The Hacker News | #1 Trusted Source for Cybersecurity News — Index Page

Rapid7 researcher Juan Vazquez recently uncovered a zero-day security flaw in Novell ZENworks Asset Management 7.5. This Vulnerability ( CVE-2012-4933 ) gives access to any files with system privileges and could also allow an attacker to grab configuration parameters, including the backend credentials in clear text. ZENworks Asset Management provides a Web Console, where the user can access the data collected about network devices and edit some information. This web interface provides some maintenance calls, two of them accessible with hardcoded credentials, allowing a remote attacker to retrieve any file from the remote file system with SYSTEM privileges and to get configuration parameters from the ZENworks Asset Management including the backend credentials in clear text. The vulnerability currently remains unpatched and US CERT recommends that users implement firewall rules that will restrict access to the web interface by unauthorised users. Read here , mor...

According to a White House-ordered review , a giant Chinese technology company " Huawei " is not a state-sponsored espionage tool. Huawei Technologies, the world's second-largest supplier of telecommunications equipment. The largely classified investigation, which delved into the security risks posed by suppliers to US telecommunications network operators, found Huawei was risky for other reasons, such as having products that are vulnerable to hackers. The committee, which conducted an 11-month investigation into privately held Huawei and ZTE, found the two companies uncooperative in providing information about their respective ties with Beijing. Some questions remain unanswered. For example, it is unclear if security vulnerabilities found in Huawei equipment were placed there deliberately. It is also not clear whether any critical new intelligence emerged after the inquiry ended. " The White House has not conducted any classified inquiry that res...

The hacker group Anonymous claims that Maxson is the man who drove Amanda Todd to her death last week, but the Canada native says it wasn't him and that he was a friend to the teen. Alleged Amanda Todd blackmailer Kody Maxson outed a second pedophile blackmailer, known as Viper. Maxson appeared in court Monday for unrelated charges of sexual assault and sexual interference of a person under 16. Anonymous traced him to the online handle Kody1206, an active user on teen chat hub Blogtv where Todd was coerced into exposing herself and various forums dedicated to trading jailbait or sexualized images of teens. Maxson said he got some sketchy information about the blackmailer, who he says was 26, lived in New York and goes by an alias of Viper. The man said he passed this information to the RCMP and NYPD, but he couldn't remember whom he spoke with. He said he only knew Amanda in " a sense ," but denied he was one of her cyber-bullies. Here's a video statement fro...

With Web applications remaining a popular target for attackers, Web app security sometimes seems like a digital version of the " Good, the Bad and the Ugly ." Vulnerabilities in web applications are now the largest vector of enterprise security attacks. Web application security is much more challenging than infrastructure. The top Web application vulnerabilities occur and re-occur time and again. Items such as Cross Site Scripting (XSS), SQL Injection (SQLi) and file inclusion are common vulnerabilities and show up frequently. In his view, the majority of Web application security problems can be solved by applying well known security technology approaches. According to survey results, only 51 percent of organizations currently have coders conduct security testing, and only 40 percent of organizations report they test during development. Vulnerabilities like these fall often outside the traditional expertise of network security managers. To help you understa...

The multinational bank HSBC has blamed a denial of service attack for the downtime of many of its websites worldwide on Thursday night and the Anonymous group has been quick to take credit. " Banks are the sole cause of our current worldwide economic problems. They deserve to get hit. RBS, Lloyds TSB and Barclays are next, " FawkesSecurity said . " This denial-of-service attack did not affect any customer data, but did prevent customers using HSBC online services, including Internet banking. We are taking appropriate action, working hard to restore service. We are pleased to say that some sites are now back up and running. We are cooperating with the relevant authorities and will cooperate with other organizations that have been similarly affected by such criminal acts. " HSBC said. The timing of the group's Twitter postings lends credence to its claims, but Twitter users claiming to be Anonymous members have falsely claimed responsibility for at...

The most common approach to protect data during communication on the Android platform is to use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols. Thousands of applications in the Google Play market that are using these implementations. A group of researchers including Sascha Fahl, Marian Harbach, Thomas Muders, Matthew Smith from Distributed Computing & Security Group - Leibniz University of Hannover, Hannover, Germany and Lars Baumgärtner, Bernd Freisleben from Department of Math. & Computer Science - Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany, have presented a paper that  most of these applications contain serious mistakes in the way that SSL/TLS is implemented, that leaving them vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks that could compromise sensitive user data such as banking credentials, credit card numbers and other information. Tests performed on 100 selected apps confirmed that 41 of them were vulnerable to known atta...

