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The amount of malware crafted and aimed at Android devices is ever-increasing. With Android being the most popular platform for smartphones and tablets around the world, Android users have become the low-hanging fruit when it comes to writing malware by the nefarious users. A new Android threat has affected 500,000 devices in China so far. Analysts at TrustGo Security Labs have discovered the Trojan!SMSZombie.A. It is a complex and sophisticated malware that exploits a vulnerability in the China Mobile SMS Payment System to fund unauthorised payments, steal bank card numbers and receipt information regarding money transfers. The trojan is difficult to detect, and even more difficult to remove.  SMSZombieA was first discovered on August 8, and the malware is embedded in several wallpaper apps. The wallpaper apps are noted to use provocative titles and nude images to encourage users to download. The trojan installs itself on a device after its user has downloaded and installed the app

AuthenTec, a leading provider of mobile and network security, today introduced a new security offering that provides military-grade encryption to data stored on today's Android smartphones and tablets without sacrificing device performance. AuthenTec's MatrixDAR(TM) for Android meets the stringent requirements of FIPS 140 certification.  MatrixDAR allows for full disk encryption in both the device and its storage media and incorporates AuthenTec's SafeZone software. This expands the company's security services for data-in-transit over SSL and IPSec connections and data-as-rest stored on a mobile device. It prevents unauthorized access and renders the smartphone or tablet useless if lost or stolen. AuthenTec offers the product for OEMs to directly install on devices, allowing IT departments to avoid installation of separate encryption software. " Our new MatrixDAR offering gives smartphone and tablet OEMs the ability to easily integrate military-grade FIPS 140-cert

To minimize the risk of privilege misuse, a trend in the privileged access management (PAM) solution market involves implementing just-in-time (JIT) privileged access. This approach to  privileged identity management  aims to mitigate the risks associated with prolonged high-level access by granting privileges temporarily and only when necessary, rather than providing users with continuous high-level privileges. By adopting this strategy, organizations can enhance security, minimize the window of opportunity for potential attackers and ensure that users access privileged resources only when necessary.  What is JIT and why is it important?   JIT privileged access provisioning  involves granting privileged access to users on a temporary basis, aligning with the concept of least privilege. This principle provides users with only the minimum level of access required to perform their tasks, and only for the amount of time required to do so. One of the key advantages of JIT provisioning

Security researchers at Kaspersky Lab have discovered five new samples of the ZeuS-in-the-Mobile (ZitMo) malware package, targeting Android and BlackBerry devices. Zitmo (Zeus in the mobile) is the name given to the mobile versions of Zeus, and it's been around for a couple of years already, mostly infecting Android phones. The Zitmo variant has reportedly been operating for at least two years targeting Android phones by masquerading as banking security application or security add-on. ZitMo gets hold of banking information by intercepting all text messages and passing them on to attackers' own devices. It gets onto devices inside malicious applications, which users are duped into downloading. In this case, the malicious app was posing as security software called 'Zertifikat'. Once installed, the packages forward all incoming SMS messages to one of two command and control numbers located in Sweden, with the aim of snaring secure codes and other data. Kaspersky found mobile users

Whenever an important event takes place, new opportunities for cyber criminals, especially for those who develop attacks based on social engineering, arise. Currently, the whole world has its eyes glued to TV screens watching the London 2012 Olympic Games. Anti-malware and anti-virus solutions provider Webroot has issued a warning that an app app called " London Olympics Widget ," which is described as an app that displays aggregated Olympic news coverage. In fact, it's really just harvesting the user's contact list and device ID while reading up on SMS messages too. The package name is 'com.games.London.Olympics.widget'. This app has a digital certificate claiming it was developed in New Delhi, India. For this scam, cybercriminals create websites that are very appealing; some even look very professional that they make it seem that you are close to having access to live programming. Researchers explain that the crooks rely on black hat SEO techniques to make sure t

