Tag Archives: passwords

Vulnerability in Cisco Smart Software Manager lets attackers change any user password

reader comments 26 Cisco on Wednesday disclosed a maximum-security vulnerability that allows remote threat actors with no authentication to change the password of any user, including those of administrators with accounts, on Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem devices. The Cisco Smart Software Manager On-Prem resides inside the customer premises and provides a dashboard for managing… Read More »

Google makes it easier for users to switch on advanced account protection

Getty Images reader comments 17 Google is making it easier for people to lock down their accounts with strong multifactor authentication by adding the option to store secure cryptographic keys in the form of passkeys rather than on physical token devices. Google’s Advanced Protection Program, introduced in 2017, requires the strongest form of multifactor authentication… Read More »

Researchers crack 11-year-old password, recover $3 million in bitcoin

Flavio Coelho/Getty Images reader comments 52 Two years ago when “Michael,” an owner of cryptocurrency, contacted Joe Grand to help recover access to about $2 million worth of bitcoin he stored in encrypted format on his computer, Grand turned him down. Michael, who is based in Europe and asked to remain anonymous, stored the cryptocurrency… Read More »

UK outlaws awful default passwords on connected devices

Getty Images reader comments 29 If you build a gadget that connects to the Internet and sell it in the United Kingdom, you can no longer make the default password “password.” In fact, you’re not supposed to have default passwords at all. A new version of the 2022 Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act (PTSI)… Read More »

Attack wrangles thousands of web users into a password-cracking botnet

Getty Images reader comments 23 Attackers have transformed hundreds of hacked sites running WordPress software into command-and-control servers that force visitors’ browsers to perform password-cracking attacks. A web search for the JavaScript that performs the attack showed it was hosted on 708 sites at the time this post went live on Ars, up from 500… Read More »

Researcher uncovers one of the biggest password breaches in recent history

Getty Images reader comments 42 Nearly 71 million unique credentials stolen for logging into websites such as Facebook, Roblox, eBay, and Yahoo have been circulating on the Internet for at least four months, a researcher said Wednesday. Troy Hunt, operator of the Have I Been Pwned? breach notification service, said the massive amount of data… Read More »

How worried should we be about the “AutoSpill” credential leak in Android password managers?

Enlarge / Close up of hand holding smartphone and screen applications with unlocking mobile phones. Concept of technological safety. Getty Images reader comments 42 By now, you’ve probably heard about a vulnerability named AutoSpill, which can leak credentials from any of the seven leading password managers for Android. The threat it poses is real, but… Read More »

Developers can’t seem to stop exposing credentials in publicly accessible code

Victor De Schwanberg/Science Photo Library via Getty Images reader comments 43 with Despite more than a decade of reminding, prodding, and downright nagging, a surprising number of developers still can’t bring themselves to keep their code free of credentials that provide the keys to their kingdoms to anyone who takes the time to look for… Read More »

WordPress plugin installed on 1 million+ sites logged plaintext passwords

Getty Images reader comments 19 with All-In-One Security, a WordPress security plugin installed on more than 1 million websites, has issued a security update after being caught three weeks ago logging plaintext passwords and storing them in a database accessible to website admins. The passwords were logged when users of a site using the plugin,… Read More »

Microsoft is scanning the inside of password-protected zip files for malware

reader comments 67 with Microsoft cloud services are scanning for malware by peeking inside users’ zip files, even when they’re protected by a password, several users reported on Mastodon on Monday. Compressing file contents into archived zip files has long been a tactic threat actors use to conceal malware spreading through email or downloads. Eventually,… Read More »