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A top cyber security researcher has warned German banks that their retail payment systems have security flaws that could allow fraudsters to steal payment card PIN codes, create fake cards or siphon funds from customer or merchant accounts. Karsten Nohl, who is credited with revealing major security threats in mobile phones, automobiles, security cards and thumb-sized USB drives, told Reuters he has found critical weaknesses in software that runs retail point-of-sale terminals in Germany. Nohl...

2016 could prove to be the year that the price of bitcoin surges again. Not because of any dark-web drug-dealing or Russian ponzi scheme, but for an altogether less sensational reason - slower growth in the money supply. Bitcoin is a web-based "cryptocurrency" used to move money around quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority. But despite being championed by some as the digital money of the future, it is often dismissed...

A relatively new Android Trojan family has been bringing grief to users around the world, posing as a Flash Player or WhatsApp update, stealing online banking credentials, one time passwords (OTPs), and login credentials for popular Android apps. FireEye researchers dubbed the family SlemBunk. They have analyzed over 170 samples of the malware they located in the wild, and found that, over time, the authors of the malware have been adding capabilities for targeting more...

Juniper's security nightmare gets worse and worse as experts comb the ScreenOS firmware in its old NetScreen firewalls. Just before the weekend, the networking biz admitted there had been "unauthorized" changes to its software, allowing hackers to commandeer equipment and decrypt VPN traffic. In response, Rapid7 reverse engineered the code, and found a hardwired password that allows anyone to log into the boxes as an administrator via SSH or Telnet.   Original Source: The Register...

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the organization responsible for enforcing HIPAA compliance, has issued a press release saying that The University of Washington Medicine will pay $750,000 in a settlement for a data breach. The breach occurred on November 27, 2013, when an employee downloaded an e-mail attachment that contained malware, which gained access to the e-PHI of roughly 90,000 people. This is the fourth HIPAA-related settlement since OCR appointed Deven McGraw to serve as...

Iranian hackers penetrated the computers controlling a dam near New York, reveals the Wall Street Journal. The 2013 attack did no damage but revealed information about how computers running the flood control system worked, said the paper. Hackers working for nation states regularly hit national infrastructure targets, said a separate AP report. About 12 times in the last decade hackers have won high-level access to power networks, it said.   Original Source: BBC View the...

Apple, and many privacy advocates, might be facing a losing battle against governments pushing for a backdoor to encrypted devices and Internet services. The UK might be on the verge of passing a proposed Investigatory Powers Bill into law, which would require even non-UK companies like Apple to hand over keys to its otherwise well-protected products, even if such keys do not technically exist. If matters do take that turn, Apple will be forced to...

Oracle bungled the security updates of its Java SE software so badly it must publish a grovelling letter prominently on its website for the next two years. Since gobbling up Java along with Sun in 2010, Oracle's software updates for Java SE would only affect the latest version installed. If you had multiple versions of Java SE on your system, only the latest would be replaced when installing or upgrading to a new release –...

Ad injection software that uses man-in-the-middle (MiTM) techniques will be classed as malware by Microsoft, and blocked accordingly. In a blog post on Tuesday, Microsoft said that the move to block such ad injection comes as part of the computer giant's commitment to its users to maintain they have control of their "Microsoft experience". "Programs that create advertisements in browsers must only use the browsers' supported extensibility model for installation, execution, disabling, and removal," Microsoft...

Google is said to be in talks with automaker Ford Motor Co to help build the Internet search company's autonomous cars, Automotive News reported, citing a person with knowledge of the project. The contract manufacturing deal, if finalised, is expected to come during the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas during the first week of January, Automotive News said. (bit.ly/1MsCGQ3) A Google spokesman told Automotive News that the company would not comment on...