#1 Trusted Cybersecurity News Platform Followed by 4.50+ million
The Hacker News Logo
Get the Free Newsletter
SaaS Security

The Hacker News | #1 Trusted Cybersecurity News Site — Index Page

Infosec A-Team to Launch NSA-Proof Invisible Messenger for Whistleblowers

Infosec A-Team to Launch NSA-Proof Invisible Messenger for Whistleblowers

Jul 05, 2014
If a whistleblower discloses an activity to the public, then there should be a trust-based mechanism that ensure the protection of truth-tellers on an international level by hiding their identities. In an effort to provide this kind of service and security, Security experts grouped together to create a stealthy Internet Messenger (IM) and file transfer client, which is especially designed for whistleblowers. Dubbed as " ‪invisible.im " is an anonymous Instant Messenger (IM) that leaves no trace‬. The team behind the project called itself " The Infosec A-Team " which includes Metasploit Founder HD Moore , noted infosec and opsec experts The Grugq , an Australian security analyst Patrick Gray , and Richo . Invisible.im aims to serve the rigid anonymity needs of whistleblowers. The project website states: invisible.im was established to develop an instant messenger and file transfer tool that leaves virtually no evidence of conversations or transfers having occurred. Th
Beware of the NSA, If You Are Privacy Conscious and Security Enthusiast

Beware of the NSA, If You Are Privacy Conscious and Security Enthusiast

Jul 04, 2014
We all are aware of the National Security Agency's (NSA) mass surveillance program to track non-Americans. Thanks to former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who provided confidential documents about the widely spread surveillance programs conducted by the government intelligence agency such as NSA and GCHQ. A recent story about NSA surveillance broke when a German public broadcaster ARD published that the Agency is using its surveillance program XKeyScore to target users who use encryption and traffic anonymizing software, including Tor Network for anonymous Web browsing and Linux-based Tails operating system in an effort to keep tracks of people outside the US. XKeyScore is a powerful NSA surveillance program that collects and sorts intercepted data, which came to limelight in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden last summer, but the greater detail in an investigation conducted by American security expert and Tor Project member Jacob Appelbaum , Aaron Gibsom, and
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
This July Microsoft Plans to Patch Windows and Internet Explorer Vulnerabilities

This July Microsoft Plans to Patch Windows and Internet Explorer Vulnerabilities

Jul 04, 2014
Beginning of the new month, Get Ready for Microsoft Patch Tuesday! Microsoft has released its Advance Notification for the month of July 2014 Patch Tuesday releasing six security Bulletins, which will address a total of six vulnerabilities in its products, out of which two are marked critical, one is rated moderate and rest are important in severity. All six vulnerabilities are important for you to patch, as the flaws are affecting various Microsoft software, including Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Server Software and Internet Explorer, with the critical ones targeting Internet Explorer and Windows. Microsoft is also providing an update for the " Microsoft Service Bus for Windows Server " which is rated moderate for a Denial of Service (DoS) flaw. " At first glance it looks like Microsoft may be taking it easy on us this month, which would be nice since we will be coming off a long holiday weekend here in the U.S."  Chris Goettl from IT Security firm
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.
Facebook SDK Vulnerability Puts Millions of Smartphone Users' Accounts at Risk

Facebook SDK Vulnerability Puts Millions of Smartphone Users' Accounts at Risk

Jul 03, 2014
Security researchers from MetaIntell, the leader in intelligent led Mobile Risk Management (MRM), have discovered a major security vulnerability in the latest version of Facebook SDK that put millions of Facebook user's Authentication Tokens at risk. Facebook SDK for Android and iOS is the easiest way to integrate mobile apps with Facebook platform, which provides support for Login with Facebook authentication, reading and writing to Facebook APIs and many more. Facebook OAuth authentication or ' Login as Facebook ' mechanism is a personalized and secure way for users to sign into 3rd party apps without sharing their passwords. After the user approves the permissions as requested by the application, the Facebook SDK implements the OAuth 2.0 User-Agent flow to retrieve the secret user's access token required by the apps to call Facebook APIs to read, modify or write user's Facebook data on their behalf. ACCESSING UNENCRYPTED ACCESS TOKEN It is important that
POS Machine Vendor Warns of Possible Payment Card Breach at Restaurants

POS Machine Vendor Warns of Possible Payment Card Breach at Restaurants

Jul 03, 2014
Due to the better track inventory and accuracy of records, Point-of-sale (POS) systems are being used in most of the industries including restaurants, lodging, entertainment, and museums around the world. It can be easily set-up depending on the nature of the business. Despite that, Point-of-sale (POS) systems are critical components in any retail environment and users are not aware of the emerging threats it poses in near future. So, it is one of the apparent target for cybercriminals and the recent security breach at Information Systems & Suppliers (ISS) proves this. Information Systems & Suppliers (ISS) Inc., the vendor of point-of-sale (POS) electronic cash registers and security systems used by restaurants has warned its customers that it may have experienced a payment card breach. HACKERS COMPROMISED VENDOR'S LogMeIn SERVICE The company on June 12 notified restaurant customers of its remote-access service, the popular LogMeIn, had been compromised
New Android Malware 'HijackRAT' Attacks Mobile Banking Users

