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Initially thought to be 600,000 users, the number of Android users who have mistakenly downloaded and installed malware on their devices straight from Google Play Store has reached 2 Million.
Yes, about 2 Million Android users have fallen victim to malware hidden in over 40 fake companion guide apps for popular mobile games, such as Pokémon Go and FIFA Mobile, on the official Google Play Store, according to security researchers from Check Point.
Dubbed FalseGuide by the Check Point researchers, the malware creates a "silent botnet out of the infected devices" to deliver fraudulent mobile adware and generate ad revenue for cybercriminals.
Nearly 2 Million Android Users Infected!
While initially it was believed that the oldest instance of FalseGuide was uploaded to the Google Play in February and made its way onto over 600,000 devices within two months, further in-depth analysis by researchers revealed more infected apps which date back to November 2016.
"Since April 24, when the article below was first published, Check Point researchers learned that the FalseGuide attack is far more extensive than originally understood," Check Point researchers wrote in a blog post.
"The apps were uploaded to the app store [Google Play Store] as early as November 2016, meaning they hid successfully for five months, accumulating an astounding number of downloads."
Russian connection with FalseGuide
Check Point researchers discovered five additional apps containing the FalseGuide malware on Google Play Store, developed by "Anatoly Khmelenko" (translated from Russian Анатолий Хмеленко).
Also, the first batch of malicious apps was submitted under the Russian names of two fake developers, Sergei Vernik and Nikolai Zalupkin, which suggests the malware is of Russian origin.
FalseGuide attempts to turn infected devices into a botnet that could allow its operator to control the devices without the knowledge of the device owners.
Here's How FalseGuide Works:
While downloading to the victim's phone, FalseGuide requests administrative permissions to the device in an attempt to avoid being deleted by the user.
The malware then registers itself with Firebase Cloud Messaging – a cross-platform messaging service that allows app developers to send messages and notifications.
Once subscribed to this service, FalseGuide can allow the attackers to send messages containing links to additional malware and install them to the infected device, enabling attackers to display illegitimate pop-up ads out of context and generate revenue.
Depending on their objectives, the attackers could also inject highly malicious code into an infected device to root it, conduct a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, or even penetrate private networks.
Google Removed the Malware hidden Apps, but are you Clean?
Check Point has provided a full list of malicious apps hiding FalseGuide, which posed as guides for FIFA Mobile, Criminal Case, Super Mario, Subway Surfers, Pokemon Go, Lego Nexo Knights, Lego City My City, Ninjago Tournament, Rolling Sky, Amaz3ing Spider-Man, Drift Zone 2, Dream League Soccer, and many more.
Check Point researchers notified Google about FalseGuide in February, after which the company silently removed the malware apps from the Play Store.
But despite being removed, the malicious apps are likely still active on a number of devices, leaving Android users open to cyber attacks.
"Mobile botnets are a growing trend since early last year, growing in both sophistication and reach," CheckPoint said. "This type of malware manages to infiltrate Google Play due to the non-malicious nature of the first component, which only downloads the actual harmful code."
How to Protect yourself against such Malware
There are standard protection measures you need to follow to remain unaffected:
Always download apps which are from trusted and verified developers and stick to trusted sources, like Google play Store and the Apple App Store.
Always verify app permissions before installing apps. If any app is asking more than what it is meant for, just do not install it.
Keep a good antivirus app on your device that can detect and block such malware before it can infect your device. Always keep the app up-to-date.
Do not download apps from third party source. Although in this case, the app is being distributed through the official Play Store, most often such malware are distributed via untrusted third-party app stores.
Avoid unknown and unsecured Wi-Fi hotspots and Keep your Wi-Fi turned OFF when not in use.
Be careful which apps you give administrative rights to. Admin rights are powerful and can give an app full control of your device.
Never click on links in SMS or MMS sent to your mobile phone. Even if the email looks legit, go directly to the website of origin and verify any possible updates.
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Story highlightsTiger Woods hopes to rival Rory McIlroy over the next five to 10 yearsMcIlroy was confirmed as the year-end world No. 1 earlier this week14-time major winner says he and McIlroy need to face off at major tournaments more oftenMcIlroy named on the Forbes Magazine 30 under 30 sporting listFourteen-time major winner Tiger Woods has set his sights on rivaling world No. 1 Rory McIlroy over the next five to 10 years.Northern Ireland's McIlroy was confirmed as the year-end No. 1 earlier this week, after a landmark year which saw him win his second major and become only the second player to finish top of both the European and PGA Tour money lists.Woods, who spent a record 281 consecutive weeks at the top of the world rankings before details of extra-marital affairs caused his personal life to implode in November 2009, wants to once again challenge for top honors after three PGA Tour wins in 2012."Rory McIlroy had a wonderful year and my hat is off to him," Woods, who is third in the world rankings behind McIlroy and Englishman Luke Donald, wrote in a blog on his official website."He deserved Player of the Year. Whether we develop a rivalry remains to be seen. Let's just let it play out and see where it takes us."JUST WATCHEDExclusive: Tiger and Rory's 'bromance'ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHExclusive: Tiger and Rory's 'bromance' 09:34JUST WATCHEDIs Woods intimidated by McIlroy? ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHIs Woods intimidated by McIlroy? 01:17In order for their rivalry to develop, Woods says he and McIlroy need to go head-to-head in the closing stages of the sport's biggest tournaments.It happened just once in 2012, with McIlroy beating Woods by two strokes at the $5.7 million Honda Classic. The duo did face off in a lucrative exhibition match in China dubbed the "Duel at Jinsha Lake". McIlroy emerged victorious from the $2 million showdown."We'll look at the results (over) the next five or 10 years and see if it becomes a rivalry or not. We'll have to win big events and play each other down the stretch," added Woods, who is hoping to equal Jack Nicklaus' record total of 18 majors in 2013."That hasn't happened yet. We've only played each other at Honda down the stretch. We need a lot more of those type of battles, but in bigger events."McIlroy's growing stature within golf was recognized by his inclusion in the Forbes Magazine 30 under 30 list -- a rundown of the most influential teens and 20-somethings in the sporting world.The 23-year-old was joined on the list by his tennis star girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki. The Dane topped the world rankings for 67 of 68 weeks between 2010 and 2012 despite still awaiting her first career grand slam.
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To make the configuration of routers easier, hardware vendors instruct users to browse to a domain name rather than numeric IP addresses.
Networking equipment vendor TP-LINK uses either tplinklogin.net or tplinkextender.net for its routers configuration. Although users can also access their router administration panel through local IP address (i.e. 192.168.1.1).
The first domain offered by the company is used to configure TP-LINK routers and the second is used for TP-LINK Wi-Fi extenders.
Here's the Blunder:
TP-Link has reportedly "forgotten" to renew both domains that are used to configure its routers and access administrative panels of its devices.
Both domains have now been re-registered using an anonymous registration service by an unknown entity and are being offered for sale online at US$2.5 Million each.
This latest TP-Link oversight, which was first spotted by Cybermoon CEO Amitay Dan, could lead its users to potential problems.
However, it seems like TP-Link is not at all interested in buying back those domains, as Dan claims that the hardware vendor is updating its manuals to remove the domain name references altogether.
In recent years, the hardware vendor has started replacing its tplinklogin.net domain with tplinkwifi.net domain, which is currently under its control. So, there is no direct threat to TP-Link users.
But unfortunately, the tplinklogin.net and tplinkextender.net usually came printed on the back of the devices. So, users accessing this domain on devices could end up on a domain under a third-party's control.
If malicious actors get their hands on these domains, they could use them to distribute malware, serve phishing pages instructing users to "download new firmware to your router," and request device or social media credentials from users before redirecting them to the router's local admin panel IP.
The bottom line:
Users are advised to avoid accessing their TP-Link routers using the tplinklogin.net domain; instead, use local IP address.
Dan has also recommended Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block the affected domain names in order to prevent its customers from being hijacked.
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Story highlightsNico Rosberg wins Singapore GPDaniel Ricciardo finishes secondLewis Hamilton third, loses title leadMarshal has lucky escape (CNN)Nico Rosberg held off a charging Daniel Ricciardo for a thrilling victory in Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix to reclaim the lead in the Formula One title race.With Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton finishing third, Rosberg has built an eight-point lead as he bids for his first world championship crown.Red Bull's Ricciardo, gambling on a late pit stop for super soft tires, made massive inroads into Rosberg's lead in the closing laps, but ran out of road in the 61-lap night race, finishing just four-tenths of a second behind.A knockout performance by @nico_rosberg 👊 #SingaporeGP 🇸🇬 #F1NightRace 🌃 pic.twitter.com/dEym7G45kb— Formula 1 (@F1) September 18, 2016 Hamilton, who started third on the grid behind the leading two, was never a factor and only a clever piece of late race strategy by his pit crew saw him overtake Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen for the final podium spot.Sebastian Vettel, who won the race for the fourth time last year, battled from the back of the grid to claim fifth behind his Ferrari teammate, with teenager Max Verstappen sixth for Red Bull.Read MoreRead: Rosberg clams brilliant pole under the lightsIt was German Rosberg's 22nd career victory in his 200th F1 race and certainly one of his hardest fought, with both Mercedes also battling brake problems on the Marina Bay street circuit, which takes a heavy toll on man and machinery."The whole car was on the edge, it always is in Singapore. It's all the more satisfying with a race like that," Rosberg said at the podium presentations.Read: F1 standings after Singapore He had made a good start from pole, but the race was almost immediately halted behind a safety car after an early collision between Force India's Nico Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz.When the safety car pulled off, a trackside marshal had a close shave -- needing to run off with the cars going full pelt.Who will win the F1 title race? Let us know on the CNN Sport Facebook pageCrazy! A marshal was still on the track as the race resumed & he had to sprint https://t.co/Ne6sVSWsLc #SkyF1 pic.twitter.com/QYGVJn7Nls— Sky Sports F1 🏎 (@SkySportsF1) September 18, 2016 The rest of the drama was reserved for the end of the closing stages, with Ricciardo's decision to pit for a third time for fresh tires nearly paying off.Rosberg admitted he would have done the same as the Australian, but was caught in traffic so soldiered on with deteriorating grip and brake problems.Visit cnn.com/motorsport for more F1 newsThe latter problem also affected world champion Hamilton, who has seen his teammate win the last three races to take a solid lead with six rounds remaining."It's a lot different to when I was here last year but I'm still in the fight and I'm going to give it everything I've got," the Briton said.
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Mitron (means "friends" in Hindi), you have been fooled again!
Mitron is not really a 'Made in India' product, and the viral app contains a highly critical, unpatched vulnerability that could allow anyone to hack into any user account without requiring interaction from the targeted users or their passwords.
I am sure many of you already know what TikTok is, and those still unaware, it's a highly popular video social platform where people upload short videos of themselves doing things like lip-syncing and dancing.
The wrath faced by Chinese-owned TikTok from all directions—mostly due to data security and ethnopolitical reasons—gave birth to new alternatives in the market, one of which is the Mitron app for Android.
Mitron video social platform recently caught headlines when the Android app crazily gained over 5 million installations and 250,000 5-star ratings in just 48 days after being released on the Google Play Store.
Popped out of nowhere, Mitron is not owned by any big company, but the app went viral overnight, capitalizing on its name that is popular in India as a commonly used greeting by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Besides this, PM Modi's latest 'vocal for local' initiative to make India self-reliant has indirectly set up a narrative in the country to boycott Chinese services and products, and of course, #tiktokban and #IndiansAgainstTikTok hashtags trending due to TikTok vs. YouTube battle and CarryMinati roast video also rapidly increased the popularity of Mitron.
Any Mitron Users Account Can Be Hacked in Seconds
The insecurity that TikTok is a Chinese app and might have allegedly been abusing its users' data for surveillance, unfortunately, turned millions into signing up for less trusted and insecure alternative blindly.
The Hacker News learned that the Mitron app contains a critical and easy-to-exploit software vulnerability that could let anyone bypass account authorization for any Mitron user within seconds.
The security issue discovered by Indian vulnerability researcher Rahul Kankrale resides in the way app implemented 'Login with Google' feature, which asks users' permission to access their profile information via Google account while signing up but, ironically, doesn't use it or create any secret tokens for authentication.
In other words, one can log into any targeted Mitron user profile just by knowing his or her unique user ID, which is a piece of public information available in the page source, and without entering any password—as shown in a video demonstration Rahul shared with The Hacker News.
Mitron App Was Not Developed; Instead Bought For Just $34
Promoted as a homegrown competitor to TikTok, in separate news, it turns out that the Mitron app has not been developed from scratch; instead, someone purchased a ready-made app from the Internet, and simply rebranded it.
While reviewing the app's code for vulnerabilities, Rahul found that Mitron is actually a re-packaged version of the TicTic app created by a Pakistani software development company Qboxus who is selling it as a ready-to-launch clone for TikTok, musical.ly or Dubsmash like services.
In an interview with the media, Irfan Sheikh, CEO of Qboxus, said his company sells the source code, which the buyers are expected to customize.
"There is no problem with what the developer has done. He paid for the script and used it, which is okay. But, the problem is with people referring to it as an Indian-made app, which is not true, especially because they have not made any changes," Irfan said.
Besides Mitron's owner, more than 250 other developers have also purchased the TicTic app code since last year, potentially running a service that can be hacked using the same vulnerability.
Who is Behind the Mitron App? An Indian or a Pakistani?
Though the code has been developed by the Pakistani company, real identity of the person behind the Mitron app—TicTic at heart TikTok by face—has yet not been confirmed; however, some reports suggest it's owned by a former student of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Roorkee).
Rahul told The Hacker News that he tried responsibly reporting the flaw to the app owner but failed as the email address mentioned on the Google Play Store, the only point of available contact, is non-operational.
Besides this, the homepage for the web server (shopkiller.in), where the backend infrastructure of the app is hosted, is also blank.
Considering that the flaw actually resides in the TicTic app code and affects any other similar cloned service running out there, The Hacker News has reached out to Qboxus and disclosed details of the flaw before publishing this story.
We will update this article when we receive a response.
Is Mitron App Safe to Use?
In short, since:
the vulnerability has not yet been patched,
the owner of the app is unknown,
the privacy policy of the service doesn't exist, and
there are no terms of use,
... it's highly recommended to simply do not install or use the untrusted application.
If you're among those 5 million who have already created a profile with the Mitron app and granted it access to your Google profile, revoke it immediately.
Unfortunately, there's no way you can delete your Mitron account yourself, but the hacking of Mitron user profile would not severely impact unless you have at least a few thousand followers on the platform.
However, keeping an untrusted app installed on your smartphone is not a good idea and could put your data from other apps and sensitive information stored on it at risk, so users are advised to uninstall the app for good.
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Story highlightsBarcelona coach Tito Vilanova returning to CataloniaVilanova has been in New York for two months undergoing cancer treatmentAssistant coach Jordi Roura has been in temporary charge of the teamVilanova took over from Josep Guardiola in June 2012Barcelona have been handed a boost ahead of next week's European Champions League quarterfinal tie against Paris Saint-Germain after the club confirmed coach Tito Vilanova is to return to Catalonia following cancer treatment.Vilanova has been in New York for two months undergoing treatment, with assistant coach Jordi Roura assuming first team duties on a temporary basis.A statement released by the four-time European champions said Vilanova, who was assistant to Josep Guardiola between 2008 and 2012, is heading home to Spain this week.Read: Messi eyes milestone after Argentina success"Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova will be returning home this week after being in New York for the last two months," read a statement on the Spanish league leader's official website.JUST WATCHEDBoateng: Racism in football must endReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHBoateng: Racism in football must end 04:09JUST WATCHEDBecker: Ronaldo the tennis ace?ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHBecker: Ronaldo the tennis ace? 02:34JUST WATCHEDKeepy up challenge: Becker vs. MendietaReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHKeepy up challenge: Becker vs. Mendieta 00:57However the statement did not specify when Vilanova would return to the dugout for the four-time European champions."Tito traveled to New York on January 21 for treatment and this week he will be returning home to the Catalan capital."Jordi Roura has been in charge of the team over the last couple of months and has been in permanent contact with Vilanova to agree on important decisions."But Vilanova's place on the bench has always been kept for him and this week the team will welcome their boss back. Welcome home Tito."Read: Draw dents Spain's qualification chancesVilanova, who was assistant to former Barca coach Josep Guardiola between 2008 and 2012, has been undergoing treatment following a recurrence of cancer of his parotid gland, which is located in the mouth.Bounced backThe 44-year-old Vilanova initially underwent surgery to remove a tumor in November 2011.For the first time since Guardiola took over Barca in 2008, recently the Catalan team have faced questions over their performances in the time Vilanova has been away.Barca were beaten over two legs by Real Madrid in a Copa del Rey semifinal, including a crushing 3-1 home defeat at the Nou Camp stadium, while Jose Mourinho's side also beat the Catalans in the Spanish leagueBetween the two cup ties with Real, Barca were also beaten 2-0 by AC Milan in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie.But Barca bounced back emphatically, steamrollering Milan in the second leg with a 4-0 triumph.The first leg of Barca's last eight tie with PSG takes place in Paris on April 2, before the return fixture on April 10.
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Story highlightsCircuit of the Americas hosts US GP on October 23Lewis Hamilton looking to close 33-point gap with rival Nico Rosberg (CNN)How do you make more Americans switch on to Formula One? Bobby Epstein, chairman of the Circuit of the Americas -- which will host the US Grand Prix on October 23 -- thinks he has the answer."We could offer Lewis Hamilton citizenship!" Epstein cheekily suggests to CNN's The Circuit.The British driver is probably too busy to think about making a permanent move to the US -- although he does own a home in Colorado -- as he is desperately driving to defend his world title. Photos: The perfect 10A smiling Lewis Hamilton and a dejected Nico Rosberg after October's United States Grand Prix where the Briton clinched his third Formula One world title. The Mercedes driver insists that the working relationship is good with his German teammate. Hide Caption 1 of 15 Photos: The perfect 10Triple celebration – Hamilton's third World Championship -- his second in two years -- was won with three races to spare. The win at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas was his 10th of the 2015 season.Hide Caption 2 of 15 Photos: The perfect 10What a feeling – "It's the greatest moment of my life," Hamilton said after the race. "I pushed and pushed. I hope I can inspire people to never give up. It's just crazy to think I'm now a three-time world champion. I can't find the right words to express the feeling, but it's the greatest I've had in my life."Hide Caption 3 of 15 Photos: The perfect 10On top Down Under – The 2014 champion got his world title defense off to a winning start with success at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in March. Hamilton and Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg dominated, with the Briton controlling the race on the Albert Park street circuit and ultimately seeing off the German.Hide Caption 4 of 15 Photos: The perfect 10China story – After finishing second to Rosberg at the Malaysian Grand Prix, Hamilton edged back ahead of him in the world standings after triumphing at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai in April. The 30-year-old captured his 35th Grand Prix win with a pole-to-flag victory, although runner-up Rosberg claimed he had ruined his race by driving slowly.Hide Caption 5 of 15 Photos: The perfect 10Singing in Bahrain – A week later, Hamilton made it a hat-trick of triumphs from the opening four races when he crossed the line first at the Bahrain Grand Prix. He managed to hold top spot despite losing his brakes on the last lap, beating Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who finished second. "I'm gunning for a third title," Hamilton said. "I was able to pull through and we need to keep pushing now, as I know we will."Hide Caption 6 of 15 Photos: The perfect 10Necessary boost – Second and third-placed finishes at the Spanish and Monaco races enabled Rosberg to cut Hamilton's advantage in the championship to 10 points, but he got back to winning ways at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in June. "Did I need this?" asked Hamilton at the victory celebrations. "Yes, I think I did."Hide Caption 7 of 15 Photos: The perfect 10Home comforts – In July, it was a home triumph at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone for Hamilton. The Mercedes man, who had finished second in Austria a fortnight earlier, battled past Williams duo Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas after losing the lead off the start line to claim his third British Grand Prix win. "I started to tear up on that last lap," Hamilton said after the race. "I was gunning the whole way and I really just wanted to do it for you guys. I'm going to keep pushing for this championship."Hide Caption 8 of 15 Photos: The perfect 10Spa holiday – Hamilton finished off the podium for the first time all season at the Hungarian Grand Prix, but August's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa saw him convert pole position into a sixth first-placed win of 2015. He remained in control of the race throughout and, finishing ahead of second-placed Rosberg, extended his lead in the championship to 28 points. Hide Caption 9 of 15 Photos: The perfect 10Tire-some, but a triumph – September's Italian Grand Prix at Monza saw Hamilton finish more than 25 seconds clear of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel to take top spot and extend his championship advantage to 53 points with seven rounds remaining -- but only after surviving a stewards' investigation. "The stewards are satisfied that the team followed the currently specified procedure supervised by the tire manufacturer for the safe operation of the tires," a statement said after Mercedes was investigated on the grounds that the tires were below the minimum permitted pressure. Hide Caption 10 of 15 Photos: The perfect 10Take the A game – September started and finished with victories for Hamilton as he followed up the disappointment of being forced to retire in Singapore with success at the Japanese Grand Prix. He took the lead early from pole-positioned Rosberg before cruising to his eighth win of the season to take him 48 points clear at the top of the championship with five rounds left. "It was important for us to strike back. We didn't bring our A game in Singapore and we had to bring it today," he said.Hide Caption 11 of 15 Photos: The perfect 10Russian towards the title – Mercedes claimed the Constructors' World Championship after Hamilton's victory at the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi in October. The 30-year-old capitalized after Rosberg, who started from pole, was forced to retire with a throttle problem. A ninth win of the season set up the chance to land his third world title at the United States Grand Prix two weeks later.Hide Caption 12 of 15 Photos: The perfect 10'I'm overdue a drink with the team!' – That third world title was won as Hamilton picked up a 10th victory of the season, his 43rd overall, at the Circuit of the Americas. He overtook Rosberg on the 49th of 56 laps to claim an unassailable 76-point lead at the top of the championship. "I just can't believe I'm sitting here. To my family, I love you. To the team, thank you so much," Hamilton said. "I'm overdue a drink with the team!"Hide Caption 13 of 15 Photos: The perfect 10Rocket Man – Hamilton was interviewed on the podium after the race by singer Sir Elton John.Hide Caption 14 of 15 Photos: The perfect 10History-maker – Hamilton is only the 10th driver in history, and the first Briton since Sir Jackie Stewart in 1973, to become a three-time world champion. The first of Great Britain's 15 world champions to claim back-to-back crowns, he joins Stewart, Jack Brabham, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna on three titles, with only Michael Schumacher (seven), Juan Manuel Fangio (five), Alain Prost and Vettel (both four) having achieved more success. Hide Caption 15 of 15Hamilton arrives for the race in Austin, Texas 33 points behind his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in the world championship with just 100 points on offer at the remaining four races of the season.Read More"It's important this year that the race is so tight," says Epstein, ahead of the fifth US Grand Prix to be held at the popular Texan track."We've got people coming this year not just to see someone crowned the winner but to see the competition when you don't know the outcome [of the title race]."'Best race in years'Hamilton won his third world title with victory in the US last year despite Hurricane Patricia washing out qualifying until Sunday and the race then starting on a wet track."It was the best race we've had in years and it had the highest viewership of the season," recalled Epstein despite the chaos."But for the folks who came on site we learned a lot about what we could do. We had 25 inches of rain in the week and it's hard to plan for."Texan businessman Bobby Epstein sees a long future for F1 in AustinEpstein may not be able to control the weather but he does have some ideas about how to increase F1's reach in the US where NASCAR is traditionally the most popular motorsport."Right now most of the marketing for F1 is left down to the local promoter and I think there's so much more we can offer if we can raise its profile year round," explained Epstein, who has booked pop stars Taylor Swift and Usher to play over the race weekend. 'The perfect sport'"It's the perfect sport for the American market because it's a finite amount of time. You have a two-hour race, you can build it into your schedule for the day. Most American sports could take three or four hours or you don't know how long."But in order for F1 to grow you need an American champion ... we have some promising drivers coming up but it's going to be a few years. It will take some time."JUST WATCHEDWhen will an American driver win the U.S. Grand Prix?ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHWhen will an American driver win the U.S. Grand Prix? 01:54Californian Alexander Rossi was the last homegrown racer to compete in the US Grand Prix, finishing 12th for Marussia in 2015.After losing his seat in F1, the 25-year-old hit the headlines in 2016 as a shock rookie winner of the Indianapolis 500 for Andretti Autosport. Rossi will be making an appearance in Austin over the race weekend as a celebrity racing legend!US and themRossi is focused on the oval-track racing for now, but home fans at the US Grand Prix will at least have an American team to support for the first time in 30 years in the colors of Haas F1."Haas do raise the profile of F1," said Epstein. "They've been successful in NASCAR and other racing. "The fan base that follows them are very curious about why this guy [owner Gene Haas] goes from NASCAR to what he aspired to be a different, higher level of racing."JUST WATCHEDHaas HeroesReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHHaas Heroes 03:35Entrepreneur Haas, who joined forces with three-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart to form the successful Stewart-Haas Racing NASCAR team in 2009, has had a solid start in his first year racing in F1. With horsepower and technology from Ferrari, Haas F1 won points at its very first GP thanks to French driver Romain Grosjean, and at the last race in Japan both cars got into the top-10 of qualifying for the very first time. The arrival of a promising American team on home soil may also help assure the future of F1 in the US. That may be some comfort considering classic races in Brazil, Canada and Germany are all yet to be confirmed on the 2017 F1 calendar. "I'd like to see another 10 years," Epstein said on a possible new contract for F1 to stay in Texas. "I think that will happen."
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Law enforcement officials in Ukraine, in coordination with authorities from the U.S. and Australia, last week shut down one of the world's largest phishing services that were used to attack financial institutions in 11 countries, causing tens of millions of dollars in losses.
The Ukrainian attorney general's office said it worked with the National Police and its Main Investigation Department to identify a 39-year-old man from the Ternopil region who developed a phishing package and a special administrative panel for the service, which were then aimed at several banks located in Australia, Spain, the U.S., Italy, Chile, the Netherlands, Mexico, France, Switzerland, Germany, and the U.K.
Computer equipment, mobile phones, and hard drives were seized as part of five authorized searches conducted during the course of the operation.
Security researcher Brian Krebs noted the raids were in connection with U-Admin, a phishing framework that makes use of fake web pages to pilfer victim credentials more efficiently.
It is estimated that over 50% of all phishing attacks in 2019 in Australia were carried out using the phishing toolkit.
The hacker is believed to have not only sold his products to customers around the world via an online store in the dark web but also alleged to have provided technical support during phishing attacks.
More than 200 active buyers of malicious software have been identified, Ukrainian officials said.
U-Admin allowed customers to exfiltrate data entered by victims on compromised websites by injecting malicious code into the browser. The crimeware platform's info-stealing capabilities also extended to capturing two-factor authentication codes.
The hacker, who has been arrested on charges of creating and distributing malicious software and breaking into computer networks, faces up to six years of imprisonment if found guilty.
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(CNN)He is back, and this time Floyd Mayweather Jr. is boxing for a shot at the history books. The larger-than-life boxer -- known as "The Money Man" -- is hoping to break Rocky Marciano's haloed mark of 48-0 when he takes on former welterweight champion Andre Berto (30-3, 22 knockouts) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on September 12. Follow @cnnsport
Coming off the biggest payday in boxing history following his $440 million pay-per-view generating match against Manny Pacquiao in May, Mayweather defended criticism of being a boring fighter and cruising to the finish line of his career by picking an easy opponent."Berto is a very, very tough guy, hungry and I know he is not going to lay down," said Mayweather at the press conference announcing the fight Thursday. "I chose Berto because he is very exciting. Then I looked and then said, well I have been getting backlash, he's been getting backlash," added the 38-year-old Mayweather, who insists this will be his final bout, although some have their doubts.Read More"No one is forced to buy the fight. I appreciate it, but no one is forced to buy the fight."Clock officially ticking now. Back to my grind. #MayweatherBerto #September12 #TheHarvestIsComing pic.twitter.com/O7eKDxmOax— Andre Berto (@AndreBerto) August 7, 2015
In promoting the bout, Leonard Ellerbe, president of Mayweather Promotions, wasn't slow to mention that this might just be the last time the boxer steps into a ring."Come September 12, this is our last opportunity to see Floyd Mayweather. I know many people doubt that but trust me," said Ellerbe."This gentleman to my right, you better take a look at him, but things he's accomplished in this sport, you will never, ever see again," added Ellerbe. 'Chess player'The May 2 fight against Pacquiao, which Mayweather won on an unanimous decision, was largely seen as a flop in terms of excitement as the champion known for his defensive tactics deftly glided around the ring, with the two boxers hardly mixing it up over the 12 rounds. "My job was to go out there and be Floyd Mayweather and be a chess player, and that's what I did and found a way to win," said the boxer about his tactics. Mayweather called out the media for inflating Pacquiao's ability in his last fight, an ironic stance to take after his self-owned promotions company created much of the buzz -- with great success. "Andre Berto is gonna push Floyd Mayweather to the limit, that's one thing that I do know" said Mayweather. "The difference between Andre Berto and Manny Pacquiao is that you guys put all the hype in Pacquiao, that's what the media did."Mayweather, who will be defending three welterweight titles, spoke with a crackly voice that was at times barely audible. "My voice is a little hoarse, you know I've been up late last night," explained Mayweather, who is known for sampling the nightlife in his hometown of Las Vegas. Thirty-one-year-old Berto, an American who fought for Haiti in the 2004 Olympics, comes from a family of boxers, with his father, two brothers and two of his sisters all fighting professionally in the past. #repost Follow now ASAP: @themoneygirls Go shop now: www.themoneyteam.com #TMG A video posted by Floyd Mayweather (@floydmayweather) on Jun 24, 2015 at 7:50am PDT
One of this brothers, Edson "Little Tiger" Berto is an MMA fighter with a 17-12 record. Berto will hope to replicate Buster Douglas's win over Mike Tyson -- the biggest upset in boxing history, which took place 25 years ago at the Tokyo Dome.Heavyweight champion Tyson, 37-0 at the time, was seen as unbeatable, while Douglas was known only to the most fervent boxing enthusiasts.That the match was fought in Japan, at noon local time to accommodate global audiences, speaks volumes about the fight's lack of drawing power in America.An overconfident Tyson was knocked out by Douglas in the 10th round, and although "Iron Mike" would later regain his heavyweight belts, he was never again the same fighter.Tyson would later recount being up all night in his hotel room before the fight. "I guess I didn't have no respect for Buster Douglas as a fighter," he said, recently recalling his training for the Douglas fight to Playboy. "I was like the Floyd Mayweather of back then, pretty arrogant and stuff and saying what was on my mind without having a filter." Mayweather will surely keep all that in mind before stepping into the ring on September 12, probably with more sleep than he got before the press conference. Read: Why UFC 'beast' Ronda Rousey is such a big deal
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Story highlightsEdward Snowden leaks info on U.S. spy programs; he's charged in the U.S.Last summer, Russia granted him temporary asylum; the term expires July 31His lawyer says Snowden made a formal request to extend his asylum in RussiaEdward Snowden is hoping to stay in Russia a little, or perhaps a lot, longer.The former National Security Agency whistleblower, who leaked secret information about U.S. spying programs, has formally requested that Russia's government extend his temporary asylum, Russian state news reported Wednesday. The asylum request was filed with the Moscow branch of the Federal Migration Service, said Snowden attorney Anatoly Kucherena, according to state-run Itar-Tass and RIA Novosti.As to how long Snowden might extend his stay, RIA Novosti reported that Kucherena said, "We won't say yet in what status we would like to receive the extension because that decision is up to the Federal [Migration] Service."Kucherena noted that Snowden's temporary asylum in Russia ends on July 31. He'd been holed up at a Moscow airport for five weeks before the Russian government granted asylum for one year on August 1. Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaksSharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – John Walker ran a father and son spy ring, passing classified material to the Soviet Union from 1967 to 1985. Walker was a Navy communication specialist with financial difficulties when he walked into the Soviet Embassy and sold a piece of cyphering equipment. Navy and Defense officials said that Walker enabled the Soviet Union to unscramble military communications and pinpoint the location of U.S. submarines at all times. As part of his plea deal, prosecutors promised leniency for Walker's son Michael Walker, a former Navy seaman. Click through the gallery to see other high-profile leak scandals the United States has seen over the years.Hide Caption 1 of 10 Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaksSharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Military analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked the 7,000-page Pentagon Papers in 1971. The top-secret documents revealed that senior American leaders, including three presidents, knew the Vietnam War was an unwinnable, tragic quagmire. Further, they showed that the government had lied to Congress and the public about the progress of the war. Ellsberg surrendered to authorities and was charged as a spy. During his trial, the court learned that President Richard Nixon's administration had embarked on a campaign to discredit Ellsberg, illegally wiretapping him and breaking into his psychiatrist's office. All charges against him were dropped. Since then he has lived a relatively quiet life as a respected author and lecturer.Hide Caption 2 of 10 Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaksSharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Jonathan Pollard is a divisive figure in U.S.-Israeli relations. The former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst was caught spying for Israel in 1985 and was sentenced in 1987 to life imprisonment. Previously, the United States and Israel discussed his possible release as part of efforts to save fragile Middle East peace negotiations, according to sources familiar with the talks. On July 28, 2015, Pollard's lawyer announced that the convicted spy had been granted parole and would be released on November 21 -- exactly 30 years after his arrest.Hide Caption 3 of 10 Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaksSharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Wen Ho Lee was a scientist at the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico who was charged with 59 counts of downloading classified information onto computer tapes and passing it to China. Lee eventually agreed to plead guilty to a count of mishandling classified information after prosecutors deemed their case to be too weak. He was released after nine months in solitary confinement. Lee later received a $1.6 million in separate settlements with the government and five news agencies after he sued them, accusing the government of leaking damaging information about him to the media.Hide Caption 4 of 10 Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaksSharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Members of the Bush administration were accused retaliating against Valerie Plame, pictured, by blowing her cover in 2003 as a U.S. intelligence operative, after her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, wrote a series of New York Times op-eds questioning the basis of certain facts the administration used to make the argument to go to war in Iraq. Hide Caption 5 of 10 Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaksSharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – In 2007, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, was convicted on charges related to the leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Libby was convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury in connection with the case. His 30-month sentence was commuted by President George W. Bush. Cheney told a special prosecutor in 2004 that he had no idea who leaked the information. Hide Caption 6 of 10 Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaksSharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Aldrich Ames, a 31-year CIA employee, pleaded guilty to espionage charges in 1994 and was sentenced to life in prison. Ames was a CIA case worker who specialized in Soviet intelligence services and had been passing classified information to the KGB since 1985. U.S. intelligence officials believe that information passed along by Ames led to the arrest and execution of Russian officials they had recruited to spy for them.Hide Caption 7 of 10 Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaksSharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Robert Hanssen pleaded guilty to espionage charges in 2001 in return for the government not seeking the death penalty. Hanssen began spying for the Soviet Union in 1979, three years after going to work for the FBI and prosecutors said he collected $1.4 million for the information he turned over to the Cold War enemy. In 1981, Hanssen's wife caught him with classified documents and convinced him to stop spying, but he started passing secrets to the Soviets again four years later. In 1991, he broke off relations with the KGB, but resumed his espionage career in 1999, this time with the Russian Intelligence Service. He was arrested after making a drop in a Virginia park in 2001.Hide Caption 8 of 10 Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaksSharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Army Pvt. Bradley Manning was convicted July 30 of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of classified documents and videos to WikiLeaks, and the counts against him included violations of the Espionage Act. He was found guilty of 20 of the 22 charges but acquitted of the most serious charge -- aiding the enemy. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in military prison in 2013.Hide Caption 9 of 10 Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaksSharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden revealed himself as the leaker of details of U.S. government surveillance programs run by the U.S. National Security Agency to track cell phone calls and monitor the e-mail and Internet traffic of virtually all Americans. Snowden has been granted temporary asylum in Russia after initially fleeing to Hong Kong. He has been charged with three felony counts, including violations of the U.S. Espionage Act, over the leaks.Hide Caption 10 of 10JUST WATCHEDSnowden: 'I was trained as a spy'ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSnowden: 'I was trained as a spy' 01:04Since that time, Snowden has kept busy working for a Russian website and speaking out about the disclosures about the U.S. government's spying programs and processes that he helped make public.Snowden's disclosures in 2013 made him in an icon among those who praised him for risking his future to expose these secrets and a villain among those who accused him of being a lawbreaker who betrayed the United States.The former government information technology contractor collected information on spy programs -- in which the NSA mined phone and Internet metadata from thousands of people inside and outside of the United States -- and exposed the programs to the media.U.S. authorities have charged him with espionage and theft of government property.Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commented on Snowden's case in an interview this week with the German magazine Der Spiegel."I think he is a poor messenger for the message that he's trying to take credit for," she told the magazine."I think he could have provoked the debate in our country without stealing and distributing material that was government property and was of some consequence," Clinton said.Opinion: A year after Snowden, the real costs of NSA surveillanceEdward Snowden's interview: 10 things we learnedReview board finds potential for abuses in NSA surveillance
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(CNN)Amid the excitement of Prime Minister Theresa May suddenly being on speaking terms with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, something has happened in Parliament that could alter the course of Brexit.MPs voted -- by a majority of just one vote -- in favor of something called the Cooper Bill, that takes a no-deal Brexit off the table for good, by making it illegal in British law. This could have the (probably unintended) consequence of making a second referendum inevitable.May has reason to be optimistic as the clock runs down on BrexitHere's how that might happen. If the May-Corbyn process does not produce a compromise that can be quickly ratified, the UK government would be forced to request an extension to the Brexit process beyond April 12, the current cut-off-date. And without the prospect of a deal being agreed before May 22, the day before elections to the European Parliament begin, the proponents of a second referendum will push for a long delay.Here's the logic.First of all, any significant alteration to May's Brexit deal ought to have proper parliamentary scrutiny. Many of the Brexit alternatives debated by the Commons earlier this week were fantasy options that were rife with legal problems or were without precedent.Read MoreAs People's Vote campaigner, Tom Brufatto, told me: "It's very late in the day to vote on alternatives without adequate scrutiny. Parliament needs to be given the space to properly look at these options to avoid a blind Brexit and commit to putting any Brexit deal back to the people."Theresa May holds Brexit crisis talks with Jeremy CorbynSecond, in those indicative votes, a second referendum has been more popular than anything else. And the Prime Minister has committed herself to respecting the will of parliament.Third, and most importantly, in the event of a long extension, the UK will still be an EU member state, with lawmakers in the European Parliament, and no fixed plan for leaving. At that point, it would be absurd that any public vote would not have the option of remaining in the EU.Fourth, the EU has repeatedly said that it would need a good reason to grant a long extension. A referendum or general election would likely qualify as a good enough reason. And a referendum is far more likely to provide clarity than an election.Finally, even if the Withdrawal Agreement does pass swiftly, MPs might insist that May's deal is put to the public anyway. "A referendum on the deal is looking more likely than ever, which in itself is a remarkable achievement," Labour MP Wes Streeting told me. "It's very clear that it provides a route, perhaps the only route, to breaking the deadlock in Parliament and restoring some democratic legitimacy to a deeply discredited process."So there you go. Brexit, it seems, is unlikely to go away any time soon.
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(CNN)Novak Djokovic has split with his long-term coach, Marian Vajda, who formed a part of the 20-time grand slam winner's team for the last 15 years.Though Djokovic has only just announced the change via a statement on his website, the pair stopped working together after the 2021 ATP Finals in Turin last November.It marks an increasingly turbulent start to the year for Djokovic following his deportation from Australia in January, preventing his participation in the Australian Open, as well as the loss of his world No.1 status to Daniil Medvedev.Previously, Vajda had provided some stability for the Serb with their long association dating back to 2006 when Vajda was hired as Djokovic's head coach, a position he held until 2013 with the arrival of Boris Becker. In his original tenure as head coach, Vajda oversaw Djokovic's rise from a hugely talented newcomer to world no.1 and multiple grand slam winner by 2011."During my time with Novak, I have been lucky to watch him transform into the player he is today," Vajda said in the statement. "I will look back on our time together with immense pride and am so very thankful for the success we have achieved."Read MoreVajda remained a part of Djokovic's coaching team under Becker until 2017, and following a brief hiatus, rejoined in 2018, coinciding with Djokovic's return to form with grand slam victories at Wimbledon and the US Open."Marian has been by my side during the most important and memorable moments in my career," Djokovic said. Marian Vajda applauding as Djokovic plays Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece during the 2021 French Open."Together we have achieved some incredible things and I am very grateful for his friendship and dedication over the last 15 years. While he might be leaving the professional team, he will always be family and I can't thank him enough for all he has done."During their time together, Djokovic and Vajda accumulated 85 ATP singles titles -- including all of Djokovic's 20 grand slam titles. In recent years, however, Vajda has stepped back a little. Since 2019, he has shared coaching duties with Goran Ivanisevic, and traveled to fewer tournaments. Ivanisevic will remain working with Djokovic, hoping to steer him back to world No.1, a potentially difficult task given Djokovic's continued refusal to comply with vaccination requirements that now guard many of the world's biggest tournaments.Vajda, though no longer an official member of Djokovic's team, will "remain his biggest support on and off the court."
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Story highlightsZambia stun favorites Ghana 1-0 to reach the final of the Africa Cup of Nations Substitute Emmanuel Mayuka scores the only goal with 12 minutes remainingZambia will face Ivory Coast in Sunday's final after the Elephants beat Mali 1-0Arsenal striker Gervinho's superb individual goal is enough to defeat co-hostsZambia will face pre-tournament favorites Ivory Coast in Sunday's final of the Africa Cup of Nations after both countries won their semifinals 1-0 on Wednesday.Substitute Emmanuel Mayuka scored the only goal 12 minutes from time as Zambia shocked another one of the title favorites, Ghana.Meanwhile, a superb individual goal from Arsenal striker Gervinho proved enough for Ivory Coast to see off Mali in Gabon's capital Libreville.World Cup quarterfinalists Ghana, who lost to Egypt in the 2010 African final, squandered a host of chances, missed a penalty and had a player sent off in Bata, Equatorial Guinea.And the Black Stars were made to pay for not taking advantage of their superiority when 20-year-old striker Mayuka fired home from outside the penalty area.Four-times champions Ghana started the match strongly and should have taken an eighth minute lead when Davies Nkausu fouled Kwadwo Asamoah in the area.But Asamoah Gyan wasted the resulting penalty when his poorly-struck spot-kick was pushed away by goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene. Soon afterwards, Gyan shot straight at Mweene after being put through by Andre Ayew, whose younger brother Jordan also fluffed a great chance to score.JUST WATCHEDFavorites advance in Africa CupReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHFavorites advance in Africa Cup 02:52Ghana continued to have the majority of the possession after the break, but Mayuka's superb strike gave Zambia a lead they held onto.Ghana's woes were compounded by the dismissal of Derek Boateng with seven minutes left for a second bookable offense.A contender for the goal of the competition from Arsenal striker Gervinho against Mali put Ivory Coast into the final for the first time since losing to Egypt in 2006.Picking the ball up on the halfway line, Gervinho left a host of Mali players in his wake as he sprinted down the left wing before firing a shot past goalkeeper Soumaila Diakite into the far corner of the net.Looking to avoid the same fate as Ghana earlier in the day, the Elephants nearly took a fifth-minute lead when Didier Drogba's shot struck the crossbar.And, just seven minutes later, African player of the year Yaya Toure also struck the bar after being set up by Drogba's Chelsea clubmate Salomon Kalou.Moustapha Yattabare had Mali's best chance in the 72nd minute, but his attempt from the right narrowly whistled over the crossbar.
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The amount of malware crafted and aimed at Android devices is ever-increasing. With Android being the most popular platform for smartphones and tablets around the world, Android users have become the low-hanging fruit when it comes to writing malware by the nefarious users. A new Android threat has affected 500,000 devices in China so far.
