security

As we head into the dog days of summer, most technology announcements are lukewarm at best. Usually vendors save their juicy stuff for September and the push toward the end of the year.

With that as a back drop, one announcement last week may have been a curious exception to this rule. Cisco, EMC, and Microsoft got together with a few others and announced the Secure Information Sharing Architecture (SISA). What is SISA? The press release defines it as a "commercial off-the-shelf architecture that was created to make data easily, and securely shared among multinational environments."

Pretty vague, … Read more

Intended to be a convenience, the unique dialing feature included in the iPhone version of the Safari browser might soon become a nightmare.

SPI Labs' lead researcher Billy Hoffman says that the feature that is designed to dial any number displayed on a Web page after a user taps it is subject to various attacks, including cross-site scripting and drive-by downloads. This issue was first reported to Apple on July 6, but Hoffman believes the "unique urgency" and its potential to affect a large number of people warranted public disclosure.

Potential uses of this vulnerability cited by Hoffman … Read more

Spybot Search & Destroy has for years been a household standard in free antispyware protection. Originally winning respect for offering comprehensive malware-slashing features that competing software lacked, Spybot Search & Destroy has lost this advantage, as most reputable antivirus programs have added similar features. This First Look video takes you on a features tour, and hits upon the pros and cons that may have you standing by the sought-after program or searching for a spyware-busting alternative.

If there's one thing Power Downloader has learned while working with computers and software, it's that there will inevitably be problems. With new viruses and new strains of spyware set loose onto the Web every day, Power knows he needs to stay on top of updates and the latest definitions for his programs. But even with the best protection available, occasionally something can sneak through Power's defenses, leaving his computer unusable.

To make sure he's prepared for the worst, Power Downloader keeps a bootable CD with a variety of programs meant to troubleshoot an otherwise unusable … Read more

One more time around the block, James.

Microsoft late Thursday revised one of its critical security bulletins from Patch Tuesday, adding another item to its list of affected software.

Security bulletin MS07-036 now includes a warning that Microsoft Office 2004 for the Mac is also affected.

The update is designed to address a security flaw, which could allow attackers to overwrite the computer's memory with malicious code.

Microsoft notes that people running Office 2004 for the Mac on the Mac OS X 10.2 are at risk. It advises people to first install the Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.3.5 update, … Read more

WASHINGTON--Spammers, beware: more criminal spam prosecutions--complete with stiff prison sentences and mandatory forfeiture of relevant valuables--are on the way in the coming months, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney said Thursday.

"I think the healthy dose of jail time plus lose-your-money is working," Mona Sedky Spivack, a trial attorney in the Justice Department's computer crime and intellectual property unit, said at the second day of a Federal Trade Commission spam summit here. "I hope that provides a deterrent effect to other would-be criminal spammers out there."

Justice Department and FBI representatives contacted by CNET … Read more

Sony BMG Music Entertainment is suing an antipiracy CD software company claiming that the technology provided was flawed. In November 2005, researcher Mark Russinovich discovered hidden files left behind on computers when certain Sony copy-protected CDs were played. The subsequent consumer complaints and government investigations, says Sony, cost the entertainment company millions of dollars in losses.

Now Sony BMG has filed a complaint against The Amergence Group, formerly SunnComm International, a company that produced the piracy-protection system known as MediaMax CD. According to the Associated Press, Sony BMG is seeking $12 million in damages for unfair business practices and for … Read more

Adobe Systems this week issued three critical security updates designed to address vulnerabilities in its Flash Player, according to a security advisory issued by the company.

Adobe Flash Player 9.0.45.0, 8.0.34.0 and 7.0.69.0, as well as their earlier versions running on all platforms, are affected.

Users loading a malicious vector graphics file format (SWF) in their Flash Player may find attackers exploiting security flaws due to an input validation error in 9.0.45.0 and earlier versions, according to a security advisory by Secunia. Attackers, as a result, can gain … Read more

An elvish gentleman of the Macalope's acquaintance writes to point out that Apple has once again failed to credit security researchers who found flaws in its products.

Well, except for Tom Ferris.

And Matt Slot.

And Jonathan 'Wolf' Rentzsch.

Uh, Tom Ferris again.

Oh. And David Vaartjes and iDefense VCP.

And Adam Gowdiak got some credit there.

Twice.

But no one on that last one!

C'mon, Apple!

Of course, they could have found that one on their own.

Hmm. Boy. Now the pointy one really kind of wonders what kind of a joker you'd have to be … Read more