an email claiming to beAttack.Phishingfrom HMRC that claims that the agency has recalculated their last fiscal activity and determined that they are eligible to receive a tax refund of £684.97 . Similar to the above warning , the fake HMRC email advisesAttack.Phishingthat you have to click on a link to complete and submit the refund form . This will take you to a fraudulent website that asks you to supply your name , address , and contact details along with other identifying information . The fake HMRC site also asks you to supply your credit card numbers . Supposedly , all of this information is required to allow the processing of your refund claim . In reality , the information you supply will be collectedAttack.Databreachby scammers and used to commit fraud and steal your identity . If you have receivedAttack.Phishingan HMRC related phishing/bogus email , please forward it to : phishing @ hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and then delete it . Do not visit the website contained within the email or disclose any personal or payment information . Our advice is to delete this or any other similar messages .
Adobe has posted an update to addressVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability85 CVE-listed security vulnerabilities in Acrobat and Reader for both Windows and macOS . The PDF apps have receivedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitya major update that includes dozens of fixes for flaws that would allow for remote code execution attacks if exploitedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability. Other possible attacks include elevation of privilege flaws and information disclosure vulnerabilities . Fortunately , Adobe said that none of the bugs was currently being targeted in the wild - yet . For Mac and Windows Acrobat/Reader DC users , the fixes will be presentVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityin versions 2019.008.20071 . For those using the older Acrobat and Reader 2017 versions , the fix will be labeledVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability2017.011.30105 . Because PDF readers have become such a popular target for email and web-based malware attacks , users and admins alike would do well to test and install the updates as soon as possible . Exploit-laden PDFs have for more than a decade proven to be one of the most reliable ways to put malware on someone 's machine . In total , Adobe credited 19 different researchers with discoveringVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityand reportingVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitythe vulnerabilities . Among the more prolific bug hunters were Omri Herscovici of CheckPoint Software , who was credited for findingVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityand reportingVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability35 CVE-listed bugs , and Ke Liu and Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab , who was credited with findingVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability11 of the patched Adobe vulnerabilities . Beihang University 's Lin Wang was given credit for nine vulnerabilities . While we 're on the subject of massive security updates , both users and admins will want to mark their calendars for a week from Tuesday . October 9 is slated to be this month 's edition of the scheduled 'Patch Tuesday ' monthly security update .
There ’ s a new scam on the block and over 200 people have already been hit . Here ’ s what you need to know about the TV Licence con . Action Fraud is warning that criminals are sending outAttack.Phishingemails pretending to beAttack.Phishingfrom TV Licensing . The watchdog says it has already received over 200 reports about the phishing scamAttack.Phishing. The email luresAttack.Phishingyou in by saying you are owed a refund on your TV Licence payments . But , it ’ s a con and all the senders are really after is your bank details . What does the email say ? So far all the emails have been the same . They say : “ This is an official notification from TV Licensing ! “ We would like to notify you that , after the last annual calculation we have determined that you are eligible to receive a TV Licensing refund of 85.07 GBP . “ Due to invalid account details records , we were unable to credit your account . Please fill in the TV Licensing refund request and allow us 5-6 working days to the amount to be credited to your account. ” All this is untrue . If you receive this email the best thing to do is report it to Action Fraud and then delete it . Do not click on any links within the email . “ A small number of our customers have receivedAttack.Phishingscam email messages saying they are due a refund , ” a spokesperson for TV Licensing has said . “ A link directsAttack.Phishingcustomers to a fake version of the official TV Licensing website which asks them to enter personal information and bank details . “ If you receive a similar email message please delete it . If you have already clicked the link , do not enter or submit any information . TV Licensing never sends refund information by email and is investigating the source of the fraud. ” While these emails are a scam they carry an element of truth – you might be due a refund from TV Licensing . There are a number of ways you can avoid paying the full licence fee . If you are a student you are entitled to a £37 discount on the £147.50 colour TV licence . You can also apply for a refund if you ’ ve paid for a TV Licence beyond your 75th birthday . Anyone over the age of 75 is entitled to watch TV for free . TV Licences apply to households not individuals so if anyone if your household is a student , or over 75 then you all get the benefit of their discount . Similarly , if someone in your house is severely visually impaired they are entitled to a half-price TV licence . You can apply for a refund via the official TV Licensing Website .
A single SMS can force Samsung Galaxy devices into a crash and reboot loop , and leave the owner with no other option than to reset it to factory settings and lose all data stored on it . This is because there are certain bugs in older Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets that can be triggered via SMS , and used by attackers to force maliciously crafted configuration messages onto the users ’ device . The bugs allow these types of messages to be executed without user interaction . As the ContextIS researchers who discoveredVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitythe vulnerabilities explained , this avenue of attack can be abused by crooks to hold users ’ devices for ransom . “ First a ransom note is sent , if ignored then the malicious configuration message can be sent , ” they noted . If the victim pays upAttack.Ransom, a configuration message can later be sent to stop the rebooting . The vulnerabilities in questionVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability, CVE-2016-7988 and CVE-2016-7989 , can be triggered through SMS on the S4 , S4 Mini , S5 and Note 4 , but not on newer Samsung devices . “ It ’ s worth noting that although newer phones such as the S6 and S7 aren ’ t affected over the air , [ a similar result ] could be accomplished by a malicious app abusing CVE-2016-7988 , ” they addedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability. These specific issues are related to modifications Samsung made to to the Android telephony framework and are found in a Samsung-specific application for handling carrier messages . “ We responsibly disclosedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitythis to Samsung who handle the patching processVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitywith carriers . We extended our standard 90 day disclosure policy to allow Samsung time to arrangeVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityfor the patches to be made available , ” the researchers told Help Net Security . Whether all users of vulnerable devices have receivedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitythe patches is difficult to tell . “ The Android update process is a bit of a minefield and is well illustrated in this HTC diagram , ” they commented . They also noted that it ’ s possible that the same avenue of attack could be abused to target other devices – it all depends on how this same technology is handled by other vendors