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iPhone Instagram users vulnerable to hackers

iPhone Instagram users vulnerable to hackers

Dec 03, 2012
Instagram - Facebook's popular photo sharing app for iOS, is currently has a vulnerability that could make your account susceptible to hackers. A security researcher Carlos Reventlov  published on Friday another attack on Facebook's Instagram photo-sharing service that could allow a hacker to seize control of a victim's account. " The Instagram app communicates with the Instagram API via HTTP and HTTPs connections. Highly sensitive activities, such as login and editing profile data, are sent through a secure channel. However, some other request are sent through plain HTTP without a signature, those request could be exploited by an attacker connected to the same LAN of the victim's iPhone. " Vulnerability Details --   The vulnerability is in the 3.1.2 version of Instagram's application, which is  susceptible to "eavesdropping and man in the middle attacks that could lead an evil user to delete photos and download private media without the victim's con
Narilam malware target Iran Financial SQL Databases

Narilam malware target Iran Financial SQL Databases

Nov 27, 2012
Symantec recently identified a database-corrupting piece of malware targeting systems mostly in Iran, but despite early speculation that it could be related to the likes of Stuxnet and Flame, it appears to be targeting small businesses rather than the country's infrastructure. Malware Dubbed W32.Narilam , is predominantly active in the Middle East, and it has also been detected in the USA and UK. The worm looks for particular words in Microsoft SQL databases and overwrites them. The worm specifically targets SQL databases with three distinct names, alim, maliran, and shahd. Once the targeted databases are found, Narilam looks for specific objects and tables and either deletes the tables or replaces items with random values. On Monday an alert was published on tarrahsystem.com warning of the W32.Narilam threat to its customers. The bulk of the infections thus far have been found in the Middle East, particularly Iran and Afghanistan. Kaspersky Lab took issue with repo
Code Keepers: Mastering Non-Human Identity Management

Code Keepers: Mastering Non-Human Identity Management

Apr 12, 2024DevSecOps / Identity Management
Identities now transcend human boundaries. Within each line of code and every API call lies a non-human identity. These entities act as programmatic access keys, enabling authentication and facilitating interactions among systems and services, which are essential for every API call, database query, or storage account access. As we depend on multi-factor authentication and passwords to safeguard human identities, a pressing question arises: How do we guarantee the security and integrity of these non-human counterparts? How do we authenticate, authorize, and regulate access for entities devoid of life but crucial for the functioning of critical systems? Let's break it down. The challenge Imagine a cloud-native application as a bustling metropolis of tiny neighborhoods known as microservices, all neatly packed into containers. These microservices function akin to diligent worker bees, each diligently performing its designated task, be it processing data, verifying credentials, or
Hacking United States politics and why India and China won the election

Hacking United States politics and why India and China won the election

Nov 14, 2012
Paul F Renda  going to begin a series on hacking the politics in the united states and why India and china won the past Presidential election. This eclectic hacker look will use partial differential equations, game theory, the prisoner's dilemma, and fractals. I am going to show unequivalently that the true winner of the election is the expanding middle class in India and China. The losers are the middle class in the United States and, in particular, 19–34-year-old. Sometimes in history a confluence of unusual events occur every 100 years or 1,000 years; this is such a time. Dorothy, fasten your seatbelt. It is going to be a bumpy ride: You are not in Kansas anymore. In order for me to talk about politics and the election, I first have to introduce the Curley effect. This concept was developed by using empirical data and partial differential equations. It is mathematically sound, and mathematics is the language of the universe. I have copied the abstract and second paragraph of
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WATCH: The SaaS Security Challenge in 90 Seconds

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Discover how you can overcome the SaaS security challenge by securing your entire SaaS stack with SSPM.
Cyber Espionage Campaign Targets Israel and Palestine

