News

The Greater Manchester Police service (GMP) has been afflicted with the Conficker virus which could give criminals access to the Police National Computer (PNC). As a result, its systems have been uncoupled and quarantined to avoid the spread of the virus and to prevent any data loss occurring.
According to V3, the infection was detected last [...]

More businesses and organisations are being hit with the costs of security breaches and data loss than ever before and security firm PGP’s annual report has shown in real terms the financial burdens imposed by typical data loss incidences.
The PGP study has revealed that it costs a business an average of £1.68 million to account [...]

Researchers at Cambridge University have spoken out against the Verified by Visa and SecureCode online payment verification systems, saying that they are both intrinsically dangerous for consumers looking to shop on the internet.
The researchers have specifically attacked the 3-D Secure protocol that both MasterCard and Visa use in registering and confirming the identities of its [...]

A new study suggests that the threat to the IT infrastructures that keep economies around the globe afloat is higher than ever before. Security vendor McAfee commissioned the report and said that the results suggest that international attacks are creating a form of digital cold war and fraying relations between nations.
McAfee said that the report [...]

IT security firm RSA has released new figures suggesting that criminals are heightening their efforts to target unsuspecting consumers in order to steal their personal data, with a 21 per cent rise in the number of phishing websites hijacking established brands to gain misplaced trust.
RSA said that in December 2009 a fifth more brand-based phishing [...]

Professor Tim Berners-Lee, who is one of the prime movers behind the creation of the internet itself, has just launched a new website for the government in order to give UK citizens better access to the data dealt with by those in power.
Now anyone can head over to data.gov.uk and browse through a vast amount [...]

Senior civil servants have been interviewed as part of a report looking at the state of the UK government’s IT strategy and the conclusion reached by experts is that improvements to data management and co-ordination from within Whitehall are necessary.
The report has been carried out by The Institute for Government Study and since its investigation [...]

A survey of dry cleaners in the UK has found that thousands of people are leaving valuable USB memory sticks in their clothes when they send them off to be cleaned, which can potentially be the catalyst for serious instances of data loss.
In 2009 a total of more than 4500 USB memory sticks were recovered [...]

In a bid to increase confidence in cloud computing, Microsoft is calling for legislative and regulatory action from vendors and the US government aimed at improving the security of current cloud platforms.
Microsoft’s senior VP Brad Smith told the Washington D.C. based think tank at the Brookings Institute last week that businesses were not being provided [...]

A study into data security breaches suffered by both business and individuals has shown that many users are unaware as to the dangers they are facing if they fail to choose an adequately robust password for their various accounts. Weak passwords can make all of the data protection software in the world entirely redundant and [...]