china

Tue
03
May
John Lister's picture

Report: Zero Day Bugs On The Rise

Two separate reports point to a spike in zero-day bugs . That's when would-be attackers trying to exploit a bug have a head-start over developers who are trying to fix and patch it. When software developers discover a security vulnerability (or are ... told about it by responsible researchers), they are in a race against time to find and roll out a fix before attackers discover it and start trying to take advantage. Often they'll only have a matter of days. A zero-day bug is defined as one whose existence is (or was) discovered by hackers before it is known to the software developers. That means ... (view more)

Mon
13
Dec
John Lister's picture

Microsoft Uses US Courts to Disrupt Chinese Hackers

Microsoft has taken control of websites - or rather their domain names - believed to be uses by Chinese hackers. It's the latest example of a tactic that overcomes the usual problems of dealing with an international online threat. According to ... Microsoft, the "Nickel" group is based in China and is a "nation-state actor": in other words, it at the very least has the backing of the Chinese government. It uses a variety of tactics to try to spy on victims and intercept their data. Targets include government agencies and human rights groups. Microsoft somewhat understatedly says there's "often a ... (view more)

Tue
22
Sep
John Lister's picture

Chinese Apps TikTok, WeChat Won't Be Banned

A judge has blocked a Department of Commerce ban on a Chinese messaging app. The judge said there wasn't enough specific evidence against the app to override free speech complaints. The department introduced the ban on WeChat (along with video app ... TikTok) following an executive order from the President. The ban meant it was illegal for app stores to distribute or update the apps in the US. The ban also outlawed US use of WeChat's mobile payment facility, which is hugely popular with American citizens of Asian descent. One estimate puts the number of US users at 19 million. In both cases, the ... (view more)

Wed
15
Aug
John Lister's picture

Mock Election Site Hacked By Pre-Teen

An 11-year-old boy hacked a replica of a Florida election website in just 10 minutes. Officials have downplayed the incident saying it's not an accurate recreation of how such hacking could work. The hack took place at DefCon, an annual conference ... for people interested in computer security. It often has competitions and demonstrations of security vulnerability - and certainly isn't a place you would want to connect your wireless device to unknown WiFi networks. One of the events at the conference was the DefCon Voting Machine Hacking Village. Participants, including many children, attempted ... (view more)

Wed
08
Aug
John Lister's picture

US Military Bans Fitness Trackers, Citing Spy Risk

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has banned military staff from using geolocation tools such as GPS-enabled fitness trackers in "operational areas." The move follows fears such data could be unintentionally public and threaten security. Earlier ... this year fitness tracker company Strava published a worldwide map showing the most popular routes for its users to run and carry out other exercise activity. The map showed routes in increasing levels of brightness depending on their popularity. Middle East Bases Unintentionally Mapped Several users then spotted several routes in countries such as ... (view more)

Fri
25
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

Explained: Do I need a VPN? Are VPNs Safe for Online Banking?

Infopackets Reader Janie T. writes: " Dear Dennis, I wanted to know if I should use a VPN (virtual private network) to connect to my bank website. A service I came across called saferweb.com claims that they will encrypt my connection, but I don't ... know if they can be trusted or not. What do you think? PS: I love your daily infopackets letters - they are very informative. " My response: This is a good question. When visiting saferweb.com I noted the following statements on their site: "Safer Web gives you an extra layer of security against Internet hackers. By hiding your IP, we keep your ... (view more)

Thu
19
Mar
John Lister's picture

Microsoft: Pirates Can Get Windows 10 For Free

Microsoft is offering Chinese users of pirated Windows software a free upgrade to Windows 10. It appears to be a case of profit over principle that may also have security benefits. Virtually all users of Windows 7 and 8.1 around the world will ... already qualify for a free upgrade to Windows 10 when it's released, something Microsoft now says will be "this summer." However, in most places that only applies to legitimate users. Things are very different in China, however, which has a combination of an increasingly wealthy tech-loving population and loose government policing of ... (view more)

Thu
11
Dec
Brandon Dimmel's picture

Cyber Attacks on Businesses Doubled in 2014: Report

A new report suggests that hackers took aim at twice as many businesses in 2014 when compared to the previous year. The report comes from Russian security company Kaspersky Lab; its Global Research and Analysis Team says it detected seven major ... advanced persistent threats (or APTs) over the past twelve months, resulting in approximately 4,400 attacks targeting private sector organizations in an estimated 55 countries. Kaspersky researchers say that's more than double the roughly 1,800 corporations targeted by cybercriminals in 2013 . Sophisticated Attacks May Be Supported by National ... (view more)

Wed
24
Apr
Dennis Faas's picture

Cyberespionage: Most Attacks Originate in China

According to a new study from Verizon, almost one in three of the world's cyber attacks originate in China. The study also revealed that Chinese attackers are more interested in cyberespionage than stealing money. The figures are part of Verizon's ... annual Data Breach Investigations Report. The report aims to bring together data from cybercrime experts from around the world. This year the data covers a total of 47,000 "security incidents," though the vast majority of these incidents appear to have been failed attacks. Only 621 cases are known to have involved an actual breach of security with ... (view more)

Fri
01
Mar
Dennis Faas's picture

Chinese Official Accuses US of Hacking Websites

The war of words between China and the United States over alleged cyber-espionage continues. A Chinese government official has revealed data that he says shows US sources are behind more than a million annual attacks on two Chinese websites. An ... American security firm recently published a report indicating that a Chinese hacking group has carried out at least 140 security breaches of US websites in an attempt to steal sensitive information. US Firm Tracks Hacks Back to China The report said the group's attacks could be traced back to a specific building in Shanghai known to be operated by a ... (view more)

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