Wireless networks with open access points have become ubiquitous in the last few years as users have come to expect easy Internet access wherever they are. But as access has become more widely available the security of wireless networks has not come close to keeping pace, and as two talks at next Week’s Black Hat conference will show, some of the same issues that have haunted wireless networks for nearly a decade are still around.
A zero-day flaw being used in targeted attacks
against organizations worldwide has
security experts worried that the threat could spread further. Concerns
about additional attacks using the “LNK” vulnerability in
Windows machines prompted the SANS
Internet Storm Center today to raise its Infocon alert level to
“yellow,” up from “green,” or normal, status.
Read the full article. [Dark Reading]
The next major version of Adobe’s PDF Reader will feature new sandboxing technology aimed at curbing a surge in malicious hacker attacks against the widely deployed software.The security feature, called “Protected Mode,” is similar to the Google Chrome sandbox and Microsoft Office 2010 Protected Viewing Mode, according to Adobe’s security chief Brad Arkin.
The Stuxnet saga is continuing to take new and troubling turns. Researchers now have found a new binary file associated with the Stuxnet malware that is signed using the digital certificate of another Taiwanese hardware manufacturer, JMicron Technology Corp.
Apple has shipped a critical iTunes update to fix a security vulnerability that exposes Windows users to malicious hacker attacks.The latest iTunes 9.2.1 is available for Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Millions of household routers are susceptible to a flaw that creates a
handy means for hackers to hijack surfing sessions or hack into home
networks. Read the full article. [The Register]
By Ivan ArceIn the early years of Core Security Technologies, the company not only offered security consulting services, but often was sub-contracted to do R+D for several security vendors. The first and most intellectually rewarding of such contracts came from Secure Networks Inc. (SNI), a Canadian start-up that was developing a network vulnerability scanner named Ballista Network Auditing System. Our contract work for SNI, plus a couple of local security consulting contracts, were largely responsible for the financial viability of Core in its early days and for that I will be always thankful to the SNI team.
The digital certificate that belonging to Realtek Semiconductor that was used to sign a pair of drivers fro the new Stuxnet rootkit has been revoked by VeriSign. The certificate was revoked Friday, several days after news broke about the existence of the new malware and the troubling existence of the signed drivers.
A currently spamvertised malware campaign is brand-jacking Amazon.com,
in an attempt to trick end users into visiting a client-side exploits
serving URL. Read the full article. [ZDNet]
The old saying that there’s nothing new under the sun is just as true in the security industry as it is anywhere else. Many new attacks are variants or tweaks of existing ones, new software fails in exactly the same way as old software and new technologies crop up to solve problems that are 30 years old. You can add to that list the sad frequency with which interesting talks at security conferences are having to be canceled because someone doesn’t like the content. This week saw yet another talk pulled from Black Hat, a major cybersecurity meeting in Washington, a rootkit with digitally signed drivers and some new tactics by spammers. Read on for the full week in review.
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