More Cybercrime and Hacking In Depth

Embedded data, not breasts, brought down hacker

FBI tracks down Higinio Ochoa using geo-tagged photos

A clear-eyed look at APT

Setting aside the hype, advanced persistent threats do present CISOs with a few to-dos

Cisco's John Stewart on the latest security threats and what enterprises can do to fight back

Freelance writer Susan Perschke recently sat down with Cisco Vice President and Chief Security Officer John N. Stewart for an in-depth discussion of the state of enterprise security. Insider (registration required)

Security Manager's Journal: Hackers Call Home, on Our Dime

Someone is making calls costing thousands of dollars via the IP telephony setup in a small European office.

4 keys for IP protection

Do you think data breaches are up or down in 2011 compared to 2007 or 2008? The official answer may surprise you. According to DatalossDB and the 2011 Data Breach Investigations Report [PDF link] by Verizon, the number of records compromised per year has been decreasing since its 2008 peak. But these reports are missing something very important. It all comes down to what is reported. Last year I met with more than 450 CIOs and CSOs, and almost all of them said that incidents are way up. New breaches are constantly making headlines, so why is there a discrepancy between our perception and what these reports are finding?

Many pcAnywhere systems still sitting ducks

Symantec warns that its product should not be connected directly to the Internet, yet an estimated 140,000 computers are configured to allow direct external access

Cyber insurance offers IT peace of mind -- or maybe not

Cyber insurance can help mitigate damages after a breach, but it's no substitute for top-notch security, IT pros say.

2012 Outlook: The end of everything?

Gibbs reviews last year's predictions and sees that the end could be nigh ...

Cloud SWAT teams

Cloud computing poses unique security challenges. Here's how cloud-specific 'security incident-response teams' could help governments and large enterprises respond to malicious activity and make the cloud more trustworthy. Insider (registration required)

10 IT news stories to expect in 2012

Well, we erred in our 2011 predictions in not repeating a 2010 forecast that Carol Bartz would be ousted as Yahoo CEO -- it was bound to happen, we just called that one too early. Then again, we also predicted last year that Oracle would buy Salesforce.com and have decided not to repeat ourselves this year, so we'll see if we were just ahead on that one, too. Meanwhile, these are our predictions for the next 12 months:

Gmail Backup, a recipe for happiness

Gibbs wants to avoid a "Googlesplosion" ... Gmail Backup is the recipe for happiness.

15 top quotes of 2011

As another year draws to a close, we look back on the IT-related comments that stuck with us.

A Rush to Judgment on DLP

Our manager has just gotten funding for data leak prevention added to his current budget. But that budget expires in a few weeks.

When Cybercriminals Attack

Criminal hackers are industrious -- they stay up late devising new ways to attack individuals and businesses. Watch out for cyberattacks that can turn smartphones into spam bots, shut off electricity to homes and businesses, jam GPS signals and more.

Security Manager's Journal: Why would a company not spring for Cadillac security?

Too many corporate decision-makers think it's wise to shore up only the most glaring security weaknesses. But attackers will always be able to find the weaknesses you decided you could live with.

Let's scuttle cybersecurity bachelor's degree programs

It may sound counterintuitive, but the way to increase the number of cybersecurity professionals is not to start granting degrees in cybersecurity.

Virtualization is key to public cloud security; China, Russia accused of cyber-espionage; More Duqu for you

Ever been in an argumentative mood? Well, last week we were, with editors here coming up with 33 red-hot arguments, such as open source vs. proprietary, or which browser is better.

Stupid hacker tricks: Exploits gone bad

Taunting tweets, provocative pics, iPad-spam chats -- stupid slip-ups lead to high-profile hacker arrests

The future of malware

Watch out for whaling, smartphone worms and social media scams, not to mention attacks targeting your car and house.

On the front line against the next Stuxnet

Last year's Stuxnet worm showed that the machines that run our industrial systems can be brought down with a cyberattack. Meet the people who will get the call when the next big worm strikes.