Hacker Demonstrates How Easy In-flight Entertainment System Can Be Hacked

Next time when you hear an announcement in the flight, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking…," the chances are that the announcement is coming from a hacker controlling your flight.
Dangerous vulnerabilities in an in-flight entertainment system used by the leading airlines, including Emirates, United, American Airlines, Virgin, and Qatar, could let hackers hijack several flight systems and even take control of the plane.
According to security researchers from IOActive, the security vulnerabilities resides in the Panasonic Avionics In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) system used in planes run by 13 major airlines, providing a gateway for hackers which is absolutely terrifying.

The security holes could be exploited by hackers that could allow them to spoof flight information like map routes, speed statistics, and altitude values, and steal credit card information.
IOActive's Ruben Santamarta managed to "hijack" in-flight displays to change information like altitude and location, control the cabin lighting, as well as hack into the announcements system.
"Chained together this could be an unsettling experience for passengers," said Santamarta. "I don't believe these systems can resist solid attacks from skilled malicious actors. This only depends on the attacker's determination and intentions, from a technical perspective it's totally feasible."
Besides these critical issues, the researcher said in some instances; hackers could access credit card details of passengers stored in the automatic payment system and use their frequent flyer membership details to capture personal data.

The vulnerabilities affect 13 different airlines that use Panasonic Avionics system, which include American Airlines, United, Virgin, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, FinnAir, KLM, Iberia, Scandinavian, Air France, Singapore, and Aerolineas Argentinas.
The vulnerabilities were reported to Panasonic in March last year, and the researcher waited more than a year and a half to go public, so the company had "enough time to produce and deploy patches, at least for the most prominent vulnerabilities."
Emirates is working with Panasonic to resolve these issues and regularly update its systems. "The safety of our passengers and crew on board is a priority and will not be compromised," Emirates said, reported the Telegraph.
Santamarta is the same researcher who warned of security issues in systems used by different aircraft in the past.
Back in 2014, he discovered that it was possible to reverse engineer a bug, which let him connect to the Wi-Fi signal or the in-flight entertainment system to connect to airplanes’ equipment, including the navigation system.
For in-depth technical details about the new vulnerabilities discovered by Santamarta, you can head on to IOActive's official blog post published today.

Russia Wants Apple to Unlock iPhone belonging to Killer of Russian Ambassador

You might have also seen a viral video of the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey that quickly spread through the Internet worldwide.
Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov was shot dead by an off-duty police officer in Ankara on December 19 when the ambassador was giving a speech at an art gallery. The shooter managed to pretend himself as his official bodyguard and later shot to death by Turkish special forces.
After this shocking incident, Apple has been asked to help unlock an iPhone 4S recovered from the shooter, which could again spark up battle similar to the one between Apple and the FBI earlier this year.
Turkish and Russian authorities have asked Apple to help them bypass the PIN code on an iPhone 4S, which, the authorities believe, could assist them to investigate killer's links to various terrorist organizations.
Apple is expected to refuse the request, but according to MacReports and other local media, the Russian government is reportedly sending a team of experts to Turkey to help authorities unlock the iPhone.
In Apple vs. FBI case, Apple declined to help the FBI unlock an iPhone belonging to the San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook, saying that any backdoor it developed would eventually end up falling into the wrong hands.
The FBI reportedly got outside help to unlock the iPhone, for which the agency paid almost $1.3 Million to a group of hackers to unlock that device but found nothing that could help them in the investigation.
The man who killed the Russian ambassador on Monday was later identified as 22-year-old Mevlut Mert Altıntas, an off-duty police officer who used his police ID to gain access to the Ankara art gallery where Karlov was giving a speech.
During the assassination, the shooter shouted "Don't forget Aleppo," and according to both Russian and Turkish authorities, the assassination was designed to destabilize the relationship between the two countries.

Hackers threaten to take down Xbox Live and PSN on Christmas Day

Bad news for gamers!
It's once again the time when most of you will get new PlayStations and XBoxes that continue to be among the most popular gifts for Christmas, but possibilities are you'll not be able to log into the online gaming console, just like what happens on every Christmas holidays.
On 2014 Christmas holidays, the notorious hacker group Lizard Squad knocked the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live offline for many gamers by launching massive DDoS attacks against the gaming networks.
This time a new hacking group, who managed to take down Tumblr this week for almost two hours, has warned gamers of launching another large-scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against XBox Live and PlayStation networks.
Calling itself R.I.U. Star Patrol, the hacking group, posted a video on YouTube, announcing that they’re planning to take down Sony’s PSN and Microsoft’s Xbox Live on Christmas Day by launching coordinated DDoS attacks.
"We do it because we can," the group said. "We have not been paid a single dollar for what we do."
On Wednesday, when R.I.U. Star Patrol took down Tumblr, the group contacted Mashable and explained its reason for attacking: "There is no sinister motive. It’s all for light hearted fun."
Neither Sony nor Microsoft has yet responded to the hackers' warning.
However, both Sony and Microsoft previously promised to enhance the protection of their systems to block any attack disrupting their networks, but downtime and short outages happened almost every Christmas time.
Knowing the current abilities of hackers to launch DDoS attack that can reach 1 Tbps, it goes without saying that both the companies should be prepared to see DDoS attacks targeting its servers on this Christmas that can go beyond their expectations.
We saw coordinated DDoS attacks against DNS hosting provider Dyn last fall that broke large portions of the Internet, causing a significant outage to a ton of websites and services, including Twitter, GitHub, PayPal, Amazon, Reddit, Netflix, and Spotify.
The massive DDoS attack was launched just by a botnet of an estimated 100,000 so-called Internet of Things (IoT) – everyday devices and appliances that are connected to the web – that closed down the Internet for millions of users.
So, it remains to be seen if gamers would be able to enjoy this Christmas or not.

Hacker Demonstrates How Easy In-flight Entertainment System Can Be Hacked

Next time when you hear an announcement in the flight, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking…," the chances are that the announcement is coming from a hacker controlling your flight.
Dangerous vulnerabilities in an in-flight entertainment system used by the leading airlines, including Emirates, United, American Airlines, Virgin, and Qatar, could let hackers hijack several flight systems and even take control of the plane.
According to security researchers from IOActive, the security vulnerabilities resides in the Panasonic Avionics In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) system used in planes run by 13 major airlines, providing a gateway for hackers which is absolutely terrifying.

The security holes could be exploited by hackers that could allow them to spoof flight information like map routes, speed statistics, and altitude values, and steal credit card information.
IOActive's Ruben Santamarta managed to "hijack" in-flight displays to change information like altitude and location, control the cabin lighting, as well as hack into the announcements system.
"Chained together this could be an unsettling experience for passengers," said Santamarta. "I don't believe these systems can resist solid attacks from skilled malicious actors. This only depends on the attacker's determination and intentions, from a technical perspective it's totally feasible."
Besides these critical issues, the researcher said in some instances; hackers could access credit card details of passengers stored in the automatic payment system and use their frequent flyer membership details to capture personal data.