Cyber Espionage Campaign Targets Israel and Palestine

Nov 12, 2012
Multiple malware attacks against both Israeli and Palestinian systems, likely to be coming from the same source, have been seen over the last year. Researchers in Norway have uncovered evidence of a vast Middle Eastern espionage network that for the past year has deployed malicious software to spy on Israeli and Palestinian targets. Israel has banned its police force from connecting to the Internet and from using memory sticks or disks in an effort to curb a cyberattack. The ban, enacted last week, is meant to prevent a malware program called Benny Gantz-55 named after Benny Gantz, Israel's Chief of General Staff from infecting the police's computer network  Trend Micro has obtained samples of malware implicated in a recent incident, The attack began with a spammed message purporting to come from the head of the Israel Defense Forces, Benny Gatz. The From field has the email address, bennygantz59(at)gmail.com and bore the subject IDF strikes militants in Gaza Strip following
New Dead drop techniques used by Security Agencies

New Dead drop techniques used by Security Agencies

Nov 09, 2012
Paul F Renda give an overview that, What and how new long distance and short distance Dead drop techniques are used by National Security Agency for secure communications. What is a dead drop? It is methods that spies use or have used to communicate with associates who have information for them. The dead drop allows them to exchange information without having actual physical contact with each other. The person leaving the information can leave it under a rock or a can or bush. A special type of empty spikes that can be dropped into holes has also been used drop information. The person leaving the information also leaves some kind of signal the drop was made. The signal could be a chalk marks on a tree or pavement. Someone views the signal and retrieves information. Some more unusual dead drops have used dead animals like rabbits, rats and large birds to hide the information. These have been used by both the CIA and KGB. The one problem with this type of dead drop is that other
Israel preparing their Cyber Army under Unit 8200

Israel preparing their Cyber Army under Unit 8200

Nov 05, 2012
The Israeli military has set plans to boost its cyber warfare capabilities with a better Cyber Army by expand its Unit 8200. " It has become clear that the demand for soldiers in this field is growing, which is why we're searching for solutions not only in Israel but abroad as well ," a top officer in the Manpower Directorate. Unit 8200, Israel's equivalent to the NSA, is undergoing a massive expansion. The U.S. Army ad slogan may be: " The Army needs a few good men ." But IDF Unit 8200′s slogan is: " The IDF needs a few good hackers ." Actually not a few, more like hundreds if not thousands. The disclosure comes amid recent reports that the Israeli army is working to enhance its cyber-warfare abilities. Military intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi is slated to invest 2 billion shekels (525 million U.S. dollars) to that end in the coming years. " The military officials are tasked to track "young computer geniuses" and persuade them to immigrate to Israel for
Security weakness in Android App SSL Implementations

Security weakness in Android App SSL Implementations

Oct 19, 2012
The most common approach to protect data during communication on the Android platform is to use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols. Thousands of applications in the Google Play market that are using these implementations. A group of researchers including Sascha Fahl, Marian Harbach, Thomas Muders, Matthew Smith from Distributed Computing & Security Group - Leibniz University of Hannover, Hannover, Germany and Lars Baumgärtner, Bernd Freisleben from Department of Math. & Computer Science - Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany, have presented a paper that  most of these applications contain serious mistakes in the way that SSL/TLS is implemented, that leaving them vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks that could compromise sensitive user data such as banking credentials, credit card numbers and other information. Tests performed on 100 selected apps confirmed that 41 of them were vulnerable to known attacks.  The
Google Warning about New State Sponsored Attacks

Google Warning about New State Sponsored Attacks

Oct 03, 2012
" Warning: We believe state-sponsored attackers may be attempting to compromise your account or computer ." From last 3 months Google users were surprised to see this unusual notification at the top of their Gmail inbox, Google home page or Chrome browser. These warnings are not being shown because Google's internal systems have been compromised or because of a particular attack. " The company said that since it started alerting users to malicious probably state-sponsored activity on their computers in June, it has picked up thousands more instances of cyberattacks than it anticipated. "  NYtimes said. Google will now start sending out these messages to tens of thousands more people, as its methods for detecting suspicious activity have improved. Mike Wiacek, a manager on Google's information security team, said that since then, Google has improved its knowledge on attack methods and the groups behind them, and has started pushing out new alerts on Tuesday - as evidenced b
Cyber Attacks on Six Major American Banks