New Android Malware 'HijackRAT' Attacks Mobile Banking Users

Jul 03, 2014
Cybercriminals have rolled out a new malicious Android application that wraps different varieties of banking fraud trick into a single piece of advanced mobile malware . GOOGLE SERVICE FRAMEWORK - APPLICATION OR MALWARE? Security researchers at the security firm FireEye have came across a malicious Android application that binds together the latest and older hijacking techniques. The malicious Android app combines private data theft, banking credential theft and spoofing, and remote access into a single unit, where traditional malware has had only one such capability included in it. Researchers dubbed the malware as HijackRAT , a banking trojan that comes loaded with a malicious Android application which disguises itself as "Google Service Framework," first and the most advanced Android malware sample of its kind ever discovered, combining all the three malicious activities together. MALWARE FEATURES By giving the remote control of the infected device to hackers,
New Cridex Banking Trojan variant Surfaces with Self-Spreading Functionality

New Cridex Banking Trojan variant Surfaces with Self-Spreading Functionality

Jul 02, 2014
In an effort to infect large number of people, cybercriminals have developed a new malicious software program that contains functionality to spread itself quickly. Geodo , a new version of the infamous Cridex (also known as Feodo or Bugat ) banking information stealing Trojan works in conjunction with a worm that sends out emails automatically to continue its self-spreading infection method, effectively turning each infected Windows system in the botnet for infecting new targets, Seculert warned . The Infected Windows systems in the botnet network download and install an additional piece of malware (i.e. an email worm) from the Botnet 's command and control servers, provided with approximately 50,000 stolen SMTP account credentials including those of the associated SMTP servers. The stolen SMTP credentials appeared to come from Cridex victims and with the help of those credentials, the malware then sends out emails from legitimate accounts to other potential victim
Microsoft Boosts Encryption for Outlook Webmail and OneDrive

Microsoft Boosts Encryption for Outlook Webmail and OneDrive

Jul 02, 2014
After the wide chain of scandals over US global snooping that seriously damaged the trust on the top U.S. Tech companies, Google and Yahoo! came forward and took initiative to provide more secure, encrypted and NSA-proofed service in an effort to gain their reputation again among its users. Now, Microsoft has also announced several improvements to the encryption used in its online cloud services in order to protect them from cyber criminals, bad actors and prying eyes. The company effort detailed in a blog entry by Matt Thomlinson, Microsoft's Vice President of Trustworthy Computing Security. MICROSOFT'S COMMITMENT Last December, Microsoft promised to protect its users data from government snooping by expanding encryption across its services, reinforcing legal protections for its customers' data and enhancing the transparency of its software code, making it easier for the customers to reassure themselves that its products contain no backdoors. Yesterday's announc
Dragonfly Russian Hackers Target 1000 Western Energy Firms

Dragonfly Russian Hackers Target 1000 Western Energy Firms

Jul 02, 2014
Gone are the days when cyber criminals focuses only on PCs to spread malwares and target people, whether it's ordinary or a high profile person. Nowadays, organizations in the energy sector have become an interesting target for cyber minds. Few days ago, security researchers uncovered a Stuxnet-like malware, " Havex ", which was also programmed to infect industrial control system software of SCADA systems , with the capability to possibly disable hydroelectric dams, overload nuclear power plants, and even shut down a country's power grid with a single keystroke. RUSSIAN HACKERS HIT 1000 ENERGY FIRMS Recently, a Russian group of hackers known as ' Energetic Bear ' has compromised over 1,000 European and North American energy firms with a sophisticated cyber weapon, similar to Stuxnet, that gave hackers access to power plant control systems, said a security firm. The group of hackers also known as ' Dragonfly ', an eastern European collective that has been active since
PayPal Freezes $275,000 Campaign Funds of Secure-Email Startup 'ProtonMail'

PayPal Freezes $275,000 Campaign Funds of Secure-Email Startup 'ProtonMail'

Jul 01, 2014
ProtonMail ,  an End-to-End Encrypted email service developed by MIT, Harvard and CERN researchers, who already received over $275,000 from a crowdfunding campaigns to their PayPal account, and was so much excited to launch its beta version, but just before that PayPal freezes their account without any warning. " At this time, it is not possible for ProtonMail to receive or send funds through PayPal, " ProtonMail co-founder Andy Yen announced this morning. " No attempt was made by PayPal to contact us before freezing our account, and no notice was given. " ProtonMail is a new super-secure email service that encrypts the data on the browser before it communicates with the server, this means only encrypted data is stored in the email service servers. GO HOME PAYPAL, YOU ARE DRUNK ProtonMail service is based in Switzerland, so it won't have to comply with American courts' demands to provide users data. But a representative from the American payment service, PayPal
Cybersecurity Resources