Vulnerabilities

The Tor Project has released a new version of its client software to fix a serious vulnerability that allows an attacker to strip users of their anonymity on the network. The new version also includes a number of other security and privacy fixes.

A security researcher has discovered a vulnerability in Facebook’s messaging system that could allow an attacker to send executable attachments to anyone on the popular social network. The vulnerability is such that an attacker doesn’t necessarily need to be friends with the person to whom he sends the message.

With more and more victims of identity theft minted every day, figuring out if you’re one of the unlucky masses with a leaked email password is yeoman’s work. Now one security researcher is trying to make it easy with PwnedList.com, a Web site that collects leaked and stolen data, then tells Internet users whether their information is in it.

WASHINGTON–The U.S. government has a lot of money. Not as much as it used to have, of course, but still, it has a lot. It also has a lot of computers and servers and routers and other things that move and store data. In fact, they have so many that they don’t really know what all of them are doing at any given time. That’s turning into a fairly thorny security problem for some of the country’s more vital networks, and even the most well-funded agencies are having a hard time addressing it.

Barnaby Jack, famous for getting ATMs to disgorge an avalanche of cash on stage at the Black Hat Briefings, says he has developed an attack that could be used to deliver a lethal dose of insulin to diabetics using the embedded pumps.

A new analysis of the recently discovered Duqu Trojan raises questions about the origin of the malware and its links to the earlier Stuxnet worm.

WASHINGTON–One of the keys to addressing the widespread security threats facing both private and government networks is to develop more secure operating systems from the ground up and not rely on trying to secure existing ones, top CIA and Pentagon information assurance officials said.