When the source code to a suspected Russian-made malware leaked online in 2013, guess who used it? A new release from WikiLeaks claims the U.S. CIA borrowed some of the code to bolster its own hacking operations. On Friday, WikiLeaks released 27 documents that allegedly detail how the CIA customized its malware for Windows systems. The…
DetailsTwitter has withdrawn a lawsuit against the U.S. government after the Customs and Border Protection backed down on a demand that the social media outlet reveal details about a user account critical of the agency. The lawsuit, filed Thursday, contended that the customs agency was abusing its investigative power. The customs agency has the ability…
DetailsHackers have started adding data-wiping routines to malware that’s designed to infect internet-of-things and other embedded devices. Two attacks observed recently displayed this behavior but likely for different purposes. Researchers from Palo Alto Networks found a new malware program dubbed Amnesia that infects digital video recorders through a year-old vulnerability. Amnesia is a variation of an older…
DetailsHortonworks is planning a major international expansion this year as it looks to become less reliant on its core North American market. The vendor of big data services and support based on open source technologies is putting its money where its mouth is, with new president Raj Verma vowing to invest 95 percent of new…
DetailsAfter 40 critical vulnerabilities on Samsung’s Tizen — used in smart TVs and smartwatches — were exposed this week by Israeli researcher Amihai Neiderman, the company is scrambling to patch them. But Samsung still doesn’t know many of the bugs that need to be patched. It’s also unclear when Tizen devices will get security patches,…
DetailsCanonical, the company behind the best-known Linux distribution in the world and one of the biggest players in commercial open source software, has announced several large-scale changes of direction that have created big ripples in the open source world. The biggest news is that the company will no longer focus development resources on its Unity…
DetailsTwo powerful U.S. lawmakers are pushing President Donald Trump administration’s to tell them how many of the country’s residents are under surveillance by the National Security Agency. In a letter sent Friday, Representatives Bob Goodlatte and John Conyers Jr. asked the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to provide an estimate of the number…
DetailsWhile many people who bought an original Huawei Watch are still counting the days until delivery of the Android Wear 2.0 upgrade, the long wait isn’t the only thing that’s bumming them out. One of the new OS’s best features, Android Pay, remains just out of reach since the watch doesn’t have built-in support for…
DetailsThe U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) said Friday that the H-1B cap for FY 2018 has been reached. The agency will now hold a computer-generated lottery to distribute the visas. The USCIS didn’t say how many visa petitions it received, and an agency spokeswoman said counting up the final number will take a week…
DetailsSamsung and Microsoft recently struck an unusual partnership: Buyers of new Samsung Galaxy S8 phones will soon be able to load Office and other productivity apps onto those Android 7 phones via Wi-Fi when inside Microsoft Stores. [ Related: Samsung targets the enterprise with Galaxy S8 and S8+ ] With the Windows apps on a…
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