Security – Page 670 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: Evan Schuman| Date: Wed, 10 May 2017 04:00:00 -0700

According to a recent report, academics have been analyzing brainwaves of computer users to improve how they are alerted to cybersecurity dangers. I’m sorry, but getting users to pay stricter attention to security isn’t brain surgery: It’s all about money and job security. Come to think of it, job security itself is all about money, which makes money the only carrot and the only stick that IT needs.

That report, courtesy of Bloomberg BNA, said, “Many computer users automatically swat away repetitive dialogue box warnings of impending doom, especially when they are engaged in another activity. Now, engineers are using data analytics based on user tracking to discover what might help users pay attention to warnings. Software engineers are exploring promising techniques, such as changing background colors in warning notifications and switching formats to distinguish substantial security warnings from mundane messages. Tapping people’s brains helps the engineers design more effective user interfaces.”

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Security Wired

May 10, 2017 admin

Trump Firing FBI Director Comey Won’t Slow Down the Russia Investigation—Yet

Credit to Author: Issie Lapowsky| Date: Wed, 10 May 2017 00:11:46 +0000

The president has fired the FBI director in charge of investigating him. But that won’t slow the Russia probe. The post Trump Firing FBI Director Comey Won’t Slow Down the Russia Investigation—Yet appeared first on WIRED.

Security Wired

May 9, 2017 admin

A Vicious Microsoft Bug Left a Billion PCs Exposed

Credit to Author: Brian Barrett| Date: Tue, 09 May 2017 20:09:14 +0000

A newly fixed flaw in Microsoft’s malware protection could have been bad news for a whole lot of PCs. The post A Vicious Microsoft Bug Left a Billion PCs Exposed appeared first on WIRED.

ComputerWorld Independent

May 9, 2017 admin

Microsoft fixes 55 flaws, 3 of them exploited by Russian cyberspies

Credit to Author: Lucian Constantin| Date: Tue, 09 May 2017 14:39:00 -0700

Microsoft released security patches Tuesday for 55 vulnerabilities across the company’s products, including for three flaws that are already exploited in targeted attacks by cyberespionage groups.

Fifteen of the vulnerabilities fixed in Microsoft’s patch bundle for May are rated as critical and they affect Windows, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, and the malware protection engine used in most of the company’s anti-malware products.

System administrators should prioritize the Microsoft Office patches because they address two vulnerabilities that attackers have exploited in targeted attacks over the past two months. Both of these flaws, CVE-2017-0261 and CVE-2017-0262, stem from how Microsoft Office handles Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) image files and can lead to remote code execution on the underlying system.

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ComputerWorld Independent

May 9, 2017 admin

Microsoft fixes remote hacking flaw in Windows Malware Protection Engine

Credit to Author: Lucian Constantin| Date: Tue, 09 May 2017 11:32:00 -0700

Microsoft released an update for the malware scanning engine bundled with most of its Windows security products in order to fix a highly critical vulnerability that could allow attackers to hack computers.

The vulnerability was discovered by Google Project Zero researchers Tavis Ormandy and Natalie Silvanovich on Saturday and was serious enough for Microsoft to create and release a patch by Monday. This was an unusually fast response for the company, which typically releases security updates on the second Tuesday of every month and rarely breaks out of that cycle.

Ormandy announced Saturday on Twitter that he and his colleague found a “crazy bad” vulnerability in Windows and described it as “the worst Windows remote code execution in recent memory.”

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Security Wired

May 9, 2017 admin

The NSA Confirms It: Russia Hacked French Election ‘Infrastructure’

Credit to Author: Andy Greenberg| Date: Tue, 09 May 2017 16:36:52 +0000

NSA Director Michael Rogers provides the first US government confirmation that Russia successfully compromised elements of the French election. The post The NSA Confirms It: Russia Hacked French Election ‘Infrastructure’ appeared first on WIRED.

Security Wired

May 9, 2017 admin

Microsoft Is Right: We Need a Digital Geneva Convention

Credit to Author: Heidi Tworek| Date: Tue, 09 May 2017 15:00:50 +0000

Opinion: Just as nations have collaborated on rules of war, today tech companies can team up to stop cyber attacks. The post Microsoft Is Right: We Need a Digital Geneva Convention appeared first on WIRED.