Mr M K Narayanan told The Times that his office and other government departments were targeted on December 15. A ‘Trojan’ virus was embedded in an e-mail PDF attachment. The virus was detected and officials were told not to log on until it was eliminated. This was not the first instance of an attempt to hack into India’s computers. People seem to be fairly sure it was the Chinese. China has denied any role in the hacking attacks. Read full story »
The information security department of France urged Internet users to avoid Microsoft’s browsers IE 6, 7 and 8 because of a weakness that allows hackers to infect the system. The German Federal Office for Information Security, said that flaws in the Microsoft systems let hackers start and lock computers that have a Windows operating system, and thus urged not to use it. Read full story »
Google is investigating whether one or more employees may have helped facilitate a sophisticated cyber-attack from China that resulted in theft of its intellectual property. Chinese local media reports that some Google China employees were denied access to internal networks after Jan 13, while some staff were put on leave and others transferred to different offices in Google’s Asia Pacific operations. Google has denied rumours that it has already decided to shut down its China offices. Google is going to have talks with the Chinese government, before making any final decision on the matter. Read full story »
Microsoft has released its new Security Essentials software that offers real-time protection against viruses, spyware, and other malicious programs. It’s also FREE. Microsoft Security Essentials provides real-time protection for your home PC that guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. Microsoft Security Essentials is a free download that is simple to install, easy to use, and always kept up to date so you can be assured your PC is protected by the latest technology. Read full story »
According to an advisory published by Research In Motion (RIM), BlackBerry mobile devices are open to attack due to a certificate notification flaw in the smartphone’s software. The problem lies in the BlackBerry Browser dialog box that alerts users if the URL they have clicked on does not match the domain they are being sent to.
Using this security flaw, a malicious user could create a web site that includes a certificate that is purposely altered using null (hidden) characters in the certificate’s Common Name (CN) field or otherwise manipulated to deceive a BlackBerry device user into believing they have connected to a trusted web site. Read full story »
