Independent – Page 220 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: Phillip Windley| Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2018 03:12:00 -0800

One of the curious constructions of the Internet is the term identity provider. You don’t need anyone to provide you with an identity, of course. You have an innate one by virtue of being human. Rather, so-called identity providers, or IDPs, provide you with an identifier, a means of recording attributes important to that provider, and some method of proving it’s you – usually a password.

This is not surprising since online identity has traditionally been viewed through the lens of an organization and its needs, not the individual and his or her needs. Identity systems are created to administer identifiers and attributes within a specific domain. The result: people end up with hundreds of online personas at hundreds of organizations. Each of these administrative identity systems is proprietary and owned by the organization that provides it; you really don’t have an online identity that’s independent of these many systems. Got a new address, or an updated credit card number? You’ll have to deal with each of these systems one at a time in whatever manner they require.

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ComputerWorld Independent

January 10, 2018 admin

How to protect Windows 10 PCs from ransomware

Credit to Author: Preston Gralla| Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2018 03:00:00 -0800

CryptoLocker. WannaCry. Petya. Bad Rabbit. The ransomware threat isn’t going away anytime soon; the news brings constant reports of new waves of this pernicious type of malware washing across the world. It’s popular in large part because of the immediate financial payoff for attackers: It works by encrypting the files on your hard disk, then demands that you pay a ransom, frequently in Bitcoins, to decrypt them.

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(Insider Story)

Independent Krebs

January 9, 2018 admin

Website Glitch Let Me Overstock My Coinbase

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2018 18:48:04 +0000

Overstock.com (NASDAQ:OSTK) just fixed a serious glitch in the Coinbase bitcoin payment section of its site that allowed customers to buy any item at a tiny fraction of the listed price. Potentially more punishing, the flaw let anyone paying with bitcoin reap many times the authorized bitcoin refund amount on any canceled orders.

Independent Securiteam

January 8, 2018 admin

SSD Advisory – Sophos XG from Unauthenticated Persistent XSS to Unauthorized Root Access

Credit to Author: SSD / Maor Schwartz| Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2018 06:21:27 +0000

Vulnerability Summary The following advisory describes an unauthenticated persistent XSS that leads to unauthorized root access found in Sophos XG version 17. Sophos XG Firewall “provides unprecedented visibility into your network, users, and applications directly from the all-new control center. You also get rich on-box reporting and the option to add Sophos iView for centralized … Continue reading SSD Advisory – Sophos XG from Unauthenticated Persistent XSS to Unauthorized Root Access

Independent Securiteam

January 8, 2018 admin

Happy New Year 2018 – Challenge Solution

Credit to Author: SSD / Noam Rathaus| Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2018 06:15:57 +0000

In our post found here: https://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/3616, we hid a challenge. The challenge was split into two parts: 1. Finding it 2. Solving it Finding it wasn’t very hard, the challenge was hidden inside the image, it wasn’t anything fancy, just inside the image you had a zip file appended to the end of the file: … Continue reading Happy New Year 2018 – Challenge Solution

ComputerWorld Independent

January 8, 2018 admin

How to use Parental Controls to protect your iPhone

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2018 07:06:00 -0800

Even while we accept that coding skills are key to some future employment, Apple is under some pressure to improve parental controls to help prevent children from becoming hooked on their phones. Apple already provides some protection parents can use to limit their children’s smartphone use. Here’s what you need to know:

What are Parental Controls?

Apple has similar controls for iPads, iPhones, Macs and the Apple TV. Apple calls these Restrictions, and you can use them to block or limit apps and features that children can access on their device. Among other things, these tools can restrict use of Safari, the camera, Siri, FaceTime, AirDrop, CarPlay and individual apps. You can also prevent others from deleting apps, making in-app purchases, playing multiplayer games. Privacy settings let you control things like location services, contacts, calendars, reminders and share my location, and you can also apply account-related protections.

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ComputerWorld Independent

January 8, 2018 admin

Buggy Win7 Meltdown patch KB 4056894 throwing blue screens

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2018 05:28:00 -0800

Microsoft’s hasty Meltdown/Spectre patches, released late on Jan. 4, have started baring their fangs. Complaints about Win10 Fall Creators Update cumulative update KB 4056892 and Win7 Monthly Rollup KB 4056894 resulting in blue screens — particularly on AMD Athlon, Sempron, Opteron and Turion processors — started appearing shortly after the patches were released.

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