Weekly Axis Of Easy #14
In this issue:
- RIP Flash. Adobe to kill prolific security nightmare.
- Domain hijack attempted…at gunpoint.
- Swedish government leaks personal data of entire citizenry.
- Bitcoin forks tomorrow (Aug 1st)… or not.
RIP Flash. Adobe to kill prolific security nightmare.
The cyber-crime underworld is scrambling for a new source of 0-day attacks as fertile as Adobe’s Flash player after the company announced it would cease providing updates and distributing Flash at the end of 2020.
Domain hijack attempted…at gunpoint.
One for the books: domain name hijacks occur all the time, usually via spearphishing attacks or some other form of online compromise. Meanwhile, in Iowa, a home invasion by an armed assailant occurred wherein the objective was to specifically bring about a domain name transfer from the home’s occupant to an unnamed third-party. Two people were shot and the burglar has been charged with robbery and kidnapping.
Swedish government leaks personal data of entire citizenry.
A massive data breach within Sweden’s transport ministry has apparently leaked names, photos and home addresses of nearly all Swedish citizens. The leak occurred as the result of a botched data transfer in an outsourcing job with IBM.
Bitcoin forks tomorrow (Aug 1st)… or not.
On August 1st, Bitcoin will probably do some kind of fork, although it’s not entirely clear which, among 3 or 4 possible scenarios will play out. The general upshot is that bitcoin will most likely not commit utter suicide and entirely possibly that everybody holding bitcoin will soon have a duplicate number of “bitcoin cash” coins, which have already been trading in some futures markets at roughly $400 – $500 USD per.
Previously on #AxisOfEasy
If you missed the previous issues, they can be read online here:
- July 24, 2017: Cops: “You Cannot Hide On The Dark Web”
- July 17, 2017: New Ransomewanre Will Share Your Browser History
- July 10, 2017: China Shuts Down Access To Popular VPN Services
- July 4, 2017: Freedom Of Speech Ends Where Criminal Law Begins
- June 26, 2017: Hackers Target Email Accounts Of UK Parliament
A number of sites that I visit (including a bank) ask fo permission to use Flash. I deny these requests without impairing any legitimate functionality. I take it they really want to use Flash Cookies for tracking purposes since these fall outside the html cookie controls. Am I right?