Malware

The number of unique phishing reports received by the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) decreased 29 percent during the fourth quarter of 2009, dropping from the all-time high of 40,621 reports in August to 28,897 in December, according to a report released Saturday by the nonprofit. While the number of unique phishes dropped, there was a significant rise in incidents focused on high-value targets, such as individuals with corporate bank account authority. — AM

The status quo is not working to defend the nation's networks from sophisticated cyberespionage and warfare. Instead smarter, user-friendly solutions and more awareness is needed, while keeping an eye on civil liberties, a panel of former government officials and privacy experts said Wednesday at the RSA Conference.

We need open security, connecting all vectors and also bringing in core partners, breaking the traditional silos, says McAfee president and CEO Dave DeWalt.

Scott Charney, Microsoft's corporate vice president for trustworthy computing, addressed measures that can be taken to eliminate the widespread botnet scourge.

The death knell for Waledac may be near after a federal judge ordered the takedown of domains being used by the prolific botnet, Microsoft announced Thursday.

Intel told the federal government that it was the victim of a "sophisticated" cyberattack that occurred in January, around the time cybercriminals compromised systems at Google, Adobe and more than 30 other large companies.

Microsoft has concluded that PCs displaying the "blue screen of death" when trying to install a February patch contain a rootkit.

The "Kneber" botnet is made up of 74,126 machines from nearly 2,500 organizations that were infected with a variant of Zeus, according to researchers at a network security firm.