Top 10 Stories

An Android Remote Access Trojan masquerades as a legitimate Anti-Virus application that transmits via phishing email messages.   Named SandroRAT, The malware targets users' mailbox, and transmits via a an email message which states that users' (particular) bank is providing a free mobile security application to detect malware that steals SMS codes for authorizing electronic transactions.   This email message is transmitted to users' mailbox, with the subject "Caution! Detected Malware on your phone!", which seemingly tricks mobile users into...

A number of flaws in the Blackphone include an inability to update apps individually, to open PDF or Word documents and some information disclosure vulnerabilities.   According to Net Security, the team analysed the device running version 1.0.2 of PrivatOS, which is built on Android, and comes pre-installed with a suite of privacy-enabled applications such as Silent Circle's Silent Phone, Silent Text, and Silent Contacts for secure calling, text messaging, and contact storage, and the...

A hacker broke into a computer server supporting the HealthCare.gov website, through which consumers enroll in the “Obamacare” health insurance programme.   A Government cyber security team discovered this last week, after it occurred in July. Malware uploaded to the server was designed to launch a distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attack against other websites,   A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which helps investigate cyber attacks, said its Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT)...

Multiple breaches occurred at the Nauru Immigration Detention Centre in Australia, when external hard drives containing the personal details of asylum seekers were allegedly stolen.   According to SBS, allegations raised between staff working at the centre are being investigated by Save the Children, the organisation responsible for the stored data.The external hard drives were reportedly kept in an unlockable office, which could be accessed by any member of staff within the Nauru centre.   A...

A fifth of mobile phone (20 per cent) and laptop (21 per cent) users, and 15 per cent of tablet users - often resort to extreme measures when it comes to disabling their webcam.   According to research by Kaspersky Lab, 40 per cent attempt to disable it by closing the icon, while 36 per cent physically cover the camera with blue tack or a sticker. It found that up to 90 per cent of...

Specialist data centre provider Infinity has secured a five year framework agreement with Janet, the UK’s national research and education network, provided by Jisc.   The deal sees the creation of a Jisc data centre to support the requirements for academic research, and will be the first shared data centre for medical and academic research in the UK. The Jisc data centre will house the IT of a consortium of six of the UK’s most successful...

New Zealand's largest telco and internet service provider suffered a three-day long outage over the weekend.   Calling the attack on its Domain Name System (DNS) a "dynamic cyber attack", Spark said that the outage meant customers were unable to browse the web and utilise other services requiring name service resolution though Spark's allocated DNS servers.   According to IT News, Spark said that the root cause "is likely to be a handful of customers on our...

Mozilla has added security improvements to Firefox 32, including a new HTTP cache for improved performance, public key pinning to defend users from man-in-the-middle and other attacks, and easy language switching on Android.   According to The Hacker News, public key pinning is a security measure that ensures people connect to the websites that they intend to. Pinning allows users to keep track of certificates in order to specify which certificate authorities (CAs) have issued...

Former Google vice president Megan Smith has been appointed as chief technology officer of the US Government.   According to The Register, President Barack Obama said that his administration had hired Smith away from her role as vice president of Google X, the lab that produced Google Glass and self-driving cars. Smith replaces outgoing exec Todd Park, who stepped down from the CTO job in August. Smith was tipped to fill the vacancy at the White House....

Some of the world’s largest tech firms are planning a “go slow” day next week in protest of proposals that could create fast lanes on the internet for some companies.   On 10th  September, tech firms including Etsy, FourSquare, KickStarter, Mozilla, Reddit and Vimeo will install a widget on their sites to show how they believe the internet would look if the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) overturns “net neutrality” rules.   The Guardian reported that...