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Public WiFi Networks: A Hotbed For Hacker Activity

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Most people who constantly use public WiFi networks must understand the importance of having proper security measures to avoid exposing sensitive data. A recent report by ThreatMetrix found that banking information and personal files are vulnerable through WiFi networks, like those which are available open at the local coffee shop round the corner. The threat intensified with the increase in popularity of mobile devices like tablets, smartphones and laptops.

“Consumers can easily access public WiFi networks from just about anywhere – and so can cybercriminals,” said ThreatMetrix Product Manager Dean Weinert. “Cyber threats are certainly a reality at local coffee shops and other wireless hotspots. If consumers don’t take extra precaution to protect their personal devices, they can unwittingly share sensitive information with cybercriminals interfering on the network.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: News and Updates, Security

LivingSocial Hacked: 50 Million Customer Names, Emails, Encrypted Passwords Leaked

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LivingSocial is the second biggest online daily deals website after Groupon in the US. LivingSocial is owned in part by Amazon has announced that it has been hacked. The attackers got away with data which includes names, email addresses, and encrypted passwords of 50 million customers.

That’s a huge amount of data which is now in the hands of cyber crooks. The email addresses alone is a gold mine for spammers, shady marketers, and anyone in between. At least, LivingSocial kept its password database salted and hashed, which reduces the threat a lot. LivingSocial says that the database that stores customer credit card information was not affected or accessed in the attack. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Security

Adobe Flash Player Security Updates Available, Update Now

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Adobe has released security updates for Adobe Flash Player for all platforms. Adobe Flash Player 11.5.502.149 security update is released for Windows and Macintosh, Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.262 for Linux, Adobe Flash Player 11.1.115.37 for Android 4.x, and Adobe Flash Player 11.1.111.32 for Android 3.x and 2.x are released. Security update for Windows and Macintosh addressed issues which are rated critical by Adobe. For all supported platforms, these updates addresses vulnerabilities referred as CVE-2013-0633, CVE-2013-0634 (details later). These vulnerabilities could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected computer system and may cause a crash.

Out of the two vulnerabilities discovered in Adobe Flash Player, Adobe reports that CVE-2013-0633 is being exploited in the wild. It is a targeted attack designed to trick a user to open a Microsoft Word document. The document is sent via email and has malicious Flash (SWF) content. It targets the ActiveX version of Flash Player on Windows. Similarly, Adobe reports that CVE-2013-0634 is also being exploited in the wild. The attacks targeting this vulnerability is delivered via malicious Flash (SWF) content hosted on websites that target Flash Player in Firefox or Safari on the Macintosh platform. It can also affect Windows users in similar way as CVE-2013-0633. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Linux, Mobile, Security, Windows

Disable Java In Your Browser, On Windows, Mac OS X Platform [Complete Tutorial]

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With more and more zero-day vulnerabilities are uncovered which is affecting Oracle’s Java plugin, users are now often asking how to disable Java or remove Java from their Windows computers or Mac platform.

First, let us clear the confusion which arises among most users about Java and JavaScript, keep in mind that both are different. Java is a programming language and computing platform that powers programs including utilities, games, and business applications, which was first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995, now developed and maintained by Oracle. While, JavaScript is an open source scripting language used to create dynamic websites and enhance user interfaces.

Looking at the increasing number of zero-day flaws that are getting uncovered, its advised that you do not to install Java at all, if you never felt the need of it. If you need Java for some important work, then you should only enable it when you need it. For the rest of the time you should keep Java plugin disabled in your browsers and you should also disable Java on Windows or OS X operating system. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Apple, Browsers, Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, Security, Tips and Tricks, Windows

Microsoft Security Bulletins: Patch Tuesday, January 2013

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Microsoft has released Security Bulletins for January 2013. This is the first “Patch Tuesday” of 2013 and as we do every month, bringing you details of the security bulletins that get released, along with details of how you should deploy the security bulletins. For Patch Tuesday of January 2013, Microsoft has released seven security bulletins. Out of the seven bulletins, two are rated critical, the maximum severity rating, the rest five bulletins are rated as important, which is the next highest possible severity rating. Six of the seven security bulletins fix issues in Windows operating system, two security bulletins fix issues in the .Net Framework and Microsoft Server Software, and the one left fixes issues in Microsoft Office and Developer Tools. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Security

Microsoft Releases December 2012 Patch Tuesday Updates

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Microsoft has released December 2012′s Patch Tuesday. The year end’s Patch Tuesday has seven security bulletins that fixes vulnerabilities in various Microsoft products. Out of the seven security bulletins, five are rated critical, which is the maximum severity rating by Microsoft. The rest two bulletins are rated as important on the severity rating scale. The seven security bulletins of this month’s Patch Tuesday addresses 12 vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office and Windows Server.

Windows RT will also be updated through two different updates (KB2753842, KB2779030), both of them being rated as “critical” in the severity scale. The updates for Windows RT brings improvements to Microsoft Surface which includes increased WiFi reliability, improved connectivity. Performance improvements includes support for access point names that use non standard ASCII characters. The update also reduces scenarios which resulted in limited WiFi connectivity. [Read more...]

Filed Under: News and Updates, Security

Mozilla Adds Vulnerable Java 7 Update 7 To Blocklist [Security Alert]

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Mozilla has added Java 7 Update 7 to its add-on block list after it found the plugin vulnerable. This means, if you have Java 7 Update 7 installed on your computer (be it Windows, Linux or Mac), Firefox will automatically block the Oracle Java plugin.

Oracle Java 7 Update 7 is admittedly not the latest version of Java, as of now, that is, November 24, 2012, Java 7 Update 9 is the latest version available for download and install. So, if you want to re-enable Java on Firefox, you need to download the latest version of Java and install it.

According to Mozilla, Java 7 Update 7 plugin poses a serious risk to the users and thus it had to add the plugin to its blocklist. Mozilla further states that the discovery of the critical security hole in the plugin potentially allows attackers to compromise user’s system, and the bug is currently being exploited in the wild. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Browsers, Firefox, Plugins, Security

Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit Beta Available For Download

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Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) is a very popular security app for protecting computers running Windows operating system from malware. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is available both as a freeware and as a paid commercial version with advanced protection features like real-time system protection. But for most users, the freeware version is still very useful to detect malware via manual scan of the system. The parent company behind MBAM, Malwarebytes Corporation, has released another security application, called Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit. Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit is in beta stage of production and may not be suitable for all users.

Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit, as its name suggests, is a standalone rootkit remover. The company advertises the product as a “cutting edge technology for detecting and removing the nastiest malicious rootkits.” Malwarebytes Anti-Rootkit is a portable application, which you can carry around in your portable drives and run. Thus its a very vital application to repair a computer system and will also find its place in the must have tools for your system admin toolkit. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Security, Windows