Spying Software Found on Chinese Devices

According to Reuters, several pieces of spying software have been identified on several devices owned by Chen, including an iPhone and an iPad he had received shortly after his arrival to the US from the wife of activist Bob Fu, the man who runs the Christian group called ChinaAid. 

After fleeing to the US last year in May, Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng was given a fellowship at the New York University. Now that the period of his fellowship has come to an end, some interesting aspects of the story have come to light.
 
The presence of the spyware has been brought to light by NYU professor Jerome Cohen and another individual familiar with the incident.
While some say that the devices were plagued with spy software right from the start, others point the finger at the NYU for installing the applications.
Among the spy applications, technicians found one that secretly turned the devices into a tracking system, and a password-protected program that uploaded data to a remote server.

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Over 400 Indian Websites Defaced by Sizzling Soul and P@khTuN72

Over the weekend, a total of over 400 domains and subdomains have been defaced by a couple of hackers calling themselves Sizzling Soul and P@khTuN72. Most of the sites appear to be owned by various Indian businesses.

Since the hacktivists haven't defaced the targeted sites’ homepages, most of their owners are probably still unaware of the fact that the websites are displaying the hackers’ logo.

                                      Targeted Sites List 1

                                      Targeted Sites List 2 

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ProjectWhiteFox : Over 30 High Profile Sites Record Leaked By GhostShell Hackers

GhostShell Hackers returns with another massive data leak. On this occasion – which represents their last project for this year they’ve leaked around 1.6 million account details from fields such as banking, law, education, military, government and aerospace, as part of a new project called ProjectWhiteFox.

The data dump originates from over 30 websites. The large quantity of information appears to come from the systems of organizations such as NASA, the European Space Agency, Crestwood Technology Group, Bigelow Aerospace, the California Manufacturers & Technology Association and Aerospace Suppliers.

Archives at http://pastebin.com/agUFkEEa

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Russian Hackers Break Into Australian Medical Center Data, Demand $4,000 Ransom

Australia medical practice has been held to ransom by a group of Russian hackers. The hackers encrypted the practice’s patient database, rendering it unusable until decrypted.

Hackers are demanding a ransom of $4,000 to decrypt the sensitive information held on a server at the Miami Family Medical Centre,noting that scammers tend to go for a low-yield, high-volume approach to increase their chances of a payout.


The practice in question is Miami Family Medical Centre, whose co-owner David Wood believed that anti-virus software was enough of a protection against intrusion and other security threats.
Cases like this should serve as a wake-up call for businesses to get proper security advice from professionals — particularly those responsible for sensitive medical information. When you deal with information like this, ignorance is not an excuse.

An IT firm has been called in to try to recover the information from backups. After analyzing the encryption system, experts have concluded that – although it’s not recommended – the only solution to recover the encrypted data might be to pay the ransom.
In the meantime, the Miami Family Medical Centre continues to operate, but the task is not easy without patient records.

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