Cybersecurity chief calls White House meeting

Malware not being looked for on mobile devices; Zeus v3 targets Spain, Germany, UK, and USA banks,

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  • White House cybersecurity chief Howard Schmidt will host a meeting today to discuss how to move the president’s cybersecurity agenda forward. Computerworld reports a key focus of today’s meeting will be how economic incentives might boost private sector cybersecurity. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, and several industry representatives are expected to attend. Also expected is Alan Paller, director of research at SANS Institute. He tells Computerworld that he will make a pitch for what he calls concrete action around cybersecurity enhancements.
  • Hackers have created a new version of the crimeware known as Zeus. The upgrade is designed specifically to skim login details for banks in the U.S., Germany, Spain and the UK. Previous versions of the botnet were less selective. Researchers for CA Technologies say that Zeus version 3 is also more difficult for security researchers to understand. And that could make it hard for them to fight it.
  • This may be the year that malware on your smartphone becomes a problem. That’s the alarming conclusion from an informal poll conducted by the SANS Institute. Eighteen percent of the cyber-security think-tank’s members found malware on their devices, but that’s only 18% of the 15% who reported looking for it in the first place. Nearly 85% of those polled said they were not scanning their devices. According to Infoworld, smartphones may be infected at twice the rate of Windows PCs today.

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