Microsoft Windows 10 | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

An anonymous hacker with an online alias "SandboxEscaper" today released proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit code for a new zero-day vulnerability affecting Windows 10 operating system—that's his/her 5th publicly disclosed Windows zero-day exploit [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] in less than a year. Published on GitHub , the new Windows 10 zero-day vulnerability is a privilege escalation issue that could allow a local attacker or malware to gain and run code with administrative system privileges on the targeted machines, eventually allowing the attacker to gain full control of the machine. The vulnerability resides in Task Scheduler, a utility that enables Windows users to schedule the launch of programs or scripts at a predefined time or after specified time intervals. SandboxEscaper's exploit code makes use of SchRpcRegisterTask, a method in Task Scheduler to register tasks with the server, which doesn't properly check for permissions and can, therefore, be used to set an arb...

Yes, you heard me right. Microsoft is taking another step forward to show its love for Linux and open source community by shipping a full Linux kernel in Windows 10 this summer. No, that doesn't mean Microsoft is making its Windows 10 a Linux distro, but the company will begin to ship an in-house custom built Linux kernel later this year starting with the Windows 10 Insider builds. Microsoft announced the move in a blog post while unveiling Windows Subsystem for Linux version 2.0 (or WSL 2 ) that will feature "dramatic file system performance increases" and support more Linux apps like Docker. So, to support this entirely new architecture for the WSL 2, Windows 10 will have its own Linux kernel. Although this is not the first time Microsoft has shipped a Linux kernel as the company has already shipped its own custom Linux kernel on Azure Sphere  last year, this is the first time a Linux kernel is shipped with Windows. Unlike Windows Subsystem for Linux version...

Vulnerability Management (VM) has long been a cornerstone of organizational cybersecurity. Nearly as old as the discipline of cybersecurity itself, it aims to help organizations identify and address potential security issues before they become serious problems. Yet, in recent years, the limitations of this approach have become increasingly evident.  At its core, Vulnerability Management processes remain essential for identifying and addressing weaknesses. But as time marches on and attack avenues evolve, this approach is beginning to show its age. In a recent report, How to Grow Vulnerability Management into Exposure Management (Gartner, How to Grow Vulnerability Management Into Exposure Management, 8 November 2024, Mitchell Schneider Et Al.), we believe Gartner® addresses this point precisely and demonstrates how organizations can – and must – shift from a vulnerability-centric strategy to a broader Exposure Management (EM) framework. We feel it's more than a worthwhile read an...

FireEye today released Commando VM , which according to the company, is a "first of its kind Windows-based security distribution for penetration testing and red teaming." When it comes to the best-operating systems for hackers, Kali Linux is always the first choice for penetration testers and ethical hackers. However, Kali is a Linux-based distribution, and using Linux without learning some basics is not everyone's cup of tea as like Windows or macOS operating systems. Moreover, if you are wondering why there is no popular Windows-based operating system for hackers? First, because Windows is not open-source and second, manually installing penetration testing tools on Windows is pretty problematic for most users. To help researchers and cyber security enthusiasts, cybersecurity firm FireEye today released  an automated installer called  Commando VM. But don't get confused with its name. Commando VM is not a pre-configured snapshot of a virtual machine ima...

A new reminder for those who are still holding on to the Windows 7 operating system—you have one year left until Microsoft ends support for its 9-year-old operating system. So it's time for you to upgrade your OS and say goodbye to Windows 7, as its five years of extended support will end on January 14, 2020—that's precisely one year from today. After that date, the tech giant will no longer release free security updates, bug fixes and new functionalities for the operating system that's still widely used by people, which could eventually leave a significant number of users more susceptible to malware attacks. However, the end of free support doesn't end Windows 7 support for big business and enterprise customers. As always, Microsoft does make exceptions for certain companies that are willing to pay a lot of money to continue their support. According to a 'Death of Windows 7' report from content delivery firm Kollective, as many as 43% of enterprises ...

