SecurityWeek

WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court let stand Tuesday an immunity law on wiretapping viewed by government as a useful anti-terror tool but criticized by rights activists as a flagrant abuse of executive power. The top US court declined to review a December 2011 appeals court decision that rejected a lawsuit against AT&T for helping the National Security Agency monitor its customers' phone calls and Internet traffic.

Boston-based Rapid7 has acquired Seattle-based Mobilisafe to add mobile security offerings to its security product portfolio.

Microsoft has patched a critical vulnerability in Microsoft Word in today's Patch Tuesday.

The growth of software activation key generators is linked to the spread of malware, according to findings from Microsoft's latest Security Intelligence report. In volume 13 of the report, which was released Monday, Microsoft reported that Win32/Keygen was the most commonly reported threat family in the first half of 2012. Win32/Keygen, which represents software activation key generators, was detected nearly five million times.

A Russian cyber-criminal going by the handle vorVzakone may be behind the plan to launch a series of Trojan attacks against financial institutions, Brian Krebs, the security researcher and reporter behind KrebsonSecurity.com, wrote Monday. Krebs identified the supposed mastermind based on a message posted on "exclusive Underweb forums," he wrote.

Art Coviello, Executive Chairman at RSA, Addresses RSA Europe Attendees Tuesday in London. (Image Credit: RSA Conference)

BEIJING - Chinese telecom firm Huawei's ambitions to become a global brand rivalling Apple and Samsung have been hit by a US report claiming that the company, founded by a former Chinese soldier, posed an espionage threat.

Symantec’s Norton division today launched a new virtual private network (VPN) service designed to help protect consumers accessing the Internet via public Wi-Fi connections.

At RSA Conference Europe 2012 in London, RSA, The Security Division of EMC, on Tuesday introduced “Distributed Credential Protection,” new authentication technology designed to protect passwords and other credentials stored in databases from cyber attacks. RSA Distributed Credential Protection (DCP) allows customers to split authentication credentials between two points, providing a bump in protection to an often-targeted access point.

MANILA - The Philippine Supreme Court Tuesday suspended a controversial cybercrime law, the government said, amid huge online protests over fears it would impose enormous curbs on Internet freedoms.

Cisco Systems has severed ties with ZTE Corp, after a Reuters investigation turned up evidence that the company’s technology was likely being sold to Iran. An internal investigation, which Cisco will not comment on, has caused enough concern that it was determined a clean break was needed.

WASHINGTON - Chinese tech giant Huawei on Monday called a congressional report warning of security risks from its telecom equipment "an exercise in China-bashing" as US lawmakers held firm to their allegations.

Symantec has pulled back some of the covers from the Proxybox botnet. Symantec researchers revealed that their monitoring of the botnet's command-and-control server during the last few months shows the botnet controller tries to keep the size of the botnet at around 40,000 active users at any given time. The threat is comprised of three components: a dropper, the payload and a rootkit.

Late Sunday, a report surfaced from the US House Intelligence Committee, compiled after nearly a yearlong investigation, that said two Chinese telecom equipment makers "cannot be trusted" to be free of influence from Beijing and could be used to undermine US national security.

Crime may not always pay, but it is always costly. At least that is the case for companies in the U.S., according to a new HP-commissioned report from the Ponemon Institute. In an analysis of attacks impacting 56 sample companies during the first seven months of the year, researchers discovered the financial impact of cyber attacks has increased nearly 40 percent since 2010.

GENEVA - The United States will oppose any major revision to 24-year-old global telecommunications regulations at an international conference in December, the head of the US delegation said Monday, insisting the Internet must remain free and open.

New Offerings Help Better Manage and Secure Corporate and Personal Mobile Devices Across The Enterprise Verizon has expanded its portfolio of “Enterprise Mobility as a Service” offerings to provide additional support for managing a wide range of applications, access options and devices, including smartphones, tablets and laptops.

In case you were not aware, October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, an initiative designed to “engage and educate public and private sector partners through events and initiatives with the goal of raising awareness about cybersecurity.” 

BEIJING - Beijing on Monday urged Washington to "set aside prejudices" after a draft Congressional report said Chinese telecom firms Huawei and ZTE were security threats that should be banned from business in the US.

NullCrew, known for their attack against the University of Cambridge last month, as well as Sony’s mobile division, has now targeted one of the U.K.’s largest mobile operators, leaking email addresses and database schemas.