The Hacker News | #1 Trusted Source for Cybersecurity News — Index Page

Microsoft Corp., feeling pressure from popular products like Apple Inc.'s iPad, is developing a new operating system that marks a departure from the company's traditional reliance on Intel Corp.'s chip technology. This information comes from sources familiar with Microsoft's plans. Next month, Microsoft plans to demonstrate a new version of its widely used Windows operating system. This version is designed for low-power devices and will support chips based on designs from ARM Holdings PLC, in addition to the x86 chip technology provided by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Microsoft will unveil the software at the Consumer Electronics Show in early January, though it isn't expected to be available for another two years. Representatives from Microsoft, Intel, and ARM declined to comment on these developments. Microsoft, headquartered in Redmond, Washington, has struggled to replicate its success in the PC operating system market within the smartphone and tabl...

Your mailbox may be filling up with Christmas cards from friends and family, and so might your email inbox. But, as the song says, 'you better watch out,' because some of those merry emails could be from an internet Grinch looking to steal your peace of mind. Christmas cards are a great way to send holiday wishes to those you love. However, many of us are opting to send our cards electronically using e-cards. "One of the big problems around Christmastime is everyone sends out Christmas cards. That's great, and it's great to see one in your email inbox. The problem is, about half of them that you're going to get are actually links to viruses and Trojan horses that will infect your computer," explained News 4 WOAI Web Expert Bob Gambert. Some of these malicious emails will attack your email address book and flood your friends' inboxes with spam. So, how do you know which e-card is safe to open? Our computer expert says don't open any of them. Inst...

Network security is on everyone's mind as 2010 comes to an end. Adam Powers, CTO of Atlanta-based Lancope, offers insights into expected trends for 2011. IT Consumerization and Internal Threats The introduction of consumer devices into corporate networks is reshaping security strategies. Traditional perimeter defenses like firewalls and intrusion prevention systems (IPS) are no longer sufficient. Companies must address security for smartphones, MiFi devices, and other consumer mobile devices. Rise of Social Media The growth of social media platforms like Facebook has created new attack surfaces for cyber threats. This development demands heightened awareness and security measures. Utilities as Targets The Stuxnet virus has alerted utilities, particularly those under NERC-CIP compliance, to the need for improved security as SCADA systems transition to IP. This shift demands a significant upgrade in security measures. Information Leakage and Reputation Damage The Wiki...

Future Group's plan to boost online sales has encountered a cyber obstacle. Its flagship e-commerce portal, FutureBazaar, was hacked and has been non-functional for the past two days. FutureBazaar CEO Rajiv Prakash described the incident as a "denial of service attack." He stated, "The website has been down for the last couple of days and has been blocked to consumers." The company is addressing the issue internally and pursuing legal action against the hackers. "We have filed a complaint with the Cyber Crime Branch in Mumbai. Internally, we are working to get the site up and running, and it should be fine soon," Prakash assured. To minimize business losses, the company has kept its phone commerce active, allowing consumers to make purchases through this channel. Prakash did not comment on the potential daily losses due to the problem. However, the portal is one of the group’s emerging business verticals. Future Group aims to have at least 10% of ...

In what has become a yearly tradition, it’s now time for us to present 10 of the most noteworthy incidents on the Internet from this past year. As you’ll see, 2010 has been very interesting. Just like previous years, we have included problems ranging from website outages and service issues to large-scale network interruptions. If you’re an avid Web user, you are bound to recognize several of them. Let’s get started! The major incidents on the Internet in 2010 were… Wikipedia’s Failover Fail Wikipedia has become so ubiquitous that it can’t go down for a minute without people noticing. According to Google Trends for Websites , the site has roughly 50 million visitors per day. In March, servers in Wikimedia’s European data center overheated and shut down. The service was supposed to fail over to a US data center. Unfortunately, the failover mechanism didn’t work properly and broke the DNS lookups for all of Wikipedia . This effectively rendered the site unreachable worldwide. It took...