windows security | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

Last week, the Researchers at the German security company G Data Software have reported about the most complex and sophisticated rootkit  malware, Uroburos which is designed to steal data from secure facilities and has ability to take control of an infected machine, execute arbitrary commands and hide system activities. Recently, British cyber specialist BAE  has disclosed the parent Russian malware campaign dubbed as ' SNAKE ' that remained almost undetected for least eight years while penetrating highly secured systems. Uroburos rootkit was one of the components of this campaign. In a separate Investigation, Western intelligence officers have found another piece of spyware , infecting hundreds of government computers across Europe and the United States, known as ' Turla '. Researchers believed that  Turla  campaign is linked to a previously known campaign ' Red October ', a massive global cyber spying operation targeting diplomatic, military and nucle...

Cyber criminals are taking advantage of the widespread popularity of the mobile messaging app ' WhatsApp '. A malware expert at the Kaspersky Lab revealed a large-scale spamming campaign, advertising a fake PC version of the WhatsApp , to spread a banking trojan. According to the report, unaware users have received an email written in Portuguese language , it also tries to deceive the recipient with a social engineering tactic in which cyber criminals composed the malicious email informing that victims already have 11 pending friend invitations.  If users click on the " Baixar Agora " (Download Now) link in the spam email, they will be redirected to a Hightail.com URL to download the Trojan. Hightail is a cloud storage service, the malicious component deployed on it then downloads the malware via a server in Brazil. The file stored on Hightail server looks like a 64-bit installation file bundled with 2.5 megabyte MP3 file. According to Virus Total engine, onl...

Just like other Web Browsers, The Google Chrome also offers a password manager feature that can save your logins and basic information for automatic form-filling. The Google Chrome browser stores all your passwords in the plain text format and is available for access by opening the following URL in your Chrome browser – " chrome : //settings/passwords ". Unlike Firefox , till now Google Chrome was not offering any Master Protection. Finally Google has implemented a Master Password protection on Chrome password manager in Windows and Mac. Now you have to enter your Windows account password to reveal the saved passwords. The protection will be lifted for a minute, after entering the password, and after that user need to re-login. Previously, Google was criticized many times for such bad password storage Practice because there is no master password, no security, not even a prompt that " these passwords are visible " and this allows anyone with access to a use...

If you think that having a USB Token Smartcard is extremely secure for Digital signatures or other activities, you may be wrong! The research done by Paul Rascagneres can remotely give access to victims smartcard! What makes the attack unique is it uses a keylogger to get the PIN or password and exports the complete USB device in raw to a command and control server (C&C) and uses a device driver to let the attacker use the victims smartcard remotely! The attack also impacts the eID (Belgium identity card) and millions of USB Tokens for Digital Signatures in India by Directors, Secretaries and CA firms for filing returns and signing corporate documents! To be showcased at MalCon next month - we asked Paul a few questions: Does the malware infect the PC or the smartcard? - The malware infects the PC not the hardware. So the attacker can use the smartcard of the victim remotely? - Exactly, the attacker can remotely use a smartcard connected to an infected computer. What makes...

Back in 1991, Microsoft released their first version of Windows, a mouse-driven graphical user interface that revolutionized the way we use computers, both at home and in the workplace. Microsoft's newest operating system has a whole new interface and loads of new features. Windows 8 introduces a new type of application: the Windows Store app. Windows Store apps have a brand new look and feel, run on a variety of devices, and you sell them on the Windows Store. Here is a quick Guide for getting up to speed quickly and getting the most out of Windows 8. Whichever device you end up running Windows 8 on, you'll need to know a few things. How are you going to get the data from your current operating system to the new one? You'll probably be wondering where the famous Microsoft desktop has gone. You might be wondering just what is going on: why did Microsoft discard the Start menu, and why does its replacement look like it was designed for children? Downlo...

An exploit exploiting an unpatched vulnerability in Internet Explorer (IE) has gone public. Security researcher Shahin Ramezany announced in a Tuesday tweet that he successfully exploited the flaw, which involves how IE handles CSS style sheets on Windows 7 and Vista machines. Offensive Security, a provider of security tools and training, posted a video demonstrating the code execution on Monday. On Wednesday, the exploit code was added to the open-source Metasploit hacking toolkit. This flaw can bypass two built-in Windows security features: Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR), according to Ramezany. Microsoft has not yet confirmed the vulnerability. "We're currently unaware of any attacks trying to use the claimed vulnerability or of customer impact," said Dave Forstrom, director of trustworthy computing at Microsoft, in an email to SCMagazineUS.com on Wednesday. "Once we're done investigating, we will take appropriat...

PandaLabs, the antimalware laboratory of Panda Security, has predicted several major cybersecurity threats for 2011. These include hacktivism, cyber warfare, profit-driven malware, social engineering, and adaptive malicious codes. Additionally, there will be increased threats to Mac users, new attacks on 64-bit systems, and more zero-day exploits. Here is a summary of PandaLabs' top ten security trends for 2011: Malware Creation : In 2010, PandaLabs observed significant growth in malware, identifying 20 million new strains, more than in 2009. Currently, Panda's Collective Intelligence database contains over 60 million classified threats. Although the year-on-year growth rate has peaked, it was 50% in 2010, down from over 100% in previous years. Cyber Warfare : Incidents like Stuxnet and the WikiLeaks cables, which suggested Chinese government involvement in cyber-attacks on Google, marked a turning point in cyber conflicts. Stuxnet targeted uranium centrifuges in nuclear pl...