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Security Trends: Archive: January 2003 

Slammer Damage May Top $1 Billion

Digital attacks, including worms and viruses, have caused more than $8 billion in damages worldwide in January, a U.K. security firm reports, with the Slammer virus alone costing about $1 billion.

By Sharon Gaudin  |  January 31, 2003

Security Flaw Finder Severs Ties with CERT

The U.K.-based security research firm accuses CERT/CC of profiting from its hard work by selling access to early warnings about software vulnerabilities.

By Ryan Naraine  |  January 30, 2003

CIA Wins Control of Terrorist Data Mining Program

Bush orders FBI, CIA, Justice and Defense to combine efforts under CIA to analyze all intelligence information.

By Roy Mark  |  January 30, 2003

RIAA Trains Anti-Piracy Guns on Universities

The RIAA is taking its battle against illegal filing sharing to universities across the country, and some colleges are cracking down on students.

By Beth Cox  |  January 30, 2003

Report: Gov't Cybersecurity Chief to Quit

Immediately after submitting his controversial plan to secure cyberspace, Internet Security czar Richard Clarke will quit and look for a job in the private sector, Reuters reports.

By Ryan Naraine  |  January 29, 2003

Slammer Attack Wanes But Debate Heats Up

After tying up email and online business for nearly three days, the attack of the Slammer worm seems to be over.

By Sharon Gaudin  |  January 28, 2003

E-mail Down Under

The huge spam problem is making it difficult for some companies to manage their inboxes.

By Robyn Greenspan  |  January 28, 2003

Internet Recovering From Slammer Attack

The Internet was recovering Monday from a virulent worm attack that slowed or halted Web traffic around the world this weekend.

By Sharon Gaudin  |  January 27, 2003

Internet Identity Theft Bill Introduced

Legislation calls for Social Security numbers to be taken off of public records published on the Internet.

  • Internet Consumer Fraud Continues to Rise

    • By Roy Mark  |  January 27, 2003

    Computer Worm Slows Worldwide Traffic

    A worm that attacks the Microsoft SQL Server 2000-based web servers virtually halts traffic in some parts of the world. But security experts have known about it since July.

    By Bob Liu  |  January 26, 2003

    New Alliance Opposes Anti-Piracy Mandates

    Group vows to fight Hollywood-bankrolled efforts in Congress to require anti-copying technology be built into computers and other electronic devices.

  • Survey: Consumers Oppose Anti-Piracy Laws

    • By Roy Mark  |  January 24, 2003

    Could Attack on DALnet Spell End for IRC?

    DALnet administrators are struggling to keep the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network afloat after a DDoS attack. And the case may cause some hosting providers to reconsider hosting IRC servers at all.

    By Thor Olavsrud  |  January 24, 2003

    Cisco Snaps Up Security Software Maker

    Looking to boost its security software portfolio, Cisco shells out $154 million in stock for Okena.

    By Clint Boulton  |  January 24, 2003

    CERT Details Flaw in Concurrent Versions System

    The organization says a vulnerability in the open software server renders users susceptible to arbitrary code runs and denial-of-service attacks.

    By Clint Boulton  |  January 24, 2003

    Microsoft's First Flaws for the New Year

    The software giant moves to quash a buffer overrun flaw in certain Windows servers that could allow an assailant to run arbitrary code on a user's machine; also details Content Management Server 2001 and Outlook 2002 bugs.

    By Clint Boulton  |  January 23, 2003

    Aberdeen Predicts Doubling of Attacks and Spam

    Batten down the hatches. Security incidents -- everything from viruses and worms to hacks and insider sabotage -- are expected to skyrocket in 2003, according to a new report out by the Aberdeen Group, an industry analyst firm based in Boston.

    By Sharon Gaudin  |  January 23, 2003

    OASIS Aims To Help Fight Crime, Terrorism

    The standards body forms a technical committee which will design an XML specification to help law enforcement agencies around the world share criminal and terrorist evidence.

    By Thor Olavsrud  |  January 23, 2003

    Internet Consumer Fraud Continues to Rise

    Annual FTC report says 47 percent of non-identity theft complaints were Internet-related in 2002.

    By Roy Mark  |  January 22, 2003

    Identifying Identity Theft

    Hold on to your personal information — stolen identity cases are expected to soar through 2003.

    By Robyn Greenspan  |  January 17, 2003

    Spammer Exposes Customer Data

    A seller of pirated Norton software, who inundates the Net with spam touting his cheap prices, leaves open a back door to buyers' personal information -- and officials say it happens all the time.

  • Special Report: Frauds, Scams and the Flimflam-Man

    • By Beth Cox  |  January 15, 2003

    Microsoft Updates Security Threat System

    In an attempt to help users identify the most serious threats to their networks, Microsoft Corp. has added another category to its security rating system.