Cyber Attacks on Six Major American Banks

Oct 01, 2012
According to reports, some of the United States biggest financial institutions  including Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Bancorp were hit by a series of cyber attacks last week, by a group claiming Middle Eastern ties, that caused Internet blackouts and delays in online banking. The banks suffered denial-of-service attacks, in which hackers barrage a website with traffic until it is overwhelmed and shuts down. Such attacks, while a nuisance, are not technically sophisticated and do not affect a company's computer network or, in this case, funds or customer bank accounts. Hacktivists, calling themselves " Mrt. Izz ad-Din alQasssam Cyber Fighters ," attacked Wells Fargo and posted on Pastebin that U.S. Bancorp and PNC Financial Services Group are next. The group said it had attacked the banks in retaliation for an anti-Islam video that mocks the Prophet Muhammad. It also pledged to continue to attack American credit and financial instit
Oracle Database stealth password cracking vulnerability

Oracle Database stealth password cracking vulnerability

Sep 20, 2012
Oracle suffered with serious vulnerability in the authentication protocol used by some Oracle databases. This Flaw enable a remote attacker to brute-force a token provided by the server prior to authentication and determine a user's password. A researcher - Esteban Martinez Fayo, a researcher with AppSec tomorrow will demonstrate a proof-of-concept attack. Martinez Fayo and his team first reported the bugs to Oracle in May 2010. Oracle fixed it in mid-2011 via the 11.2.0.3 patch set, issuing a new version of the protocol. " But they never fixed the current version, so the current 11.1 and 11.2 versions are still vulnerable ," Martinez Fayo says, and Oracle has no plans to fix the flaws for version 11.1. The first step in the authentication process when a client contacts the database server is for the server to send a session key back to the client, along with a salt. The vulnerability enables an attacker to link a specific session key with a specific password hash. Th
Bank of America Website under Cyber Attack from Islamic Hackers

Bank of America Website under Cyber Attack from Islamic Hackers

Sep 19, 2012
Bank of America's website experienced periodic outages Tuesday due to cyber attacks launched in retaliation for " Innocence of Muslims ," the amateurish film whose mocking portrait of the Prophet Muhammad has incited deadly riots throughout the Middle East. " Cyber fighters of Izz ad-din Al qassam " said it would attack the Bank of America and the New York Stock Exchange as a "first step" in a campaign against properties of " American-Zionist Capitalists ." " After Successful attack to YouTube Servers in recent days made by Muslims around the world, many groups announce that they are ready to do similar attacks.When supporter of that sacrilegious movie try to punish the cast and crew, the publisher included, this story will end until that time these kinds of Cyber Attacks will be continued and the Cyber world will be an unsafe place for all of Enemies of Islam. " Hackers posted on their blog . People around the country reported on
Anonymous member Barrett Brown Arrested by FBI

Anonymous member Barrett Brown Arrested by FBI

Sep 13, 2012
Anonymous hacker Barrett Brown was arrested by the FBI last night, his apartment raided while he was in the middle of a live TinyChat session. For those that may not be familiar with Brown, he came to some notoriety last year for allegedly mounting an operation against the Zeta drug cartel in Mexico after they had kidnapped a member of Anonymous. Brown claimed to hold the names of 75 Zeta collaborators, which he threatened to release to the press unless the Anon member was set free. Brown is the founder of Project PM and has worked closely with the Anonymous hacker collective on several past operations. This is not the first time that Barrett Brown's home has been raided. Six months ago the FBI came knocking on Brown's door and confiscated his laptop, but no charges were filed against him. That incident followed the arrest of then-LulzSec leader Sabu, or rather Hector Xavier Monsegur, who then turned informant in exchange for leniency, although it's also been suggested that Sabu was
Iran still on target of 'Mahdi' malware after detection

