Serious Javascript flaw in Mailbox iPhone app

Italian Researcher Michele Spagnuolo recently revealed a serious vulnerability in the popular Mailbox iPhone app. Mailbox is a tidy iOS the email app recently purchased by Dropbox, has a pretty wide-open hole that could allow bad actors to hijack your device. The flaw occurs in the latest version of Mailbox (1.6.2) currently available from the App Store, that executes any Javascript which is present in the body of HTML emails. With exploitation of this vulnerability, users could be subject to account hijacking, spam and phishing attacks by simply opening an HTML email containing embedded javascript. <more>

Microsoft releases fix for 0-day IE browser bug

A vulnerability in Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) browser is leaving thousands of businesses open to targeted attacks. Microsoft group manager of response communications Dustin Childs revealed the threat in a security advisory, confirming that hackers are actively exploiting a weakness in the browser. "Today we released Security Advisory 2887505 regarding an issue that affects IE. There are only reports of a limited number of targeted attacks specifically directed at IE8 and 9, although the issue could potentially affect all supported versions," Childs said. "This issue could allow remote code execution if an affected system browses to a website containing malicious content directed towards the specific browser type. This would typically occur when an attacker compromises the security of trusted websites regularly frequented, or convinces someone to click on a link in an email or instant message." Since being revealed numerous security vendors have released their own advisories warning of the potential damage an attack targeting the vulnerability could do. noted the vulnerability could be used for a variety of purposes by hackers. <more>

Self-healing BIOS for HP Systems

HP has released a self-healing computing startup software that can repair a PC from a malware attack. HP BIOSphere with SureStart technology is a new kind of startup software that runs when a PC is turned on. The BIOS, basic input output software, runs on every PC and loads before even the operating system. HP has created its own BIOS software because hackers have been able to get around other BIOS software underneath the OS or gain root access to compromise OS security protections. The new HP BIOS makes it so the PC can heal itself by comparing the BIOS attempting to load against an image of the BIOS that is supposed to run on the PC. <more>