SecurityWeek

Who is a privacy professional’s BFF (best friend forever)? Is it the CFO or the General Counsel (GC)?

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday sought to ease tensions with the United States over the stay of US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden in Russia, as a lawyer said the fugitive may request Russian citizenship.

An exploit kit is a framework that automates the exploitation of client-side vulnerabilities, targeting browsers and programs that can be invoked through the browser. These kits can be obtained on the cyber black market, where they are sold or rented.

BERLIN - The German military has known for years of the sweeping US online surveillance program PRISM, a newspaper reported Wednesday, citing a NATO document from the Afghanistan mission.

HyTrust, a provider of policy management and access control solutions for virtual and cloud environments, has entered into a strategic investment and technology development agreement with In-Q-Tel (IQT), the not-for-profit venture capital arm of the CIA.

Oracle released its quarterly Critical Patch Update (CPU) on Tuesday, issuing 89 security updates that touch nearly all of its product groups, many of them addressing security flaws that can be exploited remotely by an attacker. 

A SCADA software vendor announced a vulnerability bounty program with a twist: instead of paying researchers for bugs, it will offer points that can be redeemed towards buying licensed copies of the company's software.

Cyber-criminals are now selling tools need to repackage and Trojanize legitimate Google Android applications with a remote access tool known as AndroRat. According to researchers at Symantec, the tools are called binders. When used in conjunction with AndroRat, an attacker with limited expertise can automate the process of Trojanizing any legitimate Android application with the malware. AndroRat first appeared late last year on underground forums.

WASHINGTON - Microsoft said Tuesday it had asked the US government for permission to disclose details of how it handles national security data requests, citing "inaccuracies" in recent media reports.

Co3 Systems, a maker of software that helps organizations prepare, assess, manage, and report on privacy breaches and security incidents, has expanded its Privacy Module with new coverage for privacy regulations in the European Union (EU).

WASHINGTON - Nineteen US organizations filed suit Tuesday against the National Security Agency claiming their constitutional rights were violated by the secret spy agency's data collection programs.

Stolen healthcare data such as health insurance credentials, Social Security numbers, bank account information, and other personally identifiable information about patients are readily available in underground markets, researchers at Dell SecureWorks found.

SONY has dropped its appeal to a data breach fine in the U.K. and agreed to pay a £250,000 ($400,000) penalty as punishment for the successful hack of the PlayStation network in 2011.

UPDATE - Members of the Marriott Rewards program were notified on Tuesday of attacks attempting to gain access to user accounts, and asked to change their passwords as soon as possible.

SEOUL - South Korea on Tuesday blamed North Korea for a crippling cyber attack last month against government and media websites, including the president's office.