-
Recently Browsing 0 members
No registered users viewing this page.
-
Similar Content
-
By zikalify
Try out freeCodeCamp if you want to get into programming
by Paul Hill
Whether you’ve seen some of the latest robot or AI Sci-Fi films or you’re simply thinking about a change of career and want to learn to code, freeCodeCamp is an excellent resource to begin your journey into the world of programming, it's available to everyone around the world and at no cost.
freeCodeCamp, which is a little over six years old, boasts more than 40,000 graduates who have gone on to get jobs at big tech firms including Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, and Spotify. It offers a variety of courses which you work through where you'll learn all the relevant information before completing several projects which demonstrate you’ve learned the content - upon completion of the projects, you get a certificate for the course which appears on your public profile.
This approach to teaching programming is great because you end up with five projects per course which can be shown off to prospective employers, who will most likely want to know what you’ve worked on. The courses that are available at the time of writing include:
Responsive Web Design JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures Front End Development Libraries Data Visualization APIs and Microservices Quality Assurance Scientific Computing with Python Data Analysis with Python Information Security Machine Learning with Python It’s recommended that you work through the material in order but nobody is stopping you from jumping to other sections first. In addition to the courses, there’s also a section called Coding Interview Prep which contains hundreds of coding challenges that “test your knowledge of algorithms, data structures, and mathematics” as well as additional projects which you can add to your portfolio.
To help you along your coding journey, freeCodeCamp features a very active forum where you can ask questions if you get stuck on any of the tasks or just want to ask about any coding concepts. Once you are thinking about searching for jobs that utilise your new skills, the Career Advice section of the forums can provide you with invaluable information about landing a job.
A few other niceties about the service include that content is available in English, Spanish, and Chinese, there are regular blog posts related to programming from contributors and they’ve created a radio player that loops music “designed for coding” 24/7.
To begin learning, you do not need to create an account but making one is highly recommended so that you can save your progress, earn certificates, and have a public profile page to show off. To learn more about the service, reading the FAQs section is highly recommended.
-
By Usama Jawad96
Runtime inspection of XLM macros is now available in Microsoft Excel
by Usama Jawad
Excel 4.0 (XLM) is an old macro language which Microsoft released for Excel back in 1992. Although it is a legacy language and most organizations have since migrated to Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), some continue to use XLM because of its functionalities and interoperability with the OS. Microsoft has noticed that due to its continued use, malicious actors have started to abuse XLM macros more frequently, which is why the company is now enabling runtime inspection of XLM code in Microsoft Excel.
Microsoft's Antimalware Scan Interface (AMSI) was already integrated with VBA back in 2018 and has been very successful in exposing and stopping malware attacks dependent upon the particular technology. Naturally, malicious actors have recently shifted focus to relatively less secure technologies such as XLM to call Win32 APIs and run shell commands for their activities. As such, Microsoft is now enabling runtime inspection of XLM code in Office 365 applications such as Excel.
Multiple tools and antivirus solutions can utilize AMSI to request scans of data to detect potential threats. The Redmond tech giant uses it heavily with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for threat detection in various applications such as Office VBA macros, JScript, VBScript, PowerShell, WMI, dynamically loaded .NET assemblies, and MSHTA/Jscript9.
Microsoft has noted that this new integration with XLM is essential, saying that:
Multiple malicious groups have been named which are using XLM macros as an attack surface for their activities including Trickbot, Zloader, and Ursnif.
Runtime inspection of XLM in Microsoft is now available in AMSI, which means that it can be performed by any antivirus solution that is registered as an AMSI provider for a machine. Under default configurations, files that are from trusted locations or are trusted documents will not be scanned at runtime. The same also applies for files that are opened when the security settings are configured to enable all macros. The feature is enabled by default on the February Current Channel and Monthly Enterprise Channel for Microsoft 365 subscription users.
-
By Usama Jawad96
On-premises Exchange servers are under attack from a state-sponsored group
by Usama Jawad
Microsoft has announced that on-premises Exchange servers are under attack likely from a state-sponsored group operating from China. The group is named "HAFNIUM" and is using multiple 0-day exploits to access on-premises Exchange Server instances, which essentially gives access to the email account of victims as well. The malicious actors install additional malware which acts as a backdoor for future attacks as well.
Microsoft has patched all the vulnerabilities with CVE-2021-26855, CVE-2021-26857, CVE-2021-26858, and CVE-2021-27065, and has recommended that customers update their on-premises systems on an urgent basis. It has noted that Exchange Online is not affected by these attacks.
