IT security and control firm Sophos has published new research into the first six months of cybercrime in 2008.

Social networking sites and mobile phones used to spread unwanted messages, as United States retains top spot in Dirty Dozen spam-relaying countries.

IT security and control firm Sophos is warning of an attempt by hackers to infect computers using the camouflage of a news report claiming that the USA has invaded Iran.

Experts at SophosLabs have warned of a widespread email spam campaign that poses as a video of American Independence Day fireworks, but is really attempt to lure innocent computer users into having their computers hacked.

IT security and control firm Sophos is warning computer users of the importance of scanning all web traffic for malware following the discovery that webpages on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) website have been infected with malicious code.

Kaspersky Lab has published “‘Instant’ Threats” by Denis Maslennikov and Boris Yampolsky, two of the company’s virus analysts. The article analyzes the spread of malware via instant messengers.

Japanese man has escaped jail, despite admitting writing a virus that wiped music and movie files on innocent users’ computers.

Kaspersky Lab has published an article entitled “The botnet busines” by senior virus analyst Vitaly Kamlyuk.

Belgian ministers claim that Chinese hackers are targeting their country’s computer systems.

Experts at SophosLabs, Sophos’s global network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, are warning home computer users about the importance of properly securing PCs, following news that a man who allegedly used computer malware to prey upon young women has been charged in Canada.

Sophos reports that a Chinese court has handed out hefty jail sentences to four men who used a Trojan horse to steal bank account information.

According to Sophos, a Japanese man admits in court to writing a data-destroying Trojan horse.

In a posting on 29A’s website, group member VirusBuster announced the end of a gang that was responsible for writing malware such as Cabir (which infected Symbian mobile phones), Duts (the first ever Pocket PC virus, bizarrely inspired by a science fiction novel), Haiku (which generated Japanese-style poetry), Stream (which was the first virus to take advantage of NTFS Alternate Data Streams), Lindose (which infected both Windows and Linux computers), and Donut (a .NET aware Windows file infector).

According to PandaLabs, cyber-crooks are looking for ways to test their creations before distributing them.

Companies and consumers have been warned to be aware of the dangers of emailed Valentine’s in the run-up to romantic celebrations on February 14th.

More than 40 security software technologists and anti-malware testers from around the world recently met in Bilbao, Spain to formalize the charter of the Anti-Malware Testing Standards Organization, or AMTSO.

Experts at IT security and control firm Sophos have welcomed news that a man faces a stiff sentence, after admitting he controlled an army of 250,000 compromised PCs in order to harvest PayPal usernames and passwords and other personal information.

A few weeks ago Candace Locklear’s office computer quietly started sending out dozens of instant messages with photos attached that were infected with malicious software.

Software included with high-end memory sticks sold by Sony Corp can make personal computers vulnerable to attack by computer hackers, according to researchers with two Internet security firms.

Student records also released onto the net by malware

Independence Day malware attack strikes via email greetings.

Apple announced that it has discovered that some of the Video iPods available for purchase after September 12, 2006, were shipped carrying the Windows RavMonE.exe virus.

Sophos, announced the availability of its Host Intrusion Prevention System (HIPS), which proactively identifies and blocks programs that behave suspiciously before they execute.

According to the latest Internet Security Thread Report released by Symantec, vulnerabilities in desktop applications and use of stealth techniques are on the rise.

The security company Sophos has revealed the most prevalent malware threats and hoaxes causing problems for computer users around the world during July 2006.