The vulnerabilities affect 13 different airlines that use Panasonic Avionics system, which include American Airlines, United, Virgin, Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, FinnAir, KLM, Iberia, Scandinavian, Air France, Singapore, and Aerolineas Argentinas.
The vulnerabilities were reported to Panasonic in March last year, and the researcher waited more than a year and a half to go public, so the company had "enough time to produce and deploy patches, at least for the most prominent vulnerabilities."
Emirates is working with Panasonic to resolve these issues and regularly update its systems. "The safety of our passengers and crew on board is a priority and will not be compromised," Emirates said, reported the Telegraph.
Santamarta is the same researcher who warned of security issues in systems used by different aircraft in the past.
Back in 2014, he discovered that it was possible to reverse engineer a bug, which let him connect to the Wi-Fi signal or the in-flight entertainment system to connect to airplanes’ equipment, including the navigation system.
For in-depth technical details about the new vulnerabilities discovered by Santamarta, you can head on to IOActive's official blog post published today.

How to Hack Apple Mac Encryption Password in Just 30 Seconds

Macintosh computers are often considered to be safer than those running Windows operating system, but a recently discovered attack technique proves it all wrong.
All an attacker needs is a $300 device to seize full control of your Mac or MacBook.
Swedish hacker and penetration tester Ulf Frisk has developed a new device that can steal the password from virtually any Mac laptop while it is sleeping or even locked in just 30 seconds, allowing hackers to unlock any Mac computer and even decrypt the files on its hard drive.
So, next time when you leave your Apple's laptop unattended, be sure to shut it down completely rather than just putting the system in sleep mode or locked.
Here's How an Attacker can steal your Mac FileVault2 Password
The researcher devised this technique by exploiting two designing flaws he discovered last July in Apple's FileVault2 full-disk encryption software.
The first issue is that the Mac system does not protect itself against Direct Memory Access (DMA) attacks before macOS is started.
It's because the Mac EFI or Extensible Firmware Interface (similar to a PC's BIOS) let devices plugged in over Thunderbolt to access memory without enabling DMA protections, which allows Thunderbolt devices to read and write memory.
Secondly, the password to the FileVault encrypted disk is stored in clear text in memory, even when the computer is in sleep mode or locked. When the computer reboots, the password is put in multiple memory locations within a fixed memory range, making it readable by hacking devices.
Dubbed PCILeech and costs approximately $300, the hacking device exploits these two vulnerabilities to carry out DMA attacks and extract Mac FileVault2 passwords from a device's memory in clear text before macOS boots, and anti-DMA protections come into effect.
To do this, all an attacker needs is access to a target Mac computer for just a few minutes to connect the PCILeech hacking device to the computer via its Thunderbolt port, which would allow the attacker to have full access to its data.
Video Demonstration of the Attack
Frisk also provided a video demonstration, which shows how he just plugged in a card flashed with his open source PCILeech software tool into the Mac's Thunderbolt port, which ran the hacking tool on the target Mac or MackBook, rebooted the system, and read the Mac password on the other laptop.

Yes, the attack only works if an attacker has physical access to a target Mac or MacBook, but all it takes is just 30 seconds to carry out successfully.
"Anyone including, but not limited to, your colleagues, the police, the evil maid and the thief will have full access to your data as long as they can gain physical access - unless the Mac is completely shut down," Frisk explained in a blog post on Thursday.
"If the Mac is sleeping it is still vulnerable. Just stroll up to a locked Mac, plug in the Thunderbolt device, force a reboot (ctrl+cmd+power) and wait for the password to be displayed in less than 30 seconds!"
Frisk reported his findings to Apple in August and the company fixed the issues in macOS 10.12.2 released on 13 December.
So Apple desktop users are required to update their devices to the latest version of its operating system to be safe.

New Hack: How to Bypass iPhone Passcode to Access Photos and Messages

Setting a passcode on your iPhone is the first line of defense to help prevent other people from accessing your personal details.
However, it's pretty much easy for anyone with access to your iPhone to bypass the passcode protection (doesn't matter if you configured Touch ID or not) and access your personal photos and messages.
A new critical security flaw discovered in iOS 8 and newer, including 10.2 beta 3, allows anyone to bypass iPhone's passcode and gain access to personal information using the benevolent nature of Apple's personal assistant Siri.
The security glitch has been discovered by EverythingApplePro and iDeviceHelps and now that they have gone public with a video demonstration, you can expect Apple to fix this issue in the next iOS beta version.
All an attacker need is to find out the phone number of the target's iPhone and access to the phone for a few minutes.
But, what if you don't have target's phone number? No worries. You can hold down the home button of target's iPhone to activate Siri and simply ask "Who am I?" Siri will reply you with the phone number it is using.
Here's How to bypass iPhone's Lockscreen:
Once you got the phone number, follow these simple steps to reading personal messages and accessing personal photos on target's iPhone:
Step 1: Since now you have target's phone number, call on his/her iPhone – starting a FaceTime call will also do it.
Step 2: Now, targets iPhone screen will show a message icon, just click on 'Message icon' and then 'Custom Message' to go to the New Message screen where you are allowed to type a reply.
Step 3: Next, you need to activate Siri by long-pressing the Home button and say "Turn on Voice Over," and Siri will get the job done by turning it ON.
Step 4: Go back to the message screen and double tap the bar where you are required to enter the caller's name and then hold, while immediately click on the keyboard. This may not succeed in the first time, so repeat this step until you see a slide-in effect on the iPhone's screen above the keyboard.
Step 5: Now, ask Siri to "Turn off VoiceOver," come back to messages and simply type in the first letter of a caller's name in the top bar, tap ⓘ icon next to it, and then create a new contact.
Step 6: Next, you can select add photo and choose a photo. Yes, now you are in and can look at the victim's photo gallery just like you are browsing the phone, even though the iPhone is still in the locked state.
Step 7: You can select any contact on the iPhone, and you would be able to see all previous conversations of the target with that contact.

