Security news

Security

Police are probing apparent cyber vandalism on Wi-Fi networks at UK train stations

U.K. transport officials and police said Thursday they are investigating a "cyber-security incident" after users of public Wi-Fi networks at the country's biggest railway stations reported being shown anti-Muslim messages.

Security

AI is fueling a deepfake porn crisis in South Korea. What's behind it—and how can it be fixed?

It's difficult to talk about artificial intelligence without talking about deepfake porn—a harmful AI byproduct that has been used to target everyone from Taylor Swift to Australian school girls.

Security

How did they get my data? I uncovered the hidden web of networks behind telemarketers

Last year, I started getting a lot of unsolicited phone calls, mainly from people trying to sell me things. This came as a surprise because, as a data scientist, I am very careful about what personal information I let out ...

Business

Ukraine bans Telegram messenger app on state-issued devices because of Russian security threat

Ukraine has banned government officials, military personnel and other defense and critical infrastructure workers from installing the popular Telegram messaging app on state-issued devices, describing the move as necessary ...

Security

Encrypted 'Ghost' app: What we know

Police revealed Tuesday they had infiltrated and taken down an encrypted chat app called Ghost used by criminals across the world.

Security

'Good complexity' can make hospital networks more cybersecure

In May, a major cyberattack disabled clinical operations for nearly a month at Ascension, a health care provider that includes 140 hospitals across the U.S. Investigators tracked the problem to malicious ransomware that had ...

Security

New tools use AI 'fingerprints' to detect altered photos, videos

As artificial intelligence networks become more skilled and easier to access, digitally manipulated "deepfake" photos and videos are increasingly difficult to detect. New research led by Binghamton University, State University ...

Software

Usable data hacked from air-gapped computer

A team of software and information systems engineers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Israel, has demonstrated an ability to extract useful data from an air-gapped computer. The group has posted a paper to the arXiv ...

Security

Five notorious cyberattacks that targeted governments

Warfare is no longer confined to physical battlefields. In the digital age, a new front has emerged—cyberspace. Here, countries clash not with bullets and bombs, but with lines of code and sophisticated malware.

Security

Indiana notifying 750K after COVID-19 tracing data accessed

Indiana health officials said Tuesday they are notifying nearly 750,000 state residents that a cybersecurity company "improperly accessed" their personal data from the state's online COVID-19 contact tracing survey—a description ...

Computer Sciences

How hackers can 'poison' open-source code

Cornell Tech researchers have discovered a new type of online attack that can manipulate natural-language modeling systems and evade any known defense—with possible consequences ranging from modifying movie reviews to manipulating ...

Security

The curious case of the $600 million crypto heist

Cryptocurrency investors have been transfixed over the past few days by the antics of a mysterious hacker who stole more than $600 million—before gradually giving it back.

Business

Cyber security firm Norton buys Avast for over $8 bn

US cyber security giant NortonLifeLock is to buy Czech rival Avast for over $8 billion to create a leading consumer business, the pair announced Wednesday after the pandemic fuelled online activity.

Internet

A new method to protect WebAssembly against Spectre attacks

Computer scientists have developed a new compiler framework, called Swivel, to protect WebAssembly, or Warm, against Spectre attacks—the class of execution attacks, which exploit the way processors predict the computations ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Vulnerability found in Kindle e-reader

A team of researchers at security firm Check Point Research has discovered a vulnerability in Kindle e-readers—one that could allow hackers to take over the device, delete data and potentially gain access to Amazon account ...