Best Of The Web

INFO SECURITY
Keeping The Customer Satisfied: Cybercriminals Focus On Service
Malware-as-a-service offerings enable exploit authors to provide extra services to customers

ARS TECHNICA
Death Of A Data Haven: Cypherpunks, WikiLeaks, And The World's Smallest Nation
Could WikiLeaks make a new home on Sealand? History suggests it might be difficult

KREBS ON SECURITY
New Java Attack Rolled Into Exploit Packs
Powerful exploit takes advantage of newly disclosed hole in Java

THE REGISTER
Everything You Thought You Knew About Cybercrime Is Wrong
Forget teen hackers, the bad guys are aging gangsters with off-the-shelf Web weapons

VENTURE BEAT
Google's Controversial Privacy Changes Give Birth To Cross-Product Insights Tool
In the wake of its new ability to pool consumer data across all of its products under controversial new privacy policy changes, Google is offering users Account Activity, a new cross-product report that users can sign up for to receive account insights on a monthly basis

WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE
U.S. Outgunned In Hacker War
FBI cybercrime director Shawn Henry, who is stepping down to take a new position in the private sector, said of the nation's efforts to thwart hacking and breaches: "We're not winning"

THE REGISTER
Sality Botnet Takedown Plans Posted Online
A hacker has posted attack plans against the Sality botnet on the Full Disclosure security mailing list, jokingly warning readers not to take the steps because it would be illegal

ADOBE ASSET BLOG
An Update For The Flash Player Updater
An update to Flash Player includes a new background updater that prompts Windows users to choose an automatic update option for future updates to ensure they are running the most recent versions of the app

THE TELEGRAPH
Twitter Admits 'Unfollowing Bug'
A flaw in Twitter "unfollow" an accountholders' list of people they follow without their permission

THREAT POST
RockYou Agrees To $250K FTC Fine Over Loss Of 32m Passwords
The Federal Trade Commission reached a settlement with RockYou over violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) after hackers accessed personal information of its 32 million members, saying the site collected data on some 179,000 children under the age of 13 without the consent of their parents

NAKED SECURITY BLOG
Justin Bieber's Twitter Account -- Hacked
The Twitter account of pop singer and heartthrob Justin Bieber was hacked and used to spread a phony message and unfollowed some his Twitter contacts

SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE
Richard Clarke On Who Was Behind the Stuxnet Attack
Former U.S. counterrorism czar says "it's pretty clear that the United States government did the Stuxnet attack" with Israel playing a "minor role"

COMPUTERWORLD
Soldier Accused Over Microsoft Founder ID
FBI accuses U.S. soldier of stealing the identity of Microsoft's billionaire co-founder, Paul Allen

ALIENVAULT
MS Office Exploit That Targets MacOS X Seen In The Wild -- Delivers "Mac Control" RAT
A look at some new Mac Trojans and the MS Office files that deliver them

ZDNET
Chinese Hacker Arrested For Leaking 6 Million Logins
Leak is biggest hacking case in China's Internet history

WALL STREET JOURNAL
U.S. Outgunned In Hacker War
FBIs top cybercop offers grim appraisal of nation's efforts to keep hackers at bay

THE REGISTER
Spooked Spooks Made Symantec End Huawei Fling -- New Claim
Security vendor stopped deal with Chinese telecom vendor because it feared the joint venture would prevent it from gaining access to classified cyberintelligence

SOPHOS
LulzSec Reborn Claims Responsibility For Military Dating Site Hack, Accounts Exposed
Group that broke into MilitarySingles.com claims to be new incarnation of notorious cybergang

V3.CO.UK
Games Company Faces Penalties For Exposing User Data
RockYou agrees to pay $250,000 for leaving 32 million user accounts vulnerable to hackers

SC MAGAZINE
Hacker Who Stole Racy Photos Of Celebrities Pleads Guilty
Thirty-five-year-old man admits to hacking the email accounts of Scarlett Johansson and dozens of other celebrities

ZDNET BLOG
Celebrity Hacker To Plead Guilty
Christopher Chaney, who was charged with hacking into the e-mail accounts of celebrities such as Christina Aguilera and Scarlett Johansson, faces a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison but will likely receive a reduced sentence

