Live map shows cyber-war in real time

Cyber-intelligence firm builds heatmap to show online attacks around the world as they happen

A heat map depicting cyber-warfare as it happens has revealed the extent of the online attacks that ricochet between China and the United States. The mesmerising depiction has been created by Norse Corporation – a company that monitors global spyware and malware. The map is based on 130 terabytes of information gathered from 40 countries and eight million so-called "honeypots" – computers that emulate the kinds of programs cyber-attackers tend to attack, like ATM software and corporate email, BuzzFeed explains. The map shows a range of different information, including which country a cyber attack comes from, where it is aimed, and details about what kind of attack it is. The attacks it displays represent only one per cent of the total data Norse tracks. If the company attempted to display any more than that it would become illegible, it says. Although many of the attacks seem to be emanating from China, that impression may be misleading, NetworkWorld says, as "many attackers are good at masking their real location".  At time of writing, the five most frequently attacked countries appear to be the US, China, Singapore, UK and Thailand. And apart from China, the assaults seem to originate from the US, the Netherlands, Russia and what looks like a small island off the south coast of Ghana labelled "Mil/Gov". Rather than this being a secretive US military base in the Gulf of Guinea, it is in fact a random location on the equator that Norse has selected to represent cyber-attacks committed by and against the American government, where location data is unavailable. The map is "weirdly hypnotic" Quartz's Heather Timmons says, and looks rather "like the vintage video game Missile Command". Another tool that does a similar job is Kaspersky’s stunning interactive cyber threat map. Kaspersky Lab, a provider of anti-virus software has over 60 million users and detects more than 300,000 malicious objects every day. According to Kaspersky, the most infected countries in the world are currently Russia, India, Vietnam, the US and Germany. For further concise, balanced comment and analysis on the week's news, try The Week magazine. Subscribe today and get 6 issues completely free. Source: The Week UK, Image Courtesy: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BrJK-NACMAERLH6.jpg:large

Read More........→July 15, 2014

Malware re-birth a new threat?

Indian Express, Agencies : Washington, Scientists have claimed that new breeds of malware could leave computer systems and even critical infrastructure defenceless to attack from cyber criminals or foreign governments. An international team, led by Murray Brand, says that a theoretical attack strategy it calls a malware rebirthing botnet would render existing antivirus measures obsolete by using different kinds of malware in a coordinated strike. The attacker would first use a worm to create a botnet of infected slave computers, then upload a honeypot programme to attract and capture other malware from the internet. The captured malware would then be sent back to the attacker and altered in what Brand calls a rebirthing suite, improving its defences against antivirus programs with anti-analysis tools and tailoring them for the coming attack before distributing them among the botnet. The attacker now has an array of advanced, customised malware that are extremely difficult if not impossible for antivirus programs to detect that can be deployed against a target system from multiple angles. "Recognition of malware is dependent upon an analyst having already analysed the behaviour of the malware and extracted an identifying signature," Dr Brand said. If the new malware is significantly different to any known malware, antivirus software is unlikely to recognise the threat until the malware has disabled it, say the scientists. Dr Brand says antivirus software is already struggling to keep up with the growing volume of malware rapidly appearing on the internet, more than 75 million by the end of 2011. He says one third of malware in existence was created in the first 10 months of 2010 and new threats are often not properly identified for 48 days, with another 48 hours to program new definitions. Dr Brand says the processing power needed to scan for and delete malware may soon outstrip capacity of most computers. "At the other end of the spectrum, customised malicious software that does have a coordinated objective could be used to take over control of critical infrastructure or network operations in a very stealthy manner," he added. Source: Indian Express

