This Week’s Latest IT Security News and Alerts

Businesses Should Gear up for Worse Cyber Attacks in 2014
Cyber predictions for the coming year may not be pleasant for businesses. Security analysts are predicting that 2014 will see nastier cyber attacks on enterprises. Malware artists may use more of targeted attacks. Incidences of data breach may increase and ransomware attacks may be more frequent especially on small and medium enterprises. Java also remains a high risk zone where zero-day exploits may be increasingly used to target company networks. [source:timesofindia.com].

Data Hungry Governments are Getting Hungrier – Google said
In its latest transparency report, Google seemed to have spilled some more beans about the government. Most of us are aware by now that governments and law and enforcement bodies have been requesting Google for user data. In this report, Google stated that such requests have doubled since 2010. And the most number of requests were spewed by the U.S. Speaking of India, in 2013, it made the second largest number of requests. In this report you will find information of the requests for user data, made by the government of several countries.

D-Link Router found to be Infected with New Security Holes
New security vulnerabilities have been discovered in the D-Link 2760 N.  It is reported that, the router is infected with cross-site scripting bugs. Cross-site scripting refers to a security hole found in Web applications. This security flaw can allow a hacker to inject malicious content into Web pages visited by users. This type of vulnerability accounts for 84% of all security vulnerabilities. [source:news.cnet.com]

Forums of MacRumors Hacked – User Data Exposed
The data of over 860,000 users got compromised when the forums of MacRumors were hacked. The data included email addresses, usernames, and hashed passwords. Reportedly, the hackers used a moderator’s account to hack into the user database of the forums. It seems that the hackers themselves have posted about the breach on MacRumors forums. A part of their post stated that they do not intend to leak any of the stolen information, nor use the same to hack into user accounts. Users are advised to changed their passwords if they have an account in these forums, and not to use the same password for multiple accounts. You can read the entire message by the source claiming to be the hacker here.

Russian Nuclear Plant infected with the Stuxnet Virus
Stuxnet is known as the most sophisticated worm ever created. If you think that malicious programs can be unpredictable and can go crazy, then this news might cement your believe. The Stuxnet worm has gone out of control and infected a nuclear plant in Russia. The worm was designed by U.S. and Israeli programmersto target Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2010. Some sources have even reported that the worm has reached the International Space Station (ISS). While this is not true, the ISS is still vulnerable to malware attacks. [source:news.discovery.com]

Rajiv Singha