The hunt is on for internet security specialists and leading the charge are some of the country’s top universities and companies.

The Open University is founding sponsor of the Cyber Security Challenge UK which has just been launched in London.

It is a Challenge put together to help the most talented individuals in the UK education system that might be attracted to a career in the internet security profession.

Behind the Cyber Security Challenge are universities (including Queen’s University Belfast and Royal Holloway), government departments, trade bodies and industry companies.

The idea is to attract and harvest as many budding internet security professionals as possible.

The Challenge is in the form of a number of competitions designed by the initiative’s backers. The competitions are online and face-to-face.

All this comes at a time of increased cyber crime and a recognition of the fact that the country lacks home grown talent to cope with the threats now and those likely in the future.

Over 30 prizes are available and include advancements in cyber security careers, or education. One of the top prizes on offer is a bursary worth £3,300 from Queen’s University Belfast to study a MSc course in Electronics and Security. Other prizes include placements on private sector training courses – including a two week stint at Detica Cyber Security Academy and time at the Sans Institute.

Further prizes include access to industry resources and expertise, and memberships of trade bodies, including the Institute of Information Security Professionals, the British Computer Society (BCS) and the Information Systems Security Association (ISSA).

Kevin Streater, Executive Director of IT&Telecoms, said:
“The Cyber Security Challenge UK deals with issues spanning both education and technology. We see it as an excellent opportunity to continue our long-standing partnerships with industry to address the national challenges facing our workforce. Education institutions can only offer cutting edge skills to their students when they understand what the current challenges are, and the skills required by industry to address them. The Open University is committed to helping organisations to find innovative ways to deal with these skills gaps.”

The government Minister for Security, The Rt Hon Baroness Neville-Jones, who officially launched the Challenge said:
“Cyberspace is woven into the fabric of our society; it is integral to our economy, our communities and our security. Defending all of our interests in cyberspace is a relatively small cadre of talented and highly skilled public sector and private sector cyber security professionals. This pool of professionals must grow and the Cyber Security Challenge UK offers an innovative and exciting way of attracting talented individuals to take up rewarding careers in this field.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp

A new study has again warned that porn site users are opening themselves up to attacks from cyber criminals.

Porn sites users are at risk because the sites they frequent not only often harbour malware, but also entrap users in various schemes and shady deals.

The report, which highlights the dangers that porn site users face, was prepared by the International Secure System Lab.

Dr Gilbert Wondracek, who led the study, said that the intense competition amongst the online porn industry made matters far worse: ”They have almost inadvertently created a whole ecosystem that’s easy to abuse for cyber crime on a large scale. There are studies looking at the profitability and economics of the industry but we are the first to come at it from a security and more technical point of view.”

The techs at the International Secure System Lab built their own porn sites and quickly discovered that many porn site users are very vulnerable to computer viruses and loopholes.

Dr Gilbert pointed out that the study had been basically carried out to test the commonly held assertion that porn site users are at risk. He added: “There are studies looking at the profitability and economics of the industry but we are the first to come at it from a security and more technical point of view.”

Dr Gilbert stressed that it was often hard for the average user to tell a porn site which is honest, compared to one that might be hiding malware threats.

Of the 35,000 porn site domains studied in the report, it was discovered that 90% were ‘free’ sites and that these acted as ‘funnels’ for sites that require payment to view their content.

The 35,000 domains published some 269,000 individual websites. The study looked at all these sites and discovered that a touch over 3% were booby-trapped with malware, including viruses, spyware and adware. What’s more, many other sites used tools such as JavaScript catchers which make it hard for porn site users to actually leave the site.

Other sites immediately transferred those people hoping to view a video, to say a number of affiliate sites, which creates a circle of click trading. Dr Gilbert said: “Visitors are being abused as click bots. It’s cut-throat competition. Everybody tries to get as much traffic as possible.”

Porn site users are being told to be aware of “safe browsing modes” when visiting such websites and to keep their anti-virus software up-to-date.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Its been reported that a Trojan Horse attack has been mounted on Google’s Chrome browser.

The warning that the Trojan Horse attack is being perpetuated by cyber criminals intent on exploiting Google’s increasing popular Chrome browser was posted in a BitDefender blog.

The blog, called Malware City, regularly updates people on virus trends and BitDefender, like most of the computer security companies, see it as their role to alert computer users worldwide to threats and trends.

