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Mobile App Data Flaw Places Users' Information at Risk

Security researchers have discovered a flaw in the way mobile apps store data online, which is jeopardizing users' sensitive information, including passwords, door codes, and location data. According to Reuters, a team of German researchers studied as many as ten thousand mobile applications, which included social networking, medical, and banking...
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7 Development AppSec Tricks to Keep the Hackers Away – Part 1

The mammoth rise in cybercrime has made organizations revise their application security strategy and implement new techniques to safeguard their software. This is largely because traditional security methodologies, such as Manual Testing and Web Application Firewalls (WAF), have been rendered irrelevant due to evolving hacking techniques. Unlike old...
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Taking a Look at the Real British Social Engineers

I have a love/hate affair with the term ‘Social Engineer.’ To me, this is the most professional and committed ‘job’ I have ever had. It has required training and endless education, and it has changed my life in nearly every aspect. But for some, the term is used for when a free warranty deal is obtained or a loved one is tricked into exposing a...
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Could Emoji Passcodes be Safer for Online Bank Users?

What more can be done about passwords? We tell users to choose unique, complicated passwords that contain a gallimaufry of bizarre characters - and they tell us they're impossible to remember, especially when they need to remember different passwords for the many different websites out there. We tell computer users to get help with remembering their...
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Belgium's Privacy Commission Sues Facebook

Belgian's national privacy watchdog is suing Facebook for allegedly breaching both Belgian and European privacy laws for the way that it tracks the behavior of both members and non-members. According to EUobserver, this is the first time a European privacy commission has sued Facebook for its non-compliance with regards to privacy laws. Earlier this...
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DD4BC Group Targets Companies with Ransom-Driven DDoS Attacks

According to the 2015 Information Security Breaches Survey, a PwC study that I recently analyzed in an article for The State of Security, the number of denial of service (DoS) attacks has either dropped or remained stagnant for most UK corporations over the past year. Apparently, this decline has not stopped certain malicious actors from getting...
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Germany Drops Merkel NSA Phone Tapping Probe

Germany has dropped an investigative probe into the alleged tapping of Angela Merkel's cellphone by the National Security Agency (NSA). According to BBC News, the office of federal prosecutor Harold Range said that not enough evidence had been obtained to justify legal action. Germany's decision to drop the probe marks the end of an incident that...
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Data Location and Risk Haunt IT Pros' Dreams, Reveals Study

Today’s evolving online threat landscape is challenging enterprises to make changes that will enhance their security. The threat of a data breach, for instance, is leading many organizations to invest in measures that will help protect their data. Even so, what intelligence is guiding these decisions remains uncertain. It is therefore an opportune...
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UK Surveillance Powers Need 'Clean Slate,' Says Reviewer

An independent reviewer in the United Kingdom has called for a new "comprehensive" law to help define security services' online surveillance powers. According to BBC News, David Anderson QC, an independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, stated that a "clean slate" is needed in the approach to surveillance powers used by security services to...
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Why It’s Not Too Soon to Learn From The OPM Hack

Speculation is rife. The OPM hack will become a fascinating story if we ever actually learn the details – how exactly did attackers penetrate and exfiltrate millions of federal employee records? What weaknesses did they exploit, and how did they escalate access? More to the point, what protections could have or should have prevented the penetration...
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iOS Mail bug makes it easy to steal victims' passwords

I would wager that most people who have an iPhone or iPad use the default Apple iOS Mail application, rather than a third-party app, to read their email. And if you're one of those people, you could be at risk from an unpatched vulnerability that could allow hackers to convincingly trick you into handing them your passwords. As The Register...
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VERT Threat Alert: June 2015 Patch Tuesday Analysis

Today’s VERT Alert addresses 8 new Microsoft Security Bulletins. VERT is actively working on coverage for these bulletins in order to meet our 24-hour SLA and expect to ship ASPL-618 on Wednesday, June 10th. MS15-056 Internet Explorer Information Disclosure Vulnerability CVE-2015-1765 Multiple Elevation of...
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Ransomware Nearly Doubled in Q1 2015, Reports McAfee Labs

According to a report issued by Intel Security Group's McAfee Labs, ransomware has experienced a 165% increase in the first quarter of 2015. McAfee Labs Threats Report: May 2015 reveals that this increase has been fueled in part by the impression of underground criminals that victims in rich countries seem to be the most willing to make ransom...
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MalumPoS Malware Targeting the Hospitality and Retail Industries

A security firm has identified MalumPoS, a new type of point-of-sale (PoS) malware that is targeting businesses in the hospitality, food and beverage, and retail industries. According to a blog post published by global security software company Trend Micro, the authors of MalumPoS designed the malware to collect data from PoS systems running Oracle®...