Computer Security Articles

A 24-year-old Texas man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for selling more than $1 million worth of pirated software online, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

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If you spend a fraction of the time that I do tethered to the Internet, you'll be aware that Limewire has been told to "stop distribution and support of LimeWire’s P2P file-sharing service as a result of a court-ordered injunction". (Any chance of similar action against some of the sites making available pirated copies of … Read More.

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A massive takedown operation conducted by Dutch police and security experts earlier this week does not appear to have completely dissolved the Bredolab botnet, but it is unlikely to recover.

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PC World – A massive takedown operation conducted by Dutch police and security experts earlier this week does not appear to have completely dissolved the Bredolab botnet, but it is unlikely to recover.

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PC World – Get productive with our picks for powerhouse software, including Microsoft Office 2010, PC Tools Internet Security 2011, and Adobe Creative Suite 5.

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“Memory-scrapping malware is malicious software designed to examine memory of sensitive processes and extract data that would otherwise be unavailable in persistent storage.”

– Slightly paraphrasing Anand Sastry’s definition from his article on credit card data compromises via memory-scraping malware.

View full post on Lenny Zeltser on Information Security

…………………..You know this is very interesting part and love to see that finally I got access to  remote server and  fully registered Blazing tools Perfect Keylogger as well!!……………………….. Here  and here also

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ContentBarrier is a parental control program for the Macintosh, providing functions for parents and businesses. It is designed to filter and block certain Internet content according to the settings you choose. ContentBarrier blocks adult web sites, sites with subjects not fit for children, and blocks chats when predatory language is used. It also blocks certain protocols, or types of Internet communication, that you may not want your children to use, such as peer-to-peer and other file sharing protocols, online games, streaming audio and video, FTP, SSH and more. ContentBarrier works with multiple users, and interfaces seamlessly with the Mac OS X user accounts on your computer. If you have several children, you can set different limitations corresponding to their age or maturity. You can choose whether they have access to newsgroups, e-mail, or whether they can download files. You can set the program to let them only use the Internet at certain times, and on certain days. You can choose to block or allow specific web sites, allow users only to use selected applications, and block access to specific types of content, such as streaming media or peer-to-peer file transfers. The program can even send you e-mail, automatically, when certain events occur. And you can view logs and manage some of ContentBarrier s settings over the Internet, using any web browser. ContentBarrier sets up a protective wall around your computer. Its pre-defined filters let you choose what you dont …

macmost.com Gary Rosenzweig tackles the controversial question of whether you need to buy anti-virus software for your Mac. There are currently no active Mac viruses and anti-virus software could cause unexpected problems. Staying informed and up-to-date is a better option.

A new tool developed by researchers at Georgia Tech and SRI International could provide an effective countermeasure against drive-by download attacks. The researchers claim that the software, BLADE (“Block All Drive-by Download Exploits), provides cross-browser protection against a wide range of real threats.

Drive-by attacks, in which an attacker exploits flaws in a browser or its plugins to silently download and install malicious software, are increasingly common, with many millions of hostile pages found on the Internet. With drive-by attacks sometimes being distributed by advertising networks, even careful Web users can find their browsers at risk of infection by this kind of malware.

The BLADE system works by blocking access to any executable program that a Web browser makes, if that access was not preceded by a user’s explicit authorization for the download. Most browsers give users the opportunity to confirm or deny downloads; drive-bys, however, use security flaws to bypass this user intervention. BLADE tracks user actions—clicking a button to permit a download—and uses this information to selectively prevent access to downloaded files. The software also records both the URL and downloaded file, allowing further analysis by security professionals.

BLADE cannot prevent all attacks (for example, those that do not depend on creating persistent files on victims’ computers would not be trapped), but the researchers’ testing suggests that it’s effective against a broad range of real-world exploits.

The testing suggested much greater efficacy than conventional anti-virus software. This is likely to be due at least in part to the generalized nature of the protection; rather than detecting malware with particular signatures, BLADE blocks any suspicious download activity.

The BLADE software should be available to download for Windows shortly. Though it appears effective, it’s less obvious that the technique will ever be capable of providing widespread protection: if BLADE-like software became the norm, attackers would just use alternative routes to propagate their malware.

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The GFI Sunbelt Software Malware Minute video is available for your viewing pleasure on the Sunbelt Software YouTube channel (and below).

Malware Minutes are short videos (1-2 minutes) that will provide a weekly roundup of top stories from the GFI Sunbelt Software Blog, the GFI Sunbelt Rogue Blog and anything else we think might be of interest.

Tom Kelchner

View full post on Sunbelt Blog

Fewer security holes means better software quality and lower costs. Merkow and Raghavan provide expert guidance on building and managing a software security program that pays off.

View full post on Computerworld Security News

Fewer security holes means better software quality and lower costs. Merkow and Raghavan provide expert guidance on building and managing a software security program that pays off.

View full post on Computerworld Security News

People and organizations disagree on what is malware. The exact definition has been the subject of many discussions. Before attempting to define malware, we must acknowledge that differences in individuals’ experiences and priorities will lead them to define malware differently.

NIST Guide to Malware Incident Prevention and Handling, SP 800-83, provides a good definition:

“Malware, also known as malicious code and malicious software, refers to a program that is inserted into a system, usually covertly, with the intent of compromising the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the victim’s data, applications, or operating system or otherwise annoying or disrupting the victim.”