This Sunday, The Capital , New Delhi plays host to an International The Hackers Conference where blackhat hackers will discuss the challenges of cyber safety with security agencies. Your Smartphone is an always-on and always-connected digital extension of your life which will be used by attackers to covertly steal your sensitive data and spy on you. Mahesh , An Independent Security Researcher and Android Developer/Hacker will demonstrate " Android Spy Agent ". This application allows us to remotely access the entire victim's personal information and even though the confidential data available in the android cell phone. The type of personal information includes the victim's contacts, call logs, messages, browser's history, GPS location and much more information directly available on the victim's cell phone.  Many-a-times we think that is there any way by which we can read the private sms of anyone. So here is the solution Mr. Mahesh will present in The Hack

Android's DNS resolver is vulnerable to DNS poisoning due to weak randomness in its implementation. Researchers Roee Hay & Roi Saltzman from IBM Application Security Research Group demonstrate that how an attacker can successfully guess the nonce of the DNS request with a probability thatis su cient for a feasible attack. Android version 4.0.4 and below are Vulnerable to this bug. Weakness in its pseudo-random number generator (PRNG), which makes DNS poisoning attacks feasible. DNS poisoning attacks may endanger the integrity and con dentiality of the attacked system. For example, in Android, the Browser app can be attacked in order to steal the victim's cookies of a domain of the attacker's choice. If the attacker manages to lure the victim to browse to a web page controlled by him/her, the attacker can use JavaScript, to start resolving non-existing sub-domains. Upon success, a sub-domain points to the attacker's IP, which enables the latter to steal wild card

Four months after the gaming site Gamigo warned users about a hacker intrusion that accessed some portions of its users' credentials, more than 8 million usernames, emails and and encrypted passwords from the site have been published on the Web, according to the data breach alert service PwnedList. The list of passwords, which were scrambled using a one-way cryptographic hash algorithm, were published earlier this month to a forum on the password-cracking website Inside Pro . According to forbe," The list also contained 8.2 million unique e-mail addresses, including 3 million American accounts from the US, 2.4 million accounts from Germany, and 1.3 million accounts from France ." Gamigo warned users in early March that an attack on the Gamigo database had exposed hashed passwords and usernames and possibly other, unspecified additional personal data. The site required users to change their account passwords. PwnedList founder Steve Thomas said, " It's the largest leak I'v

The Biggest Hacking Mania has arrived - ' The Hackers Conference 2012 '.  In this first of its kind conference in India, Blackhat hackers drawn from around the world will demonstrate how they access a victim's personal information, and even confidential data available on the Android cell phone. The conference will be held on July 29 at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. The use of Linux as an operating system is increasing rapidly, thanks partly topopular distributions such as 'RedHat' and 'Suse'. So far, there are very few Linuxfile infectors and they do not pose a big threat yet. However, with more desktopsrunning Linux, and probably more Linux viruses, the Linux virus situation couldbecome a bigger problem. 17 years old hacker, Aneesh Dogra will talk on " How to make a Linux ELF Virus (That works on your latest linux distribution) " at ' The Hackers Conference 2012 ' . Linux or Unix has the reputation of being "not so buggy", and of be

Security firm Zimperium developer of Android app zANTI (Android application Toolkit) now have World Best Hacker " Kevin Mitnick " in their Team. In a Press Release , Itzhak "Zuk" Avraham said " Zimperium is honored and excited to announce our newest member of the advisory board, world renowned hacker Kevin Mitnick.We are thrilled to have Kevin on board and feel that his leadership and consultancy will help Zimperium to get to the next level,through corporate efficiency, brand recognition and better quality solutions for our clients! " Zimperium Ltd. is a privately owned start-up located in Tel Aviv, Israel; whichdesigns and develops cutting edge Intellectual Property in the field ofinformation security and mobile technology. The company was founded in 2010. " Mobile devices are the new target-rich environment. Based on lessons learned in the early days of the personal computer,businesses should adopt a proactive approach to mobile security so they don'

