Current Security Issues

To boost security, Facebook adds remote logout

Published September 3, 2010

Have you ever left a public computer only to realize that you forgot to log out of your Facebook account? Facebook now has a tool to correct that and deal with spammers, too. More...

Popular Windows programs vulnerable to attack

Published August 27, 2010

Some of the world's most popular Windows programs are vulnerable to attacks that exploit a major bug in the way they load critical code libraries. More...

6 reasons to worry about cybersecurity

Published August 18, 2010

FCW outlines six key reasons that we should worry about cybersecurity, including botnets, social networks, and cloud computing. More...

5 tips to protect yourself on Facebook

Published August 13, 2010

In light of the concern about privacy and security, analysts have come up with five suggestions to protect you and your personal information. More...

Microsoft's Patches for August - A Record High

Published August 12, 2010

Microsoft delivered a record 15 security updates to patch a large number of vulnerabilities in Windows, Internet Explorer, Office, and Silverlight. More...

Microsoft ships rush patch

Published August 3, 2010

On Monday, Microsoft issued an emergency patch for a critical bug that attackers have been exploiting for several weeks. More...

Defense Department creates helpful online hub for social media

Published July 24, 2010

Although designed for the DoD community, the new Social Media Hub has helpful information for all Internet users. More...

Stuxnet malware targets SCADA systems; Siemens distributes fix

Published July 23, 2010

Siemens is distributing a tool that removes the Stuxnet malware threatening many vital components of our national infrastructure. More...

Watch Out–Facebook “OMG” Scam Thrives

Published July 22, 2010

The “OMG” (short for Oh, My God!) scam takes advantage of Facebook’s “like” feature to spread. More...

Cash For Keys Scam

Published July 22, 2010

Kimberly Miller of The Palm Beach Post highlights recent rash of scammers using 'cash for keys' ads to prey on unsuspecting renters. More...

Florida Division of Corporations Scam

Published July 15, 2010

Two entities target Florida businesses by appearing to conduct official business. More...

Microsoft releases 4 updates to fix 5 vulnerabilities

Published July 14, 2010

Microsoft's "Patch Tuesday" for July was rather compact. There were four security updates that included fixes for five vulnerabilities. Of the four updates, three were rated "critical," Microsoft's highest threat ranking. More...

Stranded friend scam continues to swindle consumers out of thousands of dollars

Published July 2, 2010

The FBI and its Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) report that a not-so-new scam continues to trick consumers into handing over large sums of money to hackers. More...

How to stay safe while surfing a public hotspot

Published July 2, 2010

With Starbucks now offering free wi-fi to its customers, it's probably a good idea to refresh our memory on some of the best practices for using an unsecured, public wi-fi network. More...

Criminals Exploit New Windows XP Zero-Day Attack

Published July 1, 2010

A recently discovered Windows XP flaw results in more than 10,000 malware, trojan, and virus attacks. More...

Destination Hotels card-processing system hacked

Published June 30, 2010

Hackers have broken into the payment processing system of Destination Hotels & Resorts, where guests who recently stayed at 21 of the resort's 30 hotels may have been victimized by the scheme, which appears to have compromised point-of-sale systems. More...

Adobe pushes out emergency patch for Reader apps

Published June 29, 2010

Adobe Systems has pushed out an emergency update that patches at least 17 holes in its Reader and Acrobat applications, including two serious bugs that are being used by online criminals to install malware on end-users' machines. More...

Trouble installing iOS 4? This may help

Published June 28, 2010

Are you still having trouble trying to upgrade your iPhone or iPod Touch to Apple's new iOS 4? If so, here's a workaround that could help. More...

Mozilla patches 9 Firefox bugs, adds plug-in crash protection

Published June 23, 2010

Mozilla has patched 9 Firefox vulnerabilities and has included crash protection for faulty plug-ins. More...

Apple leaves iPad vulnerable after monster iPhone patch job

Published June 23, 2010

Apple recently patched a record 65 vulnerabilities in the iPhone, but the first-generation iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as the much newer iPad, may be vulnerable to some or all of the 65 bugs. More...

FDLE Recognizes June as National Internet Safety Month

Published June 17, 2010

FDLE joins the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and SecureFlorida.org in recognizing June as National Internet Safety Month. More...