The Redmond tech giant says that the attack methodology is extremely similar to previous attacks by the HAFNIUM group, which have usually targeted multiple government and private entities in the United States. The details of the vulnerabilities that this group exploited in its latest attack can be seen below:
Microsoft claims that after exploiting the aforementioned vulnerabilities, the malicious actors were able to install web shells on the server, which allowed them to steal data such as offline address books for Exchange which contain information about a business and its users. They also performed certain activities to allow further malicious actions in the future.
In its "Can I determine if I have been compromised by this activity?" section, Microsoft has also outlined several indicators of compromise (IOCs) available in the logs, and hashes, paths, and names of web shells used in the attack. For remediation, it has recommended the use of Azure Sentinel and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to detect malicious activities. All on-premises Exchange Server instances and systems need to be updated with the latest patches immediately, as per Microsoft.
-
By News Staff
Mobile Security: How to Secure, Privatize, and Recover Your Devices - free excerpt
by Steven Parker
Claim your complimentary eBook excerpt for free, before the offer expires. Chapter 3 - Privacy - Small Word, Big Consequences.
Learn how to keep yourself safe online with easy- to- follow examples and real- life scenarios. Written by developers at IBM, this guide is the only resource you need to keep your info private.
In this guide you will discover just how vulnerable unsecured devices can be, and explore effective methods of mobile device management and identity protection to ensure your data's security. There will be special sections detailing extra precautions to ensure the safety of family members and how to secure your device for use at work.
What you will learn from this book:
Learn how mobile devices are monitored and the impact of cloud computing Understand the attacks hackers use and how to prevent them Keep yourself and your loved ones safe online How to get it
Please ensure you read the terms and conditions to claim this offer. Complete and verifiable information is required in order to receive this free offer. If you have previously made use of these free offers, you will not need to re-register. While supplies last!
Mobile Security: How to Secure, Privatize, and Recover Your Devices - free guide
Offered by Packt Enterprises, view their other free resources.
Not for you?
That's OK, there are other deals on offer you can check out here.
Home Gym Giveaway | Bitcoin (BTC) Investment Giveaway Ivacy VPN - 5 year subscription for just $1 per month NordVPN - 2 year subscription at up to 68% off Private Internet Access VPN - subscriptions at up to 71% off Unlocator VPN or SmartDNS - unblock Geoblock with 7-day free trial Neowin Store for our preferred partners. Subscribe to Neowin - for $14 a year, or $28 a year for Ad-Free experience Disable Sponsored posts · Neowin Deals · Free eBooks · Neowin Store
Disclosure: This is a StackCommerce deal or giveaway in partnership with Neowin; an account at StackCommerce is required to participate in any deals or giveaways. For a full description of StackCommerce's privacy guidelines, go here. Neowin benefits from shared revenue of each sale made through our branded deals site, and it all goes toward the running costs.
-
By Usama Jawad96
Microsoft open sources CodeQL queries used in Solorigate investigation
by Usama Jawad
Last week, Microsoft finally completed its Solorigate investigation, concluding that while some code files for Azure, Intune, and Exchange were accessed, no customer data was compromised. The cyberattack had caused major concern around the globe because it targeted the United States' federal departments, the UK, the European Parliament, and thousands of other organizations. Supply chain attacks were executed on SolarWinds, Microsoft, and VMware, with Microsoft President Brad Smith calling it "a moment of reckoning".
Now, Microsoft has open sourced the CodeQL queries that it utilized in the Solorigate investigation.
Image via Kevin Ku from Pexels For those unaware, CodeQL is code analysis engine which depends upon code semantics and syntax. It develops a database built around the model of the compiling code, which can then be queried just like a regular database. It can be used both for static analysis and retroactive inspection of code.
CodeQL queries were used by Microsoft in its Solorigate investigation in order to analyze its code in a scalable manner and pinpoint indicators of compromise (IoCs) and other coding patterns used by Solorigate attackers directly on a code-level.
Microsoft essentially built multiple CodeQL databases from various build pipelines, and then aggregated them in a single infrastructure to enable system-wide querying capabilities. This enabled the firm to detect malicious activity in code within hours of a coding pattern being described.
Given that this is more of a syntactic and semantic technique that depends upon identifying similarities in coding patterns such as the variable names used, Microsoft has emphasized that if you find the same patterns in your own code base, that does not necessarily mean that it's compromised. Multiple programmers can of course have the same coding style.
At the same time, it is also important to remember that a malicious actor is not constrained to a single coding style. Essentially, if the attacker deviates significantly from their usual implant pattern, they would be able to circumvent Microsoft's CodeQL queries. Regarding the syntactic and semantic code pattern identification capabilities of the CodeQL engine, the Redmond tech giant notes that:
More information about using Microsoft's CodeQL queries is available here. You can find out more about how to deploy queries here.
-
Recommended Posts