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The founders over at FixMeStick sent us a pair of their latest devices to check out. The FixMeStick is, in short, a malware removal device for dummies . The FixMeStick is a bootable USB device running Lubuntu and integrates three separate anti-virus scanners from Kaspersky Labs, Sophos, and GFI. While our readers will probably never need it for themselves, we may all wish we had something like this for our non-technical friends and family, or the 9 million PCs infected with ZeroAccess botnet . The FixMeStick does a lot of things that nobody else does on a bootable USB, and let's be real, removing rootkits is never pleasant or easy. Why I Want it For My Parents Linux: the FixMeStick is a Linux-based device that runs before Windows boots enabling it to remove infections without the infection getting stealthy or playing war with my parent's anti-virus software. N-Scanner architecture: contains an integrated multi-scanner composed of three engines: Kaspersky Labs, Sophos, and GFI's VI...

Virgin Mobile customers beware: Your phone number is the key to your personal information. According to independent developer Kevin Burke, who warned Virgin Mobile USA customers about a glaring security hole in the phone company's account login protocol said, " If you are one of the six million Virgin subscribers, you are at the whim of anyone who doesn't like you. " Virgin Mobile USA users manage their account by logging in through an online portal, which requires a mobile number and a 6-digit pin. Once inside, customers can check their call records, change the handset associated with their number, and update their personal details. In a blog post on Monday, Kevin Burke detailed how the username and password system used by Virgin Mobile to let users access their account information, is inherently weak and open to abuse. " It is trivial to write a program that checks all million possible password combinations, easily determining anyone's PIN inside of one day...

Microsoft has confirmed reports that a zero-day vulnerability in its Internet Explorer browser is being actively attacked in the wild. Four active exploits of a zero-day vulnerability in the browser exists. Microsoft will push out an out-of-cycle Windows patch to temporarily fix the critical Internet Explorer flaw. Security researcher Eric Romang identified the exploit code on a server used by the "Nitro" hacking group, believed to have exploited the Java zero-day vulnerability reported last month.  Security firm Rapid7 advises that Internet users try a different Web browser. The malware may be linked to an ongoing attack on companies that has been dubbed "Nitro", and was first discovered in October by Symantec. The zero-day in IE 6-9 is a use-after-free memory corruption vulnerability , similar to a buffer overflow, that would enable an attacker to remotely execute code on a compromised machine. The original exploit payload dropped the PoisonIvy remote access Trojan (R...

The Samsung Galaxy S3 can be hacked via NFC, allowing attackers to download all data from the Android smartphone, security researchers demonstrated during the Mobile Pwn2Own contest in Amsterdam. Using a pair of zero day vulnerabilities, a team of security researchers from U.K.-based MWR Labs hacked into a Samsung Galaxy S3 phone running Android 4.0.4 by beaming an exploit via NFC (Near Field Communications). NFC is a technology that allows data to be sent over very short distances. For mobile devices, the protocol allows digital wallet applications to transfer money to pay at the register. While the technology has been slow to take off, despite the adoption by Google for its Wallet payment application, a number of recent high-profile announcements have boosted its adoption. " Through NFC it was possible to upload a malicious file to the device, which allowed us to gain code execution on the device and subsequently get full control over the device using a second vulnerability...

In recent months, we've seen the rootkit family Win32/Sirefef and Win64/Sirefef (also known as ZeroAccess Botnet ) update its command and control protocol and grow to infect more computers while connecting to over one million computers globally.  Before, disclosed that it creates its own hidden partition on the hard drive and uses hidden alternative data streams to hide and thrive. Then ZeroAccess developer changed infection tactics and stopped using kernel-mode components in the latest version Security firms tracked the growth of x64 version infections. But Recently uncovered by SophosLabs that ZeroAccess botnet took a major shift in strategy and operating entirely in user-mode memory. There are two distinct ZeroAccess botnets, and each has a 32-bit version and a 64-bit version, numbering four botnets in total. Each botnet is self-contained because it communicates exclusively on a particular port number hard-coded into the bot executable. The botnets can be cate...

Hackers from Indian Anonymous Group hacked Bharatiya Janata Party's website, BJP.org , last night, and defaced it. They post a set of messages with pictures, reflecting the group's condemnation of recent events including the government's approval of 51% FDI in multi-brand retail, diesel price hike, corruption, the cartoon controversy, and the Kudankulam Power Project, among others. Hackers also asked people to stand up and participate in the #OccupyIndiaground protest, which according to the message starts 23rd September 2012 (this Sunday) 3pm at India Gate, Delhi, Freedom Park, Bangalore, Marine Beach, Chennai, Park Street Crossing, Kolkata, MG Road, Pune and Subhash Park, Kochi. Defaced domains are: https://bjp.org https://bjpmp.org.in/ The group also posted a YouTube video with a message from anonymous: Video Saying that the group's been observing the deteriorating condition of free speech in India, and the government's attempts to block social media. Last month, Anonymous ...

Bank of America's website experienced periodic outages Tuesday due to cyber attacks launched in retaliation for " Innocence of Muslims ," the amateurish film whose mocking portrait of the Prophet Muhammad has incited deadly riots throughout the Middle East. " Cyber fighters of Izz ad-din Al qassam " said it would attack the Bank of America and the New York Stock Exchange as a "first step" in a campaign against properties of " American-Zionist Capitalists ." " After Successful attack to YouTube Servers in recent days made by Muslims around the world, many groups announce that they are ready to do similar attacks.When supporter of that sacrilegious movie try to punish the cast and crew, the publisher included, this story will end until that time these kinds of Cyber Attacks will be continued and the Cyber world will be an unsafe place for all of Enemies of Islam. " Hackers posted on their blog . People around the country reported on...

Hey faithful readers and people interested in Internet Security! Enjoy our - The Hacker News Magazine  September 2012 Edition , Issue #14 packed full of computer security issues and a great interview with a young hacker who defines the world of hacking and the future. Let us know what you think and many thanks for following our website!