The Conficker worm dominated the security news last spring, and now this much-publicized piece of malware is back in the press again – this time because of what we may be able to learn from the global response to the Conficker cyber attack.

In its second out-of-band update (meaning delivered outside of the regular Patch Tuesday schedule) in the past three months, Microsoft said today that it’s planning to issue an emergency security update tomorrow. The update will patch a zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6 and 7 that has been used to launch drive-by attacks.

Check Microsoft’s ‘Security Bulletin Advance Notification’ for full details.

Are you living in a cyber crime hotspot?

Tax season is not a favorite time of year for most of us, but it’s drawing near in many parts of the world.

For those in the U.S., the April 15 income tax filing deadline is quickly approaching. Unfortunately, tax season has its own set of security traps that you’ll need to watch out for, with cyber scammers jumping to take advantage of the swell in online activity and the handover of personal information.

In Lavasoft Malware Labs’ Internet security predictions for 2010, we listed scareware and rogue (fake) security products as a rising threat to watch out for. The money made from this malware model ensures that cyber criminals will not abandon what is a very profitable endeavor for them - meaning that this prediction will, unfortunately for users around the world, continue to ring true this year.