Info Sec News, Jan 22, 2009

One of the reasons why I started this site is because there seems to be a paucity of Information Security News about the Philippines. Sometimes its even hard to find out about Conferences and Seminars in Metro Manila. Its refreshing to be able to find the following:

(YouTube, from GMANews.TV) IMBESTIGADOR – Friendster Hacker (Identity Theft, Cybercrime)
(GMANews.TV, Old News) Woman who hacked Friendster account faces estafa raps

(Computerworld Philippines) Surveys: Security risks impede business innovation
(Computerworld Philippines) Web Security Lifeline: In-the-Cloud Technology Beats Malware Pollution
(Computerworld Philippines) Survey: Banks need better communication methods
(Inquirer.net) Nasty worm hits millions of computers
(Inquirer.net) Kids’ shield vs porn on Net removed
(Manila Bulletin Online) EMC creates new company to address today’s growing personal information challenge
(Manila Bulletin Online) RP to benefit from Satyam scandal, lawmaker crows
(Manila Bulletin Online) Employees’ everyday behavior puts sensitive business information at risk – new threat study from EMC reveals
(Manila Bulletin Online) Sophos warns Twitter users of possible hacking

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Just in case you need help in figuring out HijackThis, there’s this useful tutorial on PCHell.com. If you already use HijackThis and don’t understand parts of the log file, the tutorial points you to the HijackThis Logfile Analysis site.

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The recent Twitter hack shows that some Admin level personnel should follow Admin Password Best Practices. Apparently the Admin’s password was, ‘happiness’, as is discussed in this Wired blog.

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Other Info Sec News:
(SecurityFocus) Payment processor warns of network breach
(HeiseSecurity) Over 100 million credit / debit cards compromised
(Washington Post) Payment Processor Breach May Be Largest Ever
(HeiseSecurity) QuickTime 7.6 update brings security fixes
(HeiseSecurity) Elcomsoft Wi-Fi auditor prompts security warnings

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Social Networking Articles about the Philippines

A couple of interesting articles about Social Networking in the Philippines have come out in the past few months.

(Inquirer.net) Friendster fame, magnet for ads,

(Inquirer.net) Filipinos still make up big chunk of Friendster users,

(Inquirer.net) RP has highest percentage of social network users.

Wikipedia even has an article on Social Networking in the Philippines.

1to1Media published an article regarding social networking sites such as Facebook and Multiply in Photo Tagging Portends New Frontier for Privacy Pros.

If you’re interested in Social Networking and Social Engineering attacks using them, you might want to check out ENISA’s podcast on Locking Down Social Networking Vulnerabilities, this was given in Infosecurity Europe 2008 earlier this year. Enisa also has a Position Paper on Security Issues and Recommendations for Online Social Networks which was presented at the echallenges conference in the Hague on Oct 25, 2007. You can download the 36 page pdf from the above link.