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Sophos experts at VB2011 conference in Barcelona

by Paul Baccas on October 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

This week there is an opportunity to meet members of the SophosLabs and Naked Security teams at the prestigious Virus Bulletin conference.

Nails in pieces of cheese left at dog parks? A Facebook scare ignites

by Graham Cluley on October 3, 2011 | 17 Comments

Nails found in pieces of cheese left at dog parks? A Facebook scare ignites

If you want a rumour to go into overdrive, then Facebook is the place to kick things off.

A message is being shared widely between Facebook users, telling dog owners to be careful if they take their pet to the park - as there might be pieces of cheese lying around containing nails. But what are the real facts?

iPhone 5 emails infect Windows PCs with malware

by Graham Cluley on October 3, 2011 | Leave a comment

Beware of emails claiming that Apple has already announced the iPhone 5.

You could be infecting your Windows computer with malware.

The short history of Mac malware: 1982 - 2011

by Graham Cluley on October 3, 2011 | 34 Comments

Viruses, spyware, worms and Trojans aren't just a Windows problem.

Here's a short history of the Mac malware scene - from 1982 to the present day.

SSCC 74 - fighting hi-tech crime, Kelihos botnet, iCode for USA, Amazon Silk tablet, Mac malware and the BEAST

by Paul Ducklin on October 3, 2011 | Leave a comment

This week, Chet and Paul Ducklin discuss the interesting and important topics of the past week: fighting hi-tech crime, tackling the Kelihos botnet, taking on zombified home users, examining the risks of Amazon's new Silk tablet, and understanding the BEAST!

Canada ponders mandatory data breach notification law

by Chester Wisniewski on October 1, 2011 | 1 Comment

A bill was introduced to the Canadian House of Commons this week seeking to establish a mandatory data breach notification law. How might this affect businesses with customers in Canada?

Google's Picasa and Yahoo! Groups used to spread spam

by Chester Wisniewski on September 30, 2011 | 3 Comments

Spammers are turning to Google and Yahoo! to help them spread their wares. Shouldn't Google and Yahoo! follow industry best practices of confirming your interest before sending you email?

Windows 8 anti-virus has a long way to go

by Chester Wisniewski on September 30, 2011 | 31 Comments

When testing the included unmanaged anti-virus in Windows 8 I ran across an odd quirk. It doesn't detect EICAR properly. I present my results and what to expect in this article.

Microsoft's botnet shutdown won't stop Mac malware

by Chester Wisniewski on September 29, 2011 | 4 Comments

After Microsoft's shutdown of the Kelihos botnet on Monday some suggested it would slow down Mac malware purveyors. While the shutdown of the botnet and the cz.cc domain will help, it's only temporary.

Don't fight cybercrime on your own - do it with Synergy!

by Paul Ducklin on September 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

Next week, I'll be talking at the Identity and Hi-Tech Crime Symposium 2011 in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

There's still time for last-minute registrations at the event, so if you're in the region, why not join me there?

GrrCON: Visualizing data to make sense of security

by Mike Williams on September 28, 2011 | 1 Comment

The quantity of data confronting us often makes it difficult to analyze and determine what's important. I recently saw a presentation using an Arduino to display real time network traffic that helped make sense of the chaos.

Amazon Kindle Fire's Silk browser sounds privacy alarm bells

by Chester Wisniewski on September 28, 2011 | 25 Comments

Amazon announced their new Kindle Fire tablet today, including a new accelerated web browser Silk. Can making the web faster threaten our privacy?

Names and addresses of 25,000 police officers published by Anonymous cell

by Graham Cluley on September 28, 2011 | 7 Comments

Police officers are once again finding their names, dates of birth and home addresses have been published on the web.

Meanwhile, over half a million customers of a health insurance company have their personal data put at risk.

Not the real Firefox 7 website - be wary of Google's search results

by Graham Cluley on September 28, 2011 | 10 Comments

If you're keen to download Firefox 7, please make sure that you download it from the correct website.

Good advice as someone steals second place for "Firefox 7" in Google's search results.

Firefox 7 security fixes, http vs https and data collection

by Graham Cluley on September 28, 2011 | 8 Comments

Mozilla has released Firefox 7, the latest incarnation of their popular web browser.

Recently Firefox has been getting through new version numbers faster than a fat man chasing a ice cream van.

Flashback Mac Trojan poses as Adobe Flash update, opens backdoor

by Graham Cluley on September 28, 2011 | 7 Comments

Mac users are once again being reminded to keep their anti-virus software up-to-date, following the discovery of a Trojan horse that poses as an update to Adobe Flash.

SSL authenticity evolution

by David Schwartzberg on September 27, 2011 | 1 Comment

After attending the annual GrrCON in Grand Rapids, Michigan I thought I would share my thoughts on the keynote address delivered by Moxie Marlinspike. Moxie detailed the problems with the existing certificate authority system and proposed his ideas for a solution.