Vulnerabilities



With Wikileaks founder Julian Assange anxiously awaiting word from the government of Ecuador on his request for political asylum, a security researcher warns that the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is handling the Assange asylum request, is using a video conferencing system that is vulnerable to online snooping.

Users of the free, open source KeePass password manager got unwelcome news on Tuesday, after a private security researcher claimed to have discovered a remotely exploitable security hole that could give an attacker access to unencrypted user passwords. However, KeePass’s creator calls the hole minor, and unlikely to be used in an attack.

PayPal is the latest company to join the ranks of software vendors and Web properties that offer bounties to security researchers who privately disclose new bugs to them. The company isn’t saying how much it will pay for each bug, just that its security team will determine the severity of each flaw as well as the ultimate payout.