The Trojan Horse attack is based on the virus posing as a Google Chrome extension. It has been circulated by invidious hackers who now see Chrome as a very viable target. The method of the Trojan Horse attack is via an email which falsely claims that Google has launched a new Chrome extension which helps the user to better organise documents received in emails.

BitDefender discovered that the link that this spurious email contained was back to a fake page posing as a genuine Google Chrome extension page. And this page contained a download which contained an executable file contained the malware, the Trojan Horse attack.

Once downloaded, the Trojan Horse actually blocks attempts by the user to access Google and Yahoo websites, sending them instead to other websites which are loaded with other malicious files and content.

BitDefender has identified this Trojan Horse attack. It’s called Trojan.Agent.20577 and it’s one most definitely to be avoided at all costs.

How to Protect Against Trojan Horse Attacks

Don’t get careless; even if you have the best antivirus software that is always up to date Trojans can still attack. To prevent getting attacked by a Trojan horse before you download a file and open it. Ensure you are confident you know the source and the content of the file. You can protect yourself from Trojans by only downloading files from websites you are certain are 100% genuine.

Trojan attacks can also come from friends, via email or instant messenger, as many Trojan attacks are designed to spread automatically. If the email looks suspicious with spammy content then do not click on the attachment. If in doubt you can always ask the recipient if the attachment is genuine. You can also use antivirus software to scan the file.
 

Guest Article by Neil Camp

One of the biggest computer security companies has just announced that it has fortified its virus research labs to help, it says, fight worldwide cybercrime in its many guises.

In comes in industry veteran Yuval Ben-Itzhak and a number of other researchers in order to help AVG stay ahead of the game. Ben-Itzhak is appointed senior vice president of engineering and will help detecting trends and the latest techniques used by the cybercrime community.

AVG Virus Research Labs have the benefit of over 110 computers across the globe which form a network of feedback and, in effect, early warning stations. It leverages all the information gained to try and stay one step ahead of the cybercrime fraternity. This ability to detect trends in real-time has given AVG a great tool and one which is licensed by other software security companies. AVG also works alongside law enforcement agencies and executives in such fields as the financial services sector, to help spot the latest cybercrime ruses, including bank frauds, phishing emails and identity theft schemes.

Ben-Itzhak will lend his considerable knowledge and experience to the AVG effort and he was previously chief technology officer for one of the world’s leading computer security companies. As well as holding a number of patent applications and US patents himself, he is considered a keynote speaker for the media and at conferences.

Roger Thompson, Chief Research Officer, AVG Technologies, said:

“The AVG Virus Research Lab is the cornerstone of our operations, working at the front lines to hunt down the bad guys and protect our customers from their malicious schemes. Consumers, small businesses and law enforcement all rely upon AVG for security trends insights and specific remedies to halt exploits.”

And for those interested in the latest cybercrime trends, they can access the AVG site for more information.

Guest Article by Neil Camp

Computer protection is now at the forefront of computer-users minds as the threat of viruses continues to get stronger. Long gone are the days of teenagers hacking into your email just for the fun of it, today’s hackers are vehemently linked to financial gain; making this a common and deadly threat.              

So what makes someone spread a computer virus and what would they have to gain from it? The kind of personality that creates computer viruses varies with everyone from young to old. There is little pattern to show that social standing, education standards or country of origin makes much of a difference because the major reasoning behind spreading a virus is to make money.  

The greed for money is universal and dishonest computer virus creators are no more than a common criminal except they are somewhat more dangerous as they have the knowledge and power to steal your identity and your money. Virus spreaders have a lot to gain but of course, all at someone else’s expense.  

The psyche of someone who spreads computer viruses is that of a thief. But because they never come face to face with their victims they feel as though they are doing little wrong and are often unaware of the damage they cause.

How to stop computer viruses? 

Antivirus PC software is one of the simple but effective ways you can combat the threat of computer viruses. It acts as a firewall to stop these financially motivated individuals or groups from accessing your computer. It also offers computer protection by warning you if it thinks you are about to download a possible virus from a website. 

Using antivirus PC software is fine for your computer but what about the mobile Internet? You should also use some sort of antivirus protection for your phone, PDA, and whatever other wireless devices you may be using to surf the web. Take a look at our antivirus comparison table to see the avaibable antivirus software that will protect your computer.