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While the moon was eclipsing the sun, Google announced the launch of its new mobile operating system called Android 8.0 Oreo in an Eclipse-themed launch event in New York City. Yes, the next version of sugary snack-themed Android and the successor to Android Nougat will now be known as Android Oreo , the company revealed on Monday. Google has maintained the tradition of naming its Android operating system by the names of alphabetically-ordered sugary delights beginning with Android Cupcake and followed by Donut, Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb, Ice Cream Sandwich, Jelly Bean, KitKat, Lollipop, Marshmallow and Nougat. The good news is that the Android team has brought several significant features to your smartphone and tablet with the release of Android Oreo to make its mobile platform more secure, fast, power efficient and offer better multitasking. The new updated mobile operating system, which has been available for the last few months in developer beta, will arriv...

Update: Microsoft's search engine Bing has been restored in China after being inaccessible in the country for almost two days. According to sources familiar with the matter, Bing was blocked due to an accidental technical error and not due to an attempt at censorship. China has blocked Microsoft-owned search engine Bing , the company confirmed after receiving complaints from users throughout the country who took to social media beginning late Wednesday to express concerns. So, Bing becomes the latest service to be shut down by Chinese government behind its so-called Great Firewall of China , which blocks thousands of websites originating in the west including Facebook, WhatsApp , Twitter, Yahoo, and Google. The news came as a surprise because Microsoft's search engine actually followed China's strict rules on censoring search results. Online service WebSitePulse that tracks outages in China also confirmed that cn.bing.com—the web address for Bing in China since ...

United States authorities arrested suspected dark web drug kingpin late last month while he was travelling from his base in France to the United States of America for this year's annual World Beard and Mustache Championships. Gal Vallerius, a 38-year-old French national, was travelling to Austin, Texas, for the competition but was caught by U.S. authorities on August 31 upon landing at Atlanta International Airport on a distribution complaint filed in Miami federal court, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday. Authorities confirmed Vallerius' identity to the online moniker " OxyMonster ," which was previously used to sell drugs on an illegal underground dark web marketplace called Dream Market by searching his laptop that the brown-beard contestant carried with him. Alleged Moderator/Admin Of Dark-Web Dream Market According to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) affidavit filed in September, Vallerius was an administrator, senior moderator and vendor on Dream ...

The Russian government is offering almost 4 million ruble which is approximately equal to $111,000 to the one who can devise a reliable technology to decrypt data sent over the Tor , an encrypted anonymizing network used by online users in order to hide their activities from law enforcement, government censors, and others. The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) issued a notice on its official procurement website, originally posted on July 11, under the title " шифр «ТОР (Флот)» " ;which translates as " cipher 'TOR' (Navy) " an open call for Tor-cracking proposals whose winner will be chosen by August 20. The MIA specifically wants researchers to " study the possibility of obtaining technical information about users and users' equipment on the Tor anonymous network, " according to a translated version of the Russian government's proposal. Only Russian nationals and companies are allowed to take part in the competition " in o...

Cybersecurity never stops—and neither do hackers. While you wrapped up last week, new attacks were already underway. From hidden software bugs to massive DDoS attacks and new ransomware tricks, this week's roundup gives you the biggest security moves to know. Whether you're protecting key systems or locking down cloud apps, these are the updates you need before making your next security decision. Take a quick look to start your week informed and one step ahead. ⚡ Threat of the Week Cisco 0-Day Flaws Under Attack — Cybersecurity agencies warned that threat actors have exploited two security flaws affecting Cisco firewalls as part of zero-day attacks to deliver previously undocumented malware families like RayInitiator and LINE VIPER. The RayInitiator and LINE VIPER malware represent a significant evolution on that used in the previous campaign, both in sophistication and its ability to evade detection. The activity involves the exploitation of CVE-2025-20362 (CVSS score: 6.5) a...

The heated battle between Apple and the FBI provoked a lot of talk about Encryption – the technology that has been used to keep all your bits and bytes as safe as possible. We can not say a lot about Apple's users, but Android users are at severe risk when it comes to encryption of their personal and sensitive data. Android's full-disk encryption can be cracked much more easily than expected with brute force attack and some patience, affecting potentially hundreds of millions of mobile devices. And the worst part: There may not be a full fix available for current Android handsets in the market. Google started implementing Full Disk Encryption on Android by default with Android 5.0 Lollipop. Full disk encryption (FDE) can prevent both hackers and even powerful law enforcement agencies from gaining unauthorized access to device's data. Android's disk encryption, in short, is the process of encoding all user's data on an Android device before ever wri...

The Hacker News Hacking Awards : Best of Year 2011 2011 has been labeled the " Year of the Hack " or " Epic #Fail 2011 ". Hacking has become much easier over the years, which is why 2011 had a lot of hacking for good and for bad. Hackers are coming up with tools as well as finding new methods for hacking faster then companies can increase their security.  Every year there are always forward advancements in the tools and programs that can be used by the hackers. At the end of year 2011 we decided to give " The Hacker News Awards 2011 ". The Hacker News Awards will be an annual awards ceremony celebrating the achievements and failures of security researchers and the Hacking community. The THN Award is judged by a panel of respected security researchers and Editors at The Hacker News. Year 2011 came to an end following Operation Payback and Antisec, which targeted companies refusing to accept payments to WikiLeak's, such as, Visa and Amazon. Those attacks were carrie...

Sherlock Holmes is famous for his incredible ability to sort through mounds of information; he removes the irrelevant and exposes the hidden truth. His philosophy is plain yet brilliant: "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Rather than following every lead, Holmes focuses on the details that are needed to move him to the solution. In cybersecurity, exposure validation mirrors Holmes' approach: Security teams are usually presented with an overwhelming list of vulnerabilities, yet not every vulnerability presents a real threat. Just as Holmes discards irrelevant clues, security teams must eliminate exposures that are unlikely to be exploited or do not pose significant risks. Exposure validation (sometimes called Adversarial Exposure Validation) enables teams to concentrate on the most significant issues and minimize distractions. Similar to Holmes' deductive reasoning, validation of exposures directs organizations towa...

After conducting over 10,000 automated internal network penetration tests last year, vPenTest has uncovered a troubling reality that many businesses still have critical security gaps that attackers can easily exploit. Organizations often assume that firewalls, endpoint protection, and SIEMs are enough to keep them secure. But how effective are these defenses when put to the test? That's where vPenTest , Vonahi Security's automated network pentesting platform, comes in. Designed to simulate real-world attack scenarios, vPenTest helps organizations find exploitable vulnerabilities before cybercriminals can. These aren't complex, zero-day exploits. They're misconfigurations, weak passwords, and unpatched vulnerabilities that attackers routinely exploit to gain access, move laterally, and escalate privileges within networks. Here's how these risks break down: 50% stem from misconfigurations – Default settings, weak access controls, and overlooked security policies. 30% are due to m...