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

Celebrity hacker responsible for “Operation Hackerazzi” gets 10 years prison sentence.

After pleading guilty to stealing and posting private information from more than 50 celebrities, hacker Christopher Chaney was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Among his victims were Mila Kunis, Scarlett Johansson, Christina Aguilera, Simone Harouche, and Renee Olstead. Read more

India witnessed almost 90% rise in Windows malware
India is under the grip of cyber attacks. According to the report, the country has witnessed an increase of almost 90 percent in Windows malware and there has been a mind-boggling increase of 170 percent in malware modifications. The mischief makers are also winning the war on the mobile platform. Read more

Cyber attackers seize, encrypt and ransom medical centre's patient database
Cyber attackers have breached an Australian medical centre's patient database, encrypted it, and are demanding $4,000 AUD to release thousands of patient records. The records were collected over seven years and stored on a server at the Miami Family Medical Centre in Queensland. Law enforcement say that the attack originated in… Read more

Google Chrome temporarily blocks Twitpic over 'malicious malware threat'
Google has blocked millions of Twitter accounts, saying that the micro blogging site's picture sharing service, Twitpic, is a 'malicious threat' to computers. The Internet search giant blocked access to Twitpic and any photos hosted by it from its popular browser Chrome as well as from search results in other browsers, rendering millions of Twitter accounts inaccessible for several hours. Read more

Malware that steals from point-of-sale systems detected
A data stealer designed to collect users' personally identifiable information from point-of-sale (POS) systems has been detected. Originally detected in early December by researchers at Seculert, an Israel-based advanced threat detection company, follow-up research by Trend Micro said that the malware was found in POS systems at hotels and other businesses. Read more