SecureID CRACKED?

An analyst has come up with a technique that clones the secret software token that RSA’s SecurID uses to generate one-time passwords.

Sensepost senior security analyst Behrang Fouladi said that the discovery has important implications for the safekeeping of the tokens. Fouladi demonstrated another way determined attackers could circumvent protections built into SecurID. By reverse engineering software used to manage the cryptographic software tokens on computers running Windows, he found that the secret “seed” was easy for people with control over the machines to locate and copy. He provided step-by-step instructions for others to follow in order to demonstrate how easy it is to create clones that mimic verbatim the output of a targeted SecurID token.

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Lenovo Tablet Hits The Market

Lenovo’s business-oriented tablet, the ThinkPad Tablet, is now available for purchase and should start shipping within a week. The 10-inch Android device, which Lenovo officially announced a little more than a month ago, boasts an impressive mix of consumer and business-friendly features that might please both the user and their IT department.

Like other Android 3.1 Honeycomb tablets on the market, the ThinkPad Tablet has a 1280 x 800 multitouch display, 1GB of memory, front- and rear-facing cameras and a NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor. It comes in a 16GB model for $499, a 32GB version for $569 and a 64GB option for $669. Basic specs and price-wise, the ThinkPad Tablet is on par with the competition.

What sets the ThinkPad apart, however, are the enterprise-oriented tools like remote administration in case the tablet gets lost or stolen, support for Cisco VPN, and full device encryption. Free apps included like Documents to Go, PrinterShare, and Computrace underscore the tablets professional target audience.

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RSA To Replace SecureID Tokens

In an acknowledgement of the severity of its recent systems breach, RSA Security said Monday that it will replace SecureID tokens for any customer that asks.

Customers have been left to ponder whether or not to trust RSA’s security tokens since March, when the company confirmed that it had been hacked and issued a vague warning to its customers. Then, two weeks ago, government contractor Lockheed Martin was reportedly forced to pull access to its virtual private network after hackers compromised the SecureID technology.

In a letter sent to customers Monday, RSA confirmed that the Lockheed Martin incident was related to SecureID. Information “taken from RSA in March had been used as an element of an attempted broader attack on Lockheed Martin,” RSA Executive Chairman Art Coviello stated in the letter.

Coviello said the company remains “highly confident in the RSA SecureID product,” but acknowledged that the recent Lockheed Martin attack and general concerns over hacking, “may reduce some customers’ overall risk tolerance.”

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Mobile Phone Security Threats On The Rise

Mobile phone security threats rose sharply last year as the growing popularity of Internet-enabled mobile devices like smartphones and tablets provided new opportunities for cybercriminals, security software maker McAfee said.

In its fourth-quarter threat report, released on today, McAfee said the number of pieces of new cellphone malware it found in 2010 rose 46 percent over 2009’s level.

“As more users access the Internet from an ever-expanding pool of devices -computer, tablet, smartphone or Internet TV- web-based threats will continue to grow in size and sophistication,” it said.

McAfee, which is being acquired by Intel for $7.68 billion, said it expected PDF and Flash maker Adobe to remain a favorite of cybercriminals this year, after it surpassed Microsoft  in popularity as a target in 2010.

It attributed the trend to Adobe’s greater popularity in mobile devices and non-Microsoft environments, coupled with the ongoing widespread use of PDF document files to transfer malware.  Read More….

Free Mobile To Mobile Calling From AT&T

In what could be construed as attempt to curb potential subscriber loss due to Verizon’s impending iPhone, AT&T rolled out a mobile calling plan Wednesday that allows unlimited free voice calls to any wireless network in the U.S.

However, to be eligible for the new plan, Unlimited Mobile to Any Mobile, customers must still enroll in one of five qualifying mobile voice plans that charge for mobile calls to or from a landline phone.

Calling plans range from $39.99 a month to $109.99 a month, in addition to an unlimited messaging plan for $20 a month per individual or $30 a month per family…. Read More…..