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Biting the hand that feeds IT
Updated: 17 weeks 3 days ago

Feds seize $143m worth of bogus networking gear

Sat, 08/05/2010 - 4:24am
From China, with bugs

Federal authorities over the past fives year have seized more than $143m worth of counterfeit Cisco hardware and labels in a coordinated operation that's netted more than 700 seizures and 30 felony convictions, the Justice Department said Thursday.…

New attack bypasses virtually all AV protection

Sat, 08/05/2010 - 2:17am
Bait, switch, exploit!

Researchers say they've devised a way to bypass protections built in to dozens of the most popular desktop anti-virus products, including those offered by McAfee, Trend Micro, AVG, and BitDefender.…

Indo-Mancunian Windows support scammer phones <em>Reg</em> hack

Fri, 07/05/2010 - 4:26pm
Cold caller from tropical climes

Yesterday I got a call from a chap claiming to be from Windows Support, letting me know that my computer was dangerously infected, and that only he could help.…

Spammers ordered to pay tiny ISP whopping $2.6m

Fri, 07/05/2010 - 6:00am
$650,000 per employee courtesy of CAN-SPAM

A small internet service provider has been awarded nearly $2.6m in a lawsuit it filed against a company that sent just under 25,000 spam messages over an 18-month period.…

Stealth installs and adware come to Facebook

Fri, 07/05/2010 - 3:00am
Apps secretly added to profiles

Updated Already under fire for taking liberties with users' privacy, Facebook was outed on Thursday as a distributor of unwanted applications, some of which install adware or are added to user profiles without permission.…

Scammers attempt to cash in on volcanic ash travel chaos

Thu, 06/05/2010 - 3:55pm
Bizarre LHC black hole scam also runs

Scammers are hoping to hoodwink travellers who were stranded by the volcanic ash cloud last month as fresh plumes have disrupted flights once more in the UK.…

Report reams IT admins for secretly snapping student pics

Thu, 06/05/2010 - 11:34am
More than 58,000 images captured

A suburban Philadelphia school district secretly captured more than 58,000 images of students and their friends and family members as a result of an "overzealous" campaign to track the whereabouts of school-issued laptops, according to an independent report.…

US data-collection bill gets chilly reception

Thu, 06/05/2010 - 4:47am
Drawing fire from all sides

A proposed US congressional bill to regulate the collection of personal data is being almost universally panned, with privacy advocates arguing it's inadequate and pro-business groups saying it goes too far.…

Facebook bug allowed users to eavesdrop on chats

Thu, 06/05/2010 - 3:36am
When private conversations aren't

Facebook engineers on Wednesday disabled the site's live chat function after people outside the company discovered a bug that allowed users to eavesdrop on their friends' conversations.…

Microsoft update secretly fixed two 'severe' bugs

Thu, 06/05/2010 - 12:54am
DNS spoofing patch released on the sly

Updated A recent security patch from Microsoft silently fixed two severe bugs that were never disclosed even though they posed a risk to many of its customers, a security researcher said.…

Viagra spam shop live on Twitter for a month

Wed, 05/05/2010 - 10:05pm
Repeated complaints lead to no action

Canadian Pharmacy spammers have set up shop on Twitter, staying online for weeks despite complaints from a leading security firm that would normally prompt action.…

Lost mental hospital memory stick had health records

Wed, 05/05/2010 - 7:43pm
Idiots have taken over the asylum

A USB memory stick containing personal information on patients and staff at a secure hospital near Falkirk has been found in a car park outside an Asda store in nearby Stenhousemuir.…

Sharing bank PINs leaves consumers at risk

Wed, 05/05/2010 - 6:36pm
Although not necessarily, says expert

One in ten consumers either write down or share their ATM card PIN codes, according to a new survey by the UK's Consumer Association.…

Google tutorial lets developers play malicious hacker

Wed, 05/05/2010 - 8:08am
Pwn by numbers

Google has released a free online tutorial that gives developers the chance to play the role of malicious hacker by exploiting real security bugs in a mock web application.…

ATM hacking spree foiled by tip from ex-con

Wed, 05/05/2010 - 6:36am
Rick James look-alike apprehended

A North Carolina man's scheme to steal as much as $350,000 during an automatic teller machine hacking spree was thwarted by an ex-convict, who turned the man in to authorities, federal prosecutors allege.…

EFF fights Facebook bid to outlaw one-stop social apps

Wed, 05/05/2010 - 2:38am
Opposes power play against aggregator site

A civil liberties watchdog has challenged Facebook's legal claims that an unauthorized third-party site that helps users login automatically violates criminal laws.…

Mariposa botnet suspects duo sought jobs at Panda

Tue, 04/05/2010 - 11:34pm
Er... do you have references?

Two of the three suspects arrested for allegedly running the infamous Mariposa botnet in February personally applied for jobs with Spanish firm Panda Security, whose researchers helped track them down just a month earlier.…

US netwar-force Cyber Wings badge unveiled

Tue, 04/05/2010 - 7:53pm
Digital aces must pass fearsome 'X course'* to win them

The US Air Force - perhaps the keenest of America's armed forces to get stuck into network warfare - has unveiled the cyber "wings" which will be worn on the chests of its digital warriors.…

Broken-hearted email servers mark LoveBug anniversary

Tue, 04/05/2010 - 6:08pm
It was 10 years ago today...

Tuesday marks the tenth anniversary of the infamous LoveBug worm, the prolific malware strain that proved opening "flirty" emails from acquaintances seriously endangers internet hygiene.…

Apax buys control of Sophos for $830m

Tue, 04/05/2010 - 4:53pm
Trebles all round

Updated Apax Partners has bought a majority stake in UK-based net security firm Sophos in a deal announced on Monday valuing the company at $830m.…

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