Read More........→September 21, 2013

Mums should don role of CyberMums to avoid kids being bullied online

Washington, May 10 (ANI): In today's day and age, an additional role that every mother should play is that of being a cyber-mother. That is because instead of being nurtured through their formative years, today's teens are meandering their way through an unrestricted virtual world with disturbing experiences like cyber bullying, befriending unknown strangers, getting into relationships and accessing provocative content. Arming our kids with the information they need and talking even more openly about the risks involved and how to deal with them, is a key agenda of being a new age mother. Moreover, taking up this new role has become more critical and urgent for Indian mothers than ever before. According to McAfee's Secret Lives of Teens survey of over 1500 Indian parents and teens, there is an evident discrepancy between parental perception and actual reality regarding the online activities of Indian teens. The survey shows that while parental concerns prevail, teens do end up sharing more dangerous information online, contrary to their parents' belief. This divide is attributed to the fact that Indian teens are growing up as "digital natives", with increasingly active online lives but lack of parental assistance; substantiated through some of the following statistics: 70 percent of the surveyed teens believe that they shouldn't share their home address online but 40 percent of them still do. Correspondingly, only 21 percent of the polled parents believe teens would have actually done so. Although 31 percent of the surveyed teens have met their online acquaintances in real life, only 17 percent parents are aware of this. 20 percent of the surveyed teens access porn / nudity online willingly several times a day but 32 percent parents think teens willingly access it only a few times a year. 38 percent of the surveyed teens have witnessed cruel / mean behaviour online whereas only 16 percent parents are aware of this. Interestingly, 70 percent of polled parents completely trust their teens to tell them everything they do online whereas 58 percent polled teens strongly believe that they know how to hide their online activities from their parents. This suggests that there are some real threats for children online and responsible cyber parenting is the need of the hour. (ANI), Source: newstrackindia.com, Image: flickr.com

Read More........→May 11, 2013

US to complete elaboration of cyber war doctrine

A Pentagon document on the US cyber war doctrine will be put on President Barack Obama’s table in the next few weeks. Part of the US military doctrine, the cyber warfare doctrine stipulates launching pre-emptive cyber-attacks against potential enemies.

The doctrine will help the US respond to global cyber security threats and challenges. In fact, Washington reserves the right to carry out cover cyber operations all across the world. It took Pentagon experts two years to map out the doctrine, according to which the US President is authorized to give orders on launching pre-emptive cyber-attacks on any objects on the Internet, which pose a danger to the US’ national security. A cyber-attack means the implantation of multiple pieces of malicious software on the Internet, explains Moscow-based computer expert Ilya Sachkov. This creates a dangerous precedent for international law, he warns. "Such things should be regulated by the UN, Sachkov says, referring to a possible cyber war. A decision on punishing the aggressor should be made by the international community rather than a separate country, something that will comply with a spate of relevant international treaties adopted after World War II." A top-secret document, the cyber warfare doctrine was specifically hammered out by Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John O. Brennan, who will soon become the new CIA director. Earlier, it was Brennan who mapped out rules on using US drones to destroy terrorists. According to The New York Times, the cyber warfare doctrine contains plenty of norms related to using US drones. US experts say that a possible enemy’s financial sector, infrastructure and economy may be hard hit by a US cyber-attack, which can be likened to a nuclear strike in terms of consequences. This is why it is the US President who is authorized to issue an order on staging a cyber-attack. Such an order was reportedly issued by Obama during a secret operation against Iran’s uranium-enrichment facilities in 2010. According to US media, the facilities’ software was seriously damaged by a US cyber-attack at the time. The US Cyber Command led by former National Security Agency chief General Keith B. Alexander was formed in the Pentagon in February 2011. According to the new doctrine, the US Cyber Command is responsible for defining the US’ cyber foes and objects of cyber-attacks. Source: Voice of Russia

Read More........→April 15, 2013

The Australian central bank has been hacked

The Reserve Bank of Australia has disclosed the results of its internal investigation of the cyber attacks that show characteristics of Chinese origin. The conclusions of the investigation are unequivocal. The RBA’s computer networks have been repeatedly and successfully hacked.

Although the results of the investigation are not fully public, some information has been published by the Australian Financial Review. It is worth stressing that the Austrian central bank was unwilling to disclose any information pertaining to the attacks and it was the investigative effort of the Australian journalists which has prompted a partial disclosure. So far, the mechanics of the attack have been described as “infiltration”, combined with the usage of “Chinese-developed malicious software”. An unnamed Australian official told the press that “the targeting of high profile events, such as the G20, by state-sponsored adversaries... is a real and persistent threat. Cyber intruders are looking for information on... the government’s intentions.” The analysts from Zerohedge point out that this attack appears to be related to the 2011 G20 summit “at which the French government has already confirmed over 150 computers were hacked for months with files redirected to Chinese sites”. Officials from the Risk Management Unit of the Reserve Bank of Australia have told the Australian Financial Review that “Bank assets could have been potentially compromised, leading to... information loss and reputation damage”. During the last several months, hackers have targeted numerous financial and governmental institutions. Private individuals are also not safe from hackers. Recently, a hacktivist group published the financial and personal information of American political figures and celebrities. It seems that both cyber warfare and cyber espionage have already become a major problem for governments, corporations and individuals. It is likely that a new arms race in the cyber security industry is already underway.TSource: Voice of Russia

