security – Page 149

Comodo Antivirus Tech Support Feature Lets Anyone Connect To Your PC

An anonymous reader writes: Google Project Zero security researcher Tavis Ormandy has discovered that one of Comodo’s tech support tools packed with many of the company’s security products leaves the door open for attackers to connect with admin privileges on the user’s PC. He discovered that to blame for this problem was a remote desktop tool called GeekBuddy, which Comodo was bundling with its security software. This tool either used no password, or used a simple system to create the password which tech support staff would use to connect to user PCs. Ormandy previously discovered a similar issue in Comodo software, related to the company’s Chromodo browser. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Comodo Antivirus Tech Support Feature Lets Anyone Connect To Your PC

IRS Warns Of 400% Flood In Phishing and Malware This Tax Year Alone

coondoggie writes: There has been a 400% surge in phishing and malware incidents in this tax season alone, the Internal Revenue Service warned this week. According to the IRS, there have been thousands of phony emails aimed at fooling taxpayers into thinking these are official communications from the IRS or others in the tax industry, including from many tax software companies. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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IRS Warns Of 400% Flood In Phishing and Malware This Tax Year Alone

Stealing Keys From a Laptop In Another Room — and Offline

Motherboard carries a report that with equipment valued at about $3, 000, a group of Israeli researchers have been able to extract cryptographic keys from a laptop that is not only separated by a physical wall, but protected by an air gap. This, they say, “is the first time such an approach has been used specifically against elliptic curve cryptography running on a PC.” From the article: The method is a so-called side-channel attack: an attack that doesn’t tackle an encryption implementation head on, such as through brute force or by exploiting a weakness in the underlying algorithm, but through some other means. In this case, the attack relies on the electromagnetic outputs of the laptop that are emitted during the decryption process, which can then be used to work out the target’s key. Specifically, the researchers obtained the private key from a laptop running GnuPG, a popular implementation of OpenPGP. (The developers of GnuPG have since released countermeasures to the method. Tromer said that the changes make GnuPG âoemore resistant to side-channel attack since the sequence of high-level arithmetic operations does not depend on the secret key.â) Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Stealing Keys From a Laptop In Another Room — and Offline

Hospital Pays $17,000 Ransom to Reclaim Its Files

Ransomware is one of the nastiest forms of malware around: once it’s downloaded onto a computer network, it runs around encrypting all your files, before charging a Bitcoin ransom to give up the encryption key: bad if it’s your holiday photos at stake, disastrous for hospitals and patient data. Read more…

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Hospital Pays $17,000 Ransom to Reclaim Its Files

BBC Three is now an online-only channel

For sentimentality’s sake, we hope you indulged in your pre-bed ritual of catching a cheeky episode of American Dad! on BBC Three last night — because as of the early hours of this morning, it ceased to exist as a broadcast channel. For the next few weeks, it’ll be repurposed to promote BBC Three’s new online-only identity before disappearing from your TV’s EPG… forever . The switch has been a long time coming, of course, with the BBC setting the ball rolling almost two years ago as part of continued cost-cutting measures. Despite some opposition from the public, the BBC Trust formally approved the broadcaster’s plan for an online-only BBC Three late last year, and that transition has concluded today . The BBC Trust’s green light wasn’t without fine print, with various conditions set “to ensure younger audiences continue to be well served.” BBC Three became known for its experimental and often hilarious commissions, and the BBC has been keen to comfort loyal viewers with the promise its doctrine won’t die alongside the linear TV channel. As part of BBC Three’s rebirth, it’ll further embrace new media , with its YouTube channel and social network activity becoming more important outlets for content. In addition to BBC Three’s iPlayer presence, a new online portal called The Daily Drop is already live, highlighting content on social media channels and blending in blog posts, news and short-form videos. Joining that site later today is another platform, “The Best Of, ” which will primarily feature long-form content like documentaries, dramas and comedies, such as the new series of Cuckoo that premieres online this evening. Plenty of new commissions have been announced across all these genres already, and while BBC Three Controller Damian Kavanagh admits “we won’t get everything right immediately, ” he’s confident “being online means we can now adapt and iterate quickly.” “We aren’t constrained by duration or form anymore so the shackles are off when it comes to creativity.” Source: BBC

