Robert Lemos

…articles and musings of a technology and science journalist

Robert Lemos header image 1

Alliance forms to fix DNS poisoning flaw

July 8th, 2008 · No Comments

A group of software and network-hardware makers announce they have banded together to fix a fundamental flaw in the design of the Internet’s address system.
SecurityFocus

→ No CommentsTags: Critical infrastructure · Flaws and vulnerabilities · Research · Security · SecurityFocus · Software

Five Ways IT Can Avoid a Privacy Lawsuit

July 8th, 2008 · No Comments

Violating an informal privacy policy is a no-no, a recent court ruling found. CIOs can take some important lessons about text messaging and privacy away from the case of Quon v. Arch Wireless.
CIO.com

→ No CommentsTags: CIO.com · Enterprise · Legal · Privacy

Web surfers, it’s time to patch

July 2nd, 2008 · No Comments

Nearly 640 million Internet users visit sites with a behind-the-times Web browser, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg, researchers say.
SecurityFocus

→ No CommentsTags: Consumer Tech · Flaws and vulnerabilities · Research · Security · SecurityFocus · Software

Breach-notification laws not working?

June 25th, 2008 · No Comments

Research fails to find a correlation between states with disclosure laws and reduced identity theft, suggesting the best defense for concerned citizens is to take action themselves.
SecurityFocus

→ No CommentsTags: Consumer Tech · Cybercrime · Government · Legal · Privacy · Security · SecurityFocus · Software

Ransomware resisting crypto cracking efforts

June 13th, 2008 · No Comments

Kaspersky calls for a massive effort to break the code keys used by a malicious program that encrypts its victim’s data and asks for ransom, but other experts doubt the keys can be found or that finding them will help.
SecurityFocus

→ No CommentsTags: Cybercrime · Security · SecurityFocus · Software · Viruses and worms

Boycott spotlights antivirus testing issues

June 9th, 2008 · No Comments

Security firm Trend Micro refuses to apply for future VB100 certifications, highlighting a debate over how to best test antivirus software.
SecurityFocus

→ No CommentsTags: Enterprise · Security · SecurityFocus · Software · Viruses and worms

Hired gun blamed for business outage

May 30th, 2008 · No Comments

Video-content firm Revision3 accuses anti-piracy company MediaDefender — known for its aggressive tactics against file sharers — of attacking its servers over the weekend.
SecurityFocus

→ No CommentsTags: Cybercrime · Legal · Security · SecurityFocus

Legal experts wary of MySpace hacking charges

May 16th, 2008 · No Comments

Federal prosecutors charge the parent who allegedly badgered a girl to suicide with three counts of computer crime, but law experts worry about a dangerous precedent.
SecurityFocus

→ No CommentsTags: Cybercrime · Government · Legal · Security · SecurityFocus

Admins warned of brute-force SSH attacks

May 14th, 2008 · No Comments

Normally considered a low-level threat on the Internet, scans for default-configured secure shell servers spiked this week.
SecurityFocus

→ No CommentsTags: Cybercrime · Flaws and vulnerabilities · Security · SecurityFocus

Hack to the Future…

May 12th, 2008 · No Comments

As those who still manage to wade through the daily flames on Full Disclosure found out this weekend, the boys over at ZD0 managed to get access to the Administrator account on my blog. They posted the passwd file including the usernames and MD5 password hashes for about a score of users in the latest version of their brag rag, ZD04, and added a post to the site pointing to the newsletter.

[Read more →]

→ No CommentsTags: Blog · Security · Software