Infosecurity Magazine news stories for 28 February

My news stories on Infosecurity Magazine yesterday:

2012 : Expect DDoS botnets to be smaller, more effective and more of them!
A new analysis of DDoS attacks in the second half of 2011 predicts smaller-sized but increased numbers of specialist DDoS botnets.
28 February 2012

M2M presents new security risks that require new security solutions
We are entering a brave new world of machine to machine (M2M) technology. We know it. We have concerns about it. But are we ready for it?
28 February 2012

Gatekeeper – a new security feature or a walled garden for OSX?
Apple’s OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion due this summer will contain a new feature called Gatekeeper. Opinions vary on whether it is a genuine security feature or the cornerstone of a new walled garden.
28 February 2012

Anonymous arrests – what next?

I see that various police forces have arrested 25 (and counting?) alleged members of Anonymous – although I’m not sure how you can be a member of something that doesn’t exist. Anonymous says it is an idea rather than an organization. Well, I have certain sympathies with some of the political protests of Anonymous (not all, I have to say, but certainly some). Does that make me a member of the Anonymous idea? Well, I hope The Law, which increasingly seems to be a law unto itself, doesn’t think so.

Anyway, here’s my predictions:

• we will see more arrests in more countries as those that have been arrested are investigated and the confiscated computers examined

• we will see more effective Anonymous retaliatory strikes against law enforcement websites (more effective than the very brief DDoS disruption of the Interpol site yesterday)

• the majority of those arrested will be released; but a hard core will be prosecuted vigorously for purposes of deterrence

We shall see…

Infosecurity Magazine news stories for 27 February

My news stories on Infosecurity Magazine yesterday:

Mac users – you’re not a safe as you think
The Mac Flashback trojan installs itself by either using one of two Java vulnerabilities, or via a social engineering trick that gets the user to install it.
27 February 2012

Harriet Harman urges warning letters and site blocking
The Digital Economy Act (DEA), introduced by Lord Mandelson and rushed through parliament as one of the last acts of the New Labour administration in a process known as ‘wash-up’, is on the statute books, but is not yet enforced.
27 February 2012

OACP website hacked in protest against Canadian Bill C-30
The OACP website currently displays a simple message: “Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police – UNDER MAINTENANCE”
27 February 2012