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November 6, 2015

7 major cyber security attacks and vulnerabilities exposed in the last 7 days

Lists: DDoS attacks, ransomware and data leaking apps.

By Charlotte Henry

Recent days have seen a number of successful cyber attacks on high profile targets, and research revealing vulnerabilities in highly popular devices and applications.

Here’s everything you need to know.

1. TalkTalk website attack

The fallout from the high profile breach of the telecoms provider continues. Just this week, another 16 year old was arrested, and the firm announced that 4% of its customers’ data had been stolen in the attack on its website.

2. Security flaws found on Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Edge, says Google

Researchers at Google’s Zero Day Project released details of 11 vulnerabilities on the popular Galaxy S6 Edge phone, which could give attackers high levels of access to the device and are "trivially exploitable."

3. 3000 Apple App Store Apps vulnerable to hackers

Thousands of iOS apps from the Apple App Store have a potentially "backdoored" version of an ad library that could allow hackers access to sensitive data and functions on a device, cyber security firm FireEye revealed.

4. New ransomware threat keeps decrypt key remote from infected hardware

In a frightening new development, ransomware has been discovered by cyber security firm CheckPoint that does not require an internet connection or a locally stored decrypt key. This means "paying the ransom to get the decryption application and the decryption keys from the attacker seems to be the only way to recover the encrypted files."

5. Android and Apple iOS apps leaking end-user private data

Popular apps on both the Android and iOS mobile operating systems have been found to be leaking data, including names and email addresses, to at least two third parties, researchers at MIT have discovered.

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6. ProtonMail pays cyber security ransom to get back online

The Geneva based secure email provider "grudgingly" handed over a ransom in bitcoin, to the value of $6000, after a high level DDoS on it and its providers, which had consequences for 100 companies. Not everyone was pleased the firm paid up though.

7. Swedbank hit by second hack attack

The Swedish bank’s website was knocked offline, after it was the subject of a DDoS attack for the second time in a matter of weeks. Mobile services were not taken out though, and the firm believes it knows who the perpatrators are.

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