Security News
Budget Android device models that are counterfeit versions associated with popular smartphone brands are harboring multiple trojans designed to target WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business messaging apps. So system library is used by any app, it triggers the execution of a trojan incorporated in libmtd.
Security flaws have been identified in Xiaomi Redmi Note 9T and Redmi Note 11 models, which could be exploited to disable the mobile payment mechanism and even forge transactions via a rogue Android app installed on the devices. Specifically, the Israeli cybersecurity firm discovered that a trusted app on a Xiaomi device can be downgraded due to a lack of version control, enabling an attacker to replace a newer, secure version of an app with an older, vulnerable variant.
Smartphone maker Xiaomi, the world's number three phone maker behind Apple and Samsung, reported it has patched a high-severity flaw in its "Trusted environment" used to store payment data that opened some of its handsets to attack. Researchers at Check Point Research revealed last week in a report released at DEF CON that the Xiaomi smartphone flaw could have allowed hackers to hijack the mobile payment system and disable it or create and sign their own forged transactions.
Phone numbers of close to 1,900 Signal users were exposed in the data breach Twilio cloud communications company suffered at the beginning of the month. Twilio provides phone number verification services for Signal and last week disclosed that an attacker hacked its network on August 4.
Security analysts have found security issues in the payment system present on Xiaomi smartphones that rely on MediaTek chips providing the trusted execution environment that is responsible for signing transactions. Considering how common mobile payments and Xiaomi phones are, especially in Asian markets, the money pool hackers could tap into is estimated to be in the billions of U.S. dollars.
A now-former T-Mobile US store stole at least 50 employees' work credentials to run a phone unlocking and unblocking service that prosecutors said netted $25 million. Argishti Khudaverdyan, 44, of Burbank, California, was found guilty of 14 criminal charges [PDF] by a US federal jury on Friday.
A former owner of a T-Mobile retail store in California has been found guilty of a $25 million scheme where he illegally accessed T-Mobile's internal systems to unlock and unblock cell phones. "From August 2014 to June 2019, Khudaverdyan fraudulently unlocked and unblocked cellphones on T-Mobile's network, as well as the networks of Sprint, AT&T and other carriers," details the announcement of the U.S. Department of Justice.
VoIP phones using Digium's software have been targeted to drop a web shell on their servers as part of an attack campaign designed to exfiltrate data by downloading and executing additional payloads. "The malware installs multilayer obfuscated PHP backdoors to the web server's file system, downloads new payloads for execution, and schedules recurring tasks to re-infect the host system," Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 said in a Friday report.
INKY researchers disclosed the latest variant of the tried-and-true phone scam, a low-tech phone scam where attackers extract personal information by sending out spoofed emails from what appears to be a legitimate source, with no suspicious links or malware attachments, just a pitch and a phone number. In this Help Net Security video, Roger Kay, VP of Security Strategy, INKY, talks about how this time around, attackers impersonated reputable retail brands such as Amazon, Apple, and Paypal, to send out legitimate notifications from QuickBooks, an accounting software package used primarily by small business and midmarket customers who lack in-house expertise in finance and accounting.
You'll also need the Authy app installed on your new phone. After enabling multi-device support on Authy, open the app on the new phone, where you'll be prompted for your Country Code and Phone Number.