Security

Symantec Connect: The Opfake gang has been targeting Android mobile devices, as well as Symbian, but that does not mean they are limiting their targets to these platforms. Where there is money to be made, they are willing to invest time and resources. This includes scams designed for iPhone users. We have come across a couple of Opfake websites that, while hosting malicious apps that Symantec detects as Android.Opfake, are also designed to perform social engineering attacks on iPhone users. ...

At the RSA Conference 2012, McAfee’s Chief Technology Officer, Stuart McClure, and several of his colleagues, have demonstrated a whole range of different attacks on mobile devices. For example, they demonstrated an attack on an NFC (Near Field Communication)-enabled smartphone: the attacker simply attaches a modified NFC tag to a legitimate surface such as an advertising poster. For their live demo, the researchers used a Red Cross donations appeal such as those seen at bus stops in various cities across Europe. ...

At the RSA Conference 2012, former McAfee executives George Kurtz and Dmitri Alperovitch have presented a Remote Access Tool (RAT) that infects Android smartphones (version 2.2). They used an as-yet unpatched bug in Android’s WebKit browser to inject the malware. The researchers say that they bought the vulnerability information, and a range of other tools, on the black market. The finished exploit is based on 20 components that apparently cost a total of $1,400 on the black market. ...

It is widely anticipated that Apple will announce a new version of its iPad tablet computer in San Francisco on March 7th. An invitation sent to journalists, inviting them to an event organized by Apple, has fueled speculation even further as it appears to show a close-up of someone using an iPad. Could it be the new iPad with a much lusted for improved display and souped-up processor? Only time will tell.. ...

H-Online: Version 2.0 of the HTTPS Everywhere browser extension has been released. Where possible, the add-on automatically redirects users to more secure HTTPS connections when they access certain web pages. HTTPS Everywhere 2.0 includes an optional “Decentralised SSL Observatory” feature that detects weaknesses in encryption. When the extension detects an encryption issue, such as weak keys, it notifies users that the site they are visiting may contain security vulnerabilities that could be used to for man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks. “This is an extra level of protection that we encourage Firefox users to download, install, and use” said Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Technology Projects Director Peter Eckersley. ...

Google is to offer up to a million dollars in rewards for Chrome exploits at the CanSecWest conference. Previously, Google has sponsored the Pwn2Own competition which is held at CanSecWest, but has decided that this year it will directly reward exploits. “We discovered that contestants are permitted to enter Pwn2Own without having to reveal full exploits (or even all of the bugs used!) to vendors” says Google in a blog post. In previous years, full details have been handed over, but the revised rules make it “an explicit non-requirement in this year’s contest” – a change that Google calls “worrisome”. The organizers revised the rules to make the contest “more fair” and “more of a competition”. ...

Oops indeed. At least if you were one of the Facebook users who believed that a hidden camera video had leaked onto the net of Justin Bieber sharing some intimate moments with his girlfriend Selena Gomez. Of course, Bieber’s typical fans – or those who would delight in his public humiliation by a hungry paparazzi – are probably unlikely to think twice about clicking on a link shared with them by their Facebook friends, claiming to leak to a sex video. ...

I’ve owned up to some of the great loves of my life in the past. For instance, I’m a music lover and I’m very partial to board games (even during a denial-of-service attack). Today I can also share that I like The Beatles. In particular, anything from “Rubber Soul” and later when the “Yeah yeah yeah” turned into something rather more “Yeah man. Dig it”. I’ve simply never come across a more talented combination of musicianship and songwriting abilities – for me, you can kick The Stones, The Who, Cream and.. yes.. even MeatLoaf to the kerb, as Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr are the guv’nors. ...

Sunbelt: Twilight fans who normally frequent the official website of Stephenie Meyer, infamous writer of the said book and saga, may have found their systems captured by a “being” that is neither a blood-sucker or a giant, feral dog. It might be something supernatural, but not in the security world: zombies. Our friends at avast! have unearthed a recent attack on the author’s website not so long ago:www.stepheniemeyer.com had been hosting Crimepack, an exploit kit that takes advantage of known vulnerabilities of various Web browsers and the Windows OS to install malware. Brian Krebs of_KrebsOnSecurity.com_ took a closer look at this particular exploit pack back in 2010, and it is indeed a nasty one. Not only is it capable of targeting holes of software installed on your system, it also “lets customers [buyers of this Crimepack exploit kit] test various Web reputation services to discover whether any include their exploit sites.” Computers successfully exploited by the Crimepack exploit kit are eventually turned into zombies, which online criminals use to do malicious tasks, such as spamming and launching denial of service (DoS) attacks. ...

SophosLabs: Want a free password for one of the world’s most popular adult websites? YouPorn, one of the world’s most popular porn video websites and one of the top 100 websites of any kind in the world, appears to have been caught with its pants down – after a list of many of its users’ email addresses, passwords and dates of birth were left exposed on a public-facing server. ...