The Daily Nerd (March 19th, 2014)

The Daily Nerd (March 19th, 2014) #

Operation Windigo: Linux malware campaign that infected 500,000 Computers Worldwide

In late 2013, Security Researchers identified thousands of Linux systems around the world infected with the OpenSSH backdoor trojan and credential stealer named Linux/Ebury, that allows unauthorized access of an affected computer to the remote attackers. Antivirus Firm ESET’s Reseacher team has been tracking and investigating the operation behind Linux/Ebury and today team uncovers the details of a massive, sophisticated and organized malware campaign called ‘Operation Windigo’, infected more than 500,000 computers and 25,000 dedicated servers.

Backdoor found in Samsung Galaxy Devices, allows Hackers to remotely access/modify Data

Google’s Android operating system may be open source, but the version of Android that runs on most phones, tablets, and other devices includes proprietary, closed-source components. Phone makers, including Samsung ships its Smartphones with a modified version of Android, with some pre-installed proprietary software and because of lack in independent code review of those closed-source apps, it is complex to authenticate its integrity and to identify the existence of backdoors.

Big Bang, Inflation, Gravitational Waves: What It Means

On Monday, astronomers announced a profound discovery. Etched into the most ancient radiation that pervades the entire universe and created — literally — at the dawn of time, gravitational waves have been directly observed, giving us a glimpse as to the nature of the inflationary period that is theorized to have caused the rapid growth of our universe just after the Big Bang. Finding further observational evidence for cosmic inflation should be discovery enough, but the fact that astronomers now have observational evidence for the existence of gravitational waves makes this St. Patrick’s Day a very special Red Letter Day for Cosmology.