Security center issues antihacker tool

From...

By Margret Johnston

(IDG) -- The Center for Internet Security has released a free tool to help plug vulnerabilities that the FBI last week warned were being exploited by Russian and Ukrainian hackers.

CISecurity, founded in October, released PatchWork, a software tool that automates the process of finding the vulnerabilities and identifying needed patches. Its purpose is to assist companies that have not secured their systems to do so quickly, the center said in a release Saturday. The tool can be downloaded from the CISecurity Web site.

MESSAGE BOARD Security on the Net   IDG.net INFOCENTER IDG.net's main page Free daily newsletters Instant help from the Dummies Network Computerworld Communities Visit an IDG site Choose a site: IDG.net CIO Computerworld Darwin Dummies.com GamePro.com The Industry Standard ITWorld.com InfoWorld.com JavaWorld LinuxWorld Macworld Online Network World Fusion PC World Publish.com SunWorld IDG.net search

According to the FBI, the Russian and Ukrainian hackers belong to a gang that has stolen credit card and other personal information from electronic banking and e-commerce sites and extorted money from the operators of the sites.

This type of hacker activity is the reason the center was created, the CISecurity release said. The center gives computer officials a chance to share the best available technical knowledge. Experts and users consult through the center to prioritize the threats and develop a consensus defining the specific actions needed to shield systems and networks from those threats. The result is a benchmark that organizations can use to measure the security of their systems and those of their e-business partners.

The first CISecurity benchmark covers the Solaris operating system and is expected to be issued in June. CISecurity benchmarks for the other major operating systems are expected to be issued over the next six months.

Among the 150 members of the nonprofit CISecurity are government agencies, banks, insurance companies, manufacturers, universities, computer service companies and consulting organizations. The first general meeting of CISecurity will take place on May 17 in Baltimore.

Survey: Costs of computer security breaches soar
March 12, 2001
Tools: Sites to test personal firewalls for holes
February 27, 2001
Zone Labs releases version of firewall for smaller networks
August 24, 2000
Analysis: Protect online privacy with these tools
August 18, 2000
Insulate your PC from hackers
August 10, 2000
Getting to the root of network security
July 12, 2000
How personal firewalls work
June 21, 2000

Computer crime losses increase
(IDG.net)
Common ground sought on IT security requirements
(Computerworld)
Cost of computer crime exploding, survey says
(Network World Fusion)
Are cryptography tools really only for crooks?
(InfoWorld.com)
Ubizen to roll out WAP security software
(InfoWorld.com)
IBM e-commerce servers vulnerable to hacks
(IDG.net)
Users to IBM: Beef up your wares
(Network World Fusion)
The joy of encryption
(Darwin)

Center for Internet Security

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.