Security news updates from the last week

This week was a rather busy one in the security industry. Here are some of the notable highlights that you should not miss out on.

Authorized email monitoring increases by 36% in September 2012
According to reports, email monitoring by national security agencies has jumped by 36% in September 2012. However, this does not imply that the emails of regular citizens are being monitored. Authorization for monitoring emails are granted by various intelligence agencies, police forces and the Indian Army. They also need to be approved by a Committee that consists of the Cabinet Secretary, Telecom Secretary and the Law Secretary.

Egyptian hacker selling Yahoo Mail exploit kit for $700
An Egyptian hacker has created an exploit kit that targets Yahoo Mail users and is selling this kit for $700 in underground forums. The kit allows attackers to send and read emails and also replaces cookies with versions that can be tracked by them. Yahoo has responded by beefing up security but we advise Yahoo Mail users to refrain from clicking on suspicious links in their email and to also consider changing their passwords immediately.

Anonymous hacks Kapil Sibal’s website and declares war on Syrian Government
Hacktivist group Anonymous is in the limelight again as they hacked the website of Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, India. Apparently, this was done to garner attention towards the perceived lack of freedom of expression over the Internet. Additionally, Anonymous has declared war on the Syrian Government for apparently pulling the plug on the Internet amidst the raging civil war in the country. This accusation has been vehemently denied by the Government.

Adblock Plus for Android blocks unwanted advertisements
If you are tired of seeing unwanted ads and pop-ups on your Android smartphone, you can try out a new app called Adblock Plus. The application effectively blocks ads when you are browsing through your smartphone. Please note that the app only works on unrooted Android phones with Android 3.1 or higher and is incompatible with Firefox for Android.

Rahul Thadani

Rahul Thadani


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  1. Thanks for the weekly update

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