NSA report: This is how you should be securing your network

The National Security Agency (NSA) has released a new report that gives all organizations the most current advice on how to protect their IT network infrastructures from cyberattacks. NSA’s report ‘Cybersecurity Technical Report (CTR): Network Infrastructure Security Guidance‘ is available freely for all network admins and CIOs to bolster their networks from state-sponsored and criminal Read more about NSA report: This is how you should be securing your network[…]

Samsung Screwed Up Encryption on 100M Phones

Samsung shipped an estimated 100 million smartphones with botched encryption, including models ranging from the 2017 Galaxy S8 on up to last year’s Galaxy S21. Researchers at Tel Aviv University found what they called “severe” cryptographic design flaws that could have let attackers siphon the devices’ hardware-based cryptographic keys: keys that unlock the treasure trove Read more about Samsung Screwed Up Encryption on 100M Phones[…]

PwC’s HSE hack post-incident report should be a textbook for leaders

Ireland’s Health Services Executive has published a fresh summary of the devastating ransomware attack that hit the country’s healthcare sector in the summer of 2021 — on the back of a detailed public post-incident report by consultancy PwC. The HSE is Ireland’s largest public sector employer, with 130,000+ staff manning 70,000+ IT devices across 4,000 Read more about PwC’s HSE hack post-incident report should be a textbook for leaders[…]

polkit has been allowing root for 12+ years

[…]Polkit, previously known as PolicyKit, is a tool for setting up policies governing how unprivileged processes interact with privileged ones. The vulnerability resides within polkit’s pkexec, a SUID-root program that’s installed by default on all major Linux distributions. Designated CVE-2021-4034, the vulnerability has been given a CVSS score of 7.8. Bharat Jogi, director of vulnerability Read more about polkit has been allowing root for 12+ years[…]

MoonBounce Malware Hides In Your BIOS Chip, Persists After Drive Formats

A new type of malware takes a decidedly more stealthy and hard-to-remove path into your OS — it hides in your BIOS chip and thus remains even after you reinstall your OS or format your hard drive. Kaspersky has observed the growth of Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware malware threats since 2019, with most Read more about MoonBounce Malware Hides In Your BIOS Chip, Persists After Drive Formats[…]

Safari 15 could leak Google account info to malicious sites

An improperly implemented API that stores data on browsers has caused a vulnerability in Safari 15 that leaks user internet activity and personal identifiers. The vulnerability was discovered by fraud detection service Fingerprint JS, which has contacted the WebKit maintainers and provided a public source code repository. As of 28 November last year, the issue Read more about Safari 15 could leak Google account info to malicious sites[…]

Security Holes Found in My2022 App for Beijing Winter Olympics

An app that visitors to the 2022 Olympics Games in Beijing are obligated to download is also a cybersecurity nightmare that threatens to expose much of the data that it collects, according to a new report. MY2022, the mandatory app for visitors at this year’s Winter Games, offers a variety of services—including tourism recommendations, Covid-related Read more about Security Holes Found in My2022 App for Beijing Winter Olympics[…]

The Worst Passwords in the Last Decade (And New Ones You Shouldn’t Use)

Have you immortalized your beloved dog, Charlie, in all of your online passwords? While he may be tasked to protect your home (or at least his food bowl), your heartfelt dedication might actually be compromising your digital safety. Many passwords believed to be deeply personal to you are, in fact, quite common – making them Read more about The Worst Passwords in the Last Decade (And New Ones You Shouldn’t Use)[…]

Raspberry Pi Can Detect Malware By Scanning for EM Waves

A team of researchers at France’s Research Institute of Computer Science and Random Systems created an anti-malware system centered around a Raspberry Pi that scans devices for electromagnetic waves. As reported by Tom’s Hardware, the security device uses an oscilloscope (Picoscope 6407) and H-Field probe connected to a Raspberry Pi 2B to pick up abnormalities Read more about Raspberry Pi Can Detect Malware By Scanning for EM Waves[…]

Dutch Athletes Warned To Keep Phones and Laptops Out of China

Dutch athletes competing in next month’s Beijing Winter Olympics will need to leave their phones and laptops at home in an unprecedented move to avoid Chinese espionage, Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant reported on Tuesday. The urgent advice to athletes and supporting staff to not bring any personal devices to China was part of a set Read more about Dutch Athletes Warned To Keep Phones and Laptops Out of China[…]

DOJ Say Evidence Against Oath Keepers Came From Signal Chats

While many of the groups that took part in last year’s siege on the U.S. Capitol turned to Facebook and Telegram groups to plan their part in the attack, the Oath Keepers—a far-right org that’s best described as somewhere between a militia and a rag-tag group of wannabe vigilantes—are alleged to be bigger fans of Read more about DOJ Say Evidence Against Oath Keepers Came From Signal Chats[…]

White House invites tech firms to discuss open-source software security in January

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has invited major tech firms to discuss ways that the cybersecurity of open-source software can be improved, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. According to Bloomberg, the tech firms include “major software companies and developers.” Cloud providers are also reportedly among the invited companies. Anne Neuberger, deputy national security advisor for Read more about White House invites tech firms to discuss open-source software security in January[…]

