Lenovo, the largest PC manufacturer in world, has been accused of fatally compromising user security by installing an adware application on all its Windows computers as they leave the factory.

The software purports to offer users a “visual search” experience. In actual fact, it injects third-party advertisements into Google search results and websites, without asking the user. In order to place adverts on websites served to the user over an encrypted connection, as Google does by default, Lenovo owners report that Superfish software also breaks social security used by every computer to access the internet privately.

Chinese hackers attacked Forbes.com and used the site as part of an attack on the US defense and financial industry, according to cybersecurity researchers at iSIGHT Partners and Invincea.

For three days late last year, the news site's “Thought of the Day” widget, which appears when readers visit the site, was compromised — seamlessly redirecting visitors from certain organizations to another site where their computers could be infected with malware without their knowledge. Researches have linked similar malware controlled by the same server used in the Forbes attack to breaches of Web sites frequented by domestic Chinese dissident groups.

China mounted a cyberattack on users of Microsoft's Outlook email service, with the apparent goal of spying on their communications. People within China using email clients to connect to their Outlook, Hotmail or Live accounts were subjected to a "man-in-the-middle" attack in which the attacker tried to hijack what's normally a secure, encrypted connection.

The activist group believes this is the latest attempt by China to intercept and spy on communications that it can't easily monitor. Some users reported the attack when they saw error messages using email clients connecting to Outlook's servers via IMAP and SMTP, protocols used to send and receive emails.

The police department of the Chinese city of Wenzhou in southeast China has spent thousands of dollars on a software that installs Trojan horse viruses into mobile phones, allowing police officers to spy on other people's activities on their phones.

Investigative reporter first made the report when he posted on his Sina Weibo page a screenshot of a list of devices that were purchased by the Wenzhou police force and posted on the website of the Wenzhou Economic Technology Department Zone in Zheijiang province. The list includes a lot of Trojan horse viruses for mobile phones and a device that injects the virus into illegally unlocked iOS and Android phones. 

A leak of personal information from online train ticket sales during the busiest time of year has spurred public outcry over Internet vulnerability. A trove of personal data used for buying tickets on the official ticket-selling website is circulating on the Internet. The leaked information includes usernames, passwords and emails.

As China's Lunar New Year approaches, a big number of people have resorted to the internet as the fastest way to purchase tickets in the lead up to the Chunyun, the hectic travel period surrounding the Chinese New Year. The ticket rush has also led to the birth of software and web browsers that allow passengers to cut ahead of others when snapping up online tickets.

Poor treatment of workers in Chinese factories which make Apple products has been discovered by an undercover Panorama investigation. Filming on an iPhone 6 production line showed Apple's promises to protect workers were routinely broken.

It found standards on workers' hours, ID cards, dormitories, work meetings and juvenile workers were being breached at the Pegatron factories. Apple said it strongly disagreed with the programme's conclusions. Exhausted workers were filmed falling asleep on their 12-hour shifts at the Pegatron factories on the outskirts of Shanghai. One undercover reporter had to work 18 days in a row despite repeated requests for a day off. 

UK cyber security professionals have identified Russia and China as the countries that produce the most skilled hackers, according to a survey carried out by information security consultancy. A lot of people believed that the hackers with the highest skills come from Russia.

Almost a third of respondents surveyed at a recent IT conference linked the success of their overseas counterparts to a combination of more investment, better education and political motivations. Russia has long been recognised for being behind various malware strains and exploits. Recently, it was reported that Russian hackers had exploited a bug in Microsoft Windows dubbed Sandworm to perform cyber espionage on NATO.

The number of Pre-loaded mobile trojan in the wild is increasing, DeathRing is the last one discovered by the experts. It’s not first the time that Android handsets come preloaded with malware, but cyber security experts are warning of a worrying increase of the cases.

The problem is widespread in Asia and Africa, where criminals are able to compromise the supply chain. Similar cases are frequent for a cheap, low-level devices. Security researchers have detected pre-loaded instances of the DeathRing malware, unfortunately they are not currently aware of where in the supply chain the mobile trojan is installed.

Hackers from China breached the federal weather network recently, forcing cybersecurity teams to seal off data vital to disaster planning, aviation, shipping and scores of other crucial uses, officials said. NOAA did not say its systems were compromised.

Officials also said that the agency did not notify the proper authorities when it learned of the attack. NOAA officials declined to discuss the suspected source of the attack, whether it affected classified data and the delay in notification. Determining the origin of cyber­attacks is very difficult and Chinese officials have denied repeated accusations that they intrude in U.S. government computer systems for espionage or other purposes.

Distributed Denial of Service attacks against Hong Kong websites increased a whopping 111% as pro-democracy protests in the Special Administrative Region of China took hold. Data demonstrating a striking correlation between real-world and online conflict was examined.

While establishing definitive causal relationships and attribution is tricky, DDoS attacks appear to have become the “new normal” in countries experiencing political unrest. Additionally, large-scale DDoS attacks were observed targeting Hong Kong-related internet properties that coincide with reports of debilitating disruptions of online media outlets sympathetic to the protest movement.