TechSpot News
IT Security News Headlines
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.
Pastebin looking to hire staff to police posted content
- The owner of Pastebin.com has announced plans to boost their current abuse report system by hiring more staff in a bid to help with policing sensitive information continually posted on the site, which now experiences in excess of 17 million…
Hackers breach credit processor, thousands of cardholders at risk
- Hackers swiped the financial data of thousands of people in a security breach earlier this year, according to reports by Brian Krebs and The Wall Street Journal. Global Payments Inc., an Atlanta-based processing firm that serves as a middleman between…
FTC fines RockYou $250,000 for exposing identities of 32 million gamers
- Online social gaming outfit, RockYou, has settled with the FTC after an embarrassing security snafu in 2009 allowed hackers to reveal the accounts and passwords of more than 32 million users. The company has been fined $250,000 and is required…
iPhone and Android passcodes can be bypassed within seconds
- Swedish security firm, Micro Systemation, has demonstrated how simple it is to defeat lock screen passcode mechanisms on both iPhone OS and Android devices. To do it, the company shows off their own security tool called XRY, a utility used…
Microsoft seizes Zeus botnet servers in Illinois, Pennsylvania
-
In collaboration with the financial services industry and the US government, Microsoft has dismantled another major malware network, raiding command-and-control servers in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Lombard, Illinois on Friday. Microsoft described the undertaking as its most complex...
Verizon shows increases in malware, hacktivism, security breaches
- Making note of the social unrest which unfolded in 2011, Verizon's 2012 data breach investigation report (very large pdf) highlights a tumultuous year for computer and network security. Although a couple of numbers were down from previous years, attacks related…
Google sets trap for Flash exploiters, crashes Chrome for users
- Last month, Google patched a critical Flash-based vulnerability which could allow hackers to circumvent Chrome's often trumpeted sandbox security feature. The update capped the maximum number of Flash JIT (just-in-time) pages to a level that which would exclude foreseeable exploits. After…
Symantec "lost" phone study shows most people are dishonest
-
Symantec's Honey Stick Project (pdf) confirms what many of us already knew: almost no one can resist the temptation of poking around on someone else's smartphone. The study placed 50 smartphones in various public areas throughout several major American and Canadian cities...
Duqu Trojan contains mystery programming language in Payload DLL
- Experts at Russian computer security company Kaspersky have come to the conclusion that parts of the Duqu Trojan are written in an unknown programming language. Much of the code is identified as standard C++ but the team is clueless as…
Google rushes out Chrome patch for sandbox exploit, other still lurks
- Shortly after two security researchers publicly bested Chrome at Pwn2Own and Pwnium a couple days ago, Google has rolled out a fix for one of the exploits. However, the second hack remains both a mystery and ominously at large.
Google Chrome breached at Pwn2Own and Pwnium
- Ending a three-year streak coming out unharmed at organized hacking challenges, Google's Chrome browser was breached at "Pwn2Own" and the company's own "Pwnium" event yesterday, both of which are running simultaneously at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver. …
LulzSec leader worked with the FBI for months, turns in fellow hackers
- LulzSec, the hacking collective loosely associated with Anonymous, suffered a major blow today after law enforcement officials in the U.S. and U.K. arrested three of its members and charged another two with the help of none other than the group's…
Stolen NASA laptop contained space station control codes
- NASA inspector general Paul Martin testified before a House Science, Space and Technology subcommittee that a notebook stolen from the aeronautics company was unencrypted and contained codes to control the International Space Station. The system was one of 48 notebooks…
Android apps can access your smartphone's photos too
- Apple came under scrutiny this week after reports about a loophole in iOS that could enable rogue apps to access a user's entire photo library and copying the data to a remote server without any notice. Making matters worst the…
iOS security loophole lets apps grab user photos
- A new security flaw affecting Apple’s iOS mobile platform has been revealed in a report published by the New York Times’ Bits blog, which disclosed a loophole that enables apps to grab photos in users' phones they are installed on. …
Google wants hackers to hammer on Chrome for $1 million
- Google has withdrawn support for TippingPoint's annual Pwn2Own hacking competition following rule changes. Previously, entrants were required to reveal all the details about exploits used to compromise security. That stipulation no longer exists and folks are allowed to enter 2012's…
Kaspersky: DDoS attacks 57% more powerful in H2 2011, Russia tops list
- Kaspersky Labs has compiled data collected by its botnet monitoring and DDoS protection services and written a detailed analysis on their findings. The verdict? The second half of 2011 was a bumpy six months with distributed denial of service attacks…
iPhone lock screen can be partially bypassed via two new bugs
- The folks at iPhone Islam have discovered a bug that bypasses the lock screen on the iPhone 3GS, 4 and 4S. Demonstrated in a three-minute YouTube video, the flaw is simple to exploit with some patience and grants unauthorized access…
On/off switch for contactless credit cards eliminates virtual pickpocketing
- A new breed of credit cards featuring contactless payments using RFID or NFC technology is just around the corner but some are already concerned about how easy it might be for thieves to intercept a transmission or initiate their own…
UK government plans to force ISPs, carriers to store web and phone usage
- A new report has surfaced that reveals the UK government plans to force British ISPs and mobile operators to keep online communications by internet users, as well as phone call details, text messages and website visits. The proposed anti-terror plans…
Millions of infected machines might be kicked offline March 8
- In three weeks, the FBI could knock millions of infected systems offline by disabling some DNS servers. In November, Estonian authorities arrested six men suspected of using "DNSChanger Trojan" malware to redirect victims to malicious websites and block them from genuine…
Anonymous targets US ammunition supplier, Combined Systems
- Combined Systems, a Pennsylvania-based company who manufactures tear gas used by law enforcement agencies around the world had its website defaced and then destroyed yesterday by hackers associated with the loosely knit group Anonymous, as part of the first anniversary…
Nortel's internal network "owned" by hackers for almost a decade
- According to the Wall Street Journal, Nortel was unwittingly victimized for nearly 10 years by suspected Chinese hackers with "widespread" access to the company's internal network. The infiltration was so severe, the individuals responsible are believed to have had the…
Microsoft's Indian online store hacked, passwords and user data exposed
-
Microsoft’s online retail store for India which is operated by Indian company Quasar Media remains offline today after hackers breached the website's defenses and stole user account information and passwords...
Weekend Open Forum: Have you, or someone you know, ever been victim of Internet scams?
- Although most Internet users have probably wised up -- or so we'd hope -- to old scams involving some wealthy foreigner who's supposedly being cheated out of millions of dollars and promises a small fortune in exchange for help spiriting…
Most Popular
| Trending | Featured |
-
Genetically-engineered viruses may power devices of the future
-
AMD revamps APU offerings with Trinity
-
Lenovo announces world's thinnest Ultrabook, ThinkPad X1 Carbon
-
Apple drops new iPad's "4G" label, now called iPad + Cellular
-
Diablo III server debacle demonstrates the problem with ‘always-online’ games