Microsoft Issues 10 Security Updates

Published June 8, 2010

Microsoft rolls out ten security updates this month; three critical and seven important. More...

June is National Internet Safety Month; Educate Yourself and Your Kids

Published June 7, 2010

School is out and you have more time with your kids--use this opportunity to teach them about Internet safety. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has tips and tools to help you. More...

Botnets Target Websites With 'Posers'

Published June 3, 2010

Kelly Jackson Higgins of DarkReading explains that botnets are becoming better at fooling websites by appearing human to create fake accounts on legitimate websites. More...

Facebook Rolls Out Simplified Privacy Controls

Published May 26, 2010

Today Facebook began a roll out of new simplified privacy controls. More...

UPDATE: Discovery of a New Type of Phishing Attack

Published May 25, 2010

Aza Raskin, Creative Lead for Mozilla Firefox, published an example of a new tab based phishing attack, also known as tabnabbing or tabjacking. More...

Facebook Offers New Security Feature

Published May 14, 2010

Facebook offers a new security feature designed to combat account hijacking. More...

Microsoft's May Patch Offers Two Updates

Published May 11, 2010

May's patch Tuesday offers two critical security bulletins. More...

New Trojan horse scam involving fake Windows 7 compatibility checker

Published May 11, 2010

Scam emails are being sent out which offer users the ability to have their PC scanned to determine if it can run Windows 7 with no problem. More...

Fake Anti-Virus Programs A Growing Threat

Published May 3, 2010

A recent Google study found that fake anti-virus programs account for 15% of all malicious software. More...

Microsoft Re-releases Security Update MS10-025 - CRITICAL

Published April 27, 2010

MS10-250 was revised today to offer the rereleased security update for Windows Media Services running on Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 4. Microsoft recommends that customers running the affected software apply the rereleased security update immediately. More...

Spammers hit Gmail accounts

Published April 22, 2010

Google is investigating a growing number of reports that hackers are breaking into legitimate Gmail accounts and then using them to send spam messages. More...

Microsoft Issues Security Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities

Published April 13, 2010

April's list of security updates includes 5 Critical, 5 Important, and 1 Moderate More...

Microsoft patches 10 critical IE bugs

Published March 30, 2010

Microsoft issued an emergency security update on Tuesday to plug 10 holes in Internet Explorer, including a critical vulnerability that hackers have been exploiting for weeks. More...

Apple releases Mac OS X 10.6.3

Published March 29, 2010

Apple released Mac OS X 10.6.3, the latest update to Mac OS X Snow Leopard. The update is recommended for all users of Snow Leopard, and brings a number of fixes, improvements, and security patches. More...

Security companies warn of increase in new IE attack

Published March 24, 2010

Criminals are increasing their use of an unpatched flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser to install fake antivirus products and malicious back doors on victim's computers. More...

Critical Firefox bug fixed one month after disclosure

Published March 23, 2010

The Firefox 3.6.2 update fixes a critical bug that could be exploited to crash a victim's browser and execute arbitrary code on his/her system. More...

New password-stealing virus targets Facebook

Published March 19, 2010

Hackers have targeted Facebook's estimated 400 million users with spam e-mail in an effort to steal banking passwords and gather other sensitive information. More...

Small Businesses targeted by Zeus Botnet

Published March 17, 2010

There has been a growing trend of fraudulent wire transfers from small businesses and government entities to overseas locations. More...

Apple plugs 16 holes in Safari

Published March 15, 2010

Apple Inc. patched 16 vulnerabilities in Safari, 12 of them critical bugs that could be used to hijack a machine. More...

Hackers exploit latest IE zero-day with drive-by attacks

Published March 11, 2010

Hackers are exploiting the just-disclosed unpatched bug in Internet Explorer (IE) to launch drive-by attacks from malicious Web sites. More...

Microsoft fixes eight flaws with its March update

Published March 10, 2010

The eight bugs patched this month are far from the near-record 26 that Microsoft fixed last month when it delivered 13 security bulletins. Both of this month's bulletins are ranked "important," the second-highest rating in Microsoft's four-step severity scoring system, even though the company acknowledged that the eight vulnerabilities could be used to completely compromise a Windows PC. More...

Microsoft: Don't press F1 key in Windows XP

Published March 2, 2010

Microsoft told Windows XP users today not to press the F1 key when prompted by a Web site, as part of its reaction to an unpatched vulnerability that hackers could exploit to hijack PCs running Internet Explorer (IE). More...

