Cyber Crime
Snapchat, Skype have security breach: SAN FRANCISCO — Several million Snapchat usernames and phone numbers were apparently leaked online late Tuesday night. USA Today, January 1, 2014
Cyber Attack
OPENSSL WEBSITE DEFACED; CODE REPOSITORIES UNTOUCHED: UPDATE: A Turkish hacking group compromised and defaced over the weekend the website of OpenSSL, an open-source SSL and TLS encryption implementation resource. ThreatPost, December 30, 2013
Cyber Privacy
Facebook Made of Teflon When it Comes to Privacy, Analysts Say: Facebook is being sued for allegedly intercepting users’ private messages, following links and sharing the information with advertisers and marketers. CIO, January 3, 2013
Were your details leaked in the Snapchat hack?: Security researchers have created a tool to help worried Snapchat users find out if their details were released online by hackers as part of an attack affecting 4.6 million people, as the temporary messaging company works with US law enforcement to find culprits. The Telegraph, January 2, 2014
NSA spyware gives agency full access to the iPhone — report: Leaked documents shared by Der Spiegel show that a piece of NSA spyware called DROPOUTJEEP can access pretty much everything on the iPhone. CNet, December 31, 2013
The NSA’s elite hackers can hijack your Wi-Fi from 8 miles away: Attendees at the Chaos Communications Congress in Hamburg this weekend got a surprising rundown of the NSA’s surveillance capabilities, courtesy of security researcher Jacob Appelbaum. Appelbaum, who co-wrote the Der Spiegel article that first revealed the NSA catalog, went into further detail onstage, describing several individual devices in the catalog and their intended purposes. The Verge, December 30, 2013
NSA reportedly intercepting laptops purchased online to install spy malware: According to a new report from Der Spiegel based on internal NSA documents, the signals intelligence agency’s elite hacking unit (TAO) is able to conduct sophisticated wiretaps in ways that make Hollywood fantasy look more like reality. The report indicates that the NSA, in collaboration with the CIA and FBI, routinely and secretly intercepts shipping deliveries for laptops or other computer accessories in order to implant bugs before they reach their destinations. According to Der Spiegel, the NSA’s TAO group is able to divert shipping deliveries to its own “secret workshops” in a method called interdiction, where agents load malware onto the electronics or install malicious hardware that can give US intelligence agencies remote access. The Verge, December 29, 2013
Financial Fraud
Neverquest banking malware more dangerous than Zeus trojan: New Neverquest malware steals bank account logins and lets attackers access accounts through victims’ computers. TechRepublic, December 30, 2013
Cyber Threat
The top 8 security threats of 2013: In a year full of them, experts share what they believed to be the biggest security threats of this past year. CSO, December 11, 2013
Cyber Warning
Cryptolocker ransomware has ‘infected about 250,000 PCs’: A virulent form of ransomware has now infected about quarter of a million Windows computers, according to a report by security researchers. BBC, December 24, 2013
Cyber Security Management
Managing Cyber Security Threats from Inside: The number of annual security incidents caused by insider threats is increasing. In The CERT Guide to Insider Threats, Capelli et al write, “Insider threats are an intriguing and complex problem. Some assert that they are the most significant threat faced by organizations today.” Smart Data Collective, December 30, 2013
5 fixes to help CSOs stay ahead of risks: No matter how valiant the efforts of chief security officers, or how much businesses say they focus on securing their systems, or the amount of money spent on IT defenses — many of the same IT security challenges persist. CSO, December 10, 2013
Cyber Security Management – Cyber Defense
Database Risks Increase As Patch Frequency Decreases: Department of Energy breach report offers stark lesson in patch management’s relationship with database risk postures. DarkReading, December 27, 2013
Cyber Survey
Survey: U.S. Citizens More Worried About ID Theft Than Privacy: Despite recent controversy over surveillance by the NSA, U.S. voters are still much more worried about identity theft than online tracking of their activities, a new study says. DarkReading, December 27, 2013
Cyber Misc
Viewing Where the Internet Goes: When Edward J. Snowden, the disaffected National Security Agency contract employee, purloined tens of thousands of classified documents from computers around the world, his actions — and their still-reverberating consequences — heightened international pressure to control the network that has increasingly become the world’s stage. At issue is the technical principle that is the basis for the Internet, its “any-to-any” connectivity. That capability has defined the technology ever since Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn sequestered themselves in the conference room of a Palo Alto, Calif., hotel in 1973, with the task of interconnecting computer networks for an elite group of scientists, engineers and military personnel. The New York Times, December 30, 2013
Happy 4th Birthday, KrebsOnSecurity.com!: Dec. 29 marks the 4th anniversary of KrebsOnSecurity.com! Below are a few highlights from this past year, and a taste of what readers can look forward to here in 2014. KrebsOnSecurity, December 29, 2013
Brainlike Computers, Learning From Experience: PALO ALTO, Calif. — Computers have entered the age when they are able to learn from their own mistakes, a development that is about to turn the digital world on its head. The New York Times, December 29, 2013