Computer Security Blog

With numerous amount of cybercrime that is available, it is important for people to remain vigilant about computer security.

Last year as declared as one of the worst years for security breaches, giving the appearance that hacks or accessed computer data was occurring weekly. It is estimated that over 55 million people were affected by at least 130 security breaches.

However, it is not likely to improve with the decrease in the National Cyber Security Division’s budget for the Department of Homeland Security.

With so many of the big companies suffering security breaches, consumers must be vigilant in protecting themselves. Practices such as reciting your social security number to a sales teller at the checkout line puts you at risk. Consumers can help themselves by continually checking their credit reports for suspicious activity or carrying only the main cards that they need. It is also recommended that payments be mailed at the post office, and do not give you social security or credit card numbers to people who call you.

Computer security giant Symantec announced today that it has acquired the holdings within the instant messaging company IMLogic.

Instant messaging is become extremely popular with the release of many of the current IM software offering VoIP capabilities, however IM software is extremely vulnerable to attacks and hackers. As evident by Microsoft’s latest virus threat.

The acquisition of IMLogic by Symantec will help “many companies secure and store instant-messaging traffic by employees”. IMLogic also released statistics today that security threats to IM software saw an increase of 826% between now and last year. Many of the threats were against Microsoft (48%) and AOL (41%).

It seems 2005 has introduced a new brand of hackers, crackers, and cyber criminals in general. Many of the crimes being previously committed involving young teenagers competing against each other to see who could hack into a certain computer.

However, 2005 has been a year of numerous security breaches putting the personal data of many consumers at risk, in which hackers could use this information to setup credit accounts.

In previous years, many people within the computer security were concerned about viruses entering a computer and damaging it, however 2005 has been the year of the “botnet” in which an “army of infected computers” is taken over by the hacker and used to commit other cybercrimes.

2005 also saw the introduction of new information about the possibility of routers being hacked, as well as learning about the “rootkits” that Sony BMG has installed on its CDs. Based on all of this 2005 has been a year in which more malicious cybercrime has occurred with the main intention of the cyber thieves making money.

For more information about computer security in 2005 read the article entitled, "Security Trends: Follow The Money".

According to writer Jon Swartz of USA Today, 2005 has been declared the worse year for breaches related to computer security. So far it has been estimated that between 50-60 million Americans have had their personal information exposed to a security breach. These 130 security breaches have created a situation in which social security and credit card numbers of the people affected have been placed in the possession of criminals.

All of these 130 security breaches have occurred during the year that saw a budget cut of 7% to the Department of Homeland Security cyber-security section. The Treasury Department’s Office of Technical Assistance also announced that cybercrime amounted to over $105 billion last year.

For example, since Dec 16th, ABN Amro Mortgage, Marriott, Ford Motor Company, and Sam’s Club have all announced that computer data or credit card information has been stolen. In total, between 2-2.5 million people were affected in this short time due to fraud at these companies.

An interesting article written by Mirko Zorz explored the biggest events in the computer security industry within the past year. However, the general theme of the article stated that computer users were subjected to malware, phishing, and credit card fraud to name a few.

"I know it is popular to blame Microsoft for security woes, but they really deserve it this year! From remotely exploitable vulnerabilities in Windows core services like UPnP and MSDTC, to a barrage of severe IE vulnerabilities, Windows users were constantly under attack." said Fyodor, a NMAP author. "Microsoft spends many marketing dollars touting their security, but they need to start backing this up with action."

However Zorz ended the article stating that only the experiences that we have gone through this year can determine if the year was a secure one.

In an ironic situation, Guidance Software which produces software design to test for hacking, was hacked. This information was announced last week and appeared in a article by staff writer Brian Krebs of the washingtonpost.com.
Personal customer information was accessed on December 7th, and Guidance Software notified its customers last week with a letter. However some customer’s credit numbers had already been used.

According to Michael Kessler, of Kessler International, $20,000 was charged to American Express card because of the hack.  "I just got our American Express bill and nearly fell out of my chair," Kessler remarked. "You'd think Guidance would be the last company this kind of thing would happen to."
John Colbert, CEO of Guidance Software, had this to say in response, "This certainly highlights the fact that intrusions can happen to anybody and that nobody should be complacent about security," Colbert said.

According to an article appearing on jsonline.com, and written by Stanley Miller II, he writes “If you're ambitious enough to get a computer, you should also be motivated enough to make sure it's protected against all the evil software and exploits on the Internet: viruses, spyware, spam, and phishing.”

The article continued by revealing "81% of the homes that have a personal computer do not have spyware, adware protection, or antivirus software installed on their computers."

The article then goes on to say, “despite these findings, 83% of these homes believe they are safe from an attack."

According to an article from the Business Times in Malaysia, ‘only a third of the Asian companies have a computer security strategy’

This was quite surprising to read, as Asia is well known for its advances in technology.

A stated by Dr Raja Malik Mohamed, in charge of the Malaysian National Computer Confederation, "It is not just a business issue, but also a governance challenge that involves risk management, reporting and accountability. It requires the active engagement of, and execution by, executive management," he stated. He later went on to say." Enterprises must put in place a roadmap for the way in which security leaders must interact with others within the organization. "The security professionals must not be 'techies' who have no understanding of the company's business." he said.

Security software LIGATT celebrated the start of their new website ShopLIGATT.com by giving away to four tickets to the Rose Bowl Game.

In order to win two of the tickets, the customer must be the 1,000^th buyer on the website. The other 2 tickets will be given away to the customer who is the 40^th buyer of the Acer Secure Laptop Bundle.

LIGATT is well known for its ability to offer brand name computer software at bargain prices. For example, the website boasts that they can offer your computer security for as little as $7.50.