Linux Security Week: July 17th 2006

The email, which purports to come from PayPal, claims that the recipient's account has been the subject of fraudulent activity. However, unlike normal phishing emails, there is no internet link or response address. Instead, the email urges the recipient to call a phone number and verify their details.

We are happy to announce our new LinuxSecurity.com Rating System! Now, users have the ability to rate posts in order to provide us with a better idea of what content you would like to see. Start rating posts today and keep a look out for newer features down the road.

High-profile security breaches may indicate that network executives are using trial and error to sort out the best ways to secure the brave new world of mobile computing.

After scanning two million images from eBay without finding any hidden messages, we extended the scope of our analysis. A detailed description of the detection framework can be found in Detecting Steganographic Content on the Internet. This page provides details about the analysis of one million images from the Internet Archive's USENET archive. Processing the one million images with stegdetect results in about 20,000 suspicious images. We launched a dictionary attack on the JSteg and JPHide positive images. The dictionary has a size of 1,800,000 words and phrases. The disconcert cluster used to distribute the dictionary attack has a peak performance of roughly 87 GFLOPS.

news/cryptography/scanning-usenet-for-steganography

hakin9 is bimonthly magazine about hacking and IT security, covering techniques of breaking into computer systems, defence and protection methods. Our magazine is useful for all those interested in hacking - both professionals (system administrators, security specialists) and hobbyists.

hakin9 offers an in-depth look at both attack and defense techniques and concentrates on difficult technical issues. hakin9's target readers are those responsible for IT system security, programmers, security specialists, professional administrators, as well as people taking up security issues in their free time.

Security is always on the minds of system administrators. As Intranets have evolved from glorified online cafeteria menus and corporate memos to robust information portals and mission critical applications, the bar has been raised to protect the castle from critters and other unwanted spooks that go bump in the night.

news/network-security/preventing-internal-security-breaches

A new set of guidelines may pave the way for dozens of Internet service providers in the U.K. to participate in a research project into the problem of spam, estimated to make up 60% or more of the world's e-mail traffic.

news/organizations-events/uk-isps-to-share-data-for-spam-study

Data protection requirements have moved on from the purely technical question of "Did the backup work?" to the much more complex question of "Is my business protected?". The view of the backup application of success or failure is no longer relevant unless considered in the context of business policies.

news/server-security/successful-backups-are-not-enough

Linux systems are fairly resistant to intrusion attempts. However, for certain applications requiring very high security levels, the features found in standard distributions may prove insufficient. This article examines several of the most popular ways to increase Linux system security at kernel level.

The notions of a secure and insecure operating system are deceptive. The actual security level depends primarily on system configuration and system administrator skills, covering technological and non-technological means of protection, choice of software solution and the administrator