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Project Zero - A Team of Star-Hackers Hired by Google to Protect the Internet

Project Zero - A Team of Star-Hackers Hired by Google to Protect the Internet

Jul 15, 2014
Today Google has publicly revealed its new initiative called " Project Zero, " a team of Star Hackers and Bug Hunters with the sole mission to improve security and protect the Internet. A team of superheroes in sci-fi movies protect the world from Alien attack or bad actors, likewise  Project Zero is a dedicated team of top security researchers, who have been hired by Google to finding the most severe security flaws in software around the world and fixing them. PROTECT ZERO vs ZERO-DAY Project Zero gets its name from the term " zero-day ," and team will make sure that zero-day vulnerabilities don't let fall into the wrong hands of Criminals, State-sponsored hackers and Intelligence Agencies. " Yet in sophisticated attacks, we see the use of "zero-day" vulnerabilities to target, for example, human rights activists or to conduct industrial espionage. " Chris Evans said , who was leading Google's Chrome security team and now will lead Pro
Vulnerability in WPTouch WordPress Plugin Allows Hackers to Upload PHP backdoors

Vulnerability in WPTouch WordPress Plugin Allows Hackers to Upload PHP backdoors

Jul 15, 2014
If you own a mobile version for your Wordpress website using the popular WPtouch plugin, then you may expose to a critical vulnerability that could potentially allow any non-administrative logged-in user to upload malicious PHP files or backdoors to the target server without any admin privileges. WordPress is a free and an open source blogging tool as well as a content management system (CMS) with 30,000 plugins, each of which offers custom functions and features enabling users to tailor their sites to their specific needs. That is why, it is easy to setup and used by more than 73 million of websites across the world, and about 5.7 million them uses WPtouch plugin, making it one of the most popular plugins in the WordPress plugin directory. WPtouch is a mobile plugin that automatically enables a user friendly and elegant mobile theme for rendering your WordPress website contents on the mobile devices. User can easily customize many aspects of its appearance by the adm
Navigating the Threat Landscape: Understanding Exposure Management, Pentesting, Red Teaming and RBVM

Navigating the Threat Landscape: Understanding Exposure Management, Pentesting, Red Teaming and RBVM

Apr 29, 2024Exposure Management / Attack Surface
It comes as no surprise that today's cyber threats are orders of magnitude more complex than those of the past. And the ever-evolving tactics that attackers use demand the adoption of better, more holistic and consolidated ways to meet this non-stop challenge. Security teams constantly look for ways to reduce risk while improving security posture, but many approaches offer piecemeal solutions – zeroing in on one particular element of the evolving threat landscape challenge – missing the forest for the trees.  In the last few years, Exposure Management has become known as a comprehensive way of reigning in the chaos, giving organizations a true fighting chance to reduce risk and improve posture. In this article I'll cover what Exposure Management is, how it stacks up against some alternative approaches and why building an Exposure Management program should be on  your 2024 to-do list. What is Exposure Management?  Exposure Management is the systematic identification, evaluation,
Web-based DropCam Surveillance Systems Vulnerable to Hackers

Web-based DropCam Surveillance Systems Vulnerable to Hackers

Jul 15, 2014
The popular home surveillance webcam service DropCam that keep an eye on your house when you aren't there, can be used as a weapon against you by the cybercriminals, claimed a pair of researchers. San Francisco-based DropCam, last month announced it would be acquired by Google's Nest for $555 million in cash, makes home-monitoring cameras for the past five years, which allow users to keep track of what's going on inside their homes using a small surveillance camera. Two researchers named Patrick Wardle and Colby Moore of Synack who discovered the weakness in the Wi-Fi enabled video monitoring system, which they will demonstrate at the DEFCON 22 Hacker Conference in Las Vegas next month. This WiFi-enabled security camera, that comes for $149 or $199, depending on video quality, requires little-to-no-effort to maintain. You plug it in, get it up on your WiFi, and all is set. If you want to check in on your cameras remotely, it cost you nothing, and if you want DropCam
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SaaS Security Buyers Guide

websiteAppOmniSaaS Security / Threat Detection
This guide captures the definitive criteria for choosing the right SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) vendor.
Google Drive Vulnerability Leaks Users' Private Data

