By ADuch -

First things first, if you do not know who Anonymous is, please click here. This will link you to a slide show and you will learn 10 key facts about the group.

If you do know who Anonymous is then you should know that the group continues to make their mark. In recent news, Anonymous went on their own personal hacking spree. What exactly did they do? A number of things: the group took down DHS’ (The Department of Homeland Security) homepage, released an audio recording of a conference call between the FBI and foreign authorities, and then infiltrated the website of the attorneys representing Sergeant Frank Wuterich. Not only that, but they were able to do this all in 1 DAY!

So the question is, what exactly can you do and what exactly should you do to prepare for something like this? Lucky for us, InformationWeek.com has put together 10 strategies to fight off Anonymous DDos attacks.

1.  Know you’re vulnerable
2. DDos attacks are cheap to launch, tough to stop
3. Plan ahead
4. Secure potential bottlenecks
5. Watch what’s happening on the network
6. Look beyond large attacks
7. Beware application-layer attacks
8. Watch for blended attacks
9. Make upstream friends
10. Consider countermeasures

For a more in depth explanation on each strategy, please visit InformationWeek.com or click here.

By ADuch -

2011 was a record breaking year for data breaches. Will 2012 be the same? If companies do not tighten up their security, it may just be.

In recent news, another popular website fell victim to a cyber-attack.  Zappos.com, an online shoe and clothing retailer, was hacked by an unknown criminal who was able to tap into their internal network/systems through one of the company’s servers in Kentucky. So what exactly was stolen?

According to Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, the unknown criminal genius was able to nab customer names, email addresses, billing and shipping addresses, the last four digits on their credit card number, and a “cryptographically scrambled” version of their website password. In response to this, Zappos immediately emailed its 24 million customers explaining the situation at hand. They also advised their customers to reset their current Zappos passwords and to change their passwords on any other website that uses the same email address.

At this moment, Zappos does not know when they were attacked. Nor do they know how long the attacker had access to their internal networks. What they do know is that they will be temporarily closing their phone lines and answering all questions through email.

Although this was not a heavy breach, the attack still hurts the company. It disrupts the company’s activity, performance, and it ultimately affects their customers.

For more on the attack on Zappos, click here.

By ADuch -

With the year winding down, more breaches and attacks have surfaced and made headline news. To solve this issue, companies should tighten up their security and be more cautious of their surroundings and how they transfer valuable data. Losing personal and/or sensitive data and having it in the wrong hands can crumble a company. Therefore, it is extremely important to enforce and follow all security practices at all times.

In recent news, another major corporation has reported it was the target of a cyber attack. On November 3, 2011, Adidas became aware of the attack and immediately took action. They took down any site that was affected, left a message apologizing to their users, and then added in data security measures to their websites.

Some of the websites that were taken down include adidas.com, reebok.com, miCoach.com, adidas-group.com, and several other local ecommerce shops. Although all these sites were affected, there was no evidence shown of any stolen data.

Following the attack, Adidas left a message. “Nothing is more important to us than the privacy and security of our consumers’ personal data. We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time.”

To read the full story and learn more about the cyber attack on Adidas, visit UK’s ITPro.

http://www.itpro.co.uk/637204/cyber-attack-drives-adidas-websites-offline