Infosecurity News
Armenian cyber-warriors target Azeri websites after Safarov pardon
A cyber-war of sorts has broken out between Armenian and Azeri hackers over the August 31 extradition and pardon of Azeri murderer Ramil Safarov.
Sony hacked by NullCrew; Anonymous attacks MI5 and MI6
NullCrew, a new hacking group that has been particularly active over the last couple of months, has hacked Sony mobile websites – adding to its rapidly growing list of victims (Cambridge University, Yale University, Cambodia Army, PMT Air and many more).
LulzSec Sony Pictures hackers were school chums
The two hackers from the nefarious cybercriminal group LulzSec arrested in conjunction with the Sony Pictures data breach have turned out to be college friends, sharing a history of cyber-research and seemingly well-meaning training in the arts of security intrusion and detection.
Guild Wars 2 and the hackers’ gold rush
Guild Wars 2 was launched a few days ago, and already users are finding themselves locked out of their accounts. The reasons are primarily twofold: a crackdown on unacceptable behavior and the rise of gold selling.
Apple bans ‘drone strike’ app
An iOS app developed to heighten awareness of the US drone war has been rejected by Apple for the third time – just three weeks after the Electronic Frontier Foundation warned that a proposed new US bill “would have broad consequences for press freedom and the public’s right to know.”
OpFreeAssange turns into a feeding frenzy in the UK
It was always to be expected that hacktivists would respond vigorously to the effective house arrest of Julian Assange within the Ecuador Embassy in London, and the UK’s apparent determination to extradite him to Sweden.
Spyware takes over iPhones, Androids
Call it Invasion of the iPhone Snatchers: a new FinFisher-based spyware is built to infect iPhones and iPads (and Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone gadgets too) in order to take over the device completely – all unbeknownst to the user.
UK data breaches skyrocket more than 1,000%
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has discovered skyrocketing growth in the number of self-reported data breaches in the last five years, with staggering quadruple-digit figures in the mix. The average percentage increase across sectors since 2007 is 1,014%.
Cyber-espionage Mahdi virus spreads further in Middle East
The Mahdi trojan cyber-espionage attack continues to expand in the Middle East, and especially Iran, despite its detection last month.
Frankenstein malware: a monster stitched together from trusted code
We’re all somewhat familiar with Frankenstein’s monster: an abomination that has been stitched together, a sum of repurposed body parts, given new life that requires re-learning how to be a creature. The heady themes of Mary Shelley’s famous novel have now made their way into the information security realm thanks to cyber-researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas, who have created a monster malware stitched together from other, legitimate programs’ parts.
Virus on virus – set a thief to catch a thief
The old debate on whether it would be ethical to use viruses to detect and even clean other viruses has largely been won by the law of unintended consequences: it's simply too dangerous. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen accidentally...
Rojadirecta.com and Rojadirecta.org to be released soon
A day short of 19 months after ICE’s Operation in Our Sights seized the Rojadirecta.com and .org domains, they are expected to be released within the next few hours, claims Rojadirecta.
Cyberattacks up 400% since 2011
Cyberattacks are intensifying across vectors and industry segments, according to agnostic research from FireEye.
Facebook troll is a policeman
Following Nicola Brookes’ landmark court case that forced Facebook to hand over the IP address details of people abusing her on the social network, a 32-year-old serving policeman has been arrested.
Android malware targets women with 'meet a rich man' gambit
Hackers are getting more and more personalized, going after specific niches in a long-tail attempt to avoid wide-net security measures. True to form, a new type of Android malware has been spotted, specifically designed to target female, single smartphone users.
Google's Postini transition sparks competitor feeding frenzy
E-mail security vendors are trying to lure customers away from Google as the internet juggernaut transitions its Postini security customers to its Google Apps infrastructure. The feeding frenzy is unsurprising: Google has 26 million customers for the taking.
Kaspersky looks at the wreckage of Wiper malware
Kaspersky Lab – which to a large extent has led the analyses of the new cyberweapon class of malware (Stuxnet, Duqu, and Flame) has been taking a closer look at what the most destructive sample, Wiper, has left behind.
VirusBuster is dead. Long live Agnitum’s VirusBuster
On 7 August 2012, the Hungarian anti-virus company VirusBuster announced the cessation of its similarly-named VirusBuster anti-virus product: the development department is “no longer sustainable in its current form and therefore is in the process of closing down.”
Megaupload v2 in the pipeline
Kim Dotcom never accepted that Meagupload was finished. Now he has said that it will return, bigger, better and more secure than ever. “We are building a massive global network. All non-US hosters will be able to connect servers & bandwidth. Get ready.”
Second LulzSec member arrested over Sony hacks
Raynaldo Rivera (aged 20), aka neuron, royal and wildicv, has been taken into custody following his indictment last week charging him with conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer; that is, last year’s Sony hacks.
