What's keeping security experts up at night?
Some of Europe’s top cybersecurity minds have revealed their fears about the future of technology -- with autonomous weapons at the top of their list.
At a panel entitled "the future of cyber security" at this week’s IP Expo event in London, the threat of self-aware AI that can write sophisticated malware and smart weaponry that could be hijacked by cybercriminals were highlighted as major concerns for the coming years.
EFF criticizes iOS 11's 'misleading' Bluetooth and Wi-Fi toggles for being a privacy and security risk
The strange, unintuitive way Bluetooth and Wi-Fi toggles work in iOS 11 has drawn ire from many quarters. The latest voice is that of digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) which says that the "off-ish" setting now offered is misleading.
As we have covered in a previous story, Apple has changed the behaviour of the two toggles so that when they are flicked to the off position, the Bluetooth and wireless radios are not actually switched off. EFF says that this is "bad for user security" and calls for greater clarity from Apple.
Google: By only patching Windows 10, Microsoft is putting Windows 7 and 8.x users in danger
We all know that Microsoft’s focus is on Windows 10. The software giant wants users to upgrade to its new operating system, and has regularly spoken about how that OS keeps users safe.
However, according to Google Project Zero researcher Mateusz Jurczyk, by focusing on patching Windows 10, and not applying the same fixes to Windows 7 and 8.x, Microsoft is actually putting users of those two older operating systems at risk.
Disqus hacked!
So, Disqus has been hacked. Yeah, it is what we at BetaNews -- plus many other websites -- use for commenting. Should you be worried? Probably not. You see, this hack happened all the way back in July of 2012. If you joined Disqus after that, you have nothing to worry about. Even if you are using the same login credentials from 5+ years ago, the hackers have only obtained hashed passwords. In other words, they probably haven't decrypted your password.
But OK, even though it is unlikely that your password has been exposed, Disqus is forcing a password reset for all impacted users. Heck, even if you signed up after the hack, it can't hurt to manually change your password, y'all. After all, Disqus didn't even discover the hack on its own, which is worrying. The company was alerted to the breach by the great security researcher Troy Hunt, who found the database floating around the dark web. If you aren't familiar with Hunt, he maintains the excellent haveibeenpwned.com.
IT departments and users are out of step on password security
A new survey reveals that 76 percent of employees say they experience regular password usage problems and more than a third need password-related help desk support at least once every month.
According to the study from password manager LastPass and business intelligence company Ovum nearly three-quarters say they would want to use a tool to help store and access passwords without needing to remember each one if their company offered such a solution.
Report: Russian hackers stole NSA files after identifying them using Kaspersky software
A report by the Wall Street Journal suggests that Russian hackers used Kaspersky software to identify sensitive NSA files -- which they then stole.
The security breach dates back to 2015, and it was made possible when a National Security Agency contractor copied sensitive files to his own computer. Hackers were then able to identify these files because of the contractor's use of Kaspersky software.
Apple makes macOS High Sierra 10.13 safe again with emergency 'Supplemental Update'
Since macOS is a Unix-based operating system, it is often seen as being stable and secure. For the most part, the OS is. With that said, it is not perfect, and certainly not infallible. Quite frankly, no operating system is impervious to security issues.
Unfortunately for Apple, its latest and greatest desktop operating system, macOS High Sierra 10.13, has some very serious flaws. First, it was discovered that the supposedly secure keychain password system could be easily infiltrated by malware. Arguably worse, it was then discovered that encrypted APFS disks had their passwords erroneously saved in plain text in the "hint" field. Yeah, that is not only bad, but embarrassing too. Both of these issues were patched today, however, with the emergency "Supplemental Update."
Many UK SMBs don't invest in security solutions
A third of UK small businesses are risking their online safety by operating at or below the "security poverty line," according to new research from Duo Security.
The cybersecurity company partnered with YouGov to survey 1,0009 senior decision makers across the UK to determine how much they are spending on cybersecurity and whether government initiatives such as Cyber Essentials and Cyber Risk Aware have been effective at protecting SMBs from cyber threats.
Three-quarters of Brits worry about risks from connected homes
Despite their potential to reduce bills and make life easier, 76 percent of British consumers are worried about the impact of smart technology and connected homes.
A study by price comparison site MoneySuperMarket polled more than 2000 people and reveals many are fearful of the smart homes concept, with unapproved data collection cited as the greatest worry.
Human-driven AI can improve threat detection
Hackers and criminal syndicates are attacking enterprises with increasingly stealthy and sophisticated techniques. In response, companies are deploying a new generation of firewalls, IDS appliances, and Security Information and Event Monitoring (SIEM) servers to detect suspicious activity as quickly as possible.
Two problems are undermining these recent investments in IT security.
Equifax was aware of vulnerabilities prior to data breach
The total number of people affected by the recent Equifax breach has risen after more details came to light.
According to new reports, the number of affected customers has now hit 148 million -- meaning that an additional 2.5 million people have been impacted.
New platform delivers relevant, risk-based threat intelligence
Keeping on top of the latest threats can be a major task, so it's no surprise that many businesses are turning to automated solutions to help ease the workload.
Threat intelligence provider Recorded Future is launching a new machine learning based platform called Threat Views which enables the delivery of relevant threat intelligence in real-time based on analysis of billions of data points in every language.
Update: every single Yahoo user was affected by 2013 data hack
The massive data theft from Yahoo in 2013 is even bigger than first thought. It was big enough when it was believed to have affected around a billion users, but Yahoo has now provided an update indicating that the number is in fact three billion. Or, to put it another way, every single Yahoo user.
Yahoo, now part of Oath, has issued a statement in which it stresses that the updated figure does not represent "a new security issue" and that plaintext passwords were not accessed. The biggest data breach in history just got even bigger, and it's going to take a lot for Yahoo, Oath and Verizon -- the new owner -- to move on from it.
HPE gave Russia access to Pentagon security software
HPE has come under fire over claims that it gave Russian defense forces access to review software it sold to the Pentagon to supposedly protect the agency's networks.
According to regulatory records seen by Reuters, HPE gave Russian defense agencies access to its ArcSight software as part of a bid to gain the certification needed to sell its software to the Russian public sector.
Equifax data breach may be state-sponsored
The Equifax hack that saw data of millions of Americans compromised might as well have been state-sponsored, new media reports have claimed .
As the investigation unfolds, reports have started coming out that some elements of the attack point to a state-sponsored play, although nobody is pointing any fingers.
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