Microsoft silently patched a bug in its Windows 10 operating system with the October 2018 update (version 1809) that allowed Microsoft Store apps with extensive file system permission to access all files on users' computers without their consent. With Windows 10, Microsoft introduced a common platform, called Universal Windows Platform (UWP), that allows apps to run on any device running Windows 10, including desktop PC, Xbox, IoT, Surface Hub, and Mixed-reality headset. UWP apps have the ability to access certain API, files like pictures, music, or devices like camera and microphone, by declaring required permissions in their package manifest (configuration) file. By default, UWP apps have access to directories, where the app is installed on the users' system and where the app can store data (local, roaming and temporary folders). However, to access other files on a system, including sensitive resources, Microsoft offers several types of capabilities that an applicati...

A security researcher has publicly disclosed the details of a previously unknown zero-day vulnerability in the Microsoft's Windows operating system that could help a local user or malicious program obtain system privileges on the targeted machine. And guess what? The zero-day flaw has been confirmed working on a "fully-patched 64-bit Windows 10 system." The vulnerability is a privilege escalation issue which resides in the Windows' task scheduler program and occured due to errors in the handling of Advanced Local Procedure Call (ALPC) systems. Advanced local procedure call (ALPC) is an internal mechanism, available only to Windows operating system components, that facilitates high-speed and secure data transfer between one or more processes in the user mode. The revelation of the Windows zero-day came earlier today from a Twitter user with online alias SandboxEscaper, who also posted a link to a Github page hosting a proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit for the ...

A critical vulnerability has been discovered in Credential Security Support Provider protocol (CredSSP) that affects all versions of Windows to date and could allow remote attackers to exploit RDP and WinRM to steal data and run malicious code. CredSSP protocol has been designed to be used by RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and Windows Remote Management (WinRM) that takes care of securely forwarding credentials encrypted from the Windows client to the target servers for remote authentication. Discovered by researchers at Cybersecurity firm Preempt Security, the issue (CVE-2018-0886) is a logical cryptographic flaw in CredSSP that can be exploited by a man-in-the-middle attacker with Wi-Fi or physical access to the network to steal session authentication data and perform a Remote Procedure Call attack. When a client and server authenticate over RDP and WinRM connection protocols, a man-in-the-middle attacker can execute remote commands to compromise enterprise networks. "A...

Microsoft is making every effort to make its Windows 10 Fall Creators Update bigger than ever before by beefing up its security practices and hardening it against hackers and cyber attacks in its next release. Microsoft is finally adding one of the much-requested features to Windows 10: Pin and Password recovery option directly from the lock screen. Yes, the next big update of Windows 10, among other features, will allow you to recover your forgotten pin and password, allowing you to reset your Windows password directly from the lock screen. In Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, you will see "Reset password" or "I forgot my PIN" options on the login screen along with the sign-in box, mspoweruser confirmed . Once you click on the option, Windows 10 will take you to the OOBE where Cortana will help you reset your password, after you successfully verify your identity using either your secondary email, your phone number, or Microsoft Authenticator. A veri...

Vulnerabilities discovered in Microsoft PatchGuard kernel protection could allow hackers to plant rootkits on computers running the company's latest and secure operating system, Windows 10. Researchers at CyberArk Labs have developed a new attack technique which could allow hackers to completely bypass PatchGuard, and hook a malicious kernel code (rootkits) at the kernel level. PatchGuard, or (or Kernel Patch Protection) is a software tool that has been designed to forbid the kernel of 64-bit versions of Windows OS from being patched, preventing hackers from running rootkits or executing malicious code at the kernel level. Dubbed GhostHook , the attack is what the CyberArk Labs researchers call the first attack technique that thwarts the defensive technology to bypass PatchGuard, though it requires a hacker to already be present on a compromised system and running code in the kernel. So, basically, this is a post-exploitation attack. "[GhostHook] is neither an ...

