Security researchers and hackers gathered in Las Vegas over the past week to show off and learn about the latest vulnerabilities that affect devices and software that the world relies on every day. Black Hat and DEF CON, the world's top security conferences, did not disappoint.
With their own dedicated processor and operating system, LTE/3G modems built into new business laptops and tablets could be a valuable target for hackers by providing a stealthy way to maintain persistent access to an infected device.
A talk about a radio-based privacy device dubbed ProxyHam that promised to allow hackers to connect to Wi-Fi networks from as far as 2.5 miles away was abruptly pulled from the DEF CON schedule by its creator a few weeks ago.
Dropcam, the popular video monitoring camera, bills itself as "super simple security." But a pair of researchers plan to show at the Defcon hacking conference later this week how having a Dropcam could get a lot more complicated.
Who do you trust? That's a question asked increasingly by a security industry with a growing sense that the National Security Agency (NSA) has sought to weaken encryption or get backdoors into computers, based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden to the media. Now, trust is also the theme of a new conference called TrustyCon that will vie for attention on Feb. 27 in San Francisco while the big RSA Conference for security pros is also taking place in that city.
Microsoft warns of Wi-Fi vulnerability that can expose Windows Phone security credentials.
Turn someone else's phone into an audio/video bug.
A single group of hackers using spearphishing has stolen industrial drawings, contracts and more from at least 10 oil, gas and defense companies in Norway, according to a published report.
Hack week in Vegas
During the Black Hat and Defcon conferences in Las Vegas last week, researchers wheeled out their best new attacks on everything from browsers to automobiles, demonstrating ingenuity and diligence in circumventing security efforts or in some cases in exploiting systems that were built without security in mind. Here's a handful of the ones that deserve the most concern.
LAS VEGAS -- Botnets and their masters can communicate with each other by calling into the same VoIP conference call and swapping data using touch tones, researchers demonstrated at Defcon.
LAS VEGAS -- Anonymous has run up quite a score against corporations, governments and law enforcement agencies, but for all these warnings corporate executives are turning their heads from the real problem -- their network security is terrible, a panel of experts concluded at Defcon.
LAS VEGAS -- Two security researchers Wednesday unveiled a remote controlled, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is capable of cracking Wi-Fi passwords, exploiting weak wireless access points and mimicking a GSM tower to intercept cell phone conversations.
Among the thousands of security experts at the Black Hat, Defcon and Security BSides conferences next week in Las Vegas, some will surely test whether they can break into nearby laptops, phones, networks -- even RFID-enabled room keys and credit cards.
The annual US hacker conference, DefCon, has been expanded this year to include the next generation of white hat hackers.
NEW YORK -- Social networks are a major resource for hackers trying to capture valuable corporate data or run amok inside business networks, the information security director of a major online trading firm told Security Standard attendees.