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15th August 2018

Hackers attack Instagram | Avast

Here’s the news #nofilter: hundreds of Instagram users are reporting that their accounts were hacked this month, possibly the result of a so-called spam bot attack.

14th August 2018

Hacking the Amazon Echo | Avast

At DEFCON last week, white hat hackers explained during a presentation that it is indeed possible to hack an Amazon Echo. Security researchers from Chinese conglomerate Tencent described the steps they took to turn a regular, working Echo into a spying device, completely through remote activation. And while this may sound like alarming news, it’s important to note that a key factor of the hack is that the interceptor must be on the same LAN.

13th August 2018

A week in security (August 6 – August 12)

Last week, we published a review of exploit kits, talked about everyday tech that can give you a headache, and showed how to protect RDP access from ransomware. We also published a study on the true cost of cybercrime. Other news: Discovered at Black Hat: WhatsApp “message manipulation” (Source: The Register) Discovered at Black Hat: AI attacks (Source: The Register) Once again, discovered at Black Hat: Meltdown panel (Source: The Register) Indeed, discovered at Black Hat: Mobile payment bugs (Source: The Register) PGA ransomware attack right before Ryder Cup (Source: Golf Week) Steer clear of evil JavaScript (Source: APNIC) Adding bugs to deter attackers [PDF] (Source: Arxiv) Botnets and irrigation systems (Source: Help Net Security) Hunting Twitter bots at scale (Source: Duo Security) Google to warn of government-backed attacks (Source: G Suite) Stay safe, everyone! The post A week in security (August 6 – August 12) appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

10th August 2018

New Google software, new smartphone flaws, and the high cost of ransomware | Avast

A slice of Pie Grabbing headlines this week was the release of Google’s Android 9 Pie software, which started rolling out on Tuesday to Google Pixel phones. Standard whiz-bang OS enhancements aside, from a security perspective, here’s what we found noteworthy: The software update "restricts access to mic, camera, and all SensorManager sensors from apps that are idle.” That means that when you stop using an app, that app will no longer have permission to access your phone's mic, camera, etc. As app permissions have become increasingly invasive, this is a very welcome update.

8th August 2018

New Wi-Fi attack can crack your passwords | Avast

When you’re using a Wi-Fi network these days, chances are you are counting on one of these protocols: WPA or WPA2. In short, your Wi-Fi signal is protected by the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA or WPA2) encryption standard. These wireless industry standards were designed to prevent potential hackers from intercepting the signal and reading your browsing data. Here’s the bad news: It was just reported that while investigating the new WP3 standard, a security researcher managed to break the encryption. So what’s the good news? At least now we know.