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The latest developments in IT security: your rights online, securing your systems via timely patching, updates on anti-malware tools, and relevant stories on hacking and system vulnerabilities.


uPlay hacking tool grants access to Ubisoft's entire catalog

uPlay hacking tool grants access to Ubisoft
  • Posted April 9, 2013, 2:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Gaming, Security
  • A new hacking tool available on a Russian gaming forum allows users to circumvent security measures in place on Ubisoft’s uPlay game distribution platform. Specifically, the hack tricks the platform’s authorization tool into thinking the user has access to Ubisoft’s…

Bitcoin-mining trojan spreading through Skype spam, Kaspersky warns

Bitcoin-mining trojan spreading through Skype spam, Kaspersky warns
  • Posted April 8, 2013, 6:30 PM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Security, The Web
  • Skype users beware: Kaspersky has discovered a new trojan that's spreading through Microsoft's chat service. Revealed late last week, the malware campaign is believed to have only began on March 1 but has grown rapidly and the infection is essentially…

AMI BIOS source code and UEFI signing key found on public FTP

AMI BIOS source code and UEFI signing key found on public FTP
  • Posted April 8, 2013, 9:41 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Security
  • The source code and unique UEFI signing test key for firmware developed by American Megatrends Inc. (AMI) has been discovered on an FTP server in Taiwan. What makes the news especially damning is that the sensitive data was allegedly stored…

DEA claims encryption makes it impossible to intercept iMessages

DEA claims encryption makes it impossible to intercept iMessages
  • Posted April 4, 2013, 2:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Apple, Security
  • An internal government document has revealed that encryption used in Apple’s iMessage chat service has prevented Drug Enforcement Administration officials from spying on suspects’ conversations. The document, seen by CNET, cites a February 2013 criminal investigation where officials said it…

The War Z taken offline after user data compromised in server breach

The War Z taken offline after user data compromised in server breach
  • Posted April 2, 2013, 3:00 PM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Gaming, Security
  • After disappointing many folks with a rocky debut in December, The War Z is making negative headlines again. According to a notice plastered where its game forum used to reside, hackers have gained access to the company's message board and game databases, including...

Anti-spam group, web host dispute leads to largest DDoS ever

Anti-spam group, web host dispute leads to largest DDoS ever
  • Posted March 27, 2013, 11:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Security
  • If you felt like your Internet connection slowed down recently, it wasn’t just you. A recent spat between a spam-fighting group and a web hosting company caused a global slowdown of the Internet according to an anti-spam organization. What resulted…

Apple IDs gain option for two-step verification

Apple IDs gain option for two-step verification
  • Posted March 22, 2013, 1:30 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Security, Apple
  • Apple today joined a growing list of companies who offer two-factor authentication. The move offers users the option of better security by requiring additional information while logging in, namely a four-digit verification code sent via SMS or through Apple's Find…

New 'Yontoo' Trojan targets major browsers on OS X, Windows

New
  • Posted March 21, 2013, 12:00 PM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Security, Software
  • Apple’s OS X operating system has long been a relatively unpopular target for malware coders, but that’s changing with the platform’s rise in popularity. Today Russian security website Doctor Web is reporting on a new trojan targeting Mac users that…

Chameleon clickfraud botnet costs advertisers $6 million a month

Chameleon clickfraud botnet costs advertisers $6 million a month
  • Posted March 20, 2013, 1:00 PM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in The Web, Security
  • Researchers at Spider.io have detailed the discovery of a clickfraud botnet that is purportedly causing at least 70 times more financial damage than the Bamital network Microsoft and Symantec killed in early February. By its estimates, the security outfit says…

Origin vulnerability lets attackers hijack gaming machines

Origin vulnerability lets attackers hijack gaming machines
  • Posted March 19, 2013, 2:00 PM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Security, Software
  • Upwards of 40 million users of EA's Origin game platform could be open to a vulnerability that allows an attacker to remotely execute malicious code. Demonstrated by ReVuln on Friday at the Black Hat security conference in Amsterdam, the process requires Origin's client...

Auernheimer sentenced to 41 months for breaching AT&T servers

Auernheimer sentenced to 41 months for breaching AT&T servers
  • Posted March 18, 2013, 4:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Industry News, Security
  • Andrew Auernheimer will spend the next three years and five months of his life in prison. The 27-year-old was sentenced today in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, after being convicted on November 20 of breaching AT&T’s servers, stealing personal…

Reuters employee indicted for conspiring with Anonymous members

Reuters employee indicted for conspiring with Anonymous members
  • Posted March 15, 2013, 12:00 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Security
  • An employee of Reuters has been indicted by the US Justice Department on the grounds that he helped members of the loose-knit hactivist group Anonymous deface the Los Angeles Times website. 26-year-old Matthew Keys of Secaucus, New Jersey, was charged…

Casino scammer uses hijacked security cameras to win $32 million

Casino scammer uses hijacked security cameras to win $32 million
  • Posted March 15, 2013, 11:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Security
  • If you know anything about gambling or have ever stepped foot inside a casino, it’s pretty clear that the odds are always in favor of the house. That is, unless you happen to have an accomplice working inside the casino…

