Security News

Link Previews in Chat Apps Pose Privacy, Security Issues: Researchers
2020-10-27 04:42

An analysis of the manner in which popular chat applications handle link previews has revealed several privacy and security issues, including some that still need addressing, security researchers warn. Link previews provide users with information on what a link received in chat would lead them to, regardless of whether it is a file or a web page.

Researcher: I Hacked Trump’s Twitter by Guessing Password
2020-10-22 18:45

Dutch ethical hacker Victor Gevers claims it only took five attempts to guess the password to President Donald Trump's Twitter account - "Maga2020!". Twitter Safety & 2FA. Twitter said it is dubious about the report.

U.S. Voter Data Traded on Hacker Forums: Researchers
2020-10-22 15:48

A database with information on virtually the entire US voting population has been circulated on hacker forums, opening up the potential for disinformation and scams that could impact the November 3 election, security researchers say. A report released Wednesday by the security firm Trustwave said its researchers "Discovered massive databases with detailed information about US voters and consumers offered for sale on several hacker forums."

Researchers open the door to new distribution methods for secret cryptographic keys
2020-10-21 04:00

Researchers from the University of Ottawa, in collaboration with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Bar-Ilan University scientists, have been able to create optical framed knots in the laboratory that could potentially be applied in modern technologies. Their work opens the door to new methods of distributing secret cryptographic keys - used to encrypt and decrypt data, ensure secure communication and protect private information.

Serious Vulnerability in GitHub Enterprise Earns Researcher $20,000
2020-10-20 12:33

A security researcher says he has earned $20,000 for a high-severity GitHub Enterprise vulnerability that might have allowed an attacker to execute arbitrary commands. GitHub Enterprise, the on-premises version of GitHub.com, is designed to make it easier for large enterprise software development teams to collaborate.

'You've got the old cheeky Corona': Ireland's pandemic advice SMS service can be spoofed, warns researcher
2020-10-12 16:21

Ireland's efforts to keep residents informed about coronavirus has fallen foul of the same basic SMS vulnerability that one of their British neighbours experienced back in March. Lulzsec-bod-turned-security-consultant Jake Davis reckoned the Irish government is using an SMS sender name that is vulnerable to spoofing - a process that is simple and straightforward, not that we're going to explain how it's done.

Researchers Get Big Bounties From Apple For Critical Vulnerabilities
2020-10-09 13:21

A team of researchers has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bug bounties from Apple for reporting 55 vulnerabilities, including ones that exposed source code, employee and customer apps, warehouse software, and iCloud accounts. Researchers Sam Curry, Brett Buerhaus, Ben Sadeghipour, Samuel Erb and Tanner Barnes decided in early July to take part in Apple's bug bounty program and attempt to find as many vulnerabilities as possible in the tech giant's systems and services.

C&C Panels of 10 IoT Botnets Compromised by Researchers
2020-10-09 10:46

At the Virus Bulletin Conference last week, two security researchers explained how they were able to compromise the command and control panels of 10 Internet of Things botnets. The researchers, Aditya K. Sood and Rohit Bansal of SecNiche Security Labs, revealed at the online conference that they were able to access the C&C panels of the Mana, Vivid, Kawaii, Verizon, Goon, 911-Net, Purge Net, Direct, 0xSec, and Dark botnets.

Researchers Find Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Azure Cloud Service
2020-10-08 06:56

Now according to the latest research, two security flaws in Microsoft's Azure App Services could have enabled a bad actor to carry out server-side request forgery attacks or execute arbitrary code and take over the administration server. Azure App Service is a cloud computing-based platform that's used as a hosting web service for building web apps and mobile backends.

Researchers Turn Comcast TV Remote Into Spying Device
2020-10-07 14:42

Researchers from segmentation solutions provider Guardicore have identified a series of vulnerabilities that could have been exploited by a hacker to turn a TV remote into a spying device. The research focused on the XR11 remote provided by Comcast to Xfinity customers.