Supreme Court takes up Apple v. Samsung, first design patent case in a century

If Apple was finally feeling like it had a solid win after getting paid $548 million in patent damages by Samsung—well, now it shouldn’t be so sure.The Supreme Court said today that it will consider what kind of damages should be warranted when a design patent is found to be infringed as the court takes up the blockbuster Apple v. Samsung case.After a 13-day trial in 2012, a jury held that Samsung’s phones infringed Apple utility and design patents. Apple was originally granted $1.05 billion, but that number was slashed down on appeal. Samsung paid $548 million late last year, but the company didn’t give up its right to one last appeal. A Supreme Court win could result in Samsung getting much of that money back.

Read on, source: Supreme Court takes up Apple v. Samsung, first design patent case in a century | Ars Technica

FBI backs down against Apple: Feds may be able to crack killer’s iPhone without iGiant’s help

The FBI has come to a sudden and surprising all-stop in its legal war with Apple.Rather than compel the Cupertino giant to help it unlock an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino killers, the Feds say they may be able to break into the handset without the company’s assistance after all.In a filing [PDF] submitted late Monday in a central California federal court, the Feds asked for a crunch hearing due to take place on Tuesday be vacated and proceedings be suspended at least until next month. The court has granted the request.The FBI will use that time to test an alternate method for unlocking the iPhone that will not involve, as it had originally sought, Apple building a specially crafted version of the iOS firmware.

Read on, source: FBI backs down against Apple: Feds may be able to crack killer’s iPhone without iGiant’s help • The Register

0-day attack on Firefox users stole password and key data: Patch now!

A website in Russia has been caught exploiting a serious zero-day vulnerability in Mozilla’s Firefox browser, prompting the open-source developer to deliver an emergency update that fixes the flaw.The bug in a built-in PDF reader allowed attackers to steal sensitive files stored on the hard drives of computers that used the vulnerable Firefox version. The attack was used against both Windows and Linux users, Mozilla researcher Daniel Veditz wrote in a blog post published Thursday. The exploit code targeting Linux users uploaded cryptographically protected system passwords, bash command histories, secure shell (SSH) configurations and keys. The attacker downloaded several other files, including histories for MySQL and PgSQL and configurations for remina, Filezilla, and Psi+, text files that contained the strings “pass” and “access” in the names. Any shell scripts were also grabbed.

Read on, source: 0-day attack on Firefox users stole password and key data: Patch now! | Ars Technica

OpenSesame: Hacked kids’ toy could open garage doors

Garage doors may be vulnerable to being opened remotely by hackers using little more than a childrens’ toy, a security researcher has proven this week.The repurposed tool has been branded OpenSesame by its creator Samy Kamkar, who built it out of a discontinued Mattel toy called IN-ME, adding an antennae and an open-source hardware add-on. Although no longer available, Softpedia notes that the toy is a pocket computer that allows kids to chat to eachother, and can still be found on eBay for as little as $12.The proof-of-concept attack affects basic, fixed code garage door security, for which the most advanced would leave 4,096 possible combinations. Kamkar claims that it would take around 29 minutes to breach the lock by brute-force if the details of the system were known to the hacker.

Read on, source: OpenSesame: Hacked kids’ toy could open garage doors