SCHNEIER ON SECURITY
Congressional Testimony On The TSA
Security expert Bruce Schneier was scheduled to testify today about the TSA at the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, but on Friday was removed from the witness list at the request of the TSA

SECURELIST BLOG
Carberp: It's Not Over Yet
Recent arrest by Russian authorities of suspects allegedly using the Carberp for financial fraud was good news, but the developers of Carberp are still at large and selling the crimeware

PC WORLD
Android Gets Bad Rap For Risk, Security Researchers Say
The general consensus is that while Android malware is not yet close to the problem it is for computers, it is a legitimate and growing problem, worth the attention of major enterprises

GOOGLE CHROME
Stable Channel Update
The Chrome Stable channel has been updated to 17.0.963.83 on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome Frame -- among the flaws fixed were use-after free, memory corruption, and cross-origin violation vulnerabilities that were discovered at the Pwnium contest

MICROSOFT TECHNET BLOG
Peace Games -- Bluehat Prize Update And Countdown
Microsoft's BlueHat Prize contest deadline is April 1st, and the top prize is $200,000 in cash for winning security defense research

THE HACKER NEWS
Facebook Profiles Can Be Hijacked By Chrome Extensions Malware
Researchers at Kaspersky Lab say malicious Chrome browser extensions are being uploaded to the Chrome Web Store and being used to take over Facebook accounts

TREND MICRO BLOG
A Look Into The Most Notorious Mac Threats
The Mac OS has been threatened by various attacks, including several DNS Changers, backdoors and worms, scareware and spyware -- a look at the ?dirty dozen? threats

FORBES
Shopping For Zero-Days: A Price List For Hackers' Secret Software Exploits
A look at how hackers such as "the Grugq" work as middlemen for selling zero-day exploits to governments -- he could make up to $1 million revenue this year from commissions

SEARCH SECURITY
University Researchers Document Android Adware Privacy Risks
Some Android apps have adware that expose a user's personal information, researchers at NC State say in a new report

INFOWORLD
Mobile Malware: Beware Drive-Bby Downloads On Your Smartphone
Drive-by downloads are coming to your smartphone, and they're harder to detect than traditional PC-based versions. Here's how you can protect yourself

SECURITY WEEK
IBM: Attackers Change Techniques As Unpatched Software Vulnerabilities Fall
A new report from IBM's X-Force says the number of unpatched vulnerabilities in 2011 dropped to 36 percent from 43 percent in 2010, and attackers are upping their game in response to these better security practices

WORLD NEWS TRIBUNE
Paralysis Warfare: China's Cyber Focus Is To Cripple U.S. Infrastructure
China has the capabilities to disrupt key elements of the U.S. national defense infrastructure in a pre-emptive attack, a new report reveals

THE WASHINGTON POST
Anonymous Targets The Pope
Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming pilgrimage to Mexico and Cuba is under threat from hacktivists, as a Mexican-based Anonymous group has blocked websites for the pontiff's visit and called the Pope''s visit a political move in support of Mexico's conservative National Action party

MCAFEE BLOG
5 Lessons Learned from RSA
Among the themes of the recent RSA Conference: social networking sites are hotbeds for cybercriminals; intellectual property is in the bull's eye; and multiple layers of defense is the best defense

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Can Job Applicants Be Asked For Facebook Passwords?
The ACLU is warning that some prospective employers are asking job applicants for their Facebook credentials as part of their vetting of the candidates

FORBES
Meet The Hackers Who Sell Spies The Tools To Crack Your PC (And Get Paid Six-Figure Fees)
A look at the fallout from the recent Pwn2Own hackathon

COMPUTING.CO.UK
Report: Criminals Switching Tactics To Breach Cyber Defenses
Phishing via social networks, mobile exploits replace older tactics, new report says

THREAT POST
Mass WordPress Compromise Fuels CRIDEX Worm Outbreak
Compromised sites on popular blogging platform are actively infecting users

COMPUTERWORLD
University Of Tampa Says Student Info Was Exposed For Eight Months
Accidental online leak involved more than 6,800 students; another 22,000 may also be affected