303 Topics
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 | First some good headline news amid all the gloom: spam incidents are going down. There has been 8 per cent less unwanted junk e-mail over the last year worldwide, according to a new report from Messagelabs. The reason is relatively simple; an American ISP called Intercage went down the swannee … |
| | On the face of it it's excellent news that Microsoft and the Washington State Attorney General are fighting against web scams. The sort of scam they're looking at is pretty clever if you're an inexperienced user. You're surfing a website or three - never mind what sort, we're not here … |
 | One of my favorite things about Twitter is how people can use it to live-blog conferences they're attending. Case in point: today, I've been watching [URL="http://twitter.com/thornley"]Joseph Thornley[/URL], provide live commentary from the Canadian Institute Conference on Social Media. I've been learning about how the City of Calgary manages social media … |
| | [B]Does your hosting support overeat your business profit? [/B] In an holistic approach, the hosting and server business have gone much competitive in support, technology and negotiable prices, so i think its high time to ask this question to atleast the mid to starter hosting ventures who would like to … |
 | According to the [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/27/internationalcrime.hacking?gusrc=rss&feed=technologyfull"]Observer newspaper this morning[/URL] Gary McKinnon, the British hacker accused of what US prosecutors refer to the biggest military computer hack of all time, has claimed he was threatened with a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay. His lawyers are using this as part of their defence against … |
| | Sandro Gauci, founder of [URL="http://enablesecurity.com"]EnableSecurity[/URL], has revealed that six years on from his 2002 report into extended HTML form attacks the problem has simply refused to go away. The original report included details of how attackers could abuse non-HTTP protocols in order to launch Cross Site Scripting attacks, even in … |
| | Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney General, has been fighting one of those fights that you sadly cannot win: to rid the Internet of child pornography. Believe me, as a father of four I would love to say that it was possible but as a technology journalist with some 20 years …  |
| | The [URL="http://www.messagelabs.com/intelligence.aspx"]MessageLabs Intelligence Report[/URL] for May 2008 has revealed that spam levels have risen across all industry sectors, but manufacturing remains the leading vertical as far as spam activity is concerned at 83.7 percent. The biggest rise, however, can be found in the non-profit sector with spam levels up by … |
| | An interesting development in the UK is that residents of Solihull Community Housing are about to get connected to the Internet through their power points at low cost, subsidised due to their low incomes. Solihull is a town in the North of England and these are homes provided by Local … |
| | Spam is annoying, resource consuming, malware driven and often offensive. It is also nothing if not responsive to market needs. This can be seen in the market driven swing from pharmaceutical and health related spam which has pretty much dominated the landscape during the last couple of years, to the … |
| | A report entitled "[URL="http://ece.uprm.edu/~andre/insert/gmail.html"]Exploiting the Trust Hierarchy among Email Servers[/URL]" published by Pablo Ximenes from the University of PR at Mayaguez, USA and Andre dos Santos at the State University of Ceara, Brazil suggests that Google Mail is flawed in such a way so as to turn it into massive … |
| | Threat statistics just released by managed security company [URL="http://www.network-box.com"]Network Box[/URL] reveals that phishing attacks now account for 67 percent of all malware by volume. This compares with just 24 percent in February and 48 percent in March, suggesting that the phishers are continuing to be successful where other distribution and … |
| | One of the best known soccer clubs in the world is tackling the phishing threat and has placed a penalty on the head of those who might try to con their fans on the web. As the annual InfoSecurity Europe show kicks off, so Manchester United has launched the implementation … |
| | Jim Gamble, the chief executive of the [URL="http://www.ceop.gov.uk/"]Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre[/URL] has warned paedophiles who use the Internet that they will be tracked down and brought before the courts. The warning comes as CEOP figures reveal that the number of suspects arrested during the last year has … |
| | How stupid do you have to be to get caught by spam email with the subject line of 'we caught you naked [your name] - check the video' is a question I have been asking myself today. Not because I have been caught naked, and if I had my only … |
| | [URL="http://www.fortiguardcenter.com"]According to unified threat management specialist Fortinet[/URL] Facebook users had better start paying attention to the postings that appear on their message wall within the popular social networking site. It appears that spammers are moving away from targeting third party applications, as evidenced in the recent 'Secret Crush' case, and … |
