Technologies

New Shodan Module hunts RATs

In-brief: a new service built into Internet of Things search engine Shodan promises to find the computers that control remote access trojans (RATs) – a common form of information stealing malware. 

Updated: Intel Fixes ‘Nightmarish’ Firmware Flaw But Nobody’s Safe

In-brief: Intel issued a patch for a serious vulnerability in firmware that has shipped with its chipsets for almost nine years, but it could take months for patches to reach affected customers from OEMs. (Editor’s note: updated with analysis from Matthew Garrett. PFR May 2, 2017.)

Report: we’ll know antivirus is dead when it goes quiet

In-brief: anti-virus software may go out with neither a bang nor a whimper – but utter silence. That’s if the trend towards cyber criminal actors using file-less malware continues, according to a new report. 

Analysis of 85K Remote Desktop Hacks Finds Education, Healthcare Top Targets

In-brief: An analysis of 85,000 hacked Remote Desktop Protocol servers from the cyber criminal marketplace xDedic shows that education and healthcare networks were the most often targeted by hackers, who often used brute force password guessing to gain access. 

Podcast: Passwords are dying, but they’re not going anywhere

In-brief: Companies like Microsoft and Google have both unveiled initiatives that de-emphasize the traditional, static, alpha-numeric password in recent days. So is the password going the way of the horse and buggy? Don’t be so sure, says Robert Capps of the firm NuData. Capps thinks that passwords will be with us for the foreseeable future and that companies concerned about security need to do more than just find a more secure way to log-in.