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Google Ordered to Pull Links to 'Right to be Forgotten' Stories

Image The UK data protection watchdog has stated Google must remove all links to articles which were initially removed from search results under the ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling. The Information Commissioner's Office issued the order on August 18, and has given Google 35 days to remove the links. However, Google has the right to...
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How Fraudsters Are Using P2P Money Transfer Services

Image From phishing attacks to ransomware to malicious advertisements, fraudster's methods for obtaining and exploiting our information are varied and, for the most part, well-known among today’s avid Internet users. Even among the less avid Internet users, security is now more of a concern than it used to be after the numerous giant...
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From the Trench of Insecurity

Image Imagine a circumstance where a significant investment has been made into a data loss prevention (DLP) solution in which it paves the way for a lip-service approach towards cyber security, with the very real-world association of unknown exposures. As amazing as it may seem, here is such a case in history that may leave you with...
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Security Slice: My Bro the ELK

Image In early August, Tripwire security analyst Travis Smith conducted a presentation at Black Hat USA on combining open source and commercial security tools to correlate and build context on security events. As part of his presentation, Travis introduced Tripwire’s Automated Reconnaissance and Deep Inspection System (TARDIS), a...
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Internet Scams: It’s No Longer Merely Emotional – Part 2

Image In part one of this article, we reviewed how the Nigerian Prince scam is no longer the primary email scam in use, being replaced by more clever and devious methods. The article also examined some of the emotional and personal aspects of the second most popular Internet scam, known as the “urgent wire-transfer” scam, as reported...
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IE Under Attack! Microsoft Releases Emergency Out-of-Band Patch

Image If Microsoft calls a vulnerability "critical," warns that it affects all versions of Windows, and is prepared to issue a patch outside of its normal Patch Tuesday monthly schedule, you should sit up and listen. Today, Microsoft has issued an advisory about a zero-day vulnerability, dubbed CVE-2015-2502, that could allow an...
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'Darkode' Hacker Pleads Guilty to Distributing Facebook Malware

Image Hacker Eric Croker has been charged with helping to illegally gain access to more than 77,000 computers through an online hacking forum, Darkode. Crocker, 39, of New York, who pleaded guilty on Monday in a U.S. District Court, was among 12 people charged in July when the hacker forum known as “The best malware marketplace on the...
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Internet Scams: It’s No Longer Merely Emotional – Part I

Image This two-part article will examine the two most popular Internet scams today, and the motivators that make them work. At a recent Cyber Security Symposium hosted by the District Attorney’s office in New Haven, Connecticut, an FBI Agent from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) gave a presentation in which he revealed the...
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Adobe Settles Claims for 2013 Data Breach

Image Adobe has now settled claims for its 2013 data breach in which 38 million users had been affected. On August 13, 2015, it was reported that they have paid an undisclosed sum to users and faced $1.1 million in legal fees. The breach was first confirmed back in October 2013 when Adobe had been the victim of a long-term network...
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Why SMEs Need a Business Continuity Management Solution

Image It's a matter of fact that incidents will happen, and now more than ever, organizations have to be prepared to avoid being held liable. Small- and medium-size organizations (SME), however, cannot and will not spend too much money on Business Continuity Management (BCM) and Incident Management. The majority of SMEs that...
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Security, Reverse Engineering and EULAs

Image Like more than a few others, I experienced the infosec outrage against Mary Ann Davidson, Oracle's Chief Security Officer, before I actually read the now-redacted blog post. After taking the time to read what she actually wrote (still available through Google's web cache), I think there’s more discussion to be had than I’ve seen...
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XSS flaw put Salesforce accounts at risk of hijacking

Image Security researchers have found a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability on the Salesforce website, that could be exploited by malicious hackers to conduct phishing attacks and hijack the accounts of users. The researchers at Elastica report that they uncovered the weakness on one of Salesforce's subdomains, admin.salesforce...
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unSecuring TNS Listener in 10g and Beyond

Image Prior to the release of Oracle 10g, the TNS Listener – by default – was not secured with a password. In the default state, anyone who could access the TNS Listener remotely could issue commands to it, including shutting it down. The TNS Listener had two security settings: 'OFF,' the default state without a password set, and 'ON'...
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More Than 90% of Suspicious IP Addresses Not Identified by Blacklists

Image A new report reveals that current blacklists are failing to identify approximately 90% of suspicious IP addresses. The report, "Two Shady Men Walk Into a Bar: Detecting Suspected Malicious Infrastructure Using Hidden Link Analysis," is the culmination of an effort led by threat intelligence firm Recorded Future to illustrate how...
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The Problem with Know-It-All Security

Image I am not one for quotes and ‘Facebook philosophy’ memes but recently, I was reminded of my favourite quote on a certain social media platform: “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates Image The pursuit of education can convert a criminal into a solicitor; it...