Android's App store is currently facing a new dilemma as its security has been compromised once again. Researchers from security firm TrustGo have recently spotted on Google Play a bogus app that supposedly automatizes the updating of a batch of other apps. The malicious code was hidden within an app named, "Updates" by developer Good Byte Labs (Package name: com.updateszxt) and was designed to look like an update to the Lookout™ mobile security application. The malware detected as Trojan!FakeLookout.A  is capable of stealing SMS and MMS messages and upload them to a remote server via FTP. This virus has the potential to steal all personal business sensitive data from the users' device. Though there are no reports of being infected by the users, it is believed that the infected users are not aware of it yet. " New approach being attempted by malware makers, " TrustGo said the site in question " contains a Trojan file that targets multiple platfo...

A French hacker has been arrested for spreading a virus through fake smartphone applications. Prosecutors say he stole tiny sums from 17,000 people, amassing about 500,000 euros (£405,000) since 2011. Working from the basement of his parents' home in Amiens, France, he created malicious software that looked like normal smartphone apps, but these programs stole money through hidden transactions. He also used programs that sent him the usernames and passwords for gambling and gaming websites. The man admitted his crimes to police after he was arrested in the northern French city of Amiens. He told officials that he was motivated by a strong interest in computers and the desire to be a software developer.

Apple has discontinued its own Java plugin, issuing an 'update' that removes it from MacOS and encourages users to instead download Oracle's version of the software. Its another step by Apple towards making OS X safer on the web. Mac users may have noticed that Java-based websites are displaying a " Missing Plug-in " notification. The Apple Support page states that this update is for OS X 10.7 and later. Apart from stripping browsers of the Java plug-in, it also removes the Java Preferences application, since it is no longer required for applet setting configuration. Just to be clear, the update does not remove Java from your system if its installed, just the Java plugin from your web browsers. In August, Java was blasted as an unsafe plug-in that should only be used when absolutely necessary after a zero-day exploit was discovered, rolled into the user-friendly Blackhole exploit kit and used for nearly a week before Oracle issued a patch. That patch, however,...

The Internet has created many new global business opportunities for enterprises conducting online commerce. However, the many security risks associated with conducting e-commerce have resulted in security becoming a major factor for online success or failure. Whether you are an individual or a company, you should approach online security in the same way that you would approach physical security for your home or business. Not only does it make you feel safer but it also protects people who visit your home, place of business, or website. It is important to understand the potential risks and then make sure you are fully protected against them. In the fast-paced world of technology, it is not always easy to stay abreast of the latest advancements. For this reason it is wise to partner with a reputable Internet security company. Here we have a very cool guide from  Symantec , This guide will de-mystify the technology involved and give you the information you need to ...

Eugene Kaspersky is working with his engineers at Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab to create a secure-by-design OS for ICS. In an interview Kaspersky said " It's true no one else ever tried to make a secure operating system. This may sound weird because of the many efforts Microsoft, Apple and the open source community have made to make their platforms as secure as possible. With all respect, we should admit they were developing a universal solution for a wide range of application and various kinds of users. And security and usability is always a matter of compromise! With a universal OS a developer inevitably sacrifices security for usability ." Companies that maintain ICS are forced to try to patch them on the fly in the event of a malware attack, a process usually easier said than done. Instead, Kaspersky suggests that the solution lies in a secure operating system, one in which ICS can be installed. Such an OS could help ensure that industrial systems stay healthy ...

Yesterday I have reported about a huge mysterious hack in wordpress servers, that cause compromise of 15000 wordpress account and hacker managed to post same spam article of " Money making sites " with title - " Im getting paid! " on each blog. We explained how hacker was earning in thousands of dollars by just sharing his Referral link on all these hacked sites. The campaign include some malicious domains where hacker is redirecting all readers and service from a well known email marketing company - Getresponse . Using the same dork -- site:wordpress.com "Im getting paid!" , today we tried to find out number of hacked accounts and once again another shocking number - its 59300 blogs in compromised list on 2nd day of hacking campaign. So many blogs have been compromised without any known method and wordpress team still not in action. As mentioned in last article, yesterday I tried to contact with Getresponse response team whose ...

Official Twitter account of Rock band ' Garbage ' has been compromised and hacker is posting Spam tweets and links using adf.ly, which is a url shortener service that pays on clicks. Hacked twitter account hack around 55,563 Followers. Hacker can post malicious links also, but in this case we can see that purpose is not to infect other, instead hacker want to make some money by spreading links. Even he has mention this in a tweet, " All you people saying I'm dumb. I've made over 19 dollars by spamming ad.fly links. I hack twitters and spam them great money ," How hacker got access to twitter account is not yet clear, may be phishing, social engineering or can be a  password guess, but once readers should learn the importance of strong password. Yesterday we have posted another Exclusive report that, how 15000 wordpress blogs hacked and hacker is making money from referral system by posting spam articles on each...

