Independent – Page 146 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Mon, 04 Mar 2019 22:11:33 +0000

Cybercriminals are auctioning off access to customer information stolen from an online data broker behind a dizzying array of bait-and-switch Web sites that sell access to a vast range of data on U.S. consumers, including DMV and arrest records, genealogy reports, phone number lookups and people searches. In an ironic twist, the marketing empire that owns the hacked online properties appears to be run by a Canadian man who’s been sued for fraud by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft and Oprah Winfrey, to name a few.

ComputerWorld Independent

March 1, 2019 admin

Microsoft Patch Alert: After a serene February, Microsoft plops KB 4023057 into the Update Catalog

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Fri, 01 Mar 2019 07:50:00 -0800

Microsoft continues to hold Windows 10 version 1809 close to the chest. While all of the other Win10 versions have had their usual twice-a-month cumulative updates, the latest version of the last version of Windows, 1809, still sits in the Windows Insider Release Preview Ring.

For most people, that’s excellent news. It seems that Microsoft is willing to hold off until they get the bugs fixed, at least in the 1809 releases. May I hear a “hallelujah” from the chorus?

Mystery update bulldozer KB 4023057 hits the Catalog

You’ve heard me talk about KB 4023057 many times, most recently in January. It’s a mysterious patch that Microsoft calls an “update reliability improvement” whose sole reason for existence, as best I can tell, is to blast away any blocks your machine may have to keep the next version of Windows (in this case, Win10 1809) from installing on your machine.

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Independent Krebs

February 28, 2019 admin

Booter Boss Interviewed in 2014 Pleads Guilty

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2019 15:14:05 +0000

A 20-year-old Illinois man has pleaded guilty to running multiple DDoS-for-hire services that launched millions of attacks over several years. The plea deal comes almost exactly five years after KrebsOnSecurity interviewed both the admitted felon and his father and urged the latter to take a more active interest in his son’s online activities.

ComputerWorld Independent

February 28, 2019 admin

Now you can buy police-grade iPhone hacking tools on eBay

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2019 06:25:00 -0800

If you want to hack your way into an old iPhone you can get hold of a law enforcement-grade system to do just that for a bargain price on eBay.

I think that’s a crime

I can’t stress this enough.

The very existence of tools like these is a threat to every smartphone user. This is because no matter how many times people argue that these solutions will only see use by law enforcement, these things always proliferate.

The fact that Celebrate systems law enforcement was until recently spending heavily on acquiring are now available on the open market for as little as $100 is a perfect illustration of this.

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Independent Krebs

February 27, 2019 admin

Crypto Mining Service Coinhive to Call it Quits

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2019 23:19:28 +0000

Roughly one year ago, KrebsOnSecurity published a lengthy investigation into the individuals behind Coinhive[.]com, a cryptocurrency mining service that has been heavily abused to force hacked Web sites to mine virtual currency. On Tuesday, Coinhive announced plans to pull the plug on the project early next month.

Independent Krebs

February 26, 2019 admin

Former Russian Cybersecurity Chief Sentenced to 22 Years in Prison

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2019 00:43:41 +0000

A Russian court has handed down lengthy prison terms for two men convicted on treason charges for allegedly sharing information about Russian cybercriminals with U.S. law enforcement officials. The men — a former Russian cyber intelligence official and an executive at Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab — were reportedly prosecuted for their part in an investigation into Pavel Vrublevsky, a convicted cybercriminal who ran one of the world’s biggest spam networks and was a major focus of my 2014 book, Spam Nation.

ComputerWorld Independent

February 26, 2019 admin

Microsoft CEO supports Apple on privacy

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2019 06:00:00 -0800

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella seems to agree with Apple CEO Tim Cook when it comes to privacy, calling this a “fundamental human right”.

Microsoft CEO: Privacy a ‘human right’

Despite the lack of a successful smartphone franchise, Microsoft is still very much part of today’s industry with a range of services across the mobile ecosystem. That’s probably why Nadella is such an active attendee at Mobile World Congress 2019.

What’s really interesting about what he said during a speech at the show is the extent to which his thinking aligns with what Apple is doing around privacy, for example:

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ComputerWorld Independent

February 25, 2019 admin

Microsoft opens top-tier Defender ATP security to Windows 7 PCs

Credit to Author: Gregg Keizer| Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2019 08:28:00 -0800

Microsoft’s Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) service is now available for PCs running Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.

The decision to add devices powered by those operating systems was first announced a year ago. At the time, Microsoft said ATP’s Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) functionality would be available for the older OSes by summer 2018.

Windows Defender ATP is a service that detects ongoing attacks on corporate networks, then follows up to investigate the attack or breach and provides response recommendations and attack remediation. Software baked into Windows 10 detects attacks, while a central management console allows IT administrators to monitor the status of covered devices and react if necessary. Adding the EDR client software to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 PCs gives enterprise IT the same visibility into those machines as it has had into Windows 10 systems.

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