Dan Kaplan

Lawsuits following data breaches are certainty. So what are plaintiffs using to win cases or force settlements, and how can corporations respond to this new liability?

Today marks my final day at SC Magazine after more than 7-1/2 years.

There was a noticeable chill in the air at Black Hat and DefCon, due to recent action taken against security researchers, reports Dan Kaplan.

Ransomware scams typically use an official-sounding authority to dupe users into believing they've committed a crime. A new variant leverages the National Security Agency's recently disclosed surveillance program.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Hammond, who is scheduled to be sentenced this fall, has accused U.S. authorities of using Hector "Sabu" Monsegur to "facilitate the hacking of targets of the government's choosing."

A second patch released last week by Microsoft has caused problems for users, forcing the software company to pull and release an amended version of the fix.

The end-of-life data for Windows XP, which debuted in 2001, is next April. Microsoft is asking users who haven't already migrated to a newer operating system to do it now.

Users who believe they are infected with the malicious extension should remove it, according to anti-virus firm Malwarebytes, which discovered the threat.

MS13-061, which addresses three vulnerabilities in Exchange Server, was scrapped after Microsoft became aware that installing it causes problems. The issues do not occur in Exchange 2007 or 2010 environments, only 2013.

The scam operates similarly to past ransomware incidents, and users are advised to be on guard and never pay the online villains behind it.