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Now your TV is also watching you, and is smart enough to spy on you. A UK blogger, developer and Linux enthusiast, known only as  DoctorBeet  has discovered that LG's smart TVs are sending personal information back to the company's servers about what channels you watch and viewing habits. Actually, LG conducts the data collection for its Smart Ad function, which advertisers can use to see when it is best to target their products at the most suitable audience. LG Smart Ad analyses users favorite programs, online behavior, search keywords and other information to offer relevant ads to target audiences. For example, LG Smart Ad can feature sharp suits to men, or alluring cosmetics and fragrances for women. After inspecting the outgoing traffic from his smart TV, DoctorBeet noticed that a unique device ID, along with the TV channel name was being transmitted each time he changed channels. His investigation also indicated that the TVs uploaded information about t...

CryptoLocker is an especially insidious form of Ransomeware malware that was first detected in the wild in September 2013, restricts access to infected computers and requires victims to pay a ransom in order to regain full access. What makes CryptoLocker so bad is the way it encrypts the user data on your hard drive using a strong encryption method. This makes it literally impossible to access your own data without paying the ransom amount to the criminals between $100 and $300 or two  Bitcoins , even now more. Once affected you will be locked out of your computer and unless you pay the ransom amount in 72 hours , the virus will delete the decryption key to decrypt all the files on your PC . The malware lands on PCs the same way other malware does and a few sensible precautions will help minimize the chances of a CrytoLocker attack. Yesterday, we reported that - UK's National Crime Agency has given out an urgent national alert that a mass spamming event target...

The UK's National Crime Agency has given out an urgent national alert that a mass spamming event targeting 10 million UK based email users with a piece of malware called CryptoLocker that encrypts your files and then demands a ransom money to restore access. The agency has said that the people who are majorly receiving targeted spam emails that appear to be from banks and other financial institutions. Each email comes with attachments that look like files such as a voicemail, fax, an invoice or details of a suspicious transaction, but is in fact Cryptolocker Ransomware malware that encrypts the user's computer. The public should be aware not to click on any such attachment. On Infected system, The Cryptolocker Malware screen will then display a countdown timer that demands the payment of 2 Bitcoins in ransom, worth around £536, for the decryption key. The NCCU is trying to trace that who is sending the emails. " We are working in cooperation wit...

The FBI is warning that members of the hacktivist group Anonymous hacking collective have secretly accessed US Government computers and stolen sensitive information in a campaign that began almost a year ago. The Hacktivists have exploited a flaw in Adobe applications to compromise the target systems and install software backdoors to maintain the control of the victims computers over the time, the facts dated back to last December, according to a Reuters report. The hacking campaign affected the U.S. Army, Department of Energy , Department of Health and Human Services, and other government agencies,  FBI reveals.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation memo called the hacking campaign " a widespread problem that should be addressed. " and provided useful information for system administrators that how to determine if their networks were compromised. Government investigators are investigating the scope of the hacking, believed that hackers are still oper...

Last Tuesday, Popular Mac news website MacRumors's user forums was hacked and forum database has been compromised including the username, email and passwords belonging to all 860,000 registered users. Yesterday,  Inj3ct0r Team of Exploit Database website  1337Day claimed the responsibility for the hack and also claimed that they have also hacked the official website of vBulletin Forum using a   Zero Day exploit . " Macrumors.com was based on vBulletin CMS. We use our 0day exploit vBulletin , got password moderator. 860000 user data hacked too. The network security is a myth " he told me. During the conversation, team leader told me that he has discovered a Zero Day Remote Code Execution vulnerability in vBulletin v4.x.x and 5.х.x, that allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the server end remotely. On their exploit marketplace they are also selling this zero day exploit with Shell Upload payload at $7000 USD. " We found a critical v...

Apple has released the latest version of its mobile platform i.e. iOS 7.0.4 includes bug fixes, security patches with some new features. The update is available for iPhone , iPad and iPod touch, identified as " build 11B554a ." Most importantly Apple has patched a critical security flaw that allowed to purchase stuff from the online Apple Store without having to tap in a valid password. Vulnerability assigned as  CVE-2013-5193 , " A signed-in user may be able to complete a transaction without providing a password when prompted. This issue was addressed by additional enforcement of purchase authorization. " Apple's security bulletin says. The patch restores the aforementioned authentication check and will allow app store transactions only  if the user will provide a valid password. The update also addressed an issue that would cause FaceTime calls to fail for some users. Apple recommended users to update their devices immediately. iOS user...

