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If you don't know yet, Microsoft is offerings up to $100,000 in exchange for finding vulnerabilities and exploits in the upcoming Windows 8.1 Preview which is expected to launch on June 26, the same time as the Microsoft Build Developer Conference. Qualifying submissions with accompanying defensive ideas will also be eligible for a BlueHat Bonus worth up to $50,000. " These are super challenging to discover and they require a new technique ," says Mike Reavey, director of Microsoft's Security Response Center. Windows 8.1 is a major update to Microsoft's brand new operating system Windows 8, and given the serious bounty on offer, Microsoft clearly wants to leave nothing to chance as far as securing the operating system is concerned. " Learning about new exploitation techniques earlier helps Microsoft improve security by leaps, instead of capturing one vulnerability at a time as a traditional bug bounty alone would ," he said. Microsoft's senior s...

The Britain's spy agency GCHQ is running an online eavesdropping operation that has gained secret access to more than 200 optical fiber cables carrying global Internet traffic and telephone calls. The existence of the program has been disclosed in documents shown to the Guardian by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden as part of his attempt to expose what he has called the largest program of suspicion less surveillance in human history. Dubbed as , Operation Tempora has been running for around 18 months and allows GCHQ to tap into and store huge volumes of data drawn from fibre-optic cables for up to 30 days. GCHQ is also sharing this sensitive personal information with its American partner, the National Security Agency (NSA). The paper said GCHQ is tapping 200 internet links in total, each with a data rate of 10Gbps, with the agency having the technical capacity to concurrently analyze 46 of these 200 streams of data at a time. That access could ...

Over the past few years, Cyber Criminals have choose the official Google Chrome Web Store to push malware. In a recent announcement by Google, like Google Play Android apps store, all new apps uploaded to the Chrome Web Store will now also be automatically scanned for malware. Also, Google warned developers that it may take a little longer than before for their app to go live in the store, and  scanning may take from just a few minutes up to an hour.  " Starting today in the Chrome Web Store, you might notice that your item is not broadly available immediately after you publish it. " It is always against the Chrome Web Store Content Policies to distribute malware, if developer still wants to upload something malicious, they should cancel the process and withdraw their program. " This new functionality does not require any action on the part of developers. When you publish an item in the store, the developer dashboard will indicate that your item is i...

The Bitcoin Foundation has received a cease-and-desist letter from the California Department of Financial Institutions, which oversees banks, credit unions, and other financial organizations operating in the state. Jon Matonis, who is a board member at the Foundation, revealed the letter on Forbes. The agency charges Bitcoin Foundation with allegedly " engaging in the business of money transmission without a license or proper authorization ." If they found to be in violation of the California Financial Code, the foundation could be fined up to $2,500 a day per violation, in addition to criminal prosecution. Convictions under the federal statute are punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Bitcoin doesn't have any kind of central regulatory authority, and trading takes place through Mt. Gox or other exchange floors. So, California's decision to send a money transmitter warning to the Bitcoin Foundation is a Washington, D.C., nonprofit, makes no sense...

Facebook is alerting its users about a security breach due to a technical glitch, that may have inadvertently exposed the email addresses and telephone numbers of roughly 6 million users. " We recently received a report to our White Hat program regarding a bug that may have allowed some of a person's contact information (email or phone number) to be accessed by people who either had some contact information about that person or some connection to them, " Facebook said in its announcement. The problem stemmed from a tool that allows users to upload their contact lists or address books to Facebook so that the social network can serve up friend recommendations or invite people to join Facebook. " Because of the bug, some of the information used to make friend recommendations and reduce the number of invitations we send was inadvertently stored in association with people's contact information as part of their account on Facebook, " As a result, ...

Edward Snowden , The Whistleblower who revealed the existence of a secret US online surveillance program left Hong Kong and has landed at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport with help of Wikileaks . WikiLeaks said in a statement that its legal adviser Sarah Harrison was on the plane with Mr Snowden and they would help 'secure is safety' at his 'final destination'. Snowden will go down in history as one of the most prolific whistleblowers . Snowden left Hong Kong after The White House asked the autonomous Chinese territory to extradite him. A senior administration official warned that if Hong Kong did not act quickly it would complicate relations. He had earlier been charged in the US with espionage. Snowden, who has been in hiding in Hong Kong for several weeks since he revealed information on the highly classified spy programs, has talked of seeking asylum in Iceland. He got an on SU 213 Aeroflot flight from Chep Lap Kok airport at 11.04am today (Hong K...