Safety Security & Privacy

What if a virus were a shapeshifter, able to change its appearance each time it infects a machine? What if a virus used your own files against you, able to ransack the programs on your computer for the bits of code it needs? Judging from the progress made on the Frankenstein virus, a venture sponsored Continue Reading →

(This content was originally posted on JasonPalmer.com.) Just because your password meets complexity requirements does not necessarily make it a strong password. It is a given that many sites require you to have a password of a minimum length of at least six or eight characters, and some go so far as to require the Continue Reading →

Activision Blizzard Thursday warned users of its Battle.net gaming portal that their personal data has been accessed by attackers. The company recommended that players in North America and beyond immediately change their passwords. “This week, our security team found an unauthorized and illegal access into our internal network here at Blizzard. We quickly took steps Continue Reading →

To the steadily growing list of digital weapons that appear to have been jointly created by the combined resources of the U.S. and Israel, we can now add another. The researchers at Russia-based Kasperky Labs who discovered it have christened it Gauss, and say it is aimed at pinching the pocketbooks of its intended targets, Continue Reading →

Adobe announced today that it will release an update for Adobe Reader (9.5.1) and Acrobat (10.1.3) and earlier versions for both Windows and Mac to fix critical security flaws. The updates will be released on August 14 — this coming Tuesday.  The pre-notification security advisory warning — APSB12-16 — gives few details, except noting the Continue Reading →

Apple is beefing up security for resetting user passwords after a journalist wrote about a hack affecting his personal data, highlighting possible weaknesses in the system protecting more than 400 million user accounts. The company is temporarily suspending the ability to reset AppleID passwords over the phone while it takes steps to make the procedure Continue Reading →

In the space of one hour, my entire digital life was destroyed. First my Google account was taken over, then deleted. Next my Twitter account was compromised, and used as a platform to broadcast racist and homophobic messages. And worst of all, my AppleID account was broken into, and my hackers used it to remotely Continue Reading →

When a few hundred Dropbox users began receiving spam emails about online casinos and gambling sites two weeks ago, it seemed like something was up. And indeed there was.  Read the full story at CNET Continue Reading →

Mobile and network security company AuthenTec Inc announced this morning that it has been acquired by Apple for $8 a share, which equates to $356 million (in cash). News of the deal comes from a 8-K filed by AuthenTec, which says that it has entered an Intellectual Property and Technology Agreement with Apple yesterday, allowing Continue Reading →

A major spam botnet that inundated email inboxes around the world with emails promoting fake prescription drugs is gone. So says the security firm that helped kill it. “The Grum botnet has finally been knocked down. All the known command and control (CnC) servers are dead, leaving their zombies orphaned,” wrote Atif Mushtaq of FireEye Continue Reading →