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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued an alert warning that hackers could exploit code in Siemens-owned technology to attack power plants and other national critical infrastructure. Justin W. Clarke, an expert in securing industrial control systems, disclosed at a conference in Los Angeles on Friday that he had figured out a way to spy on traffic moving through networking equipment manufactured by Siemens' RuggedCom division. RuggedCom, a Canadian subsidiary of Siemens that sells networking equipment for use in harsh environments such as areas with extreme weather, said it was investigating Clarke's findings, but declined to elaborate. Clarke said that the discovery of the flaw is disturbing because hackers who can spy on communications of infrastructure operators could gain credentials to access computer systems that control power plants and other critical systems. According to security researcher Justin W. Clarke, Rugged OS contains the same private key used...

Websense ThreatSeeker Network intercepted a malware campaign targeting BlackBerry customers. These fake emails state that the recipient has successfully created a BlackBerry ID. According to Security Labs , those users who are targeted receive an email with the subject line “ Your BlackBerry ID has been created .” The email encourages users to follow instructions in the attached file on how to “ enjoy the full benefits ” of their ID. The malware comes attached to an email that is an exact copy of the email you receive when creating a new BlackBerry ID. It teases you by asking you to download an attachment that allows you to fully appreciate the BlackBerry user experience. Those who open the attached .zip file will drop a handful of executable files that will modify the system registry to start malware programs upon the machine’s next startup.

Police on Thursday rounded up 357 foreigners accused of duping Taiwanese and Chinese citizens in an online scam in what an official described as the largest single-day operation against organized crime in the country.  Director Samuel Pagdilao Jr., CIDG director, said CIDG and Paocc agents led by Senior Supt. Ranier Idio raided 20 houses in several subdivisions in Quezon, Manila, Marikina, Cainta and Antipolo cities at around 6:30 a.m. on Thursday and they rounded up the foreigners. The suspects were brought to the Police National Training Institute (PNTI) in Camp Vicente Lim in Laguna. They face charges for violating the Access Device Act. The syndicate's operations involve the use of the internet, wherein the group will call unsuspecting victims in China, claiming that they represent police, prosecutor's office, courts, insurance companies, banks, and other financial institutions. The syndicate raked in at least P20 million ($472,000) each day using the scam, Pagdilao said...

Vehicles are becoming more and more reliant on computers for efficiency, safety systems, and infotainment systems. Most vehicles on the market today use throttle-by-wire systems, where the onboard computer controls the throttle of the vehicle. Toyota has had problems in the past with so-called unintended acceleration, with many pointing fingers at the electronic systems in the car. Intel's McAfee unit, which is best known for software that fights PC viruses, is one of a handful of firms that are looking to protect the dozens of tiny computers and electronic communications systems that are built into every modern car. McAfee, makers of the popular anti-virus software, are just one of the teams looking to protect automobiles from many bugs and viruses which could wreak havoc on the tiny computers inside modern cars. “ You can definitely kill people ”, said John Bumgarner, chief technology officer of the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, a non-profit organization that helps companies an...

The Windows version of Crisis , a piece of malware discovered in July, is capable of infecting VMware virtual machine images, Windows Mobile devices and removable USB drives, according to researchers from antivirus vendor Symantec.The installer was actually a Java archive (JAR) file which had been digitally signed by VeriSign. Crisis is distributed via social engineering attacks that trick users into running a malicious Java applet. The applet identifies the user's OS, Windows or Mac OS X and executes the corresponding installer. “ The threat uses three methods to spread itself: one is to copy itself and an autorun.inf file to a removable disk drive, another is to sneak onto a VMware virtual machine, and the final method is to drop modules onto a Windows Mobile device ,” Symantec explained in a blog post . Malware authors are putting significant efforts into making sure that new variants of their Trojan programs are not detected by antivirus products when they are released. Also...