The Last Watchdog

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

Zero Day Threat wins prestigious national book award

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

Zero Day Threat: The Shocking Truth of How Banks and Credit Bureaus Help Cyber Crooks Steal Your Money and Identity has just been awarded the  prestigious Excellence in Financial Journalism Award for general audience books from the New York State Society of Certified Public Accounts.  Thanks goes out to all our security, tech, law enforcement, financial services industry, legal and other contacts and sources  who have so graciously helped us with guidance and expertise. We couldn’t have done it without you.

Bookmark and Share

Posted by bacohido | 1 Comment »

The evolution of an extraordinary globe-spanning worm

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

Conficker timeline
2008 - 2009

2008

Aug. 20: The Gimmiv Trojan, which exploited the vulnerability Conficker capitalises on, is first spotted running in a virtual machine on a server in South Korea. Experts speculate this was a a test run prior to it being released in the wild. (Source: BBC)

Sept. Chinese malware brokers are spotted selling a $37 tool kit that allows anyone to exploit this newly-discovered security hole in a component of Windows, called RPC-DCOM, which enables file and print sharing. RPC-DCOM is built into all PCs of Windows XP vintage and earlier, some 800 million machines worldwide

Sept. 29: Gimmiv first seen in the wild infecting a PC in Hanoi, Vietnam. Over the next few weeks it manages to infect 200 more machines in 23 nations - most of which were in Malaysia. Mistakes in the way it is coded limit its ability to spread. (Source: BBC)….More at LastWatchdog.com

Bookmark and Share

Posted by bacohido | Comment now »

Last Watchdog: Beckstrom Q&A: Cybersecurity official explains how he was hamstrung by NSA

Monday, March 9th, 2009

 

The sudden resignation  of Rod A. Beckstrom, the Department of Homeland Security’s senior  official tasked with unifying the federal government’s cybersecurity intiatives, bodes ill for a new age of transparency and collaborative problem-solving in government. Beckstrom was unable to maneuver around, much less partner with, the powerful National Security Agency (NSA).

In this stunningly frank March 5th resignation letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, Beckstrom, Director of the National …More at LastWatchdog.com

Bookmark and Share

Posted by admin | Comment now »

Recent Posts