Analysts at TrustGo Security Labs have discovered the Trojan!SMSZombie.A. It is a complex and sophisticated malware that exploits a vulnerability in the China Mobile SMS Payment System to fund unauthorised payments, steal bank card numbers and receipt information regarding money transfers. The trojan is difficult to detect, and even more difficult to remove.
SMSZombieA was first discovered on August 8, and the malware is embedded in several wallpaper apps. The wallpaper apps are noted to use provocative titles and nude images to encourage users to download. The trojan installs itself on a device after its user has downloaded and installed the app, making detection difficult. As a result, the wallpaper app is not flagged as malicious in the marketplace.
Further, the trojan can change the amount and timing of unauthorised charges; that way most times users don't know that they have been hacked. According to the information TrustGo Vice President of Engineering , the Trojan does not report back to a C&C server. In fact, the malware receives its orders from an ever-changing set of random phone numbers.
The malware can remotely control the infected device. It enables hackers to remotely control victims' mobile SMS payments system, allowing them to secretly authorize payments for amount and at any time. "Our guess is that these malware developers have some connection with these premium services,".
Researchers have found that by using a configuration file, which can be updated by the makers of the malware at any time, it is possible for the malware to intercept and forward text messages. As SMSes sometimes include banking information and other financial details, the malware can wreak further havoc in user accounts.
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(CNN)American women's soccer co-captain Megan Rapinoe is not planning to go to the White House if the national team wins the World Cup.
A reporter from Eight by Eight, a soccer magazine that looks at the sport and its place in culture, asked Rapinoe if she was excited about going to the White House if her team wins the Women's World Cup. "Psssh, I'm not going to the f*****g White House," she fired back before the reporter finished the question. "No. I'm not going to the White House. We're not gonna be invited. I doubt it." The magazine posted the short interview clip Tuesday on Twitter. The US national team is competing in the Women's World Cup, and plays host country France on Friday.Read MoreOther teams have skipped the White House visitIt's not the first time professional athletes have turned down a visit to the White House. Golden State Warriors swap White House visit for African-American history museumThe Golden State Warriors decided not to go to the White House last year after winning an NBA title. Before their scheduled visit, President Donald Trump revoked their invitation on Twitter. Trump also canceled a visit from the 2018 Super Bowl champions Philadelphia Eagles because of controversy over standing for the national anthem at games. Rapinoe is an advocate for social equality Rapinoe, one of the women's national team's co-captains, has been outspoken about social justice issues. In 2016, she was among the first white professional athletes to show solidarity with Colin Kaepernick when media first began reporting on his kneeling during the national anthem. Rapinoe knelt during a game a month after it was first noticed that Kaepernick was kneeling. Megan Rapinoe of the US Women's team kneels during the playing of the national anthem. "I think it's actually pretty disgusting the way he was treated and the way that a lot of the media has covered it and made it about something that it absolutely isn't," she said. "We need to have a more thoughtful, two-sided conversation about racial issues in this country."Just this week, Trump told The Hill that he doesn't think it's appropriate for Rapinoe to protest during the national anthem. She's demanded equal pay for the women's teamIn May, Rapinoe called out the soccer's leadership for not doing enough to level the pitch for men and women players. She acknowledged "strides" had been made toward the better treatment of women, but FIFA essentially has "unlimited resources" and a historic lack of investment in women's games. "I would like to see a major paradigm shift," she said.Rapinoe is also one of 28 players suing the United States Soccer Federation, alleging the men's national team earns more than they do even though they play more games and win more matches.
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The role of hacker is recognized as crucial today in cyber security, these specialists are the nightmare of security experts but their knowledge is fundamental to understand the vulnerabilities of our infrastructures … think like a hacker if you want really protect your system.
But hacking is a culture, a way of life that is hard to match ago with the business logic, true hackers don't do this for money, money are fundamental but not all, the must for them is always to put into question their capabilities, try to consistently exceed their limits.
Fortunately industry, private business and governments have understood it and have re-evaluated the importance of hackers, these specialists were once seen as shady individuals to avoid, today they are highly sought professionals in both private business and government sectors.
Discover vulnerabilities before attackers could exploit them is essential, millions of people and devices are connected to the network, a unique opportunity for groups of cyber criminals and state sponsored hackers, who control the global network will control the world.
Hackers are professionals that spend their time trying to discover vulnerabilities to exploit in any architecture, their work has a great commercial value, the results of their effort, the exploit of vulnerabilities is a precious commodity for intelligence agencies and private companies, their knowledge in fact could open the door to richest businesses.
Every day we read about cyber attacks, every day we read of government initiatives to protect infrastructures recruiting hacker as consultants. Recently Japan's National Police Agency has started a program to promote knowledge exchange with ethical hackers on principal attack techniques adopted by cyber criminal organizations with the intent to acquire more information on such crimes.
The authorities fear the spread of malicious agents designed to remotely control victims according The Japan Times, the police desires to a gather information on the cyber threat and to plan an awareness campaign on the population to avoid an attack on large scale that could have serious consequences.
Japanese government is very attentive on the topic, defense ministry announced to set up cyber defense unit by 2013, Japan is one of the countries most affected by cyber attacks in particular by cyber espionage campaign that hit its industrial and research sectors.
Other opening signal comes from the U.S. Government, which for years has launched a recruiting campaign for hire in his masks the valuable professionals and their knowledge. Recently the U.S. government has announced the creation of the National Day of Civic Hacking, scheduled for the next 1 and 2 June, an event open to all cyber experts who want to make a contribution to improve the electronic systems of the country.
The official announcement states:
"Civic Hacking Day is an opportunity for software developers, technologists, and entrepreneurs to unleash their can-do American spirit by collaboratively harnessing publicly-released data and code to create innovative solutions for problems that affect Americans. While civic hacking communities have long worked to improve our country and the world, this summer will mark the first time local developers from across the Nation unite around the shared mission of addressing and solving challenges relevant to OUR blocks, OUR neighborhoods, OUR cities, OUR states, and OUR country."
Similar initiatives are fundamental for US and its cyber strategy, they have dual scope, make awareness on cyber security issue and try to involve citizens in the development of solutions and promoting of ideas to protect the country and its assets from attacks coming from the cyberspace … that is an excellent example for promoting a positive hacking culture.
Many other governments are improving their cyber capabilities recruiting hackers unfortunately, in many cases, the main purpose is the offense, create new instruments to penetrate the opposing networks.
China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Israel and the same U.S. are the countries that major investing in the creation of new cyber units composed by hackers involving them in offensive cyber operations and cyber espionage campaigns.
Another dangerous phenomenon is the born of group of cyber mercenaries, skilled hackers that work for governments, but principally for cyber criminal organizations, providing hacking services such as targeted cyber attacks or development of specifically crafted malware. Recruit hackers is not so hard, it is possible to do it on various underground forums or in the Deep Web, this professionals and related cost are very cheap in majority of cases.
The question raise a fundamental question, which are the limit of ethical hacking? When an hacker discover a vulnerability which is the correct and ethical behavior to assume?
The monetization of their researches and the incredible and uncontrolled request of hacking services has thrown the hacking world into anarchy attracting dangerous forces like the cybercrime and governments.
In this chaotic moment governments and private businesses have no choice, they must play the same game being informed on the principal cyber attacks techniques, the knowledge is necessary to preserve the assets in the cyber space. Cyber security must be at first place in government strategy as in the private company policies, the figure of the hacker must be considered essential for the evaluation of security level of any infrastructure but this is not enough in my opinion, the introduction of hacker in business context, but also in government environment must be regulated by strict rules, that is the very challenge.
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For the very first time, security researchers have discovered an effective way to exploit a four-year-old hacking technique called Rowhammer to hijack an Android phone remotely.
Dubbed GLitch, the proof-of-concept technique is a new addition to the Rowhammer attack series which leverages embedded graphics processing units (GPUs) to carry out a Rowhammer attack against Android smartphones.
Rowhammer is a problem with recent generation dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips in which repeatedly accessing a row of memory can cause "bit flipping" in an adjacent row, allowing anyone to change the value of contents stored in computer memory.
Known since at least 2012, the issue was first exploited by Google's Project Zero researchers in early 2015, when they pulled off remote Rowhammer attacks on computers running Windows and Linux.
Last year, a team of researchers in the VUSec Lab at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam demonstrated that the Rowhammer technique could also work on Android smartphones, but with a major limitation of a malicious application being first installed on the target phone.
However, the same team of researchers has now shown how their proof-of-concept attack "GLitch," can exploit the Rowhammer attack technique simply by hosting a website running malicious JavaScript code to remotely hack an Android smartphone under just 2 minutes, without relying on any software bug.
Since the malicious code runs only within the privileges of the web browser, it can spy on user's browsing pattern or steal their credentials. However, the attacker cannot gain further access to user's Android phone.
Here's How GLitch Attack Works
GLitch is the first remote Rowhammer technique that exploits the graphics processing units (GPU), which is found in almost all mobile processors, instead of the CPU that was exploited in all previous theorized versions of the Rowhammer attack.
Since the ARM processors inside Android smartphones include a type of cache that makes it difficult to access targeted rows of memory, researchers make use of GPU, whose cache can be more easily controlled, allowing hackers to hammer targeted rows without any interference.
The technique is named GLitch with first two letters capitalized because it uses a widely used browser-based graphics code library known as WebGL for rendering graphics to trigger a known glitch in DDR3 and DDR4 memory chips.
Currently, GLitch targets smartphones running the Snapdragon 800 and 801 system on a chip—that includes both CPU and GPU—meaning the PoC works only on older Android phones like the LG Nexus 5, HTC One M8, or LG G2. The attack can be launched against Firefox and Chrome.
In a video demonstration, the researchers show their JavaScript-based GLitch attack on a Nexus 5 running over Mozilla's Firefox browser to gain read/write privileges, giving them the ability to execute malicious code over the software.
"If you're wondering if we can trigger bit flips on Chrome the answer is yes, we can. As a matter of fact, most of our research was carried out on Chrome," the researchers said. "We then switched to Firefox for the exploit just because we had prior knowledge of the platform and found more documentation."
No Software Patch Can Fully Fix the Rowhammer Issue
Since Rowhammer exploits a computer hardware weakness, no software patch can completely fix the issue. Researchers say the Rowhammer threat is not only real but also has the potential to cause some real, severe damage.
Although there's no way to fully block an Android phone's GPU from tampering with the DRAM, the team has been working with Google on ways to solve the problem.
For more in-depth details on the new attack technique, you can head on to this informational page about GLitch and this paper [PDF] published by the researchers.
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Story highlightsFanning will surf competitively for the last time at the Rip Curl Pro"It's been a rollercoaster," says Fanning (CNN)Mick Fanning's career in surfing has been a wild ride.A three-time world champion, winner of 22 surfing events, he's overcome career-threatening injuries and profound grief. He's even punched a shark.But the 36-year-old dubbed "White Lightning" for his speed on the board is calling it a day, admitting in an Instagram post on Wednesday that he had lost the "motivation and dedication to compete.""I feel like I've just lost the drive to compete day-in day-out now," said Fanning, who will surf competitively for the last time at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, which starts on March 29 and runs until April 8.'It was, like, me or the shark': Surfer Mick Fanning describes attack"I'm just not enjoying it as much as I was in the past. I still love surfing, and I'm still super excited by it, but I feel that's there's other paths for me to take at this stage in my life."Read MoreIn 2015, the wave Fanning caught at Jeffrey's Bay became one of his career defining moments as he famously fought off a shark -- though miraculously he was unharmed. The shark did little damage to Fanning though it did bite through his leg rope and caused some damage to his surfboard."I had this feeling that something was behind [me], and all of a sudden I felt like I started getting pulled underwater. And then the thing came up and I was on my board and it was right there," he said."I had this thought, 'What if it comes around for another go at me? Before I knew it, the boat was there... I can't believe it, I was tripping out. I'm totally tripping out."It was his competitor Julian Wilson's account of the incident which revealed Fanning's close call with death."I saw him get knocked off his board, I came over the wave and his board was over here and he was swimming that way, and I thought it was going to grab him and take him under." Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensHaleiwa, Oahu – "I really wanted to shoot a picture where you cannot tell when it was taken ... it could be from 150 years ago," says photographer Bernard Testemale. Hide Caption 1 of 15 Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensRoss Clarke-Jones – The Frenchman has put together a stunning exhibition of photos for the annual Eddie Aikau memorial surfing event in Hawaii, using collodion wet plate techniques from the 19th century. This image is of Ross Clarke-Jones, who became the first non-Hawaiian victor in the 2000-01 staging. "He's from Australia and he has such a strong face," says Testemale. Clarke-Jones' distinctive features are partly due to his great grandmother, who was from the Dayak headhunter tribe in Borneo. "I photograph people simply, naturally. I have them face me and be themselves," Testemale says. Hide Caption 2 of 15 Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensJamie Mitchell – The Australian is one of 27 surfers invited to the 2015-16 Aikau event at Waimea Bay. For this image, he is leaning against the wall in order to keep still, as the wet-plate process requires subjects to pose in place for up to five seconds, says Testemale. "It's a really slow process because the sensitivity of the wet plate is really, really low, like one ISO (light sensitivity rating) or less. You cannot just click and get a picture, you have to be steady."Hide Caption 3 of 15 Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensArthur Pia – Testemale sought to capture the essence of the close-knit Hawaiian surfing community. Pictured here is respected local Arthur Pia, who was cooking food at the beach."Guys like this are not big-wave riders but they are part of the side story," says Testemale. Hide Caption 4 of 15 Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensTom Curren and Lee Ann Curren – Testemale calls his camera, which for these shots uses a 19th-century lens, a "Soul Trapper.""You can see their soul, what they are, what they express through the eyes," he says.Here he captured legendary three-time world surfing champion Tom Curren with his daughter Lee Ann, who also competes on the pro circuit. Both are keen musicians. "I'm not a really big fan of this photo because it's a little bit under exposed, it looks a little bit dark to me," says Testemale, who generally uses his first take."But because it's father and daughter, it's a really interesting picture. Before we took it, Tom was playing guitar in my lodge near the studio in the house we rented in Hawaii. We spent an hour playing before we took the photo."Hide Caption 5 of 15 Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensDave Wassel – Testemale had a laboratory in his studio, where he went through the complicated process of chemically treating the plates."The hardest part was learning," he says. "I had to start from zero, I had to read all the photographic manuals from the 19th century, to put myself in their position and try to see what they are thinking."Pictured is Dave Wassel, a lifeguard on the North Shore of Oahu and a big-wave surfer. He's also a keen hunter, and here holds his bow -- while stuffed "trophy" pigs are nailed to the tree."Hunting is really popular in Hawaii," says Testemale. "Lots of people hunt with bow and arrow."Hide Caption 6 of 15 Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensDuke Kahanamoku – Sometimes Testemale took his laboratory to the subject -- such as when he photographed perhaps Hawaii's most iconic tourist attraction, the bronze statue of surfing pioneer and Olympic swimming champion Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968).On the back of his swimming success, Kahanamoku was able to promote surfing as he traveled the world -- there is also a statue of him in Australia. "In Hawaii, the Duke statue is like the Eiffel Tower for France," says Testemale. "Four million people come every year to take a photo in front of it. That was a mission for me to get the picture." Hide Caption 7 of 15 Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensTitus Nihi Kinimaka – Testemale also recreated an iconic Hawaiian photo taken when Waikiki was still relatively undeveloped.For his subject he chose Titus Nihi Kinimaka, a former big-wave competitor who regularly featured as an invitee in "the Eddie.""One year he almost passed away, he dislocated his arm and he couldn't swim. They went in and saved him," the 57-year-old says."He's like a legend. And the way he looks with his long hair, face and native Hawaiian face, I wanted to use him for that photo. In his portrait he looks like an Indian chief, which is one of the major aims of this collection."Hide Caption 8 of 15 Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensNoah Johnson – The Aikau family has a custodial role as protectors of the Waimea Valley, where a river spills out into idyllic Waimea Bay and meets the notorious monster waves needed for "the Eddie." "It's a really strong and beautiful place, it's like a natural theater," says Testemale. "It's so spectacular to see mountains arise from far, and tiny surfers on the top of big walls (of water)." Pictured is Noah Johnson, who won the 1998-99 "Eddie" and now works as a lifeguard and stuntman for Hollywood movies and TV series such as "Hawaii Five-0.""He's a really funny guy, a tiny little guy," says Testemale. "In my house I had these old vintage lifeguard buoys, so I used this one for fun."Hide Caption 9 of 15 Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensShane Dorian – Hawaii native Dorian is one of the world's leading big-wave surfers, having stepped up from the regular circuit. "This can show you what sort of board you use for Waimea," says Testemale. "If you have big waves you need a big board -- and they use bigger boards than this one. "I shoot the people with their boards to show the scale. We call it a gun -- it's kind of narrow and long, mainly to surf hollow fast waves or big waves."Hide Caption 10 of 15 Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensKohl Christensen – Christensen, another Hawaiian, has been invited to "the Eddie" since 2008-09. As well as his surfing interests, he has an organic farm inland on Oahu. "I moved my lab to his farm," says Testemale, who also has a farm back home in France."The dog came in and jumped in the car!"Hide Caption 11 of 15 Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensDowning family – George Downing (seated) is a Hawaiian surfing pioneer, and is the longtime contest director for "the Eddie" -- he decides if the event will take place.His son Keone Downing (left) won the contest in 1989-90, riding a board shaped by his dad. Keone's son Kaohi (right) also surfs, and at one stage played minor league baseball. Hide Caption 12 of 15 Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensMel Puu – Testemale says the wet-plate development process is "quite fast -- you can see the photo coming to life in two or three minutes, like a polaroid." Another thing in common with the instant format is the photographs' distinctive borders.Here he pictured Hawaiian canoe racer and lifeguard Mel Puu."He brought this paddle to Paris, he left it here in my house. I'm going to use it everywhere I go," Testemale says.Hide Caption 13 of 15 Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensTom Carroll – Diminutive in height but a giant on the waves, Australia's two-time world champion Carroll earned surfing's first million-dollar sponsorship following his 1988 deal with Quiksilver. "He was a legend of surfing," Testemale says. "That board is a replica of the one that he used when he was the world champion and when he won the Pipe Masters (three times)."The design of his board, it's renowned in the surfing world. He was always wearing a helmet because of injuries."Hide Caption 14 of 15 Photos: Surfing culture captured through a 19th-century lensKelia Moniz – Not everyone instantly approved of the way they looked through Testemale's lens -- including two-time women's world longboard champ Moniz.The 22-year-old was transformed from a modern surfer girl into a "Hawaiian princess.""It's hard to tell how young or old she is," Testemale says of the portrait. "When she came to life in the liquid, it was a little bit scary to see her in this way. It's not the usual image she carries. "Her dad and mom were there ... they got the point straight away. He said, 'Let Kelia have some time and she will fall in love with this photo.'"For more information on the Eddie Aikau memorial, visit Quiksilver's websiteHide Caption 15 of 15'Peaks and valleys'As colorful as Fanning's career may have been its not always been plain sailing as he experienced increased public scrutiny when he lost his two brothers and also the break up of his marriage in 2015.Fanning also suffered a complete hamstring tear in 2004 setting his career back with surgery and intense rehab."It's been a rollercoaster for sure, you have your peaks and valleys, but when I look back on my time on tour it's all amazing memories," he said. "From building myself up to compete, to heat wins and event wins, celebrating with friends and just seeing places I never thought I'd even get to."
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After Financial and Banking Malwares, Ransomware has become the first choice of money motivated cybercriminals.
A new Ransomware Trojan known as ICEPOL has been one of those widespread malware which has been successfully installed approximately 267,786 times worldwide and 42,400 in the USA alone over a five month period, analyzed by the security firm BitDefender.
The ICEPOL Trojan categorized as Ransomware that locks your PC and demand for a ransom amount to unlock it. The Malware was using a previously known vulnerability in Java software i.e. CVE-2013-0422 to infect the systems.
The malware threatened the user with accusations of illegal piracy or 'porn-related activity' and requires money for exemption from punishment that pretends to be from the 'police'.
"The ICEPOL Trojan extorted victims who downloaded it by sending them a message in any one of 25 languages purporting to be from police accusing them of downloading copyrighted material or illegal porn," said Catalin Cosoi, Chief Security Strategist from Bitdefender.
The malware includes one more money making scheme, i.e. Designed to redirect the victims to the website via pay-per-click scam under the traffic exchange mechanism. The police estimated that more than $32,000 was stolen from the U.S. victims over the five-month period.
The Romanian police in cooperation with the Internet security firm Bitdefender found dozens of C&C servers and successfully seized one of the major C&C servers, which was the part of large distribution of ICEPOL Trojans, located in the Romanian capital Bucharest.
"The results of the investigation of ICEPOL Trojan based on cooperation with various law enforcement agencies and third party vendors. Despite the complex investigations, we have so far achieved very good results and we will continue to fight cybercrime", says the head of the agency against cyber crime, the Romanian National Police.
This is not the first time when a ransomware tricked the victims successfully, also last year cryptolocker of the same category hits millions of computer users. So, users are advised to keep their systems software and anti-virus solutions up-to-date and most importantly patch your Java distribution immediately to Update 51.
Stay Safe! Stay Tuned!
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Story highlightsIt is six years since Daniel Albrecht suffered brain trauma on the Kitzbühel downhillRemarkably, he returned from the injury to the World Cup circuit two years after the eventOn the eve of the Kitzbühel downhill, he relives an accident he remembers nothing aboutToday, he has his own clothing line and mentor's up-and-coming skiersFollow us at @WorldSportCNN and like us on Facebook (CNN)Saturday's downhill at Kitzbühel is the jewel in the World Cup calendar, the winner meriting legendary status in the alpine annals.Like any budding skier, Daniel Albrecht had always dreamed of triumphing at the foot of Austria's Hahnenkamm mountain but instead, six years ago, he lay face down on the snow, out cold within meters of the finish line.Online footage of the crash -- memorable to everyone except Albrecht who cannot remember anything from the day before the incident to three weeks hence -- is not for the faint-hearted. Photos: Swiss skier's spectacular accident Photos: Swiss skier's spectacular accidentSwitzerland's Daniel Albrecht had been skiing in practice for the Kitzbuhel downhill when he misjudged the final jump and flew 40 meters through the air.Hide Caption 1 of 8 Photos: Swiss skier's spectacular accidentHe initially landed on his back, his skis breaking before slamming face down on the snowy surface just a few meters away from the finish line.Hide Caption 2 of 8 Photos: Swiss skier's spectacular accidentThe Swiss skier, a rising star of the sport, was knocked unconscious immediately and only briefly regained consciousness before being placed into a medically induced coma.Hide Caption 3 of 8 Photos: Swiss skier's spectacular accidentMedical teams rushed to the aid of Albrecht, who suffered a brain trauma and a bruised lung in the incident in 2009.Hide Caption 4 of 8 Photos: Swiss skier's spectacular accidentMoments before the accident, Albrecht, a five-time World Cup winner, had been traveling at some 140 km/h (87 mph).Hide Caption 5 of 8 Photos: Swiss skier's spectacular accidentHe had to be airlifted off the slopes to hospital where he was put in a medically induced coma for three weeks and initially did not know his name on coming round.Hide Caption 6 of 8 Photos: Swiss skier's spectacular accidentOn his return to action at Adelboden two years later, he sported a T-shirt under his racing gear with the words 'never give up' on it, a fitting testament to his unlikely return to the high-octane world of skiing.Hide Caption 7 of 8 Photos: Swiss skier's spectacular accidentHe admitted to nerves returning to the start gate of World Cup skiing but the return was relatively shortlived as Albrecht was eventually forced to retire not from his injuries that day in Kitzbuhel but because of a knee injury sustained in 2012.Hide Caption 8 of 8At the time, he had been the rising star of Swiss skiing with four World Cup wins to his name and a solitary world title -- the 2007 Super Combined. On a training run with the finish line in sight, he approached the final jump.A minor error on his part -- exacerbated by the fact he was traveling at 140 kph (87 mph) -- saw his skis flap wildly out of control as he battled to regain his balance for 40 meters in the air before landing heavily on his back.Read MoreAlbrecht suffered a brain injury and a bruised lung, was airlifted to hospital and placed in a coma for three weeks to give both his brain and lung the best chance of recovery."It was a hard time," he recalls. "You have to learn your name, your age, all this stuff."His first memory was of a hospital ceiling and it was three weeks after regaining consciousness that he once again remembered his name and the fact he had been a top skier."The last memory I have is from the day before. The feeling was great because the slope was in good shape and I was fast in first training and I was skiing easily. I knew that I was going to be fast in this race. Then, yeah, it was too fast!"Albrecht is able to laugh as he retells the incident, in part helped by the fact he has no recall of the savage beating he took on the final meters of the Kitzbühel course even after watching it back on a few occasions.To him, it is as though he is watching someone else's dramatic and sudden alpine downfall, and without emotion."If I watch myself in Kitzbühel then I feel like it wasn't me because I don't have any memory of him. I know that he was me, I see that it was me but, for me, it was not a person. I was out of my body."In the early weeks of his recovery from his brain trauma he did not have the strength to even feed himself. However, slowly but surely he got up to speed although he admits "I have something [his brain] that doesn't work so good like before. So I'm always in recovery."Today, he gets tired quicker and his temper frays more readily than prior to the accident.But remarkably, it did not end his career, rather it was a dislocated left kneecap after crashing in another training run at Lake Louise, Canada in November 2012 that finally called time on his professional career on the slopes.Amazingly, it was just a week after being released from the neurological unit that cared for him that he was back skiing despite the inherent dangers of the sport."The first time I was on skis, I thought 'okay, shit, this is a nice feeling, I wanna go back in the World Cup'," he recalls. "I got down okay [the first time] but it was not so easy because then when I see I have to make a turn and then the brain had to tell the knee what to do. Everything was in slow motion."Slow as the process may have seemed initially, within two years, he was back on the World Cup circuit although not quite the same force he previously was. There were to be no further World Cup wins, not that he minded enormously.JUST WATCHEDKitzbühel: The most challenging ski race in the worldReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHKitzbühel: The most challenging ski race in the world 03:00He still recalls the feeling of being in the start gate for that first race back: "It was a great feeling. I was a bit nervous. Then I told me, okay, it's the first race, just ski easily. Then it was so good, the feeling was so great and I was also fast."On his return to the sport, the doctors had warned him he might suffer headaches at altitude. He never did. He was also warned about the perilous nature of another knock to the head."Skiing is dangerous and it's always going to be in a little way dangerous. But if you are a skier, if you are a pro, if you're the downhill, it's not so dangerous because you know what you can do, you know how it works and, for us, Kitzbühel, when you ski it's easy."Persuading his family, his wife in particular, of that fact was the harder part but, in the end, they knew they could not stand in the way of his desire and the thing that made him tick as a human being.The return was relatively short-lived, his knee putting pay to his ambitions to once more get to the very top of the sport. Having his career cut short was hard."My body told me that 'no, it's over now. You came back, you were in the World Cup again, you did it, you have you're whole life in front of you'."Now, he runs his own clothes line, Albright, and also mentors young skiers giving the 30-year-old a new career in the sport.Part of him, the racer within, would like to be in that start gate to tackle the slope on which he was lucky to survive. But he's just happy to have had a second chance at life.Read: The Super Bowl of skiing in reverseRead: Matthias Lanzinger learning to ski againRead: Rebuilding a skiing superstar
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The FBI has arrested a Chinese citizen for allegedly distributing malware used in the 2015 massive OPM breach that resulted in the theft of personal details of more than 25 Million U.S. federal employees, including 5.6 Million federal officials' fingerprints.
Yu Pingan, identified by the agency as the pseudonym "GoldSun," was arrested at Los Angeles international airport on Wednesday when he was arrived in the United States to attend a conference, CNN reported.
The 36-year-old Chinese national is said to face charges in connection with the Sakula malware, which was not only used to breach the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM) but also breached Anthem health insurance firm in 2015.
The Anthem breach resulted in the theft of personal medical records of around 80 million current and former customers of the company.
Sakula is a sophisticated remote access Trojan (RAT) that was known to be developed by Deep Panda, a China-based advanced persistent threat group (known as APT19) and could allow an attacker to remotely gain control over a targeted system.
However, after a few months of the discovery of the OPM breach, Chinese government arrested a handful of hackers within its borders in connection with the OPM hack, dismissing its own involvement.
Pingan's arrest was similar to that of Marcus Hutchins, a 22-year-old British security researcher who has been accused of creating and distributing the infamous Kronos banking Trojan between 2014 and 2015.
According to an indictment filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of California on 21 August, Pingan has been charged with one count of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and is also accused of conspiracy to commit offence or defraud the United States.
The indictment suggests Pingan collaborated with two unnamed hackers to acquire and use malware to conduct cyber attacks against at least 4 unnamed US companies from April 2011 through January 2014.
"Defendant YU and co-conspirators in the PRC [People's Republic of China] would establish an infrastructure of domain names, IP addresses, accounts with internet service providers, and websites to facilitate hacks of computer networks operated by companies in the United States and elsewhere," the indictment reads.
Although the indictment filed doesn't name the companies that were targeted, it does note that the affected companies were headquartered in San Diego, California; Massachusetts; Arizona; and Los Angeles, California.
Pingan's role in those cyber attacks was to supply advanced malware to other unnamed Chinese crooks for hacks against United States organisations.
Pingan remains behind bars pending a court hearing on his detention next week.
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Story highlightsThe man was wearing a winter coat when it was 32 C (90 F) Brussels has been on heightened alert since terrorists killed 31 people in March (CNN)Belgian police shut down part of central Brussels for more than two hours Wednesday as anti-bomb officers investigated a suspicious man. The man was seen with a wire hanging out of a winter coat while it was 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit). The police operation brought part of Brussels to a standstill. A nearby library was evacuated as police set up a security perimeter. But after hours of investigation, Brussels police said the man was not a threat -- but rather a student researching radioactivity in the city.The Belgian capital has been on high alert after terror attacks killed 31 people in March. Two bombs exploded at the Brussels Airport, and a third went off at a metro station. Read MoreISIS claimed responsibility for the bombings, which also wounded 300 people. CNN's Brandon Miller and journalist Pauline Armandet contributed to this report.
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Microsoft today issued an out-of-band security update to patch a critical zero-day vulnerability in Internet Explorer (IE) Web browser that attackers are already exploiting in the wild to hack into Windows computers.
Discovered by security researcher Clement Lecigne of Google's Threat Analysis Group, the vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2018-8653, is a remote code execution (RCE) flaw in the IE browser's scripting engine.
According to the advisory, an unspecified memory corruption vulnerability resides in the scripting engine JScript component of Microsoft Internet Explorer that handles execution of scripting languages.
If exploited successfully, the vulnerability could allow attackers to execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user.
"If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could take control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights," the advisory reads.
Besides this, a remote attacker can also target victims by convincing them into viewing a specially crafted HTML document (e.g., a web page or an email attachment), MS Office document, PDF file or any other document that supports embedded IE scripting engine content.
The IE zero-day vulnerability impacts IE 9 on Windows Server 2008, IE 10 on Windows Server 2012, IE 11 from Windows 7 to Windows 10, and IE 11 on Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012 R2.
Neither Google nor Microsoft has yet publicly disclosed any technical details about the IE zero-day vulnerability, proof-of-concept exploit code, or details about the ongoing cyber attack campaign utilizing this RCE bug.
Since the vulnerability is actively being exploited in the wild which makes it a critical zero-day flaw, users are strongly recommended to install the latest updates provided by Microsoft as soon as possible.
Though it is not recommended, users who cannot immediately deploy patches can mitigate the threat by restricting access to jscript.dll file by running following command in the command prompt using admin privileges.
For 32-bit System — cacls %windir%\system32\jscript.dll /E /P everyone:N
For 64-bit System — cacls %windir%\syswow64\jscript.dll /E /P everyone:N
It should be noted that the above command will force the web browser to use Jscript9.dll, but any website that relies on Jscript.dll will fail to render.
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Security expert Ebrahim Hegazy, Cyber Security Analyst Consultant at Q-CERT, has found a serious vulnerability in Twitter that allows an attacker to upload files of any extension including PHP.
When an application does not validate or improperly validates file types before uploading files to the system, called Unrestricted File upload vulnerability. Such flaws allow an attacker to upload and execute arbitrary code on the target system which could result in execution of arbitrary HTML and script code or system compromise.
According to Ebrahim, when a developer creates a new application for Twitter i.e. dev.twitter.com - they have an option to upload an image for that application.
While uploading the image, the Twitter server will check for the uploaded files to accept certain image extensions only, like PNG, JPG and other extensions won't get uploaded.
But in a Video Proof of Concept he demonstrated that, a vulnerability allowed him to bypass this security validation and an attacker can successfully upload .htaccess and .PHP files to twimg.com server.
Twimg.com is working as a CDN (content delivery network) which mean that every time attacker will upload a file, it will be hosted on a different server or subdomain of twimg.com.
In CDN's usually scripting engines are not allowed to run. So, in normal scenarios a successful Exploitation of uploading htaccess & PHP files to a server that supports the PHP i.e. Remote Code Execution on that server.
But in the case of Twitter:
Vulnerability could be used to make twimg.com as a Botnet Command server by hosting a text file with commands, so infected machines would connect to that file to take its commands. Since twimg.com is a trusted domain by users so it won't grab the attention.
For hosting of malicious files.
At least it could be used to upload a text page with a defacement content and then add the infected sub-domains of twimg.com as a mirror to Zone-h.org which would affect the reputation of Twitter.
Twitter recognized the criticality of the Unrestricted File Upload Vulnerability and added Hegazy name to their Hall of Fame. I personally reached Ebrahim Hegazy that revealed me that he has also found an Open redirection Vulnerability in Twitter on 15th Sept. that has also been fixed.
I conclude with a personal consideration, it's shame Twitter hasn't a bounty program, in my opinion is fundamental to incentive hackers to ethical disclosure of the bug. An attack against a social media could have serious repercussion on the users and on the reputation of the platform, if hackers sell the knowledge of the flaw on the black market a growing number of cyber criminals could benefit from it.
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The Sec Indi Security Team has found Multiple major flaws on Clickindia.com - One of the biggest Classifieds network. There is a highly possible chance to damage ClickIndia system or to steal the Database. Hackers Exploit it via SQL Injection Vulnerability.
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(CNN)Officials in Georgia will be required to release accused criminals from jail while they're awaiting indictment because of a backlog of cases that grew during the pandemic, according to the Fulton County District Attorney.Suspects who've been charged with crimes in Georgia are entitled to bond if they're not indicted within 90 days, and though that law was suspended during the pandemic, it was reinstated over the summer. Murders rose sharply in 2020 but data is lacking across much of the countryThat means hundreds of defendants accused of crimes, many of them violent, are now eligible or soon will be eligible for release. "We walked into an office with an excess of 11,000 unindicted cases," said Fani Willis, the District Attorney of Fulton County, which includes Atlanta. "In addition to that, we already had another 12,000 that were indicted and were working their way through the court system." Willis said her office is prioritizing sexual predator and other serious cases. But the reality, she said, is that "there's gonna be four or five-hundred defendants that we don't make the clock on and they, without having the proper evaluation by law, a judge will be mandated to give them a bond." Read MoreFulton County District Attorney Fani Willis says her office is dealing with "an excess of 11,000 unindicted cases." Willis said her office worked "around the clock" to make sure murder cases were indicted before the September 28 deadline. Of the 224 murder defendants who've been charged but not indicted, more than 50 had to be indicted by this week to remain in custody. "Today I am happy to announce not one individual in Fulton County will be released charged with the crime of homicide because a lawyer or an investigator failed to work up the case and failed to get it indicted timely," Willis said Wednesday at a news conference. "Nor will one get released for a sexual offense, nor will our defendants with the most violent criminal histories."Portland, Oregon, police challenged in 'really tough environment' as violence spikesWillis said the county is running two grand juries for the first time in its history -- the panels seated four times instead of twice a week. She said the office hopes to begin indicting no fewer than 200 cases a week in the coming months. "That is the only way we can catch up," she said. Willis told reporters Wednesday that the "crisis is by no means over" but that $5.7 million in county funding this year and next will bring an additional 55 employees to her office, including 15 investigators and 15 attorneys.Some victims of violent crime and their loved ones say they no longer have closure. "This is a serious problem," said Brenda Muhammad, director of Atlanta Victim Assistance Inc. "The people that we represent, the victims of crime, they will find out that the folks who committed the crimes against loved ones or against them, they will be out on the street. Dealing with a gang banger in their neighborhood, yes that is very disturbing." Critics of the District Attorney say that no matter what a person is charged with, they still have a right to be proven guilty without languishing behind bars. "These people have been in jail for months if not years," said Manny Arora, a criminal defense lawyer. "The DA's office had plenty of time to investigate the cases, because they've arrested these people, Covid or not. Indicting them isn't that big of a deal." CNN senior law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey said that clearing the backlog should be a priority. Murders in Fulton County increased by 48 percent since 2020. "We cannot afford to let violent criminals out," Ramsey said. "People with gun offenses, people with aggravated assault, robbery, things of that nature." CNN's Maria Cartaya, Jade Gordon and Peter Nickeas contributed to this report.
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(CNN)Des Linden knows how to celebrate -- whether that's slurping champagne out of a running shoe or sipping a glass of well-aged bourbon. Those were two of her tipples of choice as she toasted becoming the first woman to run 50 kilometers in under three hours on April 13, her time of 2:59:54 on a course near Eugene, Oregon, besting the previous record by almost seven-and-a-half minutes.Legs hurt more than my head this morning. Nailed the race - showed maturity at the after party. This is growth.— des_linden (@des_linden) April 14, 2021 "The best thing that's ever happened with talking about bourbon publicly is there's a ton of bourbon fans out there and they all want to share it with you," Linden, a self-professed connoisseur of the spirit, tells CNN Sport. "I did get gifted a ton of bourbon and whiskey and we had this really nice one that was aged like 66 months or something -- it was beautiful."The celebrations were well-earned. A seasoned marathon runner who had never previously raced beyond 26.2 miles, Linden clocked an average pace of five minutes, 47 seconds per mile over 31 miles to dip under the three-hour mark and take the record from Britain's Alyson Dixon.Read MoreLinden crosses the finish line at last month's event. READ: Meet the 'Iron Cowboy' pushing the limits of human enduranceRacing beyond the marathonThe 37-year-old Linden decided to take on the 50km record to fill a hole in her racing calendar that would usually have been occupied by a spring marathon. Last October, she completed a unique feat -- dubbed "Destober" -- that involved running a distance corresponding to each day of the month: one mile on the first day, two on the second, before eventually finishing with a 31-mile run on October 31. That proved a catalyst for attempting the 50km in April, the build-up to which involved running between 110 and 115 miles each week with grueling speed sessions incorporated into her long runs of 20, 22, 24 and 26 miles. The training was designed to prepare Linden for racing beyond the distance of a marathon."I was going through 25, 26 miles and you start feeling that marathon fatigue where your feet are kind of sticking to the ground, your energy levels are low and you still have a long way to go," she says, reflecting on last month's event."What was very specifically challenging on this course is that we came through that 26.2-mile mark and then you head away from the start/finish line. "You're getting further away from home to a degree, even though you're actually getting closer; that was a big mental challenge."Linden makes a turn on her way to the 50km record. With no fans lining the route and only a pacemaker for company, it proved to be a new racing experience for Linden. Sticking to the target pace on the out-and-back course, which wound along a deserted bike path near Dorena Lake, required a focused mindset. "It was these long stretches of absolutely beautiful scenery," says Linden. "There are horses on the side of the road galloping along at the same pace as us and it's beautiful, but you could easily just fall asleep ... because there was no real energy around it. "Physically, I just felt super locked in and very well prepared ... the main challenge was that last five, six miles where it was like, 'I've never been here before and I got to keep my head on to make sure I get the record and the sub three.'" READ: At 37, marathon runner Sara Hall is enjoying her sport more than ever'Shooting big' in BostonWith the 50km distance not recognized by World Athletics, Linden's time doesn't count as an official world record -- instead described as a "world best" by the sport's governing body. But as far as she's concerned, it all means the same. "It's just words, right?" says Linden. "When you simplify it to the general public, no one in the world has done this before, and that's still pretty special. "If we can make the event more popular and more people start to do it, maybe World Athletics will rethink their stance on it."Having competed at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, Linden narrowly missed out on a spot in the US marathon team for Tokyo, finishing fourth at last year's trials in Atlanta where the top three qualified.An alternate for this year's Olympics if a member of the team has to withdraw, Linden is also setting her sights on the Boston Marathon in October. In 2018, she battled through wind, rain and biting cold to become the first American woman to win Boston since 1985 -- a performance she's hoping to repeat later this year. Linden celebrates after crossing the finish line at the 2018 Boston Marathon."Win Boston is always the goal when I sign up and it'll be interesting to see how the fields come together and what it feels like in the fall," she says, with the race moved from its usual April date amid the pandemic. "I'm excited to be able to train at home in Charlevoix, Michigan, because I think that area is just perfect for preparing for a Boston-type course. I'm definitely shooting for a big one in October." And when it comes to ultra-running -- defined as any race further than a marathon -- the 50km record might just have been the start for Linden. "It is intriguing getting into that unknown and going like, 'I've never been here before,'" she says. "It was all so foreign and fresh and new, and I think it made me excited about the further and the longer distances ... it's all about challenging myself and testing those unknowns. "There's obviously a ton of distance left to go there. I think I could see myself going a little bit longer and flirting with that stuff for a while."
