Security News

Got $50k spare? Then you can crack SHA-1 – so OpenSSH is deprecating flawed hashing algo in a 'near-future release'
2020-05-28 21:03

"It is now possible to perform chosen-prefix attacks against the SHA-1 algorithm for less than USD$50K. For this reason, we will be disabling the 'ssh-rsa' public key signature algorithm by default in a near-future release," said OpenSSH maintainer Damien Miller in the release notes for OpenSSH 8.3, echoing similar comments from the 8.2 release notes back in February. The OpenSSH team suggest users and administrators use alternative, more secure hashing algorithms including SHA-2 or the even older ssh-ed25519 or ECDSA as proposed in 2009.

Got $50k spare? Then you can crack SHA-1 – so OpenSSH is deprecating flawed hashing algo in a 'near-future release'
2020-05-28 21:03

"It is now possible to perform chosen-prefix attacks against the SHA-1 algorithm for less than USD$50K. For this reason, we will be disabling the 'ssh-rsa' public key signature algorithm by default in a near-future release," said OpenSSH maintainer Damien Miller in the release notes for OpenSSH 8.3, echoing similar comments from the 8.2 release notes back in February. The OpenSSH team suggest users and administrators use alternative, more secure hashing algorithms including SHA-2 or the even older ssh-ed25519 or ECDSA as proposed in 2009.

Attorney General: We didn't need Apple to crack terrorist's iPhones – tho we still want iGiant to do it in future
2020-05-18 22:09

The US Department of Justice is once again taking Apple to task for not cooperating with device decryption requests, even after it announced that it had retrieved information from a pair of iPhones without Cupertino's help. "Thanks to the great work of the FBI - and no thanks to Apple - we were able to unlock Alshamrani's phones," said Attorney General Barr.

Attorney General: We didn't need Apple to crack terrorist's iPhones – tho we still want iGiant to do it in future
2020-05-18 22:09

The US Department of Justice is once again taking Apple to task for not cooperating with device decryption requests, even after it announced that it had retrieved information from a pair of iPhones without Cupertino's help. "Thanks to the great work of the FBI - and no thanks to Apple - we were able to unlock Alshamrani's phones," said Attorney General Barr.

ICANN asks registrars to crack down on scam coronavirus websites
2020-04-14 09:04

When is ICANN going to do something about the explosion of scammy domains spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic? We can't, the overseers of the internet said last Tuesday, throwing its hands in the air and telling domain registrars that they can - and should.

Microsoft Cracks Infrastructure of Infamous Necurs Botnet
2020-03-10 20:08

Microsoft says it managed to disrupt the Necurs botnet by taking control of the U.S.-based infrastructure that it has been using to conduct its malicious activities. Necurs is a peer-to-peer hybrid botnet that uses a Domain Generation Algorithm to ensure bots could always connect to a command and control server.

LoRaWAN Encryption Keys Easy to Crack, Jeopardizing Security of IoT Networks
2020-01-28 12:02

Researchers are warning that while LoRaWAN itself is perfectly secure, poor device security and user mistakes in configuration and implementation can still lead to hacks and widespread operational disruption. The application-layer security is responsible for confidentiality, with end-to-end encryption between the device and the application server, preventing third parties from accessing the application data being transmitted.

Facebook Cracks Down on Deepfake Videos
2020-01-07 14:27

Despite the difficulties of identifying deepfakes, social media sites are recognizing the need to crack down on the manipulated, misleading videos. Facebook is banning deepfake videos, which stem from a technique of human-image synthesis based on artificial intelligence to create fake content.

Internet of crap (encryption): IoT gear is generating easy-to-crack keys
2019-12-16 14:00

Poor entropy in embedded devices leading to weaker certificates: study A preponderance of weak keys is leaving IoT devices at risk of being hacked, and the problem won't be an easy one to solve.…

Feds Crack Down on Money Mules, Warn of BEC Scams
2019-12-06 19:34

Authorities say they have halted over 600 domestic money mules – exceeding the 400 money mules stopped last year.