SecurityWeek

It’s funny how often, as I go about my day job in network security assessment and risk management, I run into parallels with other fields. One good example comes from cosmology (although I suppose I should be careful using words like “parallel” about the people who worry about the curvature of space).

Adobe issued an update for its Flash Player on Thursday, which hardens the media player against two vulnerabilities being actively exploited. Of note, is the warning that one of the flaws is being used in drive-by attacks targeting users of both Windows and Mac OS X.

On Thursday, as part of the ritual of advance notification, Microsoft announced its plans to address 57 security vulnerabilities within Windows, Internet Explorer, and Office. Of the 12 bulletins that are addressing the fixes, five are critical while the rest are ranked as important.

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO – Trying to identify a vulnerability and fixing it sounds unbelievably frustrating if the person who found it doesn't offer any details. Adobe outlined some of the challenges vendors face with “partial disclosure” at a security conference that took place this week.

Radware (NASDAQ: RDWR), a provider of application delivery and security solutions, on Thursday announced that it has acquired Strangeloop Networks, a provider of Web performance acceleration solutions.

The name BlackHole looms large over the marketplace for crimeware kits, but a new player is said to have emerged with similar code and a similar name.

Microsoft and Symantec teamed up to takedown a notorious botnet tied to click fraud activity on the Web.

BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Thursday launched a new cyber-security plan, aimed at safeguarding vital information systems and bolstering the bloc's defenses against a growing criminal threat. The plan calls on member states to set up specialized agencies to ensure the security of information networks and rapid intervention units to counter any cyber attack.

The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC), the standards body that oversees the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), released the PCI DSS Cloud Computing Guidelines Information Supplement on Thursday.

If 2012 has shown us anything about the security landscape, it’s that we’ve come very far in defending against – and deterring – attacks. And we’ve also learned that while we cannot control attackers themselves, we have endless power in our preparation for, and responses to, their attacks. With all of the new security technology and services available, we have the tools we need to raise the defensibility of every layer of our security shields.

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO – So long as wireless carriers and phone manufacturers drag their feet on regular operating system updates, Android users will remain vulnerable to malware and other attacks, a technologist and policy analyst said Monday.

MANILA, Feb 5, 2013 (AFP) - The Philippine Supreme Court has again stopped the government from enforcing a controversial cybercrime law, officials said Tuesday, amid concern it would severely curb Internet freedoms. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said a fresh "temporary restraining order" (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court meant the law passed last year could not take effect.

Despite the fact that a majority of IT respondents say that their cloud deployments were successful, and have saved their respective organization's money, many still do not trust the cloud with sensitive or personal information. Moreover, some fear storing their data in the cloud due to concerns over government or legal action.

After suffering a breach last week that impacted some 250,000 accounts, Twitter is looking to bolster security by investing in two-factor authentication. The news comes by way of a job posting, where the micro-blogging site has asked security developers to come forward.

A document containing business data, including some personal details, from several regional U.S. financial firms was leaked by Anonymous earlier this week. On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve confirmed that one of their systems was breached, but would not directly link the breach to the data released by Anonymous’ OpLastResort.