Security
Security: TED Talks, Kaspersky, and NSA
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Monday 4th of December 2017 10:44:16 AM Filed under
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17 must-watch TED Talks on cyber security
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Barclays axes free anti-virus software over fears it could be used to spy on Britons for the Russian government -despite assuring existing customers it is safe
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Barclays axes free Kaspersky product as a 'precaution'
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Kaspersky Labs: Warning over Russian anti-virus software
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British Spies Warn About Russian Antivirus
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Former NSA worker admits to stealing Russian hacked data
Nghia Pho, a former NSA employee has pleaded guilty to taking home classified information that was soon after linked to a hack from Russian intelligence. Pho will be sentenced on April 6th and has had his maximum penalty capped at 8 years, which would usually be 10 years.
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NSA employee pleads guilty to taking home classified data accessed by Kaspersky
In the latest twist on claims leveled against Russian security firm Kaspersky Labs, an employee of the U.S. National Security Agency has admitted to illegally taking classified data home on his personal computer.
Nghia Hoang Pho, 67, of Ellicott City, Maryland, spent 10 years working for the NSA’s Tailored Access Operations unit, a unit tasked with hacking computer systems. He pleaded guilty as part of the plea deal to one charge of willful retention of national defense information.
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Security: Linux/BillGates, Hyped Bug(fix), DNS over TLS
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Monday 4th of December 2017 06:28:45 AM Filed under
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Notes on Linux/BillGates
This post will include some notes on Linux/BillGates, hereafter referred to as just ‘BillGates’, and rather than being very in-depth as the previous blog, I will mostly list high-level notes and remediation or disinfection steps. Additionally, after the conclusion, you will find other resources if necessary.
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Dirty COW redux: Linux devs patch botched patch for 2016 mess
Linus Torvalds last week rushed a patch into the Linux kernel, after researchers discovered the patch for 2016's Dirty COW bug had a bug of its own.
Dirty COW is a privilege escalation vulnerability in Linux's “copy-on-write” mechanism, first documented in October 2016 and affecting both Linux and Android systems.
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New web browsing security tool arrives: DNS over TLS
Net neutrality is on its death bed. With it gone, ISPs will be able to strip-data-mine your every move on the web. There are answers. One is Tenta's new secure Domain Name System (DNS) resolver, Tenta DNS. This receives and sends the directions to the websites you visit using the secure Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol.
DNS is the internet's master phone book. When you type in a website address or click on a link, it turns human-readable domain names into machine-usable IP addresses. If you use your ISP's DNS server, which is the default, the ISP can watch your every move. Even if you use an ordinary third-party DNS server, such as Google Public DNS servers, 8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4, and one of Cisco's OpenDNS servers, 208.67.222.222 or 208.67.220.220, your DNS requests are still made in the clear and your ISP can see where you're going.
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Goodbyes to Intel Back Doors (System76 and Even Dell)
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Monday 4th of December 2017 06:08:53 AM Filed under
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Linux Computer Vendor System76 To Disable Intel ME Firmware
System76, a vendor of Linux-based laptops, PCs, and servers, will join another Linux laptop maker, Purism, as well as Google and the NSA in disabling the Intel Management Engine (ME) firmware, which has recently been found to contain multiple vulnerabilities. Intel ME provides few to no benefits to consumer laptops, but Intel has been integrating it into all all of its chips since 2008 nonetheless.
[...]
We’ve only recently discovered, through Positive Technologies, a Russian security firm that has been working on disabling ME, that the NSA was the only one that could disable the ME via an undocumented High Assurance Platform (HAP) mode. This undocumented mode can now also be used to disable ME by Google, Purism, and System76.
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Linux laptop-flinger says bye-bye to buggy Intel Management Engine
In a slap to Intel, custom Linux computer seller System76 has said it will be disabling the Intel Management Engine in its laptops.
Last month, Chipzilla admitted the existence of firmware-level bugs in many of its processors that would allow hackers to spy on and meddle with computers.
One of the most important vulnerabilities is in the black box coprocessor – the Management Engine – which has its own CPU and operating system that has complete machine control. It's meant for letting network admins remotely log into servers and workstations to fix any problems (such as not being able to boot).
