The Stuxnet worm has prompted lawmakers to consider imparting additional cyber-oversight on the Department of Homeland Security.

A Malaysian man was indicted Thursday on charges he hacked into the networks of a number of financial institutions to amass some 400,000 stolen credit and debit card numbers, according to federal prosecutors.

Ann Cavoukian, privacy commissioner of Ontario, discusses how privacy risks must be considered as smart meters are deployed to homes throughout North America. Many utilities, she says, are overlooking the privacy dangers, such as third-parties gaining access to homeowners' electrical usage patterns, but that mindset must change.

Joe Lobianco, senior director of information security and risk management at CIBC, a major bank in Canada, breaks down the mobile application threat. He discusses security from the perspective of CIBC, which recently rolled out its mobile banking application, and delves into whether the mobile computing space will prompt the same risks as the traditional desktop environment.

Networking forensic investigators must be equipped with the right tools - and freedom - to do their jobs right.

Adobe X, the latest version of Adobe Reader, was released on Thursday and includes a new security feature designed to mitigate attacks against the popular PDF software. The new capability, called "Protected Mode," will force operations that display PDF files to the user to be run inside a confined environment, known as a sandbox, in which certain functions are prohibited. The functionality will help prevent attackers from writing files or installing malware on a victim's computer, Brad Arkin, senior director of product security and privacy at Adobe, wrote in a blog post Thursday. The capability is similar to technologies used in the Google Chrome web browser and Microsoft Office 2010, Arkin said. - AM

A large wave of malicious emails claiming to come from Facebook began hitting inboxes this morning, according to researchers at messaging security firm AppRiver. The emails contain the subject line "Facebook Support" and purport to be from "Facebook office." Recipients are told their Facebook accounts have been blocked due to spam activity and they must use a new password, which is included in an attachment. However, the attachment actually contains a variant of the Oficla downloader, which has been known to install rogue anti-virus programs and the Zeus trojan. AppRiver has detected more than 100,000 of the messages. - DK

When fiction meets reality: Competitive Intelligence and corporate interests merge with nation state espionage priorities targeting private sector industry.