Antivirus Firm Kaspersky launches Its Own Secure Operating System

The popular cyber security and antivirus company Kaspersky has unveiled its new hack-proof operating system: Kaspersky OS.
The new operating system has been in development for last 14 years and has chosen to design from scratch rather than relying on Linux.
Kaspersky OS makes its debut on a Kraftway Layer 3 Switch, CEO Eugene Kaspersky says in his blog post, without revealing many details about its new operating system.
The Layer of 3-switch is the very first tool for running the Kaspersky OS, which is designed for networks with extreme requirements for data security and aimed at critical infrastructure and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
What's new in Kaspersky OS than others?
Kaspersky OS is based on Microkernel Architecture: The new secure OS is based on microkernel architecture that enables users to customize their own operating system accordingly.
So, depending on a user's specific requirements, Kaspersky OS can be designed by using different modifications blocks of the operating system.
Kaspersky OS is non-Linux: Yes, one of the three major distinctive features of the new OS mentioned by Kaspersky is that the GUI-less operating system has been constructed from scratch and does not contain "even the slightest smell of Linux."
"All the popular operating systems are not designed with security in mind, so it is simpler and safer to start from the ground up and do everything correctly. Which is just what we did," says Kaspersky.
But what makes Kaspersky OS Hack-Proof?
It is the operating system's inbuilt security system. Yes, Kaspersky OS inbuilt security system has the ability to control the behavior of applications and the OS modules.
Kaspersky OS claims itself as practically unhackable OS, because for gaining unauthorized access, any hacker would need to break the digital signature of an account holder, which is possible only with a quantum computer.
"In order to hack this platform a cyber-baddie would need to break the digital signature, which – anytime before the introduction of quantum computers – would be exorbitantly expensive," says Kaspersky.
Kaspersky talked about the recent DDoS attacks that affected numerous websites in past few months. He guaranteed that Kaspersky OS would protect devices, such as industrial control systems, SCADA or ICS, and IoTs, from cyber attacks.
The most severe one was the recent massive DDoS attack on Dyn's DNS servers, which knock down popular sites like Amazon and Twitter. The attack was carried out by Mirai botnets that had infected smart devices like security cameras.
So, Kaspersky says it is mandatory to protect the IoT and other critical infrastructure (like industry, transport, and telecoms) from IT threats.
"I also hope it's clear that it's better – no matter how difficult – to build IoT/infrastructure devices from the very beginning in such a way that hacking them is practically impossible. Indeed, that is a fundamental goal with Kaspersky OS," he says.
More details about Kaspersky's secure operating system is coming soon. Stay Tuned!

DNSChanger Malware is Back! Hijacking Routers to Target Every Connected Device

Next time when you see an advertisement of your favorite pair of shoes on any website, even if it is legitimate, just DO NOT CLICK ON IT.
…Because that advertising could infect you in such a way that not just your system, but every device connected to your network would get affected.
A few days ago, we reported about a new exploit kit, dubbed Stegano, that hides malicious code in the pixels of banner advertisements rotating on several high profile news websites.
Now, researchers have discovered that attackers are targeting online users with an exploit kit called DNSChanger that is being distributed via advertisements that hide malicious code in image data.
Remember DNSChanger? Yes, the same malware that infected millions of computers across the world in 2012.
DNSChanger works by changing DNS server entries in infected computers to point to malicious servers under the control of the attackers, rather than the DNS servers provided by any ISP or organization.
So, whenever a user of an infected system looked up a website on the Internet (say, facebook.com), the malicious DNS server tells you to go to, say, a phishing site. Attackers could also inject ads, redirect search results, or attempt to install drive-by downloads.
The most worrisome part is that hackers have combined both threats in their recent widespread malvertising campaign, where DNSChanger malware is being spread using Stegno technique, and once it hit your system, instead of infecting your PC, it takes control of your unsecured routers.
Researchers at Proofpoint have discovered this unique DNSChanger exploit kit on more than 166 router models. The kit is unique because the malware in it does not target browsers, rather it targets routers that run unpatched firmware or are secured with weak admin passwords.
Here's How the Attack Works:
Firstly, the ads on mainstream websites hiding malicious code in image data redirects victims to web pages hosting the DNSChanger exploit kit. The exploit kit then targets unsecured routers.
Once the router is compromised, the DNSChanger malware configures itself to use an attacker-controlled DNS server, causing most computers and devices on the network to visit malicious servers, rather than those corresponding to their official domain.
Those ads containing malicious JavaScript code reveals a user's local IP address by triggering a WebRTC request (the web communication protocol) to a Mozilla STUN (Session Traversal Utilities for NAT) server.
STUN server then send a ping back containing the IP address and port of the client. If the target's IP address is within a targeted range, the target receives a fake ad hiding exploit code in the metadata of a PNG image.
The malicious code eventually redirects the visitor to a web page hosting DNSChanger, which uses the Chrome browser for Windows and Android to serve a second image concealed with the router exploit code.
"This attack is determined by the particular router model that is detected during the reconnaissance phase," a Proofpoint researcher wrote in a blog post. "If there is no known exploit, the attack will attempt to use default credentials."
List of Routers Affected
The attack then cloaks traffic and compares the accessed router against 166 fingerprints used to determine if a target is using vulnerable router model. According to researchers, some of the vulnerable routers include:
D-Link DSL-2740R
NetGear WNDR3400v3 (and likely other models in this series)
Netgear R6200
COMTREND ADSL Router CT-5367 C01_R12
Pirelli ADSL2/2+ Wireless Router P.DGA4001N
It is not clear at the moment that how many people have been exposed to the malicious ads or how long the campaign has been running, but Proofpoint said the attackers behind the campaign have previously been responsible for infecting more than 1 million people a day.
Proofpoint did not disclose the name of any ad network or website displaying the malicious advertisements.
Users are advised to ensure that their routers are running the lates

FBI Most Wanted Fugitive JPMorgan Hacker Arrested in New York

One of the FBI's most wanted hackers who was behind the largest theft of financial data has finally been arrested at the JFK airport in New York.
Joshua Samuel Aaron is accused of being part of a hacking group that attacked several major financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase, and according to the officials, which was "the largest theft of user data from a U.S. financial institution in history."
Aaron was believed to have been living as a fugitive in Moscow, Russia after being charged with hacking crimes in 2015, which exposed the personal information of more than 100 Million people.
On June 2015, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Aaron by the United States District Court, and the FBI and US secret service agents arrested him upon his arrival at the JFK airport in NY, announced the US Department of Justice.
"Aaron allegedly worked to hack into the networks of dozens of American companies, ultimately leading to the largest theft of personal information from US financial institutions ever," said Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.
"For pursuing what we have called ‘hacking as a business model,’ and thanks to the efforts of the FBI and the US Secret Service, Aaron will now join his co-defendants to face justice in a Manhattan federal courtroom."
In 2015, the US Court of the Southern District of New York charged three men -- Gery Shalon, Ziv Orenstein, and Joshua Samuel Aaron -- with 23 counts, including hacking, identity theft, securities fraud, and money laundering, among others.
All the three hackers were accused of running an illegal payment processing business that the men used to stole $18 Million (£14.3 Million) from victims.
The three of them also hacked into a credit card company investigating their payment processing business in an effort to avoid detection.
Shalon and Orenstein were arrested in Israel in July 2015 and already extradited to the United States in June 2016.
Aaron is scheduled to appear in a Manhattan court on Thursday, according to the US authorities.

New Kickass Torrents Site is Back Online by Original Staffers

KickassTorrents is back from the dead!

Back in July, the world's largest and most notorious BitTorrent distribution site KickassTorrents (KAT) with millions of unique daily visitors was shut down by the U.S. authorities following the arrest of its alleged owner Artem Vaulin.

Shortly after the shutdown, a group of devoted original KAT staffers launched the Katcr.co forum in hopes of bringing back KickassTorrents to its former glory, in the near future.

Now, Katcr.co has launched a fully operational torrent website, which looks identical to the original Kickass Torrents (KAT) portal, TorrentFreak reports.