Hacker group Anonymous may have tracked down the sex-obsessed cyberbully who drove a 15-year-old girl to kill herself last week. Today Anonymous posted a video on YouTube naming a 32-year-old man from British Columbia, as the person responsible for the October 10th suicide of 15-year-old Amanda Todd. Anonymous has started #OpRIP to hunt down those who bullied Todd. " This is the pedophile that social engineered Amanda Todd into supplying him nude pictures ," Anonymous said in a Pastebin post before identifying a 30-year-old man living in New Westminster, B.C. Todd committed suicide after years of online abuse by a man who blackmailed her, posted her topless photo online and sent it to her peers. In Todd's video, on handwritten note cards, she detailed the story of a man she said threatened to send photos of her breasts to friends and relatives unless she put on a sexual show for him. She apparently refused and he later made good on that promise, polic...

Kosova Hacker's Security group today release very sensitive server info of " The National Weather Service ", which was gathered due to a " Local file inclusion " Vulnerability in weather.gov . By definition, Local File Inclusion (also known as LFI) is the process of including files on a server through the web browser. This vulnerability occurs when a page include is not properly sanitized, and allows directory traversal characters to be injected. Hackers publish complete data in a pastebin file uploaded today, but the hack was performed two day back and in meantime, server administrator fix the vulnerability. We just talk with the hacking crew to know the reason of hack and data exposure, one of them explain that they are against US policies, who are targeting muslim countries. " They hack our nuclear plants using STUXNET and FLAME like malwares , they are bombing us 24*7, we can't sit silent - hack to payback them " ...

Wordpress Security Team is sending out warning messages to thousands of wordpress users that their account has been compromised recently. Warning message include " We recently detected suspicious activity on your WordPress.com account. To protect your identity and keep your site safe, we've reset your password. " Message continue " To reset your password and get access to your account and blog, please visit WordPress.com. Click on "Forgot password?" in the Login toolbar to get started. It is very important that your password be unique because using the same password across different web applications increases the risk of your account being hacked. " Note: Wordpress officially has not announce yet any security breach news on their website, but these warning mails are silently received by compromised account holders. Method of hack is still not confirmed. But hacking 15000 blogs from wordpress server and posting same article on all sites most ...

Italian security Researchers Luigi Auriemma and Donato Ferrante from ' ReVuln ' reported the flaw in Steam Browser Protocol. Stream the popular online distribution platform with 54 million users. The flaw allow the attacker to write arbitrary text to file and direct victims to external payloads and even the computer can take over. The popular gaming platform uses the steam:// URL protocol in order to run, install and uninstall games, backup files, connect to servers and reach various sections dedicated to customers. It is possible to Safari, Maxthon and Firefox and other browsers based on the Mozilla engine, this quietly Steam URLs to invoke. In report they said that browsers including Firefox and software clients including RealPlayer would execute the external URL handler without warnings and were "a perfect vector to perform silent Steam browser protocol calls". The researchers demonstrated how users on the massive Source game engine, which hosts games...

Gary McKinnon has had his extradition blocked by the UK government. He has finally won his 10-year fight against extradition after Home Secretary Theresa May today halted proceedings on human rights grounds. The Home Secretary said medical reports warning the computer hacker would kill himself if sent to the US were sufficient grounds to bring the decade-long battle to an end. It is 10 years since he was first arrested, and his case has come to symbolise a purported imbalance in the extradition arrangements between the UK and the US. McKinnon was accused by US prosecutors of " the biggest military computer hack of all time ", but he claims he was simply looking for evidence of UFOs.  According to a report, Mr Burrowes increased the pressure on the Prime Minister last night by telling friends he will resign as a member of the Government if Mr McKinnon, who has Asperger's syndrome, is deported. There was no doubt McKinnon is seriously ill and the extradition warra...

Over 2011-2012 we've seen an increase in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and other web attacks on SME's websites. Incapsula is one of the companies whose service is useful to protect your website from all threats and mitigate DDoS attacks which affect your websites, servers, databases, and other essential infrastructure. Incapsula is a cloud-based website security and performance service, including a PCI-certified cloud web application firewall and a content delivery network (CDN) for small and medium-sized businesses. We at ' The Hacker News ' got the chance to review the service using an Enterprise plan account. Really it takes I think 1-2 minutes to join the service and add this extra layer of virtual shield around your Website. You have to make a simple DNS settings change in your domain panel. Your site traffic is then routed through Incapsula's global network of high-powered servers. Incoming traffic is analyzed and a security layer is a...

The new zero day exploit has been discovered and being exploited in the wild. This can be used to load malicious application on victim machines running fully patched Windows XP SP3 along with the latest editions of the IE 7 and IE 8 browser and Adobe's Flash software. Eric Romang  was  examining one of the servers used to launch attacks on vulnerable Java installations in past, and he says that he has found a new zero day exploit for Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser. He said, " I can confirm, the zero-day season is really not over yet ." AlienVault Labs researcher Jaime Blasco reported that, " the gang behind the Java attacks in August and September may be moving on: with domains used in that attack located at new IP addresses and serving up the new and more potent attacks ." As shown in above image example, the file exploit.html creates the initial vector to exploit the vulnerability and loads the flash file Moh2010.swf, which ...