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Cybercriminals are settling into a comfortable place in the "Dark Web" where they test, refine and distribute malware for online thievery. That's the conclusion of researchers at McAfee, the US Internet security specialist, who noted that a huge data breach that affected as many as 110 million customers of the US retailer Target may be just the tip of the iceberg. In its quarterly threat assessment released Monday, McAfee Labs noted the relative ease with which this type of malware is bought and sold in "Dark Web" marketplaces. McAfee researchers concluded that the malware for the Target attacks used "relatively unsophisticated technologies likely purchased 'off the shelf' from the Cybercrime-as-a-Service community, and customized specifically for these attacks," the security firm said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will meet this week with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the White House said, in a prominent show of U.S. support for Ukraine's fledgling new government.

Diplomatic efforts to calm the Ukraine crisis inched forward Monday, with Moscow saying it would consider Western proposals for talks on the standoff but insisting Crimea had the right to secede. Britain said Russian President Vladimir Putin had promised to meet with his foreign minister Monday to discuss the possibility of creating an "international contact group" -- his first indication he may be willing to take part in the talks being pushed by the US and Germany to ease the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War. But that embryonic sign of diplomatic progress came against the backdrop of Putin's recognition Sunday of Crimea's self-declared leaders as the breakaway peninsula's "legitimate" authorities. German Chancellor Angela Merkel rebuked the Russian strongman for his comments, telling him Crimea's planned March 16 referendum on joining Russia was illegal.