Note: In case the new KickassTorrents website does not immediately load, give it a few tries, as the site is experiencing a massive surge in traffic.

Launched today and located at KATcr.co/new, the new Kickass Torrents site starts with a clean user database while many members of the original staff are back on board, including its dedicated uploaders.

Here's what the KATcr team said on the sit’s launch:

"We have all our major uploaders on board, and they continued to share tirelessly even before the torrent engines returned. The torrent community can continue to expect to see uploads from all the names they know and trust."

Meanwhile, in a separate news, the Federal Court of Australia has ordered Internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to 5 Torrent websites, including The Pirate Bay, Torrentz, TorrentHound, IsoHunt, and SolarMovie, within next 15 days.

Following the shutdown of the original KickassTorrents portal earlier this year, several mirror sites came up online, claiming to be the real reincarnation.

However, in reality, many of those mirrors include malicious copycats that target unsuspecting pirates and attempts to steal their personal information and credit card credentials.

The KATcr team behind the new katcr.co/new site promises that the pirates are safe and secure at its new portal.

"In order to keep our members safe we chose to rebuild and keep only safe elements. Despite the fact that a rebuild took longer, the safety of our community comes first," one of the team members told TorrentFreak.

The KATcr crew members also believe that the original operators of the KickassTorrents website will walk free.

1-Billion Yahoo Users' Database Reportedly Sold For $300,000 On Dark Web

Recently Yahoo disclosed a three-year-old massive data breach in its company that exposed personal details associated with more than 1 Billion user accounts, which is said to be the largest data breach of any company ever.

The new development in Yahoo!'s 2013 data breach is that the hacker sold its over Billion-user database on the Dark Web last August for $300,000, according to Andrew Komarov, Chief Intelligence Officer (CIO) at security firm InfoArmor.

Komarov told the New York Times that three different buyers, including two "prominent spammers" and the third, is believed to be involved in espionage tactics paid $300,000 to gain control of the entire database.

The hacker group that breached Yahoo and sold the database is believed to based in Eastern Europe, but the company still does not know if this information is accurate or not.

Beside full names, passwords, date of births and phone numbers of 1 Million Yahoo users, the database also includes backup email addresses and, in some cases, unencrypted security questions and answers that could provide quick access to users accounts via password reset option.

The database is still up for sale, though its price is believed to have dropped substantially after Yahoo went public with the data breach announcement and triggered a password reset. Interested buyers might now have to pay $20,000 for the full Yahoo database.

Komarov also said his company obtained a copy of the Yahoo database earlier this year, and got in touch with the law enforcement authorities in the United States and other countries in the European Union, Canada, and Australia.

Komarov said his company did not go to Yahoo directly "because the internet giant was dismissive of the security firm when approached by an intermediary," adding that he didn't trust Yahoo to investigate the data breach thoroughly.

"Personal information and contacts, e-mail messages, objects of interest, calendars and travel plans are key elements for intelligence-gathering in the right hands," Komarov was quoted as saying.

"The difference of Yahoo hack between any other hack is in that it may really destroy your privacy, and potentially have already destroyed it several years ago without your knowledge."

Yahoo users are strongly recommended to reset their passwords and invalidate affected security questions as soon as possible.

Also, in case you are using the same password and answers for security questions somewhere else, change them too urgently

DNSChanger Malware is Back! Hijacking Routers to Target Every Connected Device

Next time when you see an advertisement of your favorite pair of shoes on any website, even if it is legitimate, just DO NOT CLICK ON IT.

…Because that advertising could infect you in such a way that not just your system, but every device connected to your network would get affected.

A few days ago, we reported about a new exploit kit, dubbed Stegano, that hides malicious code in the pixels of banner advertisements rotating on several high profile news websites.

Now, researchers have discovered that attackers are targeting online users with an exploit kit called DNSChanger that is being distributed via advertisements that hide malicious code in image data.

Remember DNSChanger? Yes, the same malware that infected millions of computers across the world in 2012.

DNSChanger works by changing DNS server entries in infected computers to point to malicious servers under the control of the attackers, rather than the DNS servers provided by any ISP or organization.

So, whenever a user of an infected system looked up a website on the Internet (say, facebook.com), the malicious DNS server tells you to go to, say, a phishing site. Attackers could also inject ads, redirect search results, or attempt to install drive-by downloads.

The most worrisome part is that hackers have combined both threats in their recent widespread malvertising campaign, where DNSChanger malware is being spread using Stegno technique, and once it hit your system, instead of infecting your PC, it takes control of your unsecured routers.

Researchers at Proofpoint have discoveredthis unique DNSChanger exploit kit on more than 166 router models. The kit is unique because the malware in it does not target browsers, rather it targets routers that run unpatched firmware or are secured with weak admin passwords.

Here's How the Attack Works:

Firstly, the ads on mainstream websites hiding malicious code in image data redirects victims to web pages hosting the DNSChanger exploit kit. The exploit kit then targets unsecured routers.

Once the router is compromised, the DNSChanger malware configures itself to use an attacker-controlled DNS server, causing most computers and devices on the network to visit malicious servers, rather than those corresponding to their official domain.

Those ads containing malicious JavaScript code reveals a user's local IP address by triggering a WebRTC request (the web communication protocol) to a Mozilla STUN (Session Traversal Utilities for NAT) server.

STUN server then send a ping back containing the IP address and port of the client. If the target's IP address is within a targeted range, the target receives a fake ad hiding exploit code in the metadata of a PNG image.

The malicious code eventually redirects the visitor to a web page hosting DNSChanger, which uses the Chrome browser for Windows and Android to serve a second image concealed with the router exploit code.

"This attack is determined by the particular router model that is detected during the reconnaissance phase," a Proofpoint researcher wrote in a blog post. "If there is no known exploit, the attack will attempt to use default credentials."

List of Routers Affected

The attack then cloaks traffic and compares the accessed router against 166 fingerprints used to determine if a target is using vulnerable router model. According to researchers, some of the vulnerable routers include:D-Link DSL-2740RNetGear WNDR3400v3 (and likely other models in this series)Netgear R6200COMTREND ADSL Router CT-5367 C01_R12Pirelli ADSL2/2+ Wireless Router P.DGA4001N
It is not clear at the moment that how many people have been exposed to the malicious ads or how long the campaign has been running, but Proofpoint said the attackers behind the campaign have previously been responsible for infecting more than 1 million people a day.

Proofpoint did not disclose the name of any ad network or website displaying the malicious advertisements.

Users are advised to ensure that their routers are running the latest version of the firmware and are protected with a strong password. They can also disable remote administration, change its default local IP address, and hardcode a trusted DNS server into the operating system network settings.

Bitcoin Exchange Offers $3.5 Million Reward for Information of Stolen Bitcoins

Bitcoin Exchange Offers $3.5 Million Reward for Information of Stolen Bitcoins
Hong Kong-based Bitcoin exchange 'Bitfinex' that lost around $72 Million  worth of its customers’ Bitcoins last week is now offering a reward of $3.5 Million to anyone who can provide information that leads to the recovery of the stolen Bitcoins.

