Researchers at a software company in Malta say they have discovered a decade-old Windows vulnerability that can cause a system to instantly crash and display the so-called blue screen of death.

Adobe on Tuesday pushed out an update to its Download Manager application, which manages the process of installing new versions of Reader and Acrobat, to correct a "critical" vulnerability that could allow an attacker to execute malicious code. The issue was brought to light last week in a blog post by researcher Aviv Raff, who said the flaw "allows the abuse of the Adobe Download Manager to force the automatic installation of Adobe products, as well as other software products." Raff said that even though Download Manager is designed for one-time use and then is removed upon restart, an attacker can force a victim to install a vulnerable version of Reader and Acrobat, and then launch an exploit. — DK

Intel told the federal government that it was the victim of a "sophisticated" cyberattack that occurred in January, around the time cybercriminals compromised systems at Google, Adobe and more than 30 other large companies.

The IT department recently discovered that a school server containing personal information of students and faculty was accessed by an individual without authorization.

Two Rutgers University computer science professors are calling for more research into the detection of smartphone rootkits, which cannot be found in the same as they are on desktops.

Information security budgets will get a boost at many organizations in 2010, according to a study released Tuesday by IT research company TheInfoPro. The study, based on interviews of 259 security decision makers at Fortune 1000 and mid-size organizations, found that 40 percent of enterprises are planning to increase their 2010 security budgets. Data leakage prevention topped the list of projects planned for 2010, followed by identity management and compliance initiatives. — AM

More than traditional crime, natural disasters and terrorism, the security threat that enterprise IT departments are most concerned with is cybercrime, according to a study by Symantec.

The Federal Trade Commission announced Monday it alerted nearly 100 companies, both small and large, that their sensitive data was leaked on file-sharing networks.