Sea World killer whale attack video leads to malware

Published March 2, 2010

News of the Sea World trainer's tragedy sped quickly around the world, and now sick cybercriminals are exploiting the story of 40-year-old Brancheau's death for their own commerical gain. More...

Free VirusTotal Uploader Links to 40 Antivirus Programs

Published February 26, 2010

The VirusTotal.com Web site offers a free but invaluable security service. It will scan any Web download, e-mail attachment or other file you send it with 40-odd different antivirus scanners to let you know whether it's safe for your computer. More...

Criminals Hide Payment-Card Skimmers Inside Gas Station Pumps

Published February 26, 2010

Criminals hid bank card-skimming devices inside gas pumps -- in at least one case, even completely replacing the front panel of a pump -- in a recent wave of attacks that demonstrate a more sophisticated, insidious method of stealing money from unsuspecting victims filling up their gas tanks. More...

Chatroulette: red-hot and controversial

Published February 24, 2010

The social networking Web site and latest Internet craze randomly and repeatedly connects users to strangers from all over the world, via their webcams. But some child advocates are worried that those strangers could include predators talking to kids. More...

Google Buzz criticized for disclosing Gmail contacts

Published February 11, 2010

At issue is a feature that compiles a list of the Gmail contacts who users most frequently e-mail or chat with. Buzz automatically starts following these people and makes the list public, meaning strangers can see who Buzz users have been in contact with. More...

Google Buzz and your privacy

Published February 10, 2010

Google Buzz is Google's answer to two popular social networking tools -- Facebook and Twitter. Before you try it out, you may want to be aware of an important privacy issue. More...

Patch Tuesday brings 13 fixes

Published February 9, 2010

This month, Microsoft has issued 13 Security Bulletins addressing 26 vulnerabilities. Five of the vulnerabilities are rated "Critical," seven are marked as "Important," and the last one is classified as "Moderate." All of the critical vulnerabilities earned their rating through a remote code execution impact, meaning a hacker could potentially gain control of an infected machine. More...

Google to jump on the social networking bandwagon

Published February 9, 2010

This would make Google the latest consumer Internet company to try to graft social-networking features into online communications services. More...

Apple patches critical flaws in iPhone, iPod Touch

Published February 5, 2010

Apple patched five vulnerabilities in the iPhone's operating system, including one in a password-locking feature that has required attention before. More...

Online Scammers Target Tax Payers

Published February 1, 2010

Tax scams come around at this time every year through your e-mail and with just the click of a mouse, scammers can take away thousands of dollars out of your bank account. More...

Johnny Depp Death Rumour Spreads Malware

Published January 26, 2010

Hackers have taken advantage of a fast-spreading Internet hoax to spread their own malware on sites claiming to contain video footage of Johnny Depp's supposed car crash. More...

Data breaches from malicious attacks doubled last year

Published January 25, 2010

Data breaches at U.S. companies attributed to malicious attacks and botnets doubled from 2008 to 2009 and cost substantially more than breaches caused by human negligence or system glitches. More...

Users still make hacking easy with weak passwords

Published January 23, 2010

Analysis of 32 million breached passwords shows the majority are still very simple to crack, with "123456" and "12345" being the two most popular. More...

Microsoft issues emergency IE patch January 21st

Published January 21, 2010

Microsoft will release its emergency patch for Internet Explorer (IE) on Thursday, January 21st. More...

Cyber hacker hits Paula Dockery's campaign site

Published January 21, 2010

The campaign of Sen. Paula Dockery, a Lakeland Republican running for government on a clean-up-government platform, was hit with a sophisticated computer hack this week that clogged her website. More...

Critical Shockwave Player vulnerabilities patched

Published January 20, 2010

Critical vulnerabilities have been identified in Adobe Shockwave Player 11.5.2.602 and earlier versions, on the Windows and Macintosh operating systems. More...

IE6 attack code used to hack Google now public

Published January 16, 2010

The dangerous Internet Explorer attack code used in last month's attack on Google's corporate networks is now public, and could possibly be modified to work on more recent versions of the browser. More...

FBI Warns of Scams Involving Haitian Relief

Published January 14, 2010

Once again the scammers are taking advantage of people's desire to help disaster victims. Read the FBI guidelines before you donate. More...

