Tag Archives: Security

Fraud from stolen bank cards highest since 2006

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“Consumers are being warned about a series of bank card scams, after fraud from stolen cards rose to its highest level in eight years.  Cards that were lost or stolen in the UK resulted in losses of £58.9m last year, the largest figure since 2006.  Losses from all types of card fraud rose by 16% in 2013, to £450m.  The UK Cards Association, which produced the figures, highlighted ‘distraction’ thefts of cards as a particular problem.  It warned that consumers are frequently being targeted while using their cards in shops or bars, or at cash points.  Typically they will have a bit of paper thrust in front of them, asking for directions. While they are distracted, the criminal will steal their card.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26576479

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How to Keep the NSA From Spying Through Your Webcam

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“You already know that laptops, desktop computers, tablets and mobile phones are all at risk of being hacked. But did you know that intruders might use the built-in camera to take surreptitious pictures and videos of you and your surroundings or hijack your microphone to eavesdrop on conversations?  The latest story from the Edward Snowden leaks yesterday drives home that the NSA and its spy partners possess specialized tools for doing exactly that. NSA uses a plug-in called GUMFISH to take over cameras on infected machines and snap photos.  Another NSA plug-in called CAPTIVATEDAUDIENCE hijacks the microphone on targeted computers to record conversations.”

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2014/03/webcams-mics/

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Google is encrypting search globally, against NSA and China’s censors.

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“Google has begun routinely encrypting Web searches conducted in China, posing a bold new challenge to that nation’s powerful system for censoring the Internet and tracking what individual users are viewing online.  The company says the move is part of a global expansion of privacy technology designed to thwart surveillance by government intelligence agencies, police and hackers who, with widely available tools, can view e-mails, search queries and video chats when that content is unprotected.  The development is the latest consequence of Edward Snowden’s release last year of NSA documents detailing the extent of government surveillance of the Internet.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/03/12/google-is-encrypting-search-worldwide-thats-bad-for-the-nsa-and-china/

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NSA posed as Facebook to infect computers with malware: report

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“The National Security Agency has reportedly used automated systems to infect user computers with malware since 2010, according to a Wednesday report. And at times the agency pretended to be Facebook to install its malware. The NSA has been using a program codenamed TURBINE to contaminate computers and networks with malware ‘implants’ capable of spying on users, according to the Intercept, which cited documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. Between 85,000 and 100,000 of these implants have been deployed worldwide thus far, the report said.”

http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-nsa-posing-facebook-malware-20140312,0,3491724.story

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Xapo Raises $20 Million To Bury Your Bitcoin Underground

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“The company, founded by Wences Casares, raised $20 million from Benchmark Capital and Fortress Investment Group LLC, among others, and has been in stealth mode for two years managing bitcoins for large institutional clients – think investment banks and financial firms. Now they’re opening their service up to consumers.  ‘If you have one or a couple rogue employees there’s not anything they can do to take the coins out of our vault,’ said Wences. ‘The coins that are in the vault are on servers that are never online — have never been online.’  The private keys are under armed guard and behind layers of physical security in deep storage spaces around the world.”

http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/13/xapo-raises-20-million-to-bury-your-bitcoin-underground/

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Ron Paul: Feds shouldn’t ‘interfere’ with bitcoin

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“As concerns mount about the future of bitcoin, Ron Paul said Tuesday that the government should not regulate virtual currencies, even as a major exchange collapsed this week, costing traders hundreds of millions of dollars.  Paul believes bitcoin could create positive competition with government currencies, such as the dollar, he said.  The collapse of Mt. Gox may give new momentum to efforts in Washington to regulate bitcoin. But Paul disagrees with calls to regulate bitcoin and its exchanges, as long as the service operates within the law and is not fraudulent.  Paul said there’s no need to regulate bitcoin, because the markets will. ‘I think the market is much tougher,’ he said.”

http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/199214-ron-paul-feds-shouldnt-interfere-with-bitcoin

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Bitcoin owners find safe place for digital currency: on paper

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“Some savvy bitcoin investors have a solution to cyber-thieves and instability shaking online exchanges: they print out their virtual savings and hide them in the real world.  Touted by advocates as a new, digital type of money that could one day replace real-world cash, bitcoins can also be stored like traditional currencies, locked up in a safe, or hidden in a shoe box.  Every virtual wallets used to hold bitcoins has a unique, private number. Recording that number on a piece of paper or a thumb drive, for instance, keeps a wallet’s contents out of reach of anyone online, criminal or not.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/28/us-bitcoin-mattress-idUSBREA1R00P20140228

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Extremely critical crypto flaw in iOS may also affect fully patched Macs

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“A critical iOS vulnerability that Apple patched on Friday gives attackers an easy way to surreptitiously circumvent the most widely used technology for preventing eavesdropping on the Internet. That made the security bug about as dire as one can be. Now, there’s strong evidence that the same flaw also exposes sensitive e-mail and Web communications on fully patched versions of OS X, with no indication that there is a patch currently available for the millions of people who use the Mac operating system. Confirmed in iOS versions 6.1.5, 7.0.4, and 7.0.5, and OS X 10.9.0 and 10.9.1, it has silently exposed the sensitive communications of millions of people for weeks or months.”

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/02/extremely-critical-crypto-flaw-in-ios-may-also-affect-fully-patched-macs/

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New iOS flaw makes devices susceptible to covert keylogging

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“Researchers said they have identified a flaw in Apple’s iOS that makes it possible for attackers to surreptitiously log every touch a user makes, including characters typed into the keyboard, TouchID presses, and adjustments to the volume control.  The vulnerability affects even non-jailbroken iPhones and iPads running iOS versions 7.0.4, 7.0.5, and 7.0.6, as well as those running on 6.1.x, researchers from security firm FireEye wrote in a blog post published Monday night. They said attackers could carry out the covert monitoring using an app that bypasses Apple’s stringent app review process. The app uses multitasking capabilities built into iOS to capture user inputs.”

http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/02/new-ios-flaw-makes-devices-susceptible-to-covert-keylogging-researchers-say/

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Researchers bypass protections in Microsoft anti-exploitation tool

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“Security researchers managed to bypass the protections offered by Microsoft’s EMET (Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit), a utility designed to detect and block software exploits, and concluded that the tool would not be effective against determined attackers.  EMET can be used to apply 12 different security mitigations to other programs running on the computer. These mitigations are designed to block common techniques used in software exploits, like ROP (Return Oriented Programming). Researchers from Bromium investigated the protections offered by EMET and found that all of them can be bypassed if the attacker is determined enough.”

http://www.infoworld.com/d/security/researchers-bypass-protections-in-microsofts-emet-anti-exploitation-tool-237118

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