SecurityEssentials

Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux kernel, says he's fed up with what he sees as a "security circus" surrounding software vulnerabilities and how they're hyped by security people.

When it comes to investing in computer security, the U.S. federal government could get a good return on investment by shoring up its networking protocols, according to the man who's been hired to coordinate computer security between federal agencies.

There's a new service for conference speakers at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas this year: lawyers on call.

The chain of command of a cybercrime gang is not unlike the Mafia, an evolution that shows how online crime is becoming a broad, well-organized endeavor.

Australian organizations are now more vigilant when it comes to safeguarding sensitive information. It is a necessary measure when you consider that cybercriminals are constantly devising new ways to breach business security systems, from creating new spam techniques to using popular Web 2.0 Web sites such as Wikipedia and YouTube as a front for malicious Web sites that lure users to download malware. Add to that, social networking sites, like Facebook and MySpace, have an enormous impact on workplace security as use of these sites becomes more popular among employees.

The Web sites of three of the security industry's best-known companies include security flaws that could be used to launch scams against customers, according to a new report.

Bruce Schneier is one of the foremost experts on cryptography and is a well-known security author and commentator. He is the founder of the managed security services company Counterpane, which was acquired in October 2006 by BT. Schneier sat down with IDG News Service at the Infosec security show in London to talk about the effectiveness of security products and the psychology of security.

It used to be easy for US Bank to determine which users and systems could be trusted, and which should be viewed with suspicion. Then along came Web 2.0.

A group of security researchers Wednesday said they have infiltrated one of the world's biggest botnets and can snatch control of compromised machines from the hackers.