persistence

Your security app gives you the longitude and latitude of your stolen tech, but is it wise to confront a tech thief on your own? And how do you get your neighborhood cops to care about your stolen $300 phone?

The publisher of Lojack for Laptops and its new Android counterpart, Theft Recovery, says that it provides more than device tracking. Canada-based Absolute Software claims that its 17 years of experience in the field and connections to local law enforcement agencies make it the best option for device recovery, too.

"Consumer vigilantism and tech are now enabling consumers to … Read more

Unlike older cathode ray tube (CRT) displays that scan an electron beam over a phosphor screen to create light, LCD displays are composed of a fixed grid of tricolor pixels that change transparency based on a range of voltage levels provided by the monitor's controller. Without a voltage the pixel is opaque and blocks the screen's backlight from transferring through it, and when a full voltage is applied then the pixel allows full transmittance of the backlight. When this is done over the entire pixel grid in patterns, then you see those patterns on the screen.

At a … Read more

The breach at RSA that could compromise the effectiveness of the firm's two-factor authentication SecurID tokens was accomplished via phishing e-mails and an exploit for a previously unpatched Adobe Flash hole, RSA has revealed.

The attacker sent two different phishing e-mails over a two-day period last month with a subject line of "2011 Recruitment Plan" to two small groups of employees who weren't considered particularly high-profile or high-value targets, Uri Rivner, head of new technologies in consumer identity protection at RSA, wrote in a blog post. Attached to the e-mails was an Excel file that contained … Read more

RSA warned its customers yesterday that its network had been breached and data had been stolen that could affect customers using its popular SecurID token authentication technology. Although details are scarce, here's what we know so far.

What happened? Someone launched an "extremely sophisticated cyberattack" on RSA in the form of an Advanced Persistent Threat and data was stolen related to the SecurID technology, the company said in a statement on its Web site. APT attacks are often used for espionage, targeting source code and other information within a company or government agency. They typically involve knowledge … Read more

Information about RSA's SecurID authentication tokens used by millions of people, including government and bank employees, was stolen during an "extremely sophisticated cyberattack," putting customers relying on them to secure their networks at risk, the company said today.

"Recently, our security systems identified an extremely sophisticated cyberattack in progress being mounted against RSA," Executive Chairman Art Coviello, wrote in an open letter to customers, which was posted on the company's Web site.

"Our investigation has led us to believe that the attack is in the category of an Advanced Persistent Threat. Our investigation … Read more

Remember that teenage trick of sticking your fingers in your ears and saying, "I can't hear you"? That's how I felt on Thursday morning when I talked to Adam Sohn, the marketing director for Zune.

I don't mean that Microsoft is oblivious to reality: Sohn admitted that the latest Zune sales figures were bad (though apparently in line with Microsoft's very low expectations) and that the company would prefer to be selling millions of the things instead of having them pile up in warehouses. It's more like Microsoft doesn't care what the … Read more