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Archive for the ‘cybercrime/malcode’ category: Page 162

Sep 2, 2019

Police hijack a botnet and remotely kill 850,000 malware infections

Posted by in categories: cryptocurrencies, cybercrime/malcode

In a rare feat, French police have hijacked and neutralized a massive cryptocurrency mining botnet controlling close to a million infected computers.

The notorious Retadup malware infects computers and starts mining cryptocurrency by sapping power from a computer’s processor. Although the malware was used to generate money, the malware operators easily could have run other malicious code, like spyware or ransomware. The malware also has wormable properties, allowing it to spread from computer to computer.

Since its first appearance, the cryptocurrency mining malware has spread across the world, including the U.S., Russia, and Central and South America.

Aug 30, 2019

Mysterious iOS Attack Changes Everything We Know About iPhone Hacking

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, mobile phones

Hacking the iPhone has long been considered a rarified endeavor, undertaken by sophisticated nation-states against only their most high-value targets. But a discovery by a group of Google researchers has turned that notion on its head: For two years, someone has been exploiting a rich collection of iPhone vulnerabilities with anything but restraint or careful targeting. And they’ve indiscriminately hacked thousands of iPhones just by getting them to visit a website.

Aug 28, 2019

Cybercrime: Ransomware attacks have more than doubled this year

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

Ransomware attacks have more than doubled this year, as criminals turn to powerful new forms of file-locking malware and additional attack techniques to conduct campaigns that are more lucrative than ever before.

Aug 27, 2019

OpenAI Said Its Code Was Risky. Two Grads Re-Created It Anyway

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, Elon Musk, internet

In February, an artificial intelligence lab cofounded by Elon Musk informed the world that its latest breakthrough was too risky to release to the public. OpenAI claimed it had made language software so fluent at generating text that it might be adapted to crank out fake news or spam.

On Thursday, two recent master’s graduates in computer science released what they say is a re-creation of OpenAI’s withheld software onto the internet for anyone to download and use.

Aaron Gokaslan, 23, and Vanya Cohen, 24, say they aren’t out to cause havoc and don’t believe such software poses much risk to society yet. The pair say their release was intended to show that you don’t have to be an elite lab rich in dollars and PhDs to create this kind of software: They used an estimated $50,000 worth of free cloud computing from Google, which hands out credits to academic institutions. And they argue that setting their creation free can help others explore and prepare for future advances—good or bad.

Aug 27, 2019

IRS Impersonation Attacks Spread Malware Nationwide

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, finance

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is warning taxpayers about a snowballing email attack that uses messages pretending to be legitimate IRS communications. The end game for the effort is malware being installed on unsuspecting users’ machines; imposters may gain control of the taxpayer’s computer or secretly download software that tracks every keystroke, eventually giving them passwords to sensitive accounts, such as financial accounts.

The gambit starts with messages to taxpayers from email addresses that spoof legitimate IRS addresses. The emails contain a link to a spoofed IRS.gov website that displays fake details about the targeted recipient’s tax refund, return or account.

The fake emails have subject lines like “Automatic Income Tax Reminder” or “Electronic Tax Return Reminder.” They claim to contain a “temporary password” or “one-time password” to access the files purportedly needed to submit a request for a refund or for information. However, those files are actually just malware in disguise.

Aug 26, 2019

Could Lasers Be The Future Of Anti-Missile Weapons?

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, particle physics

A new type of device could be made to hack enemy missiles in flight to disarm them or guide them away. With a neutrino hacking laser you could essentially hack any missile from almost anywhere.

Aug 24, 2019

Ransomware Attacks Are Testing Resolve of Cities Across America

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

As hackers lock up networks that power police forces and utilities, municipalities must operate with hobbled computer systems, and decide whether to pay ransoms.

Aug 17, 2019

Microsoft Discovers ‘Critical’ Windows 10 Vulnerabilities Affecting 800M

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, futurism

In a recent Security Response Center update from Microsoft, the company detailed the discovery of two “critical” Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerabilities.

The vulnerabilities are “wormable”, meaning that any future malware that exploits these could jump from computer to computer without any need for users sending it across.

RELATED: MICROSOFT JOINS APPLE, AMAZON AS $1 TRILLION COMPANY

Aug 15, 2019

Security Researchers Show Hackers Can Take Over Some Cameras With Ransomware

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, internet

A group of security researchers has found that some cameras are vulnerable to ransomware attacks via Wi-Fi or hijacked computers (using the USB connection) that can render a camera and its photos entirely usage until a sum of money is paid to the hackers.

Check Point Software Technologies has shown (as seen in the video above) that Canon DSLRs (it’s not clear if other cameras are also affected) are susceptible to ransomware attacks, an increasingly common exploitation in which a hacker disables a device until the owner pays a ransom to regain control. As more and more electronics gain internet connectivity, these attacks are becoming more common, particularly since manufacturers typically don’t put the same sort of effort into fortifying the network security of small electronics as they do into computers. Canon released a statement in which they offered some barebones tips to avoid being susceptible to these attacks and noted that there have been no known instances of such an attack occurring. They did not indicate whether they plan to fix the vulnerabilities through firmware updates, so it probably doesn’t hurt to be a bit more careful to protect your photos.

Aug 14, 2019

Carnegie Mellon team flexes hacking prowess with fifth DefCon title in seven years

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

PITTSBURGH, Aug. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Carnegie Mellon University’s competitive hacking team, the Plaid Parliament of Pwning (PPP), just won its fifth hacking world championship in seven years at this year’s DefCon security conference, widely considered the “World Cup” of hacking. The championship, played in the form of a virtual game of “capture the flag,” was held August 8–11 in Las Vegas.

PPP now holds two more DefCon titles than any other team in the 23-year history of DefCon hosting the competition.

“If you’re wondering who the best and brightest security experts in the world are, look no further than the capture the flag room at DefCon,” says David Brumley, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon, and the faculty advisor to the team.