years in prison

(Newser) - A Tennessee college student has been indicted on charges of hacking into Sarah Palin's email account and posting private info online, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. David Kernell, the 20-year-old son of state Democratic Rep. Michael Kernell, pleaded not guilty. His trial is set for Dec. 16; he's free until... More »

Fake Pop-Ups Dupe Most Users, Study Says

(Newser) - Malware makers love to create fake error-message popups, but surely those are obvious ploys that no one falls for, right? Wrong, Ars Technica reports. Psychology researchers recently tested a group of college students with a series of fake popups, each laden with what should have been warning signs. The students... More »

US Surfers Get Biggest Bite of Spam

McAfee experiment reveals how quickly e-junk proliferates and other fun stuff

(Newser) - Internet users in the US get the most spam, security-software firm McAfee finds after a study. McAfee gave 50 people across 10 developed countries laptops and instructed them to sign up for as much stuff on the internet as possible, and to reply to every spam message. The resulting volume... More »

Microsoft Will Sell Office By $70 Subscription

Annual fee aims to bring penny-pinchers, pirates into fold; includes software updates

(Newser) - Microsoft will start selling its Office software package on a subscription model in mid-July, the AP reports. Instead of paying around $200 for Office, consumers can pay $70 a year, with no additional cost for new versions. In addition to the Office programs, the subscription bundle—named “Equipt”—... More »

In One Domain, Anyway, Man Still Conquers Machine

CAPTCHAs, where humans distill words from squiggles, hold line in spam war

(Newser) - Every web user has come across CAPTCHAs: wavy-lettered depiction of words you must retype as text. Most pay them no mind, but, Lev Grossman writes in Time, we should reflect upon completing one. They're one of the rare visible skirmishes in the largely invisible war between spammers and security programmers.... More »

Microsoft Warns Windows Users of Safari Threat

(Newser) - Windows and Safari mix like virus-vulnerable oil and water, Microsoft warns, and Windows users should stop surfing with Apple’s web browser until the security holes have been patched. The “blended threat” combines a bug in Safari that downloads files to the desktop automatically and a vulnerability in how... More »

Open-Source Security Flaw Exposes Millions

Encryption error went undetected for nearly 2 years

(Newser) - A programming error discovered last week makes at least four open-source operating systems and 25 applications vulnerable to hacking, and a patch distributed to fix it doesn’t solve the problem. Worse, the vulnerability can extend to computers not even running the deficient code, reports Technology Review. The mistake went... More »

Massive Data Theft Breached 'Secure' Network

Hacked supermarket chain sent data over cable, not wireless

(Newser) - High-tech thieves were able to penetrate what experts called an especially secure computer network when they stole 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers from the Hannaford and Sweetbay grocery chains. Unlike stores that send data over wireless networks, the supermarkets used a theoretically less porous fiber-optic cable. More »

Patients' Info Swiped Along With Laptop

Unencrypted data on 2,500 government study subjects missing

(Newser) - A government laptop loaded with personal medical info on thousands of patients just “fell through the cracks,” a top exec with an NIH subsidiary says. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute machine was stolen Feb. 23, apparently at random, from an employee’s car trunk. None of... More »

Personalized Security Protects Laptops

New software adjusts to individuals' behavior

(Newser) - A new laptop security system in development at Intel learns to adjust to you—that is, the user—getting to know your pattern of Internet use in order to provide more personalized protection. The software, called Proteus, is meant for companies that provide laptops to many employees, normally equipping all... More »

How Dare You Assess Our Voting Machines

Sequoia Systems gets touchy about security audits

(Newser) - Sequoia Voting Systems has sent a letter to a Princeton professor threatening legal action if he publishes any info from a security audit of their voting machines. "It's hard to imagine a stupider legal threat," says Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing. "Sequoia's basically saying, 'We're scared of... More »

Supermarket Breach Exposes 4M Credit Cards

Hannaford grocery stores report 1,800 related fraud cases

(Newser) - A data security breach at Hannaford, an East Coast supermarket chain, has exposed the credit card information of 4.2 million customers and resulted in 1,800 cases of fraud so far, the Boston Globe reports. The breach, which went undetected for three months, is one of the largest ever,... More »

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