Appolicious - The world of mobile device malware is getting a little more dangerous with the announcement from tech security company Symantec that it has discovered malware programs that mutate every time they’re downloaded.
AP - A developing Senate plan that would bolster the government's ability to regulate the computer security of companies that run critical industries is drawing strong opposition from businesses that say it goes too far and security experts who believe it should have even more teeth.
AP - Trading jokes and swapping leads, investigators from the FBI and Scotland Yard spent the conference call strategizing about how to bring down the hacking collective known as Anonymous, responsible for a string of embarrassing attacks across the Internet.
Appolicious - The Android platform expanded its dominance in the U.S. smartphone market during Q4 of 2011, according to the latest ComScore report. Apple may have boosted its share of the mobile handset market with the release of the iPhone 4S, but Android’s still the clear winner in terms of OS use, powering 47.3 percent of surveyed subscribers. That’s up from 44.8 percent last year, growing by slightly more percentage points than Apple’s increase to 29.6 percent from 27.4 percent.
Reuters - Google Inc has been quietly policing its online store for months now in an acknowledgement of malware's growing threat to its increasingly popular Android mobile software.
Reuters - At least a half-dozen major U.S. companies whose computers have been infiltrated by cyber criminals or international spies have not admitted to the incidents despite new guidance from securities regulators urging such disclosures.
Appolicious - Consumers got a lesson in malware safety this week when Symantec and Lookout security companies presented different perspectives on “Android.Counterclank.” Symantec identified the string of apps as malware, but Lookout insisted the apps weren’t malicious but merely annoying adware Trojans. After several days of debating the semantics of malware, Symantec retracted its original statement, falling in line with Lookout’s assessment after all.
Reuters - Anti-virus software maker AVG Technologies NV priced its initial public offering at $16 per share, at the low end of the expected range, according to a market source.
Digital Trends - Email spam has been a problem for even longer than commercial activity has been permitted on the Internet, and thanks to botnet operators, scammers, and outright cybercriminals spam has ballooned to account for the vast majority of all email. Although antispam technologies and filters have improved considerable over the yearsâand there have been some notable victories, like the takedown of the Rustock botnet last yearâemail operators and end users are always playing catch-up to the spammers, who always seem to find new ways to get a few messages into peopleâs inboxes.
Reuters - A former college student convicted for hacking into Sarah Palin's e-mail account during the 2008 presidential election lost a bid to overturn his felony conviction on Monday.
Digital Trends - Security firm Symantec raised eyebrows last week with a security notice about software it has dubbed Android.Counterclank, malware that the company claims can be found in over a dozen apps in the official Android market that have been installed as many as 5 million times. According to Symantec, CounterClank is a âbot-likeâ threat that, once installed on an Android device, can steal information and pass it along to a malicious host, and the software can respond to remote commands to carry out certain actions on the Android device. Devices with the software running might see a service running under the name âapperhand,â along with a new Search icon on the home screen.
Appolicious - If you have an Android device, malware threats are nothing new, just something with which you’ve learned to deal. Mobile security companies usually alert the public when any major malware or Trojan threat is discovered in the Android Market, but rarely do they disagree over what’s actually considered malware. This question’s been raised in regards to the latest string of Android Market botnets uncovered by Symantec, in what could be the largest botnet setup in Android’s history with as many as 5 million victims.
AP - The federal government's plan to expand computer security protections into critical parts of private industry is raising concerns that the move will threaten Americans' civil liberties.
Appolicious - There’s been a second wave of Siri clones on the rise this week, with the launch of Evi gaining plenty of attention. While Android users seek their own version of the popular iPhone 4S artificial intelligence assistant, Evi, SimSimi and others have continued to gain traction in the Android Market. Lookout Labs unveiled a great app for visualizing mobile security threats, giving you deeper insight to malware behavior over time. Apartments.com also broke out with an Android app this week, joining the top real estate resources in the Market.
Reuters - Facebook and the state of Washington sued a company on Thursday they accused of a practice called "clickjacking" that fools users of the world's top social network into visiting advertising sites, divulging personal information and spreading the scam to friends.
Reuters - Symantec Corp, the top maker of computer security software, reported a higher quarterly profit and issued an outlook in line with Wall Street estimates.
Digital Trends - Cybercrime prevention solution provider ThreatMetrix has released their assessment of the risk levels associated with online commerce transactions during the 2011 holiday season, and finds on average mobile transactions were less risky overall than transactions conducted from desktop (or notebook) computers. From businessesâ point of view, this means that mobile transactions might be less chancy than traditional online sales; for consumers, it might mean that businesses increasingly try to shift online purchasing to mobile platforms as a way to reduce their risk.
AP - Two years ago, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom joked in emails with his new neighbors in New Zealand about his bad-boy reputation before telling them his criminal past was behind him and he was coming to the country with good intentions.
Reuters - Australian regulators have fined Nokia, the world's largest cellphone maker by volume, A$55,000 ($58,000) for spamming customers and said the Finnish company should change its text message (SMS) marketing.
Digital Trends - Security software is an everyday necessity for most people, especially Windows users, businesses, and enterprises. But one of the ironies of security software is that, once in a while, it turns out to be the source of security problems all by itself. The latest instance involves McAfeeâs SaaS Total Protection suite, a cloud-based solution designed to provide comprehensive email and and Web filtering along with centralized security management for businesses and organizations. However, McAfee has just had to issue an update to the service to block a flaw that could let attackers execute code on protected machines, and to fix another problem that could potentially enable attackers to turn protected systems into spam relays.
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