In-brief: The hack of VTech, a maker of technology products for children, has exposed sensitive data on hundreds of thousands of children, the company acknowledged this week. Also exposed: the toy industry’s growing and unregulated appetite for information on the children who play with their toys.
Vulnerabilities
Firm Finds Crypto Keys Recycled on Thousands of Devices
In-brief: Encryption keys used to secure data on- and communications between embedded devices are being recycled, creating a huge vulnerability that malicious hackers could exploit to snoop on sensitive communications or impersonate devices.
Experian: EMV Chips Won’t Stop Payment Breaches
In-brief: Experian, the credit monitoring firm, predicts in a new report that many merchants will continue to suffer payment-related breaches in 2016, despite the shift to EMV technology from older, magnetic stripe credit cards.
Last of OWASP’s Top 10 Still a Potent Threat
In-brief: Open redirects and forwards may be at the bottom of OWASP’s Top 10 list of web application security vulnerabilities, but they are still a potent and widespread problem, says Akamai’s Or Katz, who offers some suggestions for fixing it.
Study: Serious Web Security Flaws Rampant on Embedded Devices
In-brief: three quarters of embedded systems that sport web interfaces tested by researchers at universities in Germany and France contained serious security vulnerabilities, according to a new study. The results raise more questions about the security of embedded devices including home routers and home surveillance cameras.