Stories by Matthew Broersma

Matasano launches multi-firewall dashboard

Security research and consulting firm Matasano has entered the security appliance game with a new product called Playbook, designed to take some of the pain out of managing large numbers of firewalls from different vendors.

MessageLabs secures e-mail backup

MessageLabs, best known as a provider of e-mail security services, last week introduced a managed e-mail backup service that has as a selling point the same security features built into the company's other products.

SolarWinds simplifies large network monitoring

Network management software company SolarWinds on Tuesday updated its flagship Orion software, with a focus on making it easier to monitor large or geographically distributed networks.

Ruby creators warn of serious flaws

The Ruby programming language, which has become popular as the basis for web 2.0 sites such as Twitter, contains serious security flaws that could allow attackers to take over an organization's web server, according to the Ruby development team.

Desktop virtualization gets military-grade security

Tresys Technology has released a desktop virtualization platform with a difference - it is designed from the ground up for organizations needing tight security, including military bodies.

Compression lets attackers tap VoIP calls

A common compression technique can make internet telephone calls significantly more susceptible to bugging, according to recent research from Johns Hopkins University.

Microsoft releases first Open XML SDK

Microsoft has released the first finished version of the software development kit (SDK) for the Open XML Format, the default storage format for Microsoft Office 2007 and the basis for a standard that is currently awaiting publication by the Internati...

Major security sites hit by XSS bugs

The Web sites of three of the security industry's best-known companies include security flaws that could be used to launch scams against customers, according to a new report.

Discovery slashes quantum cryptography costs

Researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a technique that could make quantum cryptography significantly cheaper to implement, moving it nearer to possible commercial acceptance.

Security agency calls for EU laws on breach disclosure

A European Union-wide advisory body this week called for security breach disclosure regulations tougher than those in the US as a step toward raising awareness of the seriousness of security threats.

XP's graphics thrashes Apple's OS X

A benchmark test designed to compare graphics rendering systems in different operating systems has found that Mac OS X performs, on average, at about half the speed of Windows XP.

Apple dismisses Safari download issue

A security researcher has published a demonstration exploit that takes advantage of the download mechanism in Apple's Safari browser to automatically download files onto a user's system.

Hackers create their own social network

Hackers now have their own social network, backed by GnuCitizen, a high-profile "ethical hacking" group.

Botnet attacks military systems

Security researchers have discovered a complex spamming scheme that hijacks users' PCs in order to attempt to send junk mail via university and military systems.

Most top banks already using virtualization

Enterprises as a whole may be holding off on virtualizing their data centers, but the majority of top-tier U.S. and U.K. banks are already implementing virtualization across different parts of their infrastructures, according to just-released Microso...