Google Drive Vulnerability Leaks Users' Private Data

Jul 10, 2014
Another privacy issue has been discovered in Google Drive which could have led sensitive and personal information stored on the cloud service exposed to unauthorized parties. The security flaw has now patched by Google, but its discovery indicates that the vulnerability of cloud data when accessed via a link can allow " anyone who has the link " to access your private data without any further authentication. HOW THE SECURITY FLAW WORKS The security hole addressed a risk to files that included a clickable URL on your cloud file sharing service. When someone opens the file and clicks on an embedded hyperlink, then they get sent to the website of a third-party website owner. Upon accessing this URL, unfortunately the external Internet user - an unauthorized party - could potentially access your sensitive information by accessing the original documents that included the URL. GOOGLE EXPLANATION Google explained the actual nature of the security flaw in a blog p
Smart LED Lightbulbs Can be Hacked too; Vulnerability exposes Wi-Fi Passwords

Smart LED Lightbulbs Can be Hacked too; Vulnerability exposes Wi-Fi Passwords

Jul 08, 2014
Until now, we have seen how different smart home appliances such as refrigerators, TVs and routers could expose our private data, but now you can add another worry to your list —LED light bulb. Don't laugh! It's true. Researchers at UK security firm Context have formulated an attack against the Wi-Fi connected lightbulbs, which is available to buy in the UK, that exposes credentials of the Wi-Fi network, it relies on to operate, to anyone in accessibility to one of the LED devices. Security vulnerabilities found in the LIFX Smart light bulbs , that can be controlled by the iOS-based and Android-based devices, could allow an attacker to gain access to a "master bulb" and with the help of that they could control all connected bulbs across that network, and help them expose user network configurations. Along with other Internet of Things (IoTs) devices, the smart bulbs are part of a rising trend in which the manufacturers enclose computing and networking capabilities to their devices s
Android Vulnerability Allows Applications to Make Unauthorized Calls without Permissions

Android Vulnerability Allows Applications to Make Unauthorized Calls without Permissions

Jul 08, 2014
A major vulnerability believed to be present in most versions of Android can allow a malicious Android applications on the Android app store to make phone calls on a user's device, even when they lack the necessary permissions. The critical vulnerability was identified and reported to Google Inc. late last year by researchers from German security firm Curesec. The researchers believe the virus was first noticed in Android version 4.1, also known as " Jelly Bean ." APPS CAN MAKE CALLS FROM YOUR PHONE " This bug can be abused by a malicious application. Take a simple game which is coming with this code. The game won't ask you for extra permissions to do a phone call to a toll number – but it is able to do it ," Curesec's CEO Marco Lux and researcher Pedro Umbelino said Friday in a blog post. " This is normally not possible without giving the app this special permission. " By leveraging these vulnerabilities, malicious applications could initiate unauthorized phone call
Critical Vulnerability and Privacy LoopHole Found in RoboForm Password Manager

Critical Vulnerability and Privacy LoopHole Found in RoboForm Password Manager

Jul 05, 2014
Unless you are a human supercomputer, remembering password is not so easy, and that too if you have a different password for each site. But luckily to make the whole process very easy, there is a growing market out there for password managers and lockers with extra layers of security. But, if you are using the mobile version of most popular password manager from Password management company RoboForm to manage your passwords then you might be at a risk, claimed a UK based Security researcher. I am personally using RoboForm from last few months, which is a great password manager application developed by Siber Systems Inc. for various platforms that stores your sensitive data all in one place, protected at RoboForm account and encrypted by a secret master password. RoboForm user be able to then quickly access those passwords and notes anytime, anywhere. But a IT security consultant and tech enthusiast Paul Moore discovered one critical vulnerability in its app and one Pri
This July Microsoft Plans to Patch Windows and Internet Explorer Vulnerabilities