Iran still on target of 'Mahdi' malware after detection

Sep 03, 2012
In JULY Kaspersky Lab and Seculert revealed the presence of a new cyber-espionage weapon known targeting users in the Middle East. Despite the recent uncovering of the 'Madhi' malware that has infected several hundred computers in the Middle East, researchers say the virus is continuing to spread. The malware, known as 'Mahdi' or 'Madi', was originally discovered by Seculert. In addition to stealing data from infected Windows computers, it is also capable of monitoring email and instant messages, recording audio, capturing keystrokes and taking screenshots of victims' computers. Working together, researchers at Seculert and Kaspersky sinkholed the malware's command and control servers and monitored the campaign. What they found was a targeted attack that impacted more than 800 victims in Iran, Israel and other countries from around the globe. Israeli security company Seculert said it had identified about 150 new victims over the past six weeks as deve
How Hacker culture contributed to rise of United States economy

How Hacker culture contributed to rise of United States economy

Sep 03, 2012
How Hacker culture has contributed to the rise of the United States economy and one possible reason why it is now in decline…   by  Paul F. Renda,  Author at  The Hacker News Magazine This article is about how hacker culture has benefited the economy of the United States. It represents the creative, ingenious and innovative ideas that characterize the U.S. Also, how this sub-culture was created by the first US hacker Benjamin Franklin... Countries of the world marveled at The United States and its innovation, creativity, devices, ideas, gadgets and large middle-class. This innovation comes from the culture of a specific group. We have a hacker type culture, and when I say hacker type culture, it's not just a culture of hacking computers and electronic components, but a culture of hacking (reverse engineering) whatever innovative idea or high technology of the time. The high technology of Franklin's era could be farm implements, stoves (Franklin), light bulbs, steam engines, telephon
Kaspersky Labs uncover 'Gauss' Espionage Malware hits Middle East banks

Kaspersky Labs uncover 'Gauss' Espionage Malware hits Middle East banks

Aug 10, 2012
A new cyber surveillance virus has been found in the Middle East that can spy on banking transactions and steal login and passwords, according Kaspersky Lab , a leading computer security firm. After Stuxnet, Duqu, and Flame, this one seems to mainly spy on computer users in Lebanon. It's been dubbed Gauss (although Germanic-linguistic purists will no doubt be complaining that it should be written Gauß). Gauss is a complex cyber-espionage toolkit, highly modular and supports new functions which can be deployed remotely by the operators in the form of plugins. The currently known plugins perform the following functions: Intercept browser cookies and passwords. Harvest and send system configuration data to attackers. Infect USB sticks with a data stealing module. List the content of the system drives and folders Steal credentials for various banking systems in the Middle East. Hijack account information for social network, email and IM accounts. The researchers at Russia-based Ka
Flame Malware Spread Via Rogue Microsoft Security Certificates

Flame Malware Spread Via Rogue Microsoft Security Certificates

Jun 04, 2012
Flame Malware Spread Via Rogue Microsoft Security Certificates Microsoft released an emergency Windows update on Sunday after revealing that one of its trusted digital signatures was being abused to certify the validity of the Flame malware that has infected computers in Iran and other Middle Eastern Countries. The patch revoked three intermediate Microsoft certificates used in active attacks to "spoof content, perform phishing attacks, or perform man-in-the-middle attacks".Microsoft also killed off certificates that were usable for code signing via Microsoft's Terminal Services licensing certification authority (CA) that ultimately "chained up" to the Microsoft Root Authority.The authority issued certificates for users to authorise Remote Desktop services in their enterprises. The Microsoft blog post explains that a vulnerability in an old cryptography algorithm is exploited by some elements of Flame to make them appear as if they originated from Microsoft. Most systems around t
#Flame Malware - 21st Century Massive cyber attack on Iran

