Web Security

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.

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.

In the Google TechTalk, Justin Ma, a PhD candidate at UC San Diego, discusses a novel method for determining which URLs are malicious by applying large-scale online learning techniques.

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.

Bot herders and the crimeware gangs behind banker Trojans have had a lot of success in the last few years with using bulletproof hosting providers as their main base of operations. But more and more, they’re finding that social networks such as Twitter and Facebook are offering even more fertile and convenient grounds for controlling their malicious creations.