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UniCredit, an Italian global banking and financial services company, announced today that it suffered a security incident that leaked some personal information belonging to at least 3 million of its domestic customers. Officially founded in 1870, UniCredit is Italy's biggest banking and financial services and one of the leading European commercial banks with more than 8,500 branches across 17 countries. What happened? — Though UniCredit did not disclose any details on how the data incident happened, the bank did confirm that an unknown attacker has compromised a file created in 2015 containing three million records relating only to its Italian customers. What type of information was compromised? — The leaked data contains personal information of 3 million customers, including their: Names Cities Telephone numbers Email addresses What type of information was not compromised? — Unicredit confirmed that the compromised user records did not include any other perso

How do you reset the password for your Facebook account if your primary email account also gets hacked? Using SMS-based security code or maybe answering the security questions? Well, it's 2017, and we are still forced to depend on insecure and unreliable password reset schemes like email-based or SMS code verification process. But these traditional access recovery mechanisms aren't safe enough to protect our all other online accounts linked to an email account. Yahoo Mail can be used as an excellent example. Once hackers have access to your Yahoo account, they can also get into any of your other online accounts linked to the same email just by clicking the link that says, "Forgot your password?" Fortunately, Facebook has a tool that aims to fix this process, helping you recover access to all your other online accounts securely. At the Enigma Conference in Oakland, California on Monday, Facebook launched an account recovery feature for other websites

In today's digital world, where connectivity is rules all, endpoints serve as the gateway to a business's digital kingdom. And because of this, endpoints are one of hackers' favorite targets.  According to the IDC,  70% of successful breaches start at the endpoint . Unprotected endpoints provide vulnerable entry points to launch devastating cyberattacks. With IT teams needing to protect more endpoints—and more kinds of endpoints—than ever before, that perimeter has become more challenging to defend. You need to improve your endpoint security, but where do you start? That's where this guide comes in.  We've curated the top 10 must-know endpoint security tips that every IT and security professional should have in their arsenal. From identifying entry points to implementing EDR solutions, we'll dive into the insights you need to defend your endpoints with confidence.  1. Know Thy Endpoints: Identifying and Understanding Your Entry Points Understanding your network's

Israel is considered one of the most advanced country in cyber security, but at the same time is a privileged target for hostile governments intent in sabotage and cyber espionage on his technology. Yesterday, Cybersecurity experts revealed that a major artery in Israel's national road network located in the northern the city of Haifa suffered a cyber attack, that caused massive traffic congestion in the City. Isreal military officials are aware of cyber threats that could hit the infrastructure of the country and they afraid the possible effect of a cyber attack on a large scale. Israeli government websites suffer thousands of cyberattacks each day according Ofir Ben Avi, head of the government's website division. The Israel Electric Corp. confirmed that its servers register about 6,000 unique computer attacks every second. In June, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Iran militia, Hezbollah and Hamas have targeted in numerous occasions Israel

An unofficial patch has been made available for an actively exploited security flaw in Microsoft Windows that makes it possible for files signed with malformed signatures to sneak past Mark-of-the-Web ( MotW ) protections. The fix,  released  by 0patch, arrives weeks after HP Wolf Security  disclosed  a Magniber ransomware campaign that targets users with fake security updates which employ a JavaScript file to proliferate the file-encrypting malware. While files downloaded from the internet in Windows are tagged with a MotW flag to prevent unauthorized actions, it has since been found that corrupt Authenticode signatures can be used to allow the execution of arbitrary executables without any  SmartScreen warning . Authenticode  is a Microsoft code-signing technology that authenticates the identity of the publisher of a particular piece of software and verifies whether the software was tampered with after it was signed and published. "The [JavaScript] file actually has the Mo

