As social networking begins to shrink the world and attract users by the billion, you won’t be surprised to hear that the hacker sharks are out there amongst them, and that they are starting to indulge in a feeding frenzy.

Recent investigations have detected a huge black market for social network fraud. Moreover, about one third of discussions in one particular hacker forum focused on training and tutorials for data theft techniques, such as SQL injection (a technique often used to attack a website) – and yet industry analysts estimate that less than 5% of IT budgets include products to mitigate attacks in the data centre. 

How does your organisation stack up against that percentage? And how much of a threat do these cyber criminals pose to you personally and, in the wider context, the business you work for? The answer has to be: a massive threat – especially when the hacker forum in question that was infiltrated contained around a quarter of a...

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to predict that 2013 will press the limits of the mobile infrastructure.  The sales of smart phones and tablets are through the roof, and apps are being written at a fast pace. This is a boon for many, bringing the internet and cloud applications to the hands of users all over the world, who may not own a computer or have ISP service, but do own a phone.

In the race to be part of the mobile rush however, fast app development is often more valued than a well thought out and secure application.  As a result, SSL/TLS app failures can result in broken, disabled or nonexistent validation behind the scenes of mobile applications.  SSL is the backbone technology for secure connections between the app and the cloud, but without proper certificate handling by the developers it’s still vulnerable to attacks by outsiders. This core vulnerability presents a real danger, and it’s imperative that the app developer learn how...

Apps it seems are everywhere now, and they continue to spread like wildfire. It’s a ‘technology on the go’ world we inhabit, where we are using apps for everything from social media, banking, gaming, making payments and a host of other things, at any time or day of the week. The convenience afforded by smart phones and other mobile devices have fast become the platform for serious business and consumer alike.

Global mobile app store downloads are forecast to surpass 45.6 billion in 2012, with free downloads accounting for 40.1 billion (89%) and paid-for downloads totalling 5 billion, according to research analysts Gartner.

So it’s alarming to hear that some Android developers are failing abysmally when it comes to...

Reports earlier this month that Facebook had reached the landmark of 1 billion users certainly demonstrated just how big the social network phenomenon has become.

However, as the world’s most popular website just seems to get bigger and bigger, it is also more important than ever to be on the guard against hackers who can access your personal information.

Common sense is probably your biggest asset against the threat of cyber criminals, but there are also a few simple tips you can follow to give yourself maximum protection:

1. Be ultra-careful with any friends that you add. Accepting someone as a friend gives them full access to your page, so make sure you know who you’re adding rather than mindlessly accepting all requests.
2. Remember that most options can be disabled if you don’t need them or don’t want to use them. This is another element that gives you added control over your own page.
3. Don’t start believing...