malware

See the following -

Hackers Conceal Spyware In Industrial Software Firm's Site To Probe Visitors

Staff Writer | Nextgov.com | September 2, 2014

Unlike most so-called drive-by attacks on websites, which infect visitors’ computers with malware, a strike on a software provider’s website involved a tool that takes detailed notes about visitors’ machines, Computerworld reports...

Read More »

Hackers Execute Sophisticated Strike On Government Cybersecurity Contractor Bit9

Aliya Sternstein | Nextgov | February 11, 2013

Unprotected computers at a cybersecurity contractor that services the Defense Information Systems Agency and many other federal agencies were compromised in a way that enabled the company's product to run viruses on customer networks. Read More »

Hackers Exploit Heartbleed To Swipe Data Of 4.5 Million

Erin McCann | Healthcare IT News | December 12, 2014

In the second biggest HIPAA breach ever reported, one of the nation's largest healthcare systems has notified some 4.5 million of its patients that their personal information has been snatched by cybercriminals...

Read More »

How Cyber Hardening Can Protect Patient Privacy And Treatment

The abundance of internet-connected devices that collect and share patient data has greatly increased the “attack surface” (where an attacker inserts or extracts data) and number of possible vulnerabilities within a system. Now that medical devices can connect to home-based routers, public Wi-Fi or cellular networks to relay data to hospitals, specialists, and care providers. In addition, the software in those devices lacks cybersecurity and can be updated and reprogrammed remotely. Thus, sensitive patient information is even more prone to data breaches, and the safety of the devices can be compromised. Recent supply chain compromises, and the migration of health applications and platforms to the cloud, also add to the threat equation. This article looks at why the medical community is so vulnerable and suggests how it can better protect life-saving equipment and sensitive data from unprecedented cyberattacks.

Read More »

How Zombie Phones Could Create A Gigantic, Mobile Botnet

Brian Fund | Nextgov | June 26, 2013

[...] For the past decade, botnets have mostly been a problem for the PC world. But, according to a new report on mobile malware, it may not be long before we start seeing botnets built out of an increasingly sophisticated type of device: cell phones. Read More »

I Challenged Hackers To Investigate Me And What They Found Out Is Chilling

Alan L. Penenberg | PandoDaily | October 26, 2013

It’s my first class of the semester at New York University. I’m discussing the evils of plagiarism and falsifying sources with 11 graduate journalism students when, without warning, my computer freezes. I fruitlessly tap on the keyboard as my laptop takes on a life of its own and reboots. [...] I’m being hacked — and only have myself to blame. Read More »

If You Think Cybersecurity Is 'Just An IT Problem,' Prepare To Get Owned

Frank Konkel | Nextgov.com | June 9, 2014

Steven Chabinsky recently painted a detailed portrait of today’s evolving cybersecurity threat landscape.  It’s not pretty...

Read More »

Larry Ponemon On Securing Regulated Data In Healthcare: Q&A

Patrick Ouellette | Health IT Security | July 8, 2013

Though mobile applications that share files through the cloud such as Box and DropBox can be appealing to consumers, the Ponemon Institute has found that these types of applications can be unsafe in a clinical environment. [...] Read More »

Linux 2017: With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols | ZD Net | January 4, 2017

In 2016, Linux turned 25. When it began, it was a student project. Today, Linux runs everything. From smartphones to supercomputers to web servers to clouds to the car, it's all Linux, all the time. Even the one exception, the end-user, is moving to Linux. Android is now the most popular end-user opearating system. In addition, Chromebooks are becoming more popular. Indeed, even traditional Linux desktops such as Fedora, openSUSE, Mint, and Ubuntu are finally gaining traction. Heck, my TechRepublic Linux buddy Jack Wallen even predicts that "Linux [desktop] market share will finally breach the 5-percent mark"...

Read More »

Mavericks: The End Of Macs In The Enterprise?

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols | ZDNet | October 24, 2013

Macs have never been that popular in business. But if Apple is indeed no longer supporting security updates for older Mac OS X versions, Macs won't have any place left in the enterprise office. Read More »

Medical Devices Could Be Lethal in Hands of Hackers

Katie Bo Williams | The Hill | February 27, 2016

It is embarrassingly easy to hack medical devices, experts warn, creating a new security threat that could have life-or-death consequences. Among the many devices vulnerable to hackers are drug infusion pumps, which could be jimmied to deliver a lethal dose, anesthesia machines and Pacemakers. Many medical devices are produced by legacy companies that are new to designing software...

Read More »

Mobile Health: What Should Be Regulated And What Not?

Eric Wicklund | Healthcare IT News | July 27, 2012

With the mHealth industry anxiously awaiting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's final draft of guidelines for mobile medical apps (expected by this fall), the talk at that particular panel discussion focused on what should be regulated and what shouldn't. Bakul Patel, a policy adviser for the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, pointed out that the market is flooded with apps – many of them harmless, but some of them potentially dangerous and in need of regulation.

Read More »

N.S.A. Devises Radio Pathway Into Computers

David E. Sanger and Thom Shanker | New York Times | January 14, 2014

The National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world that allows the United States to conduct surveillance on those machines and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks. Read More »

Pirate Hackers Can Easily Spy on Ships Through Insecure 'Black Boxes'

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai | Motherboard | December 9, 2015

Pirate hackers could track and spy on ships and cargo vessels by remotely hacking into their “black boxes,” according to a security researcher. Ruben Santamarta, a security researcher at the well-known firm IOActive, found that a particular model of Voyage Data Recorder (VDR), the popular Furuno VR-3000, a device that’s essentially the equivalent of an aircraft’s black box, has several bugs that make it very easy for the crew to tamper with it or for a hacker to hack it remotely...

Read More »

Prospects For Comprehensive Cyber Reform Are Questionable

Aliya Sternstein | Nextgov | February 7, 2013

Congress is unlikely to pass a comprehensive cybersecurity reform bill this year, largely because public concern about computer hacking doesn’t sway elections, a recently-departed House Homeland Security Committee senior aide said. Read More »