Siemens industrial software targeted by Stuxnet malware is still full of security flaws, according to Russian researcher Sergey Gordeychik. His Defcon security paper was cancelled in July after the electronics and engineering giant filed a request, reports IDG News Service’s Jeremy Kirk. In the summer, Siemens asked researchers to postpone the presentation so they can fix their WinCC software, a Supervisory...

China was deemed as threatening US cyberspace in an annual report mandated by the US Congress that points to an increase in cyber-attacks exploiting vulnerabilities in key military and government systems. Saying that most attacks are highly targeted and specialized, the report emphasizes that the multitude of attacks, although not sophisticated in nature, have a high success rate and vital military systems ...

“Jesus” and “Ninja” join older entries such as “password”, “123456” and “12345678” in the list of the scariest 2012 passwords, according to SplashData, a California-based company that makes password management applications. Other newcomers in the list of unsecure passwords include “welcome,” “mustang”, and “password1.” “At this time of year, people enjoy focusing on scary costumes, movies and decorations, b...

An American mathematician impersonated Google founder Sergey Brin to point out a vulnerability in the company’s DomainKeys Identified Mail, a cryptographic key that domains use to sign e-mails and validate them to recipients, according to media reports. The discovery came up after 35-year old Zach Harris received a strange e-mail from a Google headhunter who offered him a job as a site-reliability engineer....

Canada announced that only local contractors will be used in building a secure communication network, for fear that outside sources pose a security threat. Although no specific company was denied participation in the project, both Huawei and ZTE are rumored to have been left out because of a recent US panel debate questioning both companies’ affiliation to the Chinese government. Their parts and equipment w...

A new auction website in New Zealand was taken down two days after its launch when IT professionals deemed it unsafe.   Wheedle.co.nz proved to lack consistent security policies and needed to postpone its activities until it properly addressed the multitude of “unforeseen technical problems.” Shortly after its launch, some wheedle visitors noticed and complained about how the password reset system was sendi...

An Android-based network that integrates Google Street View data with spoofed GPS coordinates will aid researchers in studying malware propagation over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in California believe the Android network will provide real-time information on how people behave in case of disaster or terrorist attacks. MegaDroid will help identify security problems and set...

A server belonging to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers was found hosting a publicly available file containing plaintext usernames and passwords of 100,000 workers from Apple, Google, IBM, Oracle, Samsung, NASA, Stanford, and others. The issue was discovered by Radu Dragusin, a computer scientist at FindZebra, who notified IEEE, enabling the institute to “partially” fix the issue. Beside...

Kansas State University has launched a cyber security program in an effort to prevent future cybercrime attacks against the United States.  The National Science Foundation awarded $2.3 million to the university, so students interested in cyber security can go pro. With critical infrastructure systems enabling remote access, millions of hacking attempts are made each day to gain control of those systems. Tra...

Biometrics for Smart Mobile Devices (SMDs) will become a standard feature by the end of the decade, says market research firm Goode Intelligence. The firm predicted 39 million users will own biometric devices by 2015. With BYOD devices being used for both personal and work activities, increased security measures are the next step. Identity management software is predicted as a standardized solution for incr...