kraken botnet awakes

A new global botnet menace dubbed Kraken is taking over from the once huge Storm malware network.

The new botnet has usurped Storm as the largest on the web, and there are suggestion that even Storm's operators are moving on to the new piece of malware for their operations.

The Storm botnet has shrunk to a twentieth of its previous size, according to security firm MessageLabs.

Spammers target Grand Theft Auto fans

Gamers desperate to get their hands on Grand Theft Auto IV are being targeted by spam offering free entry to a 'competition' to win a PlayStation 3 and a copy of the much lauded game.

However, the illicit emails actually contain spyware and Trojans designed to steal personal financial information and attack victims' computers.

Infected site found every 5 seconds

A new malware infected webpage is being discovered every five seconds, security experts warned this week.

Sophos identified an average of more than 15,000 newly infected web pages each day from 1 January to 31 March 2008, and 79 per cent of these malware-hosting sites are found on legitimate websites that have been hacked.

In contrast, just one in every 2,500 emails is now infected, compared to one in every 909 in 2007.

Remote workers biggest security threat

Remote and branch workers are judged to be the highest security risks by IT managers, according to research from Blue Coat Systems.

While remote workers were voted least likely to use bandwidth for non-business uses, they were seen as the main protagonists in introducing malware onto the corporate network, with 50 per cent of network managers and 48 per cent of security managers naming them as most likely to introduce malware.

HP hardware infected by virus

HP has issued a security notice after USB keys shipped with some of its ProLiant servers were found to have been infected with viruses. "This vulnerability could cause a local 'W32.Fakerecy' or 'W32.SillyFDC' virus infection," the company said.

The W32.Fakerecy is written primarily for removable drives and was first reported last year. W32.SillyFDC is also adapted for removable drives but can also be used to download more malicious files onto an infected machine.

Red Hat opens up security code

In a bid to prove that open source software is more secure, Red Hat is freeing up the source code behind its identity management and security platform. The move is seen as offering a carrot to developers who will be more likely to embrace open source if they can more easily integrate their technology with Red Hat's security and network management products.

Another data loss

This time a USB memory stick containing 165,000 pages of suspects' details has been found by a member of the public outside a betting shop in Stevenage. The data was unencrypted and the finder was able to access all the information when he plugged it into his PC.

Good job the finder was a good citizen and handed it in.

Oxfam scam warning

Security experts have warned of a new email scam that purports to be a lottery notification from Oxfam.

The emails claim that the recipient has won £850,000 in a lottery run by the international aid relief organisation, and asks for bank account details to transfer the 'winnings'.

The scam tells recipients to contact a Live.com email address, and lists a UK 070 personal phone number for people who wish to make contact via telephone.

cDc releases Goolag hacker

Notorious hacker group, the Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc), has released a web auditing tool, which uses the Google search engine to find vulnerabilities on sites.

The group claims that the Goolag Scanner enables everyone to audit his or her own web site via Google.

The scanner technology is based on "Google hacking," a form of vulnerability research developed by cDc member Johnny I Hack Stuff.

Available a downloadable application, Goolag makes use of 'dorks', or detailed search patterns that show untapped results for web sites previously indexed by Google.

DRam crack can break disk encryption

Researchers have found a way to foil disk encryption. A report from researchers at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Princeton University and Wind River Systems concluded that many current consumer disk encryption programs can be compromised via a computer's DRam.

The problem is that data can remain in stored in memory even after the system is shut down. By cold-booting the system, an attacker could access data from the DRam and retrieve encryption keys.

But unlike many security problems, this is not a minor flaw; it is a fundamental limitation in the way these systems were designed.