11.20.09
Eye on Security: IE8 Fails, Windows Botnets, Security Products Don’t Work
Summary: A variety of new links about security
• IE8 bug makes ‘safe’ sites unsafe
The latest version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser contains a bug that can enable serious security attacks against websites that are otherwise safe.
• Two arrested for Zbot Trojan
Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) have made Europe’s first arrests in the battle against the ZeuS or Zbot Trojan which threatened to compromise thousands of computers.
Officers from the PCeU, assisted by Greater Manchester Police, arrested a man and woman, both aged 20 years, in Manchester for offenses under the 1990 Computer Misuse Act and the 2006 Fraud Act.
• RIM security chief sees smartphone attacks on horizon
Hackers could one day turn ordinary smartphones into “rogue” devices to attack major wireless networks, Research In Motion’s security chief warned.
Scott Totzke, RIM’s vice-president of BlackBerry security, said hackers could use smartphones to target wireless carriers using a technique similar to one used in assaults that slowed Internet traffic in the United States and South Korea in July.
In what’s known as a distributed denial of service, or a DDOS attack, criminals use phone signals to order tens of thousands computers to contact a targeted site repeatedly, slowing it or eventually crashing it.
• Senate Panel: 80 Percent of Cyber Attacks Preventable
If network administrators simply instituted proper configuration policies and conducted good network monitoring, about 80 percent of commonly known cyber attacks could be prevented, a Senate committee heard Tuesday.
• Web security company warns of ‘cyber arms race’
Warning of a “cyber arms race,” a leading Web security firm said that China, France, Israel, Russia and the United States were among countries that have developed “cyber weapons.”
• Most security products not up to scratch
For example, anti-virus products often failed to prevent malware infection at the first attempt, while firewalls or IPS (intrusion prevention) products failed to make the grade in blocking attack traffic.
• Hackers target world’s leading climate research unit
E-mails reportedly from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU), including personal exchanges, appeared on the internet on Thursday.
A university spokesman confirmed the email system had been hacked and that information was taken and published without permission.