Read More........→April 12, 2013

'Cyber-terrorism does not pose a significant threat to the Western security' - British expert

Photo: EPA

As global internet community grows by the minute, cyber-security experts continue to wonder how to make internet a safer place. In an interview to the Voice of Russia, Peter Warren, Chairman of Cyber Security Research Institute, UK, shared his thoughts on the issues of cyber-security and cyber-terrorism. According to Mr Warren, the possibility that terrorist organizations will use the internet to fulfill their malicious plans is rather low since a computer attack does not have that ‘chilling effect’ which is so often sought by terrorists.
The threat of cyber-crime, on the other hand, remains very real. In pursuit of greater revenues companies often rush to place their software on the market while being reluctant to check their new products for possible vulnerabilities which all too often serve as entry points for cyber-attacks. To minimize the probability of cyber-crime the expert urges to rethink the whole process of computer industry. Voice of Russia: Many international terrorist groups now actively use computers and the internet to communicate, but cyber-terrorism still remains a relatively rare occurrence. Do you think that terrorist networks might be avoiding the internet? Peter Warren: Yes, apart from for communication and fund-raising purposes, international terrorist groups are actually avoiding the internet at the moment. The reason for such avoidance is that it scares them. One of the primary characteristics of modern terrorist organizations is that they like to be anonymous. The traditional cell structures that they have been running for years helped them to achieve a very high level of anonymity and they do not want to compromise it. Those terrorist networks that have expertise to carry out a cyber-attack are well aware that the very moment they hit the internet they will be running a risk to be tracked and found because such organizations are being quite heavily monitored by the intelligence agencies all over the world. So, what is more likely is that a national-state player – a state with competence – could seek to destabilize an opponent by outsourcing the capability to the terrorist organization. Voice of Russia: Following your line of reasoning, it seems that cyber-violence is a particular kind of state-terrorism. Is this what you are implying? Peter Warren: I would say that this is a very real possibility and it is a very real trend. The only entity that has a capability to carry out an attack on a state’s critical infrastructure is another state. To achieve deniability, such a state could use a terrorist organization as a proxy. Voice of Russia: It is often claimed that the harm from cyber-terrorism can be compared to the harm from a more direct, physical terrorist attack. Would you agree? Peter Warren: That is actually the other issue because of which terrorist organizations are avoiding the internet. It is in the agenda of being a terrorist that you want to cause an outrage that scares people and makes them extremely anxious. The global reaction to 9/11 attacks is the best illustration of what terrorists ideally seek to achieve. Their main aim is to induce terror and it is fairly difficult to do it through the internet. If you are a terrorist organization and you use a virus that deteriorates the performance of the British transport system, for example, then all that this cyber-attack will do is cause a lot of irritation. It will not cause terror. In this respect, at the moment, cyber-terrorism per se does not pose a significant threat to the Western security; cyber-crime does. Voice of Russia: How about the harm that a cyber-attack can cause to a state’s economy or military infrastructure? We all remember how Iran’s nuclear infrastructure was attacked by Stuxnet. Would you say that this is not terrifying enough if a nuclear plant goes astray due to a cyber-attack? Peter Warren: This is the point I was about to come onto. There is now a fairly universal agreement that the Stuxnet attack on Iranian nuclear plant was put together by the joint efforts of the American-Israeli team and was not the work of any terrorist organization. Quite simply, for a terrorist group, such an attack was not ‘terrifying’ enough and was too ‘well-planned’ in a sense that the virus did not go much further than it was intended to. Although there was leakage of Stuxnet to India and some other areas, the attack was still very well-managed for a terrorist act. However, if such tool as Stuxnet got into the hands of genuine terrorists, the consequences could have been much worse. The nuclear reactor could have simply exploded and the damages would have been massive. This is why, as I said before, terrorist organizations with expertise in cyber-attacks are very closely monitored nowadays. Voice of Russia: It is interesting that a person or an organization behind the Stuxnet attack still remains unknown. Although, as you say, there are some speculations about the identity of the initiators, no one knows for sure who the attacker was. Why such difficulty with the perpetrator's identification? Peter Warren: This is one of the main problems with cyber-crime because you never know for sure where the things are coming from. One of the main problems with identification is the profound deficiency in the routing system in the internet. There have been some suggestions about how to fix this, but they all stumble upon the problem of funding. It is estimated that it would cost around eighteen billion dollars to correct the deficiencies. While this is not a considerable sum in terms of eradicating the issue, this budget would have to be agreed on internationally which is very difficult. That said, however, the intelligence agencies in Russia, in the UK, in America have developed a mechanism that allows them to track the virus to its origin. Obviously, the agencies will never tell the press how they do this, but it is known for sure that it is possible to locate the attackers. Voice of Russia: Vulnerabilities in software and computer system configurations provide the entry points for cyber-attacks. How can these deficiencies be minimized? Peter Warren: Vulnerabilities in code is a huge issue. The problem is that the way computer industry has been evolving as a very competitive market, security has always been a very low priority. Companies are constantly worried about what their competitors are doing so they want to rush out their software as quickly as they possibly can with no concern for security. In this sense, to minimize these vulnerabilities, we have to rethink the whole process of computer industry. Companies should not be allowed to place products on the market until these have been checked by cyber-security experts. Voice of Russia: In your opinion, what is the most effective countermeasure against cyber-attacks? Peter Warren: I think that one of the most effective means to prevent cyber-crime is raising public awareness. The other thing that can be done is the introduction of mandatory reporting mechanisms of cyber-crime. At the moment we are in an absolutely terrible state when the people will not even admit that they have been attacked precisely because they do not know how to deal with the problem. The third thing that is absolutely necessary is the creation of a global cyber-crime research organization. Although a European-wide research center has already been created for these purposes, there is a burning need for an international response. Admittedly, this is going to be very difficult to achieve because there is no legal consensus on the universal definition of cyber-crime. There are also some governmental organizations that actually have quite an intimate connection with cyber-crime. In essence, these organizations use hackers as deniable mercenaries which makes them significant intelligence assets. Voice of Russia: What about the social networks such as Facebook and Google+? Do they provide a fertile ground for recruitment of potential cyber-criminals? Peter Warren: Facebook and social media groups do currently provide a relatively fertile area for cyber-crime recruitment insofar as it is quite easy to find sympathizers. However, all the subsequent agreements are made elsewhere due to heavy monitoring of the social networks by the intelligence agencies. Source: Voice of Russia

