Dennis Fisher

A long list of industrial-control modules manufactured by Schneider Electric and used to control operations at various industrial facilities contain multiple weaknesses and vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to modify the firmware, login remotely and run arbitrary code on the vulnerable components. Security researcher Ruben Santamarta discovered and disclosed the problems and the ICS-CERT is warning users about the issue, as well.

Microsoft on Tuesday released 13 security bulletins, including three for critical flaws in Windows Media and in the Windows kernel-mode drivers. The company had planned on releasing 14 bulletins in December’s Patch Tuesday shipment, but officials said that one of the planned fixes was causing a compatibility problem with a third-party vendor’s products and is being held until that issue is remedied.

Google has fixed 15 security vulnerabilities in its Chrome browser, including six high-risk bugs. As part of its reward program, Google paid out $6,000 in rewards to researchers who reported flaws.

Carrier IQ, the embattled software company at the center of the controversy over alleged data collection on mobile devices, has released a new document that details the ways in which carriers deploy the software, how it works on devices and what data it is capable of collecting. The company also admitted in the document that its software has a bug that, in some specific cases, could cause the application to collect the contents of SMS messages.

There has been another round of malicious apps discovered in the official Android Market, with this wave containing hidden functionality to send SMS messages to premium-rate numbers. The apps, which Google has pulled from the Market already, are counterfeit versions of popular games, including Angry Birds.

More evidence is beginning to emerge that the Adobe Reader zero-day bug revealed recently is being used in targeted attacks against companies and federal agencies. Researchers recently have come across fresh samples of malware exploiting the vulnerability by using files crafted to draw in employees of federal contractors and other related organizations.

Attackers have been going after various pieces of the DNS infrastructure for a long time now, and it’s not unusual for there to be somewhat organized campaigns that target certain vertical industries or geographic regions. But researchers lately have been seeing an interesting pattern of compromises in which attackers somehow add new names to existing domains and use those sub-domains to piggyback on the good reputation of the sites and push counterfeit goods, pills and other junk. And now they’re using the attack to push exploits via the Black Hole Exploit Kit.