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London (CNN)The UK will expel 23 Russian diplomats from the country after concluding that the Russian state is responsible for the attempted murder of a former Russian spy and his daughter on British soil, a step that marks a serious escalation of hostilities between London and Moscow.This will be the single biggest expulsion of Russian diplomats in more than 30 years, Prime Minister Theresa May said Wednesday, as she set out a raft of measures intended to target Russian assets and strengthen UK defenses.The 23 diplomats, who May said had been identified as undeclared intelligence officers, will have only one week to leave."For those who seek to do us harm, my message is simple. You are not welcome here," she said in a statement to the House of Commons following a meeting of Britain's National Security Council.JUST WATCHEDTheresa May: UK will expel 23 Russian diplomatsReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHTheresa May: UK will expel 23 Russian diplomats 01:08The expulsion of diplomats will "fundamentally degrade Russian intelligence capability in the UK for years to come," May said. All planned high-level bilateral contacts will also be suspended, she said.Read MoreThe move comes after the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4. The Skripals are critically ill in the hospital after being exposed to a nerve agent, known as Novichok and developed in Russia. Thirty-six other people in Salisbury were seen by medics after the exposure. One, a police officer, remains hospitalized.May said Monday it was highly likely that Moscow was behind the poisoning. The Russian ambassador to the UK was summoned to the UK Foreign Office to explain whether the attack was directed by Russian authorities, or whether Moscow had lost control of the nerve agent.May demanded that the Kremlin respond by midnight Tuesday, London time, to the UK government's conclusion that Russia was linked to the poisoning of the Skripals. But Moscow -- which has repeatedly dismissed any accusations of involvement in the attack -- ignored the deadline.Following May's address, the Russian Embassy in London condemned the expulsion of its diplomats as a "hostile action" that is "totally unacceptable, unjustified and short-sighted" in a statement on its official website."All the responsibility for the deterioration of the Russia-UK relationship lies with the current political leadership of Britain," it said.The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the UK move as "an unprecedented gross provocation that undermines the foundations of a normal interstate dialogue between our countries."In a statement, it claimed the British government had "made a choice in favor of confrontation with Russia" rather than completing its own investigation, and said it considered the "hostile measures" announced by May to be "categorically unacceptable and unworthy." The United Nations Security Council has called an emergency session at 3 p.m. ET to discuss the Salisbury attack.May: 'Full and robust response'Addressing lawmakers Wednesday, May said it had been right to give Russia the opportunity to answer the allegations."But their response has demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events," she said. "They have provided no credible explanation that could suggest they lost control of their nerve agent. No explanation as to how this agent came to be used in the United Kingdom; no explanation as to why Russia has an undeclared chemical weapons program in contravention of international law."Instead they have treated the use of a military-grade nerve agent in Europe with sarcasm, contempt and defiance." This leads to "no alternative conclusion," May said, than that the Russian state was culpable for the attempted murder of the Skripals and for threatening the lives of other British citizens.Russian spy attack: Why Britain and why now?"It must therefore be met with a full and robust response -- beyond the actions we have already taken since the murder of Mr. Litvinenko and to counter this pattern of Russian aggression elsewhere," she added, referring to another ex-Russian spy -- Alexander Litvinenko -- who was fatally poisoned in London in 2006.May said she would propose new legislative powers to strengthen Britain's defenses against hostile state activity and target those responsible for human-rights abuses through sanctions.Britain will also step up its efforts to monitor those traveling to the UK who may pose a security threat, she said, and crack down on "corrupt elites." She also announced plans to freeze Russian state assets "wherever we have the evidence that they may be used to threaten the life or property of UK nationals or residents," she said.Military personnel wearing protective suits remove a police car and other vehicles from a public parking lot in Salisbury on Sunday.As part of the suspension of high-level contacts, no UK ministers or royals will attend the soccer World Cup in Russia this summer and the UK has revoked an invitation to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to visit Britain, May said. The Prime Minister stressed that she had the support of international partners, including NATO and the European Union. She also insisted that she did not blame the Russian people for events in Salisbury, pointing instead toward Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Many of us looked at a post-Soviet Russia with hope. We wanted a better relationship and it is tragic that President Putin has chosen to act in this way," she said. "But we will not tolerate the threat to life of British people and others on British soil from the Russian Government. Nor will we tolerate such a flagrant breach of Russia's international obligations." NATO on Wednesday expressed "deep concern " over the Salisbury incident, saying that it was "the first offensive use of a nerve agent on alliance territory since NATO's foundation." It urged Russia to address Britain's questions, including "providing full and complete disclosure" of the Novichok program to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the body that implements the Chemical Weapons Convention.Kremlin: 'Unfounded accusations'Speaking in Moscow earlier Wednesday, Lavrov accused UK authorities of "political theater" and trying to mislead the international community rather than submitting an official request to Russia in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention. Russia is ready to respond to an official request within 10 days, in line with its obligations, once it is made, Lavrov said.Former Soviet chemist shares details of the nerve agent Novichok Lavrov also said that Russia had no motive in targeting the specific individuals concerned and that all allegations were based on speculation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov similarly rejected "unfounded accusations" of Russian involvement in the attack as he spoke with reporters on a conference call. He urged other countries to use their "common sense" as they consider whether there is any proof to the claims.Skripal is believed to have lived in the UK since his release from Russian custody in 2010.He was convicted in Russia of spying for Britain before he was granted asylum in the UK after a high-profile spy swap in 2010 between the US and Russia.Since then, a number of Russians have been attacked or died in the United Kingdom. The latest is Nikolai Glushkov, a Russian exile who was found dead in his London home on Monday night. Glushkov had links to compatriots who died in unexplained circumstances in the UK, but police said there was no evidence to suggest a link between Glushkov's death and Skripal's poisoning.CNN's Laura Smith-Spark wrote from London and Joshua Berlinger wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Carol Jordan, Hilary McGann, Emma Burrows, Sebastian Shukla, Radina Gigova, Mary Ilyushina, Katie Polglase and Judith Vonberg contributed to this report.
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(CNN Business)A version of this article first appeared in the "Reliable Sources" newsletter. You can sign up for free right here.As the senior Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, Devin Nunes was next in line to become its chairman should the Republicans take back the House in 2022. Which is to say that Nunes would have ascended to what is widely considered to be the most powerful chairmanship in the House of Representatives. And all he had to do was stay in Congress.But Nunes decided to discard the opportunity. Instead, he announced that he had joined Donald Trump's social media venture, Truth Social, as its CEO. Nunes said he was "humbled and honored" to have been entrusted with the job.The decision by Nunes says a lot about where power in the conservative movement rests -- or, at least, where Nunes believes it rests. It's not writing intricate legislation on taxes in Congress. No, Nunes' move signals that he thinks that the power lies in the pro-Trump media. Read MoreAnd Nunes isn't wrong. I've long pointed out that the top personalities in right-wing media — people like Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and so many others — have far more influence over the state of the GOP than lawmakers, including powerful figures such as Mitch McConnell.Lawmakers don't set the narratives inside the GOP as much as they react to their voters acting on those narratives. The people responsible for setting the narratives are the media propagandists that much of the conservative base trusts and turns to for its news and information.Nunes has indicated for some time that he has understood this, becoming a regular commentator on Fox News over the years. His move to jump ship on Monday shows he is now fully committed down this path...Red flagsIt's also not like Trump's venture is tremendously successful. Yes, Trump says he has secured a $1 billion investment. But Truth Social is still a fledging company that has — in its short time in the public arena — put up some serious red flags.For one, it has missed its self-imposed deadline to put out a product. When it was first announced, the site was immediately targeted successfully by hackers. And on Monday, it was revealed in public filings that the SPAC taking it public is under investigation by the SEC and FINRA.In other words, Nunes isn't even exiting Congress for a sure bet on a right-wing platform like Fox News. That makes his move even all the more remarkable...Big pictureOver at Axios, Sara Fischer and Dan Primack published a must-read story Monday morning about how the right is building its own eco chamber. "Conservatives are aggressively building their own apps, phones, cryptocurrencies and publishing houses in an attempt to circumvent what they see as an increasingly liberal internet and media ecosystem," the duo astutely reported...FOR THE RECORD-- Casey Newton: "Devin Nunes, who sued Twitter because someone pretending to be his cow made fun of him there, will now be running some sort of Trump social platform. Excited to read the community guidelines..." (Twitter)-- Dick Tofel's reference to Nunes' numerous lawsuits against news outlets and writers: "Looking forward to seeing the evolution of Devin Nunes' views on the laws of libel now that he's going to presumably be a publisher..." (Twitter)-- Tim Miller's take: "Growing up every story I was told about politics treated the W&M chairmanship as if it were the height of power and influence. Nunes is taking a pass on it to run Friendster for bigots. Congress' decline in miniature..." (Twitter)-- Timothy L. O'Brien: "Who just gave Trump $1 billion? Let's find out..." (Bloomberg)
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The world came to know about massive data breaches in some of the most popular social media websites including LinkedIn, MySpace, Tumblr, Fling, and VK.com when an unknown Russian hacker published the data dumps for sale on the underground black marketplace.
However, these are only data breaches that have been publicly disclosed by the hacker.
I wonder how much more stolen data sets this Russian, or other hackers are holding that have yet to be released.
The answer is still unknown, but the same hacker is now claiming another major data breach, this time, in Twitter.
Login credentials of more than 32 Million Twitter users are now being sold on the dark web marketplace for 10 Bitcoins (over $5,800).
LeakedSource, a search engine site that indexes leaked login credentials from data breaches, noted in a blog post that it received a copy of the Twitter database from Tessa88, the same alias used by the hacker who provided it hacked data from Russian social network VK.com last week.
The database includes usernames, email addresses, sometimes second email addresses, and plain-text passwords for more than 32 Million Twitter accounts.
Twitter strongly denied the claims by saying that "these usernames and credentials were not obtained by a Twitter data breach" – their "systems have not been breached," but LeakedSource believed that the data leak was the result of malware.
"Tens of millions of people have become infected by malware, and the malware sent every saved username and password from browsers like Chrome and Firefox back to the hackers from all websites including Twitter," LeakedSource wrote in its blog post.
But, do you remember how Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Twitter account was compromised?
The hackers obtained Zuck's account credentials from the recent LinkedIn data breach, then broke his SHA1-hashed password string, tried on his several social media accounts and successfully hacked Zuckerberg's Twitter and Pinterest account.
So, one possibility could also be that the alleged Twitter database dump of over 32 Million users is made up of already available records from the previous LinkedIn, MySpace and Tumblr data breaches.
The hacker might just have published already leaked data from other sites and services as a new hack against Twitter that actually never happened.
Whatever the reason is, the fact remain that hackers may have had their hands on your personal data, including your online credentials.
So, it's high time you changed your passwords for all social media sites as well as other online sites if you are using the same password.
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Blue Coat systems has undertaken detailed research into the use of 'malnets' by criminals to help support their various attacks in order to uncover the best ways to take down these systems. Botnet infections are commonly spread though compromised websites seeded with malicious scripts and promoted via black hat SEO tactics such as link farms. These malware networks, or malnets, pose a growing threat,
The company said the number of malnets now stands at more than 1,500, an increase of 300% in the past six months, and it expects they will be, "responsible for two-thirds of all malicious cyberattacks in 2012."
According to Blue Coat, the largest known malnet is Shnakule, which has used up to 5,005 malicious hosts or servers at any given time, depending on the capabilities needed at any given moment by its operators. Blue Coat believes that Shnakule is controlled by a single gang, and it's been used to serve up just about every type of known attack, including "fake AV attack, fake code, fake Firefox updates, C&C servers, gambling, work at home stuff, porn," said Van Der Horst. "They've got their fingers in every evil pie out there."
"Then the user's computer is infected with a Trojan," the report said. "Once the computer is compromised it can be used by the botnet to lure new users into the malnet by using the infected machine to send spam to email contact lists, for example."
"A compromised system can also be used to steal the victim's personal information or money, and, in some cases, can also function as a jumping-off point for attacks on neighboring machines," the report said.
"When security companies aggressively pursued the Zeus botnet, malnet operators simply shifted their resources to the Aleuron botnet, developing and using it in attacks," said Blue Coat's researchers.
Interestingly, the rise of malnets has also had some unexpected effects, the company claims. In August, Blue Coat reported that simple 'long tail' web searches were still far more important for serving malware than special events such as the London Olympics or breaking news.
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So you love Minecraft? You might want to be very careful before downloading the cheats for the popular Minecraft game from Google Play Store.
Nearly 3 Million users have downloaded malicious Minecraft Android applications for their smartphone and tablets from the Google Play store, security researchers warned.
The security researchers from IT security firm ESET have uncovered as many as 33 fake "scareware" applications that have been uploaded to the Google Play store in the course of the past 9 months, masquerading as Minecraft cheats and tip guides.
These malicious applications have been downloaded between 660,000 and 2.8 million times.
"All of the discovered apps were fake in that they did not contain any of the promised functionality and only displayed banners that tried to trick users into believing that their Android system is infected with a dangerous virus," ESET researcher Lukas Stefanko wrote in a blog post.
Once downloaded, these malicious applications show banners designed to trick victims into believing that a dangerous virus has infected their Android smartphone devices.
The pop-up alert message also gives victims an option to remove the virus from their device, thereby activating premium-rate SMS subscription that would cost them around €4.80 (£3.40) per week - around £177 per year.
Stefanko says that many users who downloaded the malicious Minecraft app thought it was genuine since they downloaded and installed them from the Google Play Store. Thus, the regular advice of not downloading apps from third-party websites does not apply in this case.
These scareware Minecraft apps appear to have been developed by the same developer but feature different names and icons.
"They were uploaded to the [Google] Play store by different developer accounts, but we assume that these were all created by one person," Stefanko says
Moreover, in an attempt to make the scam appears legitimate, cybercriminals took advantage of the names of reputed mobile anti-virus vendors, like G-Data.
The fake Minecraft apps have since been removed from the Google Play store, the researchers revealed, however, you can protect yourself from falling victims to these apps by using a good security software on your smartphone and avoiding apps from unknown sources.
This isn't first time when the Google Play Store has been found distributing malicious applications. The Play store has had a long history of malicious and fake apps.
However, the search engine giant has been trying to get rid of this issue by making use of the Bouncer bot that helped reduce the number of malicious apps by as much as 40 percent since 2011. Back in March, Google also announced plans to manually review Play Store Android app submissions.
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Wyzant—an online marketplace that makes it easy for parents and students to connect with private tutors, in-person and online, in over 250 different subjects—has suffered a data breach exposing "certain personal identification information" for its customers.
The Hacker News received a copy of an email notification Wyzant recently sent to its affected customers, which reveals an unknown attacker was able to gain access to one of its databases on April 27, which the company identified a week after the security incident.
The stolen personal identification information for affected customers includes their first name, last name, email address, zip code, and, for certain customers, their Facebook profile image as well who log-in to the platform using Facebook.
Wyzant also explicitly made it clear that the stolen data did not include any password, payment information, or record of its customers' activity on the Wyzant platform, and that no other than the above-mentioned data was known to have been accessed.
Though it is still unclear how many customers were actually hit by the security breach, or if both tutors and students are affected, or what security hole the unknown attackers exploited to get into the company's network, the company did confirm that it has now patched the underlying issue.
With more than 2 million registered users and over 76,000 active tutors in its database, Wyzant is a decade-old popular tutoring service that bring students and instructors together, online and in-person.
In response to the security incident, Wyzant says it is performing an extensive audit of its entire network and application security infrastructure and will notify its customers of any significant development.
"Wyzant has implemented additional security measures designed to prevent a recurrence of such an attack and to protect the privacy of our valued customers," the company says.
"This includes reviewing our security processes and protocols. We are also working closely with law enforcement to ensure the incident is properly addressed."
For affected customers, Wyzant also warned them to beware of potential phishing attacks wherein attackers could use their personal information to trick them into providing additional personal information, such as credit card information or passwords.
The Hacker News has reached out to the company to know more about the data breach incident and will update this article as soon as we'll hear back from it.
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Monday, February 17. The novel coronavirus outbreak is raging in China, but fewer than 1,000 people have been infected outside the country. With the virus out of sight and mostly out of mind, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stands just shy of 30,000 points, driven by the longest US economic expansion in history.What investors couldn't know is that over the next 30 days, the coronavirus would burst out of quarantine in China, with major outbreaks in South Korea and Italy, then Spain, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. It brought business to a sudden stop, sent stock markets into a meltdown and forced central banks to take emergency action on a scale even greater than during the 2008 global financial crisis. A global recession, once unthinkable in 2020, is now a foregone conclusion and some experts warn that the pandemic could drag the world's economy into a depression. More bad news: The coronavirus outbreak may just be getting started.Central banks and governments are now unleashing a tsunami of interest rate cuts, loan guarantees and new spending, tapping emergency powers to reassure investors, cushion the shock to companies and workers and preserve the foundations of a functioning economy for the future. In the United States, the Trump administration is asking Congress to approve a rescue bill that would inject $1 trillion into the economy to prevent mass layoffs as huge swaths of the world's biggest economy shut down and airlines, hotels and restaurants run out of cash. In an extraordinary move, the UK government on Friday said it would pay 80% of the wages of anyone at risk of losing their job because of the pandemic. Cash handouts are coming as countries do 'whatever it takes' to survive the pandemic shockRead MoreYet the rescue efforts may already be too late. Goldman Sachs estimates that 2.25 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits this week — that would be the biggest number on record. Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus cases marches higher. The global number of infections has topped 270,000, and more than 11,000 people have been killed worldwide. Spain, Italy, France and the United Kingdom are under partial or complete lockdowns. California, which boasts the world's fifth largest economy, has directed 40 million people to stay at home. "The coronavirus has created unprecedented financial and societal disruption," David Kostin, chief US equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, said this week. Most exposed to the fallout are businesses and workers in transport, the energy industry and hospitality as international aviation shuts down, oil consumption collapses and pubs, bars and restaurants are ordered to close. "In the worst case, entire industries could be destroyed," Moody's Investor Services said in a note on Friday.While the pandemic is still unfolding, economists are already thinking about how it will change the world. Many expect significant shifts in how supply chains are constructed and how global trade is conducted. The merits of capitalism, democratic systems of government and globalization are likely to come under intense scrutiny. A warning from AppleFebruary 17 was a holiday in the United States and stock markets were closed. But on that Monday, Apple sounded the alarm. It warned that it wouldn't meet its revenue projections for the first three months of the year because the coronavirus had reduced iPhone manufacturing capacity in China, and with Chinese stores closed or operating reduced hours, demand for the company's products was also dropping. When US markets reopened on February 18, investors pushed the company's stock down by 2.6%.Coronavirus could spark another Great Depression, former Trump adviser warns The initial hit to its stock may have been modest, but Apple was the first major US company to warn that the coronavirus was affecting its business in a big way. What's more, Apple laid out exactly why the epidemic was such a big threat: the reaction to the outbreak was hammering both supply and demand. That dual threat is exactly why pandemics can be much more damaging than many other "black swan" events. People are more likely to stay home during an outbreak to avoid getting sick. Doing so limits demand for consumer goods and services, as well as energy. Decisions by companies and governments to close shops and idle factories, meanwhile, curtail production. "A severe pandemic would resemble a global war in its sudden, profound, and widespread impact," the World Bank said in a report from 2013.In the month following Apple's (AAPL) warning, thousands more companies came under huge pressure. Carmakers, which rely on global supply chains and timely deliveries to keep their plants open, shuttered factories in Europe and then the United States. Airlines canceled international flights to China, and then just about everywhere else. CAPA Centre for Aviation, a consultancy, says most carriers will be bankrupt by the end of May unless governments bail them out. Cathay Pacific planes are seen parked on the tarmac in Hong Kong.Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University, said the nature of the pandemic will encourage companies to begin reviewing the costs of global economic integration. "The free flow of goods, capital, and people has generated enormous benefits but also created channels for rapid worldwide contagion from financial shocks, geopolitical conflicts, and epidemics," he said. The debate over how companies and governments should respond is already underway, with some observers arguing that countries must make more essential products including medical supplies at home in order to prevent shortages, an impulse that could accelerate a rollback of globalization exemplified by the trade war between the United States and China. But William Reinsch, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that the pandemic can't undo the technological advances that have dramatically boosted global trade over the past 50 years. "The larger question is whether those tools will be used in the same way and to the same degree as they have been," he said. One change that Reinsch sees coming is how executives think about the supplies they need. "The coronavirus crisis has taught them that supply chains are a lot more fragile than they thought, that supplies can be suddenly interrupted for unexpected reasons, and that a prudent manager will not only have a Plan B, but a Plan C and Plan D as well," he said.Policymakers respond as markets crashStarting on February 18, US stocks entered a stunning freefall that wiped away roughly a third of their value and ended the longest bull market in history. The Dow has fallen nearly 35% since Apple issued its coronavirus warning, posting shock declines on March 9 (-7.8%), March 12 (-10%) and March 16 (-12.9%). The index closed at 19,174 points on Friday.Markets in Europe and Asia have also plunged. Europe's Stoxx 600 has lost roughly a third of its value since February 18, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index has dropped 18% over the same time period. According to Bank of America, $27 trillion has been wiped off global stocks since the end of January. Companies exposed to fallout from the pandemic have seen their stocks decimated. Shares in United Airlines (UAL) are down roughly 70% so far this year, while French carmaker Renault (RNLSY) has plummeted 62%. Marriott International's (MAR) stock is down 50% over the same period. Share prices may come under even more pressure. According to Neil Shearing, the chief economist at Capital Economics, the ability of central banks to put a floor under stock markets is limited. "History suggests that equity markets are only likely to bottom out when it becomes clear that the flow of new cases of the virus has peaked. Until this happens, we should expect stock markets to remain under pressure," he said.US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell gives a press briefing after the surprise rate cut on March 3.Central banks have responded to the mounting economic devastation by slashing interest rates and using other tools in their arsenal to support growth and prevent financial markets from seizing up. The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates at emergency meetings on March 3 and March 15, reducing them to a record low near zero while committing $750 billion to buy government bonds and other securities. The Bank of England has also cut interest rates twice, on March 11 and March 19. In Japan and Europe, where interest rates have been in negative territory for years, central banks have joined the Fed in announcing hundreds of billions of dollars worth of asset purchases. Governments have promised to inject huge sums into the economy. Morgan Stanley says spending commitments from the United States, Europe, Japan, the United Kingdom and China add up to at least $1.7 trillion. And a much larger sum has been promised in the form of credit guarantees."While the initial response from developed economies was slow, over the last few days — as economic and financial market disruptions persist — we have started to see strong commitments from policy makers, indicating a sizable fiscal expansion plan is in the offing," Morgan Stanley chief economist Chetan Ahya told clients on Thursday.What happens nextGoldman Sachs warned Friday that US GDP could plummet at an annual rate of 24% during the second quarter, with unemployment peaking around 9% later this year. The bank said that reports suggest a "sudden surge in layoffs and a collapse in spending, both historic in size and speed."The economic collapse predicted by Goldman would be significantly worse than the sharpest contraction during the Great Recession, when GDP dropped by a rate of 8.4% in the fourth quarter of 2008. It would also surpass the previous post-World-War-II record of 10% set in early 1958.Recently assembled vehicles made by Peugeot owner PSA Group, which has closed plants due to coronavirus.The picture is much the same in other countries where businesses are shutting down because of the coronavirus. According to Deutsche Bank, if the pandemic affects the United Kingdom for longer than expected, its economy could shrink 6% this year as the country plunges into the worst recession in a century.Kevin Hassett, an economist and former CNN contributor who is returning to the Trump administration to help the coronavirus response, said this week that the pandemic could spark a repeat of the Great Depression that began in 1929 and lasted for years."We're going to have to either have a Great Depression, or figure out a way to send people back to work even though that's risky," he said. "Because at some point, we can't not have an economy, right?"— Julia Horowitz and Matt Egan contributed reporting.
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(CNN)Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian aid worker who has been held in Iran for almost six years, has arrived back in the United Kingdom after being released from detention. Early Thursday, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a tweet that Zaghari-Ratcliffe and fellow British Iranian national Anoosheh Ashoori "have landed safely in the UK and are reunited with their families and loved ones.""Welcome home," she said. Emotional photos posted on social media by Truss, Amnesty International UK and the FreeNazanin campaign group which pushed for her release, show Zaghari-Ratcliffe hugging her daughter Gabriella and husband Richard Ratcliffe upon her arrival at the RAF Brize Norton airbase in Oxfordshire. Images also show Ashoori being reunited with his family. Read MoreThe former prisoners were flown from Iran on a Royal Air Force plane, which landed in the UK just after 1:00 a.m local time Thursday.Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe released after 6 years' detention in IranTheir release was hailed by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson as "huge achievements" for British diplomacy. "I pay tribute to the tireless efforts of those who have worked for six years to make today's events possible," Johnson wrote in a tweet.Zaghari-Ratcliffe's local UK Member of Parliament Tulip Siddiq tweeted a photo of her on board a plane Wednesday as she made her way home. "It's been 6 long years -- and I can't believe I can FINALLY share this photo," wrote Siddiq. "Nazanin is now in the air flying away from 6 years of hell in Iran."Ashoori's family said in a statement on Twitter, "1673 days ago our family's foundations were rocked when our father and husband was unjustly detained and taken away from us. Now, we can look forward to rebuilding those same foundations with our cornerstone back in place."Ashoori was held in Iran for five years after he was arrested by Iranian intelligence agents in Tehran in 2017. He was convicted of spying for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and sentenced to prison for 12 years, Iran state news agency IRNA reported.Decades-old debt settled Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Ashoori's return home came as Truss announced the UK had settled a decades-old £400 million ($524 million) debt owed to Iran, which Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian denied was linked to the prisoner release."After highly complex and exhaustive negotiations, the more than 40-year-old debt between the International Military Services and the Ministry of Defense of Iran has now been settled," Truss said in statement to Parliament.The debt is for undelivered armored vehicles and tanks, originally ordered by Iran but canceled by the UK in response to the Iranian revolution of 1979, according to a research briefing published by the House of Commons Library.Iran's state-run Press TV said that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been handed over to the UK government, without providing any further details. The country's semi-official Fars news agency said she was being transferred to Tehran's international airport, Imam Khomenei, with a British negotiating team.Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he was "delighted" that Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been freed from "wrongful imprisonment" in a statement Wednesday.'Start being a normal family again'Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband Richard said the release of his wife means they can "start being a normal family again."Before her arrival back in the UK, Ratcliffe told reporters she got picked up by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at 11:00 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m ET) and although she "wasn't really allowed to speak" he was aware of her movements."Her homecoming is a journey not an arrival. There will be a whole process and hopefully we will look back in years to come and we will be a normal family," Ratcliffe continued.Zaghari-Ratcliffe was first detained at a Tehran airport in April 2016 following a vacation to see her family with her daughter.She was accused of working with organizations allegedly attempting to overthrow the Iranian regime and was later convicted and sentenced to five years in jail.Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was first detained at a Tehran airport in April 2016 following a vacation to see her family with her daughter.Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her employer, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, have repeatedly denied the espionage charges against her.In April 2021 she was handed a second jail sentence and travel ban on charges of spreading propaganda against the regime, and lost an appeal on her case in October.Zaghari-Ratcliffe was given British diplomatic protection in 2019 and was designated a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.She undertook at least three hunger strikes during her detention, one of them in a desperate bid to seek medical treatment for lumps in her breasts and numbness in her limbs.Her husband Richard Ratcliffe has also carried out hunger strikes in solidarity with his wife.The couple's daughter, Gabriella, who was just 22 months old at the time of her mother's arrest, is now almost eight.In 2019, Zaghari-Ratcliffe's supporters said she was transferred to the mental ward of a hospital in Tehran and was being denied visits from her father.In February 2020, Zaghari-Ratcliffe's family said she believed she had contracted Covid-19 in Evin Prison outside Tehran.CNN's Jack Guy, Angus Watson, Sarra Alayyan, Zeena Saifi, Hamdi Alkhshali, Vasco Cotovio, Nada Bashir and Lauren Said-Moorhouse contributed to this report.
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It's been a rough week for cheating website Ashley Madison, whose slogan is "Life is short, have an affair."
Last week, the Impact Team, who claimed to hack Ashley Madison, posted 10GB of personal data for tens of Millions of its customers, including their names and email addresses.
The hackers made things even worse by releasing another 20GB of company's internal data, including personal emails from the CEO of Ashley Madison parent company Avid Life, Noel Biderman, along with the source code for Ashley Madison's website and mobile apps.
However, regardless of how you respond to the Ashley Madison hack, the bottom line is that what the hackers, who called themselves The Impact Team, did was highly illegal.
Not just illegal, but now the Ashley Madison hack has become a reason for suicides, blackmail and multiple cases of extortion.
"Two unconfirmed reports of suicides due to #AshleyMadisonHack, says Acting Staff Superintendent Bryce Evans at Aug 24 press conference," Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) tweeted.
Ashley Madison offering $500,000 Reward
These are precisely the reasons why Ashley Madison, the popular extramarital affair website, is offering a CA$500,000 (About $379,000 USD) reward to anyone with information that leads to the arrest of the hackers responsible for the embarrassing leak of users' data.
The bounty offer was announced by Toronto police's acting staff Superintendent Bryce Evans at the televised and Webcast news press conference in Toronto Monday morning.
While announcing the reward, Evans noted that The Impact Team's actions "have a long-term social and economic impact" and appealed to the public and white-hat hacker community to help authorities in tracking down the Impact Team.
Evans also issued the following statement to warn the Impact Team:
"Team Impact. I want to make it very clear to you. Your actions are illegal, and won't be tolerated. This is your wake-up call."
Moreover, Evans noted if any of the Ashley Madison customers is being extorted by the hackers should immediately contact their local police department.
You can watch the full press conference video here.
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Story highlightsPrince William and the Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their first child soonOddsmakers are taking bets on what the royal baby's name might beIs the baby more likely to be a boy or a girl? Catherine's health might provide a hintPrince William and his wife, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, are expecting their first baby this month.As the world awaits the arrival, here's a look at some interesting statistics and facts about royal births in Britain:4 - The number of first names Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry all have: Charles' full name is Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor, William's is William Arthur Philip Louis Windsor, and Harry's is Henry Charles Albert David Windsor. The royal baby will probably have a lot of names, too, including the title prince (or princess) of Cambridge.200 to 1 - The odds William and Catherine will name a girl Adele or Britney, or a boy Barack, according to oddsmakers at Ladbrokes.5,000 to 1 - The odds they will choose North for the name, according to Ladbrokes. Too bad that has already been taken.723,913 - Live births in England and Wales in 2011, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Office for National Statistics.1.34% - The chance of giving birth to twins in the United Kingdom, not counting in vitro fertilization.JUST WATCHEDBookies offer odds on royal babyReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHBookies offer odds on royal baby 02:32JUST WATCHEDWhat will the UK's royal baby look like?ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHWhat will the UK's royal baby look like? 01:32JUST WATCHEDGuessing the royal baby's genderReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHGuessing the royal baby's gender 03:1950% - Greater likelihood that the royal baby is a girl, according to a study of women in Washington hospitalized for hyperemesis gravidarum. Catherine was hospitalized for this condition, which is essentially nausea that leads to vomiting and dehydration, in December 2012.2,013 - Silver pennies coined by the Royal Mint, to be given to UK babies who are born on the same day as the royal heir.32.6 - The average age of fathers for English and Welsh babies born in the year 2011.31 - Prince William's age when the royal baby will be born. He turned 31 on June 21.29.7 - The average age of mothers for English and Welsh babies born in 2011.31 - Catherine's age when the royal baby will be born. Her birthday is January 9, and she is almost six months older than Prince William.2 weeks - The length of Prince William's "statutory paternity leave," which is typical for an employee of the Royal Air Force.7 pounds, 1.5 ounces - Prince William's birth weight.103 - Years that passed between the births of a baby to a reigning monarch. Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth II's second son and third child, was born at Buckingham Palace on February 19, 1960. Queen Victoria's last child, Beatrice, was born in 1857.3 of 4 - The number of children born at Buckingham Palace to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Charles, Andrew and Edward were born at the palace, while Anne was born at London's Clarence House in 1950.8 - number of Queen Elizabeth's grandchildren.8-8-88 - The birthday of Princess Beatrice, the elder daughter of Prince Andrew (August 8, 1988).4 - The number of great-grandchildren Queen Elizabeth will soon have. Her grandson Peter Phillips and his wife, Autumn, have two children: Savannah (2010) and Isla (2012). Her granddaughter Zara Tindall, and Tindall's husband, Mike, recently announced Zara's pregnancy. Then there's William and Catherine's baby.
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(CNN)Goal-machine Robert Lewandowski notched up his 43rd of the season with a double as Bayern Munich crushed Fortuna Dusseldorf 5-0 to go 10 points clear and heading for an eighth straight Bundesliga title Saturday.The visitor to the Allianz Arena was the only Bundesliga team Lewandowski had never scored against prior to the match but he put that right in a one-sided rout.Follow @cnnsport
In-form Bayern might well have been contesting the Champions League Final, which was scheduled for this Saturday before the coronavirus pandemic played havoc with the season, but its performances since the Bundesliga resumption a fortnight ago will give the Bavarian giant great confidence when Europe's premier club competition does gets underway again.A midweek 1-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund has left Bayern in the driving seat in search of yet another German title, with Dortmund needing to win at SC Paderborn Sunday to reduce the gap to seven points with only five rounds of matches to play.Bayern Munich under Hansi Flick:25 games22 wins1 draw2 losses80 goals scored16 conceded67 points won pic.twitter.com/JIegcEEJHT— DW Sports (@dw_sports) May 30, 2020 Home teams had only won five of 27 matches since the Bundesliga restarted,heading into Saturday's round of fixtures, but that statistic was never going to worry Hansi Flick's team.Read MoreThere was a touch of good fortune for the opener on 14 minutes as Mathias Jorgensen turned Benjamin Pavard's mis-hit shot into his own net.French defender Pavard did make it 2-0 just before the half hour mark as he met Joshua Kimmich's corner with a trademark thumping header.Bayern Munich's Polish forward Robert Lewandowski celebrates his opener and his side's third in the 5-0 rout of Fortuna Dusseldorf.With Fortuna in retreat, a brilliant Bayern team goal saw the third on 43 minutes with Lewandowski getting in the act by converting after unselfish work by Thomas Muller.The Polish star's second came soon after the break as he flicked home a low cross from Serge Gnabry. It was a 29th Bundesliga goal for Lewandowski and his 43rd in all competitions, equaling his best for the season with several matches still to play.The rout was completed soon enough by flying Bayern defender Alphonso Davies, who picked up a loose ball and beat two men before scoring the fifth.Bayern's Alphonso Davies celebrates with Robert Lewandowski after scoring his team's fifth goal against Fortuna Dusseldorf.Muller missed a golden chance for a sixth, but it was of no significance as Bayern eased to victory and made its full complement of five substitutions to save legs for further challenges to come at home and in Europe, holding a 3-0 first leg lead over Chelsea in their Champions League last 16 tie when the season was halted in March.Werder sinks struggling SchalkeEarlier, Werder Bremen gave itself further hope of survival with a 1-0 win at David Wagner's Schalke to move within a point of Fortuna Dusseldorf, which is in the relegation playoff spot in 16th.Former Huddersfield Town coach Wagner is under pressure after presiding over a desperate run of form at slumping Schalke, winless in 11 games and plummeting down the table since the restart.READ: Werner hat-trick for RB LeipzigMidfielder Leonardo Bittencourt scored the first-half winner for Bremen.Hertha Berlin continued its fine form under new coach Bruno Labbadia with a 2-0 win at home to Augsburg, while Wolfsburg slipped to a 2-1 defeat at home to Eintracht Frankfurt.Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, features, and videosHoffenheim are seventh after their 1-0 win at Mainz, while on Friday Bayer Leverkusen improved to third with a 1-0 win at Freiburg.Rising star Kai Havertz became the first player in Bundesliga history to score 35 goals before his 21st birthday with the winner for Leverkusen.
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London (CNN)Jo Johnson, the brother of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, announced Thursday that he was resigning as a member of Parliament and government minister, saying he was "torn between family loyalty and the national interest."Johnson is the MP for Orpington and the universities minister in his brother's government. "In recent weeks I've been torn between family loyalty and the national interest - it's an unresolvable tension [and] time for others to take on my roles as MP & Minister," Johnson tweeted.It's been an honour to represent Orpington for 9 years & to serve as a minister under three PMs. In recent weeks I've been torn between family loyalty and the national interest - it's an unresolvable tension & time for others to take on my roles as MP & Minister. #overandout— Jo Johnson (@JoJohnsonUK) September 5, 2019
This is the second time Jo Johnson has resigned over Brexit. He left Theresa May's government last November, because he didn't agree with the withdrawal agreement May negotiated with the European Union.The two Johnsons were on opposing sides in the 2016 referendum. While Boris was famously the face of the Leave campaign, Jo was in favor of staying in the European Union. Read MoreJo Johnson's resignation is the latest -- and most personal blow -- for his brother in a bruising week of defeats for the Prime Minister. The 'mother of parliaments' is falling apart on live TVOn Wednesday night, Parliament voted to bind Boris Johnson's hands and prevent him from taking the UK out of the EU without a negotiated deal. Around two hours later, the House of Commons roundly dismissed his demand for an election. The Prime Minister also torpedoed his own working majority in Parliament by sacking 21 rebel lawmakers from his own party who joined with the opposition in voting to block a no-deal Brexit. They included figures like "Father of the House" Ken Clarke, the longest-serving MP, and Winston Churchill's grandson, Nicholas Soames.On Wednesday, more than 100 members of the Conservative Party wrote a letter to the Prime Minister demanding that the rebels be reinstated. "If your ambition is to unite the party and the country, last night's actions have hindered that mission," the group, known as the One Nation Conservative Caucus, said. This story has been updated to correct the day of Jo Johnson's announcement.
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Sign up to get this weekly column as a newsletter. We're looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. (CNN)Weeks after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Leonard Bernstein led a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony near the center of the no-longer divided city. The American composer and conductor tweaked the German text of "Ode to Joy" in the final movement, replacing the original word "freude," or joy, with "freiheit," which means freedom. "Freedom, bright spark of divinity," the chorus sang. "Thy magic power reunites all that custom has divided. All men become brothers, under the sway of thy gentle wings."When Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the US Congress from Kyiv Wednesday, wearing a green t-shirt and sitting next to the blue-and-yellow flag of his country, the speech was also an ode to freedom -- and a plea for help to preserve it. "Right now the destiny of our country is being decided," Zelensky said. "The destiny of our people, whether Ukrainians will be free, whether they will be able to preserve their democracy. Russia has attacked not just us, not just our land, not just our cities; it went on a brutal offensive against our values, basic human values. It threw tanks and planes against our freedom, against our right to live freely in our own country choosing our own future."Read MoreAs Frida Ghitis wrote, "When America's top Democrats and Republicans rose side by side to give Zelensky a standing ovation, we knew the Ukrainian President had made his mark. Zelensky, reminding Americans what freedom really means after the country has spent years devaluing it in petty political battles, proves there is a new seriousness in the nation.""As he has with other audiences, Zelensky tailored his message. Imagine being struck from the sky, as on 9/11, but every day, he told Americans. He spoke about Pearl Harbor, and he cited Martin Luther King. 'I have a dream ...,' he intoned, I can say, I have a need. I need to protect our sky," Ghitis noted.Teach the children"This is a world-shaking moment in history," SE Cupp observed, "one that will define a generation, one that could change our maps, and one that is already seeing horrific loss and devastation." She is making sure to show her 7-year-old son some of the news coverage of the Ukraine war. "Concepts like democracy and sovereignty, freedom and war, can be vague and abstract, but as we watch a tyrant march into a sovereign nation, threatening democracy there and everywhere else, we must show our children what is happening -- what can happen to a free people, and what it looks like when the world unites to defend democratic ideals." As Jill Filipovic pointed out, "No images have captured the hellishness of war quite as starkly as those taken in the aftermath of Russian troops bombing a maternity hospital in Mariupol. In one photo, a pregnant woman with a bloodied face is staggering out of a bombed building; in another, an ashen-faced woman lays on a stretcher, her left hand cradling her full belly. The woman in the second photo and her baby have now both died of their injuries." War takes a huge toll on everyone but can be especially cruel for women, Filipovic added. "Pregnant women in war zones are also, like everyone else, under tremendous stress -- but that level of stress can have deadly results for mother or baby. And pregnant women, and particularly those who are having complications, simply may not be able to escape when violence strikes." For more:Michael A. Newton: Russian invaders are crossing a lineJulian Zelizer: Trump's 'America First' policy is deadDean Obeidallah: Whose side is Tucker Carlson on? Roman Badanin: As a Russian journalist, this is the knock I dreadRussia's invasionWhen Vladimir Putin's forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, many people expected that Russia's military, considered the second strongest in the world, would roll over Ukraine in a matter of days. That hasn't happened. In a conversation with CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen, retired US Gen. David Petraeus assessed the war so far. "There are many reasons for the Russians' abysmal performance," Petraeus said. "They're fighting against a very determined, quite capable Ukrainian force that is composed of special ops, conventional forces, territorial forces and even private citizens, all of whom are determined not to allow Russia to achieve its objectives. They are fighting for their national survival, their homeland and their way of life, and they have the home-field advantage, knowing the terrain and communities."But beyond that, the Russians are just surprisingly unprofessional. They clearly have very poor standards when it comes to performing basic tactical tasks such as achieving combined arms operations, involving armor, infantry, engineers, artillery and mortars. They are very poor at maintaining their vehicles and weapon systems and have abandoned many of them. They are also poor at resupply and logistical tasks."Looking ahead, Petraeus observed, "Clearly, they do not have enough forces to take, much less to control, Kyiv and some of the other major cities, but they do have missiles, rockets, artillery, and bombs and an apparent willingness to use them in a very indiscriminate fashion.""And so, they continue the approach they used in Chechnya, particularly with Grozny, and in Syria, particularly with Aleppo, where they depopulated the cities by indiscriminate use of bombs. And it is going to be an endurance contest between the Russians' willingness to destroy cities and the Ukrainians' ability to survive such destruction."For more:Naureen Chowdhury Fink: Putin is calling in favors from Syria and Africa. It's a dangerous moveNuclear nightmareFor decades, some of the most eloquent and informed voices warning of the dangers of nuclear weapons have been physicians, among them Dr. Ira Helfand, past president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. This week, he and colleagues Barry Levy and Matt Bivens, wrote, "The world is shocked by the violence in Ukrainian cities besieged by Russian forces, as they suffer under indiscriminate mortar, bomb and missile attacks. But these horrors could lead to something far worse -- escalation to nuclear war. If we are going to avoid this ultimate catastrophe, we need to work urgently for the elimination of all nuclear weapons."There are about 13,000 nuclear warheads around the world. "Experts were decrying these thousands of nuclear weapons as an ongoing existential threat to humanity even before Russian President Vladimir's Putin's recent warnings that he may use Russia's nuclear weapons ... A nuclear war between Russia and NATO allies would be an unimaginable tragedy." In a nightmare scenario where 300 bombs are deployed, 75 to 100 million people would die the first day, with the vast majority of survivors dying "over the coming months from radiation sickness, infectious diseases, famine and exposure," the physicians wrote.A helping handIn April 1999, then Vice President Al Gore announced on Ellis Island that the US would take in up to 20,000 refugees from Kosovo, who were fleeing Serbian attacks, recalled Mark Hetfield, president of HIAS, which was founded as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. More than 3 million people have fled Ukraine "but this time, there has been no Ellis Island announcement." He noted that Vice President Kamala Harris talked of helping Poland with the wave of refugees entering the country while President Joe Biden only spoke of taking refugees on a conditional basis: "If, in fact, they come all the way here." "Words matter, actions matter," wrote Hetfield. "When it comes to refugees and leadership, the United States is falling short on both fronts. It is getting late, but the Biden-Harris administration still has an opportunity to demonstrate American leadership by welcoming refugees -- instead of relying on Eastern Europe to shoulder that responsibility alone." Fallen journalistsBrent Renaud, a filmmaker working on a project about refugees for Time magazine's studio unit, was shot and killed by Russian soldiers outside Kyiv on Sunday, said the deputy chief of police in Irpin. Photojournalist Juan Arredondo also was injured in the shooting.Renaud became the first journalist on assignment from an American news organization to die during the conflict, according to The New York Times. The next day, Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski was killed along with Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova when the vehicle they were traveling in came under fire. Benjamin Hall, a Fox News correspondent, was injured in the shooting.In Time, Sebastian Junger remembered Renaud as "a highly-regarded freelancer who worked all over the world documenting some of the most violent and inhuman circumstances civilians are subjected to, including desperately poor areas of Chicago." "Without the work of these brave people there could be no such thing as democracy or freedom in the world -- elections would be stolen, war crimes would be denied, injustices would be hidden," Junger observed. "In a world without journalists, leaders like Vladimir Putin could claim whatever self-serving reality they wanted and remain utterly unaccountable for their crimes."Oily politicsThe cruelest irony of the Ukraine war, wrote Aaron David Miller, is that "even as President Joe Biden's administration stands up for Ukraine in the face of Russia's aggression and preaches the values of democracy and freedom, it is under increasing pressure to make nice and cut deals with authoritarians."With oil prices increasing, the war has deepened concern about supplies from "three authoritarian petro-states (Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and the UAE) and increased the urgency of getting to a nuclear agreement with a fourth, Iran." Biden chose to "make the fight for democracy the central element of his foreign policy -- a grand struggle with authoritarians for control in the 21st century." But even as he opposes Putin's war, Miller wrote, he has to reckon with "hard, cold interests" as he decides how to deal with autocrats who can control the flow of oil. "America's interests will continue to take precedence over values."Spring forward no more?With many Americans still adjusting to last weekend's time shift, the Senate passed the Sunshine Protection Act Tuesday to make Daylight Saving Time permanent. Before the vote, Sens. Edward J. Markey and Marco Rubio wrote, "The effects of darker afternoons on our mental and physical health can be serious. The biannual transition of 'spring forward' and 'fall back' disrupts circadian sleeping patterns, causing confusion, sleep disturbances and even an elevated risk to heart health.""The rate of heart attacks spikes by 24% in the days following 'spring forward' in March, according to a 2014 study from the University of Michigan." They argued that there are also economic and mental health benefits from a permanent shift to DST. In the Washington Post, Dana Milbank described the Senate's passage of the bill as an accident. "There were no hearings, no discussion, no debate, and no vote," he wrote. "It just happened, because nobody objected — in large part because many senators didn't even know it was happening."Get our free weekly newsletterSign up for CNN Opinion's newsletter.Join us on Twitter and Facebook"Reporting by The Post's Paul Kane and BuzzFeed's Paul McLeod indicates Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), top Republican on the commerce committee, had planned to object to the 'unanimous consent' request to pass what he calls 'bad legislation,' but decided not to at the last minute because he's focused on more pressing matters, such as the war in Ukraine.""In other words, it's Vladimir Putin's fault that our clocks may change."Now it's up to the House and President Biden to decide if the bill will become law.'Turning Red'In the Pixar film "Turning Red," anytime the lead character "gets riled up, she transforms into a cuddly, gigantic red panda." As Vanessa Hua wrote, "'Turning Red' makes the struggles of this particular 13-year-old universal as she learns who she is and wants to be -- ultimately embracing her red panda exuberance.""The film is among the many movies and novels released in recent years that portray characters of Asian descent as fully human -- flawed, eccentric and dreaming of a bigger life..." Such depictions resonate at a time when hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have spiked. It has been a year since the Atlanta spa shootings, in which a White gunman killed eight people, six of whom were women of Asian descent. Prosecutors are treating the case as a hate crime."We cannot let up on protesting, organizing and voting. We must continue to support victims and improve mental health services, and address systemic racism and sexism," wrote Hua. "'Turning Red' gives me hope, though, in its captivating challenge to stereotypes that can often lead people to view Asian Americans as 'other' -- the first step toward targeting them."For more: Govs. J.B. Pritzker and Phil Murphy: We can't address anti-AAPI hate without improving K-12 educationMarch madnessChristmas morning can't compare with Michael Croley's favorite time of year, the first weekend of March Madness. "Before the internet, Dad brought brackets home from his office for us to fill out -- always Xeroxed copies from the Monday edition of Lexington Herald-Leader," Croley wrote. "When I was ten, I won, and Dad brought home all the cash and handed it to me.""I love the tournament for all the reasons any sports fan loves the tournament, but as I've gotten older, I know that I love the tournament because of these memories and how it kept me close to my brother and our father. And we were already very close."Croley's older brother Tim often shared the ritual of watching the NCAA tournament with him, as they munched on wings and rooted for the University of Kentucky's Wildcats as long as they were still in it. A year ago, Croley added, "As Tim's health worsened, neither of us filled out a bracket. We watched the games and we texted. I didn't know then that I'd never fill out a bracket again. I didn't know then that I'd never spend another long day with him, watching games deep into the night, barely able to keep our eyes open but still at it because it was March, a game was in overtime and a 13-seed had a 4-seed on the ropes."I hoped against what common sense and medical science told us since he was first diagnosed with lung cancer because hope was all we had left by then."Don't missGunisha Kaur: The country where 30 farmers die each day Claire McCully: Florida and Texas can't outlaw my familyKristen Rowe-Finkbeiner: This Equal Pay Day, let's smash the maternal wallJeffrey Toobin: Iowa and New Hampshire's preposterous reign over the Democratic primaries may soon endDavid Daley: Good news from state judges on gerrymanderingAND...Bad businessName your streaming service, pick your tale of fakery and business gone wrong:Hulu: "The Dropout"Apple TV+: "WeCrashed"Showtime: "Super Pumped"Netflix: "Inventing Anna"HBOMax: "Succession"The latest episode of "The Dropout" featured actor Amanda Seyfried, who plays Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, proclaiming that her company was "a religion." The fictional Apple+ series "Severance" made it clearer than ever last week that the mysterious Lumon company is a cult while a trailer for "WeCrashed" showed its protagonist Adam Neumann of WeWork, played by Jared Leto, comparing himself to God. Looking at a few of these shows through the lens of history, Nicole Hemmer wrote that the themes they explore aren't entirely new, finding antecedents in Herman Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener," the 1955 novel "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" and films and shows including "The Office" and "Office Space."But there is a difference. Shows like "The Dropout" and "WeCrashed," Hemmer observed, "represent a damning examination of the Silicon-Valley-centered, venture-capital-funded economy. The stories are ready-made for dramatization, stories of hubris and excess that hurtle toward an inevitable crash. But they also reveal a deep anxiety about the new economy, a sense that, at the end of the day, it creates overnight billionaires but little of lasting value." Investors seem "to have no way of discerning the difference between visionary and fantastical, and ... the least scrupulous walk away with the most money, even after their ventures fail. Of course, venture capital also fuels the companies that succeed."