This definition feels right to me, yet it is a bit too lengthy. I propose a simpler definition, which is compatible with that of NIST:

Malware is code that is used to perform malicious actions.

In this case, the word “malicious” in the definition follows the standard English definition: actions characterized by malice.

My definition implies that whether a program is malware depends not so much on its capabilities but, instead, on how the attacker uses it. Attackers benefit from malware at the victim’s expense. Behind malicious software there is usually some human or organization that is making use of its capabilities for malicious purposes.

Thanks to Michael Murr and the good folks on Twitter who provided feedback on my attempts to define malware.

— Lenny Zeltser

View full post on Lenny Zeltser on Information Security

Just a few weeks after the leak of the HDCP master keys was confirmed, a software implementation of the encryption scheme has been developed.

The software implementation should be able to decrypt a 1080p30 stream given a suitably fast dual-core processor and about 1.6GB of RAM. The poor performance is due to the nature of the algorithm. HDCP was designed to be cheap and fast for hardware manufacturers, but operations that are quick and easy in hardware are often slow and inefficient in software. In spite of this, the developers believe they have opportunities for further optimization and improvement, making real-time decryption on more modest hardware feasible.

The purpose of their efforts is less than obvious. HDCP is used for the protection of content over the links between systems—for example, the cable between your video card and your monitor—to prevent the creation of perfect digital copies. An HDCP source—typically a video card or Blu-ray set-top box—will only transmit data if it can establish an HDCP-protected connection to a sink—a monitor or TV.

As such, to capture an HDCP-protected data stream, the capture device needs to appear to be a legitimate sink. This means that the capture device needs to be physically connected to the source (usually over an HDMI, DVI, or DisplayPort cable), and needs to be able to perform the right HDCP handshaking before the source will even begin playback. So to even get an HDCP-protected stream to use the software with, you need hardware that’s able to “speak” HDCP to capture the data—and if you have that, the hardware will be decrypting the stream anyway.

The leak of the master key does allow anyone to create their own sources and sinks, in a manner that cannot be blocked or disabled, so it might yet be used to produce general-purpose HDCP strippers to allow, for example, capture of copy-protected cable programs. This software implementation, though, looks more like a novelty to prove that the keys are real than a practical anti-HDCP solution.

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Antivirus Software Rip-Off: antivirus-software.tech.officelive.com Virus Protection: antivirus-software.tech.officelive.com What is the best virus protection? by CJ Team The most important criteria in assessing virus protection and software is your own computer and Internet habits. Internet threats and antivirus protection need to be assessed based on the users behaviors. If you use email, chat and exchange pictures and attachments with other people you are open to different threats from someone who mainly just surfs the Internet visiting different sites. In choosing the best antivirus protection for your setting you should evaluate your personal uses and behaviors and compare them to the strengths of the particular virus protection software you’re considering. For example, if you use email frequently you will want an antivirus program that also has anti-spam protection to protect you from mass, unsolicited emails. If you download a lot of files, attachments or software, you’ll want an antivirus program that has good Trojan, Malware and spyware protection. If you do shopping online then you’ll want an antivirus program that has proven identity theft protection. The best antivirus software to buy and use on your system is the antivirus software that best protects your particular needs and potential weaknesses. Examine and evaluate your personal computing habits and find the best virus protection for your needs. antivirus-software.tech.officelive.com

Pirating Android apps is a long-standing problem. But it seems to be getting worse, even as Google begins to respond much more aggressively.

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Sept. 14 — VIPRE premium Version 4
Sept. 21 — Exchange Server with VIPRE® Email Security
Sept. 28 — Sunbelt Exchange Archiver

Introducing VIPRE® Enterprise Premium, Version 4
Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 2:00pm – 3:00pm ET

The new version of VIPRE premium combines antivirus, antispyware, and now client firewall and malicious website filtering technologies. Together they’re a single agent that protects against the ever-changing wave of malware in the most comprehensive, highly efficient manner.

Register here.

Securing your Exchange Server with VIPRE® Email Security
Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 2:00pm – 3:00pm ET

VIPRE Email Security for Exchange (formerly Ninja Email Security) leverages next-generation VIPRE antivirus scanning engine as part of a multiple engine strategy to providing comprehensive protection from viruses, spam and other security threats.

Register here.

Sunbelt Exchange Archiver™ Product Demonstration
Tuesday, September 28, 2010, 2:00pm – 2:30pm ET

Sunbelt Exchange Archiver is a powerful, easy to use, enterprise-class email archiving tool that automatically enables you to comply with all requirements and allows you or your end-users to transparently retrieve any archived email.

Register here.

Tom Kelchner

View full post on Sunbelt Blog

Secure software development means consideration in every phase. Here are 9 key software security principles plus practical advice from a developer’s point of view.

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AFP – Computer security experts are studying a scary new cyber weapon: a software smart bomb that may have been crafted to find and sabotage a nuclear facility in Iran.

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=============== Rob VandenBrink Metafore

(c) SANS Internet Storm Center. http://isc.sans.org Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

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=============== Rob VandenBrink Metafore

(c) SANS Internet Storm Center. http://isc.sans.org Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

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Sunbelt Software has leveraged its extensive database of known malware-hosting sites to create a secure DNS service that won’t connect you with a site that might harm your system.

View full post on PCMag.com Security Coverage

PC Magazine – Sunbelt Software has leveraged its extensive database of known malware-hosting sites to create a secure DNS service that won’t connect you with a site that might harm your system.

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