At the end of last week, security reports informed computer users about an upcoming Google Chrome operating system.

It was notified on the Internet that Google’s much-anticipated operating system, Chrome OS, is going to come for download even this week! Is it rumors or is it truth? We’ll see.

What we could do is only to wait. When Google reported its early version of new OS last fall, the company said they would open source the code for Chrome OS ‘later this year’. Google also told that netbooks running Chrome OS wouldn’t be accessible for end users until the second half of 2010.

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This week was very busy for Apple because of the seven released patches.

The first security update, released on Monday, refers to Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard. The second update, issued on Wednesday, goes to a new version of Safari Web browser, available for Mac, PC, and iPhone operating systems. The newest update deals with a lot of security threats, such as remote code execution, system crashing and information disclosure bugs, Apple explained in its advisory. Both the Mac OS X and Windows versions of Safari need to be updated to version 4.0.4.

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Identity theft has become a common occurrence in recent years but little has been said about a new threat, called identity production with malicious intent.

A new version of the notorious Koobface (W32/Koobface) worm does this automatically.

Koobface is a computer worm that is programmed to propagate through social network sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

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In the beginning of this week, the world of software security has been greeted by the sad news regarding the issue of mobile smartphone malware attacks.

It was revealed that a trick worm is spreading over jailbroken’ iPhones in Australia. Additionally, at the end of last month, a proof-of-concept (PoC) application was issued that allows a hacker to distantly activate a BlackBerry microphone and listen in on surrounding conversations and sounds. There haven’t been such widespread and active attacks on mobile devices for a long while, but now, it is expected that they are going to grow rapidly.

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Passwords are a really good way to protect access to a computer or website from cyber criminals.

If a password is easy to remember for the owner, sadly it would be easy to guess for an attacker as well.

If a password is more complex, that is when it includes a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters and digits, it would undoubtedly be harder for a hacker to crack it. Password requirements for users differ in various sites but in most cases ’secret/prompt questions’ are involved. Have you ever thought about strength of such type of passwords?

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If your computer system has been recently hit by at least one of the dangerous flaws Microsoft has just patched recently, you might want to catch your breath because their is a solution available.

On Tuesday, software giant Microsoft released six security bulletins repairing upwards of 15 vulnerabilities within Windows and MS Office. The bulletins include a critical patch for holes in the Windows, Windows Server and Microsoft Office components that could enable a hacker to take control of a vulnerable computer. Three of the bulletins are rated ‘critical’ and another three are rated ‘important’.

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Facebook users have been warned about a spyware attack that promises to reveal hidden messages on an application that the social network offers.

The application Honesty Box, which allows users to send and receive “anonymous messages and discover what people really think of you”, has become the focus of hackers who want to steal Facebook users’ personal information for their own malicious purposes.

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A number of reports have come out warning that there is a security vulnerability in Twitter that enables anyone to access protected tweets via Google.

It was found that you can view almost all the tweets of an account if you enter “site:twitter.com/username” (replace username with the Twitter name) in the Google search engine. Inevitably, this caused an alarm among Twitter users that value their privacy.

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Bloggers using WordPress should be aware of a newly discovered vulnerability that could compromise their blog.

The popular blog publishing application and content management system, WordPress, has fallen under heavy fire lately due to a particularly nasty little worm circulating many users’ blogs who are still using outdated versions of the blogging software.

The vulnerability that allows this attack was discovered on August 11, causing WordPress to quickly spring into action, advising users to upgrade to version 2.8.4. Unfortunately, many people have yet to make the move to this latest version, and the worm is taking advantage of the hesitation.

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Attackers continue to target Facebook through rogue phishing applications to steal personal information that could lead to further attacks against unsuspecting computer users.

On Thursday, Facebook had stated it had disabled a total of six rogue applications that were attempting to steal Facebook user login credentials and spamming people. Unfortunately, mere hours later, more of these phishing applications appeared.

Five more, in fact, and according to Rik Ferguson, a researcher for Trend Micro, they have been identified under such names as “Matching”, “Pok”, “Friends”, “Friends Gifts” and “Your Photos”. By Thursday evening, these had been terminated as well. A spokeswoman for the social networking website stated that Facebook “will continue to ensure that all applications on Facebook Platform comply with Facebook policies.”

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