If you are fan of the largest social networking site Facebook, but also want to remain anonymous while using your Facebook account, then there is really a Good news for you. Facebook on Friday began offering a way for security and Privacy conscious users to connect to its social networking service using the anonymizing service running on the Tor networ k, by launching a .onion address. This is really a historic move of the social network. Tor Browser is an open source project, launched in 2002, designed to increase the anonymity of your activities on the Internet by not sharing your identifying information such as your IP address and physical location with websites and your service providers. Browsing and data exchange over a network is made through encrypted connections between computers. The social network just created a special URL – https://facebookcorewwwi.onion – that will allow users running Tor-enabled browsers to connect Facebook's Core WWW Infrastructure. Hidden service

Three security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in operational technology (OT) products from Wago and Schneider Electric. The flaws, per Forescout, are part of a  broader   set  of  shortcomings  collectively called  OT:ICEFALL , which now comprises a total of 61 issues spanning 13 different vendors. "OT:ICEFALL demonstrates the need for tighter scrutiny of, and improvements to, processes related to secure design, patching and testing in OT device vendors," the company  said  in a report shared with The Hacker News. The most severe of the flaws is  CVE-2022-46680  (CVSS score: 8.8), which concerns the plaintext transmission of credentials in the ION/TCP protocol used by power meters from Schneider Electric. Successful exploitation of the bug could enable threat actors to gain control of vulnerable devices. It's worth noting that CVE-2022-46680 is one among the 56 flaws  originally unearthed  by Forescout in June 2022. The other two new security holes ( CVE-2023

Cybersecurity experts all echo the same thing – cyber attacks are going to get more rampant, and they will continue to pose severe threats against all technology users. Businesses, in particular, have become prime targets for cybercriminals due to the nature of data and information they process and store. 2018 saw a slew of data breaches targeting large enterprises that resulted in the theft of the personal and financial records of millions of customers. Falling victim to cyber attacks can deal with a major financial blow to businesses as the cost of dealing with an attack has risen to $1.1 million on the average. It can even be more devastating for small to medium-sized businesses. 60 percent of these smaller operations close within six months after failing to recover from cyber attacks. But aside from these monetary costs, companies can also lose credibility and their customers' confidence. Needless to say, businesses must improve the protection of their infrastructures

The most precious asset in today's information age is the secret safeguarded under lock and key. Regrettably, maintaining secrets has become increasingly challenging, as highlighted by the  2023 State of Secrets Sprawl  report, the largest analysis of public GitHub activity.  The report shows a  67% year-over-year increase  in the number of secrets found, with 10 million hard-coded secrets detected in 2022 alone. This alarming surge in secrets sprawl highlights  the need for action  and underscores the importance of secure software development. Secrets sprawl refers to secrets appearing in plaintext in various sources, such as source code, build scripts, infrastructure as code, logs, etc. While secrets like API tokens and private keys securely connect the components of the modern software supply chain, their widespread distribution among developers, machines, applications, and infrastructure systems heightens the likelihood of leaks. Cybersecurity Incidents Highlight the Danger

One of the most popular content management systems, Drupal , is warning its users to consider their websites as compromised unless their sites were updated immediately with a security patch released on 15 October 2014. Drupal is an open source software package which provides a Content management system (CMS) for websites including MTV, Popular Science, Sony Music, Harvard and MIT. Drupal is used to power roughly 1 billion websites on Internet, which puts Drupal in third place behind the juggernaut Wordpress and then Joomla. Drupal's security team has released a " public service announcement " on Wednesday for its users to warn them of the SQL injection attack revealed two weeks ago, compromising almost 12 million of the widely used Drupal 7 websites. Users are asked to immediately update their websites to Drupal 7.32 within seven hours of the announcement of the vulnerability. " Automated attacks began compromising Drupal 7 websites that were not patched

