After months of relative dormancy, ransomware CTB-Locker or Critroni is back and this time finding new life targeting websites. Researchers are calling this variant “CTB-Locker for Websites” because it targets websites, encrypts their content, and demands a 0.4 bitcoin ($425) ransom for access to the decryption key. In a technical breakdown of “CTB-Locker for Websites”,...

A 400 percent surge in tax-related phishing and malware incidents is making this tax season the most treacherous yet for taxpayers. According to an Internal Revenue Service bulletin, this year’s attacks include the tried-and-true email phishing, but also newer forms of attacks that include bogus text messages and attempts to trick people into handing over...

A researcher at IOActive believes the U.S. intelligence community has the capability to carry out a delicate hardware hack that could unlock the iPhone 5c at the center of the current FBiOS debate. The attack requires considerable financial resources and acumen with an intrusive attack against the device’s chip in order to extract enough data...

Exploit kits infecting thousands of WordPress websites are setting their sights on the open-source content management system Joomla in a new campaign spotted by a researcher at the SANS Institute’s Internet Storm Center. “The group behind the WordPress ‘admedia’ campaign is now apparently targeting Joomla sites,” said Brad Duncan, security researcher at Rackspace. “We are starting...

Mike Mimoso and Chris Brook discuss the week in news, including the iPhone encryption debacle, the glibc Linux vulnerability, and the latest ransomware headlines. Download: Threatpost_News_Wrap_February_19_2016.mp3 Music by Chris Gonsalves

More than a quarter million homes protected by SimpliSafe wireless security systems are vulnerable to hackers who can deactivate the alarm anytime, according to IOActive, a Seattle-based security consulting firm. IOActive published a proof of concept report on Wednesday that outlines how it disarmed SimpliSafe’s wireless home security systems. The hack, according IOActive researcher Andrew Zonenberg,...

Now that the Apple-FBI story has gone mainstream with rallies supporting CEO Tim Cook scheduled for Apple stores nationwide, presidential candidates weighing in, and a cute hashtag (#FBiOS) affixed, it appears that Apple can technically comply with the judge’s order if must. Security company Trail of Bits founder Dan Guido wrote a detailed explanation of...

Apple CEO Tim Cook late Tuesday defiantly challenged a U.S federal magistrate judge’s order that it help the FBI break into an iPhone 5c belonging to one of the shooters involved in last December’s attack in San Bernardino, Calif. Cook released a letter last night expressing his opposition to the court order and called for...

Mike Mimoso and Chris Brook discuss the news of the week, including internet-connected teddy bears, the latest on the Going Dark debate, and whether or not there’s a backdoor in Socat. They also preview next week’s Security Analyst Summit in Tenerife, Spain. Download: Threatpost_News_Wrap_February_5_2016.mp3 Music by Chris Gonsalves

Socat is the latest open source tool to come under suspicion that it is backdoored. Socat is a versatile command line utility that builds bi-directional communication streams and moves data between channels, including files, network pipes, serial connected devices, sockets or a combination of any of these. A security advisory published Monday warned that the...