ICANN Website Reset Passwords After Data Theft

ICANN, the organization that is responsible among other things for the distribution of IP numbers and domains, the passwords of users of ICANN.org reset after an attacker managed to break in and loot made ​​the users' data. It would be email addresses / usernames and "encrypted passwords," said the organization.

To our knowledge there is no evidence that there is on the accounts of users logged in or that other ICANN systems without permission are approached. Although research is ongoing, the organization states that it appears that access to the encrypted passwords using an external service are captured. According to ICANN, the password hashes that steal the attacker could not simply be reduced to a password, but as a precaution was decided that all users must enter a new password. In addition, users are advised to enter the password if they also use it for other websites, also to change it.

14,000 US Patients Data Stolen By Email Hacking

An American healthcare has warned 14,000 patients that their data is stolen after a third party that handles billing with was to create an e-mail hack. One of the employees of this company was last year, according to the carer the victim of an " email hacking attack , "where username and passwords were compromised.

The incident was on December 3 last year discovered by the billing company, while the caregiver was told that on February 2 this year. Then there was established a research which showed that in the e-mail account of the attacked employee was the personal information of 14,000 patients, including names, date of birth, diagnosis, procedure, treatment dates, account numbers, costs and names of doctors.

In the case of 40 patients it was also to social security numbers. The healthcare provider will notify all affected patients by mail. In addition, there will be the email provider to see whether the already "robust security" can be tightened and staff will "email hacking attacks" are informed.

ISC: Another Port For SSH Is Not Meaningless

Who SSH (Secure Shell) to log on to remote computers and servers will benefit from it to change the default port 22, as late as a handler of the Internet Storm Center (ISC) know. SSH is a popular protocol for managing computers. Standard protocol listens on port 22.

This will also be a lot of scans and attacks on this port. At present, there Reddit , in response to this article , a discussion or change the default port is wise. One of the criticisms is that " security through obscurity "is not a security measure, but only one way to slow an attacker and therefore offers little value. "While it is true that it is difficult to stop a determined attacker to cause you provide, any measure that prevents arbitrary script kiddies and scanners to your SSH look not entirely meaningless," says ISC handler Rick Wanner.

Wanner says more than 15 years SSH on a non-standard port to run, such as port 52222. "Of course this is not the only security measure that I use. I patch daily use hosts.allow where possible, keys and passphrases instead passwords and use Deny Hosts ", he tells. ISC handler notes that he does not use port 22 because of "security through obscurity" benefits, but because it eliminates all noise on port 22.

Port 22 is a favorite target of brute force attacks and port scans rising every year. These activities cause Wanner as much noise in the logs. "Why would you tolerate it if it is not needed?", He notes. The default port change he would attack traffic are much diminished that he occasionally his defense test to see if it still works.

SONY - Malware Analysis

The malware was used recently against Sony is the same " destructive "malware that the FBI this week warned. Reported that the Japanese anti-virus company Trend Micro that a copy of the malware got hold. The main part of the malware is a collection of user names and passwords to be logged on shared network drives.

Once active users remove the malware files and files connected network drives and stops the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service. Then the malware two hour idle and then restart the system. Another part of the malware puts a .bmp file on the computer that contains the message "Hacked by #GOP". This is the same image that would have appeared on the computers from Sony. Trend Micro therefore proposes that the malware that was used against Sony.

Here is Deep Analysis of Destructive Malware By Some Security Research Companies:

Trend Mirco
Kaspersky
Symantec
BlueCoat

VirusTotal Link:
https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/4d4b17ddbcf4ce397f76cf0a2e230c9d513b23065f746a5ee2de74f447be39b9/analysis/1417763962/

University advises password more than 20 characters

The Stanford University has implemented new password policy, which the students and employees advise to choose a password. Minimum of 20 characters Long passwords are safer because, according to the university to guess or crack them attackers need more time.

Easily guessed passwords would still be a problem for the university. While Stanford still accepts passwords of eight characters, users need this to various requirements, such as a combination of lowercase, uppercase, numbers and symbols.Passwords from 12 to 16 characters lowercase, uppercase and numbers are mandatory.

From 16 to 20 uppercase and lowercase characters are sufficient. As of 20 characters, there are no restrictions. Passwords longer than 20 characters describes the university in an infographic as the "gold standard" and would offer the most protection. To remember a password of 20 characters, the concept of passphrases advised, where users leave the password of several words exist.

"It is always wise to disguise by some strange, nonsensical or random elements to add simplicity," it says in the password policy explained. "Pizza with crispy Spaniels!" and "mangled Persimmon Therapy?" are two examples of passphrases that the university gives and consisting of more than 20 characters.