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In Brief A suspect of child pornography possession, Francis Rawls, who is a former Philadelphia Police Department sergeant, has been in solitary confinement without charges for last seven months and will remain until he complies with a court order forcing him to decrypt his password-protected hard drives seized in connection with a child pornography investigation. Remember Ramona Fricosu? In 2012, a Colorado woman was ordered to unlock her laptop while investigating financial fraud, but she refused to unlock it saying that she did not remember the password. Later the US Court ruled that Police can force defendants to decrypt their electronic devices, of course, as it does not violate the Fifth Amendment that prevents any citizen from having to incriminate themselves. Forget the password? It might be a smart way to avoid complying with a court order, but not every time. A Philadelphia man has been in jail for seven months and counting after being refused to comply with a c...

In Brief According to an investigation, Matthew Edman, a cyber security expert and former employee of the Tor Project, helped the FBI with Cornhusker a.k.a Torsploit malware that allowed Feds to hack and unmask Tor users in several high-profile cases, including Operation Torpedo and Silk Road. Do you know who created malware for the FBI that allowed Feds to unmask Tor users? It's an insider's job… A former Tor Project developer. In an investigation conducted by Daily Dot journalists, it turns out that  Matthew J. Edman , a former part-time employee of Tor Project, created malware for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that has been used by US law enforcement and intelligence agencies in several investigations, including Operation Torpedo . Matthew Edman is a computer scientist who specializes in cyber security and investigations and  joined the Tor Project in 2008 to build and enhance Tor software's interactions with Vidalia software, cross-platform ...

In Brief The Microsoft's Windows Defender Advanced Threat Hunting team detected that a cyber espionage group of hackers, known as PLATINUM, has found a way to turn the Windows's Hotpatching technique (a way of updating the operating system without requiring a restart) to hide its malware from Antivirus products. PLATINUM group has been active since 2009 and launching large-scale attacks against governmental organizations, intelligence agencies, defense institutes and telecommunication providers in South and Southeast Asia. Practically speaking, the most important thing for a sophisticated APT hacker and a cyber-espionage group is to remain undetected for the longest possible period. Well, that's exactly what an APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) group has achieved. The Microsoft's Windows Defender Advanced Threat Hunting team has discovered that an APT group, dubbed Platinum, has been spying on high-profile targets by abusing a " novel " technique called...

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...

No matter how smart and fast your devices would be, the biggest issue is always with the battery technology. Whenever you go to buy any electronic gadget — smartphone, laptop, or any wearable — the most important specification isn't its processor speed or its camera quality but its Battery Backup , which is not getting better any time soon. What if you could eliminate the very thing entirely? Well, that's exactly what the electrical engineers from the University of Washington has developed. A team of researchers from the University of Washington's Sensor Lab and the Delft University of Technology has developed a new gadget that doesn't need a battery or any external power source to keep it powered; rather it works on radio waves. So, this means you have to turn on your radio every time to keep this device charged. Right? No, you don't need to do this at all, because the device sucks radio waves out of the air and then converts them into electricity. Wireless Ident...

In Brief The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) made its first disclosure about a software security flaw to Apple under the Vulnerability Equities Process (VEP), a White House initiative created in April 2014 for reviewing flaws and deciding which ones should be made public. Unfortunately, the vulnerability reported by the federal agency only affected older versions of Apple's iOS and OS X operating system and was patched nine months ago, with the release of iOS 9 for iPhones and Mac OS X El Capitan, according to Apple. The FBI informed Apple of a vulnerability in its iPhone and Mac software on April 14, but it's not the one used to unlock an iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters, Reuters  reported . But, Why didn't the FBI disclose the hack used to get data off the San Bernardino iPhone ? Well, the answer came from the FBI is not much complicated. According to the FBI Director James Comey, the FBI is still assessing whether the hack used to unlock Farook...

In Brief A group of pro-ISIS hackers calling themselves the United Cyber Caliphate (UCC) has issued a "Kill List" containing the names of dozens of U.S. government personnel at the Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security, State Department, and several other federal agencies. Meanwhile, the US military's Cyber Command has announced to launch its first attack against ISIS' digital infrastructure in an effort to disrupt the terrorist's communications and other core functions. The announcement came earlier this week when President Barack Obama discussed the war on ISIS ( Islamic State ) in Hanover, Germany, where he met with world leaders and represented this new cyber initiative, according to the sources from New York Times. On the other side, the Kill List was distributed Monday by the United Cyber Caliphate (UCC) hackers over the popular end-to-end encrypted messaging app Telegram through which the ISIS communicate with their followers and spread terro...