| | Security provider Webroot has today published its [URL="http://www.webroot.com/En_GB/land-sois-home.html"]State of Internet Security: Protecting Business Email[/URL] research report and estimates that every single business email account will receive some 42,000 spams during the course of 2008. Or 116 junk messages every single day if you prefer. That is an increase of some …  |
| | Think of where your spam comes from and the usual suspects, according to most surveys of such things by the security and messaging experts, turn out to be the good old US of A, Russia and China which between them accounted for 33.8 percent of all spam in the last …  |
| | According to messaging security experts [URL="http://www.messagelabs.com/intelligence.aspx"]MessageLabs[/URL] there has been a 100 percent rise in the amount of spam from Gmail during February, along with a worrying 200 percent increase in targeted Trojan attacks. The February MessageLabs Intelligence Report, published today, paints a sorry picture as far as IT security is … |
| | The Trend Micro [URL="http://blog.trendmicro.com/over-400-phish-kits-on-the-loose/"]TrendLabs Malware Blog[/URL] is reporting that the volume of totally free do it yourself phishing kits available in the wild on the web had moved past the 400 mark. Ironically, some are even used by phishers to phish other phishers… |
| | A hearty slap on the back must go to authorities in South Korea who have [URL="http://www.sophos.com/news/2008/03/lee-shin-ja.html"]arrested and charged[/URL] the 41 year old ex-CEO of an antivirus software company with distributing fake security scareware. Lee Shin-ja was formerly CEO with security outfit Media Port, and stands accused of distributing the 'free' … |
| | [URL="http://www.avertlabs.com"]McAfee Avert Labs[/URL] has warned that the number of spammers which use the 'out of office' functionality of web-based email systems to distribute junk mail is on the increase. The particular technique in question, which involves spammers setting up web-based email accounts which are configured to auto-respond with spam instead … |
| | It is not often that a drunken discussion provides anything more than a hangover the following morning, but recently a bunch of IT security experts got talking while the beer was flowing and someone asked the question: what is the biggest threat on the IT landscape today? Everything from 'the … |
| | According to the Managing Your Organisation’s E-mail and Messaging survey, the results of which were announced today by network management developer [URL="http://www.ipswitch.com"]Ipswitch Inc.[/URL], the feeling that you are drowning in spam happens for a reason: you are. The survey revealed that 20% of those responding reported more than a 100% … |
| | I have two mobile phones. One is purely for personal calls and so that number is only known to my family and closest friends. The other is purely for business calls, the number is printed on my business. A couple of times last week I received what are known as … |
| | If you have ever spent a few minutes looking for an email that the sender swears they sent the week before, but seems to have vanished into the ether now, then you are not alone. A new report by [URL="http://www.emedia.co.uk"]e-Media[/URL] for [URL="http://www.mimecast.com"]Mimecast[/URL] suggests that IT managers in the UK alone …  |
| | A survey by secure data specialists [URL="http://www.cyber-ark.com/news-events/pr_20070530.asp"]Cyber-Ark Software[/URL] has revealed that the least trustworthy members of staff include temps, cleaners, security guards and the board of directors. PR, marketing and sales staff were also low on the list. At the other end of the trust scale, the personnel and legal … |
| | Although we all like to moan about the amount of spam hitting our mailboxes, the truth is that spam filtering is pretty good these days and only a tiny amount of it actually need bother us at all. Unlike all that stuff we have actually signed up for but cannot … |
| | Just when you think you have heard every crackpot theory for fighting the spam menace, a new one comes along that makes you sit up and take notice. How does using pictures of kittens to foil spammers grab you? Bear with me, because the concept has some merit. Indeed, it … |
| | Could we be on the verge of seeing the end of that spam scourge known as the pump and dump scheme? You know the drill, an email arrives urging you to invest in some little known penny stock and beat the experts to the punch. Nice one son, get your … |
| | Romanian security developer [URL="http://www.bitdefender.com"]BitDefender[/URL] has issued a warning about a fast spreading Trojan dubbed Spammer.HotLan.A which is using Hotmail and Yahoo accounts to send spam. According to BitDefencer some 15,000 accounts have already been compromised and the situation is likely to get much worse over the next few days. Viorel … |
| | News this week: [LIST] [*]25 years since the falklands - we kicked the argentinians ass! [*]In more current wars, 7 children were killed in a US (no surprise ;) ) air strike against a "suspected al-Qaeda hideout" in eastern Afghanistan. [*]Also, in the HD wars, Blockbuster is to rent only … |
| | To most people who do not actually play it, World of Warcraft is just a game. Anyone who has devoted any time at all within an immersive online world such as this will gladly put you straight on that. World of Warcraft is not just a game, it is a … |
