Tag Archive for: once

Once again, Adobe releases emergency Flash patch for Hacking Team 0-days

Adobe Systems has issued an emergency update for its Flash media player to patch two critical zero-day vulnerabilities that allow attackers to surreptitiously install malware on end-user computers.

The previously unknown vulnerabilities were unearthed in the 400-gigabyte data dump hackers published nine days ago after rooting the servers of Hacking Team, the Italy-based company that sold spyware and exploits to governments around the world. As previously reported, Hacking Team was itself hacked by unknown individuals, who then published e-mails, sales invoices, and marketing material that appeared to contradict long-standing assurances from company executives that they operated ethically and didn’t do business with repressive governments.

The two Flash vulnerabilities unearthed this past weekend are in addition to a third one found earlier in the Hacking Team dump, which Adobe patched last week, a few days after it was discovered. All three critical vulnerabilities were present in Flash versions for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. At least one of them was potent enough to pierce the vaunted Google Chrome security sandbox, most likely because it was combined with a separate privilege-escalation exploit for Windows.

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Ars Technica » Technology Lab

‘Find My iPhone’ foils thieves once again

You might think that smartphone thieves would be smarter by now.

Not so, according to this account of a robbery early Sunday morning from the Boston Police Department:

While en route to the scene, officers received a description of a male suspect accompanied by a female who had attacked and “pistol whipped” a victim. … Officers were additionally informed that the suspects had stolen a purse and two cellphones. Using the “Track My iPhone” (sic) app from one of the officers’ cellphones, the officers and the victims were able to track one of the stolen phones to the area of Bushnell and Van Winkle Streets, where the phone appeared to be traveling along the path of the MBTA Red Line trolley route toward Mattapan Square.

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Network World Paul McNamara

iPhone 6 buzz resurrects NFC hype once again

As the anticipation of a new iPhone model builds around this time every year, speculation follows involving one technology that seems like it’s doomed to forever be considered “emerging” – near field communication.

The technology, based on standards that enable the exchange of information between two devices within close proximity of each other, is mostly touted for its potential to facilitate mobile payments. The idea is that NFC will finally turn smartphones into digital wallets.

It’s already done that for some phones, but if NFC is going to be successful, it will likely need to find its way into the world’s most popular smartphone. That’s where the iPhone hype comes in. In the same week that Apple has invited the media to its next iPhone event, both Business Insider and Wired have independently reported that the upcoming iPhone will finally support NFC.

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Network World Colin Neagle

Gov’t surveillance ‘unreasonable’ & violated the 4th amendment ‘at least once’

It’s official; the government’s spying efforts exceeded the legal limits at least once, meaning it is also officially “unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) sent a letter [PDF] to Sen. Read more

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