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Dell also sells laptops with Intel Management Engine disabled
Linux computer vendor System76 announced this week that it will roll out a firmware update to disable Intel Management Engine on laptops sold in the past few years. Purism will also disable Intel Management Engine on computers it sells moving forward.
Those two computer companies are pretty small players in the multi-billion dollar PC industry. But it turns out one of the world’s largest PC companies is also offering customers the option of buying a computer with Intel Management Engine disabled.
At least three Dell computers can be configured with an “Intel vPro™ – ME Inoperable, Custom Order” option, although you’ll have to pay a little extra for those configurations.
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Security: MacOS Hole is Back and Other Incidents
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Sunday 3rd of December 2017 07:00:51 PM Filed under
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Updating macOS can bring back the nasty “root” security bug
The serious and surprising root security bug in macOS High Sierra is back for some users, shortly after Apple declared it fixed. Users who had not installed macOS 10.13.1 (and thus were running a prior version of the OS when they received the security update) found that installing 10.13.1 resurfaced the bug, according to a report from Wired.
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MacOS Update Accidentally Undoes Apple's "Root" Bug Patch
But now multiple Mac users have confirmed to WIRED that Apple's fix for that problem has a serious glitch of its own. Those who had not yet upgraded their operating system from the original version of High Sierra, 10.13.0, to the most recent version, 10.13.1, but had downloaded the patch, say the "root" bug reappears when they install the most recent macOS system update. And worse, two of those Mac users say they've also tried re-installing Apple's security patch after that upgrade, only to find that the "root" problem still persists until they reboot their computer, with no warning that a reboot is necessary.
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Former Sysadmin Caught Hacking His Ex-Employer by His Replacement
On Wednesday, November 29, a Kansas City court sentenced a Missouri man to six years in federal prison without parole for hacking his former employer, stealing trade secrets, and for accessing child pornography.
The man is Jacob Raines, 38, of Parkville, Missouri, who worked as IT manager for American Crane & Tractor Parts (AC&TP) in Kansas City from July 2004 until March 28, 2014, when he resigned his position.
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Security News This Week: A New Bill Wants Jail Time for Execs Who Hide Data Breaches
Failure to report within 30 days could come with imprisonment of up to five years for the execs who decided to cover it up.
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Flaw Found In Dirty COW Patch
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Researchers dissect open-source ransomware programs Bugware and Vortex
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Security: Security Tools for Defenders, China/Russia, JavaScript and Updates
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Saturday 2nd of December 2017 10:12:15 PM Filed under
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5 Free or Low-Cost Security Tools for Defenders
Defending the enterprise is increasingly getting complex, with cloud, mobile, and IoT services expanding the potential attack surface and yet IT security budgets may remain constrained to address new threats, Arun DeSouza, CISO and privacy officer with Nexteer Automotive, said in a presentation here today.
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Three Chinese Hackers Indicted For Hacking Three Corporations – United States
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UK spying fears spark Russian software ban
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Ban on Russian anti-virus software in government
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Websites use your CPU to mine cryptocurrency even when you close your browser
Researchers have discovered a new technique that lets hackers and unscrupulous websites perform in-browser, drive-by cryptomining even after a user has closed the window for the offending site.
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Security updates for Friday
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Security: NHS, Breaches, Ransom and More
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Saturday 2nd of December 2017 03:09:16 PM Filed under
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NHS cyber unit welcomed with cautious optimism by privacy and security groups
NHS Digital has started a £20 million procurement process for an internal security operations unit that will receive emergency support from the winning third party
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Here's What I'm Telling US Congress about Data Breaches
As I explained in that first blog post, I'm required to submit a written testimony 48 hours in advance of the event. That testimony is now publicly accessible and reproduced below.
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Researchers dissect open-source ransomware programs Bugware and Vortex
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How Can You Protect Your Computer?
Virus threats are not new to the cyber community as it is one of those threatening factors that exist for decades now. Hackers are coming with all new malicious codes every then and now. You can find virus threats in the form of spyware, malware, Trojan horses, Worms, phishing scams, adware, ransomware and much more. The ideal solution to protect your system from virus threats is to keep your system up-to-date. Apart of it, some changes in online behavior can also help you deal with this menace. Let’s discuss ways to protect your computer from viruses and hackers.
