Top 10 Stories

Softpedia - Based on statistics from its GSMA Spam Reporting Service, Cloudmark has determined that more than half of the SMS spam sent out in January in the United States represented phishing attempts. Worryingly, phishing reports have increased by 78% from December 2013 to January 2014.

We Live Security - Boeing’s Black Smartphone sounds like something out of spy fiction – the device, which can connect to satellites and secret government telecoms networks, will self-destruct if tampered with, deleting all data and rendering the device useless.

Softpedia - When it was first discovered back in 2012 by researchers from Trusteer, Tilon was said to be “the son” of another piece of malware called Silon. However, experts from Fox-IT say that Tilon should actually be called SpeEye2.

IT Pro Portal - Brazilian hackers have issued threats to disrupt this summer’s FIFA World Cup and there are worries that the telecommunications infrastructure won’t be able to cope with the attacks.

SC Magazine UK - The personal details of hundreds of millions of people have been discovered for sale on the cyber black market, including one tranche of 105 million electronic records that represents one of the largest hacks ever recorded.

NY Times - Not long after the uprising in Syria turned bloody, late in the spring of 2011, the Pentagon and the National Security Agency developed a battle plan that featured a sophisticated cyberattack on the Syrian military and President Bashar al-Assad’s command structure.

Cisco - Cisco is announcing OpenAppID, an open, application-focused detection language and processing module for Snort that enables users to create, share, and implement application detection. OpenAppID puts control in the hands of users, allowing them to control application usage in their network environments and eliminating the risk that comes with waiting for vendors to issue updates. Practically speaking, we’re making it possible for people to build their own open source Next-Generation Firewalls.

Wall Street Journal - Since cybercriminals gained access to more than 100 million credit- and debit-card numbers from Heartland Payment Systems Inc. in 2007, Mr. Carr, its chief executive, has quadrupled his security budget. Heartland also paid $150 million in fines and legal costs from the breach and suffered damage to its reputation as a payment processor.

The Daily Caller - Computer science researchers have demonstrated for the first time how a digital virus can go airborne and spread via WiFi networks in populated areas at the same pace as a human diseases.

Softpedia - Anonymous hackers have once again targeted several websites of the Philippines government. The hacktivists are protesting against a provision of the Cybercrime Prevention Act that violates freedom of speech.