A person or other entity such as a computer program that attempts to cause harm to an information system; for example, by unauthorized access or denial of service. Human attackers are also called "crackers" and "hackers." See attack.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Planet Attacker 2009 20091014 (Mac)
- Planet Attacker 2009 is a simple 3D flight action game. The purpose of the game is to destroy all the enemy fighters and ground objects by flying your fighter. The objects in the game are imaginary space fighter sort of, but there is an additional configuration called "USAF version" in...
- Software downloads 2009-10-30
- US-CERT warns about BlackBerry spyware app
- A free BlackBerry spyware application has been released to allow an attacker to call a user's BlackBerry and listen to personal conversations. by Ryan Naraine
- Blog posts 2009-10-28
- Facebook password-reset spam is Bredolab botnet attack
- For haven sake ...Could we be a little bit more specific."...password-reset messages to trick PC users into downloading a dangerous piece of malware."Do "PC" means Windows? I'm guessing because I see the words "PC" and "malware" in the same sentence, oh, and your screen shot is Windows. ...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-27
- 'Evil Maid' USB stick attack keylogs TrueCrypt passphrases
- nonsenseanybody who is truly concerned about security will have set the BIOS to require a password at boot...and will set 'boot from USB' to 'Disabled'.Can't you password protect from even booting up?I assume we are talking about business class laptops.InterestingPhysical security is paramount - especially when it comes to data...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-19
- 'Evil Maid' USB stick attack keylogs TrueCrypt passphrases
- Security researcher Joanna Rutkowska has released a PoC proof of concept of a keylogger that is capable of logging TrueCrypt's disk encryption passphrase enabling the attacker to successfully decrypt the hard drive's content. Dubbed, the 'evil maid' attack due to its 'plug-and-exploit' functionality requiring 1-2 minutes for...
- Blog posts 2009-10-19
- Microsoft: Human error caused critical SMB2 vulnerability
- did not explain why the fix was not back-ported to Windows Vista and other That very bad. I was wondering this myself when news broke that Win 7 was not vulnerable.What were they thinking? Fixing a bug and "forgetting" that other versions may actually be vulnerable?Or had they actually recorded...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-19
- Internet Firechrome Safari: A browsing identity crisis
- Chrome + Extensions = ^_^I am glad this article was written. I managed to rid myself of Internet Explorer 9 months ago, and haven't needed it since. My college campus has firefox pre-loaded onto every machine, and with Windows 7 "udpates" being handled within explorer instead of the IE browser,...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-15
- Adobe fixes 28 holes in Reader and Acrobat
- Adobe released a security bulletin that includes fixes for 28 vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader and Acrobat, including a critical hole that has reportedly been exploited. Adobe on Tuesday released a security bulletin that includes fixes for 28 vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader and Acrobat, including a critical hole that has...
- News items 2009-10-14
- Google Chrome update doesn't remove older, vulnerable version
- But how would an attacker cause the vulnerable code to execute?Frankly, this seems to be a minor issue. If you are launching Chrome you will launch the latest version. The older version is just cruft. I don't see any scenario where you inadvertently or an attacker can execute the older...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-01
- Modern banker malware undermines two-factor authentication
- Ok, ill buy that..Yes Two-factor authentication doesnt help avoid the already infected. Now what the bank SHOULD have one other than the user having a fully patched system and AV if hes on Windows is when the website detected that there was activity from another IP address - represented another...
- Discussion threads 2009-09-23
- Mozilla patches 'drive-by download' security flaws
- Whoa! This batch patches 10 critical vulns!The "secure alternative" version 3.5 has already in its short life bypassed Internet Explorer 8. Firefox 3.5 now hit 18 vulns, IE8 has 12.Version 3.0 of Firefox which is of roughly the same age as IE has been hit with 114 (!) vulns.It seems...
- Discussion threads 2009-09-10
- Windows 7, Vista exposed to 'teardrop attack'
- Vulnerable by default?[i]Exploit code for a remote reboot flaw in Microsoft's implementation of the SMB2 protocol has been posted on the internet, exposing users of Windows 7 and Windows Vista to the teardrop attacks that used to be popular on Windows 3.1 and Windows 95.[/i]I presume this attack is able...
- Discussion threads 2009-09-08
- Apple plugs 15 Java for Mac security holes
- Flash, Java, libxml vulnerabilities highligh Apples systemic problemOnce again information about vulnerabilities have been readily available for anyone who wishes to exploit them.An attacker only needs to look up popular 3rd party products in Apples stack and compare versions against the latest from the vendor. Any version discrepancy reveals potential...
- Discussion threads 2009-09-03
- Microsoft confirms IIS zero-day flaw; Exploit code published
- Can I summarize?First you need to not only install IIS, you also need to install the FTP functionality in IIS. Got it.[i]Also, remember that only servers that allow untrusted users to log on and create arbitrary directories are vulnerable.[/i]Then you have to configure your FTP server to allow anyone to...
- Discussion threads 2009-09-01
- Source code for Skype eavesdropping trojan in the wild
- Social Engineering?According the the Symantic press releasehttp://www.prwire.com.au/pr/14463/symantec-threat-bulletin-trojan-peskyspy-recording-skype-voip-conversation"The Trojan is detected by Symantec as Trojan.Peskyspy and can be downloaded to a computer by way of tricking the user with an E-mail scam or other social engineering tactic....The Trojan is targeting Windows API hooks, a technique used to alter the planned behavior...
- Discussion threads 2009-08-28
- Source code for Skype eavesdropping trojan in the wild
- Earlier this week, Swiss programmer Ruben Unteregger who has been reportedly working for a Swiss company ERA IT Solutions responsible for coding government sponsored spyware, has released the source code of a trojan horse that injects code into the Skype process in order to convert the incoming and outgoing voice...
- Blog posts 2009-08-28
- High-risk vulnerabilities hit Google Chrome
- This software was programmed by Google, did anyone not see this happening? Google has the worst programmers because they don't give two squats about anything except playing with their office toys all day.For a browser built from the ground up with security in mindthere seem to be more than...
- Discussion threads 2009-08-25
- Apple Store down; has Snow Leopard arrived?
- re: Apple Store downI'm only asking because I don't know... Why does the Apple store seem to go down every time they add something new? I think it's the only online store I've ever seen that from.Yup, Ordered it already.Will be here Friday....Waiting for the flames...This could be fun.Well...
- Discussion threads 2009-08-24
- Google reveals identify of Cohen 'skank' blogger
- Welcome to the Internet only AOL ex/users give real info.Welcome to the internet everyone. It is amazing how many dummies give out real information to services that should not be given real information. This is a product of AOL where dummies who shouldn't have been on the internet got onto...
- Discussion threads 2009-08-19
- Apple drops (another) Mac OS X security patch
- Less than a week after fixing 19 Mac OS X security vulnerabilities, Apple is on the patch treadmill again. The company released Security Update 2009-004 to fix a solitary BIND vulnerability that could lead to denial of service attacks. Apple warns: A...
- Blog posts 2009-08-12
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