Security Researcher Dan Melamed discovered an Open URL redirection vulnerability in Facebook that allowed him to have a facebook.com link redirect to any website without restrictions. An open URL Redirection flaw is generally used to convince a user to click on a trusted link which is specially crafted to take them to an arbitrary website, the target website could be used to serve a malware or for a phishing attack . An Open URL Redirection url flaw in Facebook platform and third party applications also exposes the user's access token at risk if that link is entered as the final destination in an Oauth dialog . The Facebook Open URL Redirection vulnerability exists at landing.php  page with " url " parameter, i.e. https://facebook.com/campaign/landing.php?url=https://yahoo.com This URL will always redirects user to the Facebook 's homepage, but it is sufficient to manipulate the "url" parameter assigning a random string: https://facebo...

Japanese most popular word processing software ' Ichitaro ' and Multiple Products are vulnerable to a zero day Remote Code Execution Flaw Vulnerability, allowing the execution of arbitrary code to compromise a user's system. According to assigned CVE-2013-5990 ,  malicious attacker is able to gain system access and execute arbitrary code with the privileges of a local user. The vulnerability is caused due to an unspecified error when handling certain document files. " We confirm the existence of vulnerabilities in some of our products. " company blog says. In a blog post, Antivirus Firm Symantec confirmed that in September 2013, they have discovered attacks in the wild attempting to exploit this vulnerability during, detected as  Trojan.Mdropper , which is a variant of  Backdoor.Vidgrab . Researchers mentioned that  Backdoor.Vidgrab variant was used as a payload for a watering hole attack exploiting the Microsoft Internet Explorer Memor...

Browser-based botnets are the T-1000s of the DDoS world. Just like the iconic villain of the old Judgment Day movie, they too are designed for adaptive infiltration. This is what makes them so dangerous. Where other more primitive bots would try to brute-force your defenses, these bots can simply mimic their way through the front gate. By the time you notice that something`s wrong, your perimeter has already been breached, your servers were brought down, and there is little left to do but to hang up and move on. So how do you flush out a T-1000? How do you tell a browser-based bot from a real person using a real browser? Some common bot filtering methods, which usually rely on sets of Progressive Challenges , are absolutely useless against bots that can retain cookies and execute JavaScripts. The alternative to indiscriminately flashing CAPTCHA's for anyone with a browser is nothing less than a self-inflicted disaster - especially when the attacks can go on for weeks a...

A Mysterious Hacker who goes by the " Pinkie Pie " handle is rewarded with $50,000 USD for hacking into the Google Chrome browser for Nexus 4 and Samsung Galaxy S4 . At Information Security Conference PacSec 2013 in Tokyo, during the HP's Pwn2Own contest, a zero-day exploit  showcased by " Pinkie Pie ", that took advantage of two vulnerabilities: An integer overflow that affects Chrome. Chrome vulnerability that resulted in a full sandbox escape. For successful exploitation, you have to get your victim to visit a malicious website e.g. clicking a link in an email, or an SMS or on another web page. He demonstrated this zero-day attack with remote code execution vulnerability on the affected devices. It is not known whether other Android phones are also vulnerable to same flaw or not. Vulnerability has been disclosed to Google by the Contest organizers and the company is working to address the issue as soon as possible. Researchers from...

At Information Security Conference PacSec 2013 in Tokyo, Apple's Safari browser for the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 have been exploited by two teams of Japanese and Chinese white hat hackers. In HP's Pwn2Own 2013 contest , Japanese squad Team MBSD, of Mitsui Bussan Secure Directions won won $40,000 reward for zero day exploit for hacking Samsung Galaxy S4. The vulnerabilities allow the attacker to wholly compromise the device in several ways, such as using a drive-by download to install malware on the phone. In order for the exploit to be successful, the group lured a user to a malicious website, gained system-level privileges and installed applications that allowed the team to gather information, including SMS messages, contacts and browsing history. They  Another Hackers Team from Keen Cloud Tech in China showed how to exploit a vulnerability in iOS version 7.0.3 to steal Facebook login credentials and a photo from a device running iOS 6.1....

Popular Mac news and information site MacRumors user forums have been breached by hackers on Monday this week. More than 860,000 usernames, emails and hashed passwords were potentially compromised. Users are advised to users that they change their passwords on the forums, as well as any other sites or services where the same password has been used. MD5 with or without salt, to be an inadequate means of protecting stored passwords. Back in 2012, the original author of the MD5 password hash algorithm has publicly declared that MD5 is no longer considered safe to use on commercial websites. u The owner of the site, Arnold Kim, apologized for the intrusion and said that it occurred because the hacker gained access to a moderator account, which then allowed the intruder to escalate their own privileges with the goal of stealing user login credentials. " We are looking into it further to see if there was another exploit, but there hasn't been any evidence of it...