Independent – Page 445 – Computer Security Articles

U.S. President Donald Trump called on government agencies to better protect their networks, but he delayed signing an executive order to kick-start a government-wide review of cybersecurity policy.

A draft copy of the order, leaked earlier, would give the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security 60 days to submit a list of recommendations to protect U.S. government and private networks.

Trump had been scheduled to sign the executive order Tuesday but canceled shortly before it was due to happen.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Independent Krebs

January 31, 2017 admin

Shopping for W2s, Tax Data on the Dark Web

The 2016 tax season is now in full swing in the United States, which means scammers are once again assembling vast dossiers of personal data and preparing to file fraudulent tax refund requests on behalf of millions of Americans. But for those lazy identity thieves who can’t be bothered to phish or steal the needed data, there is now another option: Buying stolen W-2 tax forms from other crooks who have phished the documents wholesale from corporations.

ComputerWorld Independent

January 31, 2017 admin

Easy-to-exploit authentication bypass flaw puts Netgear routers at risk

For the past half-year, Netgear has been working on fixing a serious and easy-to-exploit vulnerability in many of its routers. And it’s still not done.

While Netgear has worked to fix the issue, the list of affected router models increased to 30, of which only 20 have firmware fixes available to date. A manual workaround is available for the rest.

The vulnerability was discovered by Simon Kenin, a security researcher at Trustwave, and stems from a faulty password recovery implementation in the firmware of many Netgear routers. It is a variation of an older vulnerability that has been publicly known since 2014, but this new version is actually easier to exploit.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

January 31, 2017 admin

Trump to sign cybersecurity order calling for government-wide review

President Donald Trump is due to sign an executive order Tuesday that gives each cabinet official more responsibility for the safety of data within his or her agency.

It will be accompanied by a government-wide review of cybersecurity by the Office of Management and Budget, looking at the technology in place that guards U.S. government systems from cyberattacks, according to a White House official.

The results of that review could lead to a government-wide upgrade of federal cybersecurity systems.

The U.S. government has been hit by hacks in the last few years. The State Department spent months trying to get rid of intruders in its unclassified network, and the Office of Personnel Management lost personal information about millions of government workers through a second hack.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

January 31, 2017 admin

iPads ‘more secure than voting systems’ — claim

Dutch security researcher Sijmen Ruwhof has examined the software used at Dutch polling stations to send election results, and now claims “the average iPad is more secure than the Dutch voting system.”

Hack the vote

Local television station RTL asked the researcher to examine the security of Dutch voting systems after they heard they used weak SHA1 cryptography in certain parts of the system.

Dutch elections have used paper-based voting since 2009, when the government banned electronic voting on security grounds.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

(Insider Story)

ComputerWorld Independent

January 30, 2017 admin

Privacy worries are on the rise, new poll of U.S. consumers shows

A recent IDC survey found 84% of U.S. consumers are concerned about the privacy of their personal information, with 70% saying their concern is greater today than it was a few years ago.

These concerns of consumers should also alarm businesses: Consumers are willing to switch to another bank, medical center or retailer if they feel their personal information is threatened, the survey found.

“Consumers can exact punishment for data breaches or mishandled data by changing buyer behavior or shifting loyalty,” said Sean Pike, an analyst at IDC, in a statement. The survey, released last week, polled 2,500 U.S. consumers about their privacy concerns across four verticals: Financial services, healthcare, retail and government.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here