About 20 percent of Microsoft Account logins are found on lists of compromised credentials in the wake of hack attacks on other service providers, Eric Doerr, Group Program Manager for Microsoft's Account system said . A significant proportion of compromised credentials Microsoft sees from other services have the same username and password on the Microsoft account system (formerly Windows Live ID) logins, which cover services such as Hotmail, Messenger and SkyDrive. These logins have not been compromised from the Microsoft server, but are instead based on login information leaked from other sites. " These attacks shine a spotlight on the core issue people reuse passwords between different websites ," he said. Microsoft regularly gets lists of compromised third-party login details from ISPs, law enforcement and vendors, as well as from lists published on the internet by hackers, according to Doerr. This information is checked against Microsoft login details using an auto

The latest release of Google's Android mobile operating system has finally been properly fortified with an industry-standard defense. It's designed to protect end users against hack attacks that install malware on handsets. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean includes several new exploit mitigations and a more extensive implementation of ASLR to help defeat many kinds of exploits. ASLR is an exploit mitigation method that randomizes the positions of key data areas such as libraries, heap, stack, and the base of the executable, in a process's address space, and that makes it near impossible for malware authors and hackers to predict where their malicious payloads will be loaded. " As we mentioned in our previous post on Android ASLR, the executable mapping in the process address space was not randomized in Ice Cream Sandwich, making ROP-style attacks possible using the whole executable as a source of gadgets. In Jelly Bean, most binaries are now compiled/linked with the PIE fla

Phandroid's Android Forums Web site is hacked and user account details stolen, according to a notice posted online. The data includes the user names, e-mail addresses, hashed passwords, and registration IP addresses of the forums' more than 1 million users. If you are one of them, you should change your password: go to your UserCP or use the Forgot your password? . Furthermore, if you use the same e-mail address and password combination elsewhere, you should change it there as well. " I have some unfortunate news to pass along ," the post reads. " Yesterday I was informed by our sever/developer team that the server hosting Androidforums.com was compromised and the website's database was accessed. While the breach is most likely harmless, there are important and potential pitfalls, and we want to provide as much helpful information to our users as possible (without getting too technical). " Phandroid will continue to investigate what happened. The ex

Android Clickjacking Rootkit Demonstrated Mobile security researchers have identified an aspect of Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and earlier models that clickjacking rootkits could exploit. Researchers at NC State in the US have developed a proof-of-concept prototype rootkit that attacks the Android framework and could be used to steal personal information. What is clickjacking? It is a malicious technique that tricks users and is often used to take over computers, web cams, or snag confidential info that is revealed by users who thinks they are on an innocent webpage. Like most Android malware, the rootkit can be distributed as a malicious app, opening up a host of potential vulnerabilities on any device on which it is installed. However, it functions in a different way. The rootkit, which could be bundled with an app and is said to be undetectable by anti-virus packages, would allow an attacker to replace a smartphone's browser with a version that logs key strokes to cap

RiskRanker : A New malware detection technique For many years, mobile security experts have been fighting an uphill battle against malware, which has been steadily and dramatically increasing in both volume and sophistication. Well, NQ Mobile's Mobile Security Research Center, in collaboration with North Carolina State University disclosed a new way to detect mobile threats without relying on known malware samples and their signatures.  " In the current scenario malicious software is present in the market place, ready to create havoc as soon as it is downloaded onto a device. Malware is discovered only after it has done irreversible damage. Existing mobile anti-virus software are inadequate in their reactive nature by relying on known malware samples for signature extraction. RiskRanker crushes the mean motives of the culprit by detecting any malicious content while it is still in the app market ." RiskRanker  is a unique analysis system that can automatically detect

zAnti Pentester's Worldcup tournament open for Hackers Today is a great day to be a security enthusiastic since Zimperium kicked off the first ever penetration testing tournament. — Welcome to the Pentester's Worldcup ! Zimperium , a mobile security software start-up was founded by Itzhak " Zuk " Avraham, a world-renowned white-hat hacker, in 2011. The Pentester's World Cup is part of Zimperium's efforts to increase awareness about mobile security, and simultaneously enhance the security of its range of award-winning products. You may recall Anti, The first comprehensive Penetration Testing software offered on Smartphones, Zimperium created a killer mobile app that is so simple to use, any technical person is able to perform pentest on his network to get status of which devices that are attached to the network are vulnerable, what ports are opened and additional information that is a must have for anyone who cares about the safety on his network. Last year at DEFCON, Avraham, also

