The Hacker News - Cybersecurity News and Analysis

Almost within a year after releasing Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) for macOS computers , Microsoft today announced a public preview of its antivirus software for various Linux distributions, including Ubuntu, RHEL, CentOS and Debian. If this news hasn't gotten you excited yet... Microsoft is also planning to soon release Defender ATP anti-malware apps for smartphones and other devices running Google's Android and Apple's iOS mobile operating systems. "We know our customers' environments are complex and heterogeneous. Providing comprehensive protection across multiple platforms through a single solution and streamlined view is more important than ever," the company said . "Next week at the RSA Conference, we'll provide a preview of our investments in mobile threat defense with the work we're doing to bring our solutions to Android and iOS." I am sure you might have heard this many times that 'Linux doesn&#

Google has banned nearly 600 Android apps from the Play Store for bombarding users with disruptive ads and violating its advertising guidelines. The company categorizes disruptive ads as "ads that are displayed to users in unexpected ways, including impairing or interfering with the usability of device functions," such as a full-screen ad served when attempting to make a phone call. Although Google didn't name the specific apps in question, many of the apps — which had been installed more than 4.5 billion times — primarily targeted English-speaking users and were mainly from developers based in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and India, according to Buzzfeed News. Highlighting that malicious developers are getting "more savvy in deploying and masking disruptive ads," the company said it has developed new counter mechanisms to detect such behavior. Trouble in Google Play Store This is not the first time adware apps have been removed from the Google P

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a large-scale ongoing fraud scheme that lures unsuspecting Russian Internet users with promises of financial rewards to steal their payment card information. According to researchers at Group-IB , the multi-stage phishing attack exploited the credibility of Russian Internet portal Rambler to trick users into participating in a fictitious "Like of the Year 2020" contest. The development is a reminder that rewards-based social engineering campaigns continue to be an effective means to scam users, not to mention the leveraging the collected data to their financial advantage. Under the "Like of the Year" scheme, users were invited to win a large cash prize, telling them they've been randomly selected after liking a post on social media platforms such as VKontakte. The invites were sent via an email blast by hacking the mail servers of a fiscal data operator , which refers to a legal entity created to aggregate, st

Cloud computing and networking are two of the most significant areas of growth in the IT business. Companies need engineers who can maintain distributed software and keep the company connected. If you want to work in either niche, the Essential Cloud & Networking Certification Training Bundle offers 93 hours of essential knowledge. You can pick up all 5 courses now for only $39.99 via the THN Store. This bundle focuses on the key skills and certificates the technical recruiters are currently looking for. It would be best if you came away with the knowledge to ace top exams, and the experience to handle real-world challenges. First up, the CCNA Routing & Switching Training helps you master Cisco networks. Professionals with these skills earn around 9% more on average . The AWS Certified Solutions Architect (Associate) covers the most popular cloud computing platform, showing you how to design, configure, and optimize cloud software. Implementing Microsoft Azure Infr

Adobe today released out-of-band software updates for After Effects and Media Encoder applications that patch a total of two new critical vulnerabilities. Both critical vulnerabilities exist due to out-of-bounds write memory corruption issues and can be exploited to execute arbitrary code on targeted systems by tricking victims into opening a specially crafted file using the affected software. The bug ( CVE-2020-3765 ) in Adobe After Effects, an application for creating motion graphics and special effects used in the video, was discovered by security researcher Matt Powell and reported to Adobe via Trend Micro Zero Day Initiative project. Whereas, the second issue ( CVE-2020-3764 ) affecting Adobe Media Encoder, software for encoding and compressing audio or video files, was discovered by Canadian security researcher Francis Provencher. None of the security vulnerabilities fixed in this batch of Adobe updates were publicly disclosed or found being exploited in the wild, as th

Smart doorbells and cameras bring a great sense of security to your home, especially when you're away, but even a thought that someone could be spying on you through the same surveillance system would shiver up your spine. Following several recent reports of hackers gaining access to people's internet-connected Ring doorbell and security cameras, Amazon yesterday announced to make two-factor authentication security feature mandatory for all Ring users. Until now, enabling the two-factor authentication in Ring devices was optional, which definitely would have prevented most Ring hacks, but of course, many never bothered to enable it. That means, from now onwards, at the time of login after entering the account's username and password, every user needs to input a secret six-digit authentication code sent to them via their phone or email. Two-factor authentication is an effective defense because it acts as a deterrent, preventing unauthorized users from gaining acces

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) earlier today issued a warning to all industries operating critical infrastructures about a new ransomware threat that if left unaddressed could have severe consequences. The advisory comes in response to a cyberattack targeting an unnamed natural gas compression facility that employed spear-phishing to deliver ransomware to the company's internal network, encrypting critical data and knocking servers out of operation for almost two days. "A cyber threat actor used a spear-phishing link to obtain initial access to the organization's information technology network before pivoting to its operational technology network. The threat actor then deployed commodity ransomware to encrypt data for impact on both networks," CISA noted in its alert. As ransomware attacks continue to escalate in frequency and scale , the new development is yet another indication that p