Sign up for a new account or log in here:
also @ TechSpot: Weekend Open Forum: Imagining Google's own country
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.
Google has reduced hacked Gmail accounts by 99.7 percent since 2011
- E-mail spam is practically a way of life in this day and age but that doesn’t mean we have to accept the way things are. That especially holds true for Google as the company recently outlined some measures they have…
Apple says they were hacked by the same group that hit Facebook
- In a rare admission on Tuesday, Apple announced they too have fallen victim to a sophisticated malware that targeted Twitter and Facebook in recently weeks. Just like the attack on Facebook, Apple says some of their employees’ computers were infected…
New Mac virus skirts Gatekeeper, initiates creepy reverse-shell connection
- A new trojan virus is targeting computers running Mac OS X and initiating an encrypted reverse-shell connection, allowing attackers potentially unfettered access to infected machines armed with basic, inbound-only firewalls. Security firm Intego appears to be the first to report…
Report links Chinese military to majority of cyberattacks against US
- According to the New York Times, U.S-based security research firm Mandiant claims it has traced the "overwhelming majority" of cyberattacks targeting American businesses to an innocuous 12-story office building located in Shanghai, China. The tower, American intelligence officials claim, is…
Major ransomware operation dismantled by authorities
- Authorities have detained 11 individuals thought to be responsible for the proliferation of a nasty "police ransomware" virus which demanded users pay €100 ($135 USD) to re-gain access to their infected PCs. Amongst the 11 caught -- a crew of…
CISPA cybersecurity bill returns, still ignores privacy rights
- It's back. The U.S. House Intelligence Committee has reintroduced its controversial "Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act" in a second attempt to pass the bill. Originally unleashed last year, CISPA slipped passed Congress but was aborted by the Senate following a…
Lenovo, PayPal particiapte in FIDO Alliance to reinvent passwords
- Last year it was revealed that Lenovo was teaming up with PayPal and others to form a group tasked with reinventing the authentication tool that virtually everyone is familiar with today: the password. We didn’t have much information about the…
Android continues to be a key target for mobile malware
- A new report from web security provider Blue Coat Systems reveals that Google’s Android platform is quickly becoming a key target for mobile cyber attacks. These cyber criminals are fine-tuning their abilities to compromise the OS’ wide range of flavors,…
Larger-than-usual Patch Tuesday to address 57 security vulnerabilities
- Microsoft’s monthly Patch Tuesday is upon us and this time, Windows users are in store for a much larger batch of fixes than usual. A recent post on Technet highlights the fact that tomorrow’s update will address 57 different security…
Cybercriminals targeting online gamers, by the thousands
- Phishing sites and emails designed to look like official bank notifications are nothing new, but perhaps you should look closer next time you get a suspecting email for your favorite online game. Kaspersky Labs is reporting that during 2012 they…
Adobe issues emergency Flash update, warns of active exploits on Windows and OS X
- Adobe has released a patch for two Flash player vulnerabilities that are being actively exploited against Windows and OS X users to install malware on their systems. The first of them, CVE-2013-0633, works by tricking Windows users into opening a…
Facebook glitch temporarily breaks the web
- Yesterday, an untold number of Internet surfers experienced a glitch which abruptly redirected them from the sanctuary of their favorite websites to a Facebook error page. Websites essentially taken down by this snafu included Hulu, Lifehacker, Washington Post, ESPN, CNN,…
Microsoft and Symantec kill Bamital search hijacking botnet
- In partnership with Symantec, Microsoft has disrupted yet another botnet, marking its sixth takedown in the three years since starting Project MARS (Microsoft Active Response for Security). Called "Bamital," the malware network has evolved into several variations since Symantec began…
Anonymous reveals personal information of 4,000 U.S. bank executives
- Members of the loose knit hacker collective Anonymous have published a spreadsheet that claims to contain personal information on more than 4,000 US bank executives as part of an ongoing campaign called Operation Last Resort. The group’s latest efforts are…
Android malware steals data, records audio via PC microphone
- Two newly-discovered Android apps found on Google Play were designed to spy on their users, claim security experts at Kaspersky. The apps, SuperClean and DroidCleaner, posed as innocuous Android clean-up utilities; however, each app could quietly copy photos, contacts and…
The New York Times believe Chinese military hacked their computers
- A new report from the New York Times claims hackers infiltrated their network for approximately four months, compromising multiple systems and targeting at least one journalist in the process. The paper believes the attacks were politically motivated and may have…
UPnP flaws place millions of networks in danger
- Several security vulnerabilities found within common UPnP implementations have prompted experts at Rapid 7 to recommend the public disable UPnP entirely. Research spanning several months in 2012 revealed that over 2 percent -- or about 50 million -- of all…
Pentagon to quintuple cyber defense personnel
- Although yet to be formally announced, a report by the Washington Post reveals plans by the Department of Defense to bolster its Cyber Command unit. The Pentagon's cyber defense force is currently comprised of roughly 900 military and civilian personnel,…
Skype calls purportedly being tapped, Skype-based malware spreads
- In terms of security, privacy and trust, it looks like 2013 is shaping up to be a tough year for Skype. The latest ding against the Microsoft-owned company comes from Reporters Without Borders' online censorship project leader Grégoire Pouget, who…
Dawson student expelled for exposing software security flaw
- A student from Montreal Dawson College has been expelled from the school with failing grades after exposing a security flaw in a computer system used by a number of Quebec general and vocational colleges. The “sloppy code” found by Ahmed…
Microsoft Security Essentials fails AV-Test certification... again
- Microsoft Security Essentials has once again failed to make the grade for certification at AV-Test, an independent but non-required honor that most anti-virus programs enjoy. By extension, Windows 8's built-in virus protection, Windows Defender, likely suffers the same shortcomings as…
Sprint and T-Mobile issue OTA updates to address Exynos vulnerability
- Two major wireless carriers in the US are now rolling out a patch to fix a security hole in select smartphones and tablets powered by Samsung’s Exynos mobile processor. The exploit is said to create opportunities for attackers to introduce…
USB drives responsible for infecting two US power plants with malware
- The latest quarterly report from the U.S. Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) reveals that control systems at two different power plants in the US were found infected with malware last year. The organization didn’t name which plants…
Most Popular
| Trending | Featured |
-
Microsoft launches YouTube app, Google demands it taken down
-
Nvidia Shield arrives in June for $349, pre-orders open now (update)
-
Bill Gates is once again the richest person in the world
-
Asus' new lineup of Z87 Haswell motherboards revealed
-
Google, NASA join forces to build quantum computing laboratory
Subscribe to TechSpot
Get free exclusive content, learn about new features and breaking tech news.
TechSpot on: