Robert Lemos

LAS VEGAS—A computer-security researcher warned mobile-device users that spies do not need the sweeping government powers of the National Security Agency to track their movements around a city; instead, a system of cheap sensors and a backend analysis system will do the job quite well. Dubbed CreepyDOL, the system uses a combination of inexpensive wireless […]

LAS VEGAS—The National Security Agency’s controversial data-collection programs have aided the investigation of 54 “terrorism-related activities” in the past six years, while following strict rules and being subject to intense scrutiny by all three branches of government, the head of the U.S. spy agency told attendees in a keynote kicking off the first day of […]

Free mobile applications put users’ privacy at risk more often than paid apps, and iOS applications are more likely to transmit private information than Android applications, according to a survey of the top-400 mobile applications conducted by application-analysis firm Appthority. The survey, released the day before the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, found […]

Federal prosecutors charged five men with computer crimes on July 25 in one of the largest online fraud schemes investigated by U.S. authorities to date. The five men, along with other co-conspirators not charged in the indictment, allegedly stole information about more than 160 million credit cards and sold them on the underground market. Those […]

Apple shuttered its developer portal last week, after an intruder compromised its system and may have accessed developers’ names, addresses and email addresses, the company stated in a notice published on July 21 on its site. On the same day, a software developer claimed credit for the breach in the comments section on TechCrunch, posting […]

Security researchers from mobile-protection firm Duo Security and the System Security Lab at Northeastern University have produced a program to patch a major flaw in Android phones. But there’s a significant catch: Only phones that have already been hacked can currently apply the fix. The program, known as ReKey, allows users to protect their Android […]

Java is the application development language of the Internet. It is everywhere on the Web. Although it is regularly updated, it has always contained serious flaws that make it an inviting target for hackers and cyber-criminals. In 2012, Java applications became software components most targeted by cyber-attackers, but companies have still not worked to cull […]

Brokers of stolen information are increasingly combining disparate data on consumers, verifying the information and then selling the “kitz” to others as a turnkey identity fraud service, according to researchers from managed security firm Dell Secureworks. While run-of-the-mill U.S. credit cards sell for less than $2, health insurance credentials for less than $20 and access […]

Gathering a following of fake friends online has become easier and cheaper in the last eight months, according to research conducted by security firm Barracuda Networks. The company, which first looked at the market for fake accounts in August 2012, updated its study last week, finding that real accounts tend to have more followers and […]

A flaw in the application security checking on Android operating systems could allow attackers to turn legitimate applications into Trojan horses without ever needing to grab code off the device, researchers at mobile security startup Bluebox Security stated in an analysis published July 5. Typically, the Android operating system checks that applications are signed by […]

The National Security Agency collaborated with the Israeli government to create the program used in a cyber-attack that disrupted Iran’s uranium processing capability and delayed its nuclear ambitions, former intelligence consultant and whistleblower Edward Snowden said in an interview published in the German magazine Der Spiegel. Allegedly conducted prior to Snowden’s release of classified intelligence […]

People who have ever wondered why online criminals would want to gain access to their email accounts now have a way to find out: Two researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have created an online service that checks a person’s Gmail account for sensitive information, offers to encrypt the information and then estimates […]