JD @ myITforum.com

Mastercard says security breach may have exposed 40 million

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20050617005525&newsLang=en

MasterCard International reported today that it is notifying its member financial institutions of a breach of payment card data, which potentially exposed more than 40 million cards of all brands to fraud, of which approximately 13.9 million are MasterCard-branded cards

Microsoft Security Updates 14JUN05

http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?date=2005-06-14

The handlers at SANS did such a nice job laying out the updates, Im humbled and can not compete with that.

A free security product from Microsoft

I wrote Microsoft several times in the past few years over my displeasure that they discontinued releasing Office viewers. Office 97 was the last version for several years. This tool allowed you to open Word and Excel documents without the worry of running harmful macros. There is quite a bit of attention focused on spyware, worms, and trojans these days. It would be easy to forget about some of the older threats like macro viruses that are still around, and while less frequently, are still being created. Yes, I know that office has macro security built in, and that is a good thing. I also know that there is no 100% solution to any given threat and its all about reducing risk. When I download or receive a document, the majority of the time, I am simply reading the document. I can greatly reduce the chance of a macro virus infection by simply using a viewer to read the document. If on the occasion, I need to edit the document, It takes two clicks to launch the office product. It looks like Microsoft slipped Office 2003 viewers past me in December of 2004. Thank you Microsoft, for bringing this handy product back.

Word Viewer

Excel Viewer

Visio Viewer

Citi begins notifying 3.9 million customers of data loss

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060600757.html

CitiFinancial, the consumer finance division of Citigroup Inc., announced Monday that it has begun notifying some 3.9 million U.S. customers that computer tapes containing information about their accounts have been lost.

Congratulations Roger

Internet Explorer multiple vulns updated

These were updated by security focus on the 31May05. Two of  these are previous vulns, with a variation that will bypass security measures implemented in MS03-048.

Microsoft Internet Explorer URI Decoding Vulnerability

Microsoft Internet Explorer AddChannel Cross-Zone Scripting Vulnerability

Microsoft Internet Explorer Valid File Drag and Drop Embedded Code Vulnerability

Microsoft Internet Explorer Implicit Drag and Drop File Installation Vulnerability

Multiple Browser URI Obfuscation Weakness

Microsoft Internet Explorer Method Caching Mouse Click Event Hijacking Vulnerability

B of A to use new two-factor system to beat phishers

Read the artcle here

Leave it to a banker to figure out how to save money. Bank of America has found a way to do two factor authentication without the use of expensive tokens. Hmm, I wonder how long it will take for a “news” article to come out highlighting the dangers of not using a hardware based token.