DfenseSolutions

“Two pieces of malicious software affecting Apple’s Mac OS X appeared this week: a Trojan horse with the ability to download and install malicious code of an attacker’s choice, and a hacker tool for creating backdoors, according to security vendors.” Read more…

“Over the last week there has been quite a bit of press about a new Mac OS X Trojan. Secure as it is, generally speaking, OSX is not bullet-proof, much to the despair of Mac enthusiasts like myself.”  Read more…

It is not everyday that you find gems like this. Read more…

“Researchers at Symantec are noting an uptick in USB-based malware as reports surface of a U.S. Army ban on USB devices and portable media.

According to reports on Wired, the U.S. Army has banned the use of USB sticks, flash media cards, CDs and other removable storage due tosecurity concerns and the proliferation of theAgent.btz worm a variant of SillyFDC that spreads by copying itself to thumb drives or other removable media. ” Read more…

In the last couple of posts we have been hinting at safer browsing for users. You might ask the question what does that mean? Well the answer is not so simple and requires multiple layers of defense or as it is called in the industry defense in depth. Again we don’t want to paint a dark picture of the cyber world but with news articles as the following:

• Dental college computer hacked
• Ohio secretary of state’s Web site hacked
• CRIMETRACKER: Web Only- Ebay Hacked
• Huge Web attack infects 500000 pages

Make it somewhat difficult to avoid entering the dark alley filled with malware. There are several ways to minimize the level of risk ranging from a simple approach to a more esoteric approach. In part I of this post we will be discussing the simple approach.  Read more…

“Apple on Friday added anti-phishing protection to Safari, the last major browser to receive the feature that blocks known identity-stealing sites. The company also patched 11 security bugs in the program, the bulk of them specific to the Microsoft Windows version.” Read more…

“The economic meltdown is not devoid of opportunities. There’s one group of folks who might do just fine: scammers.

Security experts have spotted an increase in phishing, the scam that uses fake e-mails to get people to hand over personal financial information that could be used to drain bank accounts or for identity theft.” Read more…

“A systems administrator who was laid off this month by a New York-based financial services firm was arrested in New Jersey last week for allegedly threatening to damage the company’s servers if it didn’t increase his severance pay.” Read More…

“Spam volumes plunged by more than 40% after a major bot hosting network was shut down, researchers at IronPort Systems Inc. said today.

On Tuesday, McColo Corp. was kicked offline when its primary Internet providers severed its connection to the Web, reported The Washington Post, which led an investigation of the San Jose-based hosting service. According to the newspaper, McColo’s clients included cybercriminal groups that ran some of the biggest spam-spewing and malware-spreading botnets.”  Read more…

“Chinese hackers have penetrated the White House computer network on multiple occasions, and obtained e-mails between government officials, a senior US official told the Financial Times.
On each occasion, the cyber attackers accessed the White House computer system for brief periods, allowing them enough time to steal information before US computer experts patched the system.” Read more..