Author Archives: Lucian Constantin

Google released a new batch of Android patches on Wednesday, fixing over 100 flaws in Android’s own components and in chipset-specific drivers from different manufacturers.

Android’s mediaserver component, which handles the processing of video and audio streams and has been a source of many vulnerabilities in the past, is at the forefront of this security update. It accounts for 16 Android vulnerabilities, including 7 critical flaws that can allow an attacker to execute code with higher privileges. 

The bugs can be exploited by sending specifically crafted audio or video files to users’ devices via the browser, email or messaging apps. Because of the repeated mediaserver flaws, Google Hangouts and the default Android Messenger applications no longer pass media to this component automatically.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google released a new batch of Android patches on Wednesday, fixing over 100 flaws in Android’s own components and in chipset-specific drivers from different manufacturers.

Android’s mediaserver component, which handles the processing of video and audio streams and has been a source of many vulnerabilities in the past, is at the forefront of this security update. It accounts for 16 Android vulnerabilities, including 7 critical flaws that can allow an attacker to execute code with higher privileges. 

The bugs can be exploited by sending specifically crafted audio or video files to users’ devices via the browser, email or messaging apps. Because of the repeated mediaserver flaws, Google Hangouts and the default Android Messenger applications no longer pass media to this component automatically.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Security researchers have found a new backdoor program that allows attackers to hijack Mac systems and control them over the Tor network.

The new malware has been dubbed Backdoor.MAC.Eleanor by researchers from antivirus vendor Bitdefender and is distributed as a file converter application through reputable websites that offer Mac software.

The rogue application is called EasyDoc Converter. Once installed it displays a fake interface where users can supposedly drag and drop files for conversion, but which in reality doesn’t do anything.

In the background, the application executes a shell script that installs multiple malicious components in a folder called “/Users/$USER/Library/.dropbox.” The Dropbox name is used to make the malware harder to spot and has nothing to do with the legitimate Dropbox file synchronization software.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Security researchers have found a new backdoor program that allows attackers to hijack Mac systems and control them over the Tor network.

The new malware has been dubbed Backdoor.MAC.Eleanor by researchers from antivirus vendor Bitdefender and is distributed as a file converter application through reputable websites that offer Mac software.

The rogue application is called EasyDoc Converter. Once installed it displays a fake interface where users can supposedly drag and drop files for conversion, but which in reality doesn’t do anything.

In the background, the application executes a shell script that installs multiple malicious components in a folder called “/Users/$USER/Library/.dropbox.” The Dropbox name is used to make the malware harder to spot and has nothing to do with the legitimate Dropbox file synchronization software.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here