1. Spotify Hacked! Change your Password ASAP If you are one of the millions of people around the world who love to listen to music on Spotify, you may need to change your password immediately. Has Spotify been hacked? The company says no, but some Spotify users have claimed their profiles were hijacked, and details were changed without knowledge, including passwords and email addresses, TC  reported . Spotify apparently suffered a security breach that leaked hundreds of Spotify accounts details, including emails, usernames, passwords and account type, which was published last week to the popular anonymous file sharing website Pastebin. Spotify is investigating the Pastebin leaks of Spotify user information. 2. Over 1 Million Android Apps Are Coming to Chrome OS Google is ready to integrate millions of Android applications onto its Chrome OS platform by bringing the entire Play Store to it. Redditor 'TheWiseYoda' first spotted a new option to "Enable And...

In Brief US-based Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) agency is sponsoring a program to build portable laser sensors that could detect explosives, narcotics and other dangerous chemical weapons from 100 feet away. Dubbed SILMARILS ( Standoff Illuminator for Measuring Absorbance and Reflectance Infrared Light Signatures ), the program aims to identify biological agents as well as chemical and explosive substances in real-time. The Bombs are often planted in public areas, so it is important to detect them in a way that does not harm the surrounding infrastructure and human lives. The new technology could make the front line and home front safer for everyone. The agency has funded five companies via the US Air Force, including LGS Innovations, Physical Sciences, Photonics, Block Engineering, and Leidos, through its SILMARILS program . Currently, the technology used to detect narcotics, explosives, and other dangerous chemicals requires physical...

In Brief Cyber crooks find a new and ingenious way to make hundreds of thousands of dollars with no effort. An unknown cyber gang, pretending to be Armada Collective , has made more than $100,000 in less than two months simply by threatening to launch DDoS attack on websites, but never actually launched a single attack. A group of Cyber Extortionists is sending threatening emails to businesses across the globe involves the launching of powerful distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against victim's website unless a ransom is paid. But, the group never actually launched a single DDoS attack. In a typical scenario, attackers disrupt a targeted website with a short-term DDoS attack in order to demonstrate its power, followed by an e-mail containing ransom note threatening further disruption, if the ransom does not get paid. Armada Collective is the same criminal gang that was responsible for one of largest DDoS attacks against ProtonMail in November 2015 and ext...

In Brief Investigators from British defense contractor BAE Systems discovered that hackers who stole $81 million from the Bangladesh Central Bank actually hacked into software from SWIFT financial platform, a key part of the global financial system. The hackers used a custom-made malware to hide evidence and go undetected by erasing records of illicit transfers with the help of compromised SWIFT system. The Bangladesh Bank hackers, who managed to steal $81 Million from the bank last month in one of the largest bank heists in history, actually made their tracks clear after hacking into SWIFT, the heart of the global financial system. SWIFT , stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, is a global messaging network used for most international money and security transfers. More than 11,000 Global Banks on HIGH ALERT! Nearly 11,000 Banks and other financial institutions around the World use SWIFT system to send securely and receive payment ...

Just last month, DARPA launched a project dubbed "Improv," inviting hackers to transform simple household appliances into deadly weapons . Now, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is finding someone in the private sector to develop a hacker-proof " secure messaging and transaction platform " for the U.S. military. Darpa wants researchers to create a secure messaging and transaction platform that should be accessible via the web browser or standalone native application. The secure messaging app should " separate the message creation, from the transfer (transport) and reception of the message using a decentralized messaging backbone to allow anyone anywhere the ability to send a secure message or conduct other transactions across multiple channels traceable in a decentralized ledger, " agency's  notice explains. In simple words, DARPA aims to create a secure messaging service that not only implements the standard encryption and se...

In Brief Investigators from the Forensic Training Institute of the Bangladesh investigated the $80 Million bank heist and discovered that the hackers managed to gain access to the network because the Bank was using second-hand $10 network switches without a Firewall to run its network. When it was reported last month that an unknown hacking group attempted to steal $1 Billion from Bangladesh's Federal Reserve bank account with the help of a malware and, in fact, successfully stole over $80 Million , the investigators would not say how the hackers managed to bypass the security solutions on its network. But in reality, there was no security solution installed to help protect against increasingly sophisticated attacks. This lack of security practices made it incredibly easier for the hackers to break into the system and steal $81 Million, though a simple typo (spell error) by hackers halted the further transfers of the $850 Million funds. The network computers that we...