Top 10 Stories

The US National Security Agency (NSA) spends millions of dollars every year stockpiling zero-day software vulnerabilities so the government can exploit them to conduct surveillance or stealthily hack into computer networks. Yet despite public perception, especially in light of the Edward Snowden disclosures, the investment into his legally murky world may not yield as many computer flaws as many assume. That's the view of academic Jason Healey, who claims the true number of zero-days collective...

Australia has set up a cyber-intelligence unit to identify terrorism financing, money laundering and financial fraud online, the government said on Tuesday, because of "unprecedented" threats to national security. The measure expands on a major platform of conservative Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who narrowly won re-election last month after promising to improve Australia's cybersecurity and transform the economy into a tech-savvy business hub. Justice Minister Michael Keenan said the new unit, set up under money-tracking...

The systems of the Oracle MICROS payment terminals division have been infected by a malware, systems worldwide are potentially at risk. The hack that I’m going to tell you could have a serious and a huge impact, the systems of the Oracle MICROS payment terminals division have been infected. MICROS is among the top three point-of-sale vendors worldwide, Oracle acquired MICROS in 2014 for around $5 billion. The Oracle MICROS payment terminals division is responsible for sales registers...

A marketing campaign by O2 that sent customers USB-embedded pens backfired last week – after it transpired a number of devices contained a "Windows-specific virus." The UK cellphone network sent out the USB pens to its business customers followed by a marketing email encouraging them to download a free eBook. That was then followed by another email warning that the USB drive inside the pen contained malware. The email titled "Urgent: Information about potential virus"...

A group of ten researchers from Arizona State University created a system that automatically scans and detects hacking-related products added to Dark and Deep Web marketplaces and hacking forums. The researchers analyzed data from 27 marketplaces and 21 hacking forums, accessed via Tor (Dark Web) or via hidden websites on the open Internet (also called the Deep Web). They created a system that automatically scrapes and watches these sites and uses 25 percent human input...

The Obama administration is preparing to elevate the stature of the Pentagon’s Cyber Command, signaling more emphasis on developing cyber weapons to deter attacks, punish intruders into U.S. networks and tackle adversaries such as Islamic State, current and former officials told Reuters. View full story ORIGINAL SOURCE: Reuters

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said his department is discussing whether to classify polling stations across the country as “critical infrastructure.” Johnson said the federal government has been looking at how to protect electronic polling stations from cyberattacks since before it was revealed the Democratic National Committee had been hacked, likely by Russians, representing a serious foreign cyber intrusion affecting the 2016 presidential election. View full story ORIGINAL SOURCE: UPI

Thousands of seismic sensors monitoring geological activity are vulnerable to cyber attack, suggests research. The poor security controls around the way the sensors transmit data were detailed in a presentation at the Def Con hacker convention. Source: Security of seismic sensor grid probed. View full story ORIGINAL SOURCE: BBC

A security researcher has discovered limitations in Samsung Pay's security, which, if exploited by an attacker, could be used in another phone to allow someone else to fraudulently make payments. The magnetic-based contactless payment system, which comes standard in many newer Samsung phones, works by translating credit card data into tokens so that a hacker can't grab credit card numbers from the device. View full story ORIGINAL SOURCE: ZDNet

Serious security flaws that could give attackers complete access to a phone's data have been found in software used on tens of millions of Android devices. The bugs were uncovered by Checkpoint researchers looking at software running on chipsets made by US firm Qualcomm. Qualcomm processors are found in about 900 million Android phones, the company said. View full story ORIGINAL SOURCE: BBC