http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/infosec.xml Keeping Seattle Citizens Informed Fri, 6 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 en daily 1 http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#cyber-awareness Fri, 6 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >October was National Cyber Security Awareness Month and we provided you with several good resources

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#gumbars-back Fri, 6 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >ScanSafe researchers are seeing renewed activity regarding Gumblar, a multifunctional piece of malware that spreads by attacking PCs visiting hacked Web pages.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#another-microsoft-patch Fri, 6 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Microsoft on Thursday said it plans to release six bulletins next week, including three critical bulletins, addressing flaws in Windows and Microsoft Office products.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#pc-to-mac Fri, 6 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Expert advice on migrating from XP or Vista to Mac OS X

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#mac-antivirus Fri, 6 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >If you want make a Mac user mad, just sidle up and whisper the words, Mac security software. Then step back as the incensed sputtering ensues.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#microsoft-patch Fri, 6 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Microsoft on Thursday revealed that it plans to distribute six patches, covering 15 vulnerabilities, as part of its November security update, scheduled for Tuesday.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#worldpress-botnet Thu, 5 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Webmasters who find an annoying error message on their sites may have caught a big break, thanks to a slip-up by the authors of the Gumblar botnet.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#id-theft Thu, 5 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >When their data is leaked by a business, individuals are four times more likely to suffer identity theft, Javelin study says

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#id-theft Thu, 5 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >A critical new flaw in SSL, or the Secure Sockets Layer used to protect Web traffic for online banking, shopping, and any other https connection, allows an attacker to break into any theoretically secured connection and add malicious commands.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#bank-fraud Thu, 5 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Criminals have tried to steal an estimated $100 million from corporate bank accounts using targeted malware and money mules, the FBI said on Tuesday.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#veternans-day-spam Thu, 5 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Just like any business owners, spammers have been using holidays to increase their revenue.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#facebook-box Thu, 5 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Warnings have been made about a new Facebook attack that promises to display hidden messages.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#office-patch Thu, 5 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Users running Microsoft Office can stump nearly three-fourths of all known attacks targeting the suite by applying just one three-year-old patch, according to recently published data.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#trojan-game Thu, 5 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Game or Trojan? You're Not the Judge

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#another-money-mule-scam Wed, 4 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Cyberthieves are hacking into small- and medium-sized organizations every week and stealing millions of dollars in an ongoing scam that has moved about US$100 million out of U.S. bank accounts, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation warned Tuesday.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#windows-viruses Wed, 4 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Now that we in the northern hemisphere have had some time to digest the Windows 7 hype and settle in for the coming winter, we thought we would get some more hard data regarding Windows 7 security

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#adobe-fixed Wed, 4 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Adobe Systems has issued an update for five vulnerabilities in its Shockwave Player, which is installed on some 450 million PCs.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#java-fixes Wed, 4 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Sun Microsystems and Research In Motion have issued critical bug fixes for security issues with their products.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#red-hat Wed, 4 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Red Hat Tuesday made good on its promise to deliver a stand-alone hypervisor and a set of management tools as its gears up to go toe-to-toe with VMware and Microsoft to become a top-tier provider of virtualization and cloud computing infrastructure.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#evoting-system Wed, 4 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >A new electronic voting system being used today for the first time in a government election in the U.S. will allow voters and elections auditors in Takoma Park, Md. to go online and verify whether votes have been correctly recorded.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#more-money-mule-scam Tue, 3 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >The hackers looting bank accounts of small and mid-sized businesses around the county are hitting new victims every week, and have now racked up approximately $100 million in attempted losses, the FBI said Tuesday.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#facebook-zombie Tue, 3 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Crimeware distributors have begun using Facebook as a command and control channel for a Trojan that turns compromised Windows PCs into zombie drones.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#banking-software Tue, 3 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >A U.K. security company is giving to banks, for free, security software that it says can block malicious software from manipulating online banking transactions or stealing data, even if the computer is infected.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#facebook-ads Tue, 3 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >I've written a bit lately about how cyberthieves using social media to scam people. It turns out the most egregious scammers are many "legitimate" companies that run deceptive ads on these networks.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#web-based-attacks Mon, 2 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Web-based attacks are continuing to become a popular method for attackers to spread malware, create zombie computers and harvest account credentials, according to two new security reports. The spam that lures victims to malicious websites is also increasing, helping fuel the trend.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#worms-up Mon, 2 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Microsoft today released its biannual Security Intelligence Report which demonstrates some surprising conclusions about the threat landscape impacting enterprise networks.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#boss-malware Mon, 2 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Trend Micro threat analysts found spammed messages that pretend to be a letter coming from the boss.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#christmas-spam Mon, 2 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >With Christmas just right around the corner, spammers are already flooding users' inboxes with unwanted emails.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#hack-advice Mon, 2 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Microsoft has wagged its finger at users to dissuade them from hacking upgrade versions of Windows 7 to get a full copy of the new operating system on their PC.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#free-downloads Mon, 2 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >A gallery of free and cheap tools to help you migrate to and settle in with Microsoft's newest operating system.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#ebay-phishing Mon, 2 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >The eBay email fraud campaign, which took place in May this year, and aimed to get users of the online auction site to disclose their bank details has been named this year's scariest email blunder by Proofpoint.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#security-awareness Mon, 2 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Skip the 'Wall of Shame' and instead try promotional events, penetration testing your users

