Internet Security and Programming

Security experts and the federal government are warning that scam artists are leveraging public concern over the global financial crisis to steal sensitive financial data and spread malicious software. In an alert posted Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission urged Internet users to be on guard against e-mails that look as if they come from a financial institution that recently acquired a consumer’s bank, savings and loan, or mortgage. “In fact, these messages may be from ‘phishers’ looking to use personal information — account numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers — to run up bills or commit other crimes in a consumer’s name,” the FTC said. Security firm Arbor Networks details two recent malware attacks that try to trick recipients into opening an e-mail attachment. One e-mail, claiming to have been sent by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., warns recipients that their bank accounts were involved in fraudulent activity. The attached [...]

Read more…

Apple on Thursday released software updates to fix a slew of security issues in computers powered by its OS X operating system. Separately, a new version of the Opera Web browser is available that addresses a pair of serious security flaws. Apple’s seventh big bundle of updates so far this year plugs more than 40 security holes in the operating system and other software for Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 desktops and server versions. Among the applications tweaked in this update are Apache, Finder, and ClamAV, the anti-virus software that ships with OS X server products. The updates are available via the built-in Software Update feature, or directly from Apple’s software downloads Web site. For whatever reason, Opera still does not offer an auto-update feature. Opera users can grab the newest iteration of the browser, version 9.6, from Opera’s Web site. In addition to the two security patches, [...]

Read more…

Graphics cards encryption skulduggery
The latest graphics cards have been used to break Wi-Fi encryption far quicker than was previously possible. Some security consultants are already suggesting the development blows Wi-Fi security out of the water and that corporations ought to apply tighter VPN controls, or abandon wireless networks altogether, in response.…

Read more…