Security Trends: Archive: April 2002

Hacker Duo Attacks Another Federal Site

This time, the pair posts communications logs and personal information of U.S. Department of Defense employees. In light of a reported CIA advisory of planned hacking attacks from the Chinese Army, the security breach takes on an ominous undertone.

McAfee Buyout Derailed Again

The on-off-on-off acquisition of McAfee was canceled again after accounting inaccuracies were found in Network Associates' 1999 and 2000 financial statements.

Employee Abuse of Internet Rampant

A recent Computer Security Institute/FBI survey reported that 78% of companies polled detected employee misuse of their Internet access privileges. Read about what some IT managers have done, and what you can do to address this problem.

AOL's AIM Puts Browser Security in Danger

Here's another reason to look wearily at installing a public IM client on a LAN-connected PC -- the AIM client secretly forces an unsafe change to Internet Explorer browsers

Security Wake-up Call: Hackers Deface U.S. Navy Site

The U.S. Space and Naval Ware Systems Command was defaced Monday morning with what appeared to be screenshots of database files taken from a major airline and bank. The hacker group claiming responsibility said it shouldn't have been that easy.

New Klez.G Email Worm Targets Outlook, Express

A new variant of the Klez.E mass mailing worm allows an email attachment to be executed by merely viewing the email message in unpatched versions of Microsoft Outlook Express or Outlook.

Microsoft Patches Vulnerable SQL Servers

Redmond moves to squelch a buffer overrun vulnerability affecting SQL Server 7.0 and 2000 database software.

A Push For New Security Benchmarks

The Center for Internet Security hopes to ease enterprise policy compliance with a new suite of security benchmarks that brings cut-and-paste simplicity to network device configuration.

Report Casts Pall On Security Industry (But Don't Fret Yet)

Network security's days in the limelight are over, according to a recent report from ICA Syndicate. Before you go looking for a new career, though, it may be helpful to first cast a wary eye on some of the report's findings.

A Busy Month for Viruses

While computer users guarded against two new viruses (Bound, Caricature), two old ones were (Klez, Badtrans) wreaked havoc last month, according a ranking by security specialist Sophos.