Top 10 Stories

Symantec may be poised to join the list of tech heavyweights opting to split.   According to Bloomberg, the company is considering carving up its storage and security businesses into two companies. Some CEOs of Symantec, including Enrique Salem have contended with calls by investors to sell off the Veritas division or spin-off its Norton-led consumer security business. More recently, Symantec has turned its attention to competing with newer rivals in enterprise security, such as FireEye and...

The price of stolen credit cards dropped as the risk of bogus sales increased.   According to research by Michigan State University associate professor Thomas Holt, University of North Carolina assistant professor Olga Smirnova and Yi-Ting Chua of Michigan State University of the machinations of carding markets and discovered a slight drop in the overall cost of cards, known as dumps, and were examining carder forums as Tor hidden services.   Holt will this week present...

AVG Technologies has partnered with Sony to be the exclusive provider of mobile security to the devices. From autumn 2014, the Xperia Z3 series smartphones and tablets will include the AVG AntiVirus PRO for Android app that will provide Xperia users with the mobile protection they need to help use their devices safely for their online activities. Xperia users will receive a 180 day trial of the AVG AntiVirus PRO for Android app, which was the first mobile security application to exceed 100...

2014 has shown a remarkable increase in Simple Service Discovery Protocol (SSDP) reflection attacks.   According to Arbor Networks, it monitored very few attacks using SSDP as a reflection mechanism in Q2, but spotted nearly 30,000 attacks with this source port in Q3 alone, with one such attack reaching 124Gbps.   It also found that NTP reflection attacks were still significant, but continuing to fall away proportionally since Q1. However, over 50 per cent of all attacks...

Infected ATMs are giving away millions of dollars without credit cards being anywhere near them. Research by Kaspersky Lab found a piece of malware infecting ATMs that allowed attackers to empty the cash machines via direct manipulation, stealing millions of dollars. The attack works by criminals gaining physical access to the ATMs and inserting a bootable CD to install the malware. This has been named Tyupkin. After this they reboot the system, and the infected ATM...

F-Secure has partnered with WiFi provider Airangel Limited to eliminate snooping, help block harmful web links and improve the privacy and safety of thousands of WiFi hotspot users.   Any users of Airangel’s WiFi hotspots are taken to a landing page that will allow them to protect their online privacy with F-Secure security solutions.   Following the launch of F-Secure’s Freedome VPN app, which prevents data leakage through encrypting the communication from mobile devices, an Airangel-powered connection will allow users...

A misconfiguration in a web server at the Municipal Bond Insurance Association has exposed countless customer account numbers, balances and other sensitive data.   According to security blogger Brian Krebs, much of the information had been indexed by search engines, including a page listing administrative credentials that could be accessed via a simple web search.   The largest provider of municipal bond insurance and investment management products in the USA, the company quickly disabled the vulnerable site once...

The FBI has offered up to $5,000 to anyone who can offer information that leads to the arrest of a cyber fugitive accused of stealing identities and using them to siphon funds from bank and brokerage accounts.   According to a press release, 38-year-old John Gordon Baden is one of the most wanted fugitives of the San Diego FBI. Court documents show that Baden and his two co-conspirators, Jason Ray Bailey and Victor Alejandro Fernandez, hacked into the...

ISACA has launched a certificate for “Cybersecurity Fundamentals” which is intended for university students and recent graduates, entry-level security professionals, and those seeking a career change.   A more knowledge-based certificate, it requires passing a proctored online exam and is aligned with the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) and the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity Workforce Framework.   It tests for foundational cybersecurity knowledge in five areas: cyber security concepts; cyber...

Facebook has vowed to "aggressively get rid of fake likes" on its network.   After winning more than $2bn (£1.3bn) in legal judgements against scammers who sold fake likes to businesses, Facebook said that bumping up likes did "more harm than good", and could mean companies "could end up doing less business" on the social network.   In a post on its security blog, the social network said that it has “a strong incentive to aggressively...