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This Tuesday, Microsoft will be releasing its September's Patch Tuesday updates includes 14 bulletins in total, fixing issues in Windows, Office, Outlook, Internet Explorer, SharePoint and FrontPage. In all, there are eight remote code execution flaws in Microsoft Office, Microsoft Server Software, Microsoft Windows, which can allow hackers to gain access to, or take control of an affected system without user prompts or permission. The four critical bulletins affect Sharepoint, Outlook, Internet Explorer and XP and Windows 2003. Bulletien second will address a Remote Code Execution flaw in Microsoft Office that can be triggered simply by previewing an email in Outlook, even without explicitly opening the e-mail. The problem for users is that Outlook automatically displays the content of each email it previews. The remaining 10 bulletins are all rated important by Microsoft, four of them patch remote code execution flaws in Office, while three other privilege esc...

National Security Agency (NSA)  has the capability to access a broad range of data on most Smartphones out there, including iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android devices, according to the  documents provided by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden to the  German news agency Der Spiegel report. A 2009 NSA document states that it can " see and read SMS traffic ". This data includes Contact, call lists, SMS traffic, notes and location data about where a user has been, the NSA has set up teams to specialize in cracking each operating system. The leaked information also revealed that the NSA has organized a working group for each operating system. The documents also state the NSA has successfully accessed BlackBerry email data, a system previously thought to be very secure. Recently, two Guardian reporters , the Newspaper primarily responsible with leaking NSA documents, discovered a mystery app on their iPhones . It has no title, no...

Recently, Tor Project Director - Roger Dingledine described a sudden increase in Tor users on the Tor Network after the events related to disclosure of the PRISM surveillance program, Since August 19, 2013, there has been an impressive growth in the number of Tor users. At first, No one knew who or what is responsible for this spontaneous growth of Tor users, but Security researchers at Fox-IT firm found evidence that the spike in Tor traffic is caused by a Mevade Botnet, that hides its Command-and-Control server in the anonymizing network. The security firm documented the presence of the Mevade malware architecture based on the anonymizing network, " The malware uses a command and control connectivity via Tor .Onion links using HTTP. While some bots continue to operate using the standard HTTP connectivity, some versions of the malware use a peer-to-peer network to communicate (KAD based). " " Typically, it is fairly clear what the p...

SaaS Adoption is Skyrocketing, Resilience Hasn't Kept Pace SaaS platforms have revolutionized how businesses operate. They simplify collaboration, accelerate deployment, and reduce the overhead of managing infrastructure. But with their rise comes a subtle, dangerous assumption: that the convenience of SaaS extends to resilience. It doesn't. These platforms weren't built with full-scale data protection in mind . Most follow a shared responsibility model — wherein the provider ensures uptime and application security, but the data inside is your responsibility. In a world of hybrid architectures, global teams, and relentless cyber threats, that responsibility is harder than ever to manage. Modern organizations are being stretched across: Hybrid and multi-cloud environments with decentralized data sprawl Complex integration layers between IaaS, SaaS, and legacy systems Expanding regulatory pressure with steeper penalties for noncompliance Escalating ransomware threats and inside...

Trust is something that's earned, not given. We trusted tech companies with our data because they promised to keep it secure. That trust was called into question after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed that NSA is snooping on us with the help of same tech companies. Today Google announced that they have accelerated their efforts towards encrypting the information that has been flowing through its data centers across the world to thwart snooping by NSA and intelligence agencies, but do can you Trust Google and Other Internet Companies now ? " It's an arms race ," Eric Grosse, Google's vice president for security engineering, tells WP . " We see these government agencies as among the most skilled players in this game. " Google officials declined to provide details on the cost of its new encryption efforts, the numbers of data centers involved, or the exact technology used. According to the report, encrypted information would...

The spy agencies' activities have gone on for more than a decade. Now we have enough details about how the NSA eavesdrops on the internet, another explosive news has emerged yesterday from the Snowden files that NSA has the ability to decrypt most of anything that is on the internet. They have done this not through cracking encryption mathematically, but by secretly using influence and billions of dollars to insert backdoors designed to preserve their ability to eavesdrop.  Also the majority of devices connected to the Tor anonymity network may be using encryption keys that can be broken by the National Security Agency, according to Rob Graham, CEO of penetration testing firm Errata Security. The ability to crack high-level encryption is something that has been a pretty significant legend in the infosec community. Graham arrived at that conclusion after analyzing nearly 23,000 Tor connections through an exit node that Graham controls and about 76 perc...

