Sean Michael Kerner

When hackers look to find a target, a common objective is to find a choke point, a location where valuable information flows and can be intercepted. One such point is the major press release services, which are filled every day with large volumes of embargoed information—in other words, an attractive target for hackers. In a […]

As the use of Docker containers has grown, so too have concerns over security and application integrity. In a bid to address those concerns, the Docker open-source project today released Docker 1.8.0, featuring Docker Content Trust. “The problem is right now we have millions of software updates every day across containers, but we have not […]

Mozilla today released its Firefox 40 open-source Web browser, providing Windows, Mac, Linux and Android users with updated features as well as multiple patches across 14 security advisories. The biggest visual change in Firefox 40, however, is only going to be seen by Windows 10 users, which gets a new look to integrate into Microsoft’s […]

Another month, another large patch load from Adobe. The company’s August Patch Tuesday update released today provides fixes for 34 identified Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs). The August patch haul is a marginal improvement over the 36 security vulnerabilities that Adobe patched in the July patch update, though Adobe did have to patch an additional […]

LinkedIn is among the world’s most popular social networking platforms with over 300 million members. With all those members, there is a whole lot of personal data and many reasons why attackers might see LinkedIn as an attractive target. Protecting LinkedIn and its members is the job of Cory Scott, director of information security at […]

GPS is widely used around the world today to help people get where they want to go, as well as to help enforce no-fly zone restrictions for drones. The problem, however, is that it can also be hacked. In a session at the DefCon security conference in Las Vegas Aug. 7, Lin Huang and Qing […]

While hacking activities are often a nuisance and can sometimes result in financial loss, a new weakness demonstrated at the DefCon security conference in Las Vegas this past week also shows how hacking can even declare you legally dead. Among the seven most highly anticipated talks (as ranked by eWEEK) at this year’s Black Hat […]

Black Hat, DefCon Put Car Hacking, Web Privacy on Center Stage Car hacking was a key theme at the two Las Vegas security conferences this year, along with Internet privacy, Android security, new hacker tools and more. Will the Internet Remain Open? The question of Internet freedom is one that Jennifer Granick, director of civil […]

LAS VEGAS—Part of the drama at any Black Hat or DefCon security conference in any given year usually revolves around a talk that is cancelled for some mysterious reason, typically over fears that it could reveal something truly disruptive. Such is the case in 2015 at DefCon with a talk called ProxyHam, which was supposed […]

LAS VEGAS—Use-after-free memory flaws regularly impact Microsoft’s Windows operating system and Internet Explorer Web browser, but thanks to new research from Hewlett-Packard, that could soon change. Brian Gorenc, manager of vulnerability research for HP Security Research, detailed his research at a session at the Black Hat USA conference here Aug. 6 that could curb use-after-free […]

LAS VEGAS–In world where everything is connected and everything can be hacked, it shouldn’t be a surprise that a rifle can be hacked to have a shooter change targets. That’s precisely what independent security researcher Runa Sandvik and her husband Michael Augur detailed at the Black Hat USA conference here. The two researchers acquired a […]

LAS VEGAS—The annual Pwnie Awards at the Black Hat USA conference here celebrate the best security vulnerabilities found by researchers and also ridicule the worst security responses. The Pwnies are a somewhat satirical event that doesn’t take itself all that seriously, but it does represent a snapshot of the year that was in security. The […]