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A security expert revealed this week that an exploit commonly used against Windows users who own Microsoft Office can sneak into MacOS systems as well. A former NSA security specialist who addressed the Black Hat security conference this week summarized his research into the new use for a very old exploit. Patrick Wardle explained that the exploit capitalizes on the use of macros in Microsoft Office. Hackers have long used the approach to trick users into granting permission to activate the macros, which in turn surreptitiously launch malicious code. But Wardle noted that attacks against Mac systems using such macros...

In May 2019, Peter Mutharika, incumbent president in the southern African nation of Malawi, claimed a narrow re-election victory over opposition challenger Lazarus Chakwera. Malawians, however, reported "voting irregularities." Investigators found altered vote tallies and evidence of tampering. A majority of the country concluded Chakwera had defeated Mutharika. Incensed Malawians began nationwide nonviolent protests. Despite threats by Mutharika supporters, "stolen election" demonstrations persisted in rural towns as well as cities. Since he retained the title of president, Mutharika believed he controlled the guns and the courts. The protests would fade. He learned otherwise. Malawi's military, the Malawi Defense Force (MDF)...

A Google security researcher withdrew from the Black Hat security conference and asked the community to stop using the 'black hat' term. The information security (infosec) community has angrily reacted today to calls to abandon the use of the 'black hat' and 'white hat' terms, citing that the two, and especially 'black hat,' have nothing to do with racial stereotyping. Discussions about the topic started late last night after David Kleidermacher, VP of Engineering at Google, and in charge of Android Security and the Google Play Store, withdrew from a scheduled talk he was set to give in August at...

Hackers are trying to infect organizations throughout the world with a popular strain of malware by sending emails that appear to be from an Egyptian oil company. In research published Tuesday, Romanian antivirus company BitDefender noted a surge in attempted phishing attacks that try to trick users into downloading malware by masquerading as Enppi, an oil company owned by the Egyptian government. The malware, known as Agent Tesla, is a spyware tool which enables hackers to monitor keystrokes, steal data about file downloads and collect username and password credentials from internet browsers, among other capabilities. The number of attacks spiked...

It has been revealed that there are about 650,000 emails on Huma Abedin’s husband’s laptop. Of the 650,000 emails, thousands are labeled “classified” National Security material forwarded from another email server. According to sources, the emails were discovered in a folder labeled, “Life Insurance”. Is it possible the folder was mislabeled by Abedin to deliberately conceal its contents? This also begs the question: How did Huma Abedin get National Security clearance? The NY Post explains where FBI originally dropped the ball when they first investigated Abedin: Skeptical agents showed Abedin three separate email exchanges she had with an IT staffer...

Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is holding a fundraiser at the Black Hat hacker conference this week in Las Vegas, amid an intense focus on how hackers are affecting the 2016 campaign. For anywhere from $100 to $2,700, donors can mingle on Wednesday with Michael Sulmeyer, a former top Defense Department cyber official who now heads the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center Cyber Security project (identified as the Clinton Campaign’s cybersecurity working group coordinator); former Homeland Security Department official Jake Braun (now CEO of Cambridge Global); and Black Hat founder Jeff Moss. Clinton’s cyber/tech platform has been greeted with a mix...

Just watch the video..............

By John W. Lillpop In the summer of 2008, Dallas County commissioners discussing traffic ticket collections were jolted when Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, used the term “back hole” to describe the recurring problem of lost paperwork. Mayfield’s statement was immediately challenged by Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black. Price belted out a loud “Excuse me!” and proceeded to upbraid Mayfield by saying that the problem of lost paperwork was the unwelcome byproduct of a “white hole.” That caused Judge Thomas Jones, who is black, to demand an apology from Mayfield for his racially insensitive analogy. This dust...

National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander was met with both heckling and applause at the Black Hat information security conference in Las Vegas, Nevada on Wednesday. Ever since the leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden thrust the agency’s domestic surveillance policies into the limelight and sparked widespread public debate, Alexander and other intelligence officials have been on the hot seat, in a persistent state of defense against seemingly unending press reports.

Watch the video. It's Rick Perry in his own words.

Wireless drone sniffs Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, phone signals By: Declan McCullagh August 4, 2011 11:19 AM PDT LAS VEGAS--Forget Wi-Fi war driving. Now it's war flying. A pair of security engineers showed up at the Black Hat security conference here to show off a prototype that can eavesdrop on Wi-Fi, phone, and Bluetooth signals: a retrofitted U.S. Army target drone, bristling with electronic gear and an array of antennas. "Nobody's really looking at this from a threat perspective," said Mike Tassey, a security consultant who works for the U.S. government intelligence community. "There's some pretty evil stuff you can do from...

Freedom: As South Sudan joyfully celebrated its independence from Sudan, President Obama hailed it as the fruit of partnership, togetherness, hope and unity. South Sudanese, however, hailed President Bush. Proudly wearing the black cowboy hat given to him by President Bush, South Sudan's new president, Salva Kiir Mayardit, couldn't have made a stronger statement about who made his country's independence possible after 50 years of warfare. "It was George Bush and the Christian fundamentalists who heard the cry of South Sudan," affirmed a South Sudanese man quoted by the Los Angeles Times. But to hear the White House — in...

Most of us by now have heard about Anonymous. Anonymous has had its roots in various areas for a while now. Its primary targets tend to be a focused attempt at righting the wrongs of corporate monopolies and injustices that face the average person. Anonymous became a household known entity as it was exposed in its efforts to defend the operations of Wikileaks and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Their newest activities have revolved around shutting down various copyright agencies such as BMI as an attempt to fight back in the ongoing file sharing battle. A member of Anonymous who goes...

* Mac expert shows how hackers can steal encrypted data * Demonstrates method at conference for security experts LAS VEGAS, July 29 (Reuters) - A Mac security expert has uncovered a technique that hackers could use to take control of Apple Inc (AAPL.O) computers and steal data that is scrambled to protect it from identity thieves. Prominent Mac researcher Dino Dai Zovi disclosed the software flaw at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, one of the world's top forums for exchanging information on Internet threats. About 4,000 security professionals are in attendance, including some who are really hackers....

File it under the category of "be careful what you wish for." In early August at the Black Hat Conference, an annual meeting of computer security experts in Las Vegas, Microsoft handed out 3,000 test copies of its new operating system, Windows Vista, and challenged attendees to help spot security glitches. A short time later, Joanna Rutkowska obliged. In a packed ballroom at Caesar's Palace, the 25-year-old Polish programming whiz delivered a devastating presentation in how to hack an earlier but similar test version of Vista. Before a crowd of fellow researchers and hackers, she bypassed security measures and implanted...

Is there any major Leftist event in which William Rivers (Pied Piper) Pitt does not try to make HIMSELF the center of attention? We already saw that happen on June 16, “The Day When Everything Finally Changed.” Unfortunately for Pitt, the Day When Everything Finally Changed fizzled out so he tried to kickstart ANOTHER “Day When Everything Finally Changed” this coming September 24. In between, Pitt noticed the Sheehan Circus taking place in Crawford, Texas and went into the panic mode lest the many video cameras there fail to record him blowing bloated pronouncements into his own navel. So...