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Patches Released for BIND Denial-of-service Vulnerability
There's a new vulnerability in the popular BIND name server software that is causing various versions of the application to crash unexpectedly after logging a certain kind of error. The Internet Systems Consortium (ISC), an organization that maintains several software products critical for Internet infrastructure, has released a patch for an actively exploited denial-of-service vulnerability in the widely used BIND DNS server.
The internet Systems Consortium (ISC) have described the problem as follows:
An as-yet unidentified network event caused BIND 9 resolvers to cache an invalid record, subsequent queries for which could crash the resolvers with an assertion failure...
Affected servers crashed after logging an error in query.c with the following message: "INSIST(! dns_rdataset_isassociated(sigrdataset))
More details are available in their advisory.
As of this posting, ISC had not revealed the underlying problem, but said the patches would prevent the servers from crashing. The flaw affects BIND 9.4-ESV, 9.6-ESV, 9.7.x, and 9.8.x. The patch basically ensures that the cache doesn't return the anomalous data and prevents the server from crashing. ISC officials had not responded to media inquiries as of this posting, and it was unclear whether the flaw was just wreaking mayhem on the servers, or if an actual exploit was causing it.
Security intelligence firm Rapid7 said the first attack was discovered at The National Weather Service, with the following 89 discoveries of the attack on US universities."Bind 9 is the most widely used DNS server on the internet today… Gone unchecked, this attack could potentially affect nearly the entire internet," said Matt Barrett, senior solutions architect at Rapid7. A temporary patch has already been released.
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(CNN)It was the scandal that damaged a proud cricketing nation. A year on, though, from the bans, the resignations and the outrage, Steve Smith and David Warner are back.The yearlong suspensions of Australian cricket's former captain and vice-captain come to an end today, providing a line in the sand to formally end a deeply unpleasant episode.Follow @cnnsport
Ever since March 24 2018, when opening batsman Cameron Bancroft was caught by television cameras trying to rough up one side of the ball with sandpaper during a Test match against South Africa, Australian cricket has been stuck in navel-gazing mode, attempting to move forward while trying to forget the past.Bancroft -- announced last week as the new captain of Durham in England's County Championship -- was banned for nine months. Smith and Warner, christened as the "leadership group" whose team culture facilitated the actions, were hit with longer bans by Cricket Australia, preventing the pair from representing their country or playing domestically during their bans.Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft are confronted by umpires Richard Illingworth and Nigel Llong during the Test match in South Africa that saw the scandal emerge.The good news, however, is that when they do eventually return, Australian cricketing great Shane Warne expects both men to "be on fire."Read More"They love the game," Warne told CNN. "To have that taken away from them for a year is pretty tough. I expect some huge things from them this year. I think with the year off, it will have freshened their minds up, they will be fit, raring to go."In a sense, neither Warner nor Smith have truly disappeared from the cricketing landscape; they have both played in Twenty20 competitions, a shortened format of the game, in Canada and Bangladesh since the incident. After being excluded from the 2018 Indian Premier League, both have made their comebacks this year, with Warner making 85 in his first game of the 2019 tournament.'Needed to be punished'However, the official culmination of their bans -- the lengths of which have proven as divisive a subject as the initial wrongdoing -- remains a significant moment.In effect, it is a date that marks the pair's return as international cricketers ahead of a crucial year; Australia face the double challenge of a World Cup, as well as a subsequent Ashes series.Warne speaks from a better place than most, given his own time out of the sport. Warne was banned from playing for a year in 2003 after testing positive for a banned diuretic.READ: Cash, Kings and Kohli: Shane Warne on the IPL's $2.5 billion juggernautWhile he doesn't attempt to play down the seriousness of the ball-tampering incident, he questions -- 12 months on -- whether the punishment handed down by Cricket Australia matched the crime."One, I don't condone what they did," he explained. "Two, I don't know how it got to that stage, where you can be taking sandpaper out onto the field. That's the most disappointing thing for me -- how it actually got to that, to make that decision."But, you compare the penalties they got -- Smith and Warner -- compared to everyone else that's ball-tampered. Because you either ball-tamper or you don't -- you don't say: 'That ball-tampering is worse than that ball-tampering.' You either do it or you don't.Warner and Smith embrace after facing each other in a club match in Sydney in November. The duo were permitted to play, with their bans only relating to international and state-level cricket."Some people only got a bit of their match fee [taken away]. So, to have a 12-month ban probably equated to about $8 million," adds Warne, referring to the potential financial hit the players have taken. "That's a huge fine. But yes, they needed to be punished. I agree with that."I think, at the end of the day, these guys will be welcomed back by the Aussie public. I think they're going to get a tough time over here in England. They will be nailed a little bit and sung songs about and all those sorts of things."'Media storm'In the opinion of former England captain Nasser Hussain, how the two stars are reintegrated into the national setup could be crucial to Australia's chances in the World Cup -- a competition it has dominated in recent times, winning four of the last five editions.JUST WATCHEDShane Warne: How the IPL redefined cricketReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHShane Warne: How the IPL redefined cricket 00:50"How they cope and deal with all that is going to be important," he told CNN. "It is going to be a media storm and it is going to be quite close to the tournament. It won't be right on it, but it will be reasonably close."You don't want the focus to be on two cricketers -- it never has been with Australian cricket. It has always been about the team. They will be a force, especially if Warner and Smith come back in."READ: Will violence prevent India vs Pakistan World Cup showdown?READ: Bangladesh cricket team 'extremely lucky' to avoid New Zealand mosque shootingsA Cricket Australia spokesman confirmed to CNN that "it will be business as usual" in terms of the handling of the pair as they make their international comebacks, despite the interest that the duo's presence is likely to generate.He added: "Much has changed in Australian cricket over the last 12 months on and off the field. We're looking to the recent success of the men's and women's teams to continue in the World Cup and Ashes."Indeed, perhaps the most curious aspect of a scenario that many believed could alter the future of Australian cricket is of what happens next.Smith and Bancroft faced the media after the close of play on March 24 2018, admitting to ball-tampering during the third Test in Cape Town. Bancroft said: "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I want to be here (in the press conference) because I want to be accountable for my actions."In the time since the pair's bans were handed down last year, Cricket Australia's landscape has, indeed, changed. Coach Darren Lehmann stepped down from his own role in the aftermath to be replaced by former opening batsman Justin Langer.Chief executive James Sutherland also left his position after 17 years in the post, though denied that it was directly related to the scandal. Cricket Australia (CA) chairman David Peever then resigned in November in the wake of a damning review into the organization's culture. Just days after the initial incident occurred, naming rights sponsor Magellan had ended its deal with the Australian Test team.On the field, after a humiliating five-match one-day series defeat to England and Test losses against both Pakistan and India, Australia has shown signs of recovery. A one-day series win in India was lit up by the form of batsmen Usman Khawaja and Aaron Finch.READ: How to solve cricket's ball tampering problem?READ: What is ball tampering?For Warne, though, there remains no debate over Warner and Smith's returns to the side."I mean, if you take [England's] Jos Buttler and Joe Root out of the side and a couple of guys come in and do really well and then they become available, they just go straight back in," he said. "Because they are the best, unfortunately."It's a good thing to have, but some of the form players are going to miss out. But that means it's strong. It's a strong team. Smith and Warner walk straight back into that side because they are class. They have proven that over a long period of time. It's great to have that backup."[They have] done their time, paid their penalty. They will be raring to go."
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Story highlightsEngland's Tom Lewis wins Portugal Masters after stunning 65 at VilamouraLewis playing only third professional event after glittering amateur career He wins by two shots from third round leader Rafael Cabrera-Bello of SpainLee Westwood claims star-studded invitational event in China Tom Lewis, the leading amateur at this year British Open, secured his first victory as a professional with a stunning final round of 65 giving him the Portugal Masters title Sunday.Lewis, tipped for great things after a glittering amateur career, could hardly have expected to secure his maiden European Tour title so quickly, but the 20-year-old Englishman emerged from the chasing pack to win by two shots from overnight leader Rafael Cabrera-Bello of Spain. Lewis shot to prominence as he led at Sandwich, also with a 65, and was then part of the victorious Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup side against the United States before joining the professional ranks.His appearance at Vilamoura was only his third in the paid ranks and a run of five birdies in six holes on the back nine allowed him to set a clubhouse target of 21-under 267, which his more experienced rivals were unable to match."I wouldn't have expected that at all," Lewis told the official European Tour website."I was dreading qualifying school at the end of the year but it looks like I've skipped that. I'm just really pleased with my performance," added Lewis, who learned his golf at the same Welwyn Garden City club as six-time major winner Nick Faldo.Felipe Aguilar, George Coetzee, Gregory Havret , David Lynn and Christian Nilsson finished tied for third on 18-under, with former world number one Martin Kaymer and Denmark's Thomas Bjorn in a group a further shot back.Meanwhile, world number two Lee Westwood secured victory in a special challenge tournament in China which saw an invitational field play 18 holes across seven cities.Westwood beat home player Liang Wenchong in a playoff at Caesars Golf in Macau as he holed a 12-foot birdie putt at the first sudden death hole.They had both parred the day's two holes to record an 18-hole total of two-under-par 71, one shot ahead of Ian Poulter. Rory McIlroy, the U.S. Open champion and world number three, finished six-over-par in the four-man event.
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(CNN)Dr. Nelson Atehortua, an assistant professor at Jackson State University's school of public health, drove two hours to get a coveted shot of Covid-19 vaccine because demand was so high, he couldn't find an appointment locally.But on a recent day at a mass Covid-19 vaccination site at the university in Jackson, Mississippi, getting a shot was a snap. People wanting to be vaccinated just trickled in, and the staff at the site sat bored in the meantime."Today it's quiet, but it hasn't been like that all the time," Atehortua said. Many evangelicals say they won't be vaccinated against Covid-19. Some experts say distrust and misinformation have played a roleAt a drive-thru site in Jackson that can handle up to 1,200 appointments in a day, only 275 people had signed up Thursday -- and some of those didn't bother to show up, workers there said. Experts worry the drop-off suggests a lot of people don't want the vaccine and fear what's happening here could jeopardize reaching herd immunity, which doctors say won't be achieved until at least 70% of population is vaccinated. Read MorePublic health officials fight misinformationCampaigns encouraging vaccination are being overwhelmed by disinformation on social media and elsewhere now that most people who needed and wanted the vaccine have been immunized, public health officials said."Miscommunication has been constant since the pandemic started, and that has created distrust in the population," Atehortua said. "So unfortunately -- and this is a reflection that I have made with some colleagues in public health -- we are losing the battle of communication."Students hope vaccine mandate will bring life back to collegeJSU, a historically Black university, has an enrollment of close to 7,000 students and 1,100 faculty and staff members. Close to 700 of them have been vaccinated on campus.False information is what caused JSU student Halle Coleman to delay getting her shots, she told CNN."It just felt like everywhere I looked, I was seeing somebody with a new conspiracy theory or just a reason not to get the vaccine," she said. Some of the conspiracy theories she heard included that the vaccine "was a way for the government to track us, it was a way for the government to inject a new illness into us to make us more sick, to have control over us," Coleman said.Mississippi was one of the first states to open Covid-19 vaccinations to everyone 16 and older, but the state is far from having vaccinated everyone who is eligible. About 30% of Mississippians have had their first vaccine dose, while the national average is closer to 40%. And it's not just Mississippi that's lagging. Southern states from South Carolina to Louisiana -- excluding Florida -- have vaccinated fewer than 59 per 100 people in the states.And it's not just the Southern states were vaccination rates are slowing. While the US this week reached the milestone of 200 million doses administered since the first shots were given in December, vaccinations reported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have slowed from the peak earlier this month of almost 3.4 million shots reported on one day.GOP Sen. Ron Johnson downplays urgency of getting Covid-19 vaccineThis week, on Thursday and Friday, vaccinations were fewer than 3 million for two days in a row, and the seven-day average of new Covid-19 doses reported administered continued to fall. It now is at 2,862,758.In Mercer County, Ohio, demand for vaccinations has dropped so much that the health district decided to end mass vaccination clinics for first doses and instead, transition to smaller clinics that require fewer resources and volunteers.Other vaccine providers in the area are reporting the same pattern, according to Kristy Fryman, the emergency response coordinator and public information officer for the Mercer County Health District.Reaching the 'hard audiences'Pharmacies in one part of Louisiana say Covid-19 vaccine demand has "completely fallen off." Georgia officials announced recently they were shutting down a mass vaccination site due to low demand. Tennessee leaders said late last month they were opening eligibility following low numbers of vaccinations in rural areas. Parts of Texas have also seen declining demand."We're reaching the point where we're getting to the hard audiences," said Lori Tremmel Freeman, CEO of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. "The ones that either are unsure or on the fence about the vaccine, don't have enough information or are just plain outright ... not interested in the vaccine for other reasons."CDC, FDA lift pause on using J&J's coronavirus vaccine, add safety warningPart of the problem has been the uncertainty surrounding Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine. The CDC and the Food and Drug Administration on April 13 recommended pausing use of the vaccine while they investigated the risk of rare, severe blood clots. Data from the Mississippi Department of Health shows a decrease in vaccinations since late March, and the steepest decline has occurred in the last two weeks. More than 74,000 Covid-19 vaccine appointments remain vacant across the state through mid-May. On Friday, members of the CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices agreed the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks from rare blood clots linked with the vaccine and voted to recommend resuming its use. Felicia Kent, director of revenue at Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center, said when the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was paused, about 80% of people who were scheduled for their second doses showed up at a vaccine site, but "we only had a handful that came out for their first dose.""Getting individuals out for the first dose has now become a challenge," Kent said, so public health officials are reaching out for help from community members."What we're doing now is working with churches, working with community organizations, also working with local barber shops, grocery stores," to get the word out that the vaccines are safe and that everyone needs to get one.Dr. Samuel Jones, the director of student health services at JSU, says he gets questions about whether the vaccines will interfere with people's DNA, and "perhaps am I going to grow an extra toe or finger in the future?"Jones likes to call it vaccine "inquisitiveness" instead of hesitancy."As we as persons who inquire, if we have the right information, perhaps they will, a person will, be armed to make a better decision," he said.Many of those people asking him those questions went on to be vaccinated, Jones said.CNN's Christina Maxouris contributed to this report.
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The US Department of Justice (DoJ) on Tuesday indicted two hackers for their alleged involvement in defacing several websites in the country following the assassination of Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani earlier this January.
Behzad Mohammadzadeh (aka Mrb3hz4d), 19, and Marwan Abusrour (aka Mrwn007), 25, have been charged with conspiracy to commit intentional damage to a protected computer for a widespread "cyber-assault" that affected over 1,400 websites with pro-Iranian and pro-Palestinian messages.
"The hackers victimized innocent third parties in a campaign to retaliate for the military action that killed Soleimani, a man behind countless acts of terror against Americans and others that the Iranian regime opposed," said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers in a statement.
The defendants, from Iran and Palestine, respectively, are now wanted by the US authorities and are no longer free to travel outside their countries without risking an arrest.
Although Abusrour and Mohammadzadeh have been behind a defacing spree individually on their own over the last couple of years, they began to work together starting last December, before stepping up their attacks on January 3, a day after the US forces killed Qassem Soleimani in a drone airstrike near Baghdad International Airport.
With help from Abusrour, who provided Mohammadzadeh with access to compromised websites, the latter went on to hack into at least 51 websites in the US by replacing their content with pictures of the late general against a background of the Iranian flag along with the message "Down with America," alongside "Suleimani was not a person/he was a belief/Beliefs never die."
In addition, visitors of the defaced websites were directed to Mohammadzadeh's Telegram and public Instagram account, which subsequently redirected users to Zone-H, a security portal that holds an archive of all web intrusions, linking the exploits to his pseudonym "Mrb3hz4d."
The indictment also highlighted a screenshot of the messages shared between the two individuals and posted on Abusrour's Instagram account that revealed the list of seven websites that were broken into, and noted that the hackers posted the results of their work on social media and other online accounts in order to publicize their defacements.
The two hackers have now been charged and risk sentences of up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000, if found guilty, according to the DoJ.
"Foreign hackers are a persistent commercial and national security threat to the United States," said US Attorney Andrew E. Lelling. "Working with our law enforcement partners worldwide, we will aggressively pursue, prosecute and apprehend those who use the internet to attack American interests."
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Malware is nothing but a malicious files which is stored on an infected computer system in order to damage the system or steal sensitive data from it or perform other malicious activities. But security researchers have uncovered a new and sophisticated piece of malware that infects systems and steals data without installing any file onto the targeted system.
Researchers dubbed this persistent malware as Poweliks, which resides in the computer registry only and is therefore not easily detectable as other typical malware that installs files on the affected system which can be scanned by antivirus or anti-malware Software.
According to Paul Rascagneres, Senior Threat Researcher, Malware analyst at GData software, due to the malware's subsequent and step-after-step execution of code, the feature set was similar to a stacking principles of Matryoshka Doll approach.
Paul has made a number of name ripping malware and bots to uncover and undermine cyber crimes. He won last years' Pwnie Award at Black Hat Las Vegas for tearing through the infrastructure of Chinese hacker group APT1.
In order to infect a system, the malware spreads via emails through a malicious Microsoft Word document and after that it creates an encoded autostart registry key and to remain undetectable it keeps the registry key hidden, Rascagneres says.
The malware then creates and executes shellcode, along with a payload Windows binary that tried to connect to 'hard coded IP addresses' in an effort to receive further commands from the attacker.
"All activities are stored in the registry. No file is ever created," Rascagneres said in a blog post. "So, attackers are able to circumvent classic anti-malware file scan techniques with such an approach and are able to carry out any desired action when they reach the innermost layer of [a machine] even after a system re-boot."
"To prevent attacks like this, antivirus solutions have to either catch the initial Word document before it is executed (if there is one), preferably before it reached the customer's email inbox."
To create an autostart mechanism, the malware creates a registry, which is a non-ASCII character key, as Windows Regedit cannot read or open the non-ASCII key entry.
CAPABILITIES OF POWELIKS MALWARE
Poweliks malware is quite dangerous and can perform a number of malicious activities. The malware can:
Download any payload
Install spyware on the infected computer to harvest users' personal information or business documents
Install banking Trojans in order to steal money
Install any other type of malicious software that can fulfil the needs of the attackers
used in botnet structures
generate immense revenue through ad-fraud
The non-ASCII trick is a tool which the Microsoft created and uses in order to hide its source code from being copied or tampered with, but this feature was later cracked by a security researcher.
The security and malware researchers on the KernelMode.info forum last month analysed a sample which is dropped by a Microsoft Word document that exploited the vulnerability described in CVE-2012-0158, which affected Microsoft products including Microsoft Office.
The malware authors distributed the malware as an attachment of fake Canada Post and/or USPS email allegedly holding tracking information.
"This trick prevents a lot of tools from processing this malicious entry at all and it could generate a lot of trouble for incident response teams during the analysis. The mechanism can be used to start any program on the infected system and this makes it very powerful," Rascagneres said.
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If you have an account with Microsoft's popular free email service Outlook.com, and using Outlook app for Android, then there is a bad news for you.
Microsoft's Android app for Outlook.com, provides users to access their Outlook emails on their Android devices, fails to provide security and encryption.
LOOPHOLES DISCOVERED
Researchers from 'Include Security' firm claims to have found multiple vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Outlook app for Android, that leaves users' email data vulnerable to hackers and other malicious third party apps.
By default, Email attachments are stored into easily accessible folders on the Android filesystem
Email Database (Body, Subject) is stored locally in an unencrypted manner
App's 'Pin Code' feature doesn't protect or encrypt email data.
EMAIL ATTACHMENTS ARE ACCESSIBLE TO ANY OTHER APPS
Today almost every applications available at Google Play Store generally ask for READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission that allows them to read the data from device storage, even if the phone is not rooted.
"READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE and INTERNET are some of the most common permissions granted by users to applications upon installation." Erik Cabetas, managing director of Include Security said.
Include Security firm found the Outlook app for Android downloads the email attachments automatically to '/sdcard/attachments' folder on the file system, which could be accessed by any malicious application or person with the physical access to the user's device. "Phones nowadays come with preinstalled apps on them that could grab those emails." he added.
UNENCRYPTED EMAIL DATABASE
Outlook app maintains a local backup database of your emails on the device file system at "/data/data/com.outlook.Z7/" location, which could be accessed only if the device is rooted and for non-rooted Android devices, Android Debug Bridge (adb) tool can extract it.
"We've found that many messaging applications (stored email or IM/chat apps) store their messages in a way that make it easy for rogue apps or 3rd parties with physical access to the mobile device to obtain access to the messages." he said.
In this folder, the app stores a database file called 'email.db', which keeps a backup of your every email, but in an unencrypted form i.e. once an attacker able to grab this file, he can access all of your emails and sensitive data in plain text using sqlite3 utility.
As shown in the above image, they able to access the email.db file and connect to the unencrypted database file to read the email content and the resultant file which is shown as below:
Earlier we reported, windows malware are now capable of hacking Android devices connect to it and can extract any file from the Android file system, even if the device is non-rooted.
PINCODE CAN'T PROTECT YOU
Microsoft implemented a unique protection mechanism in its Outlook app that nobody else provides, is its PINCODE feature (application lock), which intents to add an extra protection in case your device gets in the wrong hands.
But unfortunately this feature also fails to protect users' data from the above listed two flaws, because it only locks the Graphical User Interface of the app, and does nothing to ensure the confidentiality of messages and attachments, which are themselves stored on the filesystem of the mobile device.
"If a device is stolen or compromised, a 3rd party may try to obtain access to locally cached messages (in this case emails and attachments)," said Erik Cabetas, managing director of Include Security in the blog post.
MICROSOFT REFUSES TO PATCH IT
The only place where Microsoft lacked is Encryption. Researchers contacted Microsoft's Security Response Center in December 2013 about the security weakness in the Outlook app, but Microsoft refuses to patch the vulnerabilities and their reply was, "...users should not assume data is encrypted by default in any application or operating system unless an explicit promise to that effect has been made," Microsoft said.
Erik from Include Security suggests that Outlook for Android could use SQLcipher to encrypt the SQLite database, because this would be useful for older devices that do not support full disk encryption.
SURVEILLANCE COMPATIBLE
In response to the mass surveillance conducted by the US National Security Agency (NSA) where every service is switching towards deploying encryption across the Internet, one of the Internet's big giant, Microsoft failed.
Today we feel the need of highly secured Networks and Encrypted Devices to safeguard our privacy from Cyber Criminals and our own Government as well. So, Encryption becomes more important today than any other time in our history. Encryption of our online messages, encryption of our emails, encryption of our voice call, encryption of our every personal data and communication.
Android users are highly recommended to use full disk encryption for Android and SD card file systems, and turn off the USB debugging mode from Developer Options Settings.
Yesterday, in a separate news we reported about a critical zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2014-1770) in 'Internet Explorer 8' that Microsoft had kept hidden from all of us, since October 2013.
UPDATE
"Microsoft is committed to protecting the security of your personal information. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. For people using the Outlook.com app for Android, applications run in sandboxes where the operating system protects customers' data. Additionally, customers who wish to encrypt their email can go through their phone settings and encrypt the SD card data. Please see Microsoft's online privacy policy for more information." Microsoft said in a statement to The Hacker News.
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Ukrainian law enforcement officials on Wednesday announced the arrest of the Clop ransomware gang, adding it disrupted the infrastructure employed in attacks targeting victims worldwide since at least 2019.
As part of an international operation between the National Police of Ukraine and authorities from Interpol, Korea, and the U.S., six defendants have been accused of running a double extortion scheme wherein victims refusing to pay a ransom were threatened with the leak of sensitive financial, customer, or personal data stolen from them prior to encrypting the files.
The ransomware attacks amount to $500 million in monetary damages, the National Police said, noting that "law enforcement has managed to shut down the infrastructure from which the virus spreads and block channels for legalizing criminally acquired cryptocurrencies."
Police officials are said to have conducted 21 searches in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, including the homes of the defendants, resulting in the seizure of computer equipment, luxury cars, and 5 million hryvnias ($184,679) in cash.
The alleged perpetrators face up to eight years in prison on charges of unauthorized interference in the work of computers, automated systems, computer networks or telecommunications networks. It's, however, not clear if the arrested individuals are affiliates or core developers of the ransomware operation.
As of writing, the dark web portal that Clop uses to share stolen data — dubbed CL0P^-LEAKS — is still up and running, implying the complete infrastructure may not have been taken down.
Since emerging on the scene in 2019, the Clop threat actor has been linked to a number of high-profile attacks as that of E-Land, Accellion, Qualys, Software AG IT, ExecuPharm, Indiabulls, as well as a number of universities like Maastricht University, Stanford University Medical School, University of Maryland, and University of California.
The development comes as another ransomware group by the name of Avaddon shuttered operations and handed over the decryption keys associated with 2,934 victims to Bleeping Computer last week, likely in response to heightened scrutiny by law enforcement and governments worldwide after a spate of attacks against critical infrastructure.
The Clop arrests add to a string of operations undertaken by government agencies in recent months to take down criminal activities in the cyberspace, including that of TrickBot, Emotet, ANoM, and Slilpp. Earlier this February, a joint probe involving French and Ukrainian authorities dismantled the cartel associated with Egregor ransomware.
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Story highlightsA 41-year-old woman is burned to death in Pomona, CaliforniaPolice believe a 51-year-old man doused her with gasolineThat suspect is at large and should be considered dangerous, police say (CNN)Police in Pomona, California, are searching for a male suspect in the death of a 41-year old woman found burned outside her home on Christmas Day. Neighbors reported to police that they saw a woman running from a residence engulfed in flames then collapse on the street, the Pomona police department said in a news release. Suffering from severe burns, the 41-year-old woman died shortly after arriving at a local hospital.Police detectives believe the victim and the suspect were involved in an intense argument that escalated to violence. At one point, the man chased the woman outside, doused her with gasoline and set her afire with what police say may be a lit cigarette. The suspect hasn't been seen or heard from since.Read MorePolice in Pomona, a city of about 150,000 people 30 miles east of Los Angeles, identified him as 51-year-old Clarence Duwell Dear. Although there is no information suggesting he was armed during the time of the argument, authorities warned the public that Dear should be considered extremely dangerous.
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(CNN)From the courtroom to Australia's Gold Coast, Vicky Glover has been on a rollercoaster ride over the past year to become Scotland's first female boxer at the Commonwealth Games. In July, the boxing champion from Hamilton, Scotland, was found guilty of assault after attacking two men with a baseball bat. The 18-year-old was ordered to serve 200 hours of community service and 18 months of supervision. Follow @cnnsport
Since then, the teenager, known for her power in the ring, has thrown herself into the sport she loves -- as well as mowed some lawns and painted houses along the way -- to make history as her country's first female boxing representative to the games, the multisport event for members of the Commonwealth underway through April 15 in the Australian state of Queensland. Opening ceremony celebrates 'oldest living culture on earth'Targeting gold, she started the games by defeating Valerian Spicer of Dominica, who is twice her age, in a split decision. Read MoreVicky Glover of Scotland competes against Valerian Spicer of Dominica.Boxing Scotland tweeted that Glover's win was "absolutely fantastic."Absolutely fantastic win for Team Scotland's Vicky Glover against vastly experienced Dominica boxer Valerian Spicer. Vicky won with a split decision winning the first and third rounds.Massive congratulations to Vicky who progresses to the Quarter final stage. @Team_Scotland pic.twitter.com/I64fC7R5gt— Boxing Scotland (@bringbackboxing) April 7, 2018
Team Scotland called the victory "historic."Boxing: It's a historic win for #TeamScot2018's @VickyGlover99 as she becomes Scotland's first female Boxer to win at a Commonwealth Games! #OneTeam #GC2018Boxing pic.twitter.com/pMbreYujJr— Team Scotland (@Team_Scotland) April 7, 2018
Glover now progresses to the quarter finals. Team Scotland's Vicky Glover post bout win @Team_Scotland pic.twitter.com/yGQ0puIJTh— Boxing Scotland (@bringbackboxing) April 7, 2018
The rest of day three of the Commonwealth Games was dramatic, with world records broken and upsets all over the place. Here are some highlights: She Cranes make historyPeace Proscovia of Uganda and Loreen Ngwira of Malawi compete Saturday in a netball match.We wrote Friday of the amazing story of Peace Proscovia, the Ugandan netball captain who defied her father and her country's cultural norms to follow her dream of competing in the sport she loves. With Proscovia and her teammates, Uganda fielded a netball team for the first time at the games.And Saturday, the She Cranes made history all over again by defeating Malawi 54-52. Proscovia put in a captain's performance, inspiring her team with an amazing shot accuracy of 92%.Peace Proscovia: Ugandan defies cultural norms and father's wishes to follow netball dreamBrownlee brothers bounce back to win silverEngland's Alistair Brownlee, Jess Learmonth, Jonny Brownlee and Vicky Holland display their medals. After a disappointing individual event where neither won a medal, triathlete brothers Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, who have dominated the sport over the past few years, bounced back with an impressive performance in the mixed triathlon relay to win silver for England.The mixed event consists of nation teams of four -- two women and two men -- who each have to complete a 300-meter swim, 7.5-kilometer cycle and 1.5-kilometer run before handing over to a teammate.Alongside the Brownlees, Jess Learmonth and Vicky Holland made up the English team, which finished second behind host nation Australia.How viral moment redefined the Brownlee brothersWorld record for Scotland Scotland's Neil Fachie, right, and pilot Matt Rotherham celebrate their world record.There was a lot of excitement in cycling Saturday as Scotland's Neil Fachie and pilot Matt Rotherham broke a world record, completing 1,000 meters in 9.568 seconds in the qualifying round of the men's blind and visually impaired sprint. The team went on to win the gold medal, its second of the games so far.Upsets galoreBill Chaffey of Australia loses part of his handle after a crash into a barricade Saturday.There was a huge upset in the paratriathlon as five-time world champion Bill Chaffey of Australia crashed into a barricade, breaking his hand cycle in bits. England's Joe Townsend won the gold, Australian Nic Beveridge took silver, and Chaffey remarkably battled back for the bronze. There was another big upset for the Aussies in cycling as Matt Glaetzer, the world champion of the men's sprint who set a world record in qualifying, was knocked out by Malaysia's Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom. Malaysia had a knack for upsets Saturday as countryman Nafiizwan Adnan defeated top seed and two-time Commonwealth champion Nick Matthew of England in the men's squash quarterfinals in an incredible game that finished 11-7, 6-11, 12-10, 4-11, 11-6. Squash is brutalEngland's Nick Matthew breaks his racquet during his quarter final loss to Malaysia's Nafiizwan Adnan.And while we're on the subject, what a sport squash is!The ball can get up to speeds of 170 mph, and you'll burn 1,000 calories in an hour's worth of play.It's a brutal game of twists, turns, rallies, racket-throwing, arguments with the umpire -- think John McEnroe playing tennis but worse -- and a lot of sweat. Athletes are going through five tops a match, plus countless headbands and wristbands. There are even teams of about a dozen people who are sent to clean the court after every game.If you haven't checked it out yet, make sure you do. It's amazing.
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A new research published by a group of academics has found that anti-virus programs for Android continue to remain vulnerable against different permutations of malware, in what could pose a serious risk as malicious actors evolve their toolsets to better evade analysis.
"Malware writers use stealthy mutations (morphing/obfuscations) to continuously develop malware clones, thwarting detection by signature based detectors," the researchers said. "This attack of clones seriously threatens all the mobile platforms, especially Android."
The findings were published in a study last week by researchers from Adana Science and Technology University, Turkey, and the National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Unlike iOS, apps can be downloaded from third-party sources on Android devices, raising the possibility that unwitting users can install unverified and lookalike apps that clone a legitimate app's functionality but are built to trick targets into downloading apps laced with fraudulent code that are capable of stealing sensitive information.
What's more, malware authors can expand on this technique to develop multiple clones of the rogue software with varying levels of abstraction and obfuscation to disguise their true intent and slip through the defense barriers created by anti-malware engines.
To test and evaluate the resilience of commercially available anti-malware products against this attack, the researchers developed a tool called DroidMorph, which allows Android applications (APKs) to be "morphed" by decompiling the files to an intermediate form that's then modified and compiled to create clones, both benign and malware.
Morphing could be at different levels, the researchers noted, such as those that involve changing the class and method names in the source code or something non-trivial that could alter the execution flow of the program, including the call graph and the control-flow graph.
In a test conducted using 1,771 morphed APK variants generated through DroidMorph, the researchers found that 8 out of 17 leading commercial anti-malware programs failed to detect any of the cloned applications, with an average detection rate of 51.4% for class morphing, 58.8% for method morphing, and 54.1% for body morphing observed across all programs.
The anti-malware programs that were successfully bypassed include LineSecurity, MaxSecurity, DUSecurityLabs, AntivirusPro, 360Security, SecuritySystems, GoSecurity, and LAAntivirusLab.
As future work, the researchers outlined that they intend to add more obfuscations at different levels as well as enable morphing of metadata information such as permissions that are embedded in an APK file with an aim to bring down the detection rates.
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Google has once again publicly disclosed a zero-day vulnerability in current versions of Windows operating system before Microsoft has a patch ready.
Yes, the critical zero-day is unpatched and is being used by attackers in the wild.
Google made the public disclosure of the vulnerability just 10 days after privately reporting the issue to Microsoft, giving the chocolate factory little time to patch issues and deploy a fix.
According to a blog post by Google's Threat Analysis Group, the reason behind going public is that it has seen exploits for the vulnerability in the wild and according to its internal policy, companies should patch or publicly report such bugs after seven days.
Windows Zero-Day is Actively being Exploited in the Wild
The zero-day is a local privilege escalation vulnerability that exists in the Windows operating system kernel. If exploited, the flaw can be used to escape the sandbox protection and execute malicious code on the compromised system.
The flaw "can be triggered via the win32k.sys system call NtSetWindowLongPtr() for the index GWLP_ID on a window handle with GWL_STYLE set to WS_CHILD," Google's Neel Mehta and Billy Leonard said in a blog post.
"Chrome's sandbox blocks win32k.sys system calls using the Win32k lockdown mitigation on Windows 10, which prevents exploitation of this sandbox escape vulnerability."
The blog post also notes that Google reported a zero-day flaw (CVE-2016-7855) in Flash Player to Adobe at the same time as it contacted Microsoft. Adobe pushed an emergency patch for its software last Wednesday.
The Flash Player bug was also being exploited in the wild against organizations in targeted attacks. According to Adobe, the flaw affected Windows 7, 8.1 and 10 systems.
Since the Windows zero-day vulnerability is being actively exploited in the wild, Google shared only basic details about the bug on Monday.
Microsoft has yet to Rolled out a Fix
Needless to say, Microsoft is not at all happy about the disclosure.
In response, Microsoft said Google's disclosure has potentially placed customers at risk, adding that the company believes in coordinated vulnerability disclosure.
"We believe in coordinated vulnerability disclosure, and today's disclosure by Google puts customers at potential risk," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement. "Windows is the only platform with a customer commitment to investigate reported security issues and proactively update impacted devices as soon as possible. We recommend customers use Windows 10 and the Microsoft Edge browser for the best protection."
Microsoft has not provided any details as to when the company will roll out a fix for the flaw.
This is not the very first time that Google and Microsoft have been at odds over vulnerability disclosure. Microsoft has a long history of bungling patches, so the move could eventually lead the company into quickly rolling out an update.
Meanwhile, users are advised to update their Flash software now and apply Windows patches as soon as they become available.
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Story highlightsRestaurant in Warsaw first in Poland to gain Michelin Rising StarChef and owner Wojciech Amaro trained with Ferran AdriaEmphasis in on the best ingredients from PolandAmaro wants Polish cuisine to have better international profileTo create the future of Polish cuisine, chef Wojciech Amaro looked to the 16th century for inspiration. During a year-long odyssey to discover the origins of Poland's classic dishes, the 40-year old chef tracked down food historians and visited auction houses across the country to bid on dusty, leather-bound tomes that held the secrets of traditional recipes and long-forgotten ingredients. "I wanted to find the roots of recipes and what the original idea was behind them," he says. "I realized I could talk for hours about Polish products, but I couldn't think of any (Polish dishes) that would stand at the same level."The spark for Amaro's desire to improve and update Polish cuisine was a month spent working in the kitchen of El Bulli with Ferran Adria, the culinary wizard who is often called the world's greatest chef. "He changed my way of thinking," says Amaro, who first began his own epicurean education after dropping out of university to work in the kitchens of London restaurants. Chef Wojciech AmaraoFrom Bialystok in the east to Katowice in the south, Amaro racked up 60,000 kilometers on his journey that also led him to the country's best farmers and food producers, many of whom are now suppliers for Amaro's award-winning restaurant in Warsaw. "Many of them weren't aware of how great their products were. I took their enthusiasm and passion and added it to my cooking. Some of them struggled to keep up the standard that I needed, but they're growing with me," he says. Atelier Amaro has been open for less than a year but became the first Polish restaurant to gain a "Michelin Rising Star", indicating that Amaro is on the right track in his quest to elevate Polish cuisine to a new international standard.Amaro puts an emphasis on ingredients and reconstructing dishes from their essential elements, putting him in a similar mold as celebrated "food scientists" like Adria, Britain's Heston Blumenthal or Rene Redzepi of the Danish restaurant Noma that was recently voted the world's best restaurant for the third straight year. At Atelier Amaro, classic recipes like hare in cream are reimagined -- "we cook it for 72 hours at 65 degrees, so its more like fois gras or butter and is eaten with a spoon" -- while the kitchen is also a lab in which to experiment with Polish ingredients hardly used anymore like chokeberries, wild herbs and edible flowers. As Poles becomes more interested in their culinary culture, Amaro believes the time is now right for Poland to takes it place at the table of internationally respected cuisine. "We've spent 20 years (since communism) catching up in every department of life -- getting good jobs, starting companies, getting mortgages. Now it's a new country and people are starting to say, 'What about Polish products and our traditions?'"We can't be amazed anymore by pizza or some French dishes. We are ready to search for our products and be proud of them." Send in your best photos and videos of PolandOutside of the country attitudes to Polish food have been slowly improving, says restaurateur Jan Woroneicki, the British owner of London's Baltic restaurant and bar. "Old school perceptions that its all potatoes and cabbage are being revised, but there are still suspicions," he says. "In soups and stews Polish cooking is equal to or greater than other cuisines, and generally quality is improving, but for restaurants it can still be a bit tricky finding quality produce like charcuterie and supply lines are not great." Even if Polish gastronomy doesn't challenge cuisine like Thai food as an international phenomenon, Amaro hopes his restaurant can do for Polish food what Noma has done for Nordic cuisine. "Compared to Denmark, Poland is much more diverse, so if we are wise and careful about promoting Polish cuisine... we can be one of the most influential and really big cuisines like French, Italian and Spanish. There's lots of work to be done, but I think its going to happen."
