Researchers from Keen Security Lab in China discovered and demonstrated a vulnerability in Tesla's Model S vehicles that could allow a remote hacker to fiddle with various controls, everything from opening the moon roof and adjusting the power seats to even applying the brakes. The security outfit shared its findings...
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Two 18-year-olds from Israel find themselves in hot water with the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for their alleged roles in running a lucrative attack service called vDOS. They're said to have earned over $600,000 in the past two years by helping customers coordinate over 150,000 Distributed...
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You might think that logging out of your PC before leaving it unattended for a short time is relatively safe, but you'd be wrong. A security engineer at R5 Industries demonstrated how incredibly easy it is to swipe the login credentials of a locked Mac or Windows PC using just a $50 USB device that's available to...
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When The Washington Post posted a story about the "secret life" of TSA bag handlers, it thought it'd spice up its presentation with a neat shot of master baggage keys being spread in someone's hand like a fan. As it happens, that was unwise, as when it comes to standard keys like those used for baggage, all that's...
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Target has reportedly reached a settlement agreement in which it will pony up $10 million as compensation to victims of a massive security breach in 2013. The proposed settlement has to be approved by a federal district court judge, and if it is, individual victims of the data breach could receive up to $10,000 in...
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Avast, makers of the self-titled free antivirus software (along with paid Internet security suites), has discovered that the "Tinba Banker" Trojan is back in circulation, and this time it's targeting more than two dozen financial institutions in the United States. There are some big names among them, including Bank of...
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It's time to say 'goodbye' to TrueCrypt, the popular open-source full disk encryption software, which was abruptly shut down earlier this week by the anonymous developers who built the program. According to a message on TrueCrypt's website, the software is no longer secure and may contain unfixed security issues. "The...
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Security outfit Trend Micro is warning Android users that a recently discovered vulnerability in Google's open-source platform could allow cybercriminals to do "substantial damage" on smartphones and tablets. By exploiting the vulnerability, a hacker could effectively put an Android device in an endless reboot loop...
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The good news for Target and its customers is that the retailer’s robust IT system detected the massive holiday season hack that affected tens of millions of accounts before it ever happened. The bad news is that Target failed to act on that detection, and the rest is history. According to Bloomberg, Target’s security tools detected...
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It's with panels like Glenn Greenwald's that makes me regret not making it down to the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas. At this particular event, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was broadcast from Russia to answer a number of questions that Twitter users had for him, and in the end, one of the biggest things to take...
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Target on Thursday confirmed reports that hackers gained access to credit and debit card data during the holiday shopping season. According to Target, around 40 million payment card accounts may have been impacted between November 27 and December 15, 2013. That time frame falls right in the midst of the some of the...
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One of the most frustrating things on earth is being censored, and if there's one group that likes to be vocal in battling such things, it's The Pirate Bay. Censorship can come in many forms, however, such as restricting what you can say in public, or which websites you can visit. TPB might not be able to take care of...
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A new report (albeit from unnamed industry sources, not Edward Snowden) alleges that the government has used the broad powers granted it by the Patriot Act to demand broad information about a user's passwords, website security, and even encryption information from service providers. The benefits of having this type of...
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Twitter has had more than its share of security breaches on its accounts of late, from the Wall Street Journal and New York Times to CBS to Burger King and Jeep, and now the social platform is addressing security by rolling out login authentication. In a blog post, Twitter’s product security team said, “We...
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I'm sure it comes as a surprise to no one that Google is a great place to find some questionable items online, whether it's malware, exploits, someone belly-flopping a pool of ice - whatever. However, even with as much as what Google offers, there are many things that the company doesn't track and publish online. For...
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Just because an attack is bizarre doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous. According to security researcher Brian Krebs (pictured), the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted a security bulletin concerning TDoS (telephony denial-of-service) attacks on PSAPs (public safety answering points). “Information received from...
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Concerned that hacking is on the rise? You've every right to be worried. Following recent reports from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times surrounding intrusion from outside forces into their news systems and e-mail databases, Twitter has now affirmed a security puncture of its own. The company released a blog post noting that it...
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Have you ever found yourself caught in a Captcha loop? It's where you do your best to decipher strings of text that sometimes look like a bunch of hieroglyphics, only to get it wrong over and over again until finally, you punch in the correct characters and are granted to access to a site you're now too frustrated to visit. Even more annoying...
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According to the latest McAfee Threats Report, the threat of malware is stronger than it has been in the last four years. The McAfee Threats Report for the Second Quarter 2012 found an increase in malware compared to the first quarter of this year (which was previously rated as the busiest period in recent history). This increase is significant:...
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Considering a career change? You may want to see if Dunder Mifflin is hiring. A piece of malware first discovered in 2010 is making the rounds, and it's wreaking havoc on thousands of office printers, resulting in pages of "garbled printouts" and reams of wasted paper. It's a "paper saleman's dream come true," Symantec says. Trojan.Milicenso,...
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Security researchers have discovered that iOS devices have been saving the locations of users' devices at regular intervals, and storing them in an unencrypted, though hidden file. The data includes locations and time stamps, and is apparently intentional: the database is backed up, and restored across backups, and...
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In the wake of the pair of thwarted bombings by Al Qaeda last month, the TSA has announced additional restrictions and guidelines for passengers traveling both within the United States and internationally. In additional to logical and prudent steps, such as banning packages from Somalia and Yemen (temporarily) and...
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