In an area of law that worries many white hat hackers, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) makes testing websites and vulnerabilities somewhat risky. In 1986 the CFAA amended the Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984, to cover unauthorized access to a computer. Now , it seems that anyone can scrape public data from a website without violating the CFAA. Previously, … [Read more...]
XKCD Forum Database Breached
If you use the password CorrectHorseBatteryStaple you may want to change it. This week, security researcher Troy Hunt revealed that someone recently breached the XKCD forums database. The attacker made this database public and released usernames, email addresses, and hashed passwords. Somewhat ironically XKCD, created by Randall Munroe, focuses on technical and IT humor. One … [Read more...]
US And Iran Write Cyber War Playbook
A recent report by the New York Times shows that the US and Iran are continuing to attack each other’s infrastructure. On June 20th Iran's paramilitary arm, allegedly responsible for attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf just 7 days earlier, lost a critical database due to a cyber attack by the US. In the aftermath, some questioned this attack. Would this cyber attack … [Read more...]
Face Recognition For Purchasing is Still a Novelty
Now you can pay for your drink using just your face in China, but only for some. Chinese face recognition vending machine. No cash, card, or phone needed. pic.twitter.com/tDN0pMitA4 — Matthew Brennan (@mbrennanchina) August 21, 2019 A video recently posted to Twitter shows a woman who has walked up to a vending machine press a button on a screen before standing in front of … [Read more...]
Apple’s Vulnerability Struggles
Apple has been taking steps as of late to help catch vulnerabilities before they reach the hands of bad actors. For example, they recently began providing security researchers iPhones to make it easier for them to find vulnerabilities. At around the same time Apple also increased their bug bounty program to $1 million for the top prize of getting full control of a phone without … [Read more...]