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Story highlightsMuhammad Ali was a master of knock-out quotesHe could be fearsome, arrogant and inspiring (CNN)Muhammad Ali was quick with his fists but he also knew the power of words to unsettle his rivals.The boxing legend died Friday at the age of 74.Perhaps his most famous quote was made when he was a precocious 22-year old about to take on world heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. All about Muhammad AliBoxer who 'shook up the world'Three days with 'The Greatest'His life in photos'Sting like a bee': Best quotes 5 things you never knew'I'm bad, man': Ali's legendary quotes What is Parkinson's disease?"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hands can't hit what the eyes can't see."The phrase was often repeated to describe his style in the ring, and became shorthand for the man who considered himself "The Greatest" before the rest of the world cottoned on. Read MoreHe could be fearsome... "I wrestled with an alligator, I tussled with a whale, I handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail, I'm bad man....Last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick. I'm so mean I make medicine sick," he said to laughs ahead of his famous "Rumble in the Jungle" but with George Foreman in 1974,The following year, Ali used another play on words to promote he predicted the pummeling of Joe Frazier at the "Thrilla in Manila.""It will be a killer and a chiller and a thriller when I get the gorilla in Manila."He could be arrogantAli took the art of talking himself up to new levels, reminding rivals that there was only one king of the ring.'If you even dream of beating me, you better wake up and apologize.' "It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am.""Not only do I knock'em out , I pick the round.""I'm a poet, I'm a prophet, I'm the resurrector, I'm the savior of the boxing world. If it wasn't for me, the game would be dead.""It's not bragging if you can back it up.""I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and was in bed before the room was dark."And he could be inspiring..."Don't count the days, make the days count.""Live every day like it's your last because someday you're going to be right.""Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." "The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life." Ironically, he also said, "I don't like fighters who talk too much."
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Story highlightsThe 2022 World Cup is set to be held in November/December in QatarTournament moved away from traditional June/July dates because of intense heat in Gulf stateEurope's biggest clubs oppose plan saying it will disrupt seasonFIFA Executive Committee set to ratify proposalFollow us at @CNNSport and like us on Facebook (CNN)It's the albatross which has hung around the neck of world football for the past five years -- so what next for Qatar and the 2022 World Cup?The question about when the tournament will be held was revealed in Doha Tuesday with a November/December timetable proposed. Having been cleared of any wrongdoing by Michael Garcia's investigation into alleged corruption into the bidding process surrounding the 2022 tournament, Qatar and world governing body FIFA must now negotiate the minefield of placating a host of parties by playing a World Cup outside of the traditional June/July schedule.When Qatar won the bid in 2010, its opponents thought they were all bidding for the same tournament -- but it turns out that's not quite true.The intense heat in the Gulf state during June/July is considered potentially too dangerous for the players to play in, meaning this World Cup will take place in the Qatari winter -- and hugely inconvenience the world's biggest domestic leagues.Read More"The prospect of a winter World Cup is neither workable nor desirable for European domestic football," an English Premier League (EPL) spokesman told CNN ahead of the announcement.So what's happening this week?A FIFA task force, that's a committee to the rest of us, has had plenty to consider in making its recommendation over the World Cup's date.A tournament held at the starf of 2022 would represent huge problems for broadcasters, with the U.S. sporting schedule already packed in January with the NFL playoffs, while the 2022 Winter Olympics are set to take place the following month.Sepp Blatter, the FIFA president, has already said that he wanted the tournament to take place in the final two months of the year, but the European Clubs Association, which lobbies on behalf of the continent's biggest teams, is opposed to such a plan.It had wanted the competition held in April/May,arguing those dates would mean less disruption to domestic seasons.FifPro, the players' union, is keen on a winter World Cup on health and safety grounds but still expresses reservations surrounding a number of human rights issues associated with staging the tournament in Qatar.JUST WATCHEDDid FIFA make a mistake on Qatar?ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHDid FIFA make a mistake on Qatar? 03:42But wasn't the bidding process supposed to be for a summer World Cup?Well, that's what everyone else thought -- but it seems like the goalposts have been moved.Australia, one of the countries to lose out to Qatar, was outspoken in its criticism of the tournament being switched to winter and even threatened legal action.Originally, Qatar said it would use air conditioning to cool the stadiums but concerns still remain.Harold Mayne-Nicholls led the FIFA inspection team which examined each of the bidding countries for the 2022 World Cup before delivering his report in October 2010.Mayne-Nicholls concluded that Qatar was a high-risk option because of its soaring temperatures -- but it was still chosen by 14 of the 22 executive committee members in the final round of voting in December that year.JUST WATCHEDFIFA reveals summary of 'Garcia Report'ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHFIFA reveals summary of 'Garcia Report' 10:45And wasn't Qatar was under investigation?Not anymore -- in fact, Qatar was cleared of any wrongdoing by Garcia, the man who led FIFA's investigation into allegations of corruption surrounding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.The Gulf state, and Russia which will host the 2018 tournament, were both found not guilty and hence allowed to keep hold of the tournaments.While the full report has not been published, and Garcia has since quit his role as ethics investigator after a falling out with Hans-Joachim Eckert, FIFA's chief ethics judge, there appears little chance of the investigation being re-opened.Garcia's report failed to uncover a 'smoking gun' despite allegations of wrongdoing being published by British Newspaper, The Sunday Times.As far as FIFA is concerned, that's that. Time to move on.JUST WATCHEDFIFA President: 'I have not finished my mission'ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHFIFA President: 'I have not finished my mission' 04:18But what about the plight of the migrant workers?According to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), 1,000 workers have already died in Qatar with the figure expected to rise to 4,000 by the time the tournament kicks off.The so called Kafala system -- which ties employees to a specific employer -- has, according to Human Rights Watch and the International Trade Union Confederation, been open to systematic abuse and created a de facto form of slavery for the more than one million migrant workers living within its bordersA report commissioned by the Qatari government and compiled by law firm DLA Piper called for the Kafala system to be abolished, harsher penalties for employers who withhold passports from employees and a review into why so many workers were suffering cardiac arrests.According to the report and confirmed by the government, 964 workers from Bangladesh, India and Nepal died while living and working in the country in 2012 and 2013.The Qatari government says there are over 1.4 million foreign workers currently plying their trade in the country.In a statement released in November 2014, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs insisted the country is making progress and expects labor reforms to be implemented over the coming months."A new sponsorship law, currently under review, that will replace the outdated 'Kafala' system will be announced by next year," said the statement."We are also working on laws to cover domestic workers."As in every country in the world, change does not happen overnight. Significant changes such as these take more time to implement that some may wish, but we intend to effect meaningful and lasting change for the benefit of all those who live and work in Qatar."Our plans are going through a legislative process and we expect to make announcements about new legislation by early next year."What will the decision be?Prior to Tuesday's announcement, Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who is head of the Asian Football Confederation and also leads the task force, had stated his belief the 2022 World Cup would take place in November/December.Speaking to reporters at the Asian Cup last month, Salman said: "The period best suited for hosting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be in November and December because for sure it needs to be played in the winter."The decision by the task force is, in essence at least, a mere proposal, though it is unlikely to be overturned when the FIFA executive committee meets on March 19 and 20.It is there that the committee will ratify the proposal, although in theory, it could also reject it but that's not expected to happen.JUST WATCHEDPrince Ali reveals 'culture of intimidation' in FIFAReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHPrince Ali reveals 'culture of intimidation' in FIFA 02:31What happens with broadcast deals if the tournament gets moved?U.S. broadcaster Fox signed a $425 million deal to show the 2018 and 2022 back in 2011."You go into buying a World Cup and you believe it's going to be in the same time frame it's always been," Fox Sports President Eric Shanks said last year. "Clearly in America there's much more competition for ratings points."Shanks has a point. A winter World Cup would be a catastrophe for Fox with the tournament set to clash with the NFL playoffs. Except earlier this month Fox secured the rights for the 2026 World Cup without a bidding war -- a tournament which is likely to be held in North America.It remains to be seen how much of a fuss other broadcasters will make if the tournament is moved to November/December.JUST WATCHEDBach hopes for resolution on Qatar 2022ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHBach hopes for resolution on Qatar 2022 02:33What will happen to club competitions? There are still seven years to go until the World Cup in Qatar so domestic leagues will have time to make plans to avoid as much disruption to their season as possible, but a switch to November and December is likely to provide a major headache for top-flight leagues and clubs.Notably for the EPL, which doesn't have a winter break -- unlike most other European leagues. That potentially presents issues for its English teams as to how best to prevent their players from suffering burnout.Likewise European governing body UEFA, which runs the Champions League and Europa League, will also have to work out how its prestigious competitions, fit around a winter World Cup.At the moment it's a case of "wait and see" but this one looks set to run and run.Read: Zahir Belounis -- from 'soccer prisoner' to waiterRead: Amnesty criticizes Qatar over abuse
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Warsaw, Poland (CNN)Ultra nationalists and fascist groups disrupted Poland's main independence day march Saturday, waving flags and burning flares as they marched down the streets of Warsaw.Some wore masks and waved red and white Polish flags, chanting "Death to enemies of the homeland," and "Catholic Poland, not secular." Police estimate that 60,000 people took part in the independence day march.Police estimate that 60,000 people overall took part in the annual march, CNN affiliate TVN reported. While the vast majority were Poles, other protesters came from all over Europe.Poland regained its independence in 1918.One of the lead organizations involved in the march is the National Radical Camp, which has previously taken to the streets to protest against Muslim immigration, gay rights, the EU and anything it considers undermines Polish Catholic values. Demonstrators disrupted the march.While support for the group remains small, its critics argue that the Polish government, which they say has struck a nationalistic tone and linked immigrants to crime and disease, has fostered an atmosphere of intolerance and xenophobia that has emboldened it.Some of those marching lit flares during the event.Read MoreIn a statement this week, Poland's Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Glinski strongly condemned the gathering saying: "We do not approve of support in the public sphere for an ethnic national community, we support the idea of a nation rooted in culture." This was echoed on Monday by Poland's President Andrzej Duda who said there was "no room or tolerance for xenophobia, sick nationalism or anti-semitism" in Polish society.Earlier on Saturday, the Polish capital had seen a far smaller demonstration by groups condemning the hijacking of Polish independence day, which falls on November 11. Far-right marchers waved flags as they took part in the march.The day celebrates the re-birth of Poland in November 1918, 123 years after the Prussian, Habsburg and Russian empires carved up Poland among themselves and erased it from the map of Europe.But in the past few years, the holiday has been overshadowed by the far-right march and fears of violence despite condemnation from key political figures in Poland.President Duda led the formal celebrations of Polish independence day in central Warsaw. After laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier, he told the crowd to remember the price of freedom and independence. Update: Edits have been made to this story to clarify the involvement of ultra nationalists in the march. Subsequent statements from Poland's deputy prime minister and president have been added.Correction: An earlier version of this article reported that some of the banners at the march said, "White Europe, Europe must be white," and "Pray for Islamic Holocaust."The freelance reporter who cited the banners got that information from other media reports. But CNN cannot independently confirm the presence of those banners at this year's march, and so that reference was removed.
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Security researchers have claimed to have discovered possibly the largest malware campaign on Google Play Store that has already infected around 36.5 million Android devices with malicious ad-click software.
The security firm Checkpoint on Thursday published a blog post revealing more than 41 Android applications from a Korean company on Google Play Store that make money for its creators by creating fake advertisement clicks from the infected devices.
All the malicious apps, developed by Korea-based Kiniwini and published under the moniker ENISTUDIO Corp, contained an adware program, dubbed Judy, that is being used to generate fraudulent clicks to generate revenue from advertisements.
Moreover, the researchers also uncovered a few more apps, published by other developers on Play Store, inexplicably containing the same the malware in them.
The connection between the two campaigns remains unclear, though researchers believe it is possible that one developer borrowed code from the other, "knowingly or unknowingly."
"It is quite unusual to find an actual organization behind the mobile malware, as most of them are developed by purely malicious actors," CheckPoint researchers say.
Apps available on play store directly do not contain any malicious code that helped apps to bypass Google Bouncer protections.
Once downloaded, the app silently registers user device to a remote command and control server, and in reply, it receives the actual malicious payload containing a JavaScript that starts the actual malicious process.
"The malware opens the URLs using the user agent that imitates a PC browser in a hidden webpage and receives a redirection to another website," the researchers say. "Once the targeted website is launched, the malware uses the JavaScript code to locate and click on banners from the Google ads infrastructure."
The malicious apps are actual legitimate games, but in the background, they act as a bridge to connect the victim's device to the adware server.
Once the connection is established, the malicious apps spoof user agents to imitate itself as a desktop browser to open a page and generate clicks.
Here's a list of malicious apps developed by Kiniwini and if you have any of these installed on your device, remove it immediately:
Fashion Judy: Snow Queen style
Animal Judy: Persian cat care
Fashion Judy: Pretty rapper
Fashion Judy: Teacher style
Animal Judy: Dragon care
Chef Judy: Halloween Cookies
Fashion Judy: Wedding Party
Animal Judy: Teddy Bear care
Fashion Judy: Bunny Girl Style
Fashion Judy: Frozen Princess
Chef Judy: Triangular Kimbap
Chef Judy: Udong Maker – Cook
Fashion Judy: Uniform style
Animal Judy: Rabbit care
Fashion Judy: Vampire style
Animal Judy: Nine-Tailed Fox
Chef Judy: Jelly Maker – Cook
Chef Judy: Chicken Maker
Animal Judy: Sea otter care
Animal Judy: Elephant care
Judy's Happy House
Chef Judy: Hotdog Maker – Cook
Chef Judy: Birthday Food Maker
Fashion Judy: Wedding day
Fashion Judy: Waitress style
Chef Judy: Character Lunch
Chef Judy: Picnic Lunch Maker
Animal Judy: Rudolph care
Judy's Hospital: Pediatrics
Fashion Judy: Country style
Animal Judy: Feral Cat care
Fashion Judy: Twice Style
Fashion Judy: Myth Style
Animal Judy: Fennec Fox care
Animal Judy: Dog care
Fashion Judy: Couple Style
Animal Judy: Cat care
Fashion Judy: Halloween style
Fashion Judy: EXO Style
Chef Judy: Dalgona Maker
Chef Judy: ServiceStation Food
Judy's Spa Salon
At least one of these apps was last updated on Play store in April last year, means the malicious apps were propagating for more than a year.
Google has now removed all above-mentioned malicious apps from Play Store, but since Google Bouncer is not sufficient to keep bad apps out of the official store, you have to be very careful about downloading apps.
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Paris (CNN)France will suspend fuel price hikes after ongoing protests turned violent over the weekend, in a major concession by President Emmanuel Macron's government. According to CNN affiliate BFMTV, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe will announce a moratorium Tuesday on fuel price hikes, which had been scheduled to come into effect on January 1.The rising cost of gasoline and diesel fuel sparked protests that have since evolved into broader demonstrations against Macron's government, exposing tensions between the metropolitan elite and rural poor. The protesters, known as the "gilets jaunes," take their name from the high-visibility yellow vests that drivers are required to keep in their vehicles for safety reasons. Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceA yellow vest demonstrator faces riot police officers in Marseille, France, on Saturday, January 5, 2019.Hide Caption 1 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceRiot police stand in tear gas in Toulouse, France, during a protest January 5.Hide Caption 2 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceYellow vest protestors kneel in Lyon on January 5. About 50,000 people demonstrated throughout France on Saturday, according to Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.Hide Caption 3 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceProtesters warm their hands over a burning tree in a Paris street on January 5.Hide Caption 4 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceA firefighter tries to extinguish a burning car in a street in Paris on January 5.Hide Caption 5 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceProtesters confront police during a "yellow vest" demonstration Saturday, December 22, in central Paris.Hide Caption 6 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceDemonstrators rally in the Montmartre area of Paris on December 22.Hide Caption 7 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceProtesters block a highway near the French border with Spain on December 22 in Biriatou, France.Hide Caption 8 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceDemonstators turn out December 22 near toll booths on the A9 highway in Le Boulou, France.Hide Caption 9 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceProtesters gather December 15 at Place de l'Opera in Paris.Hide Caption 10 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceActivists dressed like Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic, face riot police on December 15 in Paris.Hide Caption 11 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceDemonstrators wearing yellow vests form a human tower December 15 on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.Hide Caption 12 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceA police water cannon sprays demonstrators on December 15 in Paris.Hide Caption 13 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceProtesters take part in a demonstration on December 15 in Paris.Hide Caption 14 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceDemonstrators run through tear gas during scuffles with police December 15 on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.Hide Caption 15 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FrancePolice use tear gas on protesters at the Place de l'Opera in Paris on December 15.Hide Caption 16 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceA protester waves the French national flag during a demonstration on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on December 15.Hide Caption 17 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceFrench police apprehend a man on December 8 during a protest in Paris.Hide Caption 18 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceProtesters wearing yellow vests gather on December 8 in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.Hide Caption 19 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceDemonstrators drop flat to the ground on the Champs-Elysees avenue during a protest on Saturday, December 8, in Paris. Hide Caption 20 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceProtesters install a barricade during clashes with police at a demonstration in Paris on December 8.Hide Caption 21 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceProtesters gather on December 8 in Paris.Hide Caption 22 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceA demonstrator is covered in blood after getting in injured during a protest in Paris on December 8.Hide Caption 23 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceProtesters wearing yellow vests walk on the Champs-Elysees Avenue with the Arc de Triomphe in the background during a protest on December 8.Hide Caption 24 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceTwo demonstrators dance in front a group as they take part on December 8 in the demonstration at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.Hide Caption 25 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceA protester reacts during clashes with police on December 8 in Paris.Hide Caption 26 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceFrench gendarmes apprehend a protester on December 8 in Paris.Hide Caption 27 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceProtesters throw objects at riot police on Saturday, December 1, during a demonstration that turned violent when protestors clashed with police in Paris.Hide Caption 28 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceAn injured woman sits on the ground as police officers spray yellow vest protesters with tear gas during a protest in Paris on December 1.Hide Caption 29 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceA burned car is left in the street a day after the yellow vests demonstration against rising oil prices and living costs in Paris on December 1.Hide Caption 30 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceFiremen work to extinguish a burning car on December 1.Hide Caption 31 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceA demonstrator leaves as water cannons evacuate the Place de l'Etoile on December 1.Hide Caption 32 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceA demonstrator watches a burning car near the Champs-Elysees avenue on December 1.Hide Caption 33 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceRiot police officers stand in position during clashes with demonstrators on December 1.Hide Caption 34 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceProtesters and police clash in downtown Paris on December 1 during a national demonstration.Hide Caption 35 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceHooded demonstrators smash a car.Hide Caption 36 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceA demonstrator throws a projectile during the December 1 protest.Hide Caption 37 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceA demonstrator treats a wounded man during a protest where police and demonstrators clashed, injuring dozens on December 1.Hide Caption 38 of 39 Photos: In photos: Protests in FranceFrench gendarmes apprehend a protester in Paris on December 1.Hide Caption 39 of 39Macron had asked political leaders to meet the protest organizers this week. Two protesters who claim to lead the group, Benjamin Cauchy and Jacqueline Moreau, have however pulled out of a meeting with Prime Minister Philippe planned for Tuesday, according to the movement's spokesman, Maxime Nicole.Read MorePhilippe canceled a trip to the COP24 climate conference in Poland to address the issue, which had threatened to flare again this coming weekend.The government is likely hoping the suspension of the fuel hikes will take some heat out of the protests, which brought an estimated 36,000 people onto the streets of France on Saturday alone."Gilets jaunes" protesters at the Champs Elysees in Paris on SaturdayAround 400 people were arrested after a violent minority turned on police, throwing projectiles and vandalizing statues. The city's famed Arc de Triomphe was scrawled with slogans in support of the yellow vest movement and others criticizing Macron as the President "of the rich."Students have also joined the "yellow vests" movement and, according to Reuters, demonstrators set buildings on fire and there were violent clashes with police on Tuesday. Devant notre terrasse belle vue sur le lycée st exupery à Blagnac... Qui Crame ‼️‼️ 😡 ! @actutoulouse_fr @lyceens @toulouse @blagnac @GiletsJaunesFr pic.twitter.com/qJugEfXfOx— troiscatalans (@troiscatalans) December 4, 2018
Saint-Exupery high school located in Blagnac near Toulouse in southwest France had been set on fire on Tuesday, Reuters reported. C'est cool Orléans #orleans #blocus pic.twitter.com/RJeXkUraMy— Veyzersxn🦍 (@maui_klt) December 4, 2018
😂 c'est la gueeerrre#lyceeencolere #lacassagne #lyon #lycée #crs pic.twitter.com/D5bH4khO4x— Lauryn_Chrp (@LaurynCHIPSY) December 4, 2018
Access to schools in Creteil and Versailles was also blocked, Reuters said.The news agency also reported that there were clashes in Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux and Orleans.Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz said that among the protesters were people from across the country who had descended upon Paris with the express intent of causing trouble. He added that authorities would crack down hardest on those who had joined the street demonstrations explicitly to carry out violent acts."There are varied profiles but there are definitely profiles of people who have come from the provinces all over France, obviously to carry out acts of violence, and it is to these people that the criminal response I will say will be the strongest."How the 'Yellow Vests' formedThe cost of diesel has surged 16% this year from an average €1.24 ($1.41) per liter to €1.48 ($1.69), even hitting €1.53 ($1.74) in October, according to UFIP, France's oil industry federation.Protesters reacted by taking to the streets of Paris, setting fire to tires -- even cars, in some instances -- for two weekends in a row. Violence has left at least two people dead and more than 600 people injured. Protesters struck some of the wealthiest parts of the French capital, looting luxury shops and smashing bank windows. Police have arrested hundreds.The "gilets jaunes" may have begun with motorists protesting the tax rise, but it has since mushroomed into a movement against the reformist policies of Macron, thrusting the most severe political crisis on the 40-year-old leader since he took office 19 months ago.JUST WATCHEDProtests in France turn violent againReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHProtests in France turn violent again 02:17The "gilets jaunes" is a grassroots movement that emerged online with Facebook events set up by regular citizens to coordinate road blockades across France. The movement has no ties to the big French trade unions that usually organize large-scale protests in the country, nor does it have formal spokespeople. Some protesters say that Cauchy and Moreau, who have spoken on behalf of the group, are not their legitimate leaders. The group mirrors Macron's own rise to power, which began with the creation of his own grassroots movement, "En Marche!" ("On the move!"), and no backing by the big established parties. Macron said he was neither from the left nor right, just that he was "for France" and branded himself as a man of the people. Macron campaigned on promises to radically change France and his ideas were published in a book he wrote called "Revolution."But the wave of support that brought Macron to power has waned, with the young leader's approval rating dropping to 25% in November. And public support for the movement is high -- a Harris poll conducted after Saturday's protest suggests that almost three-quarters of French people support it. Macron is just the latest of many French leaders who have lost support for trying to transform France into a friendlier nation for doing business. His slashing of the wealth tax, for example, was unpopular and triggered criticism that he works for the elite and condescends to the poor.One of the thousands of protesters who took to the streets to call for lower fuel pricesMany at the protests in Paris came in from rural areas and say they are struggling to make ends meet. Maxime Nicolle, 31, who was at a protest Saturday, is from a rural part of Brittany, and has been a member of the "gilets jaunes" since its creation in November. He said his family of three struggles to survive on €1,500 a month. "It's really about inequality and how the wealth is distributed. It's a battle between the financial system and the population," he told CNN. Hugo Melchior, from a wealthy neighborhood in Rennes, northwest France, doesn't even own a car, yet he supports the movement."We are dealing with a convergence of anger, frustration, exasperation and weariness that's been suppressed for too long. And they now have this immense power, they find themselves able to act together at a local level against a common enemy -- the state power personified by President Emmanuel Macron, who incites hatred because of his endless arrogance."CNN's Saskya Vandoorne reported from Paris, Euan McKirdy wrote from Hong Kong, Angela Dewan and Bianca Britton contributed from London.
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In the era of Government surveillance, ensuring the security and safety of our private communications regardless of platform – email, VOIP, message, even cookies stored – should be the top priority of the Internet industry. Some industry came together to offer Encryption as the protection against government surveillance, but some left security holes that may expose your personal data.
A critical issue on Instagram's Android Application has been disclosed by a security researcher that could allow an attacker to hijack users' account and successfully access private photos, delete victim's photos, edit comments and also post new images.
Instagram, acquired by Facebook in April 2012 for approximately US$1 billion, is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, apply digital filters, and share them on a variety of social networking services, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Flickr.
USING UNENCRYPTED HTTPS CONNECTION
Instagram's Android Application communicates with its server over an unencrypted HTTP connection, which is susceptible to tampering by anyone in a position to intercept it, Mazin Ahmed, who discovered the vulnerability explained in a blog post.
"I started using the app on my phone, and monitoring the traffic in the network using WireShark, looking for evidence for unencrypted data that goes through the network or a technique to make this data unencrypted (if it was encrypted)," said Mazin.
INSTAGRAM SESSION HIJACKING
He found that the unencrypted Instagram app communication also vulnerable to session hijacking flaw that can be done using a man-in-the-middle attack, common technique used by attackers to intercept wireless data traffic.
Reusing intercepted HTTP session cookies on another system/browser allows the attacker to hijack the session of the victim's Instagram account.
"As soon as I logged into my account on my phone, Wireshark has captured unencrypted data that goes through HTTP. This data includes: The pictures that the victims watching, The victim's session cookies, the victim's username and ID."
It is really surprising that the largest social networking giant Facebook ignored such a big issue in its most popular image and video sharing service and failed to take the maximum measure to insure the security of its users.
Mazin, who believes the issue might be getting exploited by the intelligence agencies for the purpose of surveillance, reported the vulnerability to the Facebook on 24th July, but its security team replied: "Facebook accepts the risk of parts of Instagram communicating over HTTP not over HTTPS."
Facebook has decided to adopt complete HTTPS for its Instagram mobile application in near future but till now it is not clear that how much time it will take.
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NASK the domain registrar that operates the ".pl" Polish top-level domain registry has seized multiple domains used for cyber crime activities by spreading Waledac malware distributed by the Virut botnet. According to Poland's Computer Emergency Response Team, Virut was first detected in 2006 and became a serious threat with an estimated size of more than 300,000 compromised computers.
NASK said that on Thursday it began assuming control over 23 .pl domains that were being used to operate the Virut network. Virut was responsible for 5.5% of infections in Q3 2012, making it the fifth most widespread threat of the time.
They determined that botnet consists of more than 308,000 uniquely compromised machines and that its primary function is to pump out spam and other malicious emails. The most recent take down effort was in December 2012. Unfortunately, the Virut botnet gang managed to get the malicious botnet domain names moved to a new registrar called home.pl quickly.
Symantec reported that with some 77,000 Waledac infected machines within the Virut botnet generating an average of 2,000 spam messages an hour for somewhere between 8 and 24 hours a day.
The Virut take down effort clearly illustrates the important and meaningful role registries and registrars can play in the fight against cyber crime in general. How long the shut-down of Virut will last this time is unknown.
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Story highlightsBarcelona and Real Madrid meet in El Clasico at the Camp Nou on SaturdayReal four points clear of their arch-rivals in the Spanish La Liga title raceUnder Jose Mourinho, Real have beaten Barca just once in 10 attemptsBoth sides lost Champions League semifinal first-leg ties in midweekArch rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid meet for the sixth time this season Saturday in an El Clasico clash which is likely to decide the destination of the Spanish title.Reigning champions Barcelona will have home advantage at their Camp Nou stadium, but trail Real by four points with only five games remaining.A draw would leave Los Blancos in pole position to reclaim the La Liga crown after four years but assistant coach Aitor Karanka said they would approach the heavyweight clash in positive fashion."We will play the same way we did in our last three games at the Camp Nou. We did everything in our power in three different championships and gave good performances," he told the official Real Madrid website.Karanka, once again fronting up to the media in the absence of his boss Jose Mourinho, said that whatever the outcome his team were still in good position for ultimate success in the championship race."I believe the three points at stake are important because there fewer games left in the competition. Whatever the score, four games will remain and we'll continue to work as naturally as we've been doing so far. Win, draw or lose, this team is doing a very good job this year and we will keep it up." he added. JUST WATCHEDLaureus best team of the year ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHLaureus best team of the year 02:00JUST WATCHEDInside Barcelona's Camp Nou ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHInside Barcelona's Camp Nou 03:15Barcelona have cut into Real's lead, which stood at 10 points just over a month ago, with draws against Malaga, Villarreal and Valencia holding up the pacesetters.By contrast, Pep Guardiola's Barcelona have mounted a late charge with 11 straight La Liga wins with Lionel Messi in free scoring form with 18 goals in that run. It has taken his personal tally to the season to a remarkable 63 in all competitions.Fellow superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has also maintained his scoring streak for Real, 53 for the season and tied with Messi in the battle for the 'Pichichi' trophy awarded to top striker in La Liga. Both have 41.It's no wonder Guardiola believes the battle between the two might well decide the outcome of Saturday's showdown."Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo feed off each other, they are apart from everyone else. We're lucky to be afforded the chance to enjoy some great football players. They are decisive players. They score when the team is playing well or when the team is playing poorly," he told reporters.Unusually, both teams go into the frenetic atmosphere of an El Clasico clash off the back of rare defeats.Real lost 2-1 Tuesday at Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal, while Barcelona suffered a 1-0 reverse at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium 24 hours later.They will be favorites to turn around the ties in their home legs to set up the possibility of a seventh El Clasico of the season in the final at Bayern's Allianz Arena next month.Keir Radnedge, the executive editor of World Soccer, told CNN that neither side was likely to be affected by the setbacks."The extra day's rest might be important (for Real) but there were no serious injuries for either side and after all they both just lost by one goal," he said.For now the focus will be on the league clash and the odds are against Mourinho, despite his incredible managerial record in four countries.Since taking charge at the Bernabeu in the summer of 2010 his team has only beaten Barcelona once in 10 attempts, the final of the Copa Del Rey last season with Ronaldo scoring the winner in extra time.Radnedge believes Mourinho will be making La Liga success for his team a priority, even over the Champions League crown."La Liga very definitely," he said. "They want to get past this jinx and I would imagine if Mourinho achieved that he could move on to his next challenge," he said.But his side will have to buck the form book. This season their Catalan rivals have beaten them over two legs in the Spanish Super Cup and the quarterfinal of the Copa Del Rey, again over two legs.A 3-1 league win for Barcelona in December in the Bernabeu may also be a pointer.Midfield star Xavi scored in that win and will be making a record 32nd El Clasico appearance should he get on the pitch on Saturday night.
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Do you use TextSecure Private Messenger for your private conversations? If yes, then Are you sure you are actually using a Secure messaging app?
TextSecure, an Android app developed by Open WhisperSystems, is completely open-source and claims to support end-to-end encryption of text messages. The app is free and designed by keeping privacy in mind.
However, while conducting the first audit of the software, security researchers from Ruhr University Bochum found that the most popular mobile messaging app is open to an Unknown Key-Share attack.
After Edward Snowden revealed state surveillance programs conducted by the National Security Agency, and meanwhile when Facebook acquired WhatsApp, TextSecure came into limelight and became one of the best alternatives for users who want a secure communication.
"Since Facebook bought WhatsApp, instant messaging apps with security guarantees became more and more popular," the team wrote in the paper titled, "How Secure is TextSecure?".
The messaging app attracted a lot of attention lately and was downloaded by half a million users from the Google's Play Store. The research team explained a complete and precise document and analyze of TextSecure's secure push messaging protocol.
"We are the first to completely and precisely document and analyses TextSecure's secure push messaging protocol," the team wrote.
"We show that if long-term public keys are authentic, so are the message keys, and that the encryption block of TextSecure is actually one-time stateful authenticated encryption [and] prove TextSecure's push messaging can indeed achieve the goals of authenticity and confidentiality."
According to the research team, TextSecure works on a complex cryptographic protocol which is the part of the CyanogenMod Android operating system — a popular open source aftermarket Android firmware that has been installed on about 10 million Android devices. But researchers discovered an Unknown Key-Share Attack (UKS) against the protocol.
The research was conducted by Tilman Frosch, Christian Mainka, Christoph Bader, Florian Bergsma, Jorg Schwenk and Thorsten Holz. For better understanding the UKS against the protocol, the team explained it via an example as follows:
"Bart wants to trick his friend Milhouse. Bart knows that Milhouse will invite him to his birthday party using TextSecure. He starts the attack by replacing his own public key with Nelson's public key and lets Milhouse verify the fingerprint of his new public key. This can be justified, for instance, by claiming to have a new device and having simply re-registered ... if Milhouse invites Bart to his birthday party, then Bart may just forward this message to Nelson who will believe that this message was actually sent from Milhouse. Thus, Milhouse believes that he invited Bart to his birthday party, where in fact, he invited Nelson."
The researchers also provided a mitigation strategy, which has already been acknowledged by TextSecure's developers, that prevents the UKS attack. The proposed method actually resolves the issue, making TextSecure's push messaging secure and achieves one-time stateful authenticated encryption.
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Story highlightsJorge Lorenzo sets the quickest time in qualifying for first race of MotoGP seasonWorld champion outshines new Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi in QatarSpaniard will start in first row alongside Cal Crutchlow and compatriot Dani PedrosaSeven-time world champion Rossi is on the third row in seventh placeWorld champion Jorge Lorenzo hailed MotoGP's new qualifying format after claiming pole position for Sunday's season-opening race in Qatar.The Spaniard headed off Britain's Cal Crutchlow in Saturday's new 15-minute session, involving just the top 12 riders, while last season's championship runnerup Dani Pedrosa was third to complete the front row."It's great to finish in pole position, especially knowing Cal was extremely fast over one lap," Lorenzo, who won last year's race from pole, told the MotoGP website.He said of the new qualifying format: "It's very different to last year and I think more fun for the fans to watch. "From the point of view of the riders, I feel more nervous and with more pressure on me because you know you have only four attempts for your last lap -- and not 15 like last year! So it's more important to go quickly and not make a mistake."Read: Rookie upstages Lorenzo in Qatar practiceItaly's Andrea Dovizioso was fourth for Ducati ahead of German rider Stefan Bradl and Spanish rookie Marc Marquez, who had topped the practice times in his first outing for Honda Repsol.JUST WATCHEDLorenzo: Motorcycling is like dancingReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHLorenzo: Motorcycling is like dancing 03:31 Photos: Human to Hero: Jorge Lorenzo Photos: Human to Hero: Jorge LorenzoHide Caption 1 of 7 Photos: Human to Hero: Jorge LorenzoHide Caption 2 of 7 Photos: Human to Hero: Jorge LorenzoHide Caption 3 of 7 Photos: Human to Hero: Jorge LorenzoHide Caption 4 of 7 Photos: Human to Hero: Jorge LorenzoHide Caption 5 of 7 Photos: Human to Hero: Jorge LorenzoHide Caption 6 of 7 Photos: Human to Hero: Jorge LorenzoHide Caption 7 of 7Lorenzo's new teammate Valentino Rossi continued his struggles of the past two years at Ducati as he could only qualify seventh."Qualifying was not fantastic for us," said the seven-time world champion, who has won three times in Qatar but not since his last season at Yamaha in 2010."Our performance in free practice was better than this, so we'll wait for tomorrow. Unfortunately in qualifying, on the second tire -- with which I could have improved -- I was stuck in traffic so could not improve my lap time and lost some positions."For sure, tomorrow becomes more difficult to start from further back, but we have good pace so we can be quite competitive."Pedrosa is seeking to improve his record at Losail -- one of only two circuits on the current calendar where the Spaniard has yet to win in any category of bikes."It's important that we're on the front row," the Honda rider said. "I think the Yamahas are strong, so I just hope to improve the bike a little bit more and then be on the pace for the race."
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This was excerpted from the May 26 edition of CNN's Meanwhile in America, the daily email about US politics for global readers. Click here to read past editions and subscribe. (CNN)Joe Biden is giving Vladimir Putin a carrot.One theory about Russia's post-Cold War resentment of the US is that the perceived American victor showed too little respect to the vanquished. As a result, a centerpiece of Putin's long political project has been to restore Moscow's prestige -- by tarnishing Washington's. The fact that Biden offered -- and Russia accepted -- a summit in Geneva that will draw comparisons between iconic superpower meetings of the past is therefore symbolically and diplomatically important. The two leaders will meet on Wednesday. Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin, US President Dwight Eisenhower, French Foreign Minister Edgar Faure, and UK Prime Minister Anthony Eden at the historic Geneva Summit in 1955. In 1955, US President Dwight Eisenhower met the leaders of France, the UK and the Soviet Union in the Swiss city, in a meeting designed to defuse tensions that threatened to pitch the world back into war. In 1985, President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev forged a personal relationship in Geneva that was one of the first steps in ending the Cold War.Gorbachev and Reagan in Geneva in 1985.The picture beamed back to Moscow tomorrow will show the President of the United States treating the President of Russia as an equal. In itself, that's a win for Putin and will cause some Americans to question Biden's game. After all, Russia meddled in the last two elections to help Donald Trump, is suppressing its democratic opposition, moving closer to American foe China, and is accused of cyber hacks against the US government and economy.Read MoreTrump supporters might complain of double standards — given past critical coverage of the ex-President's fawning over Putin. But there's also little chance this time Biden will emulate his predecessor by throwing US intelligence agencies under the bus to please the former KGB colonel.While cozying up to Russia rarely works, neither does humiliation. Former President Barack Obama tried to reset relations with Moscow, but came away deeply frustrated. And after Putin annexed Crimea, Obama witheringly dismissed a nation with a proud cultural and political heritage as a "regional power" acting out of "weakness."The new Geneva summit is unlikely to be friendly. Biden has strong domestic and geopolitical incentives to deliver a face-to-face tongue lashing. And big differences on cyber security, arms control and territorial disputes in Eastern Europe hang overhead. But given the tension in the current estrangement, Biden's gamble is probably worth a try.
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A team of researchers has discovered a weakness in the command-and-control infrastructure of one of the major DDoS toolkits, Dirt Jumper, that enables them to stop attacks that are in progress.
The command and control (C&C) servers of the Dirt Jumper DDoS toolkit can be compromised and, in principle, completely taken over via SQL injection holes.
SQL injection involves inserting database instructions in unexpected and unprotected places, effectively taking charge of a web application's database from the outside. According to the Prolexic report, the open source penetration testing tool sqlmap can be used to dump the contents of Dirt Jumper's database configuration file in a matter of seconds, revealing administrative usernames and passwords.
The company's research includes Dirt Jumper v.3, Pandora and Di BoT. According to Prolexic, the Dirt Jumper family of DDoS botnet kits was originally authored by an individual who uses the handle 'sokol.' Various versions of Dirt Jumper were sold privately and leaked to the public.
"DDoS attackers take pride in finding and exploiting weaknesses in the architecture and code of their targets. With this vulnerability report, we've turned the tables and exposed crucial weaknesses in their own tools," said Prolexic's CEO, Scott Hammack.
Pandora can be used to launch five different attack types, including a combination of techniques against the web application and infrastructure layers of targeted websites. Dirt Jumper seems to have overtaken rivals to become one of the most successful DDoS toolkits available on the Russian underground.
"Construction of a new variant of Dirt Jumper is relatively easy, only requiring basic knowledge of Delphi, a basic understanding of PHP and MySQL, and U.S. $5,000 to purchase the Dirt Jumper builder source code".
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Last week Microsoft released its Advance Notification for the month of December 2014 Patch Tuesday Updates, and finally today released a total of seven security bulletins, which will address several vulnerabilities in its products, out of which three are marked 'critical' and rest are 'important' in severity.
Last month after a big pile of security patches, the company released an an unusual emergency patch to fix a critical vulnerability in Microsoft Windows Kerberos KBC, authentication system used by default in the operating system, that cybercriminals exploited to compromise whole networks of computers.
The three critical bulletins affect Internet Explorer, Office and Windows. All the versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) are affected except Server Core, which does not include IE. The critical zero-day IE vulnerability (CVE-2014-8967) was discovered by security researcher Arthur Gerkis of Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) in June this year.
By exploiting the vulnerability, a remote attacker could execute arbitrary code on vulnerable installations of Microsoft Internet Explorer in order to compromise a vulnerable system. However, to exploit this flaw, user interaction is needed and to do so the target user must visit a malicious page or open a malicious file.
"The vulnerability relates to how Internet Explorer uses reference counting to manage the lifetimes of the in-memory objects representing HTML elements," reads the ZDI post. "By applying a CSS style of display:run-in to a page and performing particular manipulations, an attacker can cause an object's reference count to fall to zero prematurely, causing the object to be freed. Internet Explorer will then continue using this object after it has been freed. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code under the context of the current process."
ZDI warned Microsoft several days ago about the pending public disclosure of the flaw after it completed 180 days as on November 2014. All the versions of IE are rated critical on Windows desktop systems and moderate on Windows servers. Windows RT versions are also affected and the vulnerability is rated critical on it.
A second critical patch update affects only Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008, which is rated critical for the desktop versions and moderate for the servers. Another critical remote code execution update is expected in Microsoft Office, starting with Microsoft Word 2007 SP 3, as well as Microsoft Office 2010 SP 2, Word 2010 SP 2, Word 2013 and Word 2013 RT.
Moreover, two more security bulletins patch remote code execution vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office Web apps 2010 and 2013, but those vulnerabilities are rated important, which means that there is some mitigating factors for attackers to exploit the flaw.
An elevation of privilege bug in Microsoft Exchange is listed among other security bulletins and is rated important. The software affected are Microsoft Exchange 2007, 2010 and 2013. The final security update fixes an Information Disclosure vulnerability in all versions of Windows, including Server Core.
If you have Automatic Updates enabled on your machine, these fixes will all be made available via Windows Update and will be applied automatically for most users. But in case users have not enabled it, Microsoft is encouraging them to apply the updates promptly. Some patches applied may require restarting the servers as well.