Read More........→February 08, 2013

EC3 to fight cybercrime with Russia and Singapore

The EU says online fraud and organised crime on the internet is on the rise. Last year, credit card fraud alone cost Europeans 1-point-5-billion euros. To combat the increase in online criminal activity the EU has, today, opened a new cybercrime centre – known as EC3. The centre will focus on tackling identity theft, fraud and child exploitation online.

Cyber criminals are equipped to use technology to commit their crimes. They’re infiltrating our computers, our bank accounts, our smart phones and even our social networks – a worrying trend! The latest E.U. figures show, young Europeans spend 80% of their day on the internet. Designed to combat the rise in online criminal activity, the new European Cybercrime Center will pull expertise and promote the sharing of evidence from across the Eurozone. Troels Oerting will head the new cybercrime center EC3. He says we need to change our cybercrime strategy. We have tried many-many years to protect ourselves out of this with safer infrastructure, but this is simply not enough. Just like in the offline world, we need not only to put a lock on the door, we also need to have a criminal-free environment where we can go safely. A recent survey of the E.U. internet uses found high levels of concern about cyber security. 89% of those polled said they’d avoid disclosing personal information online due to security concerns, with 3 out of 4 citizens agreeing risk of becoming a victim of cybercrime has increased over the past year. But why is there a need for a pan-European organization? Troels Oerting, the head of EC3 again: We know about this threat. But do we have the European oversight? No! Is this important? Yes. And why? Because we have no geographical lens in this crime. The crime is not conducted in Stockholm or Vienna. It’s conducted all over by the same groups which we cannot identify. However, Chris Bellamy, Professor of Maritime Security says getting all the member-states to work together won’t be easy. I think it’s going to be a real challenge for them actually to exchange information and evidence. The rules are evidence are extremely strict. And I suspect that the problem will be getting police forces to send information to them. I think in some cases, of course, although there aren’t supposed to be any political differences between the countries of the E.U., the fact is that some political difference and indeed countervailing interests may reel their heads. The new EC3 center will focus on three main areas of cybercrime: online fraud, including incepting payments made on smartphones, identify theft and tackling child exploitation online. Authorities at EC3 will focus on the most dangerous cybercrime threats and key criminal groups who are operating at E.U. level. Last year credit card fraud alone cost Europeans 1.5 billion euros. Cecilia Malmström is the E.U.’s Home Affairs Commissioner. She says evidence collected online could often be more revealing to authorities than evidence found offline. A good piece of information is often all that is needed to combat criminals online. It can open up the whole network. The cybercrime center will also trade national law enforcement authorities and support them in their own cybercrime investigations. But Troels Oerting, the head of EC3, says there’s also a need for global cooperation on tackling cybercrime. EC3 is already working with Singaporean authorities and Troels Oerting is also hopeful of successful cooperation with Russia. We’re also negotiating an agreement with Russia that is just in its stage. I guess in this year we hopefully can sign it which will then enable them to actually exchange information with us. EC3 will now become the focal point in the Eurozone’s fight with cybercrime. The center is based in Hague and already began tackling criminal activity online, but is not expected to be fully functional until 2015. Source: Voice of Russia