| | Let me get one thing straight before I go any further. I am a caring father of four, the youngest of which is just 7 years old. If any of them were abducted, I would do everything in my power to find them. Just like any caring father. Certainly the … |
| | For the average user spam has always been an annoyance. For the average spammer it has always been about making money. For the criminal gangs that have muscled in on this lucrative industry during the last few years it is now about territory and control. Control, that is, of the …  |
| | [URL="http://www.ipswitch.com"]Ipswitch Inc[/URL] has published the seventh Spamometer survey results, revealing that spam is now at its highest rate since recording began. How high would that be? Well for the same spring period last year the measure was some 62% of all received email, that has risen to an incredible 93% … |
| | If you're visiting a known site such as Google.com, you're perfectly safe, right? Wrong. New DNS vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Windows 2000 and 2003 severs could potentially allow a DNS server to get hijacked, and redirect a user to a completely different site than they expected to see. The vulnerability exists … |
| | IT security specialist [URL="http://www.sophos.com"]Sophos[/URL] is warning anyone with a website about recently uncovered evidence that spammers are hacking into legitimate sites in order to sell drugs. Online pharmacy spam, be it under the Viagra or just general prescription drug banner, has become one of the most annoying and persistent forms … |
| | Web security company [URL="http://www.scansafe.com"]ScanSafe[/URL] has published its latest monthly Global Threat Report that looks at corporate usage of the web. The results should not be shocking as we all know that if you give someone free access to the Internet at work then they will abuse that access if at … |
| | The Symantec State of Spam report is always something to look forward to, although it can often make depressing reading. Everyone is plagued by junk mail, filters are straining under the load, and spammers are managing to stay on top of their evil trade by employing cunning new techniques to … |
| | If there is one thing that everybody can agree it is that spam is a right royal pain the ass. If there is another then it is that image spam is the biggest pain in the ass of all. While it is bad enough for the end user, especially at … |
| | Sometimes you just cannot help it, you find yourself with time on your hands and you go snooping around in places that normal folk just do not venture. So it was with security researcher [URL="http://portal.spidynamics.com/blogs/msutton"]Michael Sutton[/URL] who spent an entire day plugging through the [URL="http://sb.google.com/safebrowsing/update?version=goog-black-url:1:1"]Google blacklist, [/URL] the [URL="http://sb.google.com/safebrowsing/update?version=goog-black-enchash:1:1"]Google encoded/hashed … |
| | Research published by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) just before Christmas revealed that UK consumers are being conned to the tune of £3.5 billion every single year. The detailed analysis suggests that nearly half of the adult population of the UK has been targeted by a scam, and as … |
| | Spam continues to rise. In November alone, people saw a 35% increase of spam in their online mailboxes, and not only do that but also use new ways to fool spam filters to somehow get into peope's email. 31 billion spam was the average amount sent in October, but that … |
| | Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 7 has a special bar that turns green when visiting "safe" sites, which it determines if it recieves a special strict security certificate from Microsoft. But, small business owners and corporations are worried that users will leave their sites feeling unsafe, as they are not eligable …  |
| | I hate it, you hate it, [B]everyone hates spam[/B]. Perhaps just as annoying as the fact that most of us have no interest in improving our sexual performance, enlarging our sexual organs or accepting a refinancing deal from a complete stranger, is the fact that we just do not know … |
| | The bad news for the US is that it is now responsible for more than a fifth of the world’s spam. That is 21.6 percent if you prefer, although whichever way you say it there is no escaping the nasty smell it leaves behind. The team of experts at IT … |
| | According to Symantec, 64% of small businesses have seen a surge in the volume of spam received during the previous six months. And it isn’t the only one: whether you talk to ISPs or security vendors, gateway mail filtering services or end users, the message is the same. Spam is … |
| | According to Oxford, UK based database security specialists [URL="http://www.secerno.com/"]Secerno [/URL]databases are open to attack from growing insider threats that give employees carte blanche to access confidential data. Naturally, the company has a product to plug, a database assurance platform called Secerno.SQL, but to be honest I am more interested in … |
| | BT is an unlikely sounding pioneer in the global battle against spam, but that is exactly the role the UK telecoms giant is adopting as it claims to be implementing the world’s first fully-automated spam buster system to track down and tackle professional spammers but also botnet-infected customers on the … |
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