Communications of the ACM
An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
From ACM TechNews
Crypto-Mining Botnet Has Been Hijacking MSSQL Servers for Almost Two Years
A malware botnet has been launching brute-force attacks against Microsoft SQL databases for nearly two years.
From ACM TechNews
COVID-19 Malware Will Wipe Your PC, Rewrite MBR
ZDNet has identified five COVID-19-themed malware strains that can wipe an infected PC's files or rewrite its master boot record (MBR).
From ACM TechNews
Bugs in Open Source Software Hit a Record High
The number of open source software vulnerabilities identified rose from 4,100 last year to 6,100 this year, according to security firm WhiteSource.
From ACM TechNews
Modern RAM Still Vulnerable to Rowhammer Attacks
Extensive mitigations deployed during the last six years have failed to eliminate modern random-access memory (RAM) cards' vulnerability to Rowhammer exploits. ...
From ACM TechNews
Hacking Victims Are Uncovering Cyberattacks Faster; GDPR Is the Reason Why
GDPR has been linked to quicker cyberattack discovery times in the European Union.
From ACM TechNews
The Top 10 Software Flaws Used by Crooks
Researchers at cybersecurity firm Recorded Future report that eight of the top 10 software flaws most commonly exploited last year were associated with Microsoft...
From ACM News
Microsoft Discloses Security Breach of Customer Support Database
Five servers storing customer support analytics were accidentally exposed online in December 2019.
From ACM TechNews
Chinese Hacker Group Caught Bypassing 2FA
Dutch cybersecurity firm Fox-IT said in a report that a hacker group associated with the Chinese government has been bypassing two-factor authentication (2FA) in...
From ACM TechNews
Most Brazilians Believe Companies Don't Protect Their Personal Data
Among the findings of a Harris Poll survey of 11,000 consumers in 11 countries was that nearly all Brazilians feel companies are not adequately protecting their...
From ACM TechNews
Mozilla Doubles Payouts as It Tries to Attract Software Vulnerability Hunters
Mozilla has increased payouts for its bug bounty program while adding new websites and services to the list in order to draw more interest from bug hunters.
From ACM TechNews
Australia Releases Draft IoT Cybersecurity Code of Practice
The Australian government has issued a draft code of practice for Internet of Things cybersecurity, with a public consultation to run until March 1, 2020.
From ACM TechNews
CPDoS Attack Can Poison CDNs to Deliver Error Pages Instead of Legitimate Sites
Researchers in Germany discovered a new type of Web attack that can compromise content delivery networks into caching and then serving error pages instead of legitimate...
From ACM TechNews
Cybersecurity Giants to Combat Cyberthreats Under OASIS Umbrella
IBM, McAfee, and 16 more firms have launched an effort to address fragmentation and interoperability problems in cybersecurity.
From ACM TechNews
Academics Find Vulnerabilities in Android's VoIP Components
Scientists at China's OPPO ZIWU Cyber Security Lab, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Singapore Management University identified eight flaws in Android's...
From ACM TechNews
PDFex Attack Can Exfiltrate Data from Encrypted PDF Files
Researchers in Germany have developed a new attack that can extract and steal data from encrypted Portable Document Format (PDF) files, sometimes without user...
From ACM TechNews
Intel Server-Grade CPUs Impacted by New NetCAT Attack
Researchers have described a new exploit targeting Intel central processing units that support Data-Direct I/O Technology and Remote Direct Memory Access features...
From ACM TechNews
Avast, French Police Take Over Malware Botnet, Disinfect 850,000 Computers
Antivirus maker Avast and the French National Police neutralized the back-end infrastructure of a malware botnet.
From ACM TechNews
One in Five U.K. Schools Says Students Have Broken Into Computer Systems
A cybersecurity audit found 21% of 430 U.K. schools had their computers, networks, or servers hacked by students.
From ACM TechNews
Mobile Malware Attacks are Booming in 2019: These are the Most Common Threats
Malware attacks against mobile devices, especially Android handsets, have ballooned this year.
From ACM TechNews