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Story highlightsTiger Woods playing first Open since 2015Ends level par, five off leadAmerican Kevin Kisner one clear after 66Carnoustie, Scotland (CNN)From the minute he swept into view, you knew something was different.As Tiger Woods strode onto the Carnoustie practice range, pulses of electricity ripped through the stands, shocking the contemplative crowd into life.Cheers and cries of "C'mon, Tiger" rang out. Follow @cnnsport
Cameras swung around to train their lenses on him, as if they were radars locating an incoming bogey. TV crews jolted to attention, like meerkats on the savannah standing bolt upright at a sign of danger. The other players on the range tried to look casual and act as if he wasn't there, but they knew.The man was in town. Read MoreBy the end of a sun-soaked opening day, he may not have troubled the top of the leaderboard, but the former world No.1, back for the first time since 2015, was still the draw card at the 147th Open Championship. The crowd's reaction was all the conformation needed. As it was, Woods carded a level-par 71 to finish five shots adrift of fellow American Kevin Kisner, whose 66 kept him one clear of compatriot Tony Finau and South Africans Erik Van Rooyen and Zander Lombard.But Woods, without a major for 10 years, played well enough to hint at a career story yet to be finished.READ: Tiger Woods -- Open offers best chance of major successREAD: Tiger Woods and co. take on 'Car-nasty'Tiger Woods is playing in his first Open since 2015.Nothing like a Tiger roarStroking practice range balls into the silvery Scottish sky, the two stripes of black tape up the back of his neck for a recent niggle were the only giveaway of the backstory.The four back operations, including spine fusion surgery last April, and the dark times that scared him to death he wouldn't grace this stage again. Down both sides of the first fairway, spectators massed three and four deep, like nothing any of the previous 46 threeballs teeing off in the year's third major had experienced."Is there someone important coming?" asked a marshal in mock surprise.There were shrieks from the first group of women to see him, then a resounding roar as Woods entered the amphitheatre of stands surrounding the first tee. Even if you can't see him, you can always make out a Tiger roar.PHOTO GALLERY: The best golf courses in Scotland Tiger Woods wore black physio tape under his shirt for a recent niggle. As the giant clock on the white hotel behind ticked around, the starter announced, "This is game number 47, on the tee from USA, Tiger Woods."Woods, in grey trousers with white shirt under light blue tank top, touched the peak of his cap and stepped into the ball. JUST WATCHEDTiger Woods' ideal day: 'Caddyshack,' oatmeal?ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHTiger Woods' ideal day: 'Caddyshack,' oatmeal? 01:35Phalanx of photographersHe cracked an iron up the sun-scorched fairway, a result of the UK summer heatwave, but immediately reeled away, shielding his eyes from the grass and dust that had exploded under his club.Local hero Russell Knox, one of his playing partners alongside Japan's Hideki Matusyama, got a decent cheer, but nothing on the guttural urgings for Woods.When all three had played, Woods strode off the tee box, lips pursed, game face on, eyes fixed dead ahead.A sizeable army of media and officials, and a phalanx of photographers set off in pursuit, trailing inside the ropes like a procession of pilgrims.Mutterings of incredulity and annoyance from the paying punters outside the ropes rippled up the fairway like a wave. From a perfect lie on a plateau of the hump-backed fairway, Woods fired towards the green. A fat divot flew forward, camera shutters whirred like Gatling guns, a pause, then applause from the vast crowds lounging on the ring of burned-brown dunes surrounding the emerald green. Soon, Woods settled over his eight-foot putt. All fell silent.And bang. In it dropped. Birdie. Uproar.READ: Rory McIlroy wants boyish bounce back READ: Crown of Trump's golf empire left out in cold Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsTiger Woods clinched his fifth Masters and 15th major title with victory at Augusta in April. Hide Caption 1 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsThe former world No. 1 had not won the Masters since 2005, and it was his first major win since 2008.Hide Caption 2 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsA month after winning the Masters, Woods received the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from President Donald Trump.Hide Caption 3 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsWoods won the season-ending Tour Championship in September 2018. It was his first title in five years following a succession of back injuries. Hide Caption 4 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsSigns that Woods was back to his best were obvious at August's PGA Championship, where he finished runner-up to Brooks Koepka. It followed an impressive showing at July's British Open, where he briefly topped the leaderboard.Hide Caption 5 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsWoods made an impressive return to competitive golf in 2018 after multiple back surgeries in recent years. He played his first Masters in three years in April 2018. Hide Caption 6 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsThe four-time champion had back fusion surgery -- his fourth procedure -- in April 2017 and returned to the game pain-free in December. He finished tied 32nd at Augusta.Hide Caption 7 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsWoods was touted as one of the favorites after impressing in his early-season events. He also set tongues wagging by playing a practice round with old rival Phil Mickelson, right.Hide Caption 8 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsWoods finished tied second at the Valspar Championship in March 2018 and followed it up with a tie for fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. The hype needle moved into overdrive.Hide Caption 9 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsWoods set out on his legendary path by becoming the youngest winner of the Masters -- at 21 -- with a record 12-shot win in 1997. Hide Caption 10 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsOne of his most remarkable feats was winning his first US Open by an unprecedented 15 shots at Pebble Beach, California, in 2000, sparking a streak never seen before or since.Hide Caption 11 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsWoods' victory in the 2001 Masters meant he held all four of golf's major titles at the same time, dubbed the "Tiger Slam." Hide Caption 12 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsWoods' win rate, his dedication to fitness training and his desire to succeed were changing golf. Prize money rocketed because of Woods. Off the course, he married girlfriend Elin Nordegren in 2004. Hide Caption 13 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsWoods showed rare emotion when he broke down in tears on the shoulder of caddie Steve Williams following his win in the 2006 British Open at Hoylake, months after his father and mentor Earl passed away. Hide Caption 14 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsDespite being visibly hampered and in pain from a knee injury, Woods won the US Open in breathtaking fashion at Torrey Pines, California, in 2008. It was his 14th major title to leave him only four behind the record of Jack Nicklaus. He was later diagnosed with knee ligament damage and two fractures of his left tibia. He missed the rest of the season after surgery. It is still his last major title. Hide Caption 15 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsIn December 2009, Woods crashed his car into a fire hydrant outside his home. As the big picture emerged it was discovered Woods had been conducting a series of extra martial affairs. He took three months away from the game to sort out his private life. Hide Caption 16 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsIn February 2010 Woods addressed the world's media to explain and apologise for his actions. His infidelity led to divorce and was the beginning of a downhill slide in Woods' playing career. By October he lost the world No. 1 ranking, a position he had held for 281 consecutive weeksHide Caption 17 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsBack in the fold, Woods earned his first win in two years at the Chevron World Challenge in December 2011, a charity tournament he hosts that does not count on the PGA Tour money list.Hide Caption 18 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsWoods was back in the winner's circle in 2013, lifting five titles, including the Arnold Palmer Invitational, to get back to the top of the rankings.Hide Caption 19 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsIn March 2013, Woods and Lindsey Vonn announced they were dating on Facebook. In January that year, the champion skier had finalized her divorce from Thomas Vonn, after initializing proceedings in 2011. In May 2015, Woods and Vonn announced their breakup, with the golfer claiming he "hadn't slept" in the days following. Hide Caption 20 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsLater in 2013 there were signs all was not well as Woods was seen to be in pain as he picked the ball out of the hole at the Barclays tournament in August. He missed the Masters the following April for the first time since 1994 to undergo back surgery.Hide Caption 21 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsWoods pulled out of the Farmers Insurance Open in February 2015, and struggled with injury and form for the rest of the season. Hide Caption 22 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsWoods cut a dejected figure at that year's US Open as he struggled with his game and carded rounds of 80 and 76 to miss the cut.Hide Caption 23 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsIn August 2015 Woods made his last appearance for 15 months to undergo follow-up back surgeries. At one stage during his rehabilitation, Woods spoke of there being "no light at the end of the tunnel" -- and with one eye on his fading career, he suggested "everything beyond this will be gravy."Hide Caption 24 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsWoods made a much-anticipated return to golf in December 2016, showing signs of promise with the highest number of birdies in the field -- 24 -- but he also made a number of costly errors to finish third from last in the 18-man event.Hide Caption 25 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsHe missed the cut in his first event of 2017 in the US and pulled out after the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic in February, citing back spasms. He underwent a fourth back prodecure in April. Hide Caption 26 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsThe golf legend was arrested Monday, May 29, on suspicion of driving under the influence. He was booked into a local jail in Florida and released a few hours later. He said in a statement he had "an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications." Hide Caption 27 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsIn August Woods entered a first-offender program and pleaded guilty to reckless driving on October 28. He will avoid jail unless he commits major violations of his probation. Hide Caption 28 of 29 Photos: Tiger Woods: From highs to lowsWoods returned to golf after 301 days at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas on November 30 2017. He carded a three-under first-round 69 and appeared pain-free and hungry to resume his career. Hide Caption 29 of 29'Best golfer of all time'If you didn't know the narrative of injury and scandal and loss of form and failed returns, you'd think you were watching the game's preeminent player in his prime, a master of his universe, not a 42-year-old whose dream of a 15th major title seemed dead long ago.A trademark club twirl followed another striped iron off the second tee. Fans clamored to get a snap of him on their phones -- against the rules, of course, but the modern scourge. When Woods last won a major, Twitter was still in its infancy and Instagram had yet to be invented.A woman tried to explain his legend to her young son who hadn't seen him in his heyday. "Like Federer, Nadal and Djokovic rolled into one," she said, clutching at a tennis comparison. Woods continued on his way, pursued by his band of merry men and women kicking up dust like wildebeests thundering across the plains.There were moments of magic, flashes of power and precision, displays of grit to save pars and the odd personal rebuke. For 11 holes, at least, it promised more, before he faded in the lengthening shadows of high Scottish summer, finishing just after 8:20 p.m. local time."I played better than the score indicates," a frustrated Woods told reporters afterwards. Striving for a fourth Open title, he added: "I've always loved playing this championship. This is how the game should be played."The US-based Knox, a three-time Tour winner who clinched the Irish Open two weeks ago, admitted he had been a touch starstruck."I mean, it's Tiger Woods, how would you feel playing with him?" the 33-year-old asked reporters."I think he's the best golfer of all time. He's definitely the person I looked up to. So getting to play with him is pretty unique."He added: "It's cool playing with Tiger but I've got to get over that. I'm here to win, not just enjoy my walk around the course." INTERACTIVE: The numbers behind the OpenREAD: 'He's gone gaga' -- was this sport's greatest meltdown?READ: Vegas gets helicopter lift to make Open tee time Kevin Kisner led the Open by one stroke after day one at Carnoustie.'Frat house rules'Meanwhile, Kisner, a two-time PGA Tour winner, had long finished his pacesetting round and amusing the press with stories of how he and his housemates at Carnoustie had been playing soccer every night after the golf. Not just ordinary housemates either -- there was defending champion Jordan Spieth, fellow major winners Justin Thomas, Jason Dufner, Zach Johnson and Jimmy Walker, and fellow American Rickie Fowler. Frat house rules. The 34-year-old Kisner, the world No.33, has a best Open finish of tied 54th, but he backed himself to stay in contention at Carnoustie, suggesting the fast-running conditions were similar to back home in South Carolina."I certainly would like to and hope I can," said Kisner, who shared Spieth's plane home following his triumph at Royal Birkdale last year. "If you don't believe in yourself out here you're going to get run over pretty quickly."READ: Jordan Spieth clinches Claret Jug in thrilling finish Spieth, who won that remarkable duel with Matt Kuchar last year, admitted to having a "brain fart" on the 15th as he made a double bogey, dropping four shots in the last four holes for a one-over 72.Ever the optimist, the three-time major champion said: "I'm certainly in a recoverable situation." Visit CNN.com/golf for more news, features and videosThe Woods circus is back in town, but there are plenty of other contenders trying to top the bill.
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(CNN)Meghan, Duchess of Sussex took her two-month-old son Archie to his first polo match on Wednesday, in one of his first outings since his birth.The pair cheered on Archie's father, Prince Harry, and brother-in-law Prince William, as the royal siblings played against each other at Billingbear Polo Club in Surrey, England.Meghan cradled and kissed the baby -- whose full name is Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor -- as she arrived at the venue.Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge was also present with her children, George, Charlotte and Louis. The Sussexes and Cambridges had not previously been seen together at a public event since Archie was born in May.Read MorePrince William and Prince Harry compete in polo.Harry and William were competing as part of the the King Power Royal Charity Polo Day, held in honor of former Leicester City football club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.Both are known to enjoy the sport, which has been played by British royals for generations.Meghan had previously been seen watching tennis with friends at Wimbledon last week.
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(CNN)Developers in Southern California are building what they say will be the first 3D-printed zero net energy neighborhood in the United States.Palari Group said it plans to build 15 eco-friendly 3D-printed homes on a five-acre parcel of land in Rancho Mirage, an upscale community in the Coachella Valley, near Palm Springs.The 1,450 square foot, single-story homes will be made from a stone composite material that is strong, fire resistant, water resistant and termite proof, Palari Group founder and CEO Basil Starr told CNN.The homes will be made of modular panels that are printed out by their partner Mighty Buildings at a facility in Oakland and are assembled at the building site "kind of like Lego blocks," Starr said.The world's first 3D-printed neighborhood is being built in Mexico for families living on $3 a dayStarr said his company, which is focused on sustainable building techniques, turned to 3D printing because it is less wasteful.Read More"In wood frame construction there's a significant waste that is generated for the home that's being built, it's about two tons of waste that goes into landfills," Starr said. "And with 3D printing, it's a revolutionary way of building that completely eliminates that unnecessary waste."Bathrooms, cabinets and other interior materials that can't be 3D printed are sustainably sourced.The three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes will come with a deck and a swimming pool and will have a starting price of $595,000. Buyers will be able to add a smaller, two-bedroom, one-bath secondary residence on the property for another $255,000.All energy needs will be supplied by solar power, and owners will have the option to install other options like the Tesla Powerwall, fire pits, cabanas and outdoor showers.Scientists 3D print microscopic Star Trek spaceship that moves on its ownThe average owner-occupied home value in Rancho Mirage is $825,738, according to the city's website.Palari Group said it plans to break ground in September and complete the project by Spring 2021.Starr said that once construction begins, the company will be able to move more quickly than with traditional construction. Mighty Buildings, he said, can print the panels for the houses at the same time they build roads, foundations and install utilities at the site.Potential buyers have already put down $1,000 refundable deposits to get a spot on the reservations list, Starr said. Palari Group is looking at building additional developments in Rancho Mirage and possibly other parts of California.Rancho Mirage isn't the only 3D-printed home project making news.Last month, a company called SQ4D Inc. listed a 3D-printed house in Riverhead, New York, on Zillow with an asking price of $299,999.Developers in Austin are building four houses that use 3D printing and traditional construction techniques.Austin-based construction technology company ICON is working with Kansas City developer 3Strands to build four 3D printed homes in East Austin that are scheduled to be move-in ready by in June or July.
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Story highlightsLee Slattery cards a six-under-parr 66 to lead the Madrid Masters after 36 holesThe Englishman is one stroke ahead of Francesco Molinari and Eduardo De La RivaWorld number one Luke Donald is five strokes off the pace after a round of 70England's Lee Slattery carded a six-under-par round of 66 to hold a one-stroke lead at the halfway stage of the Madrid Masters at the El Encin Golf Hotel.The 33 year old Slattery, who has never won a tournament on the European Tour, lies on a 36-hole total of 133 (-11), one stroke ahead of European Ryder Cup star Francesco Molinari of Italy and Spaniard Eduardo De La Riva.Another Italian, Lorenzo Gagli, is a further stroke back in fourth place, with Australian Brett Rumford and overnight leader Ross McGowan (72) tied for fifth position another shot behind. World number one and defending champion Luke Donald is one of five players on 138, five strokes off the pace, after posting a 70.Slattery is another one of those players trying desperately to finish in the top 115 of the Race To Dubai, to ensure he retains his European Tour card for 2012.In 2007, Slattery lost his card by just €77, and he faces another fight on his hands as he currently lies out of the qualification places in 136th position.He told the official European Tour website: "I've putted well today, and I seemed to hole everything. "I drove the ball well too. You can give it a good smack off the tee and you feel yourself trying to hit it harder and harder. "I was actually getting too cautious with my game but round here you can't be, you just whack it. This suits me because I just enjoy it and don't think too much -- that's the key. "I've been so relaxed out there, I don't think I've ever walked off the course feeling so relaxed after shooting a 66.HSBC Champions winner Molinari was pleased with his five-under-par 67, saying: "It was a good solid round, I'm hitting the ball better than I was this summer. Today's round was trickier than yesterday's because of the wind." Meanwhile, U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy, defending champion YE Yang and American Rickie Fowler are among a group of vie players who share the lead after the second round of the Korea Open in Cheonan.The trio are joined by veteran Korean Mo Joong-Kyung and Australian Bronson La'Cassie on 137, three strokes clear of Kim Meen-Whee, who leads the chasing pack.
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Apple Mac Computers are considered to be much safer than Windows computers at keeping out the viruses and malware, but the new Exploit discovered by researchers again proves it indeed quite false.
Last year, The Hacker News reported a deadly simple exploit that completely bypassed one of the core security features in Mac OS X known as Gatekeeper.
Apple released a patch in November, but now the same security researcher who discovered the original Gatekeeper bypass vulnerability said he found an equally obvious workaround.
Patrick Wardle, ex-NSA staffer and head of research at security intelligence firm Synack, said the security patch released by Apple was "incredibly weak" and that the update was "easy to bypass" in minutes.
Gatekeeper's Failure Once Again
Introduced in July of 2012, Gatekeeper is Apple's anti-malware feature designed to block untrusted, dodgy apps from running, keeping Mac OS X systems safe from malware.
However, the reality is slightly different, according to Wardle. Hackers can install malicious software on Mac computers, even when Gatekeeper is set to its most restrictive setting.
"Even on a fully-patched OS X 10.11.2 system, Gatekeeper is trivial to bypass," Wardle wrote in a blog post. "So hackers can (re)start their trojan distributions while nation states can get back to MitM'ing HTTP downloads from the internet."
In September, Wardle realized that before allowing any apps to execute on an OS X machine, Gatekeeper performs a number of checks, such as:
Checking the initial digital certificate of a downloaded app
Ensuring the app has been signed with an Apple-recognized developer certificate
Ensuring the app has been originated from the official App Store
But, what Gatekeeper fails to check is – whether the app already trusted by OS X runs or loads other files from the same folder.
However, in the name of a security patch, all Apple did was simply blacklist the signed apps Wardle was abusing to bypass Gatekeeper, rather than fixing the underlying problem.
How to Bypass Gatekeeper in OS X?
This was not effective in preventing attacks. Wardle found a new Apple-signed file that allow him to do the same. Notably, the file was offered by the popular anti-virus firm Kaspersky Labs.
All Wardle has done is:
Identified an already-signed binary file (Binary A) that runs a separate app (Binary B) located in the same folder
Renamed Binary A
Swapped out the legitimate Binary B with a malicious one
Then bundled malicious file in the same folder under the same file name, Binary B
Now, Binary B needs no digital certificate or Apple developer certificate to run, so it can be used to install anything the attacker wants, completely bypassing Gatekeeper.
Wardle notified Apple about his latest finding, and the company rolled out an update blocking the new files Wardle privately reported it, which is not a right approach. Apple should come up with a more comprehensive fix to address the issue.
How to Protect Yourself?
In the meantime, Wardle suggested Mac users to only download software from the Mac App Store and be more careful while downloading apps from the internet.
Wardle will be presenting his findings at the Shmoocon conference in Washington D.C this weekend. He also released a complementary tool for Gatekeeper on Friday, a free tool dubbed Ostiarius, that checks all file executions and blocks untrusted, unsigned code originating from the Web.
Alternatively, otherwise, it might be time to fire Gatekeeper, and hire a new one.
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Kyiv, Ukraine (CNN)A drive through central Kyiv leaves no room for doubt. This is a city preparing for a major Russian attack. Rows of concrete panels arranged in maze-like formations. Anti-tank road blocks. Piles of sandbags. Improvised barriers built of random pieces of metal, wood, old tires or anything that was at hand.And everywhere you look, there are blue and yellow Ukrainian flags.The city is uncannily quiet. Many people have fled in recent days. Those who have stayed are hunkered down in bomb shelters, basements and subway stations. The checkpoints dotted along the city's entry points are manned by ordinary Ukrainians. These are not soldiers. A week ago, many of these men would have been at work, or enjoying time off with their friends and families. Read MoreNow, they are ready to defend their country's capital. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky urges Biden to give 'useful' message in State of the UnionOleksiy Goncharenko was guarding one of the checkpoints in Kyiv on Tuesday, armed with the rifle he picked up last week after answering the call from Ukrainian authorities to prepare to defend the country.It was bitterly cold, and Goncharenko was working in shifts, with other volunteers. When not at the checkpoint, he says he is at the base, helping wherever he can: "Humanitarian help, helping people to get [to places], organizing transport, sharing information." Goncharenko is not — and has never been — a military man. He is a member of Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, "I'm not a professional soldier at all, but I can try and I can do my best and I will do it if Russian forces enter Kyiv," he told CNN. Oleksiy Goncharenko -- a member of Ukraine's parliament -- mans a checkpoint in Kyiv on Tuesday, March 1.Most of the men at the checkpoints are smiling. When a car passes through, they greet its passengers, wave and wish them a safe journey, wherever they are going. A man wearing glasses, a camouflage hat and woolly gloves with six of their 10 fingertips cut off flashes a quick V-sign and waves. The men here are trying to keep morale high, though they know only too well that the enemy they are facing is much better equipped.Russia has amassed a 40-mile-long (64-kilometer) military convoy -- made up of armored vehicles, tanks, towed artillery and other logistical vehicles -- that is approaching the outskirts of Kyiv.Most -- but not all -- of the men in the capital's streets are equipped with rifles. They are stationed alongside the road that connects Kyiv's city center with its suburbs. Soldiers are seen around piles of sand used to blocking a road in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.Armbands fashioned from a piece of yellow tape indicate they are part of the Territorial Defense Forces, a branch of Ukraine's armed forces that is comprised mostly of volunteers. Tens of thousands have joined up in recent days.Some look very, very young, wearing tracksuit bottoms and sneakers. In freezing cold weather, the city's defenders -- along with everyone else in Kyiv -- await whatever is yet to come.
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Last week, we reported about a critical zero-day flaw in WordPress that was silently patched by the company before hackers have had their hands on the nasty bug to exploit millions of WordPress websites.
To ensure the security of millions of websites and its users, WordPress delayed the vulnerability disclosure for over a week and worked closely with security companies and hosts to install the patch, ensuring that the issue was dealt with in short order before it became public.
But even after the company's effort to protect its customers, thousands of admins did not bother to update their websites, which are still vulnerable to the critical bug and has already been exploited by hackers.
While WordPress includes a default feature that automatically updates unpatched websites, some admins running critical services disable this feature for first testing and then applying patches.
Even the news blog of one of the famous Linux distribution OpenSUSE (news.opensuse.org) was also hacked, but restored immediately without breach of any other part of openSUSE's infrastructure, CIO reports.
The vulnerability resided in Wordpress REST API that would lead to the creation of new flaws, allowing an unauthenticated attacker to delete pages or modify all pages on unpatched websites and redirect their visitors to malicious exploits and a large number of attacks.
The security researcher at Sucuri, who privately disclosed the flaw to WordPress, said they started noticing the attacks leveraging this bug less than 48 hours after disclosure. They noticed at least four different campaigns targeting still unpatched websites.
In one such campaign, hackers were successful in replacing the content of over 66,000 web pages with "Hacked by" messages. Rest campaigns have targeted roughly 1000 pages in total.
Besides defacing websites, such attacks appear to be carried out mostly for black hat SEO campaign in order to spread spam and gain ranking in search engine, which is also known as search engine poisoning.
"What we expect to see is a lot more SEO spam (Search Engine Poisoning) attempts moving forward," explained Daniel Cid, CTO, and founder of Sucuri.
"There's already a few exploit attempts that try to add spam images and content to a post. Due to the monetization possibilities, this will likely be the #1 route to abuse this vulnerability."
So, site administrators who have not yet updated their websites to the latest WordPress release 4.7.2 are urged to patch them immediately before becoming next target of SEO spammers and hackers.
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Story highlights10,000 to 15,000 Americans are expected in Sochi to watch the Games, a lawmaker saysThe U.S. State Department is warning Americans to take extra precautionsA travel warning cites reports about Russia authorities hunting for possible suicide bombersA trip to the Winter Olympics in Sochi should be all about superhuman feats of skill or endurance on skis, skates or bobsleighs. But hearing the talk of U.S. security plans in the run-up to the Games in Russia next month, visitors may think they are entering a war zone.Contingency plans for evacuating Americans in case of an attack are well in hand, it would seem.The United States is moving to two warships into the Black Sea. If ordered, helicopters could be launched from there to Sochi, a U.S. official told CNN recently.And if more capacity is needed, C-17 transport aircraft will be on standby in Germany and could be on the scene in about two hours.That's in addition to U.S. precautions on Russian soil, where FBI agents are now arriving in Sochi to work with their Russian counterparts, according to Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee.JUST WATCHEDSome families torn on going to Olympics ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSome families torn on going to Olympics 03:43JUST WATCHEDAre the Sochi Olympics safe?ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHAre the Sochi Olympics safe? 07:43JUST WATCHEDWarning for U.S. athletes in SochiReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHWarning for U.S. athletes in Sochi 02:02JUST WATCHEDSochi security under scrutinyReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHSochi security under scrutiny 02:32The United States has also discussed at the highest levels the sharing of its high-tech bomb detection technology -- developed to protect service members from deadly homemade bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan -- with Russia.Concern over explosives is heightened because the radical Islamists who have threatened to attack the Sochi Games have a track record with hidden bombs. One was detonated under a stadium grandstand in Grozny in 2004.Look who's watching over you at SochiAnd with the largest delegation of any nation to the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, as well as -- according to McCaul -- 10,000 to 15,000 Americans as spectators, the United States appears to be taking nothing for granted when it comes to security.American athletes, coaches and staff are being warned not to wear their red, white and blue Olympic uniforms outside the "ring of steel," the Russian security cordon surrounding Sochi. They also will be under the watchful eye of U.S. security officials who will attend events with them, according to State Department officials. Travel warning issuedThe State Department went so far last week as to issue an updated travel alert for the region, warning Game-goers that bombings and abductions continue in Russia, particularly in the North Caucasus region. It cited media reports about the hunt in Sochi by Russian authorities for "black widows," wives of dead insurgents who act as suicide bombers, even as it said the U.S. government has not corroborated the reports. The reports were just one example of what one senior State Department official has described as an "uptick in threat reporting" in the lead-up to the Winter Games. "Our expectation is that we will see more in the coming weeks," the official, speaking on background, told reporters during a briefing on Olympic security measures.But is the U.S. contingency planning in line with the potential threat?Security expert Matthew Clements, editor of IHS Jane's intelligence review in London, thinks not."It's normal for countries to outline contingency plans for the removal of their nationals from any country in which there's a risk to them," he said. "At the same time, this is usually only undertaken in very serious situations such as cases of civil war or other kinds of conflict."In the event of a terrorist attack on someone in Sochi, even if it was around the city or venues, I don't think the idea of there being a U.S. military evacuation of their citizens from there would be a realistic prospect."This, says Clements, is because it would cause huge logistical difficulties, would likely be overkill in terms of the situation and "probably the Russians wouldn't be very happy."'We've had conversations'It is unclear whether a military evacuation would entail U.S. forces entering Russian territory, but Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has publicly hinted that there is a plan of some sort. Photos: Photos: Building Sochi's Olympic village Photos: Photos: Building Sochi's Olympic villageBuilding Sochi's Olympic village – The satellite image company DigitalGlobe and Google Earth have provided a look at the transformation of the location of the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Look at how the area, known as the "Coastal Cluster" has been transformed for the games. Here you can see the area where the Olympic Village will be built as it it appeared in April 2005. Hide Caption 1 of 7 Photos: Photos: Building Sochi's Olympic villageBuilding Sochi's Olympic village – Sochi as it appeared in September 2007. Hide Caption 2 of 7 Photos: Photos: Building Sochi's Olympic villageBuilding Sochi's Olympic village – In March 2010, the initial ground work for the future Olympic Village and venues can be seen. Hide Caption 3 of 7 Photos: Photos: Building Sochi's Olympic villageBuilding Sochi's Olympic village – By September 2011, construction was well underway. Hide Caption 4 of 7 Photos: Photos: Building Sochi's Olympic villageBuilding Sochi's Olympic village – In this photo from March 2013, the buildings that will become Olympic venues can be clearly seen. Hide Caption 5 of 7 Photos: Photos: Building Sochi's Olympic villageBuilding Sochi's Olympic village – From the top center, going clockwise: the large rectangular building is the Adler Arena Skating Center, the smaller squarish building is a training rink for figure skating, then the Iceberg Skating Palace, the round dome near the bottom center is the Fisht Olympic Stadium, and the smaller white-topped building is the Bolshoy Ice Dome. Hide Caption 6 of 7 Photos: Photos: Building Sochi's Olympic villageBuilding Sochi's Olympic village – A wider view of the area is seen on January 2. Hide Caption 7 of 7 Photos: Sochi transformed Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – The sun rises over Sochi's Olympic Park on January 10, 2014. The 2014 Winter Olympics will run February 7 - 23 in Sochi, Russia. Six thousand athletes from 85 countries are scheduled to attend the 22nd Winter Olympics. Here's a look at the estimated $50 billion transformation of Sochi for the Games. Hide Caption 1 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – Soaring snowcapped peaks, some topping 10,000 feet, tower over the Black Sea resort city of Sochi on January 22, 2007. These are Russia's first Olympic Games, although the former Soviet Union hosted the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. Hide Caption 2 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – The city of Sochi, which is also a fishing town, was among three finalists bidding for the Olympics. Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea, also competed. Hide Caption 3 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – In the Imeretinskay Valley, a woman plays with a dog in February 2007, near an advertisement for the Olympic Park soon to be built in the area. Organizers of the Sochi Olympics say they want these Games to be the greenest, most environmentally aware games ever staged. Hide Caption 4 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – Construction vehicles travel along the Imeretinskaya Valley, the site of Olympic facilities for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, in April 2009. Ice events will be held in a "cluster" near the Black Sea in the Imeretinskaya Valley. The second "cluster" will be for skiing and sliding events and will be held in the Krasnaya Polyana Mountains. Hide Caption 5 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – People work on their vegetable gardens near the construction site of the Olympic facilities in the Imeretinskaya Valley in April 2009.Hide Caption 6 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – This September 2010 photo shows ski facilities under construction in Krasnaya Polyana near Sochi.Hide Caption 7 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – The Grand Ice Palace, intended for ice hockey, is under construction here in October 2010. Hide Caption 8 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – A construction worker walks on the top of the building site of the Bolshoi Ice Palace in Sochi in June 2010.Hide Caption 9 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – Pictured here from the Krasnaya Polyana ski resort is the combined motor and rail road that runs between Olympic sites. Hide Caption 10 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – Central stadium is under construction in Sochi's Olympic Park in December 2011. Hide Caption 11 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – Sochi's new Adler Arena for speed skating is pictured in November 2012.Hide Caption 12 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – Sochi's new Adler Arena for speed skating is pictured in November 2012.Hide Caption 13 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – Construction continues on Sochi's "Iceberg" Skating Palace in February 2012.Hide Caption 14 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – The Iceberg figure-skating and short-track venue is pictured in September 2013.Hide Caption 15 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – The "coastal cluster" venues for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games are pictured in January 2014 in Sochi.Hide Caption 16 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – The Olympic rings for the 2014 Winter Olympics are installed in Sochi on September 25, 2012. Hide Caption 17 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – About 37,000 security officers will be deployed for the Sochi Games. Police officers walk in front of the main press center at the Olympic Park in Sochi on January 7, 2014.Hide Caption 18 of 19 Photos: Sochi transformed Sochi transformed – The Olympic rings light up the sky outside Sochi International Airport. An estimated 3 billion people are expected to watch the Olympics on television.Hide Caption 19 of 19JUST WATCHEDAre the Olympics too big a target?ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHAre the Olympics too big a target? 03:08JUST WATCHEDJust how safe is Sochi?ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHJust how safe is Sochi? 03:06"We've had conversations with the Russian government on protection of our citizens," Hagel said recently. He also has said the United States has offered assistance to Russia, but there has been no request from the Russian government for help. McCaul, speaking on CNN's New Day, also said the notion that Moscow needs foreign help to deal with its own homegrown terrorist threat would likely rile many Russians."There's a sense of nationalistic pride in Russia, just as we would have in the United States," said McCaul. "And so, while they've been very productive, cooperating with us on some issues, when it comes to the military, it gets a little sensitive."But former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes, a CNN law enforcement analyst, believes the U.S. precautions make sense."You'd hope that the U.S. wouldn't be sitting around waiting for a telegram from Russia going 'hey, come and get your people.' So to me, that's a commonsense approach, and the military should have a very robust plan to come in and do that," he said."If an attack occurs, you're going to have chaos. You're going to have a large problem to get ships and get helicopters, so merely getting your forces in to get your people out will be quite an event just by itself."Russian ambassador says he's certain Olympics will be safeBritain taking 'extra measures'Other nations are well-aware of the security risk attached to any such major event -- but are more coy about their precautions.Darryl Seibel, spokesman for the British Olympic Association, declined to go into detail about the security measures planned for Team GB in Sochi."We will take some extra measures for our delegates," he told CNN. But, he stressed, "that is not new -- we have done that for a number of Games. That's been part of our planning from the beginning."Seibel said the primary responsibility for security always falls to the host country and the organizing committee. It's something of which Britain is very conscious, having hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 2012. As it turned out, the London Olympics went off without incident, but the security measures taken included parking missile batteries on apartment block roofs and a huge warship on the River Thames.The precautions in Sochi are even more extensive, those who've been there say."This security operation is the most impressive and well-fortified that we've ever seen in Olympic history," McCaul said.Even so, a Quinnipiac poll conducted in the United States last week found that half those surveyed believe a terrorist attack at the Winter Olympics is very or somewhat likely.Allaying fearsBut American authorities have sought to allay concerns."What I can tell you is there has been an uptick in some of the reporting, but that is not unusual. It's of concern, but not unusual for an event like this," said White House spokesman Jay Carney. "The State Department has handled and is handling the issue of travel advisories for U.S. citizens, and we are offering the Russians any assistance that they might require or request in a situation like this."It's not clear exactly how many people will travel to Sochi for the Games.Scott Blackmun, chief executive of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said in a statement: "The safety and security of Team USA is our top priority. "As is always the case, we are working with the U.S. Department of State, the local organizers and the relevant law enforcement agencies in an effort to ensure that our delegation and other Americans traveling to Sochi are safe."Former champion Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps said that the security issues are likely the last thing on the athletes' minds right now."As an athlete, we don't notice anything," he said. "You know, we're there to represent our country and we are there to compete at the highest level."Being in the Olympic Village with athletes from all over the world is incredible, he said, adding "there's nothing like it."
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(CNN)China's triple Olympic swimming champion Sun Yang has had an eight-year doping ban "set aside" by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in a ruling that could prove highly embarrassing for the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and a former Italian Foreign Minister.Switzerland's CAS is seen as sport's final court of judgment and it's rare for its decisions to be challenged by the Swiss legal system. In a statement the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said it noted that the Swiss Federal Tribunal had upheld "a challenge against the Chair of the CAS Panel and makes no comment on the substance of this case."The original CAS panel comprised former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini -- who is also an Italian magistrate -- as well as Belgian lawyer Romano Subiotto and British lawyer Philippe Sands. CAS listed Frattini as the panel's PresidentThe Swiss Federal Supreme Court overturned Sun's CAS ban "on the grounds of bias" on Tuesday.Read MoreJUST WATCHEDMichael Phelps: 2021 Olympics will be 'four or five' out of 10 in terms of being cleanReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHMichael Phelps: 2021 Olympics will be 'four or five' out of 10 in terms of being clean 04:13Sun had been given the ban for refusing to complete an out-of-competition doping test. In February, CAS accepted an appeal from WADA against a decision by the world swimming body FINA to clear the Chinese swimmer of wrongdoing for his conduct during the test in September 2018.READ: Tokyo Olympic Games: Opening and closing ceremonies to be pared back'Different composition of the panel'But in the latest legal twist, Sun's legal team successfully challenged the CAS ruling."The Swiss Federal Supreme Court approved the request by the Chinese swimmer Sun Yang for revision of the arbitral award of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne dated 28 February 2020 on the grounds of bias of one of the arbitrators of the CAS," said a statement from the Swiss Federal Supreme Court sent to CNN on Thursday. "The award of the CAS is set aside," added the statement. "The CAS will have to render a new award in the case of Sun Yang in a different composition of the panel. The reasoning of the judgment of the Federal Supreme Court is not yet available."WADA said on Wednesday it plans to "present its case robustly again when the matter returns to the CAS Panel, which will be chaired by a different president."Sun Yang competes in the men's 1500m Freestyle final on Day 8 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre on August 4, 2012 in London, England. Frattini has posted on Twitter about the treatment of animals in China, including using an anti-Chinese slur.The former Italian Foreign Minister declined to comment when contacted by CNN, saying he wanted to be able to read the court's full reasoning first.Sands did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. Subiotto referred CNN to CAS Secretary General Matthieu Reeb. The CAS did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.Sun, 29, is one of China's top athletes, having won two gold medals at the 2012 London Olympic games and another in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.JUST WATCHEDChad le Clos on Sun Yang ban: He's 'killing generations of swimmers'ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHChad le Clos on Sun Yang ban: He's 'killing generations of swimmers' 03:21Eight years is the maximum ban that CAS can hand out. Sun previously served a three-month doping ban in 2014.It's unclear when a new CAS panel will sit to adjudicate on the Sun case. The Chinese swimmer won't be banned from competing, pending the outcome of the CAS hearing.The Chinese Olympic Committee and FINA -- swimming's world governing body -- did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. Neither did members of Sun's legal team.Additional reporting Jill Martin, Zayn Nabbi and Sharon Braithwaite
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(CNN)Tennis' grand slam circuit switches its focus to Paris following the Australian Open, but Roland Garros will have a different look for this year.🏟️Philippe-Chatrier court's roof is ready ! How does it work ? #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/Mgybr7s1yw— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) February 5, 2020 The French Open is one of the most historic competitions in the world, but the clay court venue has been brought bang up to date with the addition of a retractable roof. The structure covers Roland Garros' main stage, the Philippe-Chatrier court, in a bid to rid the biggest matches of those pesky rain delays. The roof, which will take approximately 15 minutes to close, is made up of 11 individual trusses -- each weighing 330 metric tons -- and took eight months to assemble, according to organizers. READ: Margaret Court criticizes John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova over protestREAD: Djokovic says tough upbringing in Serbia made him 'hungrier for success'The construction work of the newly built roof of the Philippe Chatrier central tennis court.Read MoreIt took a total of eight months to fit the structure. The individual components were made in workshops near Venice over a period of two years and will cover a surface area of one hectare in total. The French stop of the tennis tour is the last major to fit a retractable roof to join Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the US Open. Nadal eyes record JUST WATCHEDRafael Nadal: Story of a tennis legendReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHRafael Nadal: Story of a tennis legend 02:08The new roof will undergo multiple tests ahead of the start of this year's tournament which is due to begin on May 24.The king of clay Rafael Nadal will be bidding to extend his record to 13 French Open titles but will face stiff competition.Both Australian Open finalists -- Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem -- are in dangerous form and could pose the most serious threat to Nadal's superiority. However, another grand slam victory for Nadal would also put the Spaniard level with Roger Federer on 20 career major titles.
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Tor has always been a tough target for law enforcement for years, but the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has found a way to successfully track users across the network.
Just a few days back, Tor made a difficult announcement that an attack on its system likely exposed its users of anonymity. Now, a new report from Wired suggests that the FBI has been running a malware campaign to identify Tor users by infecting their computers for years on a large scale.
FBI USES DRIVE-BY HACKING TO TRACK USERS
Tor is generally thought to be a place where users come online to hide their activities and remain anonymous, but a court case has revealed an opposite story. FBI has been using a tactic called drive-by hacking to track computers using the Tor anonymous computing system.
Security researchers call the tactic a "drive-by download" in which a hacker infiltrates a high-traffic website to deliver the malware to large swaths of visitors. That simply means that the FBI first infects the target sites and then installs malware to tracks its users.
PARTICULARLY TARGETING DARKNET WEBSITES
Under the Operation Torpedo, the FBI agents are using drive-by hacking particularly to track users on the Dark Net, hidden websites that are only accessible through Tor anonymity network. These dark websites usually deal in serious activity like drugs, child porn and murder contracts.
Like the 2012 case of Aaron McGrath, who was found hosting child pornography websites on a network of servers in Nebraska. After obtaining legal warrants to track certain individuals accessing McGrath's servers, the FBI agents infected servers with tracking malware to identify the root IP of anyone who visited the website.
As a result, the FBI were successful in tracking the IP address of as many as 25 individuals in this case. To the FBI's credit, it has owned up to these techniques in the past and tracked users across Tor before.
YOU MIGHT BE IN DANGER IF USING TOR
This sophisticated use of tracking malware comes out to be a great tool to help law enforcement find and arrest the terrible criminals. But, in past we had seen some evidence that the FBI is tracking innocent users of Tor anonymity network, as well.
Many are worried about this tracking tactic that is also used to track people legally visiting other suspicious sites like researchers or human rights workers.
"You could easily imagine them using this same technology on everyone who visits a jihadi forum, for example," the ACLU technologist Chris Soghoian told Wired. "And there are lots of legitimate reasons for someone to visit a jihadi forum: research, journalism, lawyers defending a case. ACLU attorneys read Inspire Magazine, not because we are particularly interested in the material, but we need to cite stuff in briefs."
Nobody is sure whether the innocent Tor users are targeted in this so-called Operation Torpedo, but the FBI agents are expected to use these drive-by download tools in near future as well. As they don't have to reveal exactly what they are doing, just because of the fact that they're hacking only into the unsuspecting Americans' computers is going to be unnoticed by the judges.
The ACLU is also worried that judges issuing the legal search warrants to the FBI which make these tracking malware attacks legal, don't fully understand the technology. In fact, the search warrants for the Operation Torpedo, didn't actually contain the word like malware anywhere.
So, if you are also the one to use Tor to legally access potentially dangerous sites, no matter for what purpose you are there - THE FBI HAS AN EYE ON YOU.
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(CNN)New portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, were released Monday to celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.The British monarch and her husband were married on 20th November 1947 when they were still Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, at Westminster Abbey in the heart of London.The wedding attracted worldwide attention and came just five years before Elizabeth would ascend the throne following the sudden death of her father, King George VI.The special 70th anniversary portraits were taken in the White Drawing Room of Windsor Castle in early November.The portraits were taken in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle in early November.In the photos, Queen Elizabeth is wearing a cream day dress designed by Angela Kelly.Read MoreShe also wore the 'Scarab' brooch in yellow gold, carved ruby and diamond, given to her by Philip in 1966 and designed by Andrew Grima.The marriage of the then Princess Elizabeth to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey on 20th November 1947 attracted worldwide attention.It was announced in May that Prince Philip, who is 95 years old, would be retiring from public life after serving at the Queen's side for 65 years.He said he'd stop accepting invitations for public engagements from September.Queen Elizabeth, 91, has also begun to scale back her duties due to her advancing age, handing over some of her responsibilities to her heir, Prince Charles.Prince William and his wife, Catherine, moved to London earlier this year and are also taking on more royal duties. They are expecting their third child, who will be the Queen's sixth great-grandchild.
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Multiple SQL Injection Vulnerabilities on CNN website Exposed
Yes ! CNN is also not Secure site, There are Multiple SQL Injection Vulnerabilities on CNN News site exposed by Hacker named "Sec Indi".
CNN.com is among the world's leaders in online news and information delivery. Staffed 24 hours, seven days a week by a dedicated staff in CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, and in bureaus worldwide, CNN.com relies heavily on CNN's global team of almost 4,000 news professionals. CNN.com features the latest multimedia technologies, from live video streaming to audio packages to searchable archives of news features and background information. The site is updated continuously throughout the day.
SQL Injection Vulnerable Links :
1.) https://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/collegecost/collegecost.jsp?college_id='7966
2.) https://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/fortune/compare_2009.jsp?id=11439'
Screenshots Submitted By Hacker :
SQL Injection Vulnerability was the Reason for biggest data breaches of 2011 ,like various SONY hacks. Hacker said that he inform the CNN admin 2-3 times, but site is still Vulnerable. I think now CNN should take this small bugs Seriously.
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Several Cisco-manufactured network equipments have been found vulnerable to five new security vulnerabilities that could allow hackers to take complete control over them, and subsequently, over the enterprise networks they power.
Four of the five high-severity bugs are remote code execution issues affecting Cisco routers, switches, and IP cameras, whereas the fifth vulnerability is a denial-of-service issue affecting Cisco IP phones.
Collectively dubbed 'CDPwn,' the reported vulnerabilities reside in the various implementations of the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) that comes enabled by default on virtually all Cisco devices and can not be turned OFF.
Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) is an administrative protocol that works at Layer 2 of the Internet Protocol (IP) stack. The protocol has been designed to let devices discover information about other locally attached Cisco equipment in the same network.
According to a report Armis research team shared with The Hacker News, the underlying CDP implementations contain buffer overflow and format string vulnerabilities that could let remote attackers on the same network execute arbitrary code on the vulnerable devices by sending malicious unauthenticated CDP packets.
