research

Vulnerabilities

Issued by: Help Net Security

Fake news detectors, which have been deployed by social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to add warnings to misleading posts, have traditionally flagged online articles as false based on the story’s headline or content. However, recent approaches have considered other signals, such as network features and user engagements, in addition to the story’s content…

Network Security

Issued by: Help Net Security

Mimecast released the Threat Intelligence Report: Black Hat U.S.A. Edition 2020, which presents insights gleaned from the analysis of 195 billion emails processed by Mimecast for its customers from January through June 2020. Of those, 92 billion (47%) were flagged as malicious or spam and rejected. Main trends Two main trends ran throughout the analysis:…

Software Security

Issued by: Help Net Security

An investigation, which concluded that counterfeit network switches were designed to bypass processes that authenticate system components, illustrates the security challenges posed by counterfeit hardware. Counterfeit Cisco Catalyst 2960-X series switches F-Secure Consulting’s Hardware Security team investigated two different counterfeit versions of Cisco Catalyst 2960-X series switches. The counterfeits were discovered by an IT company…

Malware & Threats

Issued by: Help Net Security

Emails coming from legitimate, compromised accounts are difficult to spot, both for existing email protection systems and the recipients themselves. Lateral phishing tactics Researchers from Barracuda, UC Berkeley and UC San Diego have studied 180 lateral phishing incidents and have identified the following patterns organizations and individuals should be aware of: One in 10 of…

Application Security

Issued by: Help Net Security

High-risk vulnerabilities found in 1/3 of iOS apps, nearly half of Android apps

Expert testing of iOS and Android mobile applications shows that in most cases, insecure data storage is the most common security flaw in mobile apps. Positive Technologies’ yearly report, Vulnerabilities and Threats in Mobile Applications 2019, found that critical vulnerabilities are slightly more common in Android applications, compared to their iOS counterparts (43% vs. 38%)….

Vulnerabilities

Issued by: Help Net Security

How mainstream media coverage affects vulnerability management

For better or for worse, mainstream media is increasingly covering particularly dangerous, widespread or otherwise notable security vulnerabilities. The growing coverage has made more people aware of the risks and of the need to keep their various devices (software) up-to-date and, with the increased digitization of our everyday lives, I would say that’s a definitive…