man-in-the-middle attack | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

If you think that the patches delivered through Windows update can not be laced with malware, think again. Security researchers have shown that Hackers could intercept Windows Update to deliver and inject malware in organizations. Security researchers from UK-based security firm ' Context ' have discovered a way to exploit insecurely configured implementations of Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) for an enterprise. What is WSUS in Windows? Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) allows an administrator to deploy the Windows software update to servers and desktops throughout the organization. These updates come from the WSUS server and not Windows server. Once the updates are with the administrator on the server, he can limit the privilege for the clients in a corporate environment to download and install these updates. As the admin is the owner of the distribution of these updates. Intercepting WSUS to Inject Malware into Corporate Networks By def

A critical vulnerability resides in AFNetworking could allow an attacker to cripple the HTTPS protection of 25,000 iOS apps available in Apple's App Store via man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks . AFNetworking is a popular open-source code library that lets developers drop networking capabilities into their iOS and OS X products. But, it fails to check the domain name for which the SSL certificate has been issued. Any Apple iOS application that uses AFNetworking version prior to the latest version 2.5.3 may be vulnerable to the flaw that could allow hackers to steal or tamper data, even if the app protected by the SSL (secure sockets layer) protocol . Use any SSL Certificate to decrypt users' sensitive data: An attacker could use any valid SSL certificate for any domain name in order to exploit the vulnerability, as long as the certificate issued by a trusted certificate authority (CA) that's something you can buy for $50. " This meant that a coffee sh

The introduction of Open AI's ChatGPT was a defining moment for the software industry, touching off a GenAI race with its November 2022 release. SaaS vendors are now rushing to upgrade tools with enhanced productivity capabilities that are driven by generative AI. Among a wide range of uses, GenAI tools make it easier for developers to build software, assist sales teams in mundane email writing, help marketers produce unique content at low cost, and enable teams and creatives to brainstorm new ideas.  Recent significant GenAI product launches include Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Salesforce Einstein GPT. Notably, these GenAI tools from leading SaaS providers are paid enhancements, a clear sign that no SaaS provider will want to miss out on cashing in on the GenAI transformation. Google will soon launch its SGE "Search Generative Experience" platform for premium AI-generated summaries rather than a list of websites.  At this pace, it's just a matter of a short time befo

Security researchers have unearthed a serious security flaw in all supported versions of Windows that could let hackers steal users' credentials from computers, tablets or servers running any version of Windows operating system, including the as-yet-released Windows 10. This vulnerability in Windows was first discovered 20 Years ago : The critical bug, dubbed " Redirect to SMB ," is a variant of a vulnerability found in Windows by researcher Aaron Spangler nearly 18 years ago that caused Windows to expose a user's Windows username and password automatically. However, according to researchers at security firm Cylance who discovered the flaw, this weakness in Windows was never patched by Microsoft, as Microsoft says that this flaw is not worth focusing on, and, therefore... ...This results in a new hack that targets the SMB file sharing protocol . But, What is SMB? SMB, or Server Message Block, is a protocol that allows users to share files o

Good news for all Android Lollipop-ers! Google appears to be secretly working on a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service, dubbed ' Google VPN '. The news is still not confirmed, but the folks at Pocketables discovered an interesting hidden app called " Google Connectivity Services " under " All Apps " in the app manager, while digging through settings and apps after installing the latest version, Android 5.1 Lollipop on a Nexus 6 phone. After clicking on the created shortcut, the app greeted with a pop-up message that reads,  " Google VPN:  To help protect you on open Wi-Fi networks, your data will be transmitted securely through a Google VPN." The pop-up also has the " learn more " and " got it " options. However, since Google VPN feature is currently not in a functional state, you get redirected to a support page from Google if you click on " learn more " option. But if you click on the "

Another new widespread and disastrous SSL/TLS vulnerability has been uncovered that for over a decade left Millions of users of Apple and Android devices vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks on encrypted traffic when they visited supposedly 'secured' websites, including the official websites of the White House, FBI and National Security Agency. Dubbed the " FREAK " vulnerability ( CVE-2015-0204 ) - also known as Factoring Attack on RSA-EXPORT Keys - enables hackers or intelligence agencies to force clients to use older, weaker encryption i.e. also known as the export-grade key or 512-bit RSA keys. FREAK vulnerability discovered by security researchers of French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (Inria) and Microsoft, resides in OpenSSL versions 1.01k and earlier, and Apple's Secure Transport. 90s WEAK EXPORT-GRADE ENCRYPTION Back in 1990s, the US government attempted to regulate the export of products utilizing "

