Top 10 Stories

Microsoft and the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) have agreed a deal to share threat data.   Assistant general counsel of the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit Richard Boscovich announced the partnership, promising it will grant FS-ISAC members "near real-time information” on known malware infections.   Microsoft has participated in several information-sharing initiatives with law enforcement to help mount several takedown operations against botnets, including the infamous Citadel and Caphaw, which are believed to have enslaved millions...

Intel has hired Cisco’s Christopher Young as general manager of Intel Security.   The brand formerly known as McAfee, Young will join Intel's management committee and report to Intel President Renée James. He was previously senior vice president of the global Security and Government Group, responsible for strategy, engineering and product development for the company's security product business.   Prior to Cisco, he held executive roles in end user computing at VMware and cyber security...

The FBI plans to release a malware-analysis tool to external security researchers, academics and others.   According toThreatpost, Malware Investigator is designed to allow FBI agents and other authorised law enforcement users to upload suspicious files. Once a file is uploaded, the system runs it through a cluster of anti-malware engines and returns a wide variety of information about the file.   Users can see what the detection rate is among AV engines, network connection...

Messaging service Snapchat has not been hacked, despite some user profiles being used to send out advertisements for a weight loss site.   According toBBCNews, the situation sees a person's account taken control of to send an image to everyone in a user's contact list.   Snapchat blamed user credentials being found on other sites, as hackers have access to a trove of credentials leaked from other websites, and have started using them to gain...

Tel Aviv start up Argus Cyber Security has raised $4 million in funding for technology that can help prevent a vehicle's critical components from being hacked.   A vendor of an intrusion prevention system (IPS) that leverages deep packet inspection (DPI) algorithms to help prevent a vehicle's critical components from being hacked, the company says this can be integrated into any vehicle production line and it generates reports and alerts for remote monitoring of a...

If a foreign intelligence service were to gain access to the phone-routing system and identify the targets of United States surveillance efforts it would be “a counterintelligence bonanza for adversaries of the nation and a security disaster for the United States”.   According to Michael Chertoff, working as a consultant for Neustar and a former head of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a report that national security concerns have been slighted in the contracting process....

Users would unwillingly be prepared to give up their firstborn child in exchange for wi-fi use.   A wi-fi investigation conducted on the streets of London shows that consumers carelessly use public wi-fi without regard for their personal privacy. In the experiment, which involved setting up a ‘poisoned’ wi-fi hotspot, unsuspecting users exposed their Internet traffic, their personal data, the contents of their email, and even agreed to an outrageous clause obligating them to give up...

Major retailers should expect higher rates and retentions and lower coverage limits for their cyber insurance following several major data breaches since spring 2013. According to Business Insurance, major data breaches have increased demand for coverage, while many retailers are seeking increased coverage limits with mixed success. In response, underwriters are asking more in-depth questions before agreeing to bind policies, which generally exclude retroactive coverage. While some insurers have stopped writing the coverage for big...

  Photos that allegedly show NSA monitoring stations in Vienna have been leaked.   The photos, published by Security Affairs, the NSA monitoring stations are used to spy on United Nations communication. Photos show a hut on the roof of the building, which cannot be seen from the street, that is enclosed by solid steel bars and protected by a significant video surveillance system equipped with a ten cameras.   Journalist Erich Mochel said that together...

A bill of rights is needed for the internet as its freedom is under threat by Governments and corporations who wish to control it.   According to the Guardian, world wide web inventor Tim Berners-Lee called for a bill of rights that would guarantee the independence of the internet and ensure users’ privacy. “If a company can control your access to the internet, if they can control which websites they go to, then they have...