SEC Consult

December 6, 2016

Researchers Find Fresh Fodder for IoT Attack Cannons

This post was originally published on this siteNew research published this week could provide plenty of fresh fodder for Mirai, a malware strain that enslaves poorly-secured Internet of Things (IoT) devices for use in powerful online attacks. Researchers in Austria have unearthed a pair of backdoor accounts in more than 80 different IP camera models made by Sony Corp. Separately, Israeli security experts have discovered trivially exploitable weaknesses in nearly a half-million white-labeled IP camera models that are not currently sought out by Mirai. A Sony IPELA camera. Image: Sony. In a blog post published today, Austrian security firm SEC Consult said it found […]
October 11, 2017

Microsoft’s October Patch Batch Fixes 62 Flaws

This post was originally published on this siteMicrosoft on Tuesday released software updates to fix at least 62 security vulnerabilities in Windows, Office and other software. Two of those flaws were detailed publicly before yesterday’s patches were released, and one of them is already being exploited in active attacks, so attackers already have a head start. Roughly half of the flaws Microsoft addressed this week are in the code that makes up various versions of Windows, and 28 of them were labeled “critical” — meaning malware or malicious attackers could use the weaknesses to break into Windows computers remotely with […]
October 9, 2018

Naming & Shaming Web Polluters: Xiongmai

This post was originally published on this siteWhat do we do with a company that regularly pumps metric tons of virtual toxic sludge onto the Internet and yet refuses to clean up their act? If ever there were a technology giant that deserved to be named and shamed for polluting the Web, it is Xiongmai — a Chinese maker of electronic parts that power a huge percentage of cheap digital video recorders (DVRs) and Internet-connected security cameras. A rendering of Xiongmai’s center in Hangzhou, China. Source: xiongmaitech.com In late 2016, the world witnessed the sheer disruptive power of Mirai, a powerful […]