Items tagged with security
An old software flaw is giving Apple and Google new headaches. Browsers on some Android and iOS devices are susceptible to the “Factoring attack on RSA-EXPORT Keys” exploit known as FREAK. Both companies have developed fixes for the problem, but those fixes haven’t reached users yet.
The issue stems from an old...
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U.S. President Barack Obama is getting a little hot under the collar, and we’re not talking about the speech that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave this morning. Instead, President Obama is troubled over new regulations that are being proposed by the Chinese government, which would affect American tech...
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Encryption has been a feature of Android since 2011, though it's never been turned on by default. That was supposed to change with Android 5.0 Lollipop, as Google said in no uncertain terms back in September 2014 that users wouldn't have to give the feature a second thought. Unfortunately, it appears as though Google has backed down from its
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Lenovo said it's currently investigating a cyberattack that took the company's website down for several hours earlier this week, though it may not have to look very far. The ornery hacking group known as Lizard Squad is claiming responsibility for the security breach, purportedly as punishment for the recent Superfish...
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Google has long offered some serious protection in its Chrome Web browser from malicious software, and in some cases, I'd almost call it too protective. Nonetheless, the warnings the browser provides are good, because as unfortunate as it is, a lot of people end up downloading and installing something that's bundling...
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Dutch SIM card maker Gemalto has been enduring unwanted media attention for the past few weeks after reports surfaced that Britain’s GCHQ and the United States’ NSA may have breached the company’s networks. Today, Gemalto released a statement acknowledging that an attack in 2010 was probably the work of the spy...
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Lenovo had a rough go of it over the past few weeks. First, news broke that Lenovo had installed Superfish (widely regarded as adware) on some of its notebooks. As public outcry mounted, Lenovo offered a public apology and provided customers with instructions for removing Superfish. But all the negative publicity...
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Conventional wisdom in years past was that hackers didn’t bother to exploit Apple’s OS X operating system because its relatively insignificant market share didn’t warrant wasting resources to exploit it. The reasoning was, why bother with OS X when Windows was pushing over 90 percent of the worldwide OS...
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As we reported on late last week, the world's largest SIM card maker was broken into digitally as part of a joint operation between the United States' NSA and United Kingdom's GCHQ. The attack, which began back in 2010, gave these agencies unparalleled access to the global smartphone network, ultimately enabling them...
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What a week it has been for Lenovo. Often considered one of the best of the notebook vendors, it was discovered earlier this week that the company in recent months had been bundling some seriously shady software on many of the PCs it sold to consumers. Not only did this software inject advertising into user Web...
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When the U.S. State Department’s email was hacked back in November, it was a black eye for the government. But, to many of us, this seemed the sort of problem that would be quickly eradicated – after all, our guys are the no slouches when it comes to cyberattacks. But as it turns out, the State Department’s email woes...
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It feels like we can't go a single week without learning of some new strain of Android malware, but for the most part, it's rare when we learn of one that introduces a brand-new design or unique mechanics. Well, a nameless piece of malware discovered by AVG this past week helps break the mold.
Infecting about...
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It hasn't even been a single week since we learned that the NSA could have been involved in creating a bunch of malware that trickled out over the past decade, and already we have another scandal to munch on. Unfortunately, this one is even more disgusting -- if you can believe that.
Via documents leaked to The...
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Purchasing a new laptop can sometimes be a chore. For starters, simply finding one that's "right for you" takes time and effort, and once you do find it, you know that the "chore" part isn't over. Once you get that baby home, you'll have to begin mentally preparing yourself for the inevitable bloatware...
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Samsung has confirmed that some of its slightly older Smart TV models are currently uploading recorded voice communication without any form of encryption to protect the user's privacy. This goes against what Samsung stated in a recent blog post clarifying the limited circumstances in which voice commands are recorded...
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Security firms the world over dream of a day like this, but this one belongs to Kaspersky. The Russian-based firm has discovered the existence of a threat actor that could be linked to the US Government, and NSA in particular. Kaspersky has dubbed the group Equation, as it became clear that the folks involved loved...
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Silicon Valley is getting a visit from President Barack Obama today, where he will sign an executive order to promote cooperation between the government and tech companies in the fight against large-scale data theft.
The order will create Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations (ISAOs), which would work with...
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It's not often that someone in the possession of a massive collection of passwords is willing to let it loose, and it's for good reason. It's perhaps for even greater reason why we so rarely see someone release a database that has both the usernames and passwords.
With the effects that WikiLeaks and...
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It's bad enough when you're in possession of a database containing 80 million customer records and it gets hacked. But what's even worse than that is when you fail to encrypt all that data. Such is the unfortunate situation facing Anthem, the second largest healthcare provider in the U.S., and its tens of millions of...
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Last year was a busy one for hackers, and it doesn't look like 2015 will be much different. The latest to get hit is Anthem Inc., the second-largest health insurer in the United States. While investigators are still determining the extent of the breach, it's said that hackers broke into a database containing personal...
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Until the web at large adopts the open HTML5
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When engaged in war, it's of utmost importance to keep plans and secrets secure. On the other side of the coin, it's likewise important to do what you can to gather intelligence on the opposition -- something quite difficult given the obvious fact that the opposition is also doing its best to keep its secrets...
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