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#firefox-features Mon, 2 November 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >After promises of an early release, a "test build" teaser, and then an unexpected delay, Firefox 3.6 beta is finally available for download. You can grab a copy for the PC, Mac and Linux on the Mozilla Web site.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#halloween-antivirus Fri, 30 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Hackers are exploiting web users searching for Halloween-related content on the web, says Panda Security.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#usb-security Fri, 30 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >USB sticks have been found to contain a significant security flaw which could be exploited to break into millions of computers around the world, according to researchers at MWR InfoSecurity.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#microsoft-cleanup Fri, 30 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >After releasing its largest-ever group of security patches two weeks ago, Microsoft has done a little cleaning up

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#leopard-cleanup Fri, 30 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >This is the checker used by applications such as TextEdit and Stickies. Namely, the Ignore button in the Spelling and Grammar dialog is itself ignored.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#h1n1-internet Fri, 30 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Could the H1N1 flu virus give networks a bad case of congestion? It could if workers and students are forced to stay home because of the pandemic.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#facebook-zeus Thu, 29 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Another email attack leveraging Facebook is pummeling inboxes this week, according to researchers.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#money-mules Thu, 29 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Bank customers are increasingly being duped into acting as money mules for hackers, unwittingly laundering cash stolen from business bank accounts, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation warned the nations financial institutions on Thursday.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#malicious-urls Thu, 29 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Extensive analysis of links posted on the popular Twitter microblogging service has found that Twitter users are contributing to the spread of malicious URLs posted on the site.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#twitter-attack Thu, 29 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Twitter warned users Tuesday of a new phishing scam on the social networking site

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#windows-security Thu, 29 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Microsoft says Windows 7 is the most secure version of the Windows operating system ever developed. Big deal, right? I am pretty sure that Microsoft has made that claim for every new version of Microsoft Windows in the past 15 years, and that it is a valid claim.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#mac-esc Thu, 29 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >The Esc key has long been the "get me outta here" panacea for many things: canceling a dialog box, getting rid of a button-less splash screen, closing a menu that you clicked open.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#internet-birthday Thu, 29 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >On October 29, 1969, the Internet came in not with a bang, but with a lo.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#bank-spam Wed, 28 October 2009 +0000 >Spam lures victims to a phony FDIC site to check if they are insured, tries to capture banking passwords

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#web-infection Wed, 28 October 2009 +0000 >An estimated 5.8 million pages belonging to 640,000 websites were infected with code designed to launch malware attacks on visitors, according to a report released Tuesday.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#firefox-bug-patch Wed, 28 October 2009 +0000 >Security update also patches 9 bugs in older Firefox 3.0

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#norton-beta Wed, 28 October 2009 +0000 >Symantec has made a new beta version of its Norton 360 all-in-one security software publicly available.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#reboot-answers Wed, 28 October 2009 +0000 >Microsoft support offers ideas, but some PCs still crippled after upgrade attempt

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#facebook-password Tue, 27 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Threat Type: Malicious Web Site / Malicious Code

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#blogger-routers Tue, 27 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >A blogger who stumbled across a vulnerability in more than 65,000 Time Warner Cable customer routers says the routers are still vulnerable to remote attack, despite claims by the company last week that it patched the routers.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#microsoft-blame Tue, 27 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Microsoft yesterday blamed user confusion for the problems many have encountered trying to move from Vista to Windows 7 after buying a discounted upgrade offered to college students.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#paralyzes-upgrade Mon, 26 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Some users trying to upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 have seen their PCs crippled by an endless series of reboots, according to reports on Microsoft's support forum.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#guardian-hack Mon, 26 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Sensitive personal data belonging to 500,000 job hunters have been exposed after hackers attacked The Guardian's Jobs website.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#flash-cookies Mon, 26 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Even if you delete normal tracking cookies regularly to evade tracking by snooping sites and eager advertisers, little-known Flash cookies may be making an end run around your attempts to preserve your privacy.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#bug-fixes Mon, 26 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Essential OS fixes are big this month. And fans of free software need to update their Firefox and OpenOffice copies

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#awareness-more Fri, 23 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Still another great National Cyber Security Awareness Month information security resource from Google Online Security Blog - a great website with education, stories and lots of links to more information.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#spear-phishing-attack Fri, 23 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Experiment successfully slips fake LinkedIn invite from Bill Gates into inboxes

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#seven-security Fri, 23 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Experts express consternation over early vulnerabilities, UAC configuration issues

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#leopard-tool Fri, 23 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Apple released a server diagnostic download on Thursday that the company says will test servers running Mac OS X Server 10.6 for hardware issues.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#mozilla-raindrop Fri, 23 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >Mozilla has launched a software project designed to let people better manage the ever more voluminous stream of messages coming from sources such as Twitter and Facebook into their e-mail.

]]> http://www.seattle.gov/informationsecurity/newslttr.htm#halloween-spam Fri, 23 October 2009 16:30:00 +0000 >With Halloween nearing, users should be on alert for spam and other attacks exploiting the holiday, and experts expect social network websites to serve as a major vector this year.

]]>