Content by Mathew J. Schwartz

Cybercrime Experts Hit Dublin

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 17, 2015

The Irish Reporting and Information Security Service's IRISSCON Cyber Crime Conference is due to touch on DDoS, fraud, breach response, malware, social engineering, the Paris terror attacks and more.

Black Hat Europe 2015: Visual Journal

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 17, 2015

The annual Black Hat Europe conference this year once again brought together numerous information security aficionados in Amsterdam for the latest training and security insights. Here are visual highlights from the conference.

After Paris Attacks, Beware Rush to Weaken Crypto

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 17, 2015

In the wake of the Paris attacks, cybersecurity expert Brian Honan argues that now is not the time to make snap public policy decisions that attempt to promote or restrict either cryptography or surveillance.

5 Vulnerability Warnings

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 16, 2015

Flaws highlighted by researchers at Black Hat Europe could be used to bypass self-encrypting drives' crypto, defeat Windows BitLocker, fool self-driving cars, mess with oil and gas ERP systems and more.

Attacks in Paris: The Cyber Investigation

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 16, 2015

Here's how police and intelligence officials in Europe and the United States are collaborating to identify and disrupt the network of people that planned, supported and launched the Nov. 13 terror attacks in Paris.

Expert: Security Problems Plague Integration Tools

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 13, 2015

The continuous integration tools that many software developers rely on are often misconfigured or lack security controls, thus putting code at risk, security expert Nikhil Mittal claims at Black Hat Europe.

5 Secrets to Security Success

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 12, 2015

The annual Black Hat Europe conference launched on an introspective note, with security expert Haroon Meer using a best-selling book on individuals' workplace failures to argue that it's time for information security professionals to stop making excuses.

Black Hat Europe: Hot Sessions

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 11, 2015

This year's Black Hat Europe information security conference in Amsterdam will tackle cloud security failures, self-encrypted drive shortcomings, cybercrime on the Dark Web and more.

Spies Join UK Online Crime Fight

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 10, 2015

Although the new U.K. Joint Operations Cell will initially focus on combating online child sexual exploitation, security experts say the program might later expand to combat all cybercrime.

Hackers Claim FBI Information-Sharing Portal Breached

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 9, 2015

The group of hackers who recently claimed to have hacked the CIA director's personal email account now says it has breached an FBI information-sharing portal. So far, the group has released contact information for about 2,400 law enforcement users.

Refined Ransomware Streamlines Extortion

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 6, 2015

Buoyed by massive illicit profits, cybercriminals have continued to refine their ransomware attacks, including updating their crypto techniques to foil decryption tools, encrypting file names and threatening to leak stolen secrets.

5 Lessons from the TalkTalk Hack

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 5, 2015

To avoid having their organizations exploited by teenage hackers, boards of directors worldwide need to get serious about security. Here are five lessons to be learned from the latest TalkTalk data breach.

UK's Snowden Response: Surveillance Debate

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 5, 2015

The U.K. government's response to whistleblower Edward Snowden's warnings that the U.S. and Britain had created a massive surveillance state has been to attempt to codify and expand those surveillance powers while also debating oversight and related matters in public for the first time.

Malware Used to Launch DDoS Attacks

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 4, 2015

The quantity and duration of distributed denial-of-service attacks continue to increase. The latest attacks are being launched via MySQL servers infected with Chikdos malware, as well as compromised Internet-connected CCTV systems, researchers say.

How to Succeed at Information Security

Mathew J. Schwartz  •  November 4, 2015

Developing a successful information security career requires excellent technical acumen as well as the ability to understand the impact that security policies have on people, says Gurdeep Kaur, a chief security architect at AIG.