Researchers bypass Google Bouncer Android Security Google's Android platform has become the most popular mobile operating system both among consumers and malware writers, and the company earlier this year introduced the Bouncer system to look for malicious apps in the Google Play market. Bouncer, which checks for malicious apps and known malware, is a good first step, but as new work from researchers Jon Oberheide and Charlie Miller shows, it can be bypassed quite easily and in ways that will be difficult for Google to address in the long term. Bouncer is an automated process that scans apps for known malware, spyware, and Trojans, and looks for suspicious behaviors and compares them against previously analyzed apps. If malicious code or behavior is detected, the app is flagged for manual confirmation that it is malware. " This screencast shows our submitted app handing us a connect-back shell on the Bouncer infrastructure so that we can explore and fingerprint its envir

Bogus Facebook apps spreading Android malware Third-party Android markets have traditionally been the main source of infection since the Android boom, as they are less strict than the genuine Play when it comes to bouncing malware. Today Gmanetwork reports that, Users of mobile devices running Google's Android OS were warned over the weekend against a new fake app of the social networking giant that may lead to potential Android malware. These duplicated applications have the same behavior as their original counterparts (in terms of functionality), but they perform a http 302 redirect to another link, that's not Facebook-related, when they detect mobile traffic. What's most concerning is that many of the fake app-based malwares in circulation have purported to be legitimate copies of some of the most popular titles around. No sooner were Android users on red alert for a dodgy Angry Birds Space app, were they informed of a phony Instagram app wreaking havoc through some of the

The Revolution from Cyber Terrorist attack to Indian Cyber Security Cyber attack has put our lives in danger every second. The cyber attacks are becoming the root cause of the mishappenings around us every other day. As the next generation wars are increasing depending on robust and secure information systems networks, it is imperative for a country to invest in building a reliable infrastructure. As the next generation wars are increasing depending on robust and secure information systems networks, it is imperative for a country to invest in building a reliable infrastructure. Increasing attacks on cyberspace in India has brought several professionals and experts from the Industry, in support with the last week, India's Defense Minister, AK Antony,   announced   an additional $1.3 Billion will be invested in the project making the grand total to a $3.1 Billion.  It is observed that many Electronic Notification is usually sent before a major terrorist attack, followed by defacement

' The Hackers Conference 2012 ' to be held in New Delhi The Biggest Hacking Mania has arrived. The Hackers Conference 2012 will be held in New Delhi on July 29. THC 2012 is expected to be the first open gathering of Blackhat hackers in India who will debate latest security issues with the top itelligence echolons in India. The Registrations and Call for papers for the conference are now open. The organizers have deicded to keep the number of seats to limited to ensure quality of the conference. The conference will be held at the India Habitat Center on July 29th. The Hackers Conference will see a galaxy of renowned speakers presenting 0-Day Vulnerabilities, Exploits and Android/Blackberry/iPhone Hacks. Apart from Speakers presenting on WI-FI and Web Application Security the Special invitees from government Intelligence agencies will also speak on National Security Issues emerging from Scada Hacking. The conference has sent special invites to Blackhat hackers to come and

Android Malware and Corporate Networks Security A new Android Trojan dubbed " NotCompatible " is being spread through compromised Web sites. This may directly affect Android tablets and smartphones, along with being a potential risk hazard to corporate networks and their security. Kevin Mahaffrey is co-founder and CTO of a San Francisco based firm called Lookout Security. The main focus of the company is Android and during their investigations it was found there was a new malware out there. Called " NotCompatible " the Android malware is, according to Mahaffrey, a risk to corporate networks. According to their report, a hacked Web site would contain a hidden iFrame at the bottom of the page. When the Android browser loads the page, it will attempt to load the file in the hidden iFrame. Upon loading the file, the browser would transfer control to the app loader, which would display an application installation screen, with the header com.Security.Update. An unsuspecting us