The computer giant Lenovo has released a tool to remove the dangerous "SuperFish" adware program that the company had pre-installed onto many of its consumer-grade Lenovo laptops sold before January 2015. The Superfish removal tool comes few days after the story broke about the nasty Superfish malware that has capability to sneakily intercept and decrypt HTTPS connections, tamper with pages in an attempt to inject advertisements. WE JUST FOUND 'SUPERFISH' - LENOVO The Chinese PC maker attempted to push the perception that Superfish software was not a security concern and avoid the bad news with the claim that it had "stopped Superfish software at beginning in January". However, Lenovo has now admitted that it was caught preloading a piece of adware that installed its own self-signing Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) proxy service that hijacked HTTPS connections. " We did not know about this potential security vulnerability until yesterday ," Lenovo said

One of the most popular computer manufacturers Lenovo is being criticized for selling laptops pre-installed with invasive marketing software, or malware that, experts say, opens up a door for hackers and cyber crooks. The software, dubbed ' Superfish Malware ', analyzes users' Internet habits and injects third-party advertising into websites on browsers such as Google Chrome and Internet Explorer based on that activities without the user's permission. Security researchers recently discovered  Superfish Malware  presents onto new consumer-grade Lenovo computers sold before January of 2015. When taken out of the box for the first time, the adware gets activated and because it comes pre-installed, Lenovo customers might end up using it inadvertently. SUPERFISH CERTIFICATE PASSWORD CRACKED The  Superfish Malware  raised serious security concerns about the company's move for breaking fundamental web security protocols, carrying out " Man in the Middle " (MitM) at

Gogo — one of the largest providers of in-flight Internet service — has been caught issuing fake SSL certificates, allowing the inflight broadband provider to launch man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks on its own users, view passwords and other sensitive information. The news came to light when security engineer Adrienne Porter Felt , who works on Google Chrome's security team, was served the phony SSL certificate while trying to connect to Google's video service YouTube. She noticed that the SSL certificate was signed by an untrusted issuer and wasn't issued by Google, but rather by Gogo itself. Felt publicly posted details about the spoofed certificate on Twitter and also provided a screenshot of the HTTPS certificate Gogo issued her when she visited YouTube. Felt tweeted , " Hey, @Gogo, why are you issuing *.google.com certificates on your planes? " Alike other unauthorized certificates, the fake Gogo certificate would generate warnings by virtually all modern bro

Security researchers have discovered a new type of "Man-in-the-Middle" (MitM) attack in the wild targeting smartphone and tablets users on devices running either iOS or Android around the world. The MitM attack, dubbed DoubleDirect , enables an attacker to redirect a victim's traffic of major websites such as Google, Facebook and Twitter to a device controlled by the attacker. Once done, cyber crooks can steal victims' valuable personal data, such as email IDs, login credentials and banking information as well as can deliver malware to the targeted mobile device. San Francisco-based mobile security firm Zimperium detailed the threat in a Thursday blog post , revealing that the DoubleDirect technique is being used by attackers in the wild in attacks against the users of web giants including Google, Facebook, Hotmail, Live.com and Twitter, across 31 countries, including the U.S., the U.K. and Canada. DoubleDirect makes use of ICMP (Internet Control Message P

Google introduced a new security tool to help developers detect bugs and security glitches in the network traffic security that may leave passwords and other sensitive information open to snooping. The open source tool, dubbed as Nogotofail , has been launched by the technology giant in sake of a number of vulnerabilities discovered in the implementation of the transport layer security, from the most critical Heartbleed bug in OpenSSL to the Apple's gotofail bug to the recent POODLE bug in SSL version 3. The company has made the Nogotofail tool available on GitHub, so that so anyone can test their applications, contribute new features to the project, provide support for more platforms, and help improve the security of the internet. Android security engineer Chad Brubaker said that the Nogotofail main purpose is to confirm that internet-connected devices and applications aren't vulnerable to transport layer security (TLS) and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encry