Bitfinex revealed on August 2 that the cryptocurrency exchange had suffered a major security breach, which resulted in the loss of nearly 120,000 BTC.

The hack led to a 36 percent loss for each Bitfinex customer, who will be issued tokens to be redeemed as the company is able to reimburse the losses.


Now, the exchange is willing to offer 5% of the lost funds (nearly 6,000 BTC) as a reward for the recovery of the stolen bitcoins.

The news came after a Reddit user, using alias someguy916, inquired  about a reward Bitfinex would be willing to offer for the stolen bitcoins.

In response to the question, Bitfinex community director Zane Tackett stated that a bounty would be awarded to anyone who has information that would help the exchange recover the funds.

"5% of recovery and for information leading to recovery (but no bounty if no recovery); if multiple persons lead to recovery, share pro rata," Tackett wrote.

Where 5% of the stolen funds is about 6,000 BTC, which is around $3.5 MILLION.


Bitfinex is the third-largest Bitcoin exchange in the world. After the news of the Bitfinex hack had broken on August 2, the price of Bitcoin dropped almost 20%, from $602.78 to $541 per Bitcoin, within the day after the announcement.

As a precaution, Bitfinex has adopted additional security measures for its customers, as the company said in astatement Wednesday:

"We have added additional platform and infrastructure security checks; regenerated all encrypted services, including wallets, security tokens, and passwords; moved funds to multisig cold storage; re-evaluated all third-party integrations; performed a comprehensive system audit in order to identify vulnerabilities; and, rebuilt our entire platform on new infrastructure."

The best way to secure yourself from such hacks is to keep your Bitcoins OFFLINE.

South Korea Says North Korea Hacked Government E-Mails

Telegram Responds to Report of Massive Hack

Messaging app Telegram has on Tuesday responded to media reports that claimed a hacker attack that originated in Iran was not a "massive" one and only publicly available information was exposed to hackers. The company however, acknowledged that 15 million accounts from Iran were confirmed to be registered with the app as part of the attack.
On Tuesday, Reuters reported that Iranian hackers have compromised more than a dozen accounts on the Telegram and identified the phone numbers of around 15 million Iranian users.
According to the report, cyber researchers have claimed that the hackers belonged to a group called Rocket Kitten, and used Persian-language references in their code and carried out "a common pattern of spearphishing campaigns reflecting the interests and activities of the Iranian security apparatus."
Telegram has claimed that individual accounts were not accessed as part of the attack and said in its blog post, "Such mass checks are no longer possible since we introduced some limitations into our API this year."
However, the company did acknowledge that its messaging app has direct correlation with phone's contacts, and therefore it is potentially possible for "any party" to have checked if a particular phone number was registered in their system. The company pointed out that other platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger carry the same risk.
In response to allegations that certain accounts were accessed via SMS interception, Telegram has said that it released a warning for its users regarding the same earlier this year and also introduced its 2-Step verification to protect its users from such situations.

Jeep Hackers Back at Black Hat With New and Scarier Method

A pair of well-known hackers has found another way to take control of a Jeep Cherokee - this time while it's moving at high speed.
Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek grabbed headlines last year by showing how they could kill a Jeep Cherokee's engine while it was traveling down a highway. The news prompted an embarrassing recall of 1.4 million Jeeps and other vehicles by parent company Fiat Chrysler.
In front of a packed lecture hall at the Black Hat hacker conference on Thursday in Las Vegas, the pair demonstrated how they could again take control of the same 2014 Jeep Cherokee they hacked the year before. This time they sent false messages to its internal network, overriding the correct ones.
That allowed them to do new - and scarier - things, such as making the vehicle turn sharply while it was speeding down a country road. They also were able to make the vehicle unintentionally speed up, or remotely slam on its brakes.
"If you can steer a car at any speed, that's pretty dangerous," Miller said, as video showed the Jeep turning so hard and fast it left skid marks. Another turn sent it into a ditch alongside a Midwestern cornfield.
The pair's previous hack only allowed them to do similar things if the Jeep was moving slower than 5 mph, making for a much less dangerous scenario.
This time, it was more about reverse engineering than actual hacking. They d
issected why the vehicle's safety systems prevented remote attempts to yank the car's steering wheel or slam on its brakes if it was moving at more than 5 mph, but not at lower speeds, then looked for a way around that.
Fiat Chrysler said that while the company admired the pair's creativity, Thursday's presentation didn't show any new ways to breach the Jeep remotely. It also argued that the attack couldn't have been carried out remotely because of fixes made after the previous hack, which is something Miller and Valasek dispute.
The automaker added that the methods Miller and Valasek used were costly, time consuming and required extensive technical expertise.
The pair acknowledged that they did put quite a bit of time and effort into their hack and that it's not something the average person needs to worry about falling victim to.
For their part, Miller and Valasek, who now work for the ride-hailing service Uber, said that after four years of hacking cars together, they've decided to move on. They encouraged other hackers to pick up where they left off.
"There's no reason to think that this car company, or just American cars, is the only one that could be hacked," Miller said.

On This Day 25-years Ago, The World's First Website Went Online

On This Day 25-years Ago, The World's First Website Went Online

On this day 25 years ago, August 6, 1991, the world's first website went live to the public from a lab in the Swiss Alps.

So Happy 25th Birthday, WWW! It's the Silver Jubilee of the world's first website.

The site was created by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the World Wide Web (WWW), and was dedicated to information on the World Wide Web project.

The world's first website, which ran on a NeXT computer at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), can still be visited today, more than two decades after its creation.

The first website address ishttp://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html.

"The WorldWideWeb (W3) is a wide-area hypermedia information retrieval initiative aiming to give universal access to a large universe of documents," the world's first public website reads, going on to explain how others can also create their own web pages.
"The project started with the philosophy that much academic information should be freely available to anyone."

Berners-Lee wrote about the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that outlined how information or data would travel between computer systems, as well as, HyperText Markup Language (HTML) that was used to create the first web page.

Berners-Lee vision was to create a place where people could share information across the world through a "universal linked information system" – in which a network of documents (web pages) linked to one another could help users navigate to find what exactly they need.

And so is the concept of the World Wide Web.

Berners-Lee initially proposed the idea for a worldwide network of computers sharing information in 1989, while he was working as a computer programmer at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland.

Steve Jobs Helped Tim to Create The Web

The World Wide Web was written on a NeXT computer, made by the company Steve Jobs founded after he was kicked out of Apple back in 1985.

"We bought a cool machine, the NeXT computer," Berners-Lee said two years ago during an interview at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "NeXT was a machine made by Steve Jobs when he was kicked out of Apple [in 1985]... it had a wonderful spirit to it, a really good developer's environment." 

"When you opened it, you got a pre-recorded message from Steve that said, 'Welcome to the NeXT. This is not about personal computing. It's about 'inter-personal' computing.' It was perfect for designing the web."

The website went live to the public on August 6, 1991; that's exactly 25 years back. At the time, Berners-Lee taped a note to the front of his NeXT computer, saying:

"This machine is a Server. DO NOT POWER DOWN."

