Security

h-online: Cloud backup provider Dropbox says it has begun a public test of two-factor authentication for its service. Dropbox had announced it would start offering the security measure after the service experienced a data leak at the beginning of the month. Users who activate two factor authentication will have to enter a security code after logging in with their username and password. The security code can only be used once and is sent to the user’s mobile phone in a text message. To generate security codes, users can also use a variety of smartphone applications such as Google Authenticator. Details of the process are given on the two-step verification help page. ...

v3.co.uk: The Windows version of the Crisis Trojan is far more dangerous than first thought, being capable of infecting VMware virtual machine images, Windows Mobile devices and removable USB drives, research has revealed. Crisis was originally uncovered targeting businesses with social engineering attacks that trick users into running a malicious Java applet in July. Symantec has since revealed that the malware has more advanced capabilities, letting it search for and copy itself onto VMware virtual machine images on compromised computers. ...

h-Online: Adobe has released the second update for its Flash Player software in a week, this time for six critical vulnerabilities. Four of the issues addressed are problems with memory corruption that could lead to remote code execution; additionally, the update fixes an integer overflow vulnerability that could also lead to remote code execution. Another bug that was fixed is a cross-domain information leak. The problems exist in Flash Player 11.3.300.271 and earlier versions on Windows, Macintosh and Linux, and in the Android versions 11.1.115.11 (Android 4.0) and 11.1.111.10 (Android 3.x and 2.x) and earlier. ...

TheHackerNews: A team of Hackers called, “r00tBeer Security Team” today hack into official blog of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) which is a American multinational semiconductor company. AMD is the second-largest global supplier of microprocessors based on the x86 architecture and also one of the largest suppliers of graphics processing units. Hacker deface the blog page (http://blogs.amd.com/wp-content/r00tbeer.html) [Dead Link – Screenshot blow] and also leak the complete user database of blog on his twitter account. Leaked database SQL file uploaded on Mediafire by Hackers which include 200 AMD user’s Emails, WordPress Blog Usernames and Passwords. ...

h-online: Syrian activists, journalists and opposition group members are reportedly under attack by malware claiming to be a security tool that will help protect them against hackers. The fake “AntiHacker” tool is being spread through targeted phishing emails and via sites such as Facebook, and claims to provide “Auto-Protect & Auto-Detect & Security & Quick scan and analyzing” functionality. ...

Symantec: Phishers continue to target Indonesian celebrities with adult scams. Phishing attacks on rock star Ahmad Dhani have already been seen. In July 2012, Symantec observed a phishing site that claimed to have an adult video of Indonesian actress and singer Aura Kasih. The phishing site spoofed a social networking brand and was hosted on a free Web hosting site. The adult scam came in light of a recent scandal surrounding the singer. An adult video, allegedly of Aura Kasih and pop star Nazril Irham, has been circulating recently in Indonesia over the internet and mobile phones. It is rumored that the video started appearing after Nazril Irham’s laptop was stolen. ...

TheRegister.co.uk wrote: Attack Surface Analyzer explains what apps do to your beautiful Windows installation Developers, developers …. *&^%%!!# developers who break Windows! That may well be a refrain that motivated Redmond to release a new software tool, Surface Analyzer 1.0, which explains how new apps impact Windows’ ability to repel the various varieties of naughtyware. Microsoft explains the tool’s powers thusly: Attack Surface Analyzer looks for classes of security weaknesses Microsoft has seen when applications are installed on the Windows operating system, and it highlights these as issues. The tool also gives an overview of changes to the system that Microsoft considers important to the security of the platform, and it highlights these changes in the attack surface report. Some of the checks performed by the tool include analysis of changed or newly added files, registry keys, services, Microsoft ActiveX controls, listening ports and other parameters that affect a computer’s attack surface. ...

BBC: Hacking group Anonymous has aided a global search for a cyber-vandal who defaced a charity website. Members of Anonymous helped track the attacker down to Madrid following a plea from the owner of the RedSky video production company. New Zealand-based RedSky asked for help after an attacker penetrated its website, erased data and left graffiti. The attack was reportedly carried out in a bid to impress Anonymous and join its ranks as a member. ...

h-online: Three weeks after releasing LibreOffice 3.5.5, The Document Foundation has confirmed that security holes in earlier versions of the open source LibreOffice productivity suite can be exploited by attackers to compromise a victim’s system. According to the project’s security advisory, these include multiple heap-based buffer overflow vulnerabilities in the XML manifest encryption tag parsing code. Successful exploitation of the vulnerabilities could lead to the execution of arbitrary code on a system with the privileges of a local user. For an attack to be successful, a victim must first open a specially crafted Open Document Format (ODF) file. Versions up to and including LibreOffice 3.5.4 are affected; upgrading to version 3.5.5 or later fixes these problems. All users are advised to upgrade. ...

Cross-posted from Surelist The appearance of a new Android malware family is not that surprising at all today. Especially when we talk about SMS Trojans which are one of the most popular and oldest type of threats created for extracting money from users. A new family of SMS Trojans named Vidro appeared a few days ago but we’ve already collected a lot of APK files with very similar functionality. At the moment all the samples we have found target users only from Poland. ...