Independent – Page 408 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: Lucian Constantin| Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2017 03:53:00 -0700

VMware has released critical security patches for vulnerabilities demonstrated during the recent Pwn2Own hacking contest that could be exploited to escape from the isolation of virtual machines.

The patches fix four vulnerabilities that affect VMware ESXi, VMware Workstation Pro and Player and VMware Fusion.

Two of the vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE-2017-4902 and CVE-2017-4903 in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures database, were exploited by a team from Chinese internet security firm Qihoo 360 as part of an attack demonstrated two weeks ago at Pwn2Own.

The team’s exploit chain started with a compromise of Microsoft Edge, moved to the Windows kernel, and then exploited the two flaws to escape from a virtual machine and execute code on the host operating system. The researchers were awarded $105,000 for their feat.

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ComputerWorld Independent

March 30, 2017 admin

Trump extends Obama executive order on cyberattacks

Credit to Author: Martyn Williams| Date: Thu, 30 Mar 2017 03:24:00 -0700

President Donald Trump is extending by one year special powers introduced by former President Barack Obama that allow the government to issue sanctions against people and organizations engaged in significant cyberattacks and cybercrime against the U.S.

Executive Order 13694 was introduced on April 1, 2015, and was due to expire on Saturday, but the president sent a letter to Congress on Wednesday evening saying he plans to keep the order active.

“Significant malicious cyber-enabled activities originating from, or directed by persons located, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States, continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” Trump wrote in the letter. “Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13694 with respect to significant malicious cyber-enabled activities.”

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Independent Securiteam

March 29, 2017 admin

Know your community – Veronique Loquet

Credit to Author: Maor Schwartz| Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2017 11:27:56 +0000

Veronique Loquet is the proud owner of AL’X Communication, No Such Con Co-founder, Security Vacation Club member and infosec enthusiastic! Questions Q: How many years have you been working in the security field? A: I have been in the security field since 2002. Q: What was your motivation for getting into the security field in … Continue reading Know your community – Veronique Loquet

ComputerWorld Independent

March 29, 2017 admin

New Mirai IoT variant launched 54-hour DDoS attack against a U.S. college

Credit to Author: Darlene Storm| Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2017 08:10:00 -0700

A new variant of the Mirai IoT malware was spotted in the wild when it launched a 54-hour DDoS attack against an unnamed U.S. college.

While the attack occurred on February 28, Imperva Incapsula is informing the world about it today. The researchers believe it is a new variant of Mirai, one that is “more adept at launching application layer assaults.”

The average traffic flow was 30,000 requests per second (RPS) and peaked at about 37,000 RPS, which the DDoS mitigation firm said was the most it has seen out of any Mirai botnet so far. “In total, the attack generated over 2.8 billion requests.”

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ComputerWorld Independent

March 29, 2017 admin

Trojan source code leak poised to spur new online banking attacks

Credit to Author: Lucian Constantin| Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2017 10:55:00 -0700

The source code for a new Trojan program that targets banking services has been published online, offering an easy way for unskilled cybercriminals to launch potent malware attacks against users.

The Trojan is called Nuclear Bot and first appeared for sale on underground cybercrime forums in early December for $2,500. It can steal and inject information from and into websites opened in Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome and can also open a local proxy or hidden remote desktop service.

These are all features commonly seen in banking Trojans, as they’re used by attackers to bypass the security checks of online bank websites to perform fraud. For example, the proxy and remote desktop functionality allows hackers to initiate rogue transactions through the victims’ browsers after they have been tricked into providing the second authentication factor.

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ComputerWorld Independent

March 29, 2017 admin

Privacy advocates plan to fight Congress' repeal of ISP privacy rules

Credit to Author: Grant Gross| Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2017 08:19:00 -0700

Privacy advocates haven’t given up the fight after Congress voted to allow ISPs to sell customers’ browsing histories and other personal information without their permission.

On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted 215 to 205 to strike down ISP privacy regulations approved by the Federal Communications Commission only months ago. The House’s passage of a resolution of disapproval followed a Senate vote to pass the same resolution days earlier.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign the Republican-pushed bill. But Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said he will introduce new legislation to require the FCC to pass new ISP privacy rules.

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ComputerWorld Independent

March 29, 2017 admin

New Mirai IoT variant launched 54-hour DDoS attack against a US college

Credit to Author: Darlene Storm| Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2017 08:10:00 -0700

A new variant of the Mirai IoT malware was spotted in the wild when it launched a 54-hour DDoS attack against an unnamed US college.

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ComputerWorld Independent

March 29, 2017 admin

Insecure security cameras sound like a joke, but aren’t

Credit to Author: Evan Schuman| Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2017 04:00:00 -0700

Reports recently surfaced that Google was alerted to security holes in its IoT security camera products and declined to patch them. This was quite frightening for two reasons. First, the fix was apparently straightforward, and second, the hole was readily and easily available to burglars with even a modicum of tech savviness.

Meanwhile, eBay seems to be encouraging users to downgrade their security defenses by giving up the hardware tokens they use for two-factor authentication and relying on text messages instead. Yes, eBay suggested that users make themselves more vulnerable to identity thieves. With these two recent incidents, is it any wonder that IT is suspicious about whether major companies are taking security seriously?

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