Security experts have detected a new gift certificate scam used by cyber criminals to target internet users.

The Eleven security blog has said that the users receive an email that claims to be from Apple's iTunes store. The email comes with an attachment which contains ZIP file with malware that may allow hackers to gain access to the targeted user's computer.

Independent tests have shown that software companies churning out new security software often miss new malware, which is hitting the Web faster and in greater numbers than preventive programmers can cope with.

Results of the tests by NSS Labs showed that security software vendors take an average of two days to block a malicious Web site containing potentially damaging code that attacks any computer visiting it.

According to the re3ports a Rhode Island man has sued Facebook claiming his privacy was violated by giving information to advertisers and other third parties.

The Providence Journal has reported that Derrick Rose of East Providence is seeking class-action status.

A complaint filed on Friday said, "Facebook did not adequately warn users that their information would be posted to unrelated third-party Web sites. Nor did Facebook seek or receive informed consent and permission to do so."

The annual report Symantec informs that the hackers attack have touched 100 units per second in the world. Cyber crime in the country has seen a remarkable growth in India as well. Mumbai has topped the list of hacking activities followed by other cities like Delhi and Hyderabad. India has stood fifth in the list of hacking cases.

As per the recent report published by Symantec, the hackers are especially targeting the popular social networking sites. The companies have also become the targets of some of the hackers. This has been the violation of the intellectual property rights in the country.

According to the Symantec Internet Security Threat Report, Mumbai has become the number one spot of cyber crimes. Largest number of malicious activities has been reported in this city during the last year. In other cities, the capital Delhi and Hyderabad has stood in the second and third place respectively.

Sophos has announced the release of new versions of its safeguard projects. India's leading IT security and control firm Sophos has introduced version 5.50 of Sophos SafeGuard Easy and Sophos SafeGuard Enterprise to its users.

This latest inclusion to the safeguard products will provide its customers an all new approach to comprehensive security and data protection. The company officials have said that the new products will reduce cost and complexity of the user.

Reports suggesting that the military was in any way involved in cyber attacks on Internet search giant Google were today dismissed by senior Chinese military experts and educators.

Two Chinese educational institutions - Lanxiang Vocational School based in Jinan, Shandong province and Shanghai Jiaotong University were linked to the online attacks that also targeted American corporations, by a report of The New York Times (NYT).

The latest news is that the official website of the country's biggest IT services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) 'tcs. com' has been hacked.

The cyber-terrorist placed a "For Sale" message in English and French for a whole day. Moreover, the cyber-terrorists offered email identification, abed_uk@hotmail.com.

The hack is said to be a DNS hijack, like the cyber attack that Twitter had during the last year.

Washington, Sep 26 : Security experts are taking a cue from nature to protect computer networks from intruders, and have created a new defence mechanism that mimics one of the hardiest creatures in the world - the ant.

Unlike traditional security devices, which are static, these "digital ants" wander through computer networks looking for threats, such as "computer worms" - self-replicating programs designed to steal information or facilitate unauthorized use of machines.

Beijing, Aug. 4 : In the last year, China has suffered a loss of a billion dollars because of hackers, and what has left authorities in Beijing very worried is a report that the training of hackers has become an industry, and generated an estimated income of 238 million Yuan in the same period.

According to a China Daily report, hackers have stolen people''s bank account numbers and passwords and damaged the Internet users'' computers and servers.

Washington, June 16 : A new approach to online security, based on distributed sanctions, could help prevent cybercrime, fraud and identity theft, according to a report.

Susan Brenner, of the University of Dayton School of Law, and Leo Clarke, of the Thomas M. Cooley School of Law, have suggested that the government could control cybercrime by making anyone accessing cyberspace to employ reasonable security measures but without infringing on civil liberties.

Sydney, April 30: Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the swine flu buzz to sell counterfeit drugs and steal credit card details, Internet security experts have warned.

"The scare has spawned a spamming frenzy, like sharks smelling blood in the water," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Symantec''s Mayur Kulkarni as stating in a blog post.

Washington, Apr. 8: Chinese and Russian cyber spies have penetrated the U. S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.

According to Fox News, the spies are also from other countries, and they were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U. S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven''t sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war.

Just a couple of hours have left for the blast of the Conficker time bomb! The Conficker time bomb is expected to blast tomorrow – on April 1; but, it’s still unknown whether the Conficker time bomb is an April Fool’s Day prank or a real threat. According to reports/rumors, the latest variant of the Conficker worm will hit the online computers around the globe, on the April Fool’s Day; that’s why it has been dubbed as “Conficker time bomb”.

Mike Stute of Dallas-based Global DataGuard, a network security firm, said, "Everybody is a little bit nervous about it. It could be nothing. It could be very dangerous."

London, Jan 8: The safest way to stop fraudsters stealing information from old computer hard drives is to "destroy the PC with a hammer", a consumer magazine has said.

The computing magazine Which? recovered 22,000 "deleted" files from eight computers purchased on eBay.

They then used specialist software to recover files that the original owner had deleted, reports the Daily Express.

Sarah Kidner, editor of Which? Computing, warned that the risk of becoming a victim was increasing.

On Saturday, the website of State Bank of India (SBI), was shut down due to an attempted attack by the hackers.

It was confirmed by a senior bank official, “There has been an attempt to disrupt the system.” However he did not give out any further details. The bank’s sites www.statebankofindia.com and www.sbi.co.in were down on Saturday, but its internet banking site www.onlinesbi.com was operational.

It was confirmed by the officials in the late evening, “The bank was targeting to get its website operational by 9.00pm.”

Even as India and Pakistan renew efforts to resolve contentious issues through dialogue, it seems that a virtual war is going on between the two countries in cyberspace.

The latest news is that the official website of the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) has been hacked by pro-Pakistan hackers.

It is believed that the hacker who claimed himself to be Pakistani, also fiddled with website of a news channel and that of Bank Of Baroda. However, when accessed in the last evening, both these websites were found to be in the working condition.

London, Nov 24: Credit card numbers and bank details have apparently come as a boon for tech-savvy thieves, for they have actually made a fraud of a huge 3.35 billion pounds in the last one year, according to a new research.

The study by Symantec calculated the amount so that it could quantify the scale of fraud during a year-long look at the internet''s underground economy.

The researchers found that credit card numbers were the most popular item on sale.

London, Nov 24: A new method that uses lasers to produce streams of truly random numbers faster than ever before may help improve security at a time when digital traffic and cyber crime are both growing.

Strings of random numbers are used to make secret keys and other parts of encryption protocols.

But, software that generates random numbers can generally only manage a close approximation to random.

Melbourne, Nov 12 : An Australian technology firm has come up with a unique battery power super card, which they believe can fight online fraud.

The company reckons that it can stop up to 1 billion dollars a year in credit card fraud with its new revolutionary invention.

The card, which includes an alpha-numeric display, built-in microprocessor, a keypad and three years of battery power, will display a one-time number with which to authenticate each online credit card transaction, whenever the user will enter the pin number.

The technology was developed over two and a half years by a small Deloitte-backed technology firm based in Adelaide and Melbourne called EMUE Technologies.