Need to Reinvent the Internet

When Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web, his idea was simply to create a tool for scientists to find and share information with ease.

The Web has since become the world’s most powerful medium for knowledge, communications, and trade — but that doesn't mean he is happy with all of the consequences.

Last month, Berners-Lee turned 61 and regretted a lot of things about his invention. He has primarily concerned that the Internet has now transformed into the "world's largest surveillance network."

Today, the Web "controls what people see, creates mechanisms for how people interact," New York Times quotedBerners-Lee as saying. "It is been great, but spying, blocking sites, repurposing people's content, taking you to the wrong websites that completely undermines the spirit of helping people create."

This is why the creator of the Internet is figuring out what the next step should be for the World Wide Web.

The Web model relies on central servers and IP addresses, which can easily be tracked or blocked. Therefore, Berners-Lee is looking to decentralize the whole Web, the report said.

"The web is already decentralized," he said. "The problem is the dominance of one search engine, one big social network, one Twitter for microblogging. We do not have a technology problem; we have a social problem."

The idea is simple:

To eliminate middleman completely from all aspects of the Web. Still, all the major players do not agree to this decentralize approach. It's still a question that whether the Internet needs decentralizing

Bypassing Firewall

Firewall Piercing (Inside-Out Attacks)
Disclaimer
Wehereby disclaim all responsibility for the following hacks. If it backfires on you in any way whatsoever, that’s the breaks. Not our fault. If you don’t understand the risks inherent in doing this, don’t do it. If you use the hacks and it allow vicious vandals to break into your company’s computers and costs you your job and your company millions of dollars. Don’t come crying to us.
Firewall Piercing (Inside-Out Attacks)
Moral
A firewall cannot protect a network against its own internal users, and should not even try to.
Inside-Out attacks try to initiate network connections from the trusted (corporate) to the un-trusted (Internet) network.
Synonym …Inside-Out Network subversion …Inside-Out Attack …Covert Channel Attack
Firewall Piercing (Inside-Out Attacks)
A Covert Channel is a communication channel that allows a process to transfer information in a manner that violates the system’s security policy; without alerting any firewalls and IDS’son the network.
The technique derives its stealthy nature by virtue of the fact that it sends traffic through ports that most firewalls will permit through.
Firewall Piercing (Inside-Out Attacks)
Direct Tunnels (Simple) …ACK tunnel …TCP tunnel (pop, telnet, ssh) …UDP tunnel (syslog, snmp) …ICMP tunnel …IPSEC, PPTP
Firewall Piercing (Inside-Out Attacks)
ProxifiedTunnels (Advance) …Socks SSL tunnel …HTTP/S tunnel (payload of http = tunnel) …HTTP/S proxy CONNECT method tunnel …DNS tunnel …FTP tunnel …Mail tunnel; http://www.detached.net/mailtunnel/ …MSN tunnel; http://gray-world.net/pr_msnshell.shtml
Firewall Piercing (Inside-Out Attacks)
Ethernet Bridging over TCP/UDP (Advance and Bloody) …Layer 3 data (eg. IP, IPX, AppleTalk) can be encapsulated, encrypted and tunneled through Layer 4 protocol (TCP/UDP) …Can run arbitrary any kind of TCP/IP applications behind a restrictive firewall …Original IP address could be changed making it more stealthy …Open VPN; http://openvpn.net/ …Implementation: http://www.ZecureLab.com
Firewall Piercing (Inside-Out Attacks)
Netcat …http://netcat.sourceforge.net …very good for building reverse tunnel (i.e. Information flow through the other ways)
Example of Covert Channel Attacks
DNS Tunnel …domain name lookup is allowed by any internal client
Example of Covert Channel Attacks
SSH Tunnel (Simple) …TCP/IP Gender Changer …Requires SSH port allowed by firewall
Example of Covert Channel Attacks
SSH Tunnel (Advanced) …TCP/IP Gender Changer …SSH over SSL Connect …HTTPS Proxy Connect-Method …Requires HTTPS allowed for any destinations …http://gray-world.net/pr_firepass.shtml …http://bypass.cc Comment …content-Filter does not help (SSL)
Example of Covert Channel Attacks
HTTP/S Tunnel …Using POST requests …Implementing “own”service POST requests …POST data are in binary form Implementations …http://www.nocrew.org/software/httptunnel.html …http://entreelibre.com/cctt/index_en.html
Example of Covert Channel Attacks
ICMP Tunnel …Reliably tunnel TCP connections to a remote host using ICMP echo request and reply packets. Implementations …http://www.cs.uit.no/~daniels/PingTunnel/ …http://www.securiteam.com/tools/5PP0M0K60O.html …http://www.bo2k.com/
Example of Covert Channel Attacks
Ethernet Bridging over TCP/UDP …Reliably tunnel any network protocol (e.g. IP, IPX, AppleTalk) connections to a remote gatewayusing any TCP/UDP packets. …This demonstration concentrates on IP only. …A new identity (IP address) will be assigned. …A new default gateway, DNS entry will be acquired. …Your corporate LANs and the remote LANs arenow unify. Example of Covert Channel Attacks
Ethernet Bridging over TCP/UDP (con’t) …Implications „More stealthy „Hard to trace „Location-tracking „Hide BT Traffic (seed) „Privacy and freedom online „Anonymous Surfing „Identity Protection Example of Covert Channel Attacks
Mitigation …Un-plug your network cables …Firewall: deny “any to any rules” …Content-Filter http traffic: deny unwanted content-type …Firewall: restrict http/s locations …Firewall: restrict ipseclocations …Content-filter: deny anonymizerwebsites
Firewall Piercing (Inside-Out Attacks)
White-listing vs. Black-listing …Listing of the allowed resources = white-listing …Listing of the denied resources = black-listing …White-listing is more secure …Black-listing is easier to handle (convenience)