First Patch Tuesday of 2010

Published January 13, 2010

In the first Patch Tuesday of 2010, Microsoft releases a single critical security update for Windows users. More...

Large-scale attacks exploit Adobe .pdf bug; patch slated for next week

Published January 6, 2010

A week before Adobe is scheduled to patch a critical vulnerability in its popular PDF software, hackers are actively exploiting the bug with both targeted and large-scale attacks. More...

Y2.01K bug trips up symantec: error causes red faces

Published January 5, 2010

Symantec's Endpoint Protection Manager has been hit by an embarassing date bug, and has not been able to accept updates dated since then. More...

White House appoints cybersecurity advisor

Published December 22, 2009

Six months after President Obama pledged to appoint a cybersecurity advisor, the White House announced the appointment of former eBay Chief Security Strategist Howard Schmidt to the post. More...

Facebook users: be careful of the new "recommended" security settings!

Published December 9, 2009

Facebook users are being told about new security changes that give us "more control" over our information. However, their recommended privacy settings leave much to be desired. More...

Microsoft patches 12 bugs in December's "Patch Tuesday"

Published December 9, 2009

Microsoft patched 12 vulnerabilities in Windows, Office, and Internet Explorer (IE), including three critical bugs in its newest browser, IE8. More...

Judge okays $675K fine in P2P suit; also criticizes file-sharing lawsuits

Published December 8, 2009

Federal Judge Nancy Gertner has signed off on a jury's damages award of $675,000 for illegal file sharing; defendant Joel Tenanbaum illegally downloaded and shared 30 songs. More...

Apple issues security updates for Mac OS X

Published December 4, 2009

Apple pushed an update for Leopard and Snow Leopard systems that plugs a large number of security holes in Apple's version of Java. More...

Zbot attack remains biggest e-mail threat

Published December 3, 2009

A massive spam campaign that poses as a message from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) asking people to register for H1N1 vaccinations remains a big problem. More...

Apple issues week's second patch set, fixes 7 Safari flaws

Published November 13, 2009

Apple issued its second security update in three days, patching seven vulnerabilities in Safari, including one in the Windows version that the company fixed two months ago for most Mac users. More...

Microsoft plugs 15 holes in Windows, Office

Published November 13, 2009

Microsoft released software updates to fix at least 15 security flaws in Windows, Windows Server, and Microsoft Office. Of the 6 security bulletins that fix the 15 flaws, three were tagged "critical" by Microsoft, while the remaining 12 were labeled as "important," the next-lowest rating in the company's four-step severity scoring system. More...

First iPhone worm leaves users "Rickrolled"

Published November 9, 2009

The first worm written for Apple's iPhone has been unleashed and is infecting phones in Australia, but only phones that are "jailbroken." More...

FBI: Online banking attacks reach the $100 million mark

Published November 6, 2009

FBI officials say a mix of banking Trojans and phishing attacks has plagued victims - mainly public institutions and small and midsize businesses - to the tune of $100 million in attempted losses as of October. More...

Windows Autorun feature helps malware soar

Published November 4, 2009

A new report by Microsoft shows that the two most prevalent threats to Windows PCs in the first half of 2009 were malicious programs that have been aided mightily in their spread by a decision by Microsoft to allow the contents of removable media -- such as USB thumb drives -- to load automatically when inserted into Windows machines. More...

Mozilla fixes 16 flaws with Firefox 3.5.4

Published October 28, 2009

Mozilla today patched 16 vulnerabilities in Firefox, 11 of them critical, as it updated the open-source browser to version 3.5.4. More...

IE, Chrome, Safari duped by bogus PayPal SSL certificate

Published October 26, 2009

A hacker has created a counterfeit security certificate that tricks Microsoft Internet Explorer, Apple Safari for Windows, and Google Chrome into thinking a bogus PayPal payment page is the real thing. Mozilla Firefox is not vulnerable to this exploit. More...

Malware Posing as Postal Tracking E-Mail

Published October 19, 2009

A new Trojan is entering e-mail inboxes by posing as a purchase receipt of an online order. More...

Microsoft fixes 34 flaws in its Patch Tuesday delivery

Published October 14, 2009

Microsoft delivered a record 13 security updates that patched 34 vulnerabilities in every version of Windows. More...

