The Coming Storm – Page 17 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2019 19:32:39 +0000

In 2013, the FBI exploited a zero-day vulnerability in Firefox to seize control over a Dark Web network of child pornography sites. The alleged owner of that ring – 33-year-old Freedom Hosting operator Eric Eoin Marques – was arrested in Ireland later that year on a U.S. warrant and has been in custody ever since. This week, Ireland’s Supreme Court cleared the way for Marques to be extradited to the United States.

Independent Krebs

March 21, 2019 admin

Facebook Stored Hundreds of Millions of User Passwords in Plain Text for Years

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2019 15:17:55 +0000

Hundreds of millions of Facebook users had their account passwords stored in plain text and searchable by thousands of Facebook employees — in some cases going back to 2012, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. Facebook says an ongoing investigation has so far found no indication that employees have abused access to this data.

Independent Krebs

March 8, 2019 admin

MyEquifax.com Bypasses Credit Freeze PIN

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2019 16:12:38 +0000

Most people who have frozen their credit files with Equifax have been issued a numeric Personal Identification Number (PIN) which is supposed to be required before a freeze can be lifted or thawed. Unfortunately, if you don’t already have an account at the credit bureau’s new myEquifax portal, it may be simple for identity thieves to lift an existing credit freeze at Equifax and bypass the PIN armed with little more than your, name, Social Security number and birthday.

Independent Krebs

March 4, 2019 admin

Hackers Sell Access to Bait-and-Switch Empire

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.

Independent Krebs

February 18, 2019 admin

A Deep Dive on the Recent Widespread DNS Hijacking Attacks

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2019 13:51:01 +0000

The U.S. government — along with a number of leading security companies — recently warned about a series of highly complex and widespread attacks that allowed suspected Iranian hackers to siphon huge volumes of email passwords and other sensitive data from multiple governments and private companies. But to date, the specifics of exactly how that attack went down and who was hit have remained shrouded in secrecy. This post seeks to document the extent of those attacks, and traces the origins of this overwhelmingly successful cyber espionage campaign back to a cascading series of breaches at key Internet infrastructure providers.

Independent Krebs

February 4, 2019 admin

Crooks Continue to Exploit GoDaddy Hole

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2019 19:12:25 +0000

Godaddy.com, the world’s largest domain name registrar, recently addressed an authentication weakness that cybercriminals were using to blast out spam through legitimate, dormant domains. But several more recent malware spam campaigns suggest GoDaddy’s fix hasn’t gone far enough, and that scammers likely still have a sizable arsenal of hijacked GoDaddy domains at their disposal.

Independent Krebs

January 23, 2019 admin

How the U.S. Govt. Shutdown Harms Security

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2019 17:51:22 +0000

The ongoing partial U.S. federal government shutdown is having a tangible, negative impact on cybercrime investigations, according to interviews with federal law enforcement investigators and a report issued this week by a group representing the interests of FBI agents. Even if lawmakers move forward on new proposals to reopen the government, sources say the standoff is likely have serious repercussions for federal law enforcement agencies for years to come. One federal agent with more than 20 years on the job told KrebsOnSecurity that the shutdown “is crushing our ability to take the fight to cyber criminals.”

Independent Krebs

January 22, 2019 admin

Bomb Threat, Sextortion Spammers Abused Weakness at GoDaddy.com

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2019 02:44:28 +0000

Two of the most disruptive and widely-received spam email campaigns over the past few months — including an ongoing sextortion email scam and a bomb threat hoax that shut down dozens of schools, businesses and government buildings late last year — were made possible thanks to an authentication weakness at GoDaddy.com, the world’s largest domain name registrar, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. Perhaps more worryingly, experts warn this same weakness that let spammers hijack domains registered through GoDaddy also affects a great many other major Internet service providers, and is actively being abused to launch phishing and malware attacks which leverage dormant Web site names currently owned and controlled by some of the world’s most trusted corporate names and brands.