Patrick Wardle, a cybersecurity researcher specializing in Apple products, has analyzed a new macOS ransomware named Turtle.  Wardle noted that Turtle ransomware is currently not sophisticated, but the malware's existence indicates that cybercriminals continue to show an interest in targeting macOS users.  Versions of the Turtle ransomware have also been created for Windows and Linux systems.  Wardle stated that the malware was developed in Go and, based on strings found in the binary, "Turtle" appears to be the name given by its author.

According to a team of researchers from Google DeepMind, Cornell University, and four other universities who tested ChatGPT's vulnerability to leaking data when prompted in a certain way, getting it to repeat the same word can cause it to regurgitate large amounts of its training data, including Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and other scraped data. This article continues to discuss the hacking method demonstrated to extract ChatGPT training data.

The Leica M11-P, which was announced in late October, is the world's first camera to support content credentials, an encryption technology that ensures the authenticity of photos taken by the camera. The metadata system can track a photo from when it is taken to when it is published, logging every change made along the journey. Once published, the photo can show a small interactive icon that provides information, such as the device used to take it, the programs used to edit it, and whether the image is entirely or partially Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated.

A study published in the International Journal of Business Information Systems used social network analysis to look at the most important and influential users employing Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) data encryption. The study aimed to identify areas where there could be problems that could lead to data compromise. The team behind the study pointed out that PGP is most commonly used in email protection. However, there is the issue of ensuring that the encryption keys being used have not been forged. This article continues to discuss key findings from the study.

A new report reveals that the Uzbekistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and people in South Korea are being targeted by hackers based in China using the SugarGh0st malware strain. Cisco highlighted the malware, which researchers believe is a variant of Gh0st RAT. Gh0st RAT has been used by different Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups for over a decade against diplomatic, political, economic, and military targets globally. In the latest campaign, researchers discovered four samples launched as part of the campaign, including one sent to users in the Uzbekistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to a new study from Cardiff Metropolitan University, only 5 percent of UK adults understand the significance of the padlock in the Internet browser's address bar, posing a threat to online safety. The padlock icon on a web browser indicates that the data sent between the web server and the user's computer is encrypted and cannot be read by others. Researchers got various wrong answers when they asked people what they thought it meant. This article continues to discuss findings from the study and what it means for online safety.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven social engineering attacks are reshaping the threat landscape. AI has emerged as a significant tool for manipulation, helping to stage attacks with precision and personalization far exceeding the capabilities of its human predecessors. The ability to digest and interpret large datasets and learn from them is at the heart of AI and Machine Learning (ML). Targeting and personalization at scale are some of the goals of cybercriminals.

A team of researchers from CyLab-Africa and the Upanzi Network recently collaborated with Approov, a mobile security provider, to analyze the security of popular financial services apps used across Africa. A survey of 224 popular financial apps revealed that 95 percent of these Android apps exposed secrets. These secrets could be used to reveal personal and financial information. The discovered security flaws have the potential to impact about 272 million users. This article continues to discuss the study aimed at understanding the security of mobile apps in Africa.

A Georgia Tech researcher successfully bypassed security measures on Apple's latest MacBook Pro equipped with the M3 processor chip in order to get his fictitious target's Facebook password and second-factor authentication text. Jason Kim, a Ph.D. student, demonstrated how the recently discovered iLeakage side-channel exploit remains a genuine threat to Apple devices, regardless of how updated their software is.

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​Pub Crawl summarizes, by hard problems, sets of publications that have been peer-reviewed and presented at SoS conferences or referenced in current work. The topics are chosen for their usefulness for current researchers. Select the topic name to view the corresponding list of publications. Submissions and suggestions are welcome.