The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) , a pro-regime hacker group that emerged during Syrian anti-government protests in 2011, and involved in cyber attacks against western media organizations are now in the FBI's wanted list. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued an alert warning of cyber attacks by the Syrian Electronic Army and finally put them on its radar. " The SEA'S primary capabilities include spear-phishing, web defacements, and hijacking social media accounts to spread propaganda. " they said. The FBI also has increased its surveillance of Syrians living in the US. According to some anti-Assad activists, the group was founded by former intelligence agents and hardcore Assad supporters. SEA had compromised social media profiles for Western news organizations by sending fake email messages to news staff in an attempt to gain access to login credentials. Most recently, the group grabbed international attention after commandeering the webs...

Security firm ESET has discovered  a new and effective banking trojan , targeting online banking users and designed to beat the mobile multi-factor authentication systems. Hesperbot detected as Win32/Spy.Hesperbot is very identical to the infamous Zeus and SpyEye Banking Malwares and infects users in Turkey, the Czech Republic, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. Trojan has functionalities such as keystroke logging , creation of screenshots and video capture, and setting up a remote proxy. The attackers aim to obtain login credentials giving them access to the victim's bank account and getting them to install a mobile component of the malware on their Symbian, Blackberry or Android phone. Some other advanced tricks are also included in this banking Trojan, such as creating a hidden VNC server on the infected system and can do network traffic interception with HTML injection capabilities. So far, the Trojan hasn't spread too far. The campaign was first ...

Excitement continues .. Rockstar Games schedule the release of latest The Grand Theft Auto series, GTA 5  on September 17, but Cyber Criminals has already released a fake version of GTA 5 contains malware on torrent networks. Romanian security firm BitDefender issued warning that GTA V hasn't been leaked, and during installation you will be asked to complete a survey and send off a text message to gain the serial number. You will then be charged €1 per day on your phone bill and will be infected by a virus. The PC version has yet to be announced, so trying to install it on your PC is a ridiculous idea; but that seems to be what a lot of people are doing. " The survey opens in a web browser and, therefore, is able to perform a geographic redirect to the web page that corresponds to the area you are located in, " said, Bitdefender Senior E-Threat Analyst Bogdan Botezatu. This malware is a generic Trojan Trojan.GenericKDV.1134859 , which can steal u...

Code repository GitHub  offers two-factor authentication to beef up security around its users' accounts. Github is a coding repository where developers used to build their projects projects that may turn out to be valued knowledgeable assets. Two-Factor Authentication adds another layer of authentication to the login process, Now users have to enter their username and password, and a secret code in the second step, to complete the sign in. If a hacker manages to steal a user's credentials through phishing or trojans, cannot do anything, as they do need a second key to enter. " We strongly urge you to turn on 2FA for the safety of your account, not only on GitHub, but on other websites that support it, " the company says . This two-factor authentication for Githu can be turned on in your account settings. GitHub hit 3.5 million users' landmark along with 6 million repositories deposited on its 5th anniversary in April. Two-factor authentication can protect...

In the past few days, Facebook refused to pay bounty to Khalil Shreateh , the security researcher who used the bug he discovered to post directly on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg 's Timeline after Facebook Security rejected his attempts to report it. Ehraz Ahmed, an independent Security Researcher claimed that he reported a critical vulnerability to the Facebook Security team, which allows the attacker to delete any account from Facebook. But Facebook refuses to Pay Bug Bounty , because he tested flaw once on his friend's account, " I reported this bug to Facebook, I'm really not happy with them. After waiting for such a long time for their reply, they denied it saying that you used this bug only works for test accounts, where as I used it for removing real accounts and now the vulnerability is also fixed after their email." he said on his blog . Video Demonstration of Exploit: Vulnerable  URL : https://www.facebook.com/ajax/whitehat/delete...

A group of Indian Hackers has designed Artificial Intelligence Assistant Operating System called ' J.A.R.V.I.S ' , who recognizes them, answer questions, tweet for them and Collect information, scan targets for them. Chiragh Dewan, a 18 year old student who is currently pursuing his BCA has taken the initiative to be the first Indian to complete this project  J.A.R.V.I.S , which is inspired by Iron Man's (movie) artificial intelligence assistant Jarvis. With his team of 7 including Himanshu Vaishnav, Mayur Singh, Krishanu Kashyap, Vikas Kumar, Vinmay Nair and Sravan Kumar, they are about to finish the 3rd level of the project. Their long term goal is to create an OS which could adapt itself according to the user's needs. Like if a doctor is using the OS, it will adapt itself so as it is capable of helping him out in his field like searching for new techniques, medicines, help in their research, etc. Add for architects, other professions.  As for users i...