The list of CDPwn Cisco vulnerabilities affecting tens of millions of devices widely deployed in enterprise networks is as follow:
Cisco NX-OS Stack Overflow in the Power Request TLV (CVE-2020-3119)
Cisco IOS XR Format String vulnerability in multiple TLVs (CVE-2020-3118)
Cisco IP Phones Stack Overflow in PortID TLV (CVE-2020-3111)
Cisco IP Cameras Heap Overflow in DeviceID TLV (CVE-2020-3110)
Cisco FXOS, IOS XR, and NX-OS Resource Exhaustion in the Addresses TLV (CVE-2020-3120)
To be noted, since CDP is a Data Link layer 2 protocol that can't cross the boundaries of a local area network, an attacker first needs to be on the same network to leverage CDPwn vulnerabilities.
However, after gaining an initial foothold in a targeted network using separate vulnerabilities, attackers can exploit CDPwn against network switches to break network segmentation and move laterally across the corporate networks to other sensitive systems and data.
"Gaining control over the switch is useful in other ways. For example, the switch is in a prime position to eavesdrop on network traffic that traverses through the switch, and it can even be used to launch man-in-the-middle attacks on the traffic of devices that traverses through the switch," the researchers said.
"An attacker can look to move laterally across segments and gain access to valuable devices like IP phones or cameras. Unlike switches, these devices hold sensitive data directly, and the reason to take them over can be a goal of an attacker, and not merely a way to break out of segmentation."
Additionally, CDPwn flaws also allow attackers to:
Eavesdrop on voice and video data/calls and video feed from IP phones and cameras, capture sensitive conversations or images.
Exfiltrate sensitive corporate data flowing through the corporate network's switches and routers.
Compromise additional devices by leveraging man-in-the-middle attacks to intercept and alter traffic on the corporate switch.
Besides releasing a detailed technical report on the issues, the Armis research team has also shared videos of explanation and demonstration of the flaws, as embedded above.
After closely working with Armis researchers over the last few months to develop security patches, Cisco today released software updates for all of its affected products.
Though Cisco has also provided some mitigation information, affected administrators are still highly recommended to install the latest software updates to completely protect their valuable networks against malware and emerging online threats.
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FireEye's Malware Intelligence Lab is making the claim that there is a new zero day vulnerability in the wild that affects the latest version of Java.Researcher. Atif Mushtaq wrote on the company's blog that he spotted the initial exploit on a domain that pointed to an IP address in China.
The vulnerability allows computers to be infected by simply visiting a specially crafted web page, and the malware served in the current attacks contacts a C&C server in Singapore. Researchers from heise Security have also created a PoC page using information that is publicly available.
A separate post published on Monday by researchers Andre M. DiMino and Mila Parkour said the number of attacks, which appear to install the Poison Ivy Remote Access Trojan, were low. But they went on to note that the typical delay in issuing Java patches, combined with the circulation of exploit code, meant it was only a matter of time until the vulnerability is exploited more widely by other attackers.
Developers at vulnerability management company Rapid7, which owns the Metasploit Project, on Sunday added the exploit to their penetration testing framework. And the exploit is expected to show up if it hasn't already in the widely used BlackHole exploit toolkit, one of the most popular threats on the web.
"This vulnerability is not a 'memory corruption' type vulnerability, but instead seems to be a security bypass issue that allows running untrusted code outside the sandbox without user interaction," Eiram said. "In this specific case a file is downloaded and executed on the user's system when just visiting a web page hosting a malicious applet."
It's not clear when Oracle will release a patch for this vulnerability. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Some security experts are prepping an unofficial patch for the program that should blunt this vulnerability.
However, uninstalling or disabling Java is probably not an acceptable solution for a large number of companies and users that rely on Java-based Web applications to conduct their daily business.
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Story highlightsRadovan Karadzic guilty of genocide and other counts of war crimes, crimes against humanityEx-leader of breakaway Serb Republic in Bosnia held responsible for Srebrenica massacreHe has been sentenced to 40 years for his role in the crimes (CNN)Radovan Karadzic, nicknamed the "Butcher of Bosnia," was sentenced to 40 years in prison Thursday after being found guilty of genocide and other crimes against humanity over atrocities that Bosnian Serb forces committed during the Bosnian War from 1992 to 1995.A special U.N. court in The Hague, Netherlands, found the 70-year-old guilty of genocide over his responsibility for the Srebrenica massacre, in which more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were executed by Bosnian Serb forces under his command.Karadzic, former leader of the breakaway Serb Republic in Bosnia, is the highest-ranking political figure to have been brought to justice over the bitter ethnic conflicts that erupted with the collapse of the former Yugoslavia.JUST WATCHED'Don't be afraid,' then 8,000 slaughteredReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCH'Don't be afraid,' then 8,000 slaughtered 04:40After the verdict, thousands of Serbian ultranationalist supporters of Karadzic took to the streets of Serbian capital of Belgrade, carrying images of the former leader and saying he was being punished for being a Serb. On the streets of Belgrade, people voiced mixed reactions to the sentence. Read More"He was given 40 years, did not get a life? So it's a disaster," one man said.Another said, "They should charge other people, not Radovan Karadzic. He defended Serbian people, sacrificed himself for Serbian people, but authorities in Serbia sent him to Hague."Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said in a statement that the verdict and sentence "will stand against continuing attempts at denying the suffering of thousands and the crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia.""Moments like this should also remind us that in innumerable conflicts around the world today, millions of victims are now waiting for their own justice," he added. "This judgment shows that it is possible to deliver it." U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hailed the verdicts as a "historic" result for the people of the former Yugoslavia and for international criminal justice, while the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, said they exposed Karadzic as "the architect of destruction and murder on a massive scale."Karadzic, a former psychiatrist, was found guilty of 10 of the 11 charges against him, including extermination, persecution, forcible transfer, terror and hostage taking. In a statement, the tribunal said it found Karadzic had committed the crimes through his participation in four "joint criminal enterprises," including an overarching plot from October 1991 to November 1995 "to permanently remove Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats from Bosnian Serb-claimed territory."The trial was heard by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia -- an ad hoc court the United Nations established to prosecute serious crimes committed during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's director for Europe and Central Asia, said the results confirmed Karadzic's "command responsibility for the most serious crimes under international law carried out on European soil since the Second World War." The Croatian government hailed the verdicts Thursday -- which came at the end of an eight-year trial -- as welcome but long overdue, calling them "the minimum, for which the victims and their families unfortunately waited too long."Radovan Karadzic: From psychiatrist to 'Butcher of Bosnia'Genocide in SrebrenicaIn July 1995, tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims had sought refuge in the spa town of Srebrenica -- designated a U.N. "safe area" -- as the Bosnian Serb army marched toward them.But with only about 100 lightly equipped Dutch peacekeepers there for protection, the town was overrun by Serb forces.Delivering the verdicts, presiding Judge O-Gon Kwon said the tribunal found that about 30,000 Bosnian Muslim women, children and elderly men had been removed to Muslim-held territory by Bosnia Serb forces acting on Karadzic's orders.Karadzic's forces then detained the Muslim men and boys in a number of locations before taking them to nearby sites, where they were executed by the thousands.The tribunal found that Karadzic was the only person within the Serb Republic with the power to intervene to prevent them being killed, but instead he had personally ordered that detainees be transferred elsewhere to be killed. It found he shared with other Bosnian Serb leaders the intent to kill every able-bodied Bosnian Muslim male from Srebrenica -- which amounted "to the intent to destroy the Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica," the tribunal said in a statement.Civilians targeted in SarajevoOther charges against Karadzic stemmed from the infamous siege of Sarajevo, from 1992 to 1995, during which more than 11,000 people died.JUST WATCHEDHaunted by the Bosnian WarReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHHaunted by the Bosnian War 03:06The judge said Bosnian Serb forces had consistently and deliberately targeted civilians in Sarajevo, acts that constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity."Sarajevo civilians were sniped while fetching water, walking in the city, and when using public transport. Children were sniped at while playing in front of their houses, walking with their parents or walking home from school," the judge said.He said Karadzic was "consistently informed" about the targeting of civilians, had allowed it to intensify and used it to exert pressure in pursuit of his political goals.The judge said the sniping attacks on the civilian population, which instilled extreme fear among the city's residents, could not have occurred without Karadzic's support, and the only reasonable inference was that the former Serb leader had intended murder, unlawful attacks on civilians and terror. U.N. peacekeepers taken hostageThe tribunal also found Karadzic guilty of taking U.N. peacekeepers hostage in May and June 1995, with the judge calling him a "driving force" behind a plot to put the hostages in key military and other strategic locations to deter NATO airstrikes on the targets.The judge said the U.N. personnel were also threatened during their detention, with the goal of bringing a halt to the strikes altogether.Karadzic was found not guilty on one of the counts of genocide, relating to crimes against Bosnian Muslims and Croats in "municipalities" throughout Bosnia-Herzegovina.The tribunal found that Serb forces had killed, raped, forcibly displaced and tortured the other ethnic groups in the municipalities, and found Karadzic guilty of persecution, extermination, deportation, forcible transfer and murder in relation to crimes committed there.However, the judge said, the court was unable to identify or infer genocidal intent, and therefore couldn't establish beyond a reasonable doubt that genocide had occurred there.Bizarre path to justiceKaradzic, who had denied the charges against him -- blaming any war crimes committed on rogue elements -- has the right to appeal.He is also entitled to credit for the time he has spent in custody since his arrest in July 2008. His road to The Hague has been a long one, marked by bizarre twists. He went into hiding in 1996 and was not arrested until 12 years later. When he emerged, he was heavily disguised by a white beard, long hair and spectacles. Radovan Karadzic used a disguise of a beard and glasses while in hiding.Serb officials revealed that Karadzic had been hiding in plain sight -- working in a clinic in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, under a false identity as a "healer." He had also managed to publish a book of poetry during his time on the run.He was extradited to The Hague to face charges and pleaded not guilty. He initially tried to represent himself, leading to delays in his trial, but eventually was forced to accept an attorney. Thursday's verdict comes more than a year after the end of his trial in 2014. The 500-day trial included evidence from 586 witnesses and more than 11,000 exhibits. Karadzic's former army chief, Ratko Mladic, who was arrested in 2012, is facing charges of genocide and war crimes committed during the conflict. A judgment in his case is expected in 2017.CNN's Ray Sanchez and Richard Allen Greene contributed to this report.
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An application should always encrypt users' sensitive data, either it is local or stored on company servers, but still many popular services failed to provide fully secured solutions to their users.
Cristian Dinu (DrOptix) and Dragoş Gaftoneanu, Romanian programmers at Hackyard Security Group, a private community dedicated to IT security research approaches 'The Hacker News' editorial and claimed that the Microsoft owned most popular free voice calling service Skype leaves its local database unencrypted, that puts users' sensitive information at risk.
All Skype-to-Skype voice, video, file transfers and instant messages are encrypted. Though, Skype's local database is also supposed to be encrypted because it is sensitive enough, but Dragoş found that Skype leaves users' full name, birthday, phone numbers, country, city and even full chat conversations unencrypted on the systems' hard drive in a known location without any encryption or password.
Skype is a free online service that allows users to communicate with peers by voice using a microphone, video by using a webcam, and instant messaging over the Internet. Due to its worldwide popularity it was acquired by Microsoft Corporation on May 2011 for US$8.5 billion.
UNENCRYPTED SKYPE ACCOUNT LOCAL DATABASE
Dragoş claimed that private information of skype users is stored in such a way that anyone with access to the device can see the private chats, usernames, phone number etc and use them for any purpose.
Unencrypted data is obviously a loophole for cyber criminals and the Skype's unencrypted database also displays users' location information such as country and city, which could be considered a jackpot for unsavory hackers.
While chatting with his friend 'Cristian Dinu' on Skype, Dragoş noticed a folder in his Linux home directory that contains a database file, called main.db, created by the Skype software.
In Linux: /home/user/.Skype/skypename/
In Mac OS X: /Users/user/Library/Application Support/Skype/skypeuser
In Windows : C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Skype\skype.id
Using SQLite utility, Dragoş connected to the unencrypted Skype database and found Skype user account related information in plaintext under different tables.
The Account table contains the basic information of the user such as skypename, fullname, birthday, country, city, mobile phone numbers, emails from Accounts, etc.
Another Table labeled 'CallMembers' stores the information about when and whom user called. The 'Contacts' table stores the user's friend list along with skypename, fullname, and some interesting columns, such as birthday, country, city and phone_mobile.
The most surprising table came out to be the 'Messages' Table that stores the users' chat conversations in complete plain text format. Even some tables regarding video calls and SMSes sent also reveals users' personal data.
A flaw in the popular voice calling and messaging service may have left its Millions of users vulnerable to the attackers by storing the data in such a way that anyone can read it. The users' details are kept inside one of Skype's database files buried within the file system, but anyone could see it if they had access to users' device and knew where to look.
It is quite easy to steal the history files and with the help of some special software one can view all the history without your Skype password.
The researcher tested this on the Linux based operating system but later it was found that the application makes the same files on every operating system.
Dragos advised users to remove the content of main.db every time they close Skype application and also provided a Linux based script to remove main.db automatically, which users just need to make it run on every startup. Users are advised to store their Skype profile files on the encrypted volume or in the encrypted container.
This is an example of poor software development practices. Microsoft should take proactive steps to ensure the privacy of users data.
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Story highlights At least 10 Turkish soldiers were killed Tuesday in a suspected PKK attack12 killed in PKK ambushes last weekend; Turkey says it's killed hundreds from PKK recentlyInternational Crisis Group says casualties are the highest in 13 yearsThe Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, launched insurgency in the 1980s in response to state biasTurkey's long-simmering war with a Kurdish insurgency has escalated over the last year, reaching death tolls unseen in more than a decade, a new report focusing on the conflict says."Turkey's Kurdish conflict is becoming more violent, with more than 700 dead in fourteen months, the highest casualties in thirteen years," concluded the International Crisis Group, a conflict resolution organization that has extensively researched Turkey's war with the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK. "We're seeing the longest pitched battles between the army and the PKK, we're seeing a wide-spread campaign of kidnapping, suicide bombings and terrorist attacks by the PKK. They're very much on the offensive and unfortunately this is matched by much harder line rhetoric on both sides," added Hugh Pope, the chief author of the International Crisis Group report, in an interview with CNN.115 Kurdish rebels killed in 14 daysLast weekend alone, at least eight Turkish police officers and four soldiers were killed in two separate ambushes in southeastern Turkey. The PKK promptly claimed responsibility for both attacks.The Turkish government, meanwhile, claims to have killed hundreds of PKK fighters in recent months, both in operations in southeastern, predominantly Kurdish-populated Turkey and during air raids against suspected PKK camps in the mountains of northern Iraq."Within the last month, in the operations executed throughout the region, about 500 terrorists were eliminated," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech Monday. "We will on the one hand develop Turkey and on the other hand continue to tirelessly struggle against this terrorist organization that has bloody hands." The escalation of violence and hard-line rhetoric on both sides has jeopardized hopes of bringing an end to a conflict that has bedeviled Turkey for 30 years. It also threatens to destabilize a member of the NATO military alliance that is already grappling with the influx of more than 80,000 refugees fleeing the civil war in neighboring Syria.For decades, the Turkish state discriminated against the Kurds, Turkey's largest ethnic minority, which now makes up roughly 20% of the population. The Kurdish language was banned, and Kurds were long referred to as "mountain Turks."The PKK, led by one of its founders, Abdullah Ocalan, launched a bloody campaign to carve out an independent homeland for Kurds from Turkey, as well as neighboring Iran, Iraq and Syria, in the 1980s. The conflict killed more than 30,000 people, most of them ethnic Kurds.The war that raged across southeastern Turkey subsided when the PKK declared a unilateral cease-fire for several years after Ocalan was captured in 1999.In 2005, Erdogan's government began secret talks with PKK leaders.His Justice and Development Party, or AKP, also made a number of overtures toward the Kurds, relaxing bans on Kurdish language education, appearing to apologize for past discriminatory policies and launching a state Kurdish-language TV station."The AKP government actually did more for the Kurds than anyone up until now," Pope said. "[But] when a wave of massive arrests of legitimate Kurdish politicians began, that's when I think young people especially lost hope and the PKK's arguments for the legitimacy of armed struggle became persuasive to them."Turkish authorities have arrested thousands of Kurdish activists, intellectuals and politicians in the past several years. Many of those targeted are members of the Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, a legal Kurdish political party that elected 29 members to parliament on independent ballots in 2011.According to this month's International Crisis Group report, those arrested "include elected deputies, mayors (some from major cities and districts), provincial councilors, party officials and ordinary activists. Many have been accused of membership in a terrorist organization, but not of committing any violent act."Last week, 44 journalists and media workers from Kurdish news outlets appeared in an Istanbul courthouse on terrorism charges. Many of them have been awaiting trial in prison since their arrest last December."This is to silence the opposition," said Baran Dogan, one of the defense attorneys in the case. "This is not only about press freedom but also an intervention into a citizen's right to choose where to get news from."In fact, in recent weeks, Turkey's fiery prime minister has publicly urged the Turkish media not to report on the growing number of Turkish casualties in the conflict, drawing criticism from media freedoms groups."Erdogan's most recent televised 'message to all the media' crosses from reprimanding into directly instructing journalists to stop covering the long-standing conflict between the Turkish Armed Forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). This is unthinkable," the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a news release this week.One of the major obstacles to the peace process, however, is the position staked out by the leaders of the Kurdish movement in Turkey.Video emerged last month showing several BDP lawmakers embracing and celebrating with armed PKK fighters in the mountains of southeastern Turkey. The scene provided further ammunition for critics who accuse the party of being a public face for the armed rebels.The International Crisis Group report also points out that the BDP has essentially marginalized itself from negotiations with the Turkish government."The BDP says 'don't negotiate with us, negotiate with Abdullah Ocalan in prison,' " said Pope, the report's chief author.Members of the party insist they do not have the power to persuade PKK fighters to lay down their weapons."We are not an armed group. If we tell them (the PKK) to lay down arms, will they obey?" Meral Danis Bestas, deputy chairwoman of the BDP, said in a phone interview with CNN.Over the last decade, Turkey succeeded in forging alliances with neighboring Iran, Syria and Iraq to target Kurdish rebels operating in their respective territories.But Turkey's relations with all three governments have deteriorated sharply over the past several years, and the conflict threatens to spill across borders.This month, Turkish warplanes repeatedly bombed suspected PKK camps in the mountains of northern Iraq.Meanwhile, Turks watched with alarm this summer as members of the Syrian branch of the PKK raised the guerilla movement's flag over several predominantly Kurdish towns along Syria's border with Turkey.Should Turkey be afraid of the Syrian Kurds?This has led to accusations from Ankara that Syria and its ally Iran are providing support to the PKK, charges denied by both Damascus and Tehran."If Turkey feels vulnerable to empowered Kurds in Syria, the only way to defend itself is to solve its domestic Kurdish problem," said Pope, the International Crisis Group report author.The report urged the Turkish government to expand Kurdish language education, redefine Turkey's broad definition of terrorism and launch a package of measures for reintegration of former Kurdish insurgents. The group also appealed to Kurdish leaders to drop demands for a "self-defence militia" in Kurdish areas of Turkey.One hope for resolution of the conflict may lie in an effort to rewrite Turkey's constitution. The document was drafted by a military junta that swept into power in a coup in 1980.Kurdish lawmakers have joined with Erdogan's party, as well as two other parties represented in the Turkish parliament, to write a new version of the constitution.But these reform efforts are being overshadowed by deadly, daily attacks in southeastern Turkey.On Tuesday morning, Turkish television showed smoke billowing from a burning bus after a suspected PKK attack on a military convoy in eastern Bingol province.According to Mustafa Hakan Guvencer, the governor of Bingol, the targeted convoy included buses carrying "200 military personnel returning from their vacations unarmed and dressed in civilian clothes."The governor said the ambush killed at least 10 soldiers and wounded at least 60.More: Kurds' ambitions add explosive element to Syria crisis
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(CNN)Three fires have combined to form a single blaze bigger than the New York borough of Manhattan, as Australian firefighters battle what has been predicted to be the most catastrophic day yet in an already devastating bushfire season.The fires joined overnight in the Omeo region in Victoria state, creating a 6,000-hectare (23 square mile) blaze, according to Gippsland's Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.In neighboring New South Wales state, a fire in the Wollondilly region south of the capital Sydney remains "out of control," according to the Rural Fire Service. It has burned 264,000 hectares (1,020 square miles) of land in recent months.Firefighters tackle a bushfire in thick smoke in the town of Moruya, south of Batemans Bay, in the state of New South Wales on January 4.Weather conditions are deteriorating rapidly on Saturday, with the country's Bureau of Meteorology warning that winds are picking up and temperatures increasing. "Today will be a day of severe to extreme fire danger through many districts," the bureau said.The country's capital, Canberra, smashed its heat record of 80 years, reaching 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday afternoon, according to the meteorology bureau. In the western Sydney suburb of Penrith, the mercury climbed to 48.9 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit) -- setting a new record for the whole Sydney basin.Read MoreThe death toll is rising as conditions worsen -- Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Saturday that 23 people had been killed nationwide, up from 18 from earlier in the week. More than 1,500 homes have also been destroyed since the fire season began in September. Victoria has declared a state of disaster and NSW has declared a state of emergency -- both granting extraordinary powers and additional government resources to battle the fires.It marked the first time Victoria has activated these powers since the 2009 Black Saturday fires, the deadliest bushfire disaster on record in Australia with 173 people killed and 500 injured.On Saturday, Morrison announced the deployment of up to 3,000 Australian Defense Force Reserve troops to affected states. Four planes will also be leased by the government to provide water bombing, while the navy's largest ship, HMAS Adelaide, will be mobilized to evacuate citizens along the coast."Today is about ensuring we deal with the urgent crisis that is existing across fire grounds in four states in particular, to ensure we're giving everything that is needed on ground without being asked," Morrison said at a press conference.Evacuations ahead of deteriorating weatherAll three branches of the ADF -- the navy, army, and air force -- have been working this week to rescue residents from fire-threatened areas and isolated towns cut off by closed roads. On Friday, the navy evacuated about 1,000 people from the Victoria beach town of Mallacoota, Morrison said.Some residents have chosen to stay and defend their homes, even with authorities urging people to get out while they can. Matt Runko, a homeowner in Moruya, NSW, departed late Friday -- but was forced to leave his neighbor behind."He's pretty confident he's got enough water and resources over there to fend it off," Runko told CNN -- but admitted it's "definitely a little bit distressing" that his neighbor was staying in the fire threat zone. Saturday's hot, dry and windy weather is expected to hinder firefighters and worsen the flames, after a brief improvement in conditions on Thursday and Friday.The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning on Saturday morning for "damaging winds" in NSW, the state hardest hit by fires so far. A passing cold front is causing temperatures to spike and humidity to drop, and bringing strong gusts up to 90 kilometers per hour (55 miles per hour) across the state's southeast. Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaAnimal rescuer Marcus Fillinger carries a burned kangaroo on February 4 in Peak View, Australia. Fillinger tranquilized the wounded animal for transport to a recovery center. Hide Caption 1 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA bushfire burns near the town of Bumbalong, south of Canberra on February 2.Hide Caption 2 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaHorses panic as a fire burns near Canberra, Australia, on Saturday, February 1.Hide Caption 3 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA firefighter coats a bridge with foam as a bushfire burns near Moruya, Australia, on Saturday, January 25.Hide Caption 4 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaIn this long-exposure photo, a car's taillights streak at left as a wildfire glows at dusk near Clear Range, Australia, on Friday, January 31.Hide Caption 5 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaAn airplane dumps fire retardant behind houses at the foot of Mount Tennent as fire creeps through the Namadgi National Park in Canberra on Thursday, January 30.Hide Caption 6 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaPeople embrace near the scene of a water tanker plane crash in Cooma, Australia, on Thursday, January 23. Three American crew members died in the crash.Hide Caption 7 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaFlying embers are seen in this long-exposure photo from Moruya on Thursday, January 23.Hide Caption 8 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA young koala named Jeremy receives medical attention for burns at the Healesville Sanctuary in Badger Creek, Australia, on January 23.Hide Caption 9 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaFirefighters battle the Morton Fire as it burns a home near Bundanoon, Australia, on January 23.Hide Caption 10 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaThe Parliament House in Canberra is blanketed by bushfire smoke on January 23.Hide Caption 11 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA firefighter battles the Morton Fire as it consumes a home near Bundanoon on January 23. Hide Caption 12 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaVeterinarian Ludo Valenza holds two grey-headed flying foxes, which were being treated for bushfire injuries at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital in Beerwah, Australia, on Wednesday, January 15.Hide Caption 13 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaLt. Kynan Lang from the 10th/27th Battalion visits the scene where his uncle and cousin died in a bushfire on Australia's Kangaroo Island. Hide Caption 14 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA smoky haze from bushfires hovers over the Melbourne skyline ahead of the Australian Open tennis tournament on Tuesday, January 14. Poor air quality disrupted the qualifying rounds of the tournament.Hide Caption 15 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaProperties damaged and destroyed by fire are seen in Nerrigundah, Australia, on Monday, January 13.Hide Caption 16 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaDebris remains where houses stood in the Australian village of Wingello on January 13.Hide Caption 17 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaBonnie Morris and sister Raemi Morris look on as their family and firefighters battle bushfires at the edge of their family farm in Karatta on Saturday, January 11.Hide Caption 18 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaPictures of firefighters are projected onto the Sydney Opera House on January 11.Hide Caption 19 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA vehicle makes its way through thick fog mixed with bushfire smoke in the Ruined Castle area of the Blue Mountains on January 11.Hide Caption 20 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaProtesters march through downtown Melbourne on Friday, January 10, in response to the ongoing bushfire crisis.Hide Caption 21 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaAn aerial view shows a track running through trees that were scorched by bushfires in East Gippsland, Australia, on Thursday, January 9.Hide Caption 22 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA pile of wood chips burns at a timber mill in Eden, Australia, on January 9.Hide Caption 23 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaLisa Poulsen tends to her Clydesdale horse, Jake, on January 9. Jake suffered burn injuries in a bushfire on December 31.Hide Caption 24 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA small wave of black water full of burned debris breaks at a beach at Eden on January 9.Hide Caption 25 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA dead kangaroo lies on a burnt farm in Batlow.Hide Caption 26 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA firefighter backs away from flames after lighting a controlled burn near Tomerong on January 8.Hide Caption 27 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaStephenie Bailey is embraced on Wednesday, January 8, as she describes the impact the bushfires have had on her farm in Batlow.Hide Caption 28 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaCharlotte O'Dwyer, the young daughter of Rural Fire Service volunteer Andrew O'Dwyer, wears her father's helmet during his funeral after being presented with a service medal in his honor by RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons on Tuesday, January 7, in Sydney.Hide Caption 29 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA resident throws a bucket of water onto a smoldering tree on his property on Monday, January 6, in Wingello, Australia. Hide Caption 30 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA military helicopter flies above a burning woodchip mill in Eden, New South Wales, on January 6.Hide Caption 31 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA Royal Australian Navy MH-60R Seahawk "Romeo" helicopter refuels onboard HMAS Adelaide during Operation Bushfire Assist, on Sunday, January 5, in this image provided by the Australian Department of Defence. HMAS Adelaide and army reserve forces have been assisting with bushfire evacuations on the southern coast of New South Wales.Hide Caption 32 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaFamilies are evacuated by air from Mallacoota on January 5. Hide Caption 33 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA man walks past ash from bushfires washed up on a beach in Merimbula on January 5.Hide Caption 34 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaThe flight deck of a C-130J Hercules is lit by the red glow of the fires below as the aircrew attempts to land in Merimbula to drop off fire and rescue crews to assist fighting the bushfires on January 5.Hide Caption 35 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaThis satellite image provided by NASA on Saturday, January 4, shows smoke from fires burning in Victoria and New South Wales.Hide Caption 36 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA father holds his daughter as the skies above turn red during the day on January 4 in Mallacoota, Australia. Many parents with young children were stuck in Mallacoota after flights were grounded because of smoke and only school-aged children and older were allowed to evacuate by boat. Hide Caption 37 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA Royal Australian Navy crew unload luggage as evacuees from Mallacoota arrive aboard the MV Sycamore on January 4 at the port of Hastings, Australia.Hide Caption 38 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaSmoke from wildfires shrouds a road near Moruya, Australia, on January 4.Hide Caption 39 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaNancy Allen stands outside her house as high winds push smoke and ash from the Currowan Fire toward Nowra in New South Wales on January 4.Hide Caption 40 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaEvacuees board the Royal Australian Navy's MV Sycamore on January 3 in Mallacoota, Victoria, Australia. Navy ships plucked hundreds of people from beaches and tens of thousands were urged to flee before hot weather and strong winds in the forecast worsen Australia's already devastating wildfires. Hide Caption 41 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaMassive smoke rises from wildfires burning in East Gippsland, Victoria on January 2.Hide Caption 42 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaRoyal Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons presents a posthumous Commendation for Bravery and Service on January 2 to the son of RFS volunteer Geoffrey Keaton, who was killed battling bushfires, at Keaton's funeral in Buxton, New South Wales.Hide Caption 43 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaBoats are pulled ashore as smoke and wildfires rage on January 2 behind Lake Conjola.Hide Caption 44 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaCars line up as people evacuate the town of Batemans Bay in New South Wales on January 2.Hide Caption 45 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA satellite image released by Copernicus Sentinel dated December 31 shows bushfires burning across Australia.Hide Caption 46 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA kangaroo rushes past a burning house in Lake Conjola, Australia, on December 31.Hide Caption 47 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA man tries to defend a property in Lake Conjola on December 31.Hide Caption 48 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaFirefighters hose down trees as they battle against bushfires around the town of Nowra in the Australian state of New South Wales on December 31, 2019. Thousands of holidaymakers and locals were forced to flee to beaches in fire-ravaged southeast Australia on December 31, as blazes ripped through popular tourist areas leaving no escape by land.Hide Caption 49 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA destroyed home in Sarsfield, East Gippsland, Victoria, on December 31.Hide Caption 50 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaChildren evacuated from areas affected by bushfires play at the showgrounds in the southern New South Wales town of Bega on December 31.Hide Caption 51 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA skycrane drops water on a bushfire burning near houses in Bundoora, Melbourne, on Monday, December 30.Hide Caption 52 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) captured this satellite image of the historic bushfires burning across Australia on December 26.Hide Caption 53 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaAustralian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is briefed by fire officials at New South Wales Rural Fire Service control room in Sydney on December 22. Morrison arrived back in Sydney amid criticism after taking a family holiday to Hawaii during the bushfire emergency.Hide Caption 54 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaTributes for volunteer firemen Andrew O'Dwyer and Geoffrey Keaton are seen at Horsley Park Rural Fire Brigade in Sydney, Australia, on December 22. It's believed they were killed when their vehicle hit a tree before rolling off the road, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service said in a statement.Hide Caption 55 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA firefighter battles the Gospers Mountain Fire in Bilpin, New South Wales, on Saturday, December 21.Hide Caption 56 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA charred bicycle lies on the ground in front of a house destroyed by bushfires on the outskirts of Bargo on December 21.Hide Caption 57 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaFire and rescue personnel monitor a bushfire as it burns near homes on the outskirts of Bilpin on Thursday, December 19.Hide Caption 58 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA property burns in Balmoral on December 19.Hide Caption 59 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA helicopter drops fire-retardant to protect a property in Balmoral.Hide Caption 60 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaPolice disperse demonstrators during a climate protest near Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's official residence in Sydney, on December 19, during his absence on an overseas holiday, as bushfires burned across the region.Hide Caption 61 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaChildren swing into the Penrith river during a heatwave in Sydney on December 19.Hide Caption 62 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA landscape of burnt trees is pictured after a bushfire at Mount Weison, in the Blue Mountains, on Wednesday, December 18.Hide Caption 63 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA wallaby flees a fire burning near Mangrove Mountain, north of Sydney, on December 10.Hide Caption 64 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA smoke haze blankets Bondi Beach as the air quality index reaches higher than ten times hazardous levels in some suburbs of Sydney on December 10.Hide Caption 65 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaPeople join a guided climb of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as bushfire haze darkens the sky on December 6.Hide Caption 66 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaPeople are seen wearing face masks to protect against the poor air quality in Sydney on December 5.Hide Caption 67 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA bushfire burns out of control in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales on December 2,Hide Caption 68 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaAn aerial view shows bushfires burning in the Richmond Valley on November 26.Hide Caption 69 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA CFA crew member rests after a day of maintaining controlled back burns in St Albans, Australia, on November 21.Hide Caption 70 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaAn injured koala receives treatment after its rescue from a bushfire at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital on November 19. The hospital said the fires have "decimated" the area, which is a key habitat and breeding ground for the marsupials. More than 350 koalas are feared to have been killed by bushfires in NSW, according to animal experts.Hide Caption 71 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaFirefighters try to protect the Colo Heights Public School on November 19.Hide Caption 72 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaBushfire smoke clouds the sky over the Hawkesbury River in Brooklyn, Australia.Hide Caption 73 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaFirefighters work on controlled back burns on November 14.Hide Caption 74 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaThis satellite image shows wildfire smoke on November 14.Hide Caption 75 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA man uses a wet towel to help put out flames near the town of Taree on November 14.Hide Caption 76 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaFirefighters organize their crews prior to working on controlled back burns in Sydney on November 14.Hide Caption 77 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaWarren Smith pats his dog after returning to find his house destroyed near Nana Glen on November 13.Hide Caption 78 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaTeresa de Ruyter, left, and Michelle Wilson embrace after returning to their homes near Nana Glen on November 13.Hide Caption 79 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaFirefighters battle a spot fire in Hillville on November 13.Hide Caption 80 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaResidents look on as thick smoke rises from bushfires near Nana Glen on November 12.Hide Caption 81 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaAustralian Prime Minister Scott Morrison looks at a screen as he gets a briefing on the bushfire situation on November 12.Hide Caption 82 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaLocals watch the fires impact farmland near Nana Glen on November 12.Hide Caption 83 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA firefighter mops up after a bushfire in the Sydney suburb of Llandilo on November 12.Hide Caption 84 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA fire and rescue team inspects damage around the village of Torrington on November 11.Hide Caption 85 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaAndrew Mackenzie surveys the damage to the area around his home in Torrington. His home was spared, but his neighbors' house was burned to the ground.Hide Caption 86 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaSmoke from the Gulf Road Fire fills the air in Glen Innes on November 11.Hide Caption 87 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA sign on a Taree fire station warns of "catastrophic" fire conditions.Hide Caption 88 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA lone joey is pictured on a scorched patch of ground in Torrington on November 11.Hide Caption 89 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaEmergency crews tend to animals on a property in Torrington on November 11.Hide Caption 90 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaBurnt trees dot the landscape in Old Bar on November 10.Hide Caption 91 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA firefighter works to contain a bushfire near Taree on November 10.Hide Caption 92 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA helicopter drops water on a bushfire in Old Bar on November 9.Hide Caption 93 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaThis aerial photo, taken on November 9, shows bushfires in the northeastern part New South Wales.Hide Caption 94 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaFires burn in the distance as children play on a beach in Forster on November 9.Hide Caption 95 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA fire rages in Bobin on November 9.Hide Caption 96 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaThe remains of a property are seen in Bobin on November 9.Hide Caption 97 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA plane drops fire retardant on a bushfire in Harrington on November 8.Hide Caption 98 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaFirefighters try to put out a bushfire in Woodford on November 8.Hide Caption 99 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaPolice knock on the door of a house to warn residents of an out-of-control bushfire near Clumber on November 8. Hide Caption 100 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaA resident hoses smoldering logs as a bushfire burns in Woodford on November 8. Hide Caption 101 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaThe sun is seen through heavy smoke as a bushfire burns in Woodford.Hide Caption 102 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaFirefighters hose down an area in Woodford.Hide Caption 103 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaForster residents watch as a water-bombing helicopter flies over a bushfire on November 7.Hide Caption 104 of 105 Photos: In photos: Bushfires rage through AustraliaIn this handout photo from NASA's Aqua satellite, destructive bushfires are seen off the coast of New South Wales on November 7.Hide Caption 105 of 105Some of the biggest fires have been burning for months, but the real danger on Saturday is the wind. Not only does it make the fires grow faster and bigger, but the wind can carry embers far distances and start entirely new fires in new locations.These winds will change directions once the cold front passes -- making the fires even more difficult to control. Some rain is expected by the end of the weekend heading into Monday, but won't be enough to extinguish the large ongoing blazes, according to CNN meteorologists.Angus Barners, an incident controller at the Rural Fire Service in Moruya, NSW, said he expected "very challenging conditions.""We can't stop the fires, all we can do is steer them around communities," he told CNN.CNN's Mitchell McCluskey contributed to this report
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HummingBad – an Android-based malware that infected over 10 million Android devices around the world last year and made its gang an estimated US$300,000 per month at its peak – has made a comeback.
Security researchers have discovered a new variant of the HummingBad malware hiding in more than 20 Android apps on Google Play Store.
The infected apps were already downloaded by over 12 Million unsuspecting users before the Google Security team removed them from the Play Store.
Dubbed HummingWhale by researchers at security firm Check Point, the new malware utilizes new, cutting-edge techniques that allow the nasty software to conduct Ad fraud better than ever before and generate revenue for its developers.
The Check Point researchers said the HummingWhale-infected apps had been published under the name of fake Chinese developers on the Play Store with common name structure, com.[name].camera, but with suspicious startup behaviors.
"It registered several events on boot, such as TIME_TICK, SCREEN_OFF and INSTALL_REFERRER which [were] dubious in that context," Check Point researchers said in a blog post published Monday.
HummingWhale Runs Malicious Apps in a Virtual Machine
The HummingWhale malware is tricky than HummingBad, as it uses a disguised Android application package (APK) file that acts as a dropper which downloads and runs further apps on the victim's smartphone.
If the victim notices and closes its process, the APK file then drops itself into a virtual machine in an effort to make it harder to detect.
The dropper makes use of an Android plugin created by the popular Chinese security vendor Qihoo 360 to upload malicious apps to the virtual machine, allowing HummingWhale to further install other apps without having to elevate permissions, and disguises its malicious activity to get onto Google Play.
"This .apk operates as a dropper, used to download and execute additional apps, similar to the tactics employed by previous versions of HummingBad," researchers said. "However, this dropper went much further. It uses an Android plugin called DroidPlugin, originally developed by Qihoo 360, to upload fraudulent apps on a virtual machine."
HummingWhale Runs Without having to Root the Android Device
Thanks to the virtual machine (VM), the HummingWhale malware no longer needs to root Android devices unlike HummingBad and can install any number of malicious or fraudulent apps on the victim's devices without overloading their smartphones.
Once the victim gets infected, the command and control (C&C) server send fake ads and malicious apps to the user, which runs in a VM, generating a fake referrer ID used to spoof unique users for ad fraud purposes and generate revenue.
Alike the original HummingBad, the purpose of HummingWhale is to make lots of money through ad fraud and fake app installations.
Besides all these malicious capabilities, the HummingWhale malware also tries to raise its reputation on Google Play Store using fraudulent ratings and comments, the tactic similar to the one utilized by the Gooligan malware.
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Story highlightsGovernment ministers used to be present at all royal birthsQueen Victoria was the first monarch to use anesthesia in childbirthPrince William was the first heir to the British throne to be born in hospitalWhile they have plenty of first names, royal babies don't need a surnameLondon (CNN)Amid all the excitement about the eagerly-awaited new addition to the royal family, you may think you know all you could ever want to about royal babies. But did you know...A government minister used to be present at royal births, to make sure the baby was not switchedThe practice is believed to have begun in 1688, when dozens of officials watched Mary of Modena, wife of James II, give birth to a son, to scotch rumors that Mary was not really pregnant and that the baby was to be smuggled into the room in a bedpan. The tradition continued well into the 20th century. The last royal birth to be witnessed by a government minister was that of Queen Elizabeth II's cousin, Princess Alexandra in 1936, and the practice was only officially halted shortly before the birth of Prince Charles in 1948. Royal husbands have not always attended the birth of their childrenRead MoreQueen Elizabeth II may not have had to contend with ministerial interference in her birth plan, but she also didn't have her husband there for support; while she gave birth to Prince Charles, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh was busy playing squash. JUST WATCHEDBaby prams fit for royaltyReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHBaby prams fit for royalty 02:30Prince Charles was on hand when Diana had Prince William, but William himself may not be there for the birth of his second child -- expected any day now -- if he's at work when the big moment arrives.If for any reason William can't get to the hospital on time, the Duchess of Cambridge may have her mother, Carole Middleton, there to support her instead.Queen Victoria was the first royal to use anesthesia in childbirthThe long-reigning monarch and mother-of-nine was given chloroform for pain relief during the births of her eighth and ninth children, Prince Leopold (born in 1853) and Princess Beatrice (born in 1857). Her decision to opt for an anesthetic is credited with popularizing the use of painkillers during childbirth among the well-to-do of the time.John Snow, the doctor who administered the drug, is better known as one of the founding fathers of epidemiology, after he traced a deadly outbreak of cholera to a Soho water pump. Prince William was the first heir to the throne to be born in hospitalWilliam was born in the private Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, on June 21, 1982. His brother was born at the same hospital two years later, and Kate and William's first baby, George, was born there on July 22, 2013.While that might seem the normal way of things, in fact it was something of a break with tradition -- until then, all heirs to the throne had been born at home (or at one of the royal family's homes at least). Prince Charles was born at Buckingham Palace; Elizabeth II herself was born in the Mayfair home of her grandfather in 1926 -- though at the time she was not expected to become queen as her uncle, and not her father, was next in line to the throne.Titled royal babies do not have surnamesJUST WATCHEDPrince George's cute new holiday photosReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHPrince George's cute new holiday photos 01:01Members of the royal family are famously burdened with plenty of names -- Prince William was christened William Arthur Philip Louis, and his father is Charles Philip Arthur George -- but many (those titled His or Her Royal Highness) do not have a surname.Prince William and Prince Harry used "Wales" at school and during their military careers, but this came from their father's official title as Prince of Wales. As descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, they could also use Windsor, or Mountbatten-Windsor -- both of which are relatively new inventions, adopted during World War I to disguise the family's German origins. When Prince George was born, William and Kate opted not to give him a surname -- officially he is Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge -- though when he and his new sibling go to school in a few years, they may use "Cambridge" as a last name.Read more: Royal births by the numbers
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London (CNN)A transgender man who gave birth with the help of fertility treatment lost his legal fight to be registered as the child's father, rather than its mother, in the UK High Court on Wednesday.Born female, Freddy McConnell transitioned to become a man and was legally recognized as male when he became pregnant in 2017, giving birth in 2018. The 32-year-old took legal action after a registrar told him that UK law required people who give birth to be registered as mothers on birth certificates. This establishes the first legal definition of the term "mother" in English common law.In ruling with the government, Andrew McFarlane, the president of the High Court's family division, deemed that being a "mother" referred to being pregnant and giving birth, regardless of whether that person, in law, was a man or a woman.I'm saddened by the court's decision not to allow trans men to be recorded as father or parent on their children's birth certificates. I fear this decision has distressing implications for many kinds of families. I will seek to appeal and give no more interviews at this stage.— Freddy McConnell (@freddymcconnell) September 25, 2019
Read More"There is a material difference between a person's gender and their status as a parent," McFarlane ruled. "Being a 'mother,' whilst hitherto always associated with being female, is the status afforded to a person who undergoes the physical and biological process of carrying a pregnancy and giving birth. "It is now medically and legally possible for an individual, whose gender is recognized in law as male, to become pregnant and give birth to their child. Whilst that person's gender is 'male,' their parental status, which derives from their biological role in giving birth, is that of 'mother.'"McConnell, a multimedia journalist for UK newspaper The Guardian, started taking testosterone aged 25 and a year later had surgery to remove breast tissue. In 2016, he stopped taking testosterone and subsequently his menstrual cycle restarted before he became pregnant using sperm from a donor. JUST WATCHEDTransgender soldiers fighting Trump's military ban ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHTransgender soldiers fighting Trump's military ban 05:50A feature-length film called "Seahorse," documented McConnell's journey. On Twitter, McConnell said he would appeal. "I'm saddened by the court's decision not to allow trans men to be recorded as father or parent on their children's birth certificates," he wrote. "I fear this decision has distressing implications for many kinds of families. I will seek to appeal and give no more interviews at this stage."In praising McConnell, the judge said the case was an "important matter of public interest" and that there was a "pressing need" for the UK's legislators to address "square-on" the status of a trans male who has become pregnant and given birth to a child. Existing legislation and UK and European human rights case law, McFarlane said, did not directly engage with the central question. McFarlane ruled: "The issue which has most properly and bravely been raised by the claimant in this claim is, at its core, a matter of public policy rather than law. It is an important matter of public interest and a proper cause for public debate." In July 2019, McFarlane had removed McConnell's right to anonymity after UK media organizations successfully argued that the publicity surrounding McConnell's film and the public interest in the question of how the state recognized parenthood meant his identity should be known.