Critical Windows USB exploit allows flash drives to grant root access, patch issued

Critical Windows USB exploit allows flash drives to grant root access, patch issued
  • Posted March 13, 2013, 4:30 PM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Microsoft, Security
  • Microsoft's Patch Tuesday yielded an interesting security fix for a glaring vulnerability in how the Windows kernel handles USB device enumeration. The critical vulnerability allowed potential hackers with physical access to a Windows PC to run arbitrary code with system…

Microsoft to address four critical flaws on Patch Tuesday

Microsoft to address four critical flaws on Patch Tuesday
  • Posted March 8, 2013, 5:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Security, Microsoft
  • Patch Tuesday is once again upon us as Microsoft is preparing to push out a bundle of security fixes on March 12. The upcoming release will consist of seven fixes, four of which are deemed critical as they could allow…

All browsers fall at Pwn2Own but Chrome OS survives Pwnium

All browsers fall at Pwn2Own but Chrome OS survives Pwnium
  • Posted March 8, 2013, 9:32 AM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Security, Software
  • No browser was left standing at this year's Pwn2Own hacking contest. The latest versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Google's Chrome, and Mozilla's Firefox all succumbed to exploits on day one, with hackers targeting a variety of zero-day vulnerabilities on each…

FTC nails 29 spammers who sent over 180m texts promising freebies

FTC nails 29 spammers who sent over 180m texts promising freebies
  • Posted March 8, 2013, 8:30 AM by Matthew DeCarlo | Filed in Industry News, Security
  • The US Federal Trade Commission has charged 29 individuals who allegedly sent millions of spam text messages to phone users promising "free" prizes. The defendants are reportedly responsible for sending more than 180 million unwanted messages to random phone numbers,…

Samsung's Galaxy Note II the latest to fall victim to lock screen flaw

Samsung
  • Posted March 4, 2013, 12:30 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Security, Mobile Computing With Video
  • It seems Apple isn’t the only smartphone provider that’s having trouble as of late with lock screen flaws as we are now hearing word that Samsung’s Galaxy Note II is suffering from similar issues. Mobile enthusiast Terence Eden said he…

Evernote resets all user account passwords following security breach

Evernote resets all user account passwords following security breach
  • Posted March 4, 2013, 8:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Security
  • A recent security breach at online note-taking service Evernote forced the company to reset all of their 50 million users’ passwords as a precautionary measure. The company noted (no pun intended) that there is no evidence that any content stored…

Mysterious MiniDuke malware takes aim at governments worldwide

Mysterious MiniDuke malware takes aim at governments worldwide
  • Posted February 28, 2013, 10:30 AM by Jose Vilches | Filed in Security
  • Government agencies and high profile institutions from at least 20 countries may have fallen victim to a sophisticated new cyber-attack, according to security firm Kaspersky and Hungary's Laboratory of Cryptography and System Security (CrySyS). Dubbed MiniDuke, the attack in question…

Symantec: Stuxnet existed two years earlier than anyone realized

Symantec: Stuxnet existed two years earlier than anyone realized
  • Posted February 27, 2013, 7:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Security
  • A new report from security firm Symantec highlights the discovery of a new version of the Stuxnet virus that crippled Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. The most recent finding predates the earliest known instance of the cyber weapon by two years,…

Second passcode bypass flaw discovered in iOS 6.1 this month

Second passcode bypass flaw discovered in iOS 6.1 this month
  • Posted February 26, 2013, 11:19 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Apple, Security
  • Apple released iOS 6.1.2 one week ago to address, among other things, a flaw that allowed anyone to bypass the iPhone passcode lock screen and access select data on the device. But much to the dismay of Apple, yet another…

Researcher finds flaw that grants access to any Facebook account

Researcher finds flaw that grants access to any Facebook account
  • Posted February 25, 2013, 4:00 PM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Security, The Web With Video
  • A security expert recently outlined steps on his blog that allowed him to gain unprecedented access to anyone’s Facebook account. Nir Goldshlager said a flaw in Facebook’s OAuth service, which is used to by developers to solicit permission from users…

McAfee says malware is getting more sophisticated

McAfee says malware is getting more sophisticated
  • Posted February 22, 2013, 8:30 AM by Shawn Knight | Filed in Security
  • McAfee’s fourth quarter 2012 threats report highlights the fact that malware attacks are not only growing in frequency but sophistication. The security firm said the number of trojans built to steal passwords was up 72 percent during the last three…

Apple, Facebook not only companies targeted by recent hack. More details surface.

Apple, Facebook not only companies targeted by recent hack. More details surface.
  • Posted February 21, 2013, 9:00 AM by Rick Burgess | Filed in Security, The Web
  • Security experts believe a sophisticated attack responsible for infiltrating computers at Twitter, Facebook and Apple wasn't isolated to just those companies. According to a report by ComputerWorld, the attack -- which targeted a previously unknown Java exploit -- gave hackers…

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