Tag Archive for: issues

MongoDB issues weekend warning of breach • The Register

/in


Infosec in brief MongoDB on Saturday issued an alert warning of “a security incident involving unauthorized access to certain MongoDB corporate systems, which includes exposure of customer account metadata and contact information.”

At the time of posting, the NoSQL pioneer advised it was “not aware of any exposure to the data that customers store in MongoDB Atlas.” Atlas is the provider’s multi-cloud database-as-a-service offering.

MongoDB nonetheless recommended customers “be vigilant for social engineering and phishing attacks, activate phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (MFA), and regularly rotate their MongoDB Atlas passwords.”

That advice appears to have been heeded: an update to MongoDB’s advisory warned customers of “a spike in login attempts resulting in issues for customers attempting to log in to Atlas and our Support Portal.” That spike was unrelated to the security incident, and customers were asked to “try again in a few minutes if you are still having trouble logging in.” – Simon Sharwood

Critical vulnerabilities: The not-patch-Tuesday list

As is usually the case this time of month, the most pressing vulnerabilities of recent days were revealed/patched in Patch Tuesday releases. That said, there’s still a few critical vulnerabilities to mention in the ICS world – they’ve gotta have a patch day too, right?

  • CVSS 9.8 – So many CVEs: Siemens SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU PLCs have a whopping 404 vulnerabilities in all versions of their software prior to 3.1.0 that can lead to information disclosure, tampering and DoS. Best patch ASAP.
  • CVSS 9.8 – CVE-2023-6448: Unitronics Vision Series PLCs running VisiLogic prior to v9.9.00 are all coded with default administrator passwords, which could let an attacker take control with ease.
  • CVSS 9.1 – Multiple CVEs: Siemens SCALANCE M-800 and S615 family ICS switches contain a number of vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to inject code or spawn a system root shell.
  • CVSS 8.1 – Multiple CVEs: Siemens’s SINEC industrial network management software contains a number of vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to trigger DoS, intercept…

Source…

Centre issues high-risk warning for Samsung Galaxy phone users, here’s why

/in


The Union government has issued a new advisory for all the Samsung Galaxy mobile phone users, asking them to immediately update their security systems and operating system (OS) to protect themselves from cyber attacks and hacking.

CERT has issued a high risk warning for Samsung users (Shutterstock)

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued the high-risk security advisory on December 13, highlighting several security impacts on millions of Samsung Galaxy phones, with both newer and older models.

Stay tuned with breaking news on HT Channel on Facebook. Join Now

The category of concern for Samsung phones is “high-risk”, according to the advisory, and owners of these phones need to update their firmware of OS at the earliest.

CERT said in its notification, “Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Samsung products that could allow an attacker to bypass implemented security restrictions, access sensitive information, and execute arbitrary code on the targeted system.”

The agency said that the risk in these phones is due to the improper access control flaw in the SmartManagerCN component of the OS. The solution to this is to apply appropriate security updates in your Samsung Galaxy phones, as mentioned by the company.

What could happen if you don’t follow CERT advisory?

Samsung Galaxy phone owners could be subjected to several risks if they don’t update their security and OS, as directed by CERT-In. Here are some vulnerabilities highlighted in the advisory by the government.

  • Steal phone’s secret code (SIM PIN)
  • Shout loud commands to phone (broadcast with elevated privilege)
  • Peek into private AR Emoji files
  • Change the clock on the castle gate (Knox Guard lock)
  • Snoop around phone’s files (access arbitrary files)
  • Steal important information (sensitive information)
  • Control the phone like a puppet (execute arbitrary code)

– Take over the whole phone (compromise the targeted system)

Further, Samsung has issued instructions for all the users to make sure that they remain safe from these…

Source…

Govt Alerts Mobile Users, Issues High-Risk Warning Over Malware Attacks

/in


Mumbai: The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued an advisory warning citizens about emerging cybercrime, and malvertising (malware advertising). Malvertising is a type of cyber security attack used by criminals to drop malware to redirect to a malicious website by tricking the user into clicking on online advertisements that may look legitimate. Upon installation, the malware can damage files, monitor the user’s activity and steal sensitive data stored in the device.

Malware

According to the advisory, malware is a piece of malicious code inserted in an application, program or system by threat actors. They can infect your systems and perform malicious operations. “Some of the key signs that indicate malware are, emails, messages from your email/social media accounts in your device are sent without your permission, web browsers keep redirecting to unknown suspicious web pages, pop-up ad messages with security warnings and urge you to download and install the security. Product and anti-malwareprograms are disabled automatically,” the advisory states.

“Avoid clicking on suspicious emails, links, and sites from unknown sources. As soon as you click on any malicious link, your mobile can be hacked or your data can be stolen. Browse only secure and authorised websites. Always keep your computer software/browser up to date. Maintain backup of your data regularly. Install software like pop-up/ ad-blocker to block the malicious advertisements appearing on websites. Install antivirus and antimalware solutions on your devices and keep them updated. Hover over the images/links to find the actual link. Do not install any apps through links received on chats or social media posts. Check the links before clicking,” the advisory stated.

(We are on WhatsApp. To get latest news updates, Join our Channel. Click here)

Published on: Saturday, October 21, 2023, 06:00 AM IST

Source…

Temsconsu Issues Ethical Hacking Challenge With US$10,000 Reward For Cracking The Security Of Its Excelitte System

/in


Australia-based software engineering firm Temsconsu, the makers of the Excelitte file encryption and database security system, has issued a challenge for ethical hackers and IT experts to crack the security of its Excelitte system and find a hidden line of text. The first person to successfully find this text and notify Temsconsu about it will receive a prize of US$10,000.

The 72-character line of text, composed of letters and numbers, is hidden in either an Excelitte-encrypted file or in the Excelitte database. The person who can retrieve the text and send it to Excelitte’s designated email will receive the US$10,000 prize transferred to their bank account or bitcoin wallet. They also need to answer a simple question, as well as provide details such as the device name, file location, or database type, to prove that they have accessed the secret text.

Temconsu Challenge information

Aside from the US$10,000 reward, Temsconsu will offer an employment opportunity, provided that the successful individual is not part of any criminal watchlist.

“The US$10,000 prize and job offer shows how confident we are in Excelitte’s security,” says Valentine Wats, founder of Temsconsu. “We’ve made it very hard for anyone to expose the data we’ve hidden, but, in the unlikely event someone does, we would like to work with them because that means they know something that we don’t. Every week, we look at everything that happens in the field of cybersecurity, such as hacking incidents and data breaches, and see how we can counter these attacks. We go into the dark web to study how hackers operate from an ethical point of view and reverse-engineer their methods to ensure that Excelitte’s security is watertight.”

According to Wats, the challenge demonstrates the importance of cybersecurity in today’s environment, especially since many large public and private sector organizations have digitized their data and stored it in on the cloud or on devices connected to the internet. Cyber theft and other cybercrimes have been rapidly rising in recent years, with major hacking incidents hitting the news headlines every few weeks. This does not include the thousands of smaller incidents that do not gain media…

Source…