    By Sharon Gaudin  |  January 15, 2003

    Microsoft to Open Windows Code to Foreign Governments

    Software giant addressing security concerns, response to Linux

    By Mark Berniker  |  January 15, 2003

    Virus Alert: Opasoft Worm Back

    A backdoor network worm first detected four months ago resurfaces, while Symantec reports the emergence of a new Trojan horse.

    By eSecurityPlanet Staff  |  January 14, 2003

    Virus Alert: Dasmin Arrives

    Mobile enterprise security vendor F-Secure announces the arrival of Dasmin, a simple UPX-packed Trojan that installs itself to Windows System folder as two separate files.

    By eSecurityPlanet Staff  |  January 13, 2003

    Open Source Group Issues Top Ten Web Vulnerabilities

    New report says many government and private sector security flaws are 'surprisingly common' and can be exploited by unsophisticated hackers.

    By Roy Mark  |  January 13, 2003

    Virus Alert Activity Intensifies

    Just one day after the anti-virus community was abuzz with a double virus alert, two more alerts went up Friday.

    By Sharon Gaudin  |  January 10, 2003

    Virus Alert: 4 Worms Wiggling Around

    Four Windows worms including Lirva.A, ExploreZip.E, Lirva.B and the latest, Sobig, were out Friday in full force, earning 'Level 2' alerts from F-Secure.

    By eSecurityPlanet Staff  |  January 10, 2003

    Virus Alert: W32.Lirva.A Risk Upgraded

    The mass-mailing worm W32.Lirva.A, first discovered earlier this week, has been upgraded today by Symantec Security Response from a Category 2 threat to Category 3.

    By eSecurityPlanet Staff  |  January 09, 2003

    Virus Battles Erupt On 2 Fronts

    Two major viruses have hit at the same time, wreaking some havoc in the anti-virus community and forcing network and security administrators to fight two battles at once.

    By Sharon Gaudin  |  January 09, 2003

    Chemical Industry Seeks Formula for Cyber Security

    A new initiative is launching to focus on cyber security in the chemical industry, under the auspices of the Chemical Industry Data Exchange trade association.

    By eSecurityPlanet Staff  |  January 08, 2003

    Poll: Biometrics Gaining Acceptance

    Weighing privacy against security, a new poll shows that Americans are increasingly OK with using biometric technology to safeguard their finances and medical history, as well as to keep felons from buying guns.

    By Sharon Gaudin  |  January 08, 2003

    Virus Alert: Naith By Any Other Name

    MessageLabs is now stopping a new mass-mailing virus. Initial analysis suggests comments in the code are familiar, so it is likely to be re-assigned to an existing family. For now, MessageLabs is calling it 'Naith.'

    By eSecurityPlanet Staff  |  January 08, 2003

    Report: Internet Security Threats Will Get Worse

    A new Internet risk assessment report paints a grim picture of the state of Internet security and warns of persistent threats to come from new forms of mass-mailing worms.

    By Paul Desmond  |  January 08, 2003

    House to Create Homeland Security Oversight Committee

    Republicans plan to oversee new department's activities with a select committee of members while the Senate will give jurisdiction to Governmental Affairs Committee.

    By Roy Mark  |  January 07, 2003

    Virus Alert: Killer Trojan Horse On Loose

    A new virus discovered on Tuesday targets antivirus and firewall programs and is written in Delphi.

    By eSecurityPlanet Staff  |  January 07, 2003

    White House Leaks New Cyber Security Plan

    In its latest trial balloon, Bush Administration reportedly is seeking to further water down plan to secure nation's computer networks from terrorist attacks.

    By Roy Mark  |  January 07, 2003

    Supreme Court Withdraws Stay in DVD Encryption Case

    Justice O'Connor drops order in jurisdictional wrangling over where programmer who allegedly posted code to de-scramble DVD encryption can be sued.

    By Roy Mark  |  January 06, 2003

    Virus Alert: Outlook Mass-Mailing Worm

    The latest in viruses is W32.HLLW.GOP.F@mm, a mass-mailing worm that uses Microsoft Outlook to send itself to all contacts in Outlook Address Book, according to Symantec.

    By eSecurityPlanet Staff  |  January 06, 2003

    Symantec Warns of Word Macro Virus

    Security software vendor Symantec is warning of a virus dubbed Killboot that infects Microsoft Word documents and renders an infected computer unable to boot up.

    By eSecurityPlanet Staff  |  January 03, 2003

    SSH Putty Exploit Code Posted

    A research firm posts exploit code for potentially serious flaws in implementations of SSH on the BugTraq mailing list.

    By Ryan Naraine  |  January 02, 2003

    Encryption Trade Secret Bust Nets College Student

    FBI claims 19-year-old University of Chicago student leaked sensitive DirecTV anti-piracy technology to hacker sites.

    By Roy Mark  |  January 02, 2003

    Threat Upgraded as Yaha Worm Spreads

    Hanging on through the new Year, the threat of the Yaha computer virus has been upgraded.

    By Sharon Gaudin  |  January 02, 2003