#Flame Malware - 21st Century Massive cyber attack on Iran

May 30, 2012
Flame Malware - 21st Century Massive cyber attack on Iran A massive, highly sophisticated piece of malware has been newly found infecting systems in Iran and elsewhere and is believed to be part of a well-coordinated, ongoing, state-run cyber-espionage operation. The Flame computer virus not only stole large quantities of information from various Iranian government agencies, but apparently even disrupted its oil exports by shutting down oil terminals, information security firm Symantec Israel said yesterday. The Flame virus recently found in Iran could be used to infect other countries, according to the International Telecommunications Union. As the United Nations agency charged with helping members protect their data networks, the ITU plans to issue a warning about the danger of Flame. Iran's National Computer Emergency Response Team (Maher) said in a statement that the detection and clean-up tool was finished in early May and is now ready for distribution to organisations a
GFI WebMonitor - Web monitoring and Security

GFI WebMonitor - Web monitoring and Security

May 20, 2012
GFI WebMonitor - Web monitoring and Security With all the threats that Internet access can present to your users and your data, web security software is one of the most valuable investments you can make in your information security. Any solution should offer the following key protections: 1.       Site blocking 2.       Antivirus 3.       Reporting and logging GFI WebMonitor offers all that and more. GFI WebMonitor Unified Security includes both the web filtering and anti-malware capabilities, and can be installed as a standalone server or as an add-on to ISA or TMG. This web security suite can be installed on its own server or as a plug-in for TMG, and GFI offers a free 30-day-trial so you can evaluate it risk-free. Installation:  The installer for the TMG plug-in is straight-forward only requires a service restart, not a reboot. During the installation, you can choose to enable the optional HTTPS traffic inspection, which functions by dynamically creating certificates and acting a
WebSploit Toolkit 1.6 Released

WebSploit Toolkit 1.6 Released

Apr 28, 2012
WebSploit Is An Open Source Project For Scan And Analysis Remote System From Vulnerability Description : [+]Autopwn - Used From Metasploit For Scan and Exploit Target Service [+]wmap - Scan,Crawler Target Used From Metasploit wmap plugin [+]format infector - inject reverse & bind payload into file format [+]phpmyadmin - Search Target phpmyadmin login page [+]lfi - Scan,Bypass local file inclusion Vulnerability & can be bypass some WAF [+]apache users - search server username directory (if use from apache webserver) [+]Dir Bruter - brute target directory with wordlist [+]admin finder - search admin & login page of target [+]MLITM Attack - Man Left In The Middle, XSS Phishing Attacks [+]MITM - Man In The Middle Attack [+]Java Applet Attack - Java Signed Applet Attack [+]MFOD Attack Vector - Middle Finger Of Doom Attack Vector [+]USB Infection Attack - Create Executable Backdoor For Infect USB For Windows Download WebSploit Toolkit V.1.6
zDefender - Enterprise smartphone IDS/IPS released by Zimperium

zDefender - Enterprise smartphone IDS/IPS released by Zimperium

Apr 20, 2012
zDefender - Enterprise smartphone IDS/IPS released by Zimperium Do you recall the security firm Zimperium which came out with ANTI , the killer Android app that allowed even the clueless to hack and pwn like a pentester? Zimperium, an Israeli security start up founded by Zuk Avraham, a world-renowned hacker and security researcher, has debuted its latest product, the zDefender at DEMO in Santa Clara, California. Called zDefender , this product can detect malicious attacks and take proactive measures to reduce threats via automatic preventive traffic filters and a remote management console. With the onslaught of mobile malware, everyone should have antivirus up and running immediately after purchasing a smartphone. You'd think you were protected from various attacks like man in the middle (MITM) attacks ? At DEMO Spring 2012 , Zuk planted 2 Routers, providing 3 Access points, which have claimed about 3,000 mobile device victims so far. zDefender is able to do this by using Zimpe
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