Week in review: critical IE security issues, cybercrime increase and Facebook risks

Here’s an overview of some of last week’s most interesting news and interviews:

Blippy, a great service for phishers?
Blippy, a new service that lets you twitter (blipper?) your recent purchases made with a credit card of your choice, could be a valuable tool for cyber criminals, warns Cyveillance.

Using spam to beat spam
How to make a full-proof spam filter that will not block any of the legitimate email?

Data breach costs increase
The 2009 Ponemon Institute benchmark study examines the costs incurred by 45 organizations after experiencing a data breach.

Johnny Depp is not dead – but you might be infected
The fake news of the death of one of the most popular actors of today has been used by hackers to infect you with Trojans.

Virus writers produce hardware damaging code?
BitDefender identified a new e-threat that combines the destructive behavior of a virus with the spreading mechanisms of a worm.

Cybercrime increasing faster than company defenses
Moreover, a new survey suggests the threat of cybercrime is heightened by current security models that are only minimally effective against cyber criminals.

Deep packet inspection – illegal or not?
Virgin Media’s plan to monitor traffic on its networks may be soon hitting a roadblock, since Privacy International solicited the EC to evaluate the software with which this is to be done.

The dangers of selling online
Buying online can get you scammed, for sure – but what about selling?

US oil industry targeted by cyber attacks
It seems that the high profile breaches of Google and Adobe have been just the latest target in the Chinese march through US networks.

Hackers prey on Google workers’ friends
It has been discovered that the hackers who mounted the attacks on Google, Adobe and other companies recently breached, have targeted friends of employees that had access to proprietary data.

Basic vulnerability found in most voice encryption products
IT security blogger Notrax claims to have successfully intercepted and compromised phone calls made using 12 commercially available mobile voice encryption products.

Digital fingerprints to identify hackers
DARPA, the agency of the US DoD responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military will be starting Cyber Genome, a project aimed at developing a “cyber equivalent of fingerprints or DNA”.

Critical IE security issues to be detailed at Black Hat DC 2010
Core SCS Security Consultant Jorge Luis Alvarez Medina will demonstrate cutting-edge browser manipulation techniques that can allow for remote exploitation of devices running Microsoft’s IE web browser.

Facebook users alarmed by “Unnamed” application
A cleverly orchestrated campaign taking advantage of a “Unnamed app” that can be found in the Application Settings of some people’s Facebook account has been set up by cybercriminals aiming to get you to download fake anti-virus software.

Q&A: Hackers and experimental artists
The “Noise vs. Subversive Computing” project is a collaborative release between noise and experimental artists working with subversive technologists and computer hackers.

New Google Chrome security features
The latest release of Google Chrome has integrated five new security features that “make it easier for developers to build secure web sites”.

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