Security

The cost of data breaches continued to rise in 2008, according to a new study from network security company PGP and the Ponemon Institute. The study, which was sponsored by PGP, surveyed 43 organizations across 17 different sectors and evaluated the financial consequences of data breaches involving ...

Poorly secured corporate Web sites are becoming a top cybersecurity threat as companies are increasingly putting their own clients at risk, according to the latest IBM X-Force Trend and Risk Report, released on Monday. This growing online threat to consumers is the result of two trends: one, the lon...

Massive credit card payment processor Heartland Payment Systems disclosed Tuesday that a security breach within its processing system some time in 2008 resulted in the potential exposure of millions of credit card and debit card numbers. No cardholder Social Security numbers, addresses or telephone ...

The current economic environment has consumers tightening their purse strings, carefully scrutinizing each dollar they spend. Scaling back on expenditures, including investments, they're not taking any chances with the money they do have. There is little trust in the economy or the future. To get co...

Identity theft has had a crippling effect on more than 9 million Americans, according to the Federal Trade Commission, and businesses that collect or hold identifying information report millions of dollars in annual losses as a result of these crimes. New identity theft regulations for creditors -- ...

Until recently, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act -- covering a myriad of activities related to hacking and intellectual property theft -- was just one of many questionable federal laws on the books. Then came the case of Lori Drew. Drew was widely vilified for provoking a young girl into committing ...

The old adage about a sucker being born every minute is no less true among respondents to spam. Dishonest people have always been trying to make a fast buck by duping others into confidence scams, and the Web has give those people an easy way to communicate with more potential marks. However, modern...

Regular viewers of "60 Minutes" may not have been aware of a major scandal in the online gambling industry before Sunday night's broadcast, but Internet poker enthusiasts already knew the score and were waiting for reporters to show their cards. The report, a joint effort involving CBS's Steve Kroft...

Today we have the advantage of staying connected wherever we are, which gives us the convenience of completing our holiday shopping from home or our working space at any time of day. This convenience, however, comes with a price, which can sometimes present itself literally. Cybercrime is prevalent ...

In a move that could threaten the livelihoods of security software makers Symantec and McAfee, Microsoft has announced it will offer free antivirus software some time in the second half of 2009. The free software, codenamed "Morro," will replace Microsoft's current security offering, Windows Live On...

Credit card fraudsters beware: Victrio might be tracking you. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company recently released a new system aimed at identifying, analyzing and storing the voiceprints of identity thieves. "We're building a nationwide database of bad guys' voiceprints," Victrio's founder and...

Someone is trying to extort money from a company that handles drug prescription benefits for 50 million Americans in what could be one of the more damaging cases of data loss on record. The incident may raise red flags for industry hopes of putting more health care information online in an effort to...

Just one day after notifying an Internet registrar notorious for allowing massive spamming that it would terminate its registrar accreditation, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has given the registrar a temporary stay of execution. ICANN sent a letter to EstDomains on Tuesday,...

Caution: Just because your company has a payment card industry compliance certificate, don't assume your data is perfectly safe and secure. You can still suffer a breach. That's the lesson recently learned by retail clothing company Forever 21. Company officials posted a notice on their Web site las...

Research has shown that the three most important factors influencing whether a customer will purchase from a consumer Web site are security and privacy, ease of navigation and quality of content. Make privacy and security information prevalent on your site and in the purchasing flow -- including bot...