Editor's News

GCHQ and the National Crime Agency are to partner with the Cyber Security Challenge and Infosec Skills to prepare exams to train recruits for BCS exams.   The first competition of the fifth annual competition will see the Chartered Institute of IT and BCS training partner Infosec Skills issue a series of assessments that will test contestants knowledge and aptitude in data governance and information assurance architecture.   The Infosec Skills ISM Skills Draft is based on real...

Texan baseball team the Houston Astros suffered a data breach where internal communications on trades were leaked.   According to Yahoo Sports, hackers accessed the Astro’s internal communications database and released ten months' worth of notes about trade talks between the Astros and other MLB teams. This included high demands, counter offers and scenarios that never took place.   The documents were leaked in two parts to a site called Anonbin with one part dealing...

Cyber security and data protection have been ranked third in a list of boardroom priorities.   According to a survey released today by KPMG of 498 C-level executives from UK businesses, under-investment has left many businesses acknowledging the need to increase spend on secure technology.  Despite this, one in three executives questioned the need to invest in people skills, with 19 per cent also more focused on plant or machinery purchases.   When it comes...

Microsoft has announced that it is to close its security mailing list temporarily for two days.   According to the Register, the 12 year-old email list offers news of security updates, and recipients will get their news from an RSS feed instead. An email said: “As of July 1, 2014, due to changing governmental policies concerning the issuance of automated electronic messaging, Microsoft is suspending the use of email notifications that announce .”   The...

Microsoft has named two Kuwaiti and Algerian nationals in a civil case for their involvement in creating, controlling and assisting in infecting millions of computers with malicious software.   According to a blogby Richard Domingues Boscovich, assistant general counsel at the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit, their actions harmed “Microsoft, its customers and the public at large”. He said that Mohamed Benabdellah amd Naser Al Mutairi, as well as the US company Vitalwerks Internet Solutions, LLC...

Code breaking centre Bletchley Park has opened its first computer centre and learning zone for school children.   Opened in association with McAfee, their UK and Ireland vice president Ross Allen said it was answering a “cry for help” with the five year partnership to learn about the importance of cyber security.   The interactive zone will see the exhibition and workshops run at the new Computer Learning Zone to engage, inspire and educate visitors...

A “well orchestrated DDoS” attack put code-hosting domain Code Spaces down this week. In a statement, Code Spaces said that the denial-of-service attack was launched against it on Tuesday of this week, which is normally overcome, but “on this occasion however the DDOS was just the start”. Pointing at an “unauthorised” person, who gained access to its Amazon EC2 control panel and left a number of messages for Code Space to contact them using a...

The move to mobile ransomware is a “logical” one, but will not be as effective as what is hitting PCs.   Speaking to IT Security Guru, Michael Sutton, vice president of security research at Zscaler, said that as campaigns such as CryptoLocker have been so successful, it was logical that the ransomware threat moves to mobile devices.   This week, Robert Lipovsky, malware researcher at ESET, wrote in a blog about Simplocker which affects Android devices...

Barclays is to introduce voice recognition for users of its telephone banking service.   In a new effort to move away from the use of passwords, the voice recognition system will verify customers based on their speech patterns and will be offered initially to Barclay’s Wealth customers, and then to its 12 million customers early next year, according to the Telegraph.   The system stores a recording of a customer’s “voiceprint” and future calls will...

The phone hacking trial has seen former heads of the News of the World found not guilty, while a former editor has been found guilty on conspiracy to hack phones.   Former managing editor Stuart Kuttner has been found not guilty, while former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks has been cleared of all charges. Her assistant Cheryl Carter and husband Charlie Brooks were also found not guilty. Mrs Brooks, a former editor of the...