For many, the conversation about online privacy centers around a few high-profile companies, and rightly so. We consciously engage with their applications and services and want to know who else might access our information and how they might use it. But there are other, less obvious ways that accessing the World Wide Web exposes us. In this post we will look at how one part of the web’s infrastructure, the Domain Name System (DNS), “leaks” your private information and what you can do to better protect your privacy and security. Although DNS has long been a serious compromise in the privacy of the web, we’ll discuss some simple steps you can take to improve your privacy online. —Stan Adams @CDT
Cloudflare, the internet security and performance services company, announced a new service called “Spectrum.” The service gets its name from the fact that Cloudflare aims to offer DDoS protection for the whole “spectrum” of ports and protocols for its enterprise customers. @Tom’s Hardware
Security researchers have been warning about an ongoing malware campaign hijacking Internet routers to distribute Android banking malware that steals users’ sensitive information, login credentials and the secret code for two-factor authentication. In order to trick victims into installing the Android malware, dubbed Roaming Mantis, hackers have been hijacking DNS settings on vulnerable and poorly secured routers. —Swati Khandelwal @Hacker News
In summary, the best lesson one can take from this paper is that publication in a journal or conference proceedings does not guarantee that the paper withstands scrutiny. The paper is linked above for the interested reader to peruse himself, and to investigate the claims. —Rachel Traylor @The Math Citadel
A security researcher has disclosed details of an important vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook for which the company released an incomplete patch this month—almost 18 months after receiving the responsible disclosure report. The Microsoft Outlook vulnerability (CVE-2018-0950) could allow attackers to steal sensitive information, including users’ Windows login credentials, just by convincing victims to preview an email with Microsoft Outlook, without requiring any additional user interaction. —Swati Khandelwal @Hacker News
As Gandhi once said, “An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.” The same could be said about using “hack back” technology for vengeful purposes, such as security defenders who respond to attackers with the intent to harm their systems. —Dr. Salvatore Stolfo @Deark Reading
So ICANN decided to ask Article 29 for some specific guidance about WHOIS and how ICANN plans to deal with it in light of GDPR. You can read the original letter here. Article 29 were meeting in Brussels this week, and they not only discussed the ICANN request, but issued formal advice in response to ICANN’s letters. —Michele Neylon @CircleID
While performing in-depth analysis of various malware samples, security researchers at Cyberbit found a new code injection technique, dubbed Early Bird, being used by at least three different sophisticated malware that helped attackers evade detection. As its name suggests, Early Bird is a “simple yet powerful” technique that allows attackers to inject malicious code into a legitimate process before its main thread starts, and thereby avoids detection by Windows hook engines used by most anti-malware products. —Mohit Kumar @Hacker News
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