Michael Mimoso

Brazen Crimeware Marketing Branches Out to Social Networks

The secrecy of underground forums where financial malware and crimeware kits are traded is well guarded, to the point that few are able to penetrate them without some kind of internal sponsor. Here, criminals value their privacy as much as those from whom they steal. That’s what makes a recent discovery from RSA Security’s FraudAction […]

Vulnerability in Viber for Android Enables Lock Screen Bypass

Another day, another smartphone lock screen bypass vulnerability. This time a flaw in a popular messaging application for the Android mobile platform is to blame. Viber, which is similar to Skype in that it allows users to make free phone calls and send instant messages, is vulnerable to a flaw that could allow an attacker […]

Does Java 8 Delay Mean Oracle Finally Serious about Security?

It’s not quite the development freeze Microsoft underwent during the Trustworthy Computing push, but it’s a start for Oracle, which will delay the release of Java 8 until Q1 of next year, largely because the platform and browser plug-in is such a security disaster. This year has done nothing but reinforce that notion. Start where […]


Serial port servers are admittedly old school technology that you might think had been phased out as new IT, SCADA and industrial control system equipment has been phased in. Metasploit creator HD Moore cautions you to think again. Moore recently revealed that through his Critical IO project research, he discovered 114,000 such devices connected to […]

Optimism and praise followed last week’s Java critical patch update. Oracle not only patched 42 vulnerabilities in the Java browser plug-in, but also added new code-signing restrictions and new prompts warning users when applets are potentially malicious. It took less than a week, however, to deflate any good will toward Java that resulted.

Targeted cyberespionage attacks have dominated discussions within the security community and outside of it from the mainstream media to the halls of the executive and legislative branches of government.  But until now, discussions about attacks stemming from China that target intellectual property from engineering, manufacturing and military interests in the United States, have been anecdotal […]

Thousands of U.K. business computers have been infected by espionage malware using a custom protocol to communicate with its command and control servers. Researchers at Israeli security company Seculert added that the malware is still percolating with a number of capabilities yet to be deployed. The custom protocol has another unique element to it, in […]

The next shoe has fallen in an effort to force wireless carriers and handset makers to provide regular security updates to Android mobile devices. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint this week with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission accusing four leading carriers of deceptive business practices and knowingly selling defective phones to consumers […]