Self-driving cars may be the future of transportation – it’s possible that eventually they could be safer than vehicles with human drivers. But autonomous vehicles are going to need more and better defenses against the threat of hackers and cyberattacks. Uber has just hired a pair of renowned car hackers to help the alternative cab company develop security...

This week has already been a roller coaster ride for ad-block users – between Apple promising to open the flood gates to ad-blocking in the Safari browser on upcoming iPhones and iPads, and Chrome users groaning after it looked like Google was cutting the knees off AdBlock and forcing them to sit through video ads...

Do you keep databases with information about other people? Do you allow teleworkers, road warriors, suppliers, contractors and so on to connect in remotely? Do you accept payments, for example from credit cards or NFC devices? Do you make payments of your own online? Do you keep important business or personal data – tax returns,...

Thanks to Gabor Szappanos of SophosLabs for his behind-the-scenes work on this article. SophosLabs has drawn our attention to a new wave of malware attacks using a recent security bug in Microsoft Word. The bug, known as CVE-2015-1641, was patched by Microsoft back in April 2015 in security bulletin MS15-033. The vulnerability was declared to...

Back in 2012, a man in the South of England was apparently renovating his chimney when he came across the skeleton of a pigeon. One leg bone had a capsule attached, which turned out to contain what looked very much like a coded message dating back to World War 2. The British made extensive use...

In the competitive playground that is search, Google is the schoolyard bully, 30 companies told the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in response to its recent inquiries. The Economic Times reports that the CCI has given Google until 10 September 2015 to reply, plus another week before the company has to present itself before a...

Start thinking back, and bring to mind the big “Malware In The Media” stories of the last few years. What did you come up with? We let our minds go to town. We visualised hyberbolic headlines like RANSOMWARE RAVAGES BRITAIN and AMERICA UNDER ATTACK BY STATE-SPONSORED HACKERS. In particular, our first thoughts were of two...

Users of UK newsagent chain WHSmith’s online services have reported large amounts of email arriving in their inboxes, containing personal contact data on other users. The leak appears to be related to an online “Contact Us” form, with numerous users claiming that attempting to report the issue via the form led to further barrages of...

Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, security researchers who caused huge headaches for Fiat Chrysler when they showed the world how to remotely hack a Jeep, have hacked their way into new jobs with Uber. Miller and Valasek are joining Uber’s new Advanced Technologies Center, where they will help the company to develop self-driving cars. The duo’s first...

A former Secret Service special agent yesterday pleaded guilty to diverting $800,000 worth of bitcoins into his own account during an investigation into online black market site Silk Road. Appearing in a San Francisco federal court, Shaun Bridges also admitted money laundering and obstruction of justice charges. Computer forensics expert Bridges belonged to the Baltimore Silk Road...