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Archive for the ‘cybercrime/malcode’ category: Page 169

Aug 26, 2019

Could Lasers Be The Future Of Anti-Missile Weapons?

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, particle physics

A new type of device could be made to hack enemy missiles in flight to disarm them or guide them away. With a neutrino hacking laser you could essentially hack any missile from almost anywhere.

Aug 24, 2019

Ransomware Attacks Are Testing Resolve of Cities Across America

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

As hackers lock up networks that power police forces and utilities, municipalities must operate with hobbled computer systems, and decide whether to pay ransoms.

Aug 17, 2019

Microsoft Discovers ‘Critical’ Windows 10 Vulnerabilities Affecting 800M

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, futurism

In a recent Security Response Center update from Microsoft, the company detailed the discovery of two “critical” Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerabilities.

The vulnerabilities are “wormable”, meaning that any future malware that exploits these could jump from computer to computer without any need for users sending it across.

RELATED: MICROSOFT JOINS APPLE, AMAZON AS $1 TRILLION COMPANY

Aug 15, 2019

Security Researchers Show Hackers Can Take Over Some Cameras With Ransomware

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, internet

A group of security researchers has found that some cameras are vulnerable to ransomware attacks via Wi-Fi or hijacked computers (using the USB connection) that can render a camera and its photos entirely usage until a sum of money is paid to the hackers.

Check Point Software Technologies has shown (as seen in the video above) that Canon DSLRs (it’s not clear if other cameras are also affected) are susceptible to ransomware attacks, an increasingly common exploitation in which a hacker disables a device until the owner pays a ransom to regain control. As more and more electronics gain internet connectivity, these attacks are becoming more common, particularly since manufacturers typically don’t put the same sort of effort into fortifying the network security of small electronics as they do into computers. Canon released a statement in which they offered some barebones tips to avoid being susceptible to these attacks and noted that there have been no known instances of such an attack occurring. They did not indicate whether they plan to fix the vulnerabilities through firmware updates, so it probably doesn’t hurt to be a bit more careful to protect your photos.

Aug 14, 2019

Carnegie Mellon team flexes hacking prowess with fifth DefCon title in seven years

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Carnegie Mellon University’s competitive hacking team, the Plaid Parliament of Pwning (PPP), just won its fifth hacking world championship in seven years at this year’s DefCon security conference, widely considered the “World Cup” of hacking. The championship, played in the form of a virtual game of “capture the flag,” was held August 8–11 in Las Vegas.

PPP now holds two more DefCon titles than any other team in the 23-year history of DefCon hosting the competition.

“If you’re wondering who the best and brightest security experts in the world are, look no further than the capture the flag room at DefCon,” says David Brumley, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon, and the faculty advisor to the team.

Aug 14, 2019

They Stole Your Files, You Don’t Have to Pay the Ransom

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, law enforcement

The F.B.I. should follow the example of European law enforcement and help victims of ransomware decrypt their data.

Aug 14, 2019

Turn your Tesla into a CIA-like counter-surveillance tool with this hack

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, surveillance, transportation

A software engineer has built an impressive real-time counter-surveillance tool for Tesla vehicles on top of Sentry Mode.

It looks like something the CIA or James Bond would have in their car.

Aug 12, 2019

Pre-installed apps in 7 million Android devices found containing malware

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, mobile phones, surveillance

Security researchers from Google’s Project Zero team recently uncovered pre-installed apps in Android devices that either allowed remote attackers to carry out remote code execution, could disable Google Play Protect in devices, or could collect information on users’ web activities.

At the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas, Maddie Stone, a security researcher on Project Zero and who previously served as Senior Reverse Engineer & Tech Lead on Android Security team, revealed that her team discovered three instances of Android malware being pre-installed in budget Android phones in the recent past.

One such pre-installed app was capable of turning off Google Play Protect, the default mobile security app in Android devices, thereby leaving devices vulnerable to all forms of cyber attacks or remote surveillance. The Project Zero team also found an app pre-installed on Android phones that gathered logs of users’ web activities.

Aug 12, 2019

Cloud Atlas Hackers Add Polymorphic Malware to Their Toolkit

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, government

Cyber-espionage group Cloud Atlas has added polymorphic malware to its arsenal to avoid having its operations detected and monitored with the help of previously collected indicators of compromise (IOCs).

The hacking group also known as Inception [1, 2] was initially identified in 2014 by Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team researchers, and it has a history of targeting government agencies and entities from a wide range of industries via spear-phishing campaigns.

While the malware and Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP) Cloud Atlas uses during its operations has remained unchanged since at least 2018, the APT group has now added new polymorphic HTML Application malware dropper in the form of a malicious HTA and a backdoor dubbed VBShower.

Aug 9, 2019

Considering the nuclear option for ridding computer of malware

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

The last-resort option for getting rid of malware is reinstalling Windows. Also, the tricky thing about Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage. And how to get a certain antivirus program off your computer. Patrick Marshall answers your personal technology questions each week.