Security News

CIA Unit That Crafts Hacking Tools Didn't Protect Itself
2020-06-16 18:28

A specialized CIA unit that developed hacking tools and cyber weapons didn't do enough to protect its own operations and wasn't prepared to respond when its secrets were exposed, according to an internal report prepared after the worst data loss in the intelligence agency's history. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, obtained the redacted report from the Justice Department after it was introduced as evidence in a court case this year involving stolen CIA hacking tools.

Roommate of Woman Accused of Hacking Pleads to Having Guns
2020-06-16 12:14

The former roommate of a woman accused of hacking Capital One and at least 30 other organizations has pleaded guilty to illegally possessing firearms, according to federal prosecutors. Park Quan, 67, pleaded guilty on Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to being a felon in possession of guns, according to U.S. Attorney Brian Moran.

Researcher Demonstrates Android App Hacking via Intents
2020-06-11 18:13

A security researcher was able to compromise an Android application by invoking each of its exposed Activity components. Activities, one of the three primary components of Android apps, are called using Intents, which are messaging objects that applications use to communicate with their different components.

NSA: Russian Agents Have Been Hacking Major Email Program
2020-05-29 03:57

The U.S. National Security Agency says the same Russian military hacking group that interfered in the 2016 presidential election and unleashed a devastating malware attack the following year has been exploiting a major email server program since last August or earlier. It took Williams about a minute of online probing on Thursday to find a potentially vulnerable government server in the U.K. He speculated that the NSA might have issued to advisory to publicize the IP addresses and a domain name used by the Russian military group, known as Sandworm, in its hacking campaign - in hopes of thwarting their use for other means.

DoJ Again Asks for Encryption Backdoors After Hacking US Naval Base Shooter's iPhones
2020-05-19 12:12

The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Monday that the FBI managed to gain access to the data stored on two iPhones belonging to an individual who last year killed and wounded several people at a United States naval base. U.S. Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray announced on Monday that the FBI managed to access the data stored on the two locked iPhones.

Increased Focus on iOS Hacking Leads to Drop in Exploit Prices
2020-05-19 08:38

The price of some iOS exploits has dropped recently and at least one exploit acquisition company is no longer buying certain types of vulnerabilities. It also announced that prices for iOS exploit chains that require some user interaction and don't provide persistence will likely drop in the near future.

Senator demands deep probe into spyware-for-cops after NSO Group touts hacking toolkit to American plod
2020-05-13 21:57

Senator Ron Wyden was reacting to Vice's discovery of a brochure by Westbridge Technologies - the US sales wing of the controversial NSO Group - which pitched NSO's Pegasus technology, rebadged as Phantom, to a police force in San Diego, California. The reference to spying on an ex-partner relates to claims that an employee of NSO Group who was caught using the firm's technology to spy on a woman they were interested in romantically.

Senator demands deep probe into spyware-for-cops after NSO Group touts hacking toolkit to American plod
2020-05-13 21:57

Senator Ron Wyden was reacting to Vice's discovery of a brochure by Westbridge Technologies - the US sales wing of the controversial NSO Group - which pitched NSO's Pegasus technology, rebadged as Phantom, to a police force in San Diego, California. The reference to spying on an ex-partner relates to claims that an employee of NSO Group who was caught using the firm's technology to spy on a woman they were interested in romantically.

Dating app user logins found on hacking forum
2020-05-12 13:05

A hacker has put up for sale the dates of birth, genders, website activity, mobile numbers, usernames, email addresses and MD5-hashed passwords for 3.68 million users of the Mobifriends dating app. As of Monday, Mobifriends hadn't yet provided a comment on the stolen user data.

US Says Chinese Hacking Vaccine Research: Reports
2020-05-11 15:16

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation and cybersecurity experts believe Chinese hackers are trying to steal research on developing a vaccine against coronavirus, two newspapers reported Monday. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are planning to release a warning about the Chinese hacking as governments and private firms race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported.