Top 10 Stories

Softpedia: How would you react if you received an email from someone claiming you’ve hit their car in traffic? You’d probably want to check out the picture they’ve attached to see what it’s all about. That would be a big mistake. Cybercriminals are sending out emails entitled “Traffic accident with your car” in an attempt to trick unsuspecting recipients into installing malware.  

  Reuters: The head of a nonprofit that manages the infrastructure of the Internet defended on Wednesday the U.S. government's move to cede oversight of the body, and downplayed concerns that Russia, China or other countries could exert control and restrict the web's openness. The Obama administration last month said it would relinquish oversight of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, which controls the "address book" of the Internet, the master database of top-level...

Intego: Yesterday, Apple quietly released Safari 6.1.3 and Safari 7.0.3 with security updates that address multiple vulnerabilities. These updates patch 27 security bugs altogether, all of which are related to arbitrary code execution. Safari 6.1.3 and Safari 7.0.3 updates are available for: OS X Lion 10.7.5, OS X Lion Server 10.7.5, OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5, and OS X Mavericks 10.9.2.  

Risk based security: An unknown person (or group) has uploaded a complete database of the well-known web TV service Boxee.tv some time around the 10th of March. In some regards, it really couldn’t be a worse time for them as they have recently announced they are moving to Samsung after six years of being private. The leak was announced on a private forum and the database information has been uploaded to a TOR service in the format of a...

Techworld: Officially, Microsoft casts off Windows XP next week. In all probability it will have to continue patching it whether it whether it likes this prospect or not.   You have to hand it to Windows XP, an operating system that seems immune to age, software fashion, obsolescence and security infirmity. Microsoft’s planners wanted to be done with it long ago but here they are in 2014, stuck in the middle of the slowest software...

  CIO: Technology that remotely makes a stolen smartphone useless could save American consumers up to $2.6 billion per year if it is implemented widely and leads to a reduction in theft of phones, according to a new report. Law enforcement officials and politicians are pressuring cellular carriers to make such technology standard on all phones shipped in the U.S. in response to the increasing number of smartphone thefts. They believe the so-called "kill switch"...

IT Pro Portal: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has named three executives to lead various integral parts of the company he now heads in order to fulfil his vision for the company’s future as a mobile-first, cloud-first company. Like a Prime Minister would do after an election, Nadella has reshuffled his pack to include a team that can make sure the company performs to the highest level possible and the new appointments include Stephen Elop, Scott...

Tripwire: With support for the Windows XP coming to an end, experts warn that computers which continue to use the outmoded operating system may be ripe for takeover by botnet operators, especially in China where XP is still widely used. StatCounter reported in January that as many as 50.46% of the computers in China still use the XP operating system, due mostly to the high cost of upgrading. Support for XP ends April 8.  

Guardian: US intelligence chiefs have confirmed that the National Security Agency has used a "back door" in surveillance law to perform warrantless searches on Americans’ communications. The NSA's collection programs are ostensibly targeted at foreigners, but in August the Guardian revealed a secret rule change allowing NSA analysts to search for Americans' details within the databases.  

ZDNet: Target might have caught a lucky break, if it can even be called that. Two financial institutions withdrew lawsuits against the retail giant in the wake of the widely-reported, massive data breach at the end of 2013. Based on court filings, Green Bank of Houston and Trustmark National Bank of New York both dropped their claims in their respective federal courts on Monday.