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IE Under Attack! Microsoft Releases Emergency Out-of-Band Patch

If Microsoft calls a vulnerability "critical," warns that it affects all versions of Windows, and is prepared to issue a patch outside of its normal Patch Tuesday monthly schedule, you should sit up and listen. Today, Microsoft has issued an advisory about a zero-day vulnerability, dubbed CVE-2015-2502, that could allow an attacker to hijack control...
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Security, Reverse Engineering and EULAs

Like more than a few others, I experienced the infosec outrage against Mary Ann Davidson, Oracle's Chief Security Officer, before I actually read the now-redacted blog post. After taking the time to read what she actually wrote (still available through Google's web cache), I think there’s more discussion to be had than I’ve seen so far. First, it...
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XSS flaw put Salesforce accounts at risk of hijacking

Security researchers have found a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability on the Salesforce website, that could be exploited by malicious hackers to conduct phishing attacks and hijack the accounts of users. The researchers at Elastica report that they uncovered the weakness on one of Salesforce's subdomains, admin.salesforce.com. Specifically, the...
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The Problem with Know-It-All Security

I am not one for quotes and ‘Facebook philosophy’ memes but recently, I was reminded of my favourite quote on a certain social media platform: “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates The pursuit of education can convert a criminal into a solicitor; it can envelop minds and...
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VERT Threat Alert: August 2015 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Today’s VERT Alert addresses 14 new Microsoft Security Bulletins. VERT is actively working on coverage for these bulletins in order to meet our 24-hour SLA and expects to ship ASPL-628 on Wednesday, August 12th. MS15-079 Multiple Memory Corruption Vulnerabilities MULTIPLE Multiple ASLR Bypass Vulnerabilities ...
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Zero-Day Deserialization Vulnerability Affects 55% of Android Devices

Security researchers have uncovered a zero-day deserialization vulnerability that allows for arbitrary code execution in 55% of Android devices. For their presentation at USENIX WOOT '15, researchers Or Peles and Roee Hay at IBM Security explain that their vulnerability (CVE-2015-3825) can be exploited in the context of many apps and can be used to...
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Black Hat USA 2015 Highlights

The 18th annual Black Hat USA conference gathered thousands of professionals, researchers and enthusiasts to discuss not only the industry’s current trends and threats but also what we, as a community, can do to improve the security of ourselves, and of those around us. With over 100 briefings to choose from, this year’s presentations discussed a...
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DEF CON 23 “How To Train Your RFID Hacking Tools” Preview

RFID is one of those ubiquitous technologies showing up everywhere from contactless payment cards to the neighborhood swimming pool. Some of these technologies offer appropriate security controls but many applications still use legacy technology that is easily subverted by an attacker. Back in 2013, data from HID Global indicated that 70-80% of...
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Why Do We Care About Zero Days?

A true zero day, such as the recent vulnerability affecting Apple’s DYLD_PRINT_TO_FILE variable that an adware installer is said to be exploiting in the wild, is called that because it comes without warning, because by the time you know about it, you have already been compromised. They're expensive; they are the domain of nation states and the most...
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Black Hat USA '15: What's In Store

Black Hat USA – one of the most anticipated security events of the year, and recently ranked among our top information security conferences – returns to Las Vegas this August for its 18th year. With an expected 9,000 attendees, this year's conference will offer over 100 briefings on the latest and most innovative security research from industry...
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Back Doors: Are You Prepared?

"Honey... Did you make sure you locked the basement door and activated the security system? I can't wait to get to the Big Rock Campground, the kids are going to love the waterslide..." Sound familiar? The majority of new homes today have some sort of physical security system protecting the property while the family is away, but are these security...
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Yahoo Bug Bounty Program Awards $1 Million to Security Researchers

Yahoo announced that it has paid security researchers one million dollars as part of its bug bounty program. According to a post written by Ramses Martinez, Senior Director and Interim CISO at Yahoo, the company's bug bounty program, which The State of Security named one of our 11 Essential Bug Bounty Programs in 2015, has shown significant growth...
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Apple Patches 'High' Input Validation Vulnerability in iTunes, App Store

Apple has patched an application-side input validation web vulnerability in iTunes and the App Store that allowed attackers to inject malicious code into user invoices. The vulnerability received a 'High' severity level and a CVSS rating of 5.8. It allows for session hijacking, persistent phishing attacks, and other malicious activities. Benjamin...
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Password Brute Force Attacks Threaten Millions of App Users

In September of 2014, private photos of a number of celebrities, including Kate Upton and Jennifer Lawrence, were leaked onto the image-based bulletin board 4chan. It was soon discovered that this leak occurred as a result of a brute force attack against Apple's iCloud, which until then had not limited the number of login attempts for each user...