Iran’s nuclear efforts have been more than a bit of a threat, and with that, US and Israel joined forces to create their own weaponry, Stuxnet. Stuxnet is a computer worm that was discovered in June 2010 to slow Iran’s nuclear efforts. After copies of the worm leaked, it was available on the internet in late 2010, early 2011. Therefore, intelligence agencies in the US and Israel sought out new targets that could further slow Iran’s progress down. The worm consists of a layered attack against 3 different systems: Siemens PCS 7, WINCC, and Step7. That is, until Tiffany Rad, a hacker altered the code….

Phishers and hackers have found that social media is a great place to plant links to malicious websites as unsuspecting people click through and get infected or give their information. Now, Facebook is changing that by checking every outbound link through a system designed by security firm Websense. “Facebook is a big target for criminals online,” said Spencer Parker of Websense. Sites like Google have taken reports and filtered links for a while, but Facebook is taking it a step further by sending a test “visitor” to every link posted to look for Trojans, phishing activity, botnets and viruses….

Researchers at MIT have genetically modified a virus that helps carbon nanotubes self-assemble along solar cells to improve efficiency of electron collection. The virus, called M13, helps to separate the two types of nanotubes – those that enhance solar cell performance and those that inhibit it. According to Engadget, “Adding virus-built structures to dye-sensitized solar cells increased power conversion efficiency by almost one-third and, with only one additional step in the manufacturing process required, the new approach could be rapidly taken up by existing production facilities….

Honestly, it should come as no surprise that Facebook isn’t exactly a snuggly blanket of impenetrable security when it comes to feeling safe on the internet. Perpetually beset with accusations of compromising users’ privacy, Facebook has spent much of its time in the last several months repairing its relationship with its users. But maybe privacy isn’t all we should be worried about. According to security firm BitDefender, approximately 20% of Facebook users’ news feeds are infected with malware. Delicious. BitDefender says it gathered the data via an app called Safego, installed by 14,000…

Hey, remember yesterday’s Twitter worm? Wasn’t that fun? Oh, don’t get all frowny, it was a blast. Apparently, it was kicked off by Pearce Delphin, a 17-year-old Australian who honestly had no idea of the chaos that would ensue. “I did it merely to see if it could be done,” Delphin told AFP. “At the time of posting the tweet, I had no idea it was going to take off how it did. I just hadn’t even considered it.” The worm, which allowed JavaScript to be executed within a tweet, required only that a link was hovered over, not even clicked, to perform whatever instructions the tweet provided. Effects ranged…

Okay, that headline is probably a little more sensationalist than is absolutely necessary, but that’s the message a UK scientist is trying to get across. Dr Mark Gasson from the University of Reading implanted a chip in his hand that contained a computer virus. The chip is similar to the kind used to monitor and tag pets, but Gasson infected the chip with a virus. Due to the sophisticated nature of ID chip scanning technology, the virus was able to jump from the chip in Gasson’s hand to the external security scanners and chip readers he interacted with. There’s little need for widespread concern at…

Getting a virus on your computer can ruin your day, week and possibly make you spiral down like this guy. It’s a threat that will always be there and as new virus’ are created, so are new anti-virus technologies. The USB flash drive is becoming a more common way to transfer files and the virus problem can still exist as you drag and drop files on to your drive. Designer, Wu Jiang, has hopefully found a solution to this problem with this innovative and futuristic looking USB Device. The U+ has a built in virus scanner that will catch a corrupt file before it hits your flash drive. The “X” shaped design resembles…