Security News

DNSDB 2.0 transforms threat feeds into relevant threat intel in real time
2020-08-05 01:00

Farsight Security introduced DNSDB 2.0, which enables security professionals to identify and map domain names and IP addresses associated with bad actors or used in malicious infrastructures, brand infringement campaigns, phishing schemes, ransomware and other cybercrime. With more than 100 billion DNS observations, DNSDB is the industry standard in historical passive DNS. Traditionally, DNSDB has offered only exact matches, or full-label front or back wildcard searches, such as "*.example.com" or "Example.*" DNSDB 2.0 adds new flexible search functions so users can better find - and filter out - only the data they need.

UK intel committee on Russia: Social media firms should remove state disinformation. What was that, MI5? ████████?
2020-07-21 15:09

An influential UK Parliamentary committee has called on social media companies to remove covert hostile state material and said the government must "Name and shame" those that fail to act. We are concerned that there is no clear coordination of the numerous organisations across the UK intelligence community working on , this is reinforced by an unnecessarily complicated wiring diagram of responsibilities amongst ministers.... The focus of political attention because of its relevance to the EU referendum and subject to delay at the hands of Prime Minister and his office, the report also details use of technology and social media for nefarious Russian activity.

Step on it, I've got the police on my hack: Anon swipes, leaks online 269GB of crime intel docs from cops, Feds
2020-06-22 22:52

Known as BlueLeaks, the info trove consists mostly of crime intelligence material uploaded to what are known as fusion centers. Created in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks, serve as a way for state and county cops to share information with one another and with the FBI and US Homeland security.

Intel unveils 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, additions to its hardware and software AI portfolio
2020-06-22 00:15

Intel introduced its 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors and additions to its hardware and software AI portfolio, enabling customers to accelerate the development and use of artificial intelligence and analytics workloads running in data center, network and intelligent-edge environments. Intel is further extending its investment in built-in AI acceleration in the new 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors through the integration of bfloat16 support into the processor's unique Intel DL Boost technology.

BlackBerry partners with Intel to detect cryptojacking malware
2020-06-17 12:00

BlackBerry has added a new feature to its endpoint detection and response platform Optics: An Intel-powered cryptojacking malware detection system. BlackBerry claims its cryptojacking EDR has "Virtually no processor impact" on Windows 10 systems that Optics runs on, allowing "Organizations [to] detect and mitigate cryptojacking with greater precision and consistent results across all types of workloads."

Intel announces “exploit busting” features in its next processor chips
2020-06-16 16:57

As far as we can see, the first wave of Intel processors that will include these new protections are the not-quite-out-yet CPUs known by the nickname "Tiger Lake", so if you're a programmer you can't actually start tinkering with the CET features just yet. Errors in using memory are one of the leading causes of software bugs that lead to security holes, known in the trade as vulnerabilities.

Intel Adds Anti-Malware Protection in Tiger Lake CPUs
2020-06-15 19:46

Intel's upcoming class of mobile CPUs, code named "Tiger Lake," will feature a long anticipated security layer, called Control-flow Enforcement Technology, which aims to protect against common malware attacks. "Intel CET delivers CPU-level security capabilities to help protect against common malware attack methods that have been a challenge to mitigate with software alone," said Tom Garrison, vice president and general manager of Client Security Strategy and Initiatives with Intel, in a Monday post.

New Security Tech in Intel CPUs Protects Systems Against Malware Attacks
2020-06-15 14:57

Intel on Monday unveiled a new security technology for its processors that will help protect systems against attack methods commonly used by malware. Intel CET has two main components: indirect branch tracking, which should provide protection against jump oriented programming and call oriented programming attacks; and shadow stack, which provides return address protection against return-oriented programming attacks.

RIP ROP, COP, JOP? Intel to bring anti-exploit tech to market in this year's Tiger Lake chip family
2020-06-15 13:00

Known as Control Flow Enforcement Technology, or CET, the protections are designed to prevent miscreants from exploiting certain programming bugs to execute malicious code that infects systems with malware, steals data, spies on victims, and so on. There are various mitigations in place on modern systems, such as Data Execution Prevention, that stop hackers from injecting and executing malicious code into a program when a victim opens a specially crafted document or connects to a remote service.

Intel patches chip flaw that could leak your cryptographic secrets
2020-06-12 15:33

If, for example, your program is reading through an array of data to perform a complex calculation based on all the values in it, the processor needs to make sure that you don't read past the end of your memory buffer, because that could allow someone else's private data to leak into your computation. The theory is that if the checks fail, the chip can just discard the internal data that it now knows is tainted by insecurity, so there's a possible performance boost without a security risk given that the security checks will ultimately prevent secret data being disclosed anyway.