SANS NewsBites

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Cyber War Expose (November 13, 2009)

The covers are off the cyber warfare story.......

Fixing Federal Cybersecurity: C&A Reports Cost $1,400 Per Page And Are Out Of Date When Signed (November 12, 2009)

The US State Department cracked a vexing cybersecurity problem through continuous monitoring and a focus on the 20 critical controls (the most important defenses based on actual attack data compiled by NSA and other agencies).......

For One-Third of US Government Agencies, Security Incidents Are a Daily Occurrence (November 10 & 11, 2009)

A CDW-Government survey of 300 US government IT professionals found that 44 percent of agencies noted an increase in the number of security incidents over last year.......

Researchers Describe Weakness in Government Wiretap Technology (November 11 & 12, 2009)

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania say they have discovered a vulnerability in the technology the government uses to conduct wiretaps.......

UK Considering Raising Maximum Data Breach Fine (November 12, 2009)

The UK Ministry of Justice is considering raising the maximum penalty for violations of the Data Protection Act that result in serious data breaches to GBP 500,000 (US $830,000).......

Indian Outsourcer Arrested for Selling British Patients' Medical Files (November 10 & 12, 2009)

Police in India have arrested the chief of an outsourcing company for allegedly selling British patients' medical records.......

Modified Xbox Consoles Banned From Xbox Live (November 11 & 12, 2009)

In an attempt to combat piracy, Microsoft is permanently banning modified Xbox consoles from accessing Xbox Live.......

Apple Issues Safari Update (November 11 & 12, 2009)

Apple has released Safari 4.......

Eight Indicted in Massive, Coordinated ATM Fraud (November 10 & 11, 2009)

A US federal grand jury in Atlanta, Georgia has indicted eight men in connection with the RBS WorldPay security breach.......

Microsoft Issues Six Security Bulletins (November 10 & 11, 2009)

On Tuesday, November 10, Microsoft released six security bulletins to address a total of 15 security flaws.......

Windows Kernel Flaw Likely to be Exploited Soon (November 11, 2009)

Researchers are in agreement that in the next few weeks, cyber criminals are likely to exploit the Windows kernel vulnerability for which Microsoft released a fix earlier this week.......

iPhone Data Stealing Exploit Released (November 11, 2009)

The same vulnerability that was used to spread a relatively harmless worm is now being exploited to allow attackers to steal data from jailbroken iPhones.......

Bank Fraud Linked to Stolen Employee Data (November 10, 2009)

A data security breach of a server at the Vancouver (Washington) School District exposed employee information, including Social Security numbers (SSNs) and bank account information of employees who use direct payroll deposit.......

Microsoft Investigating Reports of Zero-Day SMB Flaw in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (November 11 & 12, 2009)

Microsoft is investigating reports of a zero-day flaw in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 Release 2 that could be exploited to crash vulnerable computers.......