Hackers hold Hollywood hospital’s systems for ransom

A Hollywood hospital is having to rely on pencil and paper after a ransomware attack. For more than a week, the computer systems at Hollywood Presbyterian Memorial Medical Center have been down at the hands of hackers . In addition to having to keep registration and logs on paper, staff is without email access and unable to use some patient records. Patients have been transported to other facilities as the computers needed to complete lab work, pharmacy tasks and CT scans are all unavailable. Hospital officials say they’re working with LAPD and the FBI on the investigation, but they’ve yet to determine who is responsible for the attack. President and CEO Allen Stefanek said the attack was random, and local news outlets report that the breach shows signs of a ransomware-style bug. Details on the intrusion are still quite scarce, but the culprits are demanding 9, 000 bitcoin or just under $3.6 million in exchange for the key to restore the facility’s systems. Source: CSO

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Hackers hold Hollywood hospital’s systems for ransom

Metel Hackers Roll Back ATM Transactions, Steal Millions

msm1267 writes: Researchers from Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research & Analysis Team today unveiled details on two new criminal operations that have borrowed heavily from targeted nation-state attacks, and also shared an update on a resurgent Carbanak gang, which last year, it was reported, had allegedly stolen upwards of $1 billion from more than 100 financial companies. The heaviest hitter among the newly discovered gangs is an ongoing campaign, mostly confined to Russia, known as Metel. This gang targets machines that have access to money transactions, such as call center and support machines, and once they are compromised, the attackers use that access to automate the rollback of ATM transactions. As the attackers empty ATM after ATM—Metel was found inside 30 organizations—the balances on the stolen accounts remained untouched. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Metel Hackers Roll Back ATM Transactions, Steal Millions

Avast SafeZone Browser Lets Attackers Access Your Filesystem

An anonymous reader writes: Just two days after Comodo’s Chromodo browser was publicly shamed by Google Project Zero security researcher Tavis Ormandy, it’s now Avast’s turn to be publicly scorned for failing to provide a “secure” browser for its users. Called SafeZone, and also known as Avastium, Avast’s custom browser is offered as a bundled download for all who purchase or upgrade to a paid version of Avast Antivirus 2016. This poor excuse of a browser was allowing attackers to access files on the user’s filesystem just by clicking on malicious links. The browser wouldn’t even have to be opened, and the malicious link could be clicked in “any” browser. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Avast SafeZone Browser Lets Attackers Access Your Filesystem

Google Will Now Warn You About Sites With Fake "Download" Buttons

Finding the right download button on a website is the least fun version of hide and seek ever invented. Now, Google’s taking action to warn users when sites engage in this kind of deceptive behavior. Read more…

The iPad Pro can handle firmware updates for accessories

Well, here’s an interesting development. Some iPad Pro users have noticed that, with the latest version of iOS 9, their monstrous tablet is able to push firmware updates to a connected accessory. Many customers were experiencing lag and other niggles with Logitech’s Create Keyboard Case , but found they could fix the problem by updating their slate to the second beta of iOS 9.3. As German developer Stefan Wolfrum notes , when the keyboard is attached through the Smart Connector an intriguing “Accessory Update” option appears on-screen. Within less than a minute, the update is completed and the problems are seemingly resolved. It’s the first time we can recall an iOS device updating an accessory’s firmware in this way. The mystery, at least for now, are the requirements for such an exchange. Is it dependent on the Smart Connector, the new version of iOS, or both? If it does require Apple’s fancy new port, that means the useful feature is restricted to the iPad Pro for now. Given at least one new iPad is expected in March , however, it might not be long before we see the capability in another, smaller and cheaper iOS device. WHOA! iOS 9.3 beta 2 apparently just updated my @Logitech Create #iPadPro keyboard’s firmware!! /cc @settern pic.twitter.com/N2uRxVWBiL — Stefan Wolfrum ☺ (@metawops) January 27, 2016 Via: Cult of Mac Source: Stefan Wolfrum (Twitter)

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The iPad Pro can handle firmware updates for accessories

Ken May

Tag: security