China is very strict about censorship, which is why the country has become very paranoid when it comes to adopting foreign technologies. The country banned Microsoft's Windows operating system on government computers in 2014 amid concerns about security and US surveillance. Even in the wake of that, China had been pushing its custom version of Windows XP and its forked version of Ubuntu Linux . To deal with this issue and target the world's largest market, Microsoft's CEO for the Greater China region last year confirmed that the company was working on a Chinese version of Windows 10 that included "more management and security controls" and less bloatware. Now, Microsoft has just announced a new version of its Windows 10, which is now ready for Chinese government agencies to use. In its event in Shanghai on Tuesday, Microsoft announced Windows 10 China Government Edition specifically designed for the Chinese government.The OS is based on Windows 1...

Since the launch of Windows 10, there has been widespread concern about its data collection practices , mostly because Microsoft has been very secretive about the telemetry data it collects. Now, this is going to be changed, as Microsoft wants to be more transparent on its diagnostics data collection practices. Till now there are three options ( Basic, Enhanced, Full ) for Windows 10 users to select from under its diagnostics data collection section, with no option for users to opt out of sending their data to Microsoft. Also, the company has never said precisely what data it collects behind these options, which raised huge privacy concerns among privacy-conscious users. But now for the first time, Microsoft has revealed what data Windows 10 is collecting from your computer with the release of the Windows 10 Creators Update , bringing an end to nearly two years of its mysterious data collection practices . The Windows 10 Creators Update, which will be available from Apri...

Last weekend a security researcher publically disclosed a zero-day vulnerability in Windows 10, Windows 8.1 and Server editions after Microsoft failed to patch it in the past three months. The zero-day memory corruption flaw resides in the implementation of the SMB (server message block) network file sharing protocol that could allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to crash systems with denial of service attack, which would then open them to more possible attacks. According to US-CERT, the vulnerability could also be exploited to execute arbitrary code with Windows kernel privileges on vulnerable systems, but this has not been confirmed right now by Microsoft. Without revealing the actual scope of the vulnerability and the kind of threat the exploit poses, Microsoft has just downplayed the severity of the issue, saying: "Windows is the only platform with a customer commitment to investigate reported security issues, and proactively update impacted devices as soon as ...

Cyber security is a major challenge in today's world, as cyber attacks have become more automated and difficult to detect, where traditional cyber security practices and systems are no longer sufficient to protect businesses, governments, and other organizations. In past few years, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning had made a name for itself in the field of cyber security, helping IT and security professionals more efficiently and quickly identify risks and anticipate problems before they occur. The good news is that if you are a Windows 10 user, Microsoft will now offer you a machine learning based threat intelligence feature via its inbuilt Windows security service, which will improve the security capabilities available on Windows 10 devices. But, the bad news is that it is not free. The company is offering this "differentiated intelligence" feature on its newly added service to Windows 10, dubbed Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (WDAT...

You won't believe your eyes while reading this, but this is true. Microsoft just joined the Linux Foundation as a high-paying Platinum member. Microsoft's love with open source community is embracing as time passes. At its first Connect event in 2013, the company launched Visual Studio 2013. A year later, Microsoft open sourced .NET, and last year, it open sourced the Visual Studio Code Editor, as well. Not just that, Microsoft partnered with Canonical to bring Ubuntu on Windows 10 , worked with FreeBSD to develop a Virtual Machine image for its Azure cloud , and chosen Ubuntu as the OS for its Cloud-based Big Data services. And the big news for this year is… At its 2016 Connect developer event in New York today, Microsoft announced that the company is joining the Linux Foundation as a Platinum member – the highest level of membership, which costs $500,000 annually. Besides this, Microsoft also announced that tech giant Google has also joined on with the indepen...

