The PCI Security Standards Council, tasked with managing the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), on Friday announced a new training program designed to educate internal security personnel on conducting assessments. The three-day course, to be led by PCI Council experts, either will enable security departments to better work with with third-party assessors or allow them to conduct their own assessments, Bob Russo, the council's general manager, told SCMagazineUS.com. Merchants that process more that six million annual transactions are required to conduct annual on-site PCI DSS assessments. Classes will be held in multiple locations. For more information, including pricing, visit here. — DK

A top Symantec engineer recounts one of the most exciting days of his career: Ten years ago this week, the ILOVEYOU, or LoveBug, worm spread across the world and crippled PCs.

Microsoft has disclosed a zero-day vulnerability in SharePoint after a Swiss security firm released details about the threat, which can be leveraged to siphon sensitive data from business users.

Five stolen laptops containing tens of thousands of medical records were recently stolen from Fullerton, Calif.-based St. Jude Heritage Medical Group.

A Texas man pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Dallas to charges of developing a botnet of 22,000 PCs with the intention of renting it out to other cybercriminals, a court official told SCMagazineUS.com. To attract prospective buyers, David Edwards used the botnet to attack The Planet, a Dallas-based internet service provider, and then broke into servers operated by hosting providerT35 Hosting. Edwards allegedly carried out the scheme with a Texas co-conspirator, Thomas Smith, who pleaded innocent and is scheduled to be tried May 17. Both men were charged with conspiracy and face a maximum of five years in prison. — AM

The 22-year-old man accused of hacking into the Yahoo email account of Sarah Palin while she was the Republican candidate for vice president was found guilty of two counts.

Symantec on Thursday announced the acquisition of encryption firms PGP and GuardianEdge Technologies for $370 million total.

Breach costs for U.S. organizations were nearly two times the global average last year due to strict data breach notification laws.