Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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MS forms anti-Conficker alliance
Industry group to combine efforts, reward offered. Microsoft has announced a collaborative effort to combat the Conficker (aka Downadup) botnet, the widespread infection making headlines over the past few weeks. In addition, Microsoft is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of the botnet’s creators. The partnership includes web management groups such as…
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IE fixed as usual in Patch Tuesday release
Browser should be treated as special case, say some. The February ‘Patch Tuesday’ security bulletin from Microsoft this week contained four patches, two of them marked ‘Critical’, of which one was a ‘cumulative’ set of fixes for a selection of problems with the Internet Explorer browser. With flaws in the ubiquitous web-surfing tool a regular…
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Kaspersky website suffers SQL vulnerability
Hackers gain access to tables, no user data stolen. A security flaw in a local website of security firm Kaspersky Lab was spotted by hackers over the weekend, with an SQL infection attack potentially leading to exposure of customer details. No details were in fact extracted from the vulnerable databases, and the flaw was quickly…
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AMTSO meets again to discuss better testing
Further documents developed at Cupertino meeting. This week has seen another meeting of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization, AMTSO, hosted by security giant Symantec in its HQ town of Cupertino, California. The meeting was attended as usual by representatives of most of the major industry players and numerous testing bodies, as well as representatives from…
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AVG acquires Sana Security
Behavioural experts added to growing portfolio. AVG has announced the acquisition of behaviour-blocking firm Sana Security , adding another level to its fast-expanding security solution empire. California-based Sana ‘s technologies focus on monitoring the behaviour of software for anomalous or dangerous activity, providing a means of blocking zero-day malicious attacks beyond signature and heuristic scanning.…
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Researchers crack into Storm botnet
Comms channels decrypted, automated removal possible. A group of German academics claim to have deciphered communications protocols used by the infamous ‘Storm’ botnet, allowing them to monitor infected nodes and control systems, and potentially to deactivate and disinfect them remotely. The collaborative operation between two German universities saw samples of the Storm malware, and the…
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MS report finds phishing revenues overhyped
Huge earnings may be myth, say researchers. A report from Microsoft analysing the potential income of phishers claims that the amounts taken from duped victims of online scams may not be as high as numerous recent surveys have estimated. A duo of researchers looked into various aspects of the phishing economy, and found that figures…
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Virus Bulletin announces new anti-spam certification scheme
Independent security testing body to certify anti-spam products. Virus Bulletin has launched a new anti-spam certification scheme. Until now, end-users have had little factual information available about the performance of the various different spam filters. Now, Virus Bulletin will use the experience gained during more than a decade of anti-malware comparative testing to run a…
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