Lavasoft News has compiled a list of "security shorts" - summaries of other online security stories making news and headlines around the security world this past month...

Deadly Spanish train disaster exploited by malware mail scumbags
The recent Spanish train disaster, in which at least 80 people were killed after a speeding train derailed, is being exploited by internet cyber crooks to spread malware. Security outfit Dynamoo spotted an email spam that links to what's claimed to be to a CNN news story. Once clicked, the URL end up on a hacked website riddled with malware to infect the passing web surfer... Read more


Man fell for "ransonware", tricked into reporting own child pornography offences
A man has been tricked into handing himself into police for child pornography offences after a computer virus told him that the FBI was investigating him... Read more


Cybercrime costing economy up to $500B a year, study finds
Cybercrimes may cost the global economy US$100 billion to US$500 billion, and over 500,000 jobs in the U.S., due to various factors such as reputation damage, consumer losses, and service disruption costs... Read more


FBI ransomware scam finds new home on the Mac
Researchers at security firm Malwarebytes reported that they have discovered a strain of Mac OS X ransomware, also known as "scareware," which essentially takes a victim's computer hostage until they pay a fee to unlock it... Read more

Fake Pinterest "Password changed" email leads to malware
Pinterest users beware: an email purportedly coming from the popular pinboard-style photo-sharing website and notifying you of a successful password reset is fake... Read more


Data breaches hit 2.5 million in California in 2012, report says
In the first report of its kind, California's Attorney General, Kamala D. Harris, revealed last week that 2.5 million people—roughly 6.5 percent of the state's population—were exposed by data breaches in 2012... Read more


Apple, Google, others seek to disclose more details on data snooping
Dozens of tech players and other organizations have asked Washington to allow them to reveal more information about the requests for user data... Read more