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What Apple, Google, Linux and a Huge Dirty COW have in common
The Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team, aka ICS-CERT, was busy in November issuing alerts about medical device makers while tech stalwarts Apple and Google sent security vulnerabilities of their own. And you thought All Hallows’ Eve made October a frightful month? Here’s what happened in November.
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System76 Shuts Off Intel Back Doors, But Will Continue to Pay Intel
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Friday 1st of December 2017 10:14:31 AM Filed under



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System76 Will Begin Disabling Intel ME In Their Linux Laptops
Following the recent Intel Management Engine (ME) vulnerabilities combined with some engineering work the past few months on their end, System76 will begin disabling ME on their laptops.
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Linux hardware vendor outlines Intel Management Engine firmware plan
The Linux-equipped computer maker, System76, has detailed plans to update the Intel Management Engine (ME) firmware on its computers in line with Intel’s November 20th vulnerability announcement. In July, System76 began work on a project to automatically deliver firmware to System76 laptops which works in a similar fashion to how software is usually delivered through the operating system.
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System76 to disable Intel Management Engine on its notebooks
Intel has recently confirmed the earlier findings of third parties who revealed that its Management Engine firmware has some serious security issues. Since we talked about this recently, we should now move to System76's approach in handling this situation.
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Want to switch from Apple macOS to Linux because of the 'root' security bug? Give deepin 15.5 a try!
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Friday 1st of December 2017 09:39:23 AM Filed under



Apple's macOS is a great operating system. Not only is it stable and beautifully designed, but it very secure too. Well, usually it is. Unless you live under a rock, you definitely heard about the macOS High Sierra security bug that made the news over the last couple of days. In case you somehow are unaware, the bug essentially made it so anyone could log into any Mac running the latest version of the operating system.
Luckily, Apple has already patched the bug, and some people -- like me -- have forgiven the company. Understandably, not everyone will be as forgiving as me. Undoubtedly, there are Mac users that are ready to jump ship as a result of the embarrassing bug. While that is probably an overreaction, if you are set on trying an alternative operating system, you should not go with Windows 10. Instead, you should embrace Linux. In fact, rather serendipitously, a Linux distribution with a UI reminiscent of macOS gets a new version today. Called "deepin," version 15.5 of the distro is now ready to download.
Also: deepin 15.5 Linux Distro Released — Get A Beautiful And Easy-to-use Linux Experience
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Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Will Soon Get an Important Unity Stack Update with 27 Bug Fixes
Submitted by Rianne Schestowitz on Friday 1st of December 2017 03:02:43 AM Filed under

When Mark Shuttleworth said Canonical wouldn't develop Unity anymore, there were rumors that Unity 7 will also no longer receive any maintenance work. But Canonical shattered those rumors and said it would continue to patch things in the Unity Stack for supported releases, such as Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.
Truth be told, we didn't actually see any signs of life support for Unity since that announcement, but it looks like the team responsible for keeping the desktop environment bug-free has done some great work lately and managed to squash no less than 27 bugs for the Unity Stack in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus).
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System76 will disable Intel Management engine on its Linux laptops
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Thursday 30th of November 2017 09:59:51 PM Filed under


System76 is one a handful of companies that sells computers that run Linux software out of the box. But like most PCs that have shipped with Intel’s Core processors in the past few years, System76 laptops include Intel’s Management Engine firmware.
Intel recently confirmed a major security vulnerability affecting those chips and it’s working with PC makers to patch that vulnerability.
But System76 is taking another approach: it’s going to roll out a firmware update for its recent laptops that disables the Intel Management Engine altogether.
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Spyder – The Scientific Python IDE for Data Science
I don’t know how many of our readers are research scientists, data analysts, etc. but today, we introduce an IDE that is ideal for Python development and it goes by the name of Spyder.
Spyder is an Open Source IDE written in Python for Python development with a focus on research, data analysis, and scientific package creation. It boasts a well-planned User Interface with interactive options, customizable layouts, and toggle-able sections.
Its features include a multi-language editor with automatic code completion, real-time code analysis, go-to definitions, etc. It also contains a history log, developer tools, a documentation viewer, a variable explorer, and an interactive console, among other perks.
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