Computer Forensics

Overview This paper will discuss the need for computer forensics to be practiced in an effective and legal way, outline basic technical issues, and point to references for further reading. It promotes the idea that the competent practice of computer forensics and awareness of applicable laws is essential for today’s networked organizations. 
This subject is important for managers who need to understand how computer forensics fits as a strategic element in overall organizational computer security. Network administrators and other computer security staff need to understand issues associated with computer forensics. Those who work in corporate governance, legal departments, or IT should find an overview of computer forensics in an organizational context useful.  
What is Computer Forensics?
If you manage or administer information systems and networks, you should understand computer forensics. Forensics is the process of using scientific knowledge for collecting, analyzing, and presenting evidence to the courts. (The word forensics means “to bring to the court.” ) Forensics deals primarily with the recovery and analysis of latent evidence. Latent evidence can take many forms, from fingerprints left on a window to DNA evidence recovered from blood stains to the files on a hard drive. 
Because computer forensics is a new discipline, there is little standardization and consistency across the courts and industry. As a result, it is not yet recognized as a formal “scientific” discipline. We define computer forensics as the discipline that combines elements of law and computer science to collect and analyze data from computer systems, networks, wireless communications, and storage devices in a way that is admissible as evidence in a court of law. 
Why is Computer Forensics Important?
Adding the ability to practice sound computer forensics will help you ensure the overall integrity and survivability of your network infrastructure. You can help your organization if you consider computer forensics as a new basic element in what is known as a “defense-in-depth”1 approach to network and computer security. For instance, understanding the legal and technical aspects of computer forensics will help you capture vital information if your network is compromised and will help you prosecute the case if the intruder is caught.                                                            1  “Defense in depth is designed on the principle that multiple layers of different types of protection from different vendors provide substantially better protection” <http://netsecurity.about.com/cs/generalsecurity/a/aa112103.htm>.
Produced 2008 by US-CERT, a government organization. Updated 2008.  2
What happens if you ignore computer forensics or practice it badly? You risk destroying vital evidence or having forensic evidence ruled inadmissible in a court of law. Also, you or your organization may run afoul of new laws that mandate regulatory compliance and assign liability if certain types of data are not adequately protected. Recent legislation makes it possible to hold organizations liable in civil or criminal court if they fail to protect customer data.2
Computer forensics is also important because it can save your organization money.  Many managers are allocating a greater portion of their information technology budgets for computer and network security. International Data Corporation (IDC) reported that the market for intrusion-detection and vulnerability-assessment software will reach 1.45 billion dollars in 2006. In increasing numbers, organizations are deploying network security devices such as intrusion detection systems (IDS), firewalls, proxies, and the like, which all report on the security status of networks.
From a technical standpoint, the main goal of computer forensics is to identify, collect, preserve, and analyze data in a way that preserves the integrity of the evidence collected so it can be used effectively in a legal case.
What are some typical aspects of a computer forensics investigation? First, those who investigate computers have to understand the kind of potential evidence they are looking for in order to structure their search.3 Crimes involving a computer can range across the spectrum of criminal activity, from child pornography to theft of personal data to destruction of intellectual property. Second, the investigator must pick the appropriate tools to use. Files may have been deleted, damaged, or encrypted, and the investigator must be familiar with an array of methods and software to prevent further damage in the recovery process.  
Two basic types of data are collected in computer forensics. Persistent data is the data that is stored on a local hard drive (or another medium) and is preserved when the computer is turned off. Volatile data is any data that is stored in memory, or exists in transit, that will be lost when the computer loses power or is turned off. Volatile data resides in registries, cache, and random access memory (RAM). Since volatile data is ephemeral, it is essential an investigator knows reliable ways to capture it.
System administrators and security personnel must also have a basic understanding of how routine computer and network administrative tasks can affect both the forensic process (the potential admissibility of evidence at court) and the subsequent ability to recover data that may be critical to the identification and analysis of a security incident.
                                                           2 Laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Sarbanes-Oxley, California Act 1798, and others hold businesses liable for breaches in the security or integrity of computer networks. 3 For an overview of the types of crimes that involve a computer and how law enforcement aids investigation, see “How the FBI Investigates Computer Crime” at <http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/FBI_investigates_crime.html >.
Produced 2008 by US-CERT, a government organization. Updated 2008.  3 
Legal Aspects of Computer Forensics
Anyone overseeing network security must be aware of the legal implications of forensic activity. Security professionals need to consider their policy decisions and technical actions in the context of existing laws. For instance, you must have authorization before you monitor and collect information related to a computer intrusion. There are also legal ramifications to using security monitoring tools.
Computer forensics is a relatively new discipline to the courts and many of the existing laws used to prosecute computer-related crimes, legal precedents, and practices related to computer forensics are in a state of flux. New court rulings are issued that affect how computer forensics is applied. The best source of information in this area is the United States Department of Justice’s Cyber Crime web site.4 The site lists recent court cases involving computer forensics and computer crime, and it has guides about how to introduce computer evidence in court and what standards apply. The important point for forensics investigators is that evidence must be collected in a way that is legally admissible in a court case. 
Increasingly, laws are being passed that require organizations to safeguard the privacy of personal data. It is becoming necessary to prove that your organization is complying with computer security best practices. If there is an incident that affects critical data, for instance, the organization that has added a computer forensics capability to its arsenal will be able to show that it followed a sound security policy and potentially avoid lawsuits or regulatory audits. 
There are three areas of law related to computer security that are important to know about. The first is found in the United States Constitution. The Fourth Amendment5 allows for protection against unreasonable search and seizure, and the Fifth Amendment allows for protection against self-incrimination. Although the amendments were written before there were problems caused by people misusing computers, the principles in them apply to how computer forensics is practiced. 
Second, anyone concerned with computer forensics must know how three U.S. Statutory laws6 affect them:  • Wiretap Act (18 U.S.C. 2510-22) • Pen Registers and Trap and Trace Devices Statute (18 U.S.C. 3121-27) • Stored Wired and Electronic Communication Act (18 U.S.C. 2701-120) 
                                                           4 http://www.cybercrime.gov 5 A detailed analysis of issues surrounding the Fourth Amendment can be found on this web site: <http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment04/>. 6 The text of these laws can be found at the U.S. Department of Justice web site <http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/cclaws.html>.
Produced 2008 by US-CERT, a government organization. Updated 2008.  4
Violations of any one of these statutes during the practice of computer forensics could constitute a federal felony punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment. It is always advisable to consult your legal counsel if you are in doubt about the implications of any computer forensics action on behalf of your organization.
Third, the U.S. Federal rules of evidence about hearsay, authentication, reliability, and best evidence must be understood. In the U.S. there are two primary areas of legal governance affecting cyber security actions related to the collection of network data: (1) authority to monitor and collect the data and (2) the admissibility of the collection methods. Of the three areas above, the U.S. Constitution and U.S. Statutory Laws primarily govern the collection process, while the Federal Rules of Evidence deal mostly with admissibility. 

Ola leaks personal information of its customer, claims a girl

A girl from Chennai claimed that OlaCabs, famous as Ola, a mobile app for personal transportation in India, had sent personal information of more than 100 customers to her via SMS.

Swapnil Midha posted on Facebook that the Ola, which started as an online cab aggregator in Mumbai, now based out of Bangalore and is among the fastest growing businesses in India, leaked personal details such as mobile numbers, locations of users.

However, the company regarded it as a technical fault and confirmed that it has been fixed now.

“About three weeks ago, I booked an Ola cab for a long distance drive. After the ride I received a few garbled texts from "VM-OLACAB" that I didn't think much of and ignored. These messages were alpha-numeric with hashes and made no sense to me whatsoever. I assumed there was some system error and did not anticipate the sleep deprivation that followed,” she wrote on Facebook.

She added, “My phone beeped throughout the night. 1:06, 2:34, 2:37, 2:38, 4:05, 5:17. I couldn't get my head around why these were coming at these times. I then called their call centre the next day to explain that there was probably some sort of bug and my number had somehow gotten into their highly cryptic message transmission systems, whatever secrets they were trying to transmit.”

