A divided Congress confronts a rising cyberthreat
The mysterious caller claimed to be from Microsoft and offered step-by-step instructions to repair damage from a software virus. The electric power companies weren't falling for it.
The caller, who was never traced or identified, helpfully instructed the companies to enable specific features in their computers that actually would have created a trapdoor in their networks. That vulnerability would have allowed hackers to shut down a plant and thrown thousands of customers into the dark.
The power employees hung up on the caller and ignored the advice.
The incident from February, documented by one of the government's emergency cyber-response teams, shows the persistent threat of electronic attacks and intrusions that could disrupt the country's most critical industries.
The House this week will consider legislation to better defend these and other corporate networks from foreign governments, cybercriminals and terrorist groups. But deep divisions over how best to handle the growing problem mean that solutions are a long way off.
Chief among the disputes is the role of the government in protecting the private sector. Read more...
Apple fights fake anti-virus software vendors
Apple Inc is fighting what security experts say may be the most pernicious types of computer virus to ever target its line of Mac computers.
The company has issued a security advisory warning to customers about a recent scam that infects Macs with malicious software that wrongly tells them their computer is infected with a virus. The ultimate goal is to get credit card numbers and other valuable personal information.
It is one of the first major campaigns that cyber crooks have launched against Mac users. To date, criminals have focused on writing malicious software for machines running Microsoft Corp's Windows operating system, which inhabits more than nine of every 10 personal computers. Read more...
Microsoft: One in 14 Downloads Is Malicious
The next time a website says to download new software to view a movie or fix a problem, think twice. There's a pretty good chance that the program is malicious.
In fact, about one out of every 14 programs downloaded by Windows users turns out to be malicious as Microsoft said. And even though Microsoft has a feature in its Internet Explorer browser designed to steer users away from unknown and potentially untrustworthy software, about 5 percent of users ignore the warnings and download malicious Trojan horse programs anyway. Read more...