Read More........→January 29, 2013

Russian hackers will launch blitzkrieg cyber-attacks on U.S. banks next spring, security experts warn

Victims: This map shows the locations of victims of the Project Blitzkrieg pilot campaign whose infected computers are reporting back to Romanian Control servers, according to McAfee Global Threat Intelligence Experts have warned that hackers' plans to launch massive cyber-attacks on U.S. financial institutions are not just a possibility but a 'credible threat'. According to a report released by internet security firm McAfee, the impending attack on banks - dubbed 'Project Blitzkrieg' - could result in millions of dollars of losses. 'McAfee Labs believes that Project Blitzkrieg is a credible threat to the financial industry and appears to be moving forward as planned,' the company said in a report published yesterday. Source: The Coming Crisis

Read More........→December 18, 2012

Hackers could create havoc with global air traffic

LAS VEGAS — Air traffic control software used around the world could be exploited by hackers to unleash squadrons of ghost planes to befuddle those entrusted to keep the skies safe, a security researcher said Friday. Cyprus-based Andrei Costin demonstrated his findings at a Black Hat gathering of cyber defenders in Las Vegas. “This is for information only,” Costin said as he outlined how someone with modest tech skills and about $2,000 worth of electronics could vex air traffic controllers or even stalk celebrities traveling in private jets. “Everything you do is at your own risk.”  Costin’s target was an ADS-B system in place for aircraft to communicate with one another and with air traffic control systems at airports.The system, which has been rolled out internationally in recent years in a multi-billion dollar upgrade, was designed to better track aircraft so airport traffic can flow more efficiently. A perilous flaw is that the system is not designed to verify who is actually sending a message, meaning that those with malicious intent can impersonate aircraft either as pranks or to cause mayhem, according to Costin. “There is no provision to make sure a message is genuine,” he said.“It is basically an inviting opportunity for any attacker with medium technical knowledge.” Air traffic controllers faced with a signal from a fake airplane resort to cross-checking flight plans, putting relevant portions of air space off limits while they work. “Imagine you inject a million planes; you don’t have that many people to cross-check,” Costin said. “You can do a human resource version of a denial of service attack on an airport.” Denial of service attacks commonly used by hackers involve overwhelming websites with so many simultaneous online requests that they crash or slow to the point of being useless. Aviation agencies are adept at identifying and locating “rogue transmitters” on the ground, but not at countering signals from drones or other robotic aircraft becoming more common and available, according to the researcher. Another danger in the new-generation air traffic control system, according to Costin, is that position, velocity and other information broadcast by aircraft isn’t encrypted and can be snatched from the air. “Basically, you can buy or build yourself a device to capture this information from airplanes,” Costin said. He listed potential abuses including paparazzi being able to track private jets carrying celebrities or other famous people. Costin showed how a friend was able to identify a plane broadcasting the identification numbers of Air Force One, the military jet used by the U.S. president, and plot it on a map on an iPad. “It can be a very profitable business model for criminals to invest a small amount of money in radios, place them around the world” and then sell jet tracking services or information about flights, the independent researcher said. “If it was Air Force One, why does Air Force One show itself?” Costin wondered aloud. “It is a very high profile target and you don’t want everyone to know it is flying over your house.” There are websites with databases matching aircraft registration numbers with listed owners. Source: Sam Daily Times

Read More........→December 16, 2012

Cyber clues link U.S. to new computer viruses

The U.S. may have developed three new previously unknown computer viruses for use in espionage operations or cyber warfare, says American computer security firm Symantec in its report. A study shows that Washington is using computer technology to promote its interests in the Middle East. For one, the U.S. was behind the Stuxnet, a computer worm used to collect information about the Iranian nuclear programme in 2010, as well as the development of Flame, a tool for cyber monitoring. Symantec and Russia’s Kaspersky Lab linked Stuxnet to Flame saying that part of the Flame programme is nearly identical to code found in a 2009 version of Stuxnet. Source: Voice of Russia

