News

• Download InfoWorld's Malware Deep Dive report

  If malware were biological, the world would be in the grip of the worst pandemic in history. In 2009, more than 25 million unique malware programs were identified, more than all the malware programs ever created in all previous years. No one need wonder what all that malware is trying to do: It's trying to steal money -- through data theft, bank transfers, stolen passwords, or swiped identities.

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  Social engineering: How to hack humans

  You get a call from a software company -- a Microsoft partner perhaps -- who tells you your computer is infected with a virus.

• Stupid hacker tricks: Exploits gone bad

  If the Internet is the new Wild West, then hackers are the wanted outlaws of our time. And like the gun-slinging bad boys before them, all it takes is one wrong move to land them in jail.

• Bigger isn't better when it comes to social engineering attacks

  When it comes to social engineering attacks, larger companies attract more of them, and when they are victimized it costs more per incident, according to a survey sponsored by Check Point.

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  Social engineering remains biggest cyber threat

  Despite increases in the number and capability of botnets for distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, social engineering remains one of the largest cyber security threats to IT infrastructure according to the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

• Malvertising continues to pound legitimate websites

  In the last three months of 2010 attackers managed to serve 3 million malicious advertising, or malvertising, impressions every day. That's the headline figure from a report released today from Web security firm Dasient. According to Dasient, that's a 100 percent increase from the preceding quarter.

• Women did well on Defcon social engineering test

  Of the 135 people Fortune 500 employees targeted by social engineering hackers in a recent contest only five of them refused to give up any corporate information whatsoever. And guess what? All five were women.

• How to steal corporate secrets in 20 minutes: Ask

  A few companies in the Fortune 500 need to upgrade their Web browsers. And while they're at it, a little in-house training on social engineering wouldn't be a bad idea, either.

• Facebook takes steps to deal with gift card scams

  Like many other Facebook users Jeff Crites heard of the US$1,000 Best Buy gift-card offer last month from a friend, a Web savvy director of social media at a Fortune 500 company.

• Britain all atweet over Twitter phishing attack

  The latest phishing attack on Twitter users swept the U.K. overnight claiming several prominent users.

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  Windows Event Viewer phishing scam remains active

  What do you get when you combine malware, IP telephony and an offshore call centre? A new breed of brazen phishing scam designed to target unwary Windows users.

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  CommBank enlists feds to kill fraud ring

  The Commonwealth Bank has engaged the Australian Federal Police to shut down a sophisticated fraud network targeting its customers, which includes a compromised Queensland telephone number.

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  Hacker: I broke into Twitter

  For the second time this year, a hacker has gained administrative access to a Twitter employee's account.

• Phishers hit Facebook with scam messages

  Facebook users were hit Wednesday with a phishing attack that tried to steal names and passwords from users of the popular social network.

• US convicts first foreigner of phishing

  A 23-year-old Romanian man has become the first foreigner to be convicted by a U.S. court for phishing.