What Works: Inspecting Encrypted Traffic with the Blue Coat SSL Visibility Appliance. Wednesday, March 23, 2016 at 1:00 PM EDT (17:00:00 UTC) with John Pescatore and Michael Weinstein. Learn how a system integrator tasked with increasing their ability to inspect encrypted traffic selected the Blue Coat SSL Visibility Appliance.
Malicious advertisements were recently detected on several major news and entertainment sites, including the BBC, the New York Times, Newsweek, and MSN. The malicious advertisements tried to infect site visitors' computers with ransomware.
Cyberespionage groups are stealing digital code-signing certificates to help their malware appear to be legitimate software. One of those groups, known as the Suckfly APT group, has been launching attacks against businesses and government organizations with certificates stolen from companies in South Korea.
Malware with keystroke-logging capability has infected businesses in 18 countries. The malware also gathers information about the targeted computer's configuration with the goal of identifying users who are responsible for conducting financial transactions.
Here in the Washington DC area, the General Manager of the Washington Metro (subway) system, Paul J. Wiedefeld, made the difficult and disruptive decision to shut the entire system down all day Wednesday, after an early morning fire in track jumper cables convinced him that a previous inspection for vulnerabilities in those cables must have missed some cables in dangerous condition. During the shutdown, inspectors identified 26 areas where electrical cables or the boots that connect them to the third rails were damaged or frayed, three of which Wiedefeld called "show stoppers" that would have caused a shutdown of train service in those areas if discovered in the course of routine inspections.
ProtonMail, which offers encrypted email, is out of beta and is offering open registration. There are free apps in Google Play and the iOS App Store. When ProtonMail launched in 2014, accounts were in such high demand, that when sign-ups exceeded 10,000 a day, ProtonMail moved to an invitation only model. The beta program has more than one million users.
VMware has released an advisory to fix two vulnerabilities in its vRealize software. The flaws could be exploited through cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks to allow remote code execution. The issue affects VMware's vRealize Automation 6.x older than 6.2.4, and vRealize Business Advanced and Enterprise 8.x older than 8.2.5.
Coding bootcamps have become popular over the past several years. These programs promise to teach people how to be coders and suggest that they are the path to a steady job with a good salary. The time frame is short: most bootcamps run from three to six months. However, companies seeking to hire capable coders are finding that those who have attended bootcamp do not meet their hiring needs. Four-year computer science programs offer far greater depth and breadth for students, increasing the likelihood that they will be suited for jobs in the industry when they graduate.
American Express has acknowledged that some cardholder account information was compromised in a breach. The breach reportedly occurred through a merchant's system in December 2013. American Express reported the incident to the California Attorney General on March 10, 2016.
The US Justice Department (DoJ) has charged Ryan Collins with felony violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for launching a phishing campaign for iCloud account information, which he allegedly used to obtain celebrities' personal photographs. Collins has agreed to plead guilty to a felony violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
A ransomware creator made the mistake of using encryption code developed by someone who deliberately left a backdoor in the code. When the developer learned that his code was being used in ransomware, he used the backdoor to find the decryption keys, which he has made available.
Malware that targets devices running Apple iOS mobile operating system is capable of infecting devices that are not jailbroken and without users' knowledge. Known as AceDeceiver, the Trojan horse program exploits weaknesses in Apple digital rights management (DRM) system.
The US government's push to weaken encryption is unlikely to have any effect on terrorists or on anyone determined enough to look outside US borders for products that take privacy seriously. Any US mandate regarding encryption will apply only to products made domestically.
In a report published in February, "A Worldwide Survey of Encryption Products," Bruce Schneier, Kathleen Seidel, and Saranya Vijayakumar concluded, "It is easy to purchase products, especially software products, that are sold anywhere in the world from everywhere in the world. Encryption products come from all over the world. Any national law mandating encryption backdoors will overwhelmingly affect the innocent users of those products. Smart criminals and terrorists will easily be able to switch to more-secure alternatives."
Keyless Entry Systems in Cars Vulnerable to "Relais Attack"