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Hackers broke into Citibank's network of ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores and stole customers' PIN codes, according to recent court filings that revealed a disturbing security hole in the most sensitive part of a banking record. The scam netted the alleged identity thieves millions of dollars. However, more importantly for consumers, it indicates criminals were able to access PINs -- the numeric passwords that theoretically are among the most closely guarded elements of banking transactions -- by attacking the back-end computers responsible for approving the cash withdrawals.

Microsoft has given law enforcement officials a new tool known as "Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor," or COFEE, to aid in the pursuit of crimes involving computers. COFEE is a framework of customizable and common forensic tools for law enforcement. Microsoft made the announcement at this year's Law Enforcement Technology conference. The three-day event, hosted by Microsoft, draws together some 400 law enforcement officials from more than 35 countries to demonstrate the latest technology tools.

Think having a credit or debit card with your photo on it is cool? Well, how about a card the same size and thickness as a credit card, with a window that shows a passcode, and with a public key infrastructure chip on it? When you need to use the card, press on its switch and the PKI chip will run an algorithm that generates a one-time passcode for you to use. The card also has a built-in battery and a built-in RFID antenna. The card's developer, Innovative Card Technologies, supplies leading financial institutions, government agencies and vendors with these cards.

Security vendors are working to create a single sign-on that would make it easy for users to log on to the Web and to different Web sites. Project Concordia -- formed last year by vendors offering electronic identity products to create a harmonized standard and ensure identity initiatives and protocols can interoperate -- held a series of demonstrations by seven vendors: FuGen Solutions, Internet2, Microsoft, Oracle, Ping Identity, Sun Microsystems and Symlabs.

There are few greater hassles for computer users than the loss of a laptop -- whether it was stolen from the airplane or left lying in a bus. Yet in many cases, the data contained in the machine is considered more valuable than the computer itself. One way to ease these concerns is to take steps to make data inaccessible to third parties. Users of Windows XP and Vista can take advantage of the Encrypted File System -- but only for individual files and folders. That is a manageable hurdle for hackers.

A new technology unveiled Wednesday aims to prevent hardware privacy by protecting microchips with the virtual equivalent of an embedded "lock" that can be opened only by the patent owner. Called "EPIC" -- short for Ending Piracy of Integrated Circuits -- the technique relies on established cryptography methods and introduces subtle changes into the chip design process without affecting the chips' performance or power consumption. The innovation was devised by computer engineers at the University of Michigan and Rice University.

Perhaps like no other industry before it, the IT industry has come to thrive on continuous innovation coupled with rapid and widespread product introduction. In the competitive -- at times mad -- rush to be first or early to market key things are sometimes overlooked. When it comes to security, it is impossible to identify every vulnerability, much less foretell just how hackers will try to exploit them. Preventing data loss has taken on even greater urgency in light of the proliferation of portable storage devices -- smartphones and USB flash drives prominent among them.

A new study suggests that dynamic memory on computers stores encrypted, secure data longer than originally thought. The research project -- conducted by eight researchers from Princeton University, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Wind River Systems -- focused on retrieving encrypted data from dynamic random access memory, which temporarily stores information and processes until it is rebooted, regardless of the operating system running the computer. That memory flaw exposes all of the encrypted data on a computer to potential hackers.

Let's face it: The Internet is a great convenience, but all those user names and passwords can be a cumbersome pain in the caboose. You've got work e-mail and home e-mail, then all the online accounts for the bank, a credit card or two, maybe a mortgage and the utilities. Maybe work offers online access to ever-changing medical, dental and vision benefits. Frequent travelers have accounts with airlines, car-rental firms and online travel-booking services. Then, there are the chat groups and the eBays, PayPals, iTunes and Netflixes of the world.

Half of more than 3,000 retail stores that a wireless security company secretly monitored at major shopping areas in the U.S. and Europe use wireless data systems vulnerable to hacking, the company said Thursday. The data that stores routinely transmit on wireless networks include credit card and Social Security numbers and other sensitive customer information. AirDefense, an Atlanta-based maker of security products for wireless data systems, found that about 25 percent of the stores' 4,748 wireless access points were exchanging data with no encryption at all.