A set of flaws in a widely used network communication protocol that could affect millions of devices has been revealed by Forescout Research Labs and JSOF Research. The nine vulnerabilities discovered by security researchers dramatically increase the attack surface of at least 100 million Internet of Things devices, exposing them to potential attacks that could take the devices offline or to be hijacked by threat actors.
);
//]]>// >By John P. Mello Jr.
Mar 17, 2021 4:00 AM PT
A new social media platform based on voice messaging launched Monday.
Called Swell, free apps for the platform can be found in Apple s App Store and in Google Play.
According to the developers of Swell, it s the first social platform to focus exclusively on asynchronous audio conversations, where audio clips up to five minutes in length can be posted to the site.
Any Swell member can host a conversation and has control over who may participate in it, as well as make posts.
Pictures and links can also be posted to conversations, but they must be accompanied with a voice message.
As cryptocurrency values continue to rise, cryptojacking becomes more attractive to cybercriminals. Now, a powerful hardware-based threat detection technology is being integrated into a Microsoft enterprise security product to help protect businesses from cryptojacking malware. The action integrates Intel Threat Detection Technology with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint.
);
//]]>// >By John P. Mello Jr.
Apr 27, 2021 4:00 AM PT
The notorious Emotet botnet software began uninstalling itself from some one million computers Sunday.
According to SecurityWeek, the uninstall command was part of an update sent to the infected computers by law enforcement servers in the Netherlands after Emotet s infrastructure was compromised in January during a multinational operation mounted by eight nations.
The poisoned upgrade cleans the Windows registry key that enables the botnet s modules to run automatically, as well as stop and delete associated services. The threat posed by Emotet was already neutralized by the takeover of its entire network infrastructure by law enforcement last January, explained Jean-Ian Boutin, head of threat research at Eset, an information technology security company based in Bratislava in the Slovak Republic.
);
//]]>// >By John P. Mello Jr.
Mar 31, 2021 4:00 AM PT
Online businesses are losing potential customers and substantial amounts of revenue because they re dependent on traditional password systems and outdated customer authentication models, says a report released Tuesday by an access and identity management company.
Lost customers and revenues are caused by password sharing and friction created at websites by onerous authentication procedures, according to the report by Transmit Security derived from a survey of 600 U.S-based consumers 18 to 54 years old.
The survey found that half of the responding consumers admitted sharing a password to at least one of their accounts; and 41 percent acknowledged they share their passwords often.