Bad things come in threes: Apache reveals another Log4J bug

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has revealed a third bug in its Log4 Java-based open-source logging library Log4j. CVE-2021-45105 is a 7.5/10-rated infinite recursion bug that was present in Log4j2 versions 2.0-alpha1 through 2.16.0. The fix is version 2.17.0 of Log4j. That’s the third new version of the tool in the last ten days. In Read more about Bad things come in threes: Apache reveals another Log4J bug[…]

Banks, ISPs Increasingly Embrace ‘Voice Print’ Authentication Despite Growing Security Risk

While it’s certainly possible to sometimes do biometrics well, a long line of companies frequently… don’t. Voice print authentication is particularly shaky, especially given the rise of inexpensive voice deepfake technology. But, much like the continued use of text-message two-factor authentication (which is increasingly shown to not be secure), it apparently doesn’t matter to a Read more about Banks, ISPs Increasingly Embrace ‘Voice Print’ Authentication Despite Growing Security Risk[…]

Gumtree users’ locations were visible by pressing F12, wouldn’t pay bug bounty to finder

UK online used goods bazaar Gumtree exposed its users’ home addresses in the source code of its webpages, and then tried to squirm out of a bug bounty after infosec bods alerted it to the flaw. British company Pen Test Partners (PTP) spotted the data leakage, which meant anyone could view a Gumtree user’s name Read more about Gumtree users’ locations were visible by pressing F12, wouldn’t pay bug bounty to finder[…]

LINE Pay leaks around 133,000 users’ data to GitHub

Smartphone payment provider LINE Pay announced yesterday that around 133,000 users’ payment details were mistakenly published on GitHub between September and November of this year. Files detailing participants in a LINE Pay promotional program staged between late December 2020 and April 2021 were accidentally uploaded to the collaborative coding crèche by a research group employee. Read more about LINE Pay leaks around 133,000 users’ data to GitHub[…]

150 HP multi-function printer types vulnerable to exploit

Tricking users into visiting a malicious webpage could allow malicious people to compromise 150 models of HP multi-function printers, according to F-Secure researchers. The Finland-headquartered infosec firm said it had found “exploitable” flaws in the HP printers that allowed attackers to “seize control of vulnerable devices, steal information, and further infiltrate networks in pursuit of Read more about 150 HP multi-function printer types vulnerable to exploit[…]

The UK Just Banned Default Passwords and We Should Too

UK lawmakers are sick and tired of shitty internet of things passwords and are whipping out legislation with steep penalties and bans to prove it. The new legislation, introduced to the UK Parliament this week, would ban universal default passwords and work to create what supporters are calling a “firewall around everyday tech.” Specifically, the Read more about The UK Just Banned Default Passwords and We Should Too[…]

Linux has a serious security problem that once again enables DNS cache poisoning using ICMP / ping information

As much as 38 percent of the Internet’s domain name lookup servers are vulnerable to a new attack that allows hackers to send victims to maliciously spoofed addresses masquerading as legitimate domains, like bankofamerica.com or gmail.com. The exploit, unveiled in research presented today, revives the DNS cache-poisoning attack that researcher Dan Kaminsky disclosed in 2008. Read more about Linux has a serious security problem that once again enables DNS cache poisoning using ICMP / ping information[…]

Thousands of Firefox users accidentally commit login cookies on GitHub

Thousands of Firefox cookie databases containing sensitive data are available on request from GitHub repositories, data potentially usable for hijacking authenticated sessions. These cookies.sqlite databases normally reside in the Firefox profiles folder. They’re used to store cookies between browsing sessions. And they’re findable by searching GitHub with specific query parameters, what’s known as a search Read more about Thousands of Firefox users accidentally commit login cookies on GitHub[…]

EU’s Latest Internet Regulatory Madness: Destroying Internet Security With Its Digital Identity Framework

The EU is at it again. Recently Mozilla put out a position paper highlighting the latest dangerous move by busybody EU regulators who seem to think that they can magically regulate the internet without (1) understanding it, or (2) bothering to talk to people who do understand it. The issue is the Digital Identity Framework, Read more about EU’s Latest Internet Regulatory Madness: Destroying Internet Security With Its Digital Identity Framework[…]

Why You Should Encrypt Your WhatsApp Backups in iCloud

it’s also one of the few apps that offer end-to-end encryption by default. This means that no one other than you the other party can read your conversations. Even WhatsApp can’t read your conversations because it doesn’t have the key to un-encrypt your chats. This was all true, except for one scenario: WhatsApp chats backed Read more about Why You Should Encrypt Your WhatsApp Backups in iCloud[…]

DDR4 memory protections are broken wide open by new Rowhammer technique

Rowhammer exploits that allow unprivileged attackers to change or corrupt data stored in vulnerable memory chips are now possible on virtually all DDR4 modules due to a new approach that neuters defenses chip manufacturers added to make their wares more resistant to such attacks. Rowhammer attacks work by accessing—or hammering—physical rows inside vulnerable chips millions Read more about DDR4 memory protections are broken wide open by new Rowhammer technique[…]

High severity BIOS flaws affect numerous Intel processors

Intel has disclosed two high-severity vulnerabilities that affect a wide range of Intel processor families, allowing threat actors and malware to gain higher privilege levels on the device. The flaws were discovered by SentinelOne and are tracked as CVE-2021-0157 and CVE-2021-0158, and both have a CVSS v3 score of 8.2 (high). The former concerns the Read more about High severity BIOS flaws affect numerous Intel processors[…]