Slashdot Mirror

An anonymous reader writes with a link to The Stack's report that researchers at security firm zScaler have spotted a clever new variety of Android-based ransomware, which takes advantage of phones' built-in cameras to add a personal touch; it activates the camera to take a snapshot of the user, which is then incorporated into its blackmail note. "The crudely-planned app features an extraordinarily demanding privacy/functionality swap at install, and proceeds to demand a $500 'FBI fine' via PayPal, rather than any of the cryptocurrencies which most ransomware authors currently favour."

chicksdaddy (814965) writes The Security Ledger reports on newly published research from the firm zScaler that reveals CNN's iPhone application transmits user login session information in clear text. The security flaw could leave users of the application vulnerable to having their login credential snooped by malicious actors on the same network or connected to the same insecure wifi hotspot. That's particularly bad news if you're one of CNN's iReporters — citizen journalists — who use the app to upload photos, video and other text as they report on breaking news events. According to a zScaler analysis, CNN's app for iPhone exposes user credentials in the clear both during initial setup of the account and in subsequent mobile sessions. The iPad version of the CNN app is not affected, nor is the CNN mobile application for Android. A spokesman for CNN said the company had a fix ready and was working with Apple to have it approved and released to the iTunes AppStore.

CrazyCanucklehead writes "Security Researcher Michael Sutton discusses his findings when looking at the advertised anti-phishing features in the recently released iPhone OS 3.1. It turns out that the protection is far less than what is provided in OS X and the feature may not provide any protection at all."

CrazyCanucklehead writes "At the Blackhat security conference in Washington, DC, researcher Michael Sutton has detailed how common XSS flaws in web applications employing (Google) Gears and HTML 5 Database Storage can leave local databases wide open to attack. This comes just as Gears is starting to take off, and just yesterday Google demonstrated a beta version of offline Gmail on phones, thanks to HTML 5 support in WebKit-based browsers, such as those used by Android and the iPhone. Sutton drove home the point by walking through a real world example on commercial site Paymo.biz, which has thankfully since been fixed."