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U.S. aims to detect cyber infrastructure attacks: report

(Reuters) - The U.S. government is launching a program nicknamed "Perfect Citizen" to detect cyber assaults on private U.S. companies and government agencies running critical infrastructure, the Wall Street Journal said in its online edition.

The surveillance by the National Security Agency would rely on sensors deployed in computer networks for critical infrastructure such as the electricity grid or nuclear power plants that would be triggered by unusual activity suggesting an impending cyber attack, the unnamed sources told the newspaper. More...

07-08-2010 17:47

Hackers target Microsoft Windows XP support system

Hi-tech criminals are "escalating" attacks on an unpatched bug in the Windows XP help and support system.

Microsoft said it had seen more than 10,000 machines hit by the attack that, so far, it has not found a fix for.

Windows PCs falling victim will have control of that machine handed over to attackers.

Microsoft said the attacks had gone from theoretical to real very quickly and urged users to take steps to protect themselves.

'Nightmare' attack

Microsoft revealed the upturn in attacks in a blog post saying that it had been monitoring activity around the loophole since it was first revealed on 10 June.

Found by Google engineer Travis Ormandy, the loophole revolves around the Help and Support system built into XP. Mr Ormandy found that it was possible to exploit its ability to give remote aid and apply fixes to ailing machines.

Initially, said Microsoft, it only saw "innocuous" attacks by researchers attempting to replicate what Mr Ormandy had found.

Real exploits turned up on 15 June and these have been enthusiastically adopted by hi-tech criminals. More...

07-01-2010 15:58

Supreme Court rules on employer monitoring of cellphone, computer conversations

A hesitant Supreme Court waded cautiously into a question that arises daily in workplaces and offices across the country: whether employers have the right to look over the shoulders of workers who use company computers and cellphones for personal communication.

In the first ruling of its kind, the justices said they do, as long as there is a "legitimate work-related purpose" to monitor them. But the court said it would proceed cautiously in deciding how far an employer can go in searching the "electronic sphere" that has become an inescapable part of the modern workplace. More...

06-18-2010 15:44

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