Malicious crypto-mining apps with over 100,000 downloads found in the Google Play store

Researchers at Kaspersky Lab have uncovered multiple android based malicious cryptocurrency-mining applications being distributed via the Google Play store, with the miners posing as games, sports streaming apps, and VPNs. Some of these have been downloaded more than 100,000 times. While the applications appear to provide legitimate functions, their real purpose is to secretly use …

Telegram rebuffs Russian regulators to hand over user data

Telegram rejected demands from Russian regulators to hand over data, The app maker has told the regulator that it is technically unable to hand the encryption keys to user accounts to the country’s secret services. This comes just weeks after the messaging platform was ordered to do so or risk being banned in the country …

HP, Lenovo and Dell users to brace for a barrage of Intel’s anti-Spectre attack chip updates

Intel has almost wrapped up revised microcode updates that address unexpected reboots caused by its first attempt at mitigating the Meltdown-Spectre variant 2 attack. The chip-maker’s recently updated microcode revision guidance indicates that most of its platforms from the past decade now have production-ready patches to mitigate the Spectre attack. On January 22, three weeks …

GitHub survives record-breaking DDoS attack that hitchhiked memcached servers

GitHub recently survived the largest-ever recorded distributed denial of service attack in history,  experiencing roughly 10 minutes of disruption during the onslaught, which was amplified using exposed memcached servers — a vector that has seen a significant increase in abuse since last month. A Mar. 1 blog post by the GitHub Engineering team reported that …

Latest Android malware can record voice calls for extortion & blackmailing

IT security researchers have discovered an android malware which aims at stealing personal data from Android devices, recording live calls and surrounding noises in order to blackmail the victim – Dubbed RedDrop by Wandera researchers, the malware was discovered in 53 applications on third-party app stores including calculators, image editors, languages teaching and space exploration apps. All …

CiSCO Study reveals Security leaders rely on and invest in automation, Machine Learning & AI to fight threats

Findings show 39 percent of organizations are reliant on automation, 34 percent are reliant on machine learning, 32 percent are highly reliant on AI SAN JOSE, Calif. – Malware sophistication is increasing as adversaries begin to weaponize cloud services and evade detection through encryption, used as a tool to conceal command-and-control activity. To reduce adversaries’ …

Germany’s government network hacked

A hacker group known for many high-level cyber attacks was able to infiltrate the German government’s secure computer networks, the dpa news agency reported Wednesday. Dpa cited unidentified security sources saying the group APT28 hacked into Germany’s foreign and defense ministries and managed to steal data. The attack was noticed in December and may have …