botnet

The Real Story Behind Cheating Stories? Blackhat SEO

In-brief: A highly ranked web application for sharing tales of infidelity is the beneficiary of a sophisticated, global campaign of malicious search engine optimization (SEO), according to Akamai Principal Security Researcher Or Katz. (Read more stories by Or here.)

Study: Financial Firms Hit Hard By Targeted Attacks

In-brief: A new report from the firm Websense finds that financial services firms are being hit hard by cyber attacks, including targeted attacks aimed at luring employees into installing malicious software on corporate networks.

Mobilizing SQL Injection Attacks: Same Pig, New Lipstick?

In-brief: New research from Akamai suggests that attackers are using new methods to carry out and cover up for malicious attacks, among them: harnessing harmless mobile carrier networks to carry out attacks such as SQL injection. 

Third World Problem: Bot Herders Target Home Routers In Developing Nations

In-brief: A new global botnet is built on lightly secured home broadband routers in developing nations, according to a report from the firm Incapsula. 

The Enduring Terribleness of Home Router Security Matters to IoT

Last week, home broadband router maker ASUS was the latest vendor to issue an emergency patch for a critical vulnerability in its products. This, after proof-of-concept exploit code was released for the so-called “Inforsvr” vulnerability that affects several ASUS home routers. That vulnerability -if left unpatched – would allow anyone with access to a home- or small business network that used an ASUS broadband router to, essentially, commandeer the device. The “infosvr” feature is typically used for device discovery by the ASUS Wireless Router Device Discovery Utility, but the service also allowed unauthenticated users to execute commands through it using the “root” permissions, according to researcher Friedrich Postelstorfer, who created a proof of concept exploit for the security hole and released it on January 4. The exploit code finally prompted a patch from ASUS on January 13. The company had spent months analyzing the issue and working on a fix. Patch aside, it has been a worrying month for the […]