This July Microsoft Plans to Patch Windows and Internet Explorer Vulnerabilities

Jul 04, 2014
Beginning of the new month, Get Ready for Microsoft Patch Tuesday! Microsoft has released its Advance Notification for the month of July 2014 Patch Tuesday releasing six security Bulletins, which will address a total of six vulnerabilities in its products, out of which two are marked critical, one is rated moderate and rest are important in severity. All six vulnerabilities are important for you to patch, as the flaws are affecting various Microsoft software, including Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Server Software and Internet Explorer, with the critical ones targeting Internet Explorer and Windows. Microsoft is also providing an update for the " Microsoft Service Bus for Windows Server " which is rated moderate for a Denial of Service (DoS) flaw. " At first glance it looks like Microsoft may be taking it easy on us this month, which would be nice since we will be coming off a long holiday weekend here in the U.S."  Chris Goettl from IT Security firm
Facebook SDK Vulnerability Puts Millions of Smartphone Users' Accounts at Risk

Facebook SDK Vulnerability Puts Millions of Smartphone Users' Accounts at Risk

Jul 03, 2014
Security researchers from MetaIntell, the leader in intelligent led Mobile Risk Management (MRM), have discovered a major security vulnerability in the latest version of Facebook SDK that put millions of Facebook user's Authentication Tokens at risk. Facebook SDK for Android and iOS is the easiest way to integrate mobile apps with Facebook platform, which provides support for Login with Facebook authentication, reading and writing to Facebook APIs and many more. Facebook OAuth authentication or ' Login as Facebook ' mechanism is a personalized and secure way for users to sign into 3rd party apps without sharing their passwords. After the user approves the permissions as requested by the application, the Facebook SDK implements the OAuth 2.0 User-Agent flow to retrieve the secret user's access token required by the apps to call Facebook APIs to read, modify or write user's Facebook data on their behalf. ACCESSING UNENCRYPTED ACCESS TOKEN It is important that
Disqus Wordpress Plugin Flaw Leaves Millions of Blogs Vulnerable to Hackers

Disqus Wordpress Plugin Flaw Leaves Millions of Blogs Vulnerable to Hackers

Jun 30, 2014
A Remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability has been discovered in the comment and discussion service, Disqus plugin for the most popular Blogging Platform Wordpress . While there are more than 70 million websites on the Internet currently running WordPress, about 1.3 million of them use the ' Disqus Comment System ' Plugin, making it one of the popular plugins of Wordpress for web comments and discussions. The security team at the security firm Sucuri discovered a critical Remote Code Execution (RCE) flaw while analyzing some custom JSON parser of the Disqus plugin and found that the variable parsing function could allow anyone to execute commands on the server using insecurely coded PHP eval() function. WHO ARE VULNERABLE The Remote Code Execution ( RCE ) Vulnerability could be triggered by a remote attacker, only if it is using following application versions on the server/website. PHP version 5.1.6 or earlier WordPress 3.1.4 or earlier Wordpress Plugin
20-Year Old Vulnerability in LZO Compression Algorithm Went to Planet Mars

20-Year Old Vulnerability in LZO Compression Algorithm Went to Planet Mars

Jun 27, 2014
A 20 year old critical subtle integer overflow vulnerability has been discovered in Lempel-Ziv-Oberhumer (LZO), an extremely efficient data compression algorithm that focuses on decompression speed, which is almost five times faster than zlib and bzip compression algorithms. Lempel-Ziv-Oberhumer (LZO) was developed in 1994 by Markus Oberhumer and currently it is one of the most popular and widespread compression algorithm used in the Linux kernel , some Samsung Android mobile devices, other embedded devices and several open-source libraries including OpenVPN, MPlayer2, Libav, FFmpeg. 20 YEAR OLD VULNERABILITY IN LZO ALGORITHM Don A. Bailey, founder and CEO of Lab Mouse Security, who disclosed the technical details of the buffer overrun vulnerability in LZO/LZ4 algorithm, explains that if an attacker carefully craft a piece of compressed data that would run malicious code when the software attempted to decompress it. According to advisory, if buffers of 16MB or more
Android 4.3 and Earlier versions Vulnerable to Critical Code-Execution Flaw

