cyberthreats

Cyberthreats a top topic in Obama's call with Chinese president

President Barack Obama had a digital agenda in his call to new Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulating him on his new position, according to a new report.

According to The New York Times, Obama and his Chinese counterpart spoke quite a bit about cyberattacks and their impact on each other's nations. The Times, which obtained the information from White House officials, didn't specifically say what was said during the conversation. But the fact that the presidents are having an open discussion on cyberattacks indicates just how far the issue has gone.

For years now, both China and the … Read more

Execs see value in Web 2.0 but worry about security

A McAfee survey of more than 1,000 business executives across 17 countries has found that Web 2.0 technologies can increase employee productivity and generate revenue. But half of the business executives expressed fears over the security risks that come from social media, blogging, Web mail, and content-sharing tools.

Released Monday, the "Web 2.0: A Complex Balancing Act" (PDF) report was commissioned by security software maker McAfee and authored by faculty at Purdue University to study the benefits and risks of Web 2.0 technologies in the business world.

The study showed that three out of … Read more

Government warns of looming cyberthreats

White House Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair says the U.S. is severely under the threat of greater cyberattacks but believes we can rise to the challenge.

Blair appeared before a Senate panel on Tuesday to deliver the Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community (PDF). A statement of Blair's remarks to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was released for the record. While he focused mostly on non-cyberterrorism and similar threats, he led off with a stark report on the growing dangers and challenges of cyberwarfare.

Seeing the recent attacks against Google as a "… Read more

Spam: You just can't win

This was originally posted at ZDNet's Between the Lines.

For anyone even slightly optimistic about thwarting the never-ending crush of spam I have two words: don't bother.

At the Information Security Best Practices conference at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, I've learned the following from the first panel.

Comcast's Gerard Lewis, senior counsel and chief privacy officer, noted that the Can-Spam act of 2003 "hasn't done anything to curb spam," but is "a well intentioned law." Indeed, almost all e-mail is classified as spam.

Lewis should know since Comcast … Read more

Warning sounded over 'flirting robots'

Those entering online dating forums risk having more than their hearts stolen.

A program that can mimic online flirtation and then extract personal information from its unsuspecting conversation partners is making the rounds in Russian chat forums, according to security software firm PC Tools.

The artificial intelligence of CyberLover's automated chats is good enough that victims have a tough time distinguishing the "bot" from a real potential suitor, PC Tools said. The software can work quickly too, establishing up to 10 relationships in 30 minutes, PC Tools said. It compiles a report on every person it meets … Read more