Security

The Federal Trade Commission is offering a cash reward of $50,000 to whoever develops a solution to block robotic calling on both landlines and mobiles.

In 2009, the FTC banned automatic commercial telemarketing calls -- but solicitation is still a problem as advanced technology makes illegal, irritating calls more difficult to block.

The FTC Robocall Challenge site says that anyone who wants to take on the war with robo-marketeers can submit their idea from October 25 to January 17.

The FTC is asking these basic questions: does it work? Is it easy to use? And can it be rolled … Read more

Ally Financial is experiencing some odd traffic issues that have prompted some to wonder if there's more there than meets the eye.

In a statement to CNET today, an Ally Financial spokeswoman confirmed that the company has witnessed some unusual activity across its site, but so far, no major issues have erupted.

"Ally has seen some unusual traffic on our Web site, which we continue to monitor; however, we have not experienced the type of disruption that has been associated with the denial of service attacks," the spokeswoman told CNET in an e-mailed statement. "There has … Read more

India has surpassed the U.S. and taken the lead as the greatest spam-sending country in the world. One out of every six junk messages that litter users' e-mail inboxes are coming from India, according to a new report from SophosLabs.

The security vendor's third-quarter "Dirty Dozen" report of spam-relaying countries found that India upped its percentage of global spam for the third quarter in a row and now accounts for more than 16 percent of all junk e-mails.

What is important to note, however, is that this spam doesn't necessarily come directly from India's … Read more

Seventy-seven percent of small- and medium-sized businesses believe that their companies are safe from cyberthreats and yet 83 percent of them have no formal cybersecurity plan. Um, yeah. And that was just one of the contradictions uncovered in a survey of 1,015 small- and medium-sized businesses carried out by the National Cyber Security Alliance and Symantec.

"It's not part of the culture yet," said Michael Kaiser, executive director of the NCSA, who added that he was "a little disheartened that we didn't see substantial … Read more

The folks at Kaspersky Lab are aiming to create their own secure operating system, but this one would run on industrial systems rather than your average home PC.

In blog posted today, company CEO Eugene Kaspersky confirmed the rumors of a new OS, describing the background behind the effort and hinting at the development process.

Cyberattacks present a growing and challenging problem for industries maintaining systems that must be powered on all the time. If a virus affects a computer at most companies, that computer can be unplugged from the network so as not to infect other devices, Kaspersky said. … Read more

In 1947, Harry Truman wanted Congress to vote for $400 million in aid to support Greece and Turkey against the threat of communist takeover.

That was a lot of money back then. What's more, Truman had to win over a Republican-led Congress dominated by isolationists. But Sen. Arthur Vandenberg of Michigan, an influential Republican who also chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, offered the president a sage piece of advice: Make a personal appearance before Congress, play up the threat of Soviet expansionism, "and scare the hell out of the American people."

Which is exactly what Truman … Read more

Huawei and ZTE, two of China's largest and most successful mobile companies, are once again under fire in the U.S.

Over the last couple of days, the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee has received "dozens and dozens" of calls complaining about Huawei and ZTE, Reuters is reporting today, citing sources. Many of those calls reportedly came from current and former employees, as well as customers, who report odd behavior in the companies' equipment. It's not clear what sort of "odd" behavior they were witnessing.

Earlier this week, lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee issued a 52-page report … Read more

Days after a strict cybersecurity law went into effect in the Philippines, the country's Supreme Court suspended it.

According to the Associated Press, the court issued a temporary restraining order to freeze the government's enforcement of the Cybercrime Prevention Act 2012. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the law will be suspended for 120 days. The court plans to hear oral arguments from the law's supporters and critics in January.

President Benigno Aquino III signed the law last month and it became official last week. There were no reports of anyone violating the law.

Thousands of people … Read more

If you have ever had a laptop or smartphone stolen, you probably found yourself fantasizing about capturing the thief red-handed. I know I did when I lost my smartphone last year.

I used the Lookout mobile security service to locate where the phone was on a map and made it "scream" a few times. But I didn't want to knock on a stranger's door all by myself and ask if they had my phone, and the battery had died by the time I could take someone with me. I just wasn't sure I was ready … Read more