Google is taking its users' privacy very serious and making every possible effort for its users just to make them feel secure when they are online. Today, the tech giant has announced its enhanced two-step verification service that is based on a physical USB key, adding yet another layer of security to protect its users from hackers and other forms of online theft. SECURITY KEY- 2 STEP VERIFICATION USING USB DRIVES The "Security Key" feature will currently work on Chrome and will be free for Google users, but the company also notes that the Security Key is supporting the open Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) protocol from the FIDO Alliance, which will allow users to log in to Google Accounts by inserting a USB device into their systems. By letting users protect their accounts using two-factor authentication based on physical USB keys, it will be no longer any compulsion for you to type in the six-digit authentication code in Google's Gmail or your Google Acco

Apple iCloud users in China are not safe from the hackers — believed to be working for Chinese government — who are trying to wiretap Apple customers in the country. Great Fire , a reputed non-profit organization that monitors Internet censorship in China, claimed that the Chinese authorities have launched a nationwide Man in the Middle (MITM) campaign against users of Apple's iCloud service, designed to steal users' login credentials and access private data. MAN-IN-THE-MIDDLE ATTACK The attacks on the iCloud service was first reported on Saturday and come as Apple begins the official rollout of its latest launched iPhone 6 and 6 Plus on the Chinese mainland. If we talk about less publicized but more danger, Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack is the most common one. By attempting MitM attack, a potential attacker could intercept users' internet communication, steal sensitive information and even hijack sessions. ACCESS TO CREDENTIALS AND ALL PERSONAL DATA Usin

Another Heartbleed-like vulnerability has been discovered in the decade old but still widely used Secure Sockets Layer ( SSL ) 3.0 cryptographic protocol that could allow an attacker to decrypt contents of encrypted connections to websites. Google's Security Team revealed on Tuesday that the most widely used web encryption standard SSL 3.0 has a major security vulnerability that could be exploited to steal sensitive data. The flaw affects any product that follows the Secure layer version 3, including Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. Researchers dubbed the attack as " POODLE ," stands for Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption , which allows an attacker to perform a man-in-the-middle attack in order to decrypt HTTP cookies. The POODLE attack can force a connection to "fallback" to SSL 3.0, where it is then possible to steal cookies, which are meant to store personal data, website preferences or even passwords. Three Google security engineers - Bodo Möll

Tails , a Linux-based highly secure Operating System specially designed and optimized to preserve users' anonymity and privacy, has launched its new release, Tails version 1.1.2. Tails, also known as ' Amnesiac Incognito Live System ', is a free security-focused Debian-based Linux distribution, which has a suite of applications that can be installed on a USB stick, an SD card or a DVD. It keeps users' communications private by running all connectivity through Tor, the network that routes traffic through various layers of servers and encrypts data. The operating system came into limelight when the global surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden said that he had used it in order to remain Anonymous and keep his communications hidden from the law enforcement authorities. The new version 1.1.2 addresses a single but critical vulnerability which arises because the Network Security Services (NSS) libraries parser used by Firefox and other browsers is capable of being tricke

So far, we all are well aware of the fact that Chinese have had a past filled with cases of Cyber Crime. China is the world's largest exporter of IT goods, but it has been criticized by many countries due to suspected backdoors in its products, including United States which has banned its several major government departments, including NASA, Justice and Commerce Departments, from purchasing Chinese products and computer technology. The new exposure indicates the same. Chinese Government is running a man-in-the-middle (MitM) cyber attack campaign on SSL encrypted traffic between the country's education network and Google. In an effort to monitor its users of China Education and Research Network (CERNET) , Chinese authorities has started intercepting encrypted traffic to and from Google's servers, the non-profit organization GreatFire reported on Thursday. However, just like many other foreign websites, Google is blocked in China. Because Google is one of the vast and v

A notable number of cell phone towers around the United States are rogue that, according to latest report, could spoof legitimate towers and intercept calls. The research carried out by ESD America , a defense and law enforcement technology firm based in Las Vegas, shows that a rogue cell phone towers, also known as "interceptors", may process the call. ESD America, the company that makes the super-secure CryptoPhone, makes one of the oldest and most expensive high-security cell phones in the market. It provides equipment and training to more than 40 countries with a goal to provide technical security assistance to government and corporate clients across Asia. SEVERAL ROGUE CELL PHONE TOWERS DISCOVERED While field-testing its secure Android handset, the CryptoPhone 500 , the firm came across the existence of a series of fake base stations along the Eastern seaboard of the US. Les Goldsmith, the CEO of ESD America, told the US publication Popular Science tha