security

After lying low for several months, the Chinese military's hacking division has reportedly resumed attacks on U.S. businesses and government agencies. Earlier this year a US security firm published a report that linked cyber attacks to a ... Shanghai-based residence. Given that the building is known to belong to the Chinese army, it was widely concluded that China's military was directly involved in the operation. Chinese officials denied the claims. However, security experts continued to insist that the Shanghai-based unit was responsible for attacking U.S. government agencies, businesses that ... (view more)

Kaspersky Lab product specialist Wayne Kirby says that the complex design of Microsoft's newest operating system (OS), Windows 8, increases its vulnerability to hackers. Not helping the situation, according to Kirby: the availability of multiple ... versions of Windows 8, including Windows RT. Kirby says that, by offering consumers several different editions of its new OS, Microsoft has increased the number of flaws in the platform. Multiple Operating Systems, Multiple Vulnerabilities Kirby says that the multiple OS approach gives hackers more vulnerabilities to exploit. "Because it contains ... (view more)

Facebook has a new solution for people who are having trouble accessing their accounts: if you sign up for the site's 'Trusted Contacts' feature, you can log in with a little help from your friends. The system is designed for people who've forgotten ... their password and is an alternative to existing security measures that involve answering questions and awaiting a confirmation email. Using the feature you can designate between three and five people from your Facebook friends list as Trusted Contacts. If and when you are unable to access your account and trigger the feature, Facebook will send a ... (view more)

According to reports, hackers recently infected the United States Department of Labor website with malware. Security experts have indicated that the attack may have originated in China, since the strategy employed by hackers is very similar to ... tactics used by Chinese hackers in the past. The hackers targeted the Site Exposure Matrices (SEM) page within the U.S. Department of Labor website. According to two security firms (AlienVault and Invincea), that page features data related to the storage of toxic substances at United States Department of Energy sites. Attack May Have Originated in China ... (view more)

Security researchers have discovered a new type of Trojan downloader capable of covering its tracks by deleting the files it downloads. That makes it harder for security experts to find and remove the downloader. The downloader, which is called ... Win32 / Nemim.gen!A, shows how malware writers are producing progressively more sophisticated tools. By deleting all of the files it downloads and uses, this Trojan makes it almost impossible to recover, isolate, and analyze component files. Sophisticated Malware Difficult to Confront According to Microsoft Malware Protection Center researcher Jonathan ... (view more)

Microsoft says that approximately one in four computers around the world are completely vulnerable to cyber attack. That finding is one part of Microsoft's newest Security Intelligence Report. According to the fourteenth volume of Microsoft's ... Security Intelligence Report, 24 per cent of all computers worldwide are not protected by up-to-date antivirus or anti-malware software. The problem with that, Microsoft says: "Computers without antivirus software are 5.5 times more likely to be infected." (Source: digitaltrends.com ) Microsoft's report also highlights the dangers posed to computers ... (view more)

Do you use a Linksys, Netgear, Verizon, D-Link, or Belkin router for your home network? Then your network could be vulnerable to attack. Baltimore, Maryland-based security consultancy firm Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) says that in a test of ... popular home routers most were vulnerable to attack by hackers. ISE put routers from Linksys, Netgear, Verizon, D-Link, and Belkin to the test after having installed each firm's latest firmware updates. ISE also left each router's default configurations in place when carrying out their tests. Hackers Intercept Sensitive Information ISE found that ... (view more)

Last week a security researcher based in Europe revealed that, using some hardware and software available on eBay, he was able to develop an application that could be used to remotely control a commercial plane , mid-flight. That researcher was ... Germany's Hugo Teso, who demonstrated his trick by producing a special Android app that automated the process of taking control of a plane and then re-directing it. The app, which is called 'PlaneSploit,' takes advantage of security vulnerabilities in the aviation industry's communications systems. (Source: gawker.com ) Teso said he was working closely ... (view more)

A security researcher is warning that vulnerabilities in the aviation industry's communications systems could allow a hacker to take control of an airplane mid-flight. German security consultant Hugo Teso recently presented his research on the ... aviation industry's security vulnerabilities at the 'Hack in the Box' conference in Amsterdam. (Source: cnn.com ) Teso, who held a commercial pilot license for more than a decade, spent three years examining the aviation industry's security systems. He found a staggering number of vulnerabilities, particularly in a system known as ADS-B, or automatic ... (view more)

Big fixes are now available for virtually every Microsoft operating system (OS), including the new Windows 8 and Windows RT. April's Patch Tuesday release addresses 'critical' vulnerabilities found in most versions of Windows. The first critical ... flaw focuses on Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser and applies to versions 6 through 10. The fix will address a flaw that could allow for a drive-by hack, meaning hackers could use the hole to attack machines by leading victims to websites laced with malware. Windows XP Through Windows 8 Systems Affected This means that virtually every ... (view more)