Top 10 Stories

A leaked document from Gamma Group, a seller of surveillance tools revealed that the iPhone is notoriously difficult to infiltrate, apart from when it is jailbroken.   One particular piece of software is called FinSpy. According to Gamma Groups' FinSpy software specifications hosted by Wikileaks, the spyware can be used to monitor Skype conversations, take screenshots and photos using a device's camera, record microphone use, emails, voice-over-IP and extract files from hard discs. FinSpy can be...

Millions of people who use smart-health wearable devices are potentially having their personal information exposed.   Aries Security chief executive Brian Markus told Techly that he and his team have discovered a potentially huge concern with the highly popular fitness devices. Using an exploit, they were able to pull personal health data, usernames, passwords and other information from hundreds of internet users during the annual 2014 DEF CON hackers conference.   Those users were within range of...

In May, 2012, Kingsport, Tenn.-based Tennessee Electric Company Inc was the target of a corporate account takeover that saw cyber thieves use a network of more than four dozen money mules to siphon $327,804 out of the company’s accounts at TriSummit Bank.   According to Brian Krebs, TriSummit was able to claw back roughly $135,000 of those unauthorised transfers, leaving Tennessee Electric with a loss of $192,656. Earlier this month, the company sued TriSummit in state court, alleging negligence, breach...

The vulnerability which was exploited by Stuxnet, is still around, affecting millions.   Even though a patch for CVE 2010-2658 was released in June 2010 had been released years ago, Kaspersky Lab’s detection systems still register millions of instances in which malware exploiting vulnerability CVE-2010-2568 is detected. Within the research period over 19,000,000 users encountered this threat.   Around 65 per cent of detections were reported from computers running under Windows XP.

NetScout Systems is taking legal action against Gartner after it was named as a "challenger" and not a "leader" in one of its Magic Quadrant industry reports.   The lawsuit in Connecticut Superior Court Tuesday under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act, is for "corporate defamation arising out of Gartner’s information technology research business practices."   According to cmswire, NetScout said it had “suffered significant damages and ascertainable loss as a consequence of Gartner's deceptive, immoral, unethical, oppressive...

Facebook has acquired PrivateCore, a start-up who specialise in server security technology.   The company offer a technology called vCage that protects servers from malicious hardware devices, persistent malware and insider threats. The vCage software tests the integrity of servers and uses encryption to protect data-in-use.   The firm is expected to help protect Facebook's servers from security threats. Facebook said that it plans to leverage PrivateCore's technology by deploying it directly into its own...

Yahoo’s advertising network is being used to distribute the CryptoWall ransomware, according to The Register.   Initially spread by spamming email inboxes with "incoming fax" scans or links to files held in cloud storage that were booby-trapped with malicious code, the malware has evolved to use poisoned web advertisements – or malvertising – so when someone clicks on an advert, the site displaying the advert, and the advertising network serving it, take a small fee...

The European Commission has reportedly expressed extreme concern about a court decision, forcing Microsoft to hand over data it stores overseas.   According to eWeek, European officials are calling out the US Government, with one European official telling the publication: “The Commission has raised this issue with the U.S. government on a number of occasions. The Commission remains of the view that where governments need to request personal data held by private companies and located...

An anonymous author who claims to be the hacker who penetrated controversial UK-based Gamma Group International and dumped 40 GB of its dirty laundry has published a how-to guide for other hacktivists.   According to Arstechnica, the guide was written not to brag about what an elite hacker he was “and what m4d sk1llz it took to 0wn Gamma", wrote the author, who cautions that the unauthorised access of other people's networks is illegal.   The do-it-yourself...

Only one in 100 cloud providers meet the requirements of the proposed EU Data Protection Directive. According to Skyhigh Networks, analysis of over 7,000 cloud services revealed that the vast majority are not prepared for these new laws, but there is still time to get ready and in shape. “This means addressing a number of complex issues now, such as the right to be forgotten, as well as implementing data protection policies that meet these...