The retail sector often faces unique security challenges, not the least of which are the point of sale (PoS) terminals and cash registers that offer a convenient repository from which to lift credit and debit card numbers. Hackers can make use of conne…
Blue-chip Hacking List Scandal Grinds On
The blue-chip list is a list of around 100 major firms and a few celebrities that employed four disgraced – and imprisoned – private investigators. The ‘scandal’ is that SOCA sat on the list without ever revealing its content, and possibly without adeq…
Google Offer OSS Patch Bounty to Fixers
More and more software companies – including Google – have started to offer bug bounties to independent security researchers who find and responsibly disclose software flaws. Now Google will offer a bounty to OSS developers who also fix them.
vBulletin Exploit Makes the CMS Rounds
vBulletin, one of the most popular content management systems (CMS) on the web and the engine behind many a discussion forum, is the target of a new exploit making its way into the wild.
SSL Forward Secrecy Now Included in SSL Pulse Reports
SSL has long been used to provide security in communications; and Ivan Ristic, director of engineering at Qualys has long been an enthusiast. Last year, with the Trustworthy Internet Movement, he was instrumental in establishing SSL Pulse, “a continuou…
WhatsApp, Avira, and AVG not Hacked, Just Hijacked
Reports emerged over the last few days that numerous big-name organizations such as WhatsApp, AVG, Alexa and Avira, had been hacked by the pro-Palestine group KDMS. In fact they had not been hacked, merely hijacked in a series of DNS redirection attack…
Eight Silk Road-related Arrests Made Worldwide – Four in the UK
Just hours after the FBI arrested Dread Pirate Roberts, alleged operator of the Silk Road, the UK’s new NCA arrested four Brits on related drug charges. Two further arrests were made in the US, and two in Sweden.
NIST, Cyberdefense is Shut Down in the Shutdown
The National Zoo’s Panda Cam, the World War II memorial, vast swaths of FEMA and food stamps are all casualties of the US government’s ongoing shutdown in the wake of Congress failing to approve funding for government operations. Cybersecurity isn’t es…
Author of Blackhole Exploit Kit Allegedly Arrested in Russia
A security researcher tweeted yesterday, “Blackhole exploit kit author ‘Paunch’ and his partners arrested in Russia.” There is no further corroboration, and nothing yet from the Russian authorities; but some circumstantial evidence suggests it may be t…
UK Lauches Its Own FBI: The NCA
The UK’s latest attempt to launch a national police police force as elite and feared as the FBI came into being Monday. Its purpose, says home secretary Theresa May, is “the relentless disruption of organised criminals.”