SMS-Based Trojan Targeting Android Smartphones

informationweek.com
Evil-doers have finally taken it upon themselves to go after Android devices. A new Trojan hijacks Android handsets' SMS application to send texts to premium messaging services, running up the bill.

According to Kapersky Lab, it has discovered the first known Trojan to be specifically targeted at Android smartphones. Kapersky classifies the "malicious program" as a Trojan-SMS, which attacks users where it hurts the most: their wallet.

The Trojan disguises itself as a media player application. The file name is: Trojan-SMS.AndroidOS.FakePlayer.a (kinda gives itself away if you're paying attention, don't ya think?). The file is just 13Kb and has a standard .APK Android app extension. Once the Trojan has been installed, it causes some serious trouble.

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10 Bizarre-but-True Ways Your Home Is Susceptible to Hackers

foxnews.com

Reality is scarier than fiction -- especially when it comes to what hackers can do. In many bizarre-but-true ways, your home is wide open to hacker attacks. Right now.

While you're reading this, a criminal could be logging in to your router and using it as a porn server. He could be using a Bluetooth "sniper rifle" (like the one shown above) to tap into your phone while you chat by the window. He could even physically steal your printer and capture from its circuitry the financial records you printed last week.

Here are 10 scary -- and real -- home-security threats hackers may try, and how to block them -- if you can.

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IBM: We distributed malware-ridden USB drives

news.cnet.com

IBM is apologizing for handing out USB drives at a security conference in Australia this week that had malware on them.

The thumb drives were distributed for free to people who walked up to the IBM booth at the AusCERT conference.

"Unfortunately we have discovered that some of these USB keys contained malware and we suspect that all USB keys may be affected," Glenn Wightwick, chief technologist at IBM Australia, wrote in a letter to AusCERT delegates that was reprinted on the Beast or Buddha blog.

"The malware is detected by the majority of current Anti Virus products [as at 20/05/2010] and been known since 2008," the letter said. "The malware is known by a number of names and is contained in the setup.exe and autorun.ini files. It is spread when the infected USB device is inserted into a Microsoft Windows workstation or server whereby the setup.exe and autorun.ini files run automatically."

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Millions lost due to illegal interception of cell phone calls

net-security.org
A survey released today by the Ponemon Institute on behalf of Cellcrypt, reveals that large and medium businesses are putting themselves at risk as a result of cell phone voice call interception.

According to a survey of seventy five companies and 107 senior executives in the United States, it costs U.S. corporations on average $1.3M each time a corporate secret is revealed to unauthorized parties. 18% of respondents estimate such losses to occur weekly or more frequently, 61% at least monthly and 90% at least annually.

67 percent of IT practitioners surveyed lack confidence that the proprietary and confidential information conveyed during cell phone conversations is adequately secured in their organizations and 85% believe voice data security is at least as important as other security issues faced by the business. Moreover, 80% believe that the organization would not discover the wrongful interception of a cell phone conversation that revealed valuable corporate secrets.

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Hackers, Troops Rejoice: Pentagon Lifts Thumb-Drive Ban

wired.com

Soldiers, you are now cleared to use your thumb drives again. U.S. Strategic Command has lifted its ban on the tiny drives, memory sticks, CDs and other “removable flash media” on military networks.

The repeal, first reported by InsideDefense.com, may be good news for troops, who depend on the drives to move data in bandwidth-starved locations. But it may be good news for hackers, too. The original network security concerns which prompted the ban haven’t really been addressed, one Strategic Command cyber defense specialist tells Danger Room: “Not much changed. StratCom simply does not have the support to enforce such a ban indefinitely.”

StratCom prohibited the drives’ use back in November 2008 after the Agent.btz virus began working its way through military networks. A variation of the “SillyFDC” worm, Agent.btz spreads by copying itself from thumb drive to computer and back again. Once on a PC, “it automatically downloads code from another location. And that code could be pretty much anything,” iDefense computer security expert Ryan Olson said at the time.

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SMS Snoop Software Captures Tigers of the World

coolest-gadgets.com
Thinking of pulling off a Tiger Woods? You’d best go through your thought processes a couple of times more with wives and girlfriends being all the more wary about your ‘good boy’ image, as they now have the help of SMS Snoop – an application that was specially designed and programmed to catch those who abuse cellphone technology by cheating on their spouse or partner via SMS. All you need is a momentary lapse of concentration, where your spouse can then install the application without you knowing any better, and each SMS sent out by you will also be forwarded to their cellphone. All data can be saved or retrieved at any time for future proof in the event of infidelity.

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Kingston's Secure USB Drive, Hackable...

Kingston Technology admits "It has recently been brought to our attention that a skilled person with the proper tools and physical access to the drives may be able to gain unauthorized access to data contained on the following Kingston Secure USB drives:

• DataTraveler BlackBox (DTBB)
• DataTraveler Secure – Privacy Edition (DTSP)
• DataTraveler Elite – Privacy Edition (DTEP)

Kingston says; It is important to note that the following Kingston Secure USB drives are NOT AFFECTED:

• DataTraveler Locker (DTL)
• DataTraveler Locker+ (DTL+)
• DataTraveler Vault (DTV)
• DataTraveler Vault – Privacy Edition (DTVP)
• DataTraveler Elite (DTE)
• DataTraveler Secure (DTS) 

 Kingston has recommended that users return their drives to get a "factory update". Before sending your DataTraveler back to Kingston, please make sure you backup the data and then delete the contents of the drive. Once we receive your drive and apply the factory update process, any data still on the drive will be deleted.
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