Top 10 Stories

The Register: Privacy International is probing hardware manufacturers about what data can be stored on peripherals after it was revealed the GCHQ specifically targeted trackpads, keyboards and monitors in its destruction of Snowden files held by the Guardian's UK office. Blighty's G-Men oversaw the destruction of storage devices and computers that contained encrypted secret NSA documents leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden.

Dark Reading: No botnet necessary: Yet another flavor of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that doesn't require infecting PCs is on the rise. Akamai's Prolexic Security Engineering and Response Team (PLXsert) today issued a threat advisory warning of a spike in DDoS attacks abusing the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) interface in network devices such as routers, switches, firewalls, and printers. Akamai's Prolexic Security Engineering and Response Team (PLXsert) today issued a threat advisory warning of...

Tom’s Guide: It's true that various branches of the United States government are considering, or rumored to be considering, ways to regulate Bitcoin. But nothing is official just yet, so don't believe the latest Twitter scam claiming that the US government is shutting Bitcoin down. The tweets contain links purporting to lead to a news video on the Wall Street Journal. If you try to view the video, you'll see a popup asking you to...

Arstechnica: HashFast’s already terrible situation just got a lot worse. The Bitcoin miner manufacturer-turned-chipmaker never fulfilled a $6 million deal with Bitcoin mining firm Liquidbits, which filed a slew of new documents in federal bankruptcy court in San Francisco on Wednesday. The judge in the case agreed to hold an emergency hearing on Friday to appoint a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee. If granted, the trustee’s primary job would be to immediately liquidate HashFast's remaining assets.

Macrumors: A pair of hackers from the Netherlands and Morocco, identifying themselves as AquaXetine and MerrukTechnolog, claim to have compromised the security of Apple's iCloud system for locking iOS devices. The hack will unlock stolen iPhones by bypassing Activation Lock, making it possible for thieves to resell the phones easily on the black market, reports Dutch publication De Telegraaf. It also may provide hackers with access to Apple ID passwords and other personal information stored in Apple's...

Tweattown: Recent news of a brute-force attack that compromised a weak password system at an unnamed public utility is the latest example of a growing threat to public utility companies. The Department of Homeland Security and FBI are working with utility companies in an effort to beef up cybersecurity, hoping to avoid industrial control functions from being compromised. Many public utilities also rely on Windows XP, which reached end of support early last month, though likely are paying...

Reuters: China will begin checking computer systems used in government departments to protect "sensitive data", the official Xinhua news agency said via its microblog on Thursday, amid a row over cyberspying with the United States. The checks would target technology that is important to national security and the public interest, Xinhua said, citing the State Council Information Office.

Huffington Post: Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that China and Russia are becoming more aggressive as they perceive the U.S. pulling back from world affairs. “With all the talk of coming home, of nation building at home, the perception has grown increasingly around the world that the U.S. is pulling back from the global responsibilities that it has shouldered for many decades," Gates told CNN host Fareed Zakaria during a conversation hosted...

The Register: Quite possibly the most expensive and capable Android malware the world has yet seen is for sale at $US5000 on underground markets, replete with software-as-a-service support. The iBanking malware has evolved from a simple SMS-stealer to a highly capable application that records audio within the range of a device's microphone, steals contacts, and records, uploads and redirects phone calls.

Arstechnica: Adobe's Shockwave Player bundles a version of the company's Flash Player that is 15 months behind on security updates, a feature hackers can use to hijack both Windows PCs and Macs running it, a security expert has warned. The advisory about the risk from Shockwave, which was published in late 2012 by security researcher Will Dormann for Carnegie Mellon University's CERT, escaped public notice until Wednesday, when it was reported by KrebsOnSecurity. In the 15 months...