A highly sophisticated computer virus is infecting computers in Middle Eastern and North African countries.  It appears to have been at least five years ago.  Is this state-sponsored cyber espionage?

Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cyber-security software maker, said it discovered the virus, dubbed Flame, after a U.N. telecommunications agency asked it to analyze data on malicious software across the Middle East in search of the data-wiping virus reported by Iran.

Yahoo released its Axis extension for Chrome and accidentally leaked its private security key that could allow anyone to create malicious plugins masquerading as official Yahoo software.  The result is that a miscreant could forge malicious software to run amok on unsuspecting victim computers and it would appear to be coming from Yahoo.

An Australian researcher exposed the certificate mistake, and said users should not install the extension "until the issue is clarified." He examined the extension’s source code and found the private certificate, which Yahoo uses to sign the application to prove it is genuine and unaltered.

Do you know an ogre? Are you an ogre?

Ogres can exist at any level in an organization.

Ogres come from many backgrounds and can be any color, gender, belief system, or orientation. But ogres are easy to spot. What gives them away? Perhaps, it is the Ogres' lack of etiquette in the office place. Or is it the ogres' dysfunctional (or broken) ethical compass. Whether you are an Ogre or the victim of an Ogre, there are five Ogre specific disruptors of performance you should look out for that will negatively affect you and your stakeholders...

A new variant of SpyEye malware allows cybercriminals to monitor potential bank fraud victims by hijacking their Web cams and microphones, according to security researchers from Kaspersky Lab May 21. SpyEye is a computer trojan that specifically targets online banking users.

Like its older cousin, Zeus, SpyEye is no longer being developed by its original author but is still widely used by cybercriminals. SpyEye’s plug-in-based architecture allows third-party malware developers to extend its original functionality, a Kaspersky Lab malware researcher said.

A NASA spokesperson told SecurityWeek they were investigating claims made by a group of Iranian hackers May 16 that they have compromised the SSL certificate used on the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) Web site.

The Iranian student group comprised of programmers and hackers — known as the Cyber Warriors Team — claimed to have compromised the SSL cert was compromised by exploiting an existing vulnerability within the portal’s log-in system.

Researchers from Kapersky Lab recently reported on a new distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) tool. The HTTP Unbearable Load King (HULK) tool is different from others of its kind in that it does not simply hit a server with a massive load of TCP SYN requests or other predictable packets. HULK generates numerous unique requests designed to prevent server defenses from recognizing a pattern and filtering the attack traffic. The HULK DDoS tool is the work of Barry Shteiman, a security pro who developed it out of frustration with the obvious patterns produced by other such tools.

Security experts found many compromised WordPress and Joomla Web sites used by spammers to advertise sketchy diet pills and counterfeit luxury goods. The owners of these sites are most likely unaware of what is going on. Web masters often fail to check their sites’ subdirectories for signs of malicious files and Web pages, thus allowing cybercriminals to use the domain’s reputation to host their scams. Attackers often brute-force administrator passwords to gain access to a site’s back end.

Operators of America’s power, water, and manufacturing facilities use industrial control systems (ICS) to manage them. However, the security of these systems, increasingly linked with Microsoft Windows and the Internet, is now under intense scrutiny because of growing awareness that they could be attacked and cause massive disruptions.

In a survey by Gartner and ALM, Chief legal officers (CLOs) need to engage enterprise CIOs more.  Further, while CLOs voice consideration for CIOs as contributors to corporate strategy, they continue to lack fundimental understanding of how to use technology in the enterprise or how to interact with their IT departments.

Samsara is the same as nirvana, defilement the same as purity, and delusion the same as enlightenment.  The challenge to understanding is due to one's ignorance -- the ignorance in mistaking phenomena for ultimate reality. Great is Mind. Heaven's height is immeasurable, but Mind goes beyond heaven; the earth's depth is also unfathomable, but Mind reaches below the earth.

Malicious code planted within compromised Wed pages has become the latest method for attackers targeting government organizations, according to research from security firm Zscaler, V3.co.uk reported April 21. The firm discovered many government-affiliated Web sites with code that directs users to attack servers.

The most recent site to become infected was that of the French budget minister. It was found to contain obfuscated Javascript code that sends the user to a third party site and then attempts to exploit vulnerabilities and install malware on the targeted system. The attack is the latest in what Zscaler sees as a string of site hijackings aimed at government-controlled domains.

The U.S. Cyber Emergency Response Team (US-CERT) recently warned that cyber criminals are attempting highly targeted social engineering attacks on operators of Industrial Control Systems (ICS).  ICS are very present in Utility firms. The attacks are in the form of phishing phone calls allegedly coming from "Microsoft Server Department" and warning of infected PCs. The attacker attempts to have the utilities turn on services which would allow unauthorized remote access

HINT: Microsoft is not going to call you unless you specifically requested to be called. (see also US Utilities Under Daily Cyber-attack)

Users of Valve’s Steam game sales and distribution platform are being targeted by malware peddlers; the lure is a "Steam Cracker." It is being offered on YouTube and on many gamer forums, and it supposedly gives the users access to all games for free.

The scammers offer instructions for installing the software: disable antivirus software and firewall, then replace the original steam.exe file with the downloaded, cracked one.

Researchers from Purdue and Princeton universities have developed a solution to what could be catastrophic problem for millions of people who use insulin pumps, pacemakers, and other personal medical devices that rely on wireless communication to function: MedMon — a signal-jamming personal firewall for medical devices that detects potentially malicious communications going into, or coming from, a wearable or implanted device.

The next frontier of cybercrime could be the human body, a researcher at the Black Hat Security Conference demonstrated. In his presentation, "Hacking Medical Devices for Fun and Insulin: Breaking the Human SCADA System," Jay Radcliffe showed how a hacker could remotely hack two medical devices used to treat diabetes and trigger them to malfunction — with potentially disastrous results.

"Wireless communication with insulin pumps are not secure, they're not designed to be updated and there's no way of patching them," he told the audience. "It's not like a phone, where you can download a firmware update."

A former Intel employee, Biswamohan Pani, pleaded guilty to five counts relating to the illegal download of confidential documents from Intel’s servers. From June 8 through June 11, he downloaded 13 “top secret” Intel design documents from the company’s servers in California, the indictment said.

He copied them from his Intel-issued laptop to an external drive so he could access the documents after he returned the laptop to Intel. He is said to have tried to access the servers again around June 13.