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Cybersecurity researchers have spotted a rare kind of potentially dangerous malware that targets a machine's booting process to drop persistent malware.
The campaign involved the use of a compromised UEFI (or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) containing a malicious implant, making it the second known public case where a UEFI rootkit has been used in the wild.
According to Kaspersky, the rogue UEFI firmware images were modified to incorporate several malicious modules, which were then used to drop malware on victim machines in a series of targeted cyberattacks directed against diplomats and members of an NGO from Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Calling the malware framework "MosaicRegressor," Kaspersky researchers Mark Lechtik, Igor Kuznetsov, and Yury Parshin said a telemetry analysis revealed several dozen victims between 2017 and 2019, all of whom had some ties to North Korea.
UEFI is a firmware interface and a replacement for BIOS that improves security, ensuring that no malware has tampered with the boot process. Because UEFI facilitates the loading of the operating system itself, such infections are resistant to OS reinstallation or replacement of the hard drive.
"UEFI firmware makes for a perfect mechanism of persistent malware storage," Kaspersky said. "A sophisticated attacker can modify the firmware in order to have it deploy malicious code that will be run after the operating system is loaded."
That's exactly what this threat actor appears to have done. Although the exact infection vector employed to overwrite the original firmware remains unknown at this stage, a leaked manual suggests the malware may have been deployed through physical access to the victim's machine.
The new UEFI malware is a custom version of the Hacking Team's VectorEDK bootkit, which was leaked in 2015 and has since been available online. It's used to plant a second payload, called the MosaicRegressor — "a multi-stage and modular framework aimed at espionage and data gathering" that consists of additional downloaders to fetch and execute secondary components.
The downloaders, in turn, contact the command-and-control (C2) server to grab next-stage DLLs in order to execute specific commands, the results of which are exported back to the C2 server or forwarded to a "feedback" mail address from where the attackers can collect the amassed data.
The payloads are transferred in a variety of ways, including via e-mail messages from mailboxes ("mail.ru") hard-coded in the malware's binary.
In some cases, however, the malware was delivered to some of the victims via spear-phishing e-mails with embedded decoy documents ("0612.doc") written in Russian that purported to discuss events related to North Korea.
With regards to the identity of the threat actor behind MosaicRegressor, Kaspersky said it found multiple code-level hints that indicate they were written in Chinese or Korean and noted the use of Royal Road (8.t) RTF weaponizer, which has been tied to multiple Chinese threat groups in the past.
Lastly, Kaspersky found a C2 address in one of MosaicRegressor's variants that have been observed in connection with Chinese hacker groups broadly known as Winnti (aka APT41).
"The attacks [...] demonstrate the length an actor can go in order to gain the highest level of persistence on a victim machine," Kaspersky concluded.
"It is highly uncommon to see compromised UEFI firmware in the wild, usually due to the low visibility into attacks on firmware, the advanced measures required to deploy it on a target's SPI flash chip, and the high stakes of burning sensitive toolset or assets when doing so."
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Cybersecurity researchers today took the wraps off a previously undocumented backdoor and document stealer that has been deployed against specific targets from 2015 to early 2020.
Codenamed "Crutch" by ESET researchers, the malware has been attributed to Turla (aka Venomous Bear or Snake), a Russia-based advanced hacker group known for its extensive attacks against governments, embassies, and military organizations through various watering hole and spear-phishing campaigns.
"These tools were designed to exfiltrate sensitive documents and other files to Dropbox accounts controlled by Turla operators," the cybersecurity firm said in an analysis shared with The Hacker News.
The backdoor implants were secretly installed on several machines belonging to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an unnamed country of the European Union.
Besides identifying strong links between a Crutch sample from 2016 and Turla's yet another second-stage backdoor called Gazer, the latest malware in their diverse toolset points to the group's continued focus on espionage and reconnaissance against high-profile targets.
Crutch is delivered either via the Skipper suite, a first-stage implant previously attributed to Turla, or a post-exploitation agent called PowerShell Empire, with two different versions of the malware spotted before and after mid-2019.
While the former included a backdoor that communicates with a hardcoded Dropbox account using the official HTTP API to receive commands and upload the results, the newer variant ("Crutch v4") eschews the setup for a new feature that can automatically upload the files found on local and removable drives to Dropbox by using the Windows Wget utility.
"The sophistication of the attacks and technical details of the discovery further strengthen the perception that the Turla group has considerable resources to operate such a large and diverse arsenal," said ESET researcher Matthieu Faou.
"Furthermore, Crutch is able to bypass some security layers by abusing legitimate infrastructure — here, Dropbox – in order to blend into normal network traffic while exfiltrating stolen documents and receiving commands from its operators."
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Washington (CNN)Republicans have selected the four potential host cities for their 2024 convention, according to a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee.The cities are Milwaukee, Nashville, Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City, the spokesperson said.Committee staff will now travel to each city to determine the viability of each convention and will then narrow the selection process down to three cities, a committee spokesperson said. The RNC's Site Selection Committee will then travel to the final three cities to further determine the feasibility of a large-scale event, including space for the convention events, hotels, ease of travel and breadth of corporate sponsorships, the spokesperson said.Where a political party hosts its national convention is widely seen as a symbolic choice that offers the party a chance to both build infrastructure in a key swing state and message to important subsets of voters. Most conventions have been held in swing states over the last three decades, but some political operatives from each party believe the significance of a convention site is often overstated.Politico was the first to report that the Republican list is down to four cities.Read MoreIn 2020, Republicans held some official convention events in Charlotte, North Carolina, their original host city, despite the city stopping the full-scale event due to the coronavirus pandemic. Many of the primetime addresses were delivered from Washington, DC.Meanwhile, Democrats chose to largely scrap all events in Milwaukee, the city they had selected to host the event that year, and moved the events to a virtual setting or from a stage near then-candidate Joe Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware.By selecting either Pittsburgh or Milwaukee, Republicans would be centering their 2024 messaging in major cities within key swing states. Biden narrowly defeated former President Donald Trump in both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in 2020. Both states also will feature high-profile Senate races in 2022 and will likely once again be key presidential battlegrounds in 2024. Nashville and Salt Lake City are both in states that have backed Republican presidents for decades."The Republican National Committee is grateful for and appreciative of the overwhelming interest from cities across the country to host the 2024 Republican National Convention. We'll continue the process, review bids, and communicate with potential hosts to hear more about what their cities have to offer," RNC chief of staff Richard Walters said.The Democratic National Committee is also working to select their 2024 convention host. Chair Jaime Harrison asked cities interested in hosting their convention to submit their bids by October 2021, but a committee spokesperson declined to say if the committee had finalists.
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Various cyber criminal groups and individual hackers are still exploiting a recently patched critical code execution vulnerability in WinRAR, a popular Windows file compression application with 500 million users worldwide.
Why? Because the WinRAR software doesn't have an auto-update feature, which, unfortunately, leaves millions of its users vulnerable to cyber attacks.
The critical vulnerability (CVE-2018-20250) that was patched late last month by the WinRAR team with the release of WinRAR version 5.70 beta 1 impacts all prior versions of WinRAR released over the past 19 years.
For those unaware, the vulnerability is "Absolute Path Traversal" bug that resides in the old third-party library UNACEV2.DLL of WinRAR and allows attackers to extract a compressed executable file from the ACE archive to one of the Windows Startup folders, where the malicious file would automatically run on the next reboot.
Therefore, to successfully exploit this vulnerability and take full control over the targeted computers, all an attacker needs to do is just convincing users into opening a maliciously-crafted compressed archive file using WinRAR.
Immediately after the details and proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit code went public, malicious attackers started exploiting the vulnerability in a malspam email campaign to install malware on users' computers running the vulnerable version of the software.
Now, security researchers from McAfee reported that they identified more than "100 unique exploits and counting" in the first week since the vulnerability was publicly disclosed, with most of the initial targets residing in the United States.
One recent campaign spotted by the researchers piggybacks on a bootlegged copy of an Ariana Grande's hit album, which is currently being detected as malware by only 11 security products, whereas 53 antivirus products fail to alert their users at the time of writing.
The malicious RAR file (Ariana_Grande-thank_u,_next(2019)_[320].rar) detected by McAfee extracts a list of harmless MP3 files to the victim's download folder but also drops a malicious EXE file to the startup folder, which has been designed to infect the targeted computer with malware.
"When a vulnerable version of WinRAR is used to extract the contents of this archive, a malicious payload is created in the Startup folder behind the scenes," the researchers explain.
"User Access Control (UAC) is bypassed, so no alert is displayed to the user. The next time the system restarts, the malware is run."
Unfortunately, such campaigns are still ongoing, and the best way to protect yourself from such attacks is to update your system by installing the latest version of the WinRAR software as soon as possible and avoid opening files received from unknown sources.
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Efforts to disrupt TrickBot may have shut down most of its critical infrastructure, but the operators behind the notorious malware aren't sitting idle.
According to new findings shared by cybersecurity firm Netscout, TrickBot's authors have moved portions of their code to Linux in an attempt to widen the scope of victims that could be targeted.
TrickBot, a financial Trojan first detected in 2016, has been traditionally a Windows-based crimeware solution, employing different modules to perform a wide range of malicious activities on target networks, including credential theft and perpetrate ransomware attacks.
But over the past few weeks, twin efforts led by the US Cyber Command and Microsoft have helped to eliminate 94% of TrickBot's command-and-control (C2) servers that were in use and the new infrastructure the criminals operating TrickBot attempted to bring online to replace the previously disabled servers.
Despite the steps taken to impede TrickBot, Microsoft cautioned that the threat actors behind the botnet would likely make efforts to revive their operations.
TrickBot's Anchor Module
At the end of 2019, a new TrickBot backdoor framework called Anchor was discovered using the DNS protocol to communicate with C2 servers stealthily.
The module "allows the actors — potential TrickBot customers — to leverage this framework against higher-profile victims, said SentinelOne, adding the "ability to seamlessly integrate the APT into a monetization business model is evidence of a quantum shift."
Indeed, IBM X-Force spotted new cyberattacks earlier this April revealing collaboration between FIN6 and TrickBot groups to deploy the Anchor framework against organizations for financial profit.
The variant, dubbed "Anchor_DNS," enables the infected client to utilize DNS tunneling to establish communications with the C2 server, which in turn transmits data with resolved IPs as a response, NTT researchers said in a 2019 report.
But a new sample uncovered by Stage 2 Security researcher Waylon Grange in July found that Anchor_DNS has been ported to a new Linux backdoor version called "Anchor_Linux."
"Often delivered as part of a zip, this malware is a lightweight Linux backdoor," Grange said. "Upon execution it installs itself as a cron job, determines the public IP [address] for the host and then begins to beacon via DNS queries to its C2 server."
How the C2 Communication Works Using Anchor
Netscout's latest research decodes this flow of communication between the bot and the C2 server. During the initial setup phase, the client sends "c2_command 0" to the server along with information about the compromised system and the bot ID, which then responds with the message "signal /1/" back to the bot.
As an acknowledgment, the bot sends the same message back to the C2, following which the server remotely issues the command to be executed on the client. In the last step, the bot sends back the result of the execution to the C2 server.
"Every part of communication made to the C2 follows a sequence of 3 different DNS queries," Netscout security researcher Suweera De Souza said.
The result of the third query is a list of IP addresses that are subsequently parsed by the client to build the executable payload.
The last piece of data sent by the C2 server corresponds to a range of commands (numbered 0-14 in Windows, and 0-4, 10-12, and 100 in Linux) for the bot to execute the payload via cmd.exe or by injecting it into multiple running processes such as Windows File Explorer or Notepad.
"The complexity of Anchor's C2 communication and the payloads that the bot can execute reflect not only a portion of the Trickbot actors' considerable capabilities, but also their ability to constantly innovate, as evidenced by their move to Linux," De Souza said.
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(CNN)He's either a freedom fighter, the defender of the Catalan voice or the disloyal radical risking it all to break Spain apart. It depends on how you view the crisis that's spilled onto the streets of Barcelona as Catalonia pushes to break away from Madrid. Those who know him best believe one thing is certain about Catalan President Carles Puigdemont -- he's always believed in independence. "Carles Puigdemont has independence at his core," said Jami Matamala, one of Puigdemont's closest friends. "This is not something he's improvised. It's something he knows very well. It's a part of who he is." Carles Puigdemont (L) and friend Jami Matamala pictured in 2016.
Matamala and his wife were godparents at Puigdemont's wedding, a Catholic tradition. They're also close to the Puigdemonts' two children."He's a person who has always had strong convictions," said Matamala. Read MoreAt 54 years old, Puigdemont's convictions reflect the first Catalan generation to emerge out of the shadow of dictatorship. Francisco Franco ruled over Spain from 1939 until he died in 1975. Franco banned the Catalan language and cracked down on Catalan traditions and culture. His death ushered in a new era of democracy and Spain split into 17 autonomous regions, including Catalonia. But Matamala said the scars of dictatorship remain; for him the police crackdown on last Sunday's referendum serves as a brutal reminder of the past. "We thought Franquismo was over," said Matamala. "That we were living a full democracy. But what happened these days shows us that democracy in this country is not reliable." Catalan is a 'feeling'Puigdemont grew up in Amer, a sleepy village not far from the town of Girona. It was founded in 949 AD during what nationalists maintain was one of the only periods Catalonia was independent. The Catalans who oppose a split from SpainCenturies later, the area remains fiercely pro-independence, with the highest referendum turnout. Ninety percent voted to leave. Multicolored "Si" flags still hang from the balconies in a show of Catalan pride. The village is tiny; so tiny we bumped into Puigdemont's 28-year-old cousin in the main square. Joan Molins Puigdemont explained what it means to be Catalan. "It's a feeling" he said. "It's really hard to express in words. We're different from Spanish people. We respect them but we have a lot of traditions, a lot of culture, and that's why we feel so proud." Carles Puigdemont is a reflection of that pride, he said. At the back of the main square is the Puigdemont family bakery, which is known for its delicious sweets and pastries. The Puigdemonts still live upstairs. They've declined all media requests, but inside the shop is a sign of their support. Near the baked goods and magazines is a photo from last Sunday's crackdown: An older woman, hands up, faces down the national police.As a kid, Puigdemont was loyal, cosmopolitan, and fiercely intelligent, according to friends. He had a keen interest in the outside world. Friends also describe growing up frustrated with how the Spanish government treated Catalan officials. The call to independence was always there. Puigdemont, front left, sits with students in Geneva during an international conference in 1982.An old photo taken in 1982 shows 20-year-old Puigdemont and a group of exchange students in Geneva during an international conference. According to his friend Vador Clarà, Piugdemont decided to walk around the city carrying the separatist 'estelada' flag that a tailor from his hometown had sewn. Many asked him where he was from; some confused the flag with the Cuban flag. 'A very interesting character'When he was 18, Puigdemont left Amer for the nearby town of Girona. He became a journalist and businessman but soon entered local politics. According to friends he was not a natural politician but has evolved rapidly. He became the town's mayor in 2011 and the Catalan president in 2016. Journalist Antoni Puigverd said he doesn't share Puigdemont's views on independence. Nonetheless they're longtime friends.JUST WATCHEDHow Catalonia's independence crisis unfoldedReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHHow Catalonia's independence crisis unfolded 02:24Puidgemont never had "personal ambition" for politics, said Puigverd. He became the politician he is today through circumstance, and lacks a personal thirst for power."This shows us a very interesting character," Puigverd said. "Because this is a character with huge national Catalan ambition but without personal ambition. It is very strange to find a character like this ... He's a very surprising candidate for the Spanish government because they cannot attack his career, because he already knows he's sacrificing his career." Matamala takes it a step further. He said Puigdemont is not only willing to sacrifice his own career for the cause, but also his personal freedom. He knows he could be arrested. "We've talked about this," said Matamala. "He is very conscious it is possible. Therefore, he also has a plan in case it happens. Carles Puigdemont always has things planned and it's difficult for him to leave loose ends." Catalan referendum, explained: What's behind the push to break from Spain?According to friends, Puigdemont's plan does not include violence nor does he have the stomach to see Catalonia's economy destroyed. They insist the violent crackdown on referendum voters was a shock. Puigdemont could declare independence on Tuesday. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said he could invoke emergency powers over Catalonia in response. Many fear more violence. Although Puigdemont has some far-left extremists in his inner circle, Puigverd believes he will work to deescalate the situation, even if it means backing off independence -- for now. "Puigdemont won't take people to the butcher," said Puigverd. "The Spanish Government knows this, and this is why they are stretching the situation to the max ... It's an open wound and we need to get the inflammation down. And I know Puigdemont will try to treat the wound with anti-inflammatories."There's going to be a transition period where things calm down "after the situation reaches the limit," he added. Correction: A photo caption in this story has been updated to accurately reflect the year the photo was taken.
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Story highlightsUS Open begins at Shinnecock Hills, Southampton, NY, ThursdayTiger Woods back competing on 10th anniversary of last major titlePhil Mickelson bidding for the career grand slamWorld No.1 Dustin Johnson is the favorite (CNN)It's been 10 long years since he hobbled and fist-pumped his way to the US Open title on what was later diagnosed as a broken leg.Tiger Woods hasn't won a major since that eye-popping performance at Torrey Pines in 2008.Follow @cnnsport
But the former world No. 1 is back and hungry for success at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island this week.Debate has raged over what would be the greater achievement -- a 15th major for Woods after his life skirmishes and four back surgeries, or old rival Phil Mickelson finally landing a US Open after six runner-up spots to secure the career grand slam.The jury is out.Read More"You're comparing Cadillacs," said world No.2 Justin Thomas.READ: Feisty fans and fiery course spice up Shinnecock Hills US OpenTiger Woods defied injury to win a remarkable 2008 US Open in a playoff with Rocco Mediate.Woods' mind is certainly willing, and his 42-year-old body has held up during a promising return to the game this season.Playing his first US Open since 2015, the buzz is back."Last June, it was about my standard of life. Forget golf. Can I actually participate in my kids' lives again? A lot of this is pure bonus because of where I was." -@TigerWoods pic.twitter.com/RWCuzJqGIU— U.S. Open (USGA) (@usopengolf) June 12, 2018
"He definitely moves the needle," said Australia's former world No.1 Jason Day. "Everyone want to see what he looks like, how big he is, the myth behind Tiger Woods."Day has become close friends with the American, and he ribbed his friend in text messages about his outfit the last time the US Open was held at Shinnecock Hills in 2004."I sent him a picture. He had MC Hammer pants on. I'm like, 'hey man, look at these pants, they're terrible,'" said Day, who, like a number of pros, is holing up in his RV near the course to avoid the notorious Long Island traffic.Woods, who is staying on his luxury $20 million yacht Privacy in Sag Harbor, didn't bite.But according to Day, his usual banter suggests his competitive mojo is back after some dark times during his various injury layoffs. Jason Day teased Tiger Woods about his 2004 US Open outfit.Tiger Woods (left) will play with world No.1 Dustin Johnson in the first two rounds of the US Open.Mickelson should also be in the twilight of his career -- he turns 48 Saturday -- but he will be roared on by an adoring New York crowd who willed him to second behind South African Retief Goosen on a tumultuous and controversial final day in 2004.A first win for five years earlier this season suggests the mercurial left-hander still has the firepower to compete at the top level. And these days, it's all directed at the US Open as he bids to become only the fifth player to win each of golf's four majors after Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Woods. "It would mean an awful lot," said Mickelson, playing in his 27th US Open after missing last year's event to attend his daughter's graduation."I feel like if you win all four you're a complete player. The five guys who have done it are the five best to have ever played the game. I want to be the sixth."READ: Why "Phil the Thrill" still has the X-factorREAD: Mickelson, McIlroy, Spieth aim to join grand slam elitePhil Mickelson is bidding to win the career grand slam at Shinnecock Hills. But while the two 40-somethings make for a neat narrative, the story may have moved on.The favorite for the 118th US Open is the big-hitting Dustin Johnson, reinstated as world No.1 after sealing Sunday's St Jude Classic with a walk-off eagle. The 2016 champion will play alongside Woods and Thomas in the first two rounds Thursday and Friday. READ: The meeting with Tiger Woods "I'll never forget"JUST WATCHEDHow well does Rory McIlroy know his career?ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHHow well does Rory McIlroy know his career? 01:37 Thomas, 25, won his breakthrough major in the US PGA last August and is one of the game's most exciting young talents, along with childhood friend Jordan Spieth, the 2015 winner and three-time major champion. Spieth has struggled of late, notably with his usually red-hot putter, but the Texan has come the realization it's a "long career and results aren't going to come by wanting them to come." JUST WATCHEDMasters champ Patrick Reed on his 2018 winReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHMasters champ Patrick Reed on his 2018 win 04:26He will begin his campaign alongside Mickelson and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who is still chasing a fifth major and first since 2014. McIlroy was stung at the Masters as he failed to challenge eventual winner Patrick Reed on the final day, but the 2011 US Open champion has been enjoying his time on Long Island, playing exclusive nearby courses such as the National and Friar's Head. And as one of the game's big-hitters, he has been licking his lips in practice at the generous fairways on offer at Shinnecock Hills.READ: "I am who I am," says controversial Masters champion Patrick ReedREAD: Rory McIlroy -- 'The Holywood star with box-office appeal' In 2004, sun and a drying wind made the historic, links-like Shinnecock Hills course devilishly difficult, with some greens needing watering between groups and players aiming for the bunkers off the tee on the short seventh because the putting surface was too slick to hold full shots. Mickelson, however, is happy the United States Golf Association has learned its lesson for this year."This is one of my favorite courses," he said. "It's the best set up that we've seen. I feel as though luck has been taken out as much as possible to where skill is the primary factor." 'Dreams happen'The US Open claims to be the most "open" major of golf's four big events, with a field of 156, whittled down from about 9,000 hopefuls -- including amateurs, jobbing club professionals and journeymen touring pros -- around the world.JUST WATCHEDTiger Woods' ideal day: 'Caddyshack,' oatmeal?ReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHTiger Woods' ideal day: 'Caddyshack,' oatmeal? 01:35 "If you've got the game, if you've got the ability, the US Open empowers you to pursue your dream," said Jeff Hall, the USGA's managing director of rules and Open championships.All the qualifiers have stories to tell. How about this one from Canadian Garret Rank, a 30-year-old whose day job is as an NHL referee? The accomplished amateur golfer, who just finished working at the Stanley Cup playoffs, came through sectional qualifying in Georgia last week. He also beat testicular cancer in 2011."I've got a real job, so I would consider this like the pinnacle of my golf career this week," said Rank, who is one of 20 amateurs in the field. "I'm gonna go out there and have some internal expectations on how I want to play and what I want to do but at the end of the day, this is just a celebration for me and my family and friends."Last year American Xander Schauffele entered the US Open at Erin Hills ranked 378th in the world. He tied for fifth, and ended the season as PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.Visit CNN.com/golf for more news, features and videos"Dreams happen. They start at the US Open," added Hall.
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Story highlightsChapecoense players were killed in Monday's plane crash in ColombiaThe first leg of tournament final was supposed to take place Wednesday (CNN)Colombian soccer team Atlético Nacional is urging South America's football governing body to award the Copa Sudamericana title to the Brazilian team which lost many of its players Monday night in a deadly plane crash.The crash killed more than 70 people, including members of the Chapecoense team who were flying to Medellin to play Atlético Nacional in the final of the soccer tournament, one of the most prestigious in South America.Five or six passengers survived, including three Chapecoense players, authorities said.The club, which has risen up the ranks in Brazilian soccer, was set to play in the first leg of the South American Cup finals Wednesday.In a statement on its website, the Medellin-based Atlético Nacional said it wants the title to go to Chapecoense as an "honorary laureate/prize for its massive loss." The trophy should be an "homage to all the victims of the fatal accident which throws our sport into mourning," it said.Read MoreREAD: Football team's 'fairy tale' story ends in tragedyThe statement added: "For our part, and forever, they will be the Chapecoense Champions of the Copa Sudamericana 2016."Atlético Nacional solicita a Conmebol que el título de la Sudamericana sea entregado a Chapecoense. https://t.co/VuDoExk0JX pic.twitter.com/HAY8yT1tEt— Atlético Nacional (@nacionaloficial) November 29, 2016
'Pain is heavy in our hearts'A memorial service has been scheduled for Wednesday at the Atanasio Girardot Stadium in Medellin, where the two teams were supposed to meet.Instead, the city's mayor has called for people to attend wearing white and carrying candles "to honor all the victims of this tragedy."The city of Medellin, which was supposed to kick off its famous Christmas festivities Wednesday, has postponed the event until Saturday.JUST WATCHEDReal Madrid: Football tributes to ChapecoenseReplayMore Videos ...MUST WATCHReal Madrid: Football tributes to Chapecoense 01:03"Pain is heavy in our hearts and sorrow and mourning invades our minds," read the statement from Atlético Nacional."The hours since we heard of the news have been terrible. It is news that we never wanted to hear. Our brothers' accident, from the Chapecoense football club, will mark us for the rest of our lives and will leave a footprint that can never be erased from the history of football in Latin America. "All of this was completely unexpected, and therefore painful. All of them, footballers, technical team, journalists and crew, were people full of dreams." The Nacional team was supposed to travel to Curitiba, Brazil, for a second finals match with Chapecoense on December 6.It will now await a decision from CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body, on what happens next.Underdog storyThe Copa Sudamericana, the second biggest intercontinental club competition in South America and the equivalent to Europe's Europa League, was the latest backdrop to Chapecoense's remarkable story.The club, from Chapeco in the state of Santa Catarina in the south of Brazil, was only formed in the 1970s and was playing in the country's lower fourth tier as recently as 2007.A team with few big names, apart from Cleber Santana, who once played for Atletico Madrid and Mallorca in Spain, it somehow went toe-to-toe with the big boys of Brazilian football.It's difficult to put this in words. Chapecoense died tonight. The team, the board, the coaching staff, the journalists.— Martin Mazur (@martinmazur) November 29, 2016
Full of grit, team spirit and determination, Chapecoense was a relatively unfashionable team hoping to tread an unlikely path laid out by upstart Leicester City, the surprise 2016 champions of England's Premier League.This season Chapecoense had already traveled to Argentina twice to defeat Independiente and San Lorenzo, and had scored an aggregate victory over Junior, a Colombian club.pic.twitter.com/uvxe0jm1kA— Chapecoense (@ChapecoenseReal) November 29, 2016
Victory in the final of the Copa Sudamericana would have been the greatest triumph in Chapecoense's history and allowed the team to compete in next season's Copa Libertadores, the most prestigious club competition on the continent.READ: Tributes pour in for Chapecoense after plane crash"Our solidarity can only be expected as we shared the Chapecoense's dream of being continental champions of the Copa Sudamericana," Nacional added. Karla Pequenino in London and Marilia Brocchetto and Natalie Gallón in Atlanta also contributed to this report.
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In recent years, we have seen how hackers prey on those too lazy or ignorant to install security patches, which, if applied on time, would have prevented some devastating cyber attacks and data breaches that happened in major organisations.
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ordered government agencies to more swiftly plug the critical security vulnerabilities found on their networks within 15 calendar days since the initial detection, a reduction from 30 days.
DHS's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) this week issued a new Binding Operational Directive (BOD) 19-02 instructing federal agencies and departments to address "critical" rated vulnerabilities within 15 days and "high" severity flaws within 30 days of initial detection.
The countdown to patch a security vulnerability will start when it was initially detected during CISA's weekly Cyber Hygiene vulnerability scanning, rather than it was the first report to the affected agencies.
"As federal agencies continue to expand their Internet presence through increased deployment of Internet-accessible systems, and operate interconnected and complex systems, it is more critical than ever for federal agencies to rapidly remediate vulnerabilities that otherwise could allow malicious actors to compromise federal networks through exploitable, externally-facing systems," reads the memo from CISA Director Chris Krebs.
"Recent reports from government and industry partners indicate that the average time between discovery and exploitation of a vulnerability is decreasing as today's adversaries are more skilled, persistent, and able to exploit known vulnerabilities."
Therefore, to minimize the risk of unauthorized access to any federal information internal system and reduce the overall attack surface, the CISA wants government agencies to review and remediate critical vulnerabilities on Internet-facing systems before hackers and cybercriminals exploit them.
The recently created CISA agency provides regular reports to the federal agencies on Cyber Hygiene scanning results and current status, informing them of the detected vulnerabilities, classified based on their CVSSv2 score.
Agencies who do not complete their remediation within the allotted time period, CISA will send an additional reminder to agencies, asking them to submit the complete remediation plan within three working days to CISA.
BOD 19-02 replaces BOD 15-01—Critical Vulnerability Mitigation Requirement for Federal Civilian Executive Branch Departments and Agencies' Internet-Accessible Systems (May 21, 2015)—which gave federal agencies 30 days to patch critical vulnerabilities.
This is the second BOD that CISA has released this year. Following a series of DNS hijacking incidents, the agency issued an "emergency directive" earlier this year, ordering federal agencies to audit DNS records for their respective website domains and other agency-managed domains within 10 days.
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Two severe security flaws have been discovered in the open-source SaltStack Salt configuration framework that could allow an adversary to execute arbitrary code on remote servers deployed in data centers and cloud environments.
The vulnerabilities were identified by F-Secure researchers earlier this March and disclosed on Thursday, a day after SaltStack released a patch (version 3000.2) addressing the issues, rated with CVSS score 10.
"The vulnerabilities, allocated CVE IDs CVE-2020-11651 and CVE-2020-11652, are of two different classes," the cybersecurity firm said.
"One being authentication bypass where functionality was unintentionally exposed to unauthenticated network clients, the other being directory traversal where untrusted input (i.e., parameters in network requests) was not sanitized correctly allowing unconstrained access to the entire filesystem of the master server."
The researchers warned that the flaws could be exploited in the wild imminently. SaltStack is also urging users to follow the best practices to secure the Salt environment.
Vulnerabilities in ZeroMQ Protocol
Salt is a powerful Python-based automation and remote execution engine that's designed to allow users to issue commands to multiple machines directly.
Built as a utility to monitor and update the state of servers, Salt employs a master-slave architecture that automates the process of pushing out configuration and software updates from a central repository using a "master" node that deploys the changes to a target group of "minions" (e.g., servers) en masse.
The communication between a master and minion occurs over the ZeroMQ message bus. Additionally, the master uses two ZeroMQ channels, a "request server" to which minions report the execution results and a "publish server," where the master publishes messages that the minions can connect and subscribe to.
According to F-Secure researchers, the pair of flaws reside within the tool's ZeroMQ protocol.
"The vulnerabilities described in this advisory allow an attacker who can connect to the 'request server' port to bypass all authentication and authorization controls and publish arbitrary control messages, read and write files anywhere on the 'master' server filesystem and steal the secret key used to authenticate to the master as root," the researchers said.
"The impact is full remote command execution as root on both the master and all minions that connect to it."
In other words, an attacker can exploit the flaws to call administrative commands on the master server as well as queue messages directly on the master publish server, thereby allowing the salt minions to run malicious commands.
What's more, a directory traversal vulnerability identified in the wheel module — which has functions to read and write files to specific locations — can permit reading of files outside of the intended directory due to a failure to properly sanitize file paths.
Detecting Vulnerable Salt Masters
F-Secure researchers said an initial scan revealed more than 6,000 vulnerable Salt instances exposed to the public internet.
Detecting possible attacks against susceptible masters, therefore, entails auditing published messages to minions for any malicious content. "Exploitation of the authentication vulnerabilities will result in the ASCII strings "_prep_auth_info" or "_send_pub" appearing in data sent to the request server port (default 4506)," it added.
It's highly recommended that Salt users update the software packages to the latest version.
"Adding network security controls that restrict access to the salt master (ports 4505 and 4506 being the defaults) to known minions, or at least block the wider Internet, would also be prudent as the authentication and authorization controls provided by Salt are not currently robust enough to be exposed to hostile networks," the researchers said.
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A simple DDoS attack could land you in jail for 10 years or even more.
A Massachusetts man has been sentenced to over 10 years in prison for launching DDoS attacks against the computer network of two healthcare organizations in 2014 to protest the treatment of a teenager at the centers.
Beyond serving 121 months in prison, Martin Gottesfeld, 34, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton to pay nearly $443,000 in restitution for damages he caused to the targeted facilities.
Gottesfeld carried out the DDoS attacks on behalf of the Anonymous hacker collective against Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) and Wayside Youth & Family Support Network—a nonprofit home treatment facility that provides a range of mental health counselings to children, young adults, and families in Massachusetts.
In April 2014, the hacker used a botnet of over 40,000 network routers that he infected with customized malicious software to carry out the DDoS attacks that not only knocked BCH off the internet but also knocked down several other hospitals in the Longwood Medical Area.
The DDoS attacks crippled Wayside Youth and Family Support Network for more than a week, causing the facility to spend $18,000 on response and mitigation efforts.
However, the cyberattacks on BCH was terrible which disrupted the BCH network for at least two weeks, crippling the hospital's day-to-day operations and its research capabilities that eventually costed the facility a total of over $600,000 in damages.
Gottesfeld has been in custody since February 2016 when he was arrested in Miami after he and his wife attempted to flee Massachusetts on a small boat, which was then rescued after being disabled off the coast of Cuba by a nearby Disney Cruise Ship.
Gottesfeld was convicted in August last year when a federal jury found him guilty of two counts, including conspiracy to intentionally damage protected computers and conspiracy to damage protected computers.
Gottesfeld represented himself at the hearing on Thursday at the U.S. District court in Boston and said he planned to appeal but had no regrets, according to Reuters.
"It was your arrogance and misplaced pride that has been on display in this case from the very beginning that led you to believe you know more than the doctors at Boston Children's Hospital," Judge Gorton said.
Gottesfeld argued that he carried out the attacks to protest the reportedly abusive treatment of teenage patient Justina Pelletier, who was the subject of a high-profile custody battle between her parents and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
BCH and Pelletier's parents entered a dispute over a diagnosis of their daughter and a judge awarded the teen's custody to the state of Massachusetts. After her diagnosis, Pelletier was later moved to Wayside Youth & Family Support Network and 16 months later, she was released to her parents on the court order.
Gottesfeld told Judge Gorton that he made a big difference in Pelletier's life and urged the judge to sentence him to time served, adding that "My only regret is that I didn't get to Justina sooner. I wish I had done more."
Assistant U.S. Attorney David D'Addio also called Gottesfeld a "self-aggrandizing menace" who put children's lives at risk and even believed that he could strike again once released from prison.
Gottesfeld's wife has planned to appeal the court hearing.
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Birstall, UK (CNN)Nobody is shopping in the supermarket. The cafes are empty of customers. And the library is even quieter than normal. This is Market Street in Birstall, northern England; until two days ago, it was just another ordinary small street, in an ordinary small town — one of hundreds of unassuming spots just like it.British MP Jo Cox killed Now, with a police officer on guard, copious amounts of blue and white crime scene tape strung across the road, and the world's media camped out around the corner, it is anything but.Messages from British Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in a book of condolence at St. Peter's Church.What happened here on Thursday afternoon, as shoppers wandered among the market stalls nearby, shocked the country, halted campaigning in the European Union referendum, and led to claims that democracy itself is under attack.Read MoreLocal Member of Parliament Jo Cox was set upon -- shot and stabbed -- as she left a meeting in Market Street's modern redbrick library. Cox, a 41-year-old former aid worker and mother-of-two was gravely wounded, and died a short time later. It is hard to overstate the impact her death has had. It is the first killing of a politician in the UK in a generation -- the last, in 1990, was carried out by the IRA.Why Britain doesn't play politics with gun tragedyIn the quarter of a century since, Britons have come to believe that while public shootings occur so often in the United States and politicians' lives are routinely threatened elsewhere in the world, such things simply do not happen here.This is Britain, home of civility and the stiff upper lip. But it has happened here. Just there, down the road. Outside that library. A woman lays flowers at a memorial to MP Jo Cox in Birstall.———————Open meetings or "constituency surgeries" like the one Cox was holding just before she was attacked are the bread and butter of life for British MPs and the people they serve -- regular opportunities for anyone to turn up and ask for help or air a grievance. Subjects range from neighborly arguments over the height of a fence to major geopolitical issues. By their very nature, these meetings are public, and well publicized, and there is rarely any security . They also allow voters to get to know their representatives. Hairdresser Claire Saville met Cox at one of her surgeries last year when she was in need of advice."I was quite emotional, and she was very reassuring, she and her colleague made me a drink, and she was very helpful," Saville remembers. "I thought by going to her it would help, and it really did."Hairdresser Claire Saville said whoever takes over from Jo Cox as the town's MP will have 'massive shoes to fill'"Everybody has a perception about MPs, but they're just doing a job," says Saville. "That's what she was doing, helping people out, going about her daily business and this happens. I can't get my head around it. I won't ever be able to walk down that street again without thinking about her."Cox's husband: Let's 'fight against the hatred that killed her' Altat Patel, who works in the local kebab shop says Cox offered him support at a difficult time."She helped me with some family problems," he explains. "She was a lovely lady -- very helpful to anybody and everybody. You'd never have thought something like this would happen in a million years."Malazan Hussein and Altat Patel both knew Jo Cox; "We campaigned together for the election," says Hussein. "It is so sad -- 41 is too young!"———————In her maiden speech in the House of Commons, a little over a year ago, Jo Cox spoke of her "joy" at being elected to represent the "diverse community" of Batley and Spen where she grew up. "I'm Batley and Spen born and bred, and I couldn't be prouder of that."The area from which she came was, she explained, "a gathering of typically independent, no-nonsense, proud Yorkshire towns and villages," which had been "deeply enhanced by immigration" from Ireland, India and Pakistan. Killing of British politician stuns nation"The thing that surprises me, time and time again as I travel around, is that we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us."Related: The killing of Jo CoxThe attack: Police search for motiveThe suspect: A quiet lonerJo Cox: Mother, humanitarian, politicianThe town: Shattered by the unthinkableHer husband's heartbreaking wordsOpinion: Don't ignore threat of extremist nationalismCox's affection for her multicultural hometown is echoed in the affection those of all backgrounds feel for her. "She was a lovely lady," says Manni Singh, helping out behind the counter at the Shop Locally convenience store."She cared a lot about people, it didn't matter what race -- black, white or Asian like myself -- she treated everybody the same."This is a solid Labour constituency, but there is still a Conservative club here; it sits side by side with the Bangla curry restaurant and takeaway, sharing a building whose Union flag currently flies at half-staff.———————Birstall is an old mill town that grew prosperous thanks to the woolen industry, and even provided some of the settings for novels by the Bronte sisters, though nowadays it is better known it for the IKEA store that sits between here and the M62 motorway.Pretty stone cottages and workers' terraces sit alongside council houses, and it feels well-cared for: empty lots and abandoned verges have been turned into gardens, old tires painted and "upcycled" into flowerbeds planted by volunteers as part of the Birstall in Bloom scheme.This is Birstall. This is it. All it's got is a Co-op, hairdressers and takeaways.Gemma SykesIn the market, its few empty yellow and blue-roofed stalls providing journalists with some shelter from the rain, mother and daughter Dawn and Gemma Sykes are watching as their town is turned into a media circus."This is Birstall," says Gemma, gesturing to the shops lining the square. "This is it. All it's got is a Co-op (supermarket), hairdressers and takeaways."Mother and daughter Dawn and Gemma Sykes; "Who will we get now? Who's going to be as caring and thorough and kind?" asks Gemma."It's a quiet place," says Dawn. "Everything happens but nothing happens, if you know what I mean. "You get people walking past each other, giving a polite smile or a nod. People get on with their own day-to-day business, with their own lives, but they look out for each other too."Looking out for others, taking care of them and advocating on their behalf was Jo Cox's life's work -- both as an aid agency staffer whose work took her to a succession of war zones and back home in the area where she grew up, and where she became the MP.At St. Peter's Church, British flag bunting is strung up around the churchyard, left over from the royal tea party held here to mark the Queen's 90th birthday last weekend. On Thursday night, celebrations gave way to commemorations, as Cox was remembered by a crowd of hundreds of people at a vigil.It was standing room only, says local vicar Paul Knight, as he battles to post an update about Prime Minister David Cameron's visit to the church's Facebook page via a phone that has barely stopped ringing since Cox's death."Jo was brought up in the area and was passionate about it; as a local girl, she wanted to improve the lives of the people here," he says. "She was fiery, and she was determined to make a difference."Local vicar Paul Knight says Jo Cox was "fiery, and she was determined to make a difference."———————Throughout the day, a makeshift shrine of cards, candles, photographs and flowers grows beneath the statue of local scientist Joseph Priestley, who discovered oxygen.From elaborate rose wreaths to cut-price bunches of tulips, it's the sort of memorial we've grown used to seeing -- in Orlando, in Paris -- but even those adding offerings of their own look somewhat alarmed to see it sprouting on their own street.Satellite trucks line up outside the Kwik-Save, while local residents, bemused to suddenly find their hometown in the full glare of the world's media, look on from the steps outside the Birstall Sports and Social Club.Bishops Bakery, its windows full of ceramic cakes, is doing a roaring trade, selling rolls and buns to the crowds of journalists, but many of the other shops and businesses around the town center have been shuttered for the day. Down the road, the butcher and one of the village's many hairdressers have notes on their doors explaining that they have closed "as a mark of respect" and "due to the horrific and tragic events."———————Laura Woodbridge and her daughter Lyla came to leave flowers at the makeshift memorial to Jo Cox.Laura Woodbridge told CNN she'd come to lay flowers "for someone truly remarkable" at the memorial with her daughter Lyla."It's such an easy time to scapegoat people, and Jo never did that," she said. "What she fought for -- not just us here, but for the people in Syria and everywhere else, she did because she believed in it, it was just who she was.""She was an absolutely dedicated bundle of energy," says local Labour Party activist Peter Brierley. "She was constantly working. It didn't matter what the problem was, she'd make time to talk to you — she had time for everybody, and she made a massive impact on Batley and Spen."Brierley said Cox's sudden death had left him with a particular regret: "We had some differences of opinion, but she'd never hold them against you. Sadly, the last time I saw her, I called her a 'disgrace,' and because of what happened, I can never withdraw that comment. "We didn't always agree, but I was looking forward to working with her for the next four years. She'd done so much in such a short time, but there was the potential for her to do massive things." She was a tiny, petite lady, but whoever takes her place has massive shoes to fill.Claire Saville Like many others, Gemma Sykes is struck by the sheer unfairness of what happened to Cox: "She went all the way to Afghanistan and was fine, and then came to Birstall and got killed here."And, like others, she's left wondering who will pick up the baton and carry on the much-loved MP's work: "Who will we get now? Who's going to be as caring and thorough and kind? Whoever it is they won't be Jo Cox.""It will be very hard to find someone of Jo's caliber, with her passion and her devotion to the people of this area," says Paul Knight.Claire Saville agrees: "She was a tiny, petite lady, but whoever takes her place has massive shoes to fill."
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