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AT&T Hacker Andrew Auernheimer sentenced to 3.5 Years in prison

AT&T Hacker Andrew Auernheimer sentenced to 3.5 Years in prison

Mar 18, 2013
Self-described troll and Grey hat AT&T Hacker Andrew "Weev" Auernheimer, 26, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for exploiting an AT&T security hole three years ago, and releasing thousands of iPad owners email addresses. According to authorities, they obtained the ICC-ID and e-mail address for about 120,000 iPad users. Each charge carried with it a potential prison terms of five years. He will serve 41 months in a federal prison, with concurrent probation for three years. He also owes restitution to the U.S. Treasury to be dispersed to AT&T in the amount of $73,000. In 2010, Auernheimer and Daniel Spitler, discovered that visiting an unsecured AT&T Web server and entering a number associated with the customer's wireless account allowed him to obtain that customer's email address. Computer security researcher Charlie Miller tweeted " We could all go to jail for security research at any moment, and a jury would happily convi
Malicious Infrared X-Ray Android app infecting users in Japan

Malicious Infrared X-Ray Android app infecting users in Japan

Mar 18, 2013
Researchers are already warning that malware authors developing more sophisticated attack techniques for mobile devices, using encryption and randomization or hiding malicious code in image files. As analyzed by Symantec a malicious Infrared X-Ray  Android application, attempting to lure Android device owners to download an app that supposedly allows the camera on the device to see through clothes. This malware app is spreading quickly widely in Japan by sending the spam messages via SMS to phone numbers stored in the device's Contacts, so that the recipients of the spam to be tricked easier because the invitation to download the app is coming from someone they know rather than from an unknown sender. The app is designed to steals all details in the device's contact list and are uploaded to a predetermined server. Symantec  confirmed that there are several variants of this app exist, ". .the latest variants have added an interesting payload: rather than sending SMS message
Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Mar 21, 2024Operational Technology / SCADA Security
When you read reports about cyber-attacks affecting operational technology (OT), it's easy to get caught up in the hype and assume every single one is sophisticated. But are OT environments all over the world really besieged by a constant barrage of complex cyber-attacks? Answering that would require breaking down the different types of OT cyber-attacks and then looking back on all the historical attacks to see how those types compare.  The Types of OT Cyber-Attacks Over the past few decades, there has been a growing awareness of the need for improved cybersecurity practices in IT's lesser-known counterpart, OT. In fact, the lines of what constitutes a cyber-attack on OT have never been well defined, and if anything, they have further blurred over time. Therefore, we'd like to begin this post with a discussion around the ways in which cyber-attacks can either target or just simply impact OT, and why it might be important for us to make the distinction going forward. Figure 1 The Pu
Gaming Platforms as an attack vector against remote systems

Gaming Platforms as an attack vector against remote systems

Mar 18, 2013
Little more than a year ago I wrote about the possibility to attack gaming platform to compromise large audience of gamers in stealthy way, the access to millions of machines represent a dream for every attackers and I hypnotized its repercussion in cyber warfare domains. Gaming platform are usually complex systems equipped with the latest technology and the idea to exploit them as possible attack vectors cultivated by many governments. Researchers at ReVuln, Luigi Auriemma and Donato Ferrante , presented at Black Hat Europe 2013 in Amsterdam how to convert local bugs and features in remotely exploitable security vulnerabilities by using the popular EA Origin 3 platform as an attack vector against remote systems. EA Origin is one of the biggest gaming related digital delivery platforms with more than 40 million the access it to purchase games for any kind of platform, from mobile to PC. Before describe the discovery of the two Italian experts let's give analy
cyber security

Automated remediation solutions are crucial for security

websiteWing SecurityShadow IT / SaaS Security
Especially when it comes to securing employees' SaaS usage, don't settle for a longer to-do list. Auto-remediation is key to achieving SaaS security.
Microsoft flaw allows USB loaded with payload to bypass security controls

Microsoft flaw allows USB loaded with payload to bypass security controls

Mar 15, 2013
During  March Patch Tuesday of 2013 , Microsoft released seven new security bulletins, with four rated as critical, and others as Important. Most interesting one was MS13-027 , which is rated as "important" because the attack requires physical access to the vulnerable machine. This flaw allows anyone with a USB thumb drive loaded with the payload to bypass security controls and access a vulnerable system even if AutoRun is disabled, and the screen is locked. Flaw exposes your Windows PCs to major risk. If you remember Stuxnet, worm was injected to Iran's nuclear program system using USB thumb drive. Windows typically discovers USB devices when they are inserted or when they change power sources (if they switch from plugged-in power to being powered off of the USB connection itself). To exploit the vulnerability an attacker could add a maliciously formatted USB device to the system. When the Windows USB device drivers enumerate the device, parsing a speciall
Script Execution flaw in Google drive poses security threat

Script Execution flaw in Google drive poses security threat

Mar 15, 2013
Once again Google Security Team Shoot itself in the foot. Ansuman Samantaray , an Indian penetration tester discovered a small, but creative Security flaw in Google drive that poses phishing threat to million of Google users was ignored  by Google Security team by replying that," It is just a mare phishing attempt,not a bug in Google ". According to Ansuman , he reported a JavaScript Script Execution vulnerability in Google Drive Files on 20th December 2012 to Google Security Team and but Google rejected the report on 21st December. Ability to execute malicious script through Google drive files poses security threats, not just phishing attack, but an attacker able to extends the attack to malware spreading, etc. The flaw exist in the way Google Drive preview the documents in the browser. Online preview of the files executing code written in doc files as HTML/JavaScript just by changing the value of a parameter called " export " in the URL. ie.  
Cyber 9/11, cyber doomsday...between fear and need for action

Cyber 9/11, cyber doomsday...between fear and need for action

Mar 15, 2013
It's not a mystery, every nation is worried of the level of security of its infrastructure, the United States are among the most concerned governments due the high number of cyber-attack against its networks. US Government representative such us former States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano warned in more than one occasion on the possible consequences of a cyber offensive and declared the necessity to improve the cyber capabilities of the country.  Senators are interested to evaluate the level of protection of nuclear stockpile of foreign governments against cyber attacks, question has been raised after that Pentagon's chief cyber officer admitted to ignore if countries such as Russia or China have adopted efficient countermeasures. Nelson and Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. will request to national intelligence an assessment about the ability of foreign states to safeguard networked
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