Provided by CommunityDNS, the information in this post consists of news items in the security-based Internet community.

Cisco: SMS, Smartphone Attacks on the Rise

While spammers were spewing more than 2 billion spam messages the day after Michael Jackson’s death, a new form of phishing is becoming more prevalent to users of SMS/texting devices. “Smishing”, the term used for phishing via SMS/text devices has been seen in Japan, and other countries where texting is more common, for years. Only as more people are becoming familiar with and using texting are hackers seeing a larger target audience from which to secure money.

This tactic uses an older, yet more trusted form of communication, that of voice. Smishers send a text asking people to call a number. When called a friendly recording asks people to enter their personal identifiable information.

The report also discusses an increasing number of vulnerabilities with smartphone operating systems.

The report also warns of increased hacking from people with computer skills who have been negatively affected by the economy.

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Survey finds one in six consumers act on spam

A survey of 800 consumers in the US and Canada found that 1 in 6 have, at one time, acted on spam. Such activity affirms the economic incentive for spammers to continue sending the high levels of spam each day.

Comment: A report noted in the News Bits a couple of months ago indicated 90.4% of all e-mail is considered spam.

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Turkish government site hacked amid spat with China

With links to language and their common religion of Islam, the Turkish Prime Minister denounced the riots in China’s northwest province of Xinjiang against the country’s Uighurs population. Since the statement Turkey’s embassy in China has been hacked to display a message. The slow response also indicates the site is being targeted with a denial-of-service attack.

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Oracle Issues Big Security Patch Update

Oracle has released 30 patches for its various products, including 10 that relate directly to its database. Three of the database vulnerabilities can be exploited across a network without the requirement of a username/password.

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Anonymous web data can be personal data, claims expert

Items such as browsing history may be deemed anonymous as the only thing tying you to such content is your computer’s IP address. Because of the anonymity you may loose control of what people do with your information. However, if you provide the information provider with information such as your name, IP address, date and time of service use your information then becomes identifiable and is therefore subject to the UK’s data protection act, a law based up on the EU’s Data Protection Directive 95/45/EC.

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Sixty Percent of companies Not Moving to Windows 7

Citing stability for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, IT shops are not in a rush to upgrade to “7”. With mature computer hardware and software the need is no longer there for most companies. Portable productivity, interconnectivity and visualization are the new frontiers; frontiers on which Microsoft lags.

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