Sony talks PlayStation Network outage, doesn't name Lizard Squad
The news the past couple of days has been filled with security, or lack thereof, as the case may be. Really, it has surrounded DDoS attacks launched against gaming networks. Both Sony and Microsoft experienced outages beginning Christmas day. The attacks have been credited to hacking group Lizard Squad.
According to security researcher Brian Krebs, the group has done a poor job hiding its members' identities. "While most of the group’s acolytes are known to U.S. enforcement investigators, many are minors, and the sad truth is that federal prosecutors don't really know what to do with underage felons except to turn them into informants".
Lizard Squad attacks Tor network, ignoring warning from Anonymous
Lizard Squad, the group believed to be behind the Christmas DDoS attacks on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network now has a new target -- Tor. Just a week ago, the leader of the Tor Project, Roger Dingledine, warned that the anonymizing network could come under attack, and now it seems as though his prediction was correct.
War has already been declared on Lizard Squad by Anonymous, but this does not seem to have been enough to deter the group from its attacks. Reports suggest that more than 3,000 Tor relays have been compromised, and there are fears that this could impact the anonymity Tor was designed to offer.
Anonymous declares war on Lizard Squad after DDoS attacks on game networks
Hacker outfit Lizard Squad was seemingly responsible for the misery of thousands of gamers this Christmas after a series of DDoS attacks were launched on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. Mega's Kim Dotcom stepped into the breach and was seemingly -- temporarily -- successful in negotiating with the group and getting them to stop the attacks.
While the gaming networks appear to have come back online for some, this is not enough for Anonymous -- yes, that Anonymous. The international activist group has declared war on Lizard Squad, saying that the hackers have "made an enemy" and warning that "now you are all going down".
A simple fix could have prevented the JPMorgan mega-breach
JPMorgan Chase could have avoided one of the most damaging cyber attacks in history with a simple security fix.
The bank, which was struck in late August, revealed in October that the attackers had made off with the data of 76 million households and 7 million small businesses. The scandal was reported to have started with just one compromised password.
1980s technology can be used to hack any smartphone
German researchers have discovered that technology from the 1980s can be used by hackers anywhere in the world to spy on your phone calls and text messages.
The Signaling System 7 (SS7) network, which is still in use today, could allow hackers using an African or Asian network, for example, to hack into a US or UK-based mobile.
Sorry Apple fans, your precious Macs are at risk -- beware of Thunderbolt-injected rootkits
Apple makes really great products; Mac computers included. I respect the closed garden and restrictive hardware from a quality perspective, but I take umbrage with the high prices and questionable business practices. While OS X may look pretty from the outside looking in, after playing with it for long periods of time, it becomes apparent that all which glitters is not gold. My interest in Apple's operating system was very short-lived, as Microsoft's Windows is just a superior product.
Apple promoters are quick to point out the safety and security of Macs, as Apple is less likely to be targeted by malicious software and contains fewer vulnerabilities. As the smart people know, however, OS X is only "safer", as it has a far smaller install base. In other words, because of its lack of popularity, bad guys pay less attention -- its increased safety and security is a myth. I hate to break it to you Apple fans, but it turns out your precious Macs are currently at risk. Comically, this vulnerability is found in Thunderbolt -- you know, that wildly unpopular standard that Apple seems to love, but its accessories are too costly for many users. True, some Windows machines have Thunderbolt, but it is mostly an Apple affair, and now the fruit-logo company's computers are vulnerable because of its method of implementation.
Apple's year-end is about security
When it comes to security, Apple can and should do better. It is one of the biggest offenders, after all, making quite a few serious mistakes in this area. One of its most-important services, namely iCloud, has been instrumental in this year's celebrity photo leaks scandal, better known as The Fappening. And, more recently, a weakness in its OS X deployment software for iOS apps has exposed hundreds of thousands of iPads and iPhones to the WireLurker malware. And these are just two examples. Unsurprisingly, as the year draws to an end, security remains a talking point in Apple's case.
Let's start with the good news, first. Apple has pushed an update for OS X 10.10 Yosemite, 10.9.5 Mavericks, and 10.8.5 Mountain Lion, seemingly for the first time, to quickly fix a critical vulnerability discovered in NTP (Network Time Protocol), a protocol which is widely used to synchronize device clocks with dedicated servers. Normally, OS X updates are not applied automatically, but this one is apparently so critical that it is.
North Korea's internet disrupted -- is this the start of a cyber war?
North Korea experienced a complete internet outage for several hours last night before links were restored early this morning.
With the North Koreans at the center of the political storm over the Sony hack could this be some form of revenge attack?
BlackBerry works with Boeing on secure, self-destructing smartphone
BlackBerry and Boeing are working together on a new super-secure smartphone. The announcement came at an earnings call at which BlackBerry CEO, John Chen, revealed scant details about the collaboration. What we do know is that the partnership is designed to create a secure device that can be used by US defense and homeland security workers.
Everybody's paranoid nowadays, but the defense sector is one that has a particular need for security. Boomberg reports that the phone is known as the Boeing Black, and it runs on top of BES -- a platform already known and trusted by many enterprise customers.
Only half of companies take DDoS seriously
DDoS attacks can have a serious effect on businesses, yet according to a new survey by Kaspersky Lab and B2B International only 50 percent of companies regard countering DDoS attacks as an essential part of their IT security.
This is despite the fact that the average cost of a DDoS attack to small and medium businesses is put at $52,000. For larger companies the average is $444,000.
Detect and remove unknown malware with Ultimate Virus Sniffer
If you run, download or otherwise access malware, then your regular antivirus software should normally detect the threat, step in and remove it for you, entirely automatically.
Brand new threats might bypass this layer of protection, though, infecting your system. Getting rid of them will then be extremely difficult, but if you’re a Windows expert, and armed with a copy of Ultimate Virus Sniffer, there just might be a chance.
Tor network could be attacked and knocked offline this week
Roger Dingledine, leader of the Tor Project, has warned it could be the subject of an attack this week. In a blog post, he cautioned users that the project had learned that directory authorities might be seized in an attempt to incapacitate the network. Dingledine does not hint at who might be responsible for a future attack, but reassured users that anonymity would be maintained.
Directory authorities are used by Tor clients to help route traffic through the network, ensuring that users remains anonymous at each stage. An attack on directory authorities would probably have little effect to start with, but there is potential to take down the network if enough servers were targeted.
How your data will be at risk in 2015
The world of information security is, as we know, a constant arms race between the hackers and cyber criminals and the protection industry.
Since the focus has turned to making money rather than simply causing disruption it's become big business too. 2014's string of retail and other security breaches is testament to this.
Employees are the biggest security risk in the cloud
Staff members present the biggest security risk to a company, and the most likely weak point when it comes to data in the cloud.
According to the recent State of SMB Cybersecurity report from CloudEntr, which took in the opinions of 438 IT pros across 20+ different industries, 77 percent said that staff members are the weakest link in their security infrastructure, and a liability when it comes to cloud usage.
Who's afraid of the big bad bot?
Web security specialist Incapsula has released its 2014 annual Bot Study which reveals that 56 percent of website traffic is accounted for by bots.
That's down from 61.5 percent on last year's study, however the number of 'bad' bots posing as humans has increased significantly.
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