This Week’s Dose of Latest Security News and Updates

Already planning for the weekend, good! But first, let’s see what security news and updates various anti-virus experts have for us!

Zeus – the Global Malware is Back!
A popular fan book page – “Bring the N.F.L. To Los Angeles”, as New York Times has reported, is housing the notorious malware program of 2007 called Zeus. A Trojan horse virus, Zeus masquerades as a harmless link to a funny or shocking video or a product. Once a user clicks on the link, Zeus infects the computer. The malware stays put in the system and waits until the user visits a banking or a financial site. Once the user logs in, Zeus steals the login credentials and sends it to the hacker. No prizes for guessing what happens after that – the victim’s account is drained.

Catch Google Security Holes and Earn Big Bounty
If one of your hobbies is finding bugs in websites, then this very hobby could be your cash cow this week. Google has announced hefty cash prizes for people who can report cross-site scripting bugs on Google Accounts (prize money – $7,500), Gmail and Google Wallet (prize money – $5,000). And, if you can also spare some time in finding and reporting crucial information leaks and bypasses, then that could fetch you another $7,500. Read more about this Google bounty program here.

Sir, We have Got a Hunch to Search Your Laptop. No, We Don’t Need a Warrant!
In other interesting news, from now on, whenever you near the U.S. border, be sure to make a puppy face. You may ask why? Well, if any US customs agent gets a bad hunch about you, then your laptop, mobile and other electronic devices could be seized for inspection, as specified by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Not only this, the officers also posses the right to keep copies of any of your data that might smell fishy. According to the officials, this step would help them curb child pornography or terrorism.

Five Patches from Microsoft Coming Up!
The Redmond giant has announced the release of five security updates next week. One of these updates is crucial for fixing 19 serious security vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer (IE); vulnerabilities that may be used by a hacker to remote access a user’s system via an infected web page in IE. The other fixes are designed for 4 less-serious vulnerabilities in Windows and Office.

Keep your Fingers Ready for Windows 8.1!
People are all ears and eyes for the all new Windows 8.1 native fingerprint recognition feature. With this version of Windows, all you will need to sign into your accounts, purchase apps, access programs, and secure your folders is a single swipe of your fingers. So now, you have one more reason to keep your hands clean, don’t you?

Rajiv Singha