Reality Based Cyber Crime Novella Explores Aftermath of Stuxnet Attack On Iran GRAND RAPIDS – Cyber Styletto is a new novella by a journalist, a writer, and a security expert who have pooled their talents to create an enthralling good read that is future forward and predictive. The facts are based on real vulnerabilities in the way the Internet is constructed. Recent cyber security attacks using sophisticated malware (think Stuxnet) and social engineering techniques have raised the bar for defenders. Cyber Styletto pivots off these cyber events to educate and entertain. It is written as fact-based fiction. The story comes from the minds of Gian DeTorre and Mike Brennan. DeTorre is the pen name of an award winning fiction writer and literary critic whose stories and reviews have been published worldwide. " Cyber Styletto is a new genre in literature, bringing the modern, secretive world of cyber espionage together with a good, old-fashioned thriller ," DeTorre said. I hope our a

It seems like the new American President's Twitter account could easily be hacked due to security blunders he made with the most powerful Twitter account in the world, experts warned. Days after we got to know that the newly inaugurated President Donald Trump was still using his old, insecure Android smartphone, it has now been revealed that the official @POTUS Twitter account was linked to a private Gmail account. Since we are already aware of the potential scandal with government officials using outside email systems following the hack of private e-mail servers of Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush , the choice of using private, non-government email address by Trump has raised serious concerns about the security of the White House's closely watched account. To gain control of the official @POTUS Twitter account, which may or may not is secured with some form of two-factor authentication , all an attacker needs to do is hack the email address associated with the acc

We have a lot of information on Stuxnet virus, a powerful malware that for the first time has shown to governments the capabilities and efficiency of a cyber weapon. Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kasperky security firm revealed that Stuxnet had badly infected the internal network of a Russian nuclear plant, according to the information he obtained from an unnamed staffer at the Nuclear Plant. " So unfortunately these people who were responsible for offensive technologies, they recognize cyber weapons as an opportunity ." Kaspersky said. During a presentation given at the Canberra Press Club, Kaspersky provided an excellent overview on the security of cyberspace, in particular highlighting the effect of the activities of state-sponsored espionage and cyber crime. " All the data is stolen, " Kaspersky said. " At least twice ." The malware Stuxnet is widely considered to have been developed by the US Government in a joint work with Israel c

$30 Child Toy is enough to hack FBI Radios The portable radios used by many federal law enforcement agents have major security flaws that allowed researchers to intercept hundreds of hours of sensitive traffic sent without encryption over the past two years, according to a new study being released today. A new report on the findings has been released by team leader and computer science professor Matt Blaze from the University of Pennsylvania. That details how a child's toy, the $30 IM Me can be used to jam radios used by the FBI and Homeland Security. " We monitored sensitive transmissions about operations by agents in every Federal law enforcement agency in the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, " wrote the researchers, who were led by computer science professor Matt Blaze and plan to reveal their findings Wednesday in a paper at the Usenix Security Symposium in San Francisco. Members of the research group say they have contacted the Department of Ju

As many as 23 new high severity security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in different implementations of Unified Extensible Firmware Interface ( UEFI ) firmware used by numerous vendors, including Bull Atos, Fujitsu, HP, Juniper Networks, Lenovo, among others. The vulnerabilities reside in Insyde Software's InsydeH2O UEFI firmware, according to enterprise firmware security company  Binarly , with a majority of the anomalies diagnosed in the System Management Mode ( SMM ). UEFI is a software specification that provides a standard programming interface connecting a computer's firmware to its operating system during the booting process. In x86 systems, the UEFI firmware is usually stored in the flash memory chip of the motherboard. "By exploiting these vulnerabilities, attackers can successfully install malware that survives operating system re-installations and allows the bypass of endpoint security solutions (EDR/AV),  Secure Boot , and Virtualization-Based Securit

In an effort to secure users' data while maintaining privacy, Google has announced a new security measure for Android Backup Service that now encrypts all your backup data stored on its cloud servers in a way that even the company can't read it. Google allows Android users to automatically backup their essential app data and settings to their Google account, allowing them to simply restore it when required, instead of re-configuring all the apps after formatting or switching to a new phone. However, until now your backup data was not encrypted and visible to Google, and now the company is going to change its storage procedure. Starting with Android Pie, Google is going to encrypt your Android device backup data in the following way: Step 1: Your Android device will generate a random secret key (not known to Google), Step 2: The secret key will then get encrypted using your lockscreen PIN/pattern/passcode (not known to Google), Step 3: This passcode-protected