Read More........→October 19, 2012

Google will warn users about cyber attacks

Internet search giant Google has reportedly introduced an alert system that would warns its users when it thinks they may be the target of a state-sponsored cyber attack. The company said it would bring up a banner highlighting the danger when users are logged into their Google Account. An attached link will suggest actions to protect their data from being hijacked such as the use of tougher passwords and suggested system updates, The BBC reports. The U.S.-based firm. However, did not reveal exactly what would trigger the alerts. The firm only said that it would be based on the belief that a user might have become the target of malware or phishing, requests for some of their personal details from a party pretending to be a trustworthy source. "You might ask how we know this activity is state-sponsored," Eric Grosse, Google's vice-president of security engineering, wrote on its blog. "We can't go into the details without giving away information that would be helpful to these bad actors, but our detailed analysis - as well as victim reports - strongly suggests the involvement of states or groups that are state-sponsored," he added. Source: Hindustan Times, Image: flickr.com

Read More........→June 15, 2012

US scientists: biohackers could harm human brain

.

By Sergei Mizerkin, US scientists claim that ‘hacking’ a human brain and then controlling a person is a matter of time. According to the scientists, synthetic biology, which is a new branch of gene engineering, may help create special microorganisms capable of intruding the brain – a process that can be likened to malware hacking a computer. US scientists claim that ‘hacking’ a human brain and then controlling a person is a matter of time. According to the scientists, synthetic biology, which is a new branch of gene engineering, may help create special microorganisms capable of intruding the brain – a process that can be likened to malware hacking a computer. With US pundits already drawing parallels between cyber and bio crime, Russian scientists are warning against jumping to conclusions. Alexander Kaplan, of Moscow State University’s biology department, says that drawing parallels between a computer and a human brain is irrelevant if only because the brain is much more sophisticated than any computer system. In this regard, the US scientists’ allegations are yet to be confirmed by practical experiments, Kaplan says, adding that implanting bio viruses in a human brain will certainly be a tricky task. "The mystery surrounding the human brain is yet to be unravelled, Kaplan says. It is still unclear whether we will ever be able to obtain information from the brain by implanting bio viruses there. There are at least 100 billion neurons inside the brain and duly implanting a bio virus there will be a hard nut to crack, Kaplan says. I think, he adds, that this task will be very unlikely to be implemented in the foreseeable future. I would even say that hacking a human brain with the help of a bio virus is an unreal task." Generally speaking, it is extremely hard to create an artificial gene, Kaplan says. "After the emergence of living cells on Earth, it took nature about one billion years to create worms which can be called the first intelligent creatures – an evolution that we should bear in mind when speaking of a possibility of hacking a human brain." Hypothetically, this task can be fulfilled, believes Vladimir Korovin, head of the Agency for High Information Technologies in Moscow. Suffice it to mention that the past few years have seen scientists successfully deal with creating artificial organs, which mean that hacking a human brain may also become a reality, he says. In any case, this is unlikely to be fulfilled in the immediate future.Meanwhile, a first bacterium with an artificial gene has been created as biologists continue to experiment with the creation of microorganisms that could generate medicines, food, plastics and electricity. Source: Voice of Russia.

Read More........→April 26, 2012

Mobile phones hackers' main target

IANS: Mobile phones will be hackers' main target in the future, according to a network security report. About 7.12 million Internet-capable smartphones were infected with malicious programmes in 2011, and the number has been increasing rapidly, according to the China's National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team. The team found and terminated 6,249 malicious programmes last year, more than twice as many as in 2010, China Daily reported Friday. Hackers often designed software and applications to destroy mobile phone systems to get users' personal information, taking remote control of them and stealing bank account information or passwords, the report said. More than 1,317 of the malicious programme were used to charge cell phone users fraudulent fees, the report said, adding that it was hackers' source of money. According to the report, Nokia's Symbian and Google's Android mobile phone systemswere targeted by hackers last year. The number of malicious applications aimed at the latter continues to grow. China Daily said that aside from mobile phones, social websites and online forums, which collect significant user information, have also become easy prey for hackers.  Source: Hindustan Times, Image: flickr.com

Read More........→April 11, 2012