It’s deeply disconcerting, to say the least, that the NSA has been able to extract data about U.S. citizens from Internet companies using the secret (until recently) PRISM program. Because all of those companies likely handle data a little differently, it’s hard to say how much information the government...
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If you have ever wanted to see through walls, but couldn't afford the expensive equipment to do so, then some MIT researchers deserve your attention. They've devised a system called "Wi-Vi", which is designed similarly to sonar where a signal is blasted out and bounced back. An image is then created based on what it...
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As we reported back in February, Mozilla had plans to introduce cookie-blocking by default in version 22 of its Firefox Web browser. Well, it seems that the company has realized that it might have been a bit hasty in wanting to implement the change so quickly, so now, it's decided to hold off as it needs more time to analyze the outcome of...
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Being the most commonly used browser in the universe has its positives, but there's also a downside: when an exploit is found, it needs to be patched in a hurry. Otherwise, a huge, huge amount of people sit at risk, and your brand could suffer. Microsoft is no stranger to issuing patches, and Internet Explorer has certainly seen its fair share...
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Extra security is always nice, isn't it? Particularly in a world where cyber attacks are becoming all the more common. These days, it feels like every major cloud service provider is either offering a two-factor authentication protocol, or planning to. Following the likes of Google and Apple, Microsoft is now rolling...
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It's usually a good idea to install Windows updates as they become available every Patch Tuesday so you can stay one step ahead of the bad guys. Unfortunately, things can wrong every once in awhile, as they did with the most recent batch of updates. After installing the patches, some users complained of system instabilities and blue screen...
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This coming Tuesday, April 9, is going to be a busy one for Microsoft’s update servers. In advance of what have become known as “Patch Tuesday”, Microsoft posted nine early security bulletins to notify users and system administrators of the slew of impending Windows updates. Two of the patches have...
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Stretch those network pipes, because on Tuesday, a big workout is coming. That's when Microsoft's monthly "Patch Tuesday" hits, and this is one particular roll-out where the word "mammoth" definitely fits. In total, there are 57 flaws to be patched, 12 of which are either considered to be "Critical" or "Important". On...
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In what sounds like a scene out of one of those (well meaning, but never remotely accurate) cyber-action movies, teams of technicians from Symantec and Microsoft’s Digital Crimes unit wielding a court order from the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, were escorted by U.S. Federal Marshals in raids on data centers in New Jersey...
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Verizon's Risk Team has published a blog post on a mind-boggling security adventure (it's the only term that really fits) detailing just how poorly some IT workers -- including those working for "critical infrastructure" companies -- understand the meaning of the term. The saga began when a US-based company contacted...
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Microsoft is currently investigating reports of a zero day bug affecting Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 7, and Internet Explorer 8, the company announced in a Security Advisory. At issue is a remote code execution vulnerability that would allow attackers to seize control of a Windows PC. How it works is IE...
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The quest for a bullet-proof but human-usable CAPTCHA continues. A couple of months ago, we talked about a CAPTCHA implementation that relies on human empathy to bypass, but for a couple of reasons, it might not be ideal for a lot of people. Now, the folks at Minteye have given us yet another option: slide-to-fit. The idea is simple, and so...
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On Friday, security firm Symantec discovered a Trojan called Backdoor.Makadocs, which in typical backdoor Trojan fashion accesses a compromised system and attempts to swipe data from it. The interesting bit is that it uses Google Docs as a proxy server to get around firewalls and connect to a C&C server, instead of attempting to connect...
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My, how times, have changed. It wasn’t that long ago that Apple reigned supreme on the security front and Windows (and the operating system's associated software) was a vulnerability-laden punchline, but over the years Microsoft has buckled down to fix its security woes. No one is saying that Microsoft is...
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One of the downsides to Mozilla's rapid release schedule for Firefox is that new updates are at risk of being rushed to the public before they're ready for prime time. We're not sure if that's what happened here, but we do know that Mozilla yanked Firefox 16 from the web just a few hours after posting the download...
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Still clinging to Internet Explorer? If so, be aware of a recently posted security advisory (2757760) alerting IE users of a vulnerability that could allow attackers to execute malicious code from a remote location. According to Microsoft, the the vulnerability affects affects IE6, IE7, IE8, and IE9 (IE10 is...
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Well here's a bit of a bummer going into the weekend. Apparently the developer responsible for the popular Black Hole exploit kit -- the one that lazy hackers and inexperienced script kiddies are particularly drawn towards -- has released a new version of his nefarious software, with new and improved features designed to evade antivirus scanners....
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Favicons may seem harmless enough, but according to Mozilla, they can be pretty dangerous. The problem, as Mozilla explains it, is that pesky Web miscreants intentionally misuse and abuse favicons in order to do harm to your PC. How so, you ask? "While the favicon can represent a piece of a site’s identity...
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This month's Patch Tuesday will plug up less than a dozen vulnerabilities -- 11, to be exact -- in various flavors of Windows, Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, and other software, Microsoft announced in a Security Bulletin Advance Notification for April 2012. Microsoft issued half a dozen bulletins in all, the same number as last month,...
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As you head into the weekend getting ready to party and celebrate the end of another long and grueling work week, take some time to keep tabs on your MasterCard and Visa accounts. If you don't, you could be in for a rude awakening when you go to pay for drinks and find out that your card has been declined. At issue...
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Microsoft did its Windows customers a solid when it released its Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) antivirus software as a free download. That in and of itself is nothing to write home about, but the program is actually good -- very good -- at detecting and neutralizing security threats, both in real-time and after they've already occurred....
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Microsoft is planning to keep things relatively low-key on March 13th, otherwise known as Patch Tuesday, which will contain only six security bulletins. Only one of those is deemed Critical; the other five consist of four that are labeled Important and one that is rated Moderate. The critical fix applies to all...
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