Nuance Communications, the company behind Apple's Siri, reveals the next generation of voice biometrics platform designed for customer service applications. 

The company claims the update enables more secure and effortless authentication through natural voice patterns, without need for users to remember PINs, passwords and security questions. 

Reportedly the platform features a 50% improvement in accuracy, smart adaptation to voiceprints and enhanced authentication bypass attempt detection.  Read more...

EU cybersecurity agency ENISA receives a new Regulation giving it a 7-year mandate and an expanded set of duties, including Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) in member states and world-class cybersecurity exercises. 

Established in 2004 with a 5-year mandate, ENISA had its mandate extended in 2008 and 2011 to allow time for new Regulation development. 

"The new Regulation is great news for ENISA and for cybersecurity in Europe," ENISA Executive Director Prof. Udo Helmbrecht says. "It means ENISA now has the scope and authority to make an even bigger difference in protecting Europe’s cyberspace. We will be working more closely with Member States and putting an increased focus on cybercrime, working with Europol." Read more...

Microsoft, the FBI and authorities from over 80 countries launch an assault on the Citadel botnets, Reuters reports, taking down "at least" 1000 out of an estimate of 1400 infected networks. 

It is believed the botnet stole over $500 million from bank accounts over the past 18 months, as it infected financial institutions including American Express, Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, PayPal, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Canada and Wells Fargo. 

The authorities do not know the identities of any of the Citadel ringleaders, but believe a "significant blow" was dealt through the takedown. 

Microsoft also files a civil lawsuit in the US District Court in Charlotte, N. Carolina, against the anonymous hackers, whose ringleader (referred to in the lawsuit as "John Doe No. 1") uses the handle "Aquabox." 

Aquabox probabaly operates from E. Europe, and runs Citadel with the help of at least 81 "herders." Microsoft believes the botnet is run in Ukraine or Russia since it does not attack PCs or financial institutions in those countries.  Read more...

According to Dell SecureWorks, Damballa Labs and the Georgia Institute of Technology the Pushdo malware behind the Cutwail spam botnet now has a new communications mechanism making it even more resilient to take down attempts.

Cutwail is one of the oldest and most notorious botnets. Created at around 2007, it infects systems on corporate networks and consumer PCs and uses them to send out vast amounts of spam emails. According to MessageLabs, by 2009 the Cutwail botnet spanned from 1.5 to 2 million individual computers, and was capable of sending out 74 billion spam messages daily, or 46.5% of global spam volume. 

Behind Cutwail is the Pushdo malware-- now with a new domain name generation algorithm (DGA) making it even more difficult to detect by intrusion detection and prevention systems and most antimalware technologies. The algorithm mimics legitimate connection attempts to benign websites, confusing signature-based detection systems.  Read more...