Firefox tops list of 12 most vulnerable apps

Firefox tops list of 12 most vulnerable apps

Mozilla’s flagship Firefox browser has earned the dubious title of the most vulnerable software program running on the Windows platform.

According to application whitelisting vendor Bit9, Firefox topped the list of 12 widely deployed desktop applications that suffered through critical security vulnerabilities in 2008. These flaws exposed millions of Windows users to remote code execution attacks.

The other applications on the list are all well-known and range from browsers to media players, to VOIP chat and anti-virus software programs. Here’s Bit9’s dirty dozen:

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-Ken

Microsoft may issue sales and profits warning, analyst claims

Microsoft may issue sales and profits warning, analyst claims

Microsoft may issue a sales and profits warning for the second quarter, ending 31 December, which would be the first Xmas holiday season falls since December 2000.

The sales and profits warning prediction has been made by Morgan Stanley financial analyst Adam Holt.

Other leading IT firms, including Intel, have also issued sales and profits warnings as a result of the PC buying downturn and the general economic slowdown, so Microsoft faltering would not be an absolute surprise. However, some may be wondering whether Redmond is immune.

The firm has continued to hire and up to now has posted record sales and profits, even if those underlying increases have slowed.

Read the whole article here.

-Ken

UK websites hosting more malware

UK websites hosting more malware

An increasing proportion of web malware is found on UK websites.

According to a threat report from web security firm Sophos, in August 2007, the UK was the seventh worst offender in the list of countries hosting infected web pages, accounting for 0.8%. By April 2008, the figure stood at 1.1%, and by November 2008, it was 1.7%.

Sophos' threat report revealed that more malware is hosted on websites in the US than any other country.

Read the whole article here.

-Ken

DfT shared services project showed 'stupendous incompetence'

DfT shared services project showed 'stupendous incompetence'

The Department for Transport (DfT) showed "stupendous incompetence" when implementing its shared services project, according to an influential group of MPs.

The Public Accounts Committee, which oversees government spending, said the implementation was "one of the worst cases of project management" it had seen.

Officials did not hold a competitive tender, did not specify the project's requirements clearly, managed suppliers poorly, and did not leave enough time for testing.

The committee said Department for Transport staff do not trust the system. "This was hardly surprising when we hear that on occasion it took to issuing messages in German," their report said.

Read the whole article here.

-Ken

Financial sector worst hit by IT skills shortage

Financial sector worst hit by IT skills shortage

The financial services industry remains the most hampered by an IT skills shortage, according to the 2008 silicon.com Skills Survey.

More than half (54 per cent) of respondents who work in the FS vertical said their business has IT positions it is unable to fill - up from half of respondents in 2007. This compares to just over a third (38 per cent) of public sector organisations, and less than a third (32 per cent) of those in the retail sector.

The IT skills most in demand in the FS industry are (in order of most sought after first): programming languages, IT management and Linux. The most hankered-after non-IT skills are: knowledge of sector and project management, followed by leadership.

Read the whole article here.

-Ken

BCS think-tank to help cybercops

BCS think-tank to help cybercops

The British Computer Society (BCS) has set up a specialist thinktank to help police and others fight increasingly sophisticated online fraud ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

The BCS Cybercrime Forensics Specialist Group was a response to "the explosion in UK-based cybercrime", the BCS said. It will give special attention to the role of cyber forensics in gathering, processing and interpreting digital evidence for criminal investigations.

The BCS said the UK is second after the US for the number of cybercriminals, who cost the UK an estimated £6bn a year. "This is according to the latest PricewatrerhouseCoopers Internet Crime Report for the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, which places Britain ahead of cybercrime hotspots Nigeria and Romania," it said.

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LPI 200-Level Exam Updates Planned for April

LPI 200-Level Exam Updates Planned for April

The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) updates to the 200-level exams are now known, and the exams are expected to go live to the public in April.

In the past, I've been critical of the certification for aging; while I think it's the best vendor-neutral Linux certification on the market, I also think too many years pass between updates. I'm pleased, however, with the upcoming set of objectives and think they reflect the knowledge expected of a mid-level administrator admirably.

To become certified at the LPIC-2 level, a candidate must pass two exams: 201 and 202. Here's a list of the top-level topics for the 201 exam along with their subtopics and weighting (each number is worth roughly 1.66 percent of the total exam):

Read about the list of updates here.

-Ken

Don't forget the photocopier

Don't forget the photocopier

Organisations rely on a sophisticated network of computers and peripherals to create, manage, process, share and archive information. But regardless of its form, be it physical or digital, this information is vulnerable to a whole host of technological, physical and human threats unless it is protected by a secure IT infrastructure.

Bernard Cassidy, Ricoh UK & Ireland, takes a good look at the security issues around multifunctional devices.

For a security conscious organisation, points of weakness in the network are no longer acceptable and they need reassurances from manufacturers that adding devices to the infrastructure will not compromise information security.

Read the whole article here.

-Ken

UK police: 'We need crime breathalysers for PCs'

UK police: 'We need crime breathalysers for PCs'

UK police are hoping to one day develop a breathalyser-style tool for computers that could instantly flag up illegal activity on any PC it's attached to.

Detective superintendent Charlie McMurdie, architect of the UK's Police Central E-crime Unit (PCeU), said frontline police ideally need a digital forensic tool as easy to use as the breathalyser, to help them deal with growing numbers of computers being seized during raids on suspects' homes.

McMurdie said such a tool could run on suspects' machines, identify illegal activity - such as credit card fraud or selling stolen goods online - and retrieve relevant evidence.

Read the whole story here.

-Ken

US shuts down 'scareware' sellers

US shuts down 'scareware' sellers

The US government has moved to shut down sellers of fake security software.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has won a restraining order that stops several sellers of "scareware" from continuing to trade.

Millions of people are thought to have been caught out by the software which, once installed, issues false alerts about viruses and illegal porn.
The FTC is pursuing further legal action to win a permanent ban on those peddling the scareware.

Full Story: Here