Unknown hackers have broken into the security networks of Lockheed Martin Corp and several other U.S. military contractors, a source with direct knowledge of the attacks told Reuters. They breached security systems designed to keep out intruders by creating duplicates to "SecurID" electronic keys from EMC Corp's RSA security division, said the person who was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter. It was not immediately clear what kind of data, if any, was stolen by the hackers. But the networks of Lockheed and other military contractors contain sensitive data on future weapons systems as well as military technology currently used in battles in Iraq and Afghanistan. Weapons makers are the latest companies to be breached through sophisticated attacks that have pierced the defenses of huge corporations including Sony, Google Inc and EMC Corp. Security experts say that it is virtually impossible for any company or government agency to build a security network th

McAfee is making security predictions for 2011. The firm outlines its top threats for next year in the 2011 Threat Predictions report -- and Android, iPhone, Foursquare, Google TV, and Mac OS X are listed as major cybercrime targets. Politically motivated attacks are also expected to increase, a la WikiLeaks. "We've seen significant advancements in device and social-network adoption, placing a bullseye on the platforms and services users are embracing the most," said Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee Labs. "These platforms and services have become very popular in a short amount of time, and we're already seeing a significant increase in vulnerabilities, attacks and data loss." Social-Media Threats Social-media threats are nothing new, but expect to see more of them next year. McAfee Labs expects social-media services that use URL shortening will be under attack because its easier for cybercriminals to mask the full URL and direct users to m

Super Cryptography : The Next Generation Encryption The next generation of encryption technologies meets this need by using Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) to replace RSA and DH, and using Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) block cipher for high-speed authenticated encryption. Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) is an approach to public-key cryptography based on the algebraic structure of elliptic curves over finite fields. The use of elliptic curves in cryptography was suggested independently by Neal Koblitz and Victor S. Miller in 1985. According to Cisco ," New algorithms for encryption, authentication, digital signatures, and key exchange are needed to meet escalating security and performance requirements ". A 244-bit ECC key has the equivalent strength of a 2048-bit RSA key for security; a 384-bit ECC key matches a 7680-bit RSA key. Greater strength for any given key length enables the use of shorter keys, resulting in significantly l

A Palestinian Web Developer and Hacker, ' Khalil Shreateh ' found an interesting  vulnerability in Facebook, that allows hacker to bypass the Privacy settings to make a post on anyone's Timeline / Wall. He was forced to post vulnerability details on Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook Founder) Timeline to prove his point, after the Facebook Security Team failed to recognize his critical vulnerability three times. The flaw even working for those victims, who is not included in the attacker friend list.  According to Facebook's Bug Bounty program, a researcher has to submit the flaw details via email to Facebook Security Team without disclosing the details in Public. In order to get the minimum reward of US$500, the flaw should be valid. The reported vulnerability is in " composer.php " file on Facebook mechanism. First Khalil made a post on the timeline of a girl, " Sarah Gooden " who studied at the same college as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbe

In any organization, there are certain accounts that are designated as being privileged. These privileged accounts differ from standard user accounts in that they have permission to perform actions that go beyond what standard users can do. The actions vary based on the nature of the account but can include anything from setting up new user accounts to shutting down mission-critical systems. Privileged accounts are essential tools. Without these accounts, the IT staff would be unable to do its job. At the same time, privileged accounts can pose a serious threat to an organization's security. Added risk of a privileged account  Imagine for a moment that a hacker manages to steal a standard user's password and is able to log in as that user. Even though the hacker would have access to certain resources at that point, they would be constrained by the user's privileges (or lack thereof). In other words, the hacker would be able to browse the Internet, open some applications, and access