Gmail, Yahoo Mail join Hotmail; passwords exposed

Published October 9, 2009

Google's Gmail and Yahoo's Mail were targeted by a large-scale phishing attack, perhaps the same one that harvested at least 10,000 passwords from Microsoft's Windows Live Hotmail, according to a report by the BBC. More...

FBI's 'Operation Phish Phry' snares nearly 100 people

Published October 8, 2009

The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday charged almost 100 people in Operation Phish Phry, the largest cyber fraud phishing case to date. More...

IRS scam now world's biggest e-mail virus problem

Published October 1, 2009

The most prominent spam-delivered virus in the world right now, the IRS scam email accounts for about 10% of the spam email that's currently making the rounds in cyberspace. More...

Twitter Hit by New Phishing Attack

Published September 28, 2009

Phishers are targeting Twitter users in a new attack involving direct messages sent to Twitter users containing a link to a site requesting user log-ins. More...

UNC data breach exposes 163,000 social security numbers

Published September 28, 2009

The University of North Carolina recently began notifying about 163,000 women of the potential compromise of their Social Security numbers and other personal information after a hacker breached a system containing the data. More...

New phishing attack chats up victims

Published September 21, 2009

Many people are now aware of phishing attacks, so criminals have stepped up their scams by adding fake live-chat support windows to their websites to make them seem more real. More...

Apple patches its different operating systems

Published September 11, 2009

Apple issued Snow Leopard's first security update. In a separate upgrade, Apple patched 33 vulnerabilities in 2007's Leopard, and about half as many in the even older Tiger. More...

Mozilla patches 10 Firefox 3.5 vulnerabilities

Published September 10, 2009

Mozilla patched 10 security vulnerabilities in Firefox 3.5, all but one ranked critical. It also delivered the first update that automatically checks for outdated versions of the popular Flash Player plug-in. More...

It's Patch Tuesday - September 2009

Published September 9, 2009

Microsoft issues five security bulletins, all of which are rated "critical." More...

New attack cracks WPA Wi-Fi encryption in a minute

Published August 27, 2009

Computer scientists in Japan say they've developed a way to break the WPA encryption system used in wireless routers in about one minute. More...

Apple patches 6 Safari security vulnerabilities

Published August 12, 2009

Apple plugged six security holes, four of them critical, in its Mac and Windows Web browser. More...

Microsoft delivers nine security updates

Published August 11, 2009

Microsoft released nine August 2009 security patches, five of them Critical and all but one affecting Windows. More...

Apple patches 18 Mac vulnerabilities

Published August 6, 2009

Apple has recently patched 18 vulnerabilities in Mac OS X. More...

Fake Internet postcards carrying links to a virus

Published August 5, 2009

Fake Internet postcards circulating through e-mail inboxes worldwide are carrying links to the virus known as Zeus Bot. More...

Mozilla patches three Firefox bugs

Published August 4, 2009

Mozilla has patched Firefox 3.5 and Firefox 3.0 to resolve three security vulnerabilities, including a pair unveiled last week at Black Hat, and a third Mozilla itself revealed last month. More...

Adobe patches 12 Flash bugs

Published July 31, 2009

Adobe patched 12 vulnerabilities in Flash Player, including three it inherited from faulty Microsoft development code and one that hackers have been exploiting for at least a week. More...

Adobe confirms Flash zero-day bug in PDF docs

Published July 23, 2009

Adobe is investigating a critical vulnerability in its Flash format that is currently being exploited by hackers using malicious PDF documents. More...

Spammers cashing in on Twitter, Iran, new iPhone

Published June 19, 2009

As use of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook has grown, so has their abuse. Spammers have been taking advantage of hot stories in the news, and in the past day they've been flooding Twitter with phoney messages about Iran and the latest iPhone 3.0 operating system. More...

Microsoft June patches are bustin' out all over

Published June 9, 2009

Of the 10 updates announced for June 2009, six are marked critical, three are marked important, and the last is listed as moderate. More...

Web's Most Dangerous Keyword Searches

Published May 28, 2009

According to McAfee’s recently released report “The Web’s Most Dangerous Search Terms,“ the most dangerous keyword to search for is "screensavers." More...

Apple has huge security update for Mac OS X

Published May 13, 2009

Apple patched 67 vulnerabilities in Mac OS X. Tuesday's update was the largest for Apple since March 2008. More...