Got an iPhone? There's an App for Hacking That
New attacks highlight the growing threat to smart phones.Over the past few years, researchers have warned that viruses and other security threats could soon start appearing on mobile devices. The buzz...
View ArticleWorldwide Cyber Espionage Revealed
The attacks are evidence of a growing political motivation among hackers.Details of a highly organized, sustained campaign of computerized attacks against businesses and governments across 14 countries...
View ArticleBlack Hat: Legal Pitfalls of Investigating Mobile
Researchers studying mobile devices often find themselves on shaky ground.Hackers today are testing mobile devices ever more strenuously, but the work often stands on shaky legal ground, according to...
View ArticleWhen Social Media Mining Gets It Wrong
Big problems could be ahead if we rely on conclusions drawn from individuals’ social-networking data.A complex picture of your personal life can now be pieced together using a variety of public data...
View ArticleFighting Hackers without Sinking to Their Level
At this year’s Black Hat hacker conference in Las Vegas, attention turns from defense to offense.With cyber attacks that steal valuable intellectual property on the rise, companies need to consider...
View ArticleMobile Payment Chips Could Let Hackers into Your Phone
Near-field communication chips may let smartphones replace cash and credit cards—but they could also offer opportunities to hackers.In a packed room at the Black Hat computer security conference in Las...
View ArticleGPS Weakness Could Enable Mass Smartphone Hacking
A malicious Wi-Fi network could command devices to report future movements—and perhaps snoop on private data.Weaknesses in the technology that allows smartphone users to pinpoint themselves on a map,...
View ArticleGoogle Approves an App that Steals All Your Data
The automated system designed to keep malware out of Google’s app store proves easy to evade.Google’s automated “Bouncer” for apps, which should prevent harmful mobile software from appearing in the...
View ArticleNew Web Standards Bring New Security Worries
HTML5, which enables Web pages to mimic conventional software, also introduces new security problems.A suite of tools known collectively as HTML5 is tipped to make websites as complex and powerful as...
View ArticleHey, Hackers: Defense Is Sexy, Too
Is the computer security community so obsessed with demonstrating scary new attacks that it has neglected to improve defenses?Pleasing the crowd at the Black Hat and Def Con computer security...
View ArticleNSA Chief Says U.S. Phone, Web Surveillance Sets “Standard for Other Countries”
There are tight controls on the NSA’s access to U.S. phone records and data from U.S. Internet companies, the agency’s director says.The National Security Agency’s collection of phone records and...
View ArticleHacking Industrial Systems Turns Out to Be Easy
New research from Black Hat shows it’s possible to trick water and energy infrastructure to cause physical damage—and securing these systems remains painfully slow.Three presentations scheduled to take...
View ArticleWeb Ads Used to Launch Online Attacks
Researchers show how easy it is to hide code in online ads that can turn people into an online attack squad.Online advertising networks could be used to enlist millions of unsuspecting Web surfers in...
View ArticleMath Advances Raise the Prospect of an Internet Security Crisis
Academic advances suggest that the encryption systems that secure online communications could be undermined in just a few years.The encryption systems used to secure online bank accounts and keep...
View ArticleChinese Hacking Team Caught Taking Over Decoy Water Plant
A hacking group accused of being operated by the Chinese army now seems to be going after industrial control systems.A Chinese hacking group accused this February of being tied to the Chinese army was...
View ArticleBlack Hat: Most Smartphones Come with a Poorly Secured Back Door
A system designed to let carriers remotely install software on phones, or change their settings without a user noticing, is open to abuse.A powerful remote-control system installed on most smartphones...
View ArticleBlack Hat: Google Glass Can Steal Your Passcodes
Footage of people unlocking their phones can be used to steal mobile passcodes even if the typing can’t be seen.Criticism of Google Glass has often focused on the way its camera makes surreptitious...
View ArticleBlack Hat: Car Security Is Likely to Worsen, Researchers Say
In-car applications and wireless connectivity are a boon to hackers who take aim at cars.As more cars come with wireless connectivity and in-car apps, more of them will be vulnerable to potentially...
View ArticleMalware Traffic Spikes Preceded Russian and Israeli Conflicts
Government hackers apparently went to work as Israel and Russia ramped up military action this year.A study of malware operating on corporate and government networks suggests that the communication...
View ArticleBlack Hat: More Internet-Scale Bugs Are Likely Lurking
A survey of software libraries used in many companies’ products suggests we may see more incidents like the Heartbleed bug.For a few days in April, the whole world seemed to take Internet security very...
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