Android 4.3 and Earlier versions Vulnerable to Critical Code-Execution Flaw

Jun 27, 2014
A critical code-execution vulnerability almost affecting everyone those are not running the most updated version of Google Android , i.e. Android version 4.4 also known as KitKat. After nine months of vulnerability disclosure to the Android security team, researchers of the Application Security team at IBM have finally revealed all the possible details of a serious code-execution vulnerability that still affects the Android devices running versions 4.3 and earlier, which could allow attackers to exfiltrate sensitive information from the vulnerable devices. " Considering Android's fragmented nature and the fact that this was a code-execution vulnerability, we decided to wait a bit with the public disclosure ," said Roee Hay, a security research group leader at IBM. The researchers found the stack buffer overflow vulnerability that resides in the Android's KeyStore storage service, which according to the Android developers' website is the service code running in Androi
Zero-Day TimThumb WebShot Vulnerability leaves Thousands of Wordpress Blogs at Risk

Zero-Day TimThumb WebShot Vulnerability leaves Thousands of Wordpress Blogs at Risk

Jun 26, 2014
Yesterday we learned of a critical Zero-day vulnerability in a popular image resizing library called TimThumb, which is used in thousands WordPress themes and plugins. WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and a content management system (CMS) with more than 30,000 plugins, each of which offers custom functions and features enabling users to tailor their sites to their specific needs, therefore it is easy to setup and use, that's why tens of millions of websites across the world opt it. But if you or your company are the one using the popular image resizing library called " TimThumb " to resize large images into usable thumbnails that you can display on your site, then you make sure to update the file with the upcoming latest version and remember to check the TimThumb site regularly for the patched update. 0-Day REMOTE CODE EXECUTION & NO PATCH The critical vulnerability discovered by Pichaya Morimoto in the TimThumb Wordpress plugin version 2.8.13,
Researchers Uncover Spying Tool Used by Governments to Hijack all Types of Smartphones

Researchers Uncover Spying Tool Used by Governments to Hijack all Types of Smartphones

Jun 25, 2014
Purchasing malware to victimize people is illegal by laws but if the same thing any government official do, then its not!! Yes, the police forces around the World are following the footsteps of U.S. National Security Agency ( NSA ) and FBI. Researchers from the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto and computer security firm Kaspersky Lab have unearthed a broad network of controversial spyware which is specially designed to give law enforcement agencies complete access to a suspect's phone for the purpose of surveillance. MALWARE FOR DESKTOPS AND ALL MOBILE DEVICES The malware , dubbed as Remote Control System (RCS) , also known as Da Vinci and Galileo, is developed by an Italian company known as Hacking Team, available for desktop computers, laptops, and mobile devices. The latest version of the malware works for all phone including Android, iOS, Windows Mobile, Symbian and BlackBerry devices, but best on Android devices , and can also b
BMC Vulnerability Exposes Admin Password of 32,000 Servers in Plaintext on the Internet

BMC Vulnerability Exposes Admin Password of 32,000 Servers in Plaintext on the Internet

Jun 20, 2014
A Flaw has been discovered in the motherboards manufactured by the server manufacturer Supermicro, has left more than 30,000 servers vulnerable to hackers that could allow them to remotely compromise the management interface of unpatched servers. The vulnerability actually resides in the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) in the WPCM450 line of chips incorporated into the motherboards. Security Researcher at CARInet Security Incident Response Team, discovered that Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) of Supermicro motherboards contain a binary file that stores remote login passwords in clear text and the file is available for download simply by connecting to the specific port, 49152. Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) is the central part of the microcontroller that resides on server motherboard or in the chassis of a blade server or telecom platform. The BMC links to a main processor and other onboard elements via a simple serial bus. Baseboard management contr
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