Guess what? If you own a Windows PC, which is fully-patched, attackers can still hack your computer. Isn't that scary? Well, definitely for most of you. Security researchers have discovered a new technique that could allow attackers to inject malicious code on every version of Microsoft's Windows operating system, even Windows 10, in a manner that no existing anti-malware tools can detect, threaten millions of PCs worldwide. Dubbed " AtomBombing ," the technique does not exploit any vulnerability but abuses a designing weakness in Windows. New Code Injection Attack helps Malware Bypass Security Measures AtomBombing attack abuses the system-level Atom Tables, a feature of Windows that allows applications to store information on strings, objects, and other types of data to access on a regular basis. And since Atom are shared tables, all sorts of applications can access or modify data inside those tables. You can read a more detailed explanation of Atom T...

We have heard a lot about privacy concerns surrounding Windows 10 and accusations on Microsoft of collecting too much data about users without their consent. Now, the French data protection authority has ordered Microsoft to stop it. France's National Data Protection Commission (CNIL) issued a formal notice on Wednesday, asking Microsoft to "stop collecting excessive data" as well as "tracking browsing by users without their consent." The CNIL, Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés, ordered Microsoft to comply with the French Data Protection Act within 3 months, and if fails, the commission will issue a sanction against the company. Moreover, the CNIL notified Microsoft that the company must also take "satisfactory measures to ensure the security and confidentiality" of its users' personal data. The notice comes after a series of investigations between April and June 2016 by French authorities, revealing that Mic...

Since the launch of Windows 10 in July last year, Microsoft is constantly pestering users to upgrade their PCs running older versions of the operating system. However, many users who are happy with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 and don't want upgrade to Windows 10 now or anytime soon are sick of this forceful unwanted upgrade. One of the victims to this unwanted Windows 10 installation has made Microsoft pay $10,000. A California woman has won $10,000 from Microsoft over an unwanted Windows 10 upgrade. Must Read: How to Stop Windows 7 or 8 from Downloading Windows 10 Automatically . Teri Goldstein sued Microsoft for upgrading her computer to Windows 10 without her authorization, which made it slow and unusable for days at a time, reports the Seattle Times. The PC used by Goldstein, who operates a Californian travel agency, was apparently upgraded to Windows 10 shortly after Microsoft offered free upgrade to Windows 7 and 8.1 users last year. Goldstein said the updat...

As reported last week, Microsoft will launch an 'Anniversary Update' for Windows 10 that will bring Ubuntu file system, allowing you to use Bash to run command-line Linux applications without a virtual machine. However, you do not have to wait until this summer to run Bash ( Bourne Again Shell ) on your Windows 10 OS, as Microsoft has released the first preview build of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update to the members of its Insider program. Don't expect it to run Ubuntu directly on Windows 10, as this is basically Ubuntu user-space packages running natively on Windows 10 by the company coming up with real-time translation of Linux system calls into Windows system calls. This new Bash Shell support features a full Ubuntu user space complete with support for tools including ssh, apt, rsync, find, grep, awk, sed, sort, xargs, md5sum, gpg, curl, wget, apache, mysql, python, perl, ruby, php, vim, emacs and more. Windows 10 build 14316's biggest addition is...

'Microsoft loves Linux' so much that now the company is bringing the popular Bash shell , alongside the entire Linux command environment, to its newest Windows 10 OS in the upcoming 'Anniversary Update,' Redstone. The rumours before the Microsoft's Build 2016 developer conference were true. Microsoft has just confirmed that it is going to enable its users to run Bash (Bourne Again Shell) natively on Windows 10. Also Read: Microsoft Drops a Cloud Data Center Under the Ocean . Microsoft has partnered with Ubuntu's parent company Canonical to ensure the Bash experience for users is just as good in Windows OS as it's in variants of Linux. Although the Goal of the partnership, in the end, is to bring Ubuntu on Windows 10, don't expect it to run Ubuntu directly on Windows 10. Users will be able to download Bash from the Windows Store. BASH or Bourne Again Shell is capable of handling advanced command line functionalities that are not a c...