Infosecurity News
UK Ministry of Justice Warning on Parking Fine Scam
There is a current scam campaign in the UK claiming that people are overdue in payment of a parking charge. An email apparently from the Ministry of Justice claims that photographic evidence of the offense is enclosed in an attachment. This, says the police ActionFraud website, "is likely to contain a virus."
Snake Cyber-espionage Campaign Targetting Ukraine is Linked to Russia
BAE Systems has released a major analysis of a long-standing cyber espionage campaign that has all the hallmarks of state-sponsored malware. The malware is sophisticated, covert and persistent, and seems to have been in operation since at least 2005. There has been a major uptick of detections during the Ukrainian crisis.
Naked Videos of Facebook Friends Turn Out to Be Trojans
If Facebook promised you naked videos of your friends, would you click? As much as you may be tempted to find out why your former 8th-grade computer lab partner is sending you a racy video selfie, beware: it is, of course, a scam.
Microsoft's Response Rate to Law Enforcement Requests Stays Steady
Microsoft once again gave up only a small percentage of content data to law enforcement agencies that asked for it in the last six months of 2013. Only 2.32% of requests from police and other organizations globally resulted in disclosure of data regarding specific activities or messaging content, it said.
So Where Are Mt Gox's Stolen Bitcoin Millions?
The question repeatedly asked by the bitcoin community since Mt Gox announced that all of its bitcoins had been stolen by hackers, is where have they gone? While bitcoins do not reveal their owners, their use can be tracked via blockchains – and there has been no sign of their use.
Is Getty's Image Embedding Tool a Trojan Horse?
Getty Images has a reputation for being a copyright maximalist. It has sued breaches of copyright, and lobbied Congress for stricter copyright legislation. So when the world's largest collection of photos – in excess of 80 million still images – declared that many of those images would be available free of charge for non-commercial use, it came as a bit of a surprise: but was widely welcomed.
Europol Urges Caution with Public Wi-Fi
Criminal theft of private data from public Wi-Fi hotspots is not new, but is increasing. The two most prevalent methods are traffic sniffing and man-in-the-middle attacks using a rogue, criminal-controlled hotspot. Talking to the BBC, Europol has warned the public to be ever-vigilant in public places.
Dendroid RAT: the Next Stage of Android Malware Evolution
Close on the heels of the discovery of an Android remote administration tool (RAT) known as AndroRAT – believed to be the first ever malware APK binder – comes a new variant of the idea, dubbed Dendroid.
Stuck in a Jam: Smucker's Suffers Data Breach
For the JM Smucker jam and jelly company, life isn’t so sweet at the moment: attackers have managed to get into the company’s online ordering system, lifting personal information on customers. In the aftermath, the company has shuttered its online store.
Patch Tuesday Preview: March 2014
This month's Patch Tuesday is light, containing just five bulletins. Two are marked critical and three are marked important. One of the critical bulletins addresses Internet Explorer, and is believed to include a fix for the zero-day vulnerability highlighted by FireEye last month. Three fixes require a computer restart; so although light, it will still be a disruptive Patch Tuesday.
Worms and Wildly Insecure Software: The Untold Story of Microsoft Cybersecurity in the Early 2000s
It was post-dot-com bubble and post-Worldcom implosion, and the so-called “telecom winter” was dragging on. In the early 2000s, the communications industry had, in a word, been economically decapitated, and companies were struggling to find a new path to innovation and technology enablement that left old-world ideas behind. Against this backdrop the first tendrils of the web 2.0 economy began to flourish – and with it, came cyber-risks that had never been seen before.
Malvertising Overtakes Porn as Top Mobile Malware Threat
As the adoption of mobile devices continues to grow rapidly and businesses increasingly provide on-the-go access to corporate assets, the mobile malware landscape is evolving to take advantage of mainstream user behavior. In a sign of the times, web ads directing users to malicious sites have eclipsed pornography as the leading source of mobile malware encounters.
Survey Proves Effectiveness of Anti-virus
One of the leading anti-virus test labs, AV Comparatives, has published its fourth annual survey of users.Five thousand eight hundred and forty five users from all around the world responded to the survey, giving a snapshot of browsers, operating systems, and AV products currently being used.
Malwarebytes Moves to Block Android PUPs
Anti-virus firm Malwarebytes has announced that it will now defend Android users against pups, or 'potentially unwanted programs.' "The research team at Malwarebytes has noticed an increasing number of Android PUPs and, as from today, the new version of Anti-Malware Mobile will give people an option to automatically detect and block these," says the announcement.
American Career Aspirations Do Not Include Cybersecurity
The worldwide cybersecurity skills shortage is well-documented; and many countries have developed programs to fill the gap. These programs usually try to instill interest in schools, or tempt IT professionals into a career in security.
Sold-out Tickets to the World Cup, Beyoncé and More! For a Malware Price
There are a number of big artists touring this year, such as Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake and One Direction, and it’s also drawing closer and closer to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Given the marquee nature of the events, people need to be careful when searching the web for tickets to sold-out events.
Cross-platform JRAT Targets UK and UAE Individuals
A new spam campaign delivering a Java remote access trojan (RAT) known as JRAT has been uncovered, with the emails claiming to have attached a payment certificate to the message. The campaign has predominantly affected the UAE and the UK to date and appears to be after specific victims.
Peeling the Onion – Tor's Criminal Content Revealed
Tor was developed to provide internet anonymity to those who need it. But with the Snowden surveillance revelations came an increased interest in and demand for such anonymity – and not surprisingly that includes the criminal element. Malware C&C servers are hosted, illicit trading organizations homed, services hidden and money laundered; all within Tor.
Zeus Trojan Gets Persistent with New Rootkit
The Zeus banking trojan and botnet has had a number of iterations over the years, particularly since the source code was leaked online.
Less than Half of RSA Conference Attendees Think NSA Surveillance is Wrong
Even though Edward Snowden’s revelations about NSA mass surveillance programs have dominated headlines since last year and sparked an ongoing trend toward “transparency” on the part of the tech giants, it turns out that infosecurity professionals aren’t quite as concerned as the general public or some politicians.
