New vulnerability affects millions of routers -- update yours right away!
A vulnerability that leaves millions of routers and other Internet-connected devices open to remote hacking and similar cyberattacks has been discovered.
Stefan Viehbock of SEC Consult Vulnerability Lab explained in his blog that a piece of proprietary software developed in Taiwan, called NetUSB, is the root of the security flaw.
Tech giants asking Obama to support effective encryption, block backdoor requests
Several huge technology firms have come together to urge US President Barack Obama not to pass legislation demanding backdoor access to encrypted devices.
More than 140 companies and prominent figures in the tech industry, including the likes of Apple and Google, have sent an open letter to the White House proclaiming that "strong encryption is the cornerstone of the modern information economy’s security".
Just about everyone thinks Internet.org is a terrible idea
Mark Zuckerberg probably thought the world would bow down to him when Facebook announced the Internet.org project. The idea of bringing internet access to those in developing parts of the world seems, on the face of it, to be something of an exercise in altruism. Of course, it's not quite that simple.
Many companies complain that the project goes against the idea of net neutrality -- a claim that Zuckerberg vehemently denies. But now the vocal opposition to Internet.org is getting louder. Privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has several concerns with the project, and a collective of 67 digital rights groups has signed a letter to the Facebook founder expressing concerns about the approach Internet.org is taking.
Security researcher allegedly takes control of airplane, demonstrates security risks
A security consultant is at the centre of a media storm following claims that he hacked into the computer systems on board airplanes on a number of occasions, and during one of those he allegedly managed to take partial control of the craft.
Chris Roberts was picked up by the FBI last month following tweets about hacking into the plane’s systems on a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Syracuse, and upon landing he had his kit -- a MacBook Pro and iPad Air -- seized in order to be scrutinized by their techies.
Is someone stealing your Wi-Fi?
Wi-Fi access is growing all the time and that’s hardly surprising considering the amount of time we spend online and the need for employees to be increasingly mobile. The number of public hotspots are on the up, but that’s not the only way to get online.
Unauthorized access to your personal Wi-Fi can occur if the right precautions are not taken. One of the first things to do is to check the list of connected devices using your network. There are dedicated software packages that will help you do this, or alternatively, you can usually access your router’s settings by entering your IP address into your web browser search bar.
Microsoft's VC3 security is encryption for the cloud
The inexorable move towards the cloud continues apace, and something that remains a key concern is security. Microsoft thinks it may have come up with a solution in the form of Verifiable Confidential Cloud Computing, or VC3, which has been designed to keep cloud data encrypted and secure even when the data is being used to perform calculations.
Described as a "lockbox in the cloud", VC3 keeps data protected by using secure, managed hardware to perform any necessary decryption. Encrypted data is transferred to VC3-managed cloud hardware where it is then decrypted, used in calculations, and then re-encrypted.
Debunking the five common misconceptions about DDoS protection
Defending organizations networks against DDoS attacks has long been a daunting challenge, but now cybercriminals are making it even more so. Headlines today are rife with news of another DDoS attack, data breach or other security incidents.
Yet even in today’s dynamic threat landscape, many organizations still believe that the DDoS protection they adopted a few years ago still works today. In these instances, organizations are gambling with their network. It’s time to debunk some outmoded misconceptions about DDoS.
Traditional security approaches produce too many false positives
According to 62 percent of IT professionals traditional security approaches produce too many alerts and false positives for them to handle.
This is among the findings of a new study from research firm Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), sponsored by machine learning and automation specialist Prelert, which shows that 25 percent of organizations know they experienced a breach or significant cyber attack that incurred loss last year.
How to make life difficult for Internet of Things hackers
The "Internet of Things" is a buzzword which is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society. This is mostly due to the rise of crowd funding schemes and an insurgence of low power, highly capable microcontroller platforms such as Arduino.
The Equity Kicker expects 33 billion devices connected by 2020 with a large portion of them falling under the IoT umbrella term and Forbes are predicting some pretty mind-bending revenue estimates over the next few years. Many of these devices are greatly enhanced by increased connectivity to the internet where they have access to large amounts of cloud based computing power.
Payment card industry must meet new security standards by end of June
Companies that accept credit card payments and process cardholder data are facing some significant changes that they will need to comply with by June 30th.
This is a result of new Data Security Standard requirements from the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council, known as PCI DSS 3.0. This will see many of the things that were previously only seen as best practice become mandatory.
China military bans smartwatches to lower security risks
China has warned its soldiers not to use smartwatches and wearable gadgets as they could be in breach of army security protocols.
The country’s military issued a statement against the use of Internet connected devices after a recruit attempted to take a photograph using a smartwatch. Restrictions surrounding mobile phone use are already in place.
It's far too easy to steal an Apple Watch
The problem with a lot of technology is that it acts as a beacon to thieves. Use a phone or tablet in public and you run the risk of having it swiped from under your nose. To overcome this, Apple and Google have built in security features that make it possible to render useless iPhones, iPads and Android devices. The same, however, cannot be said of the Apple Watch.
While the Apple Watch does feature a passcode system that is used as a locking mechanism when the wearable is removed from the wrist, it is incredibly easy to bypass. A thief can grab a Watch, factory reset it and pair it with their own iPhone. The risk of arrest aside -- and, you know, morals -- there is no deterrent to helping oneself to a Watch and claiming it as your own.
Bots generate more internet traffic than humans
According to a new survey from cloud security provider Distil Networks humans accounted for only 40.9 percent of web traffic in 2014 with the remainder accounted for by bots.
This compares with 50.8 percent human traffic in 2013, however the good news is that 'bad bot' traffic is down from 24.22 percent to 22.78. The rise in good bot traffic that makes up the difference is thought to be from more aggressive indexing by Bing and new search engines in 2014.
More than 1,000 companies join IBM in the battle against cybercrime
Last month IBM launched its X-Force Exchange opening up access to threat intelligence data to help in the fight against cybercrime.
With 80 percent of cyber attacks now coming from organized gangs it's important that the good guys get organized too. IBM has announced today that more than 1,000 organizations across 16 industries are participating in the new threat intelligence community.
Millennials are a bigger risk to mobile security than other age groups
Around half of the workforce will be millennials by 2020, but according to a new survey by endpoint security specialists Absolute Software they're likely to present a bigger risk to data security.
The survey questioned more than 750 Americans over the age of 18 who work for a company with 50 or more employees and use an employer-owned mobile device.
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