Unprotected PCs can be hijacked in minutes

By Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz, USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO — Surfing the Web has never been more risky.

Simply connecting to the Internet — and doing nothing else — exposes your PC to non-stop, automated break-in attempts by intruders looking to take control of your machine surreptitiously.
While most break-in tries fail, an unprotected PC can get hijacked within minutes of accessing the Internet. Once hijacked, it is likely to get grouped with other compromised PCs to dispense spam, conduct denial-of-service attacks or carry out identity-theft scams.

A "must read" article. Continue reading at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/hacking/2004-11-29-honeypot_x.htm

 

Top-10 security risks for 2005

by Dave Kearns
Network World Windows Networking Tips Newsletter, 12/01/04

The security experts at Unisys have looked into their collective crystal balls and come up with what they believe will be the 10 top security issues for the coming year. In no particular order, they are:

* Application software breaches will lead to "lemon laws."
* Trusted networks involving business partners and others will grow as sources of risk.
* The mobile realm will continue to grow as a Petri dish for security incidents.
* Cyber attack styles will become virulent.
* Organized attacks by Internet desperados will increase.
* Enterprises will turn to proactive "defense-in-depth" as business needs drive security.
* Credit reporting agencies will become more involved in managing the consequences of identity theft.
* Adoption of federated architectures for identity and access management will accelerate.
* Enterprises will revisit role-based access control for identity and access management.
* Virtual directory technology will increasingly become a strategic component of identity integration projects.

Continue Reading at http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/nt/2004/1129nt2.html