Although, the Ola assured her to fix the problem soon, she had been receiving SMS after SMS. She received text between 300 and 400.

“I received no further communication from them, no update, no email, just more garbled messages,” she explained. I reached out to them through every channel possible. I called their call centre at least 5 times, demanded to speak to the senior managers, and had to explain my problem each time in great detail, answering the same annoying questions.”

She said that the company shared personal details of their customers throughout the day and throughout the night.

“What scares me the most, is that THIS should be their number one priority. I questioned their lack of concern for privacy and data protection. I threatened to report them to the authorities and TRAI. Nothing seemed to work which makes you think - do they even care about protecting customer information? If they are sending all this to me, who are they sending MY booking details to? Whose number is receiving all of my data? Which creepy criminal knows my full name, my mobile number, my door number, my account details, when I'm home and when I'm out?” she added.

The girl has raised a serious question which the company concerned need to answer as soon as possible. If this, one of the most trusted companies like the Ola does such careless, what do we expect from others? 

Pokemon Go Maker Niantic CEO's Twitter Account Hacked

In July, the hacking team hit Pokemon Go's login servers with a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack leaving some players frustrated as they were unable to log in to the game.
The group said it would not stop the attack until representatives from Pokemon Go contacted them.
"No one will be able to play this game till Pokemon Go contact us on our website to teach them how to protect it!" the group wrote in a post on its website.
A DDoS attack works by flooding a server with traffic so that it cannot be accessed by legitimate users.
OurMine has also claimed credit for compromising Twitter chief executive officer (CEO) Jack Dorsey's, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg's and Google CEO Sundar Pichai's social media accounts.
The group also hacked the Twitter account of Evan Williams, the microblogging site's co-founder and former CEO.

Once again a malicious application found on Google Play Store

Researchers at Check Point Threat Prevention have detected a malicious application and said to have affected some one million people, which was published twice in the Google Play Store. The malware was packaged within an Android game called “Brain Test”.

According to the researchers, the malware was reported to Google Play twice. Each instance had between 100,000 and 500,000 downloads as per the Google Play statistics. Check Point reached out to Google on September 10, 2015, and the app containing the malware was removed from Google Play on September 15, 2015.

“The malware was first detected on a Nexus 5 smartphone, and although the user attempted to remove the infected app, the malware reappeared on the same device shortly thereafter. Our analysis of the malware shows it uses multiple, advanced techniques to avoid Google Play malware detection and to maintain persistency on target devices, the researchers wrote in a blog post.

Although, the reported the malware to Google, and the company concerned removed the app from the Google Play Store, it manages to bypass malware detection through several sophisticated techniques. It also installs an application similar to itself and so these two monitor the removal of each other and actually protects each other from being removed.

The researchers suggested that in order to prevent yourself from the malware, you must have an up-to-date anti-malware software on your mobile device. It has already infected anyone’s phone, he/she has to re-flash it with an official ROM.

Hilton payment system attacked ..........................

One of the largest US based hotel chain Hilton revealed that hackers had infected some of their point-of-sale computer systems with malware crafted to steal credit card information.
They didn’t disclosed what data was taken, but cautioned everyone who used payment cards at Hilton Worldwide hotels between November 18 and December 5 of last year or April 21 and July 27 of this year to check for any irregular activity from their debit or credit cards.
In an online post Hilton said that the Malware that infected system had a potential to retrieve cardholders' names, account numbers, security codes and expiration dates.
They further wrote that they are investigating the breach with the help of third-party forensics experts, law enforcement and payment card companies.
Starwood hotels, which operate the Sheraton and Westin chains, announced four days before Hilton that hackers had attacked their payment system resulting in leaking of customer credit card data in some of their establishments.
"The malware was designed to collect certain payment card information, including cardholder name, payment card number, security code and expiration date," the group said in a statement.
Starwood and Hilton are not the only one whose payment system has been hacked but last month Trump hotels has face the similar incidence of cyber attack.
"We believe that there may have been unauthorised malware access to some of the computers that host our front desk terminals and payment card terminals in our restaurants, gift shops and other point-of-sale purchase locations at some hotels," Trump Hotel Collection said at a website devoted to details of the incident.
According to Trump hotels, the access could have taken place in between May 19 of last year and June 2 of this year.
Brian Krebs, cyber threat blogger at KrebsonSecurity.com explained the cyber attack on payment systems as "just the latest in a long string of credit card breaches involving hotel brands, restaurants and retail establishments."

Mozilla awarded $2,500 to security researcher

Security Researcher Ashar Javed, recently discovered three bugs with Mozilla add-ons portal and that had been exploited via "Create new collection" feature.

It was discovered that malicious codes could be inserted in collection of  Mozilla Add - ons . These ad - ons are basically used to organize add-ons for business and personal purposes and can be shared on social media as well.

“Given that the Mozilla add-on site has millions of downloads, it is easily possible for the attacker to convince the victim to visit the collection page,” the expert told SecurityWeek.

Users were later exposed with all kinds of virus attack that could be carried via XSS flaws  and most common attack was cookie theft.

Websites are generally vulnerable to  XSS flaw, add-on collections are very useful for Firefox users, so for discovering the issue Mr Javed recieved $2,500 from Mozilla. There were two other bugs discovered about which Mozilla did not reveled any information apart from the location.

This is not the first time that he had received the heavy amount, Google awarded him $3,000 for a reflected XSS in the main search bar of the YouTube Gaming website.

Breaking News-----------------------------

27 million Mate1.com account hacked and sold 

 If you have an account on online dating website Mate1.com then it is very high probability that your account has been hacked.

A hacker has claimed of accessing the account usernames, passwords and email addresses for 27 million people by posting a Hell.

According to the Motherboard Vice, who first reported about the hack said that hacker has hacked over 27 million users account details, and sold them to someone else through a deal brokered on the Hell forum.

The hacker told to Motherboard Vice that he managed to compromise the Mate1.com server, and used command access to look at the MySQL database and then download parts of it.

Further adding he said that the online dating website has lax a security flaw which allow  users to log onto the website  without authenticating  their email-id to complete the sign-up process, which means that  you just have to log onto the website, create your account with an email address that belongs to you or to someone eases.

The hacker reveals that Mate1 does not use any encryption technique to store passwords, so don't worry if you have forgotten your password, it will be sent to the corresponding email in plain text.

It is not clear how much the hacker eventually sold the data for, although he was offering it  Follow cehcyberpunk.in

Guardian's Article on Cyber Crime spreads Malware

A cybercrime article from 2011 named as “Cybercrime: is it out of control?"  on the website of Guardian has been found to be serving up the Angler Exploit Kit.

The Angler Exploit Kit is a Web-based utility toolbelt that hackers use to test the defenses of a user's computer.

The problem was discovered by FireEye Labs on December 01 which noticed that this instance of Angler infection this not come from a tainted ad but visiting the Guardian’s article about cybercrime.

Visiting the page would execute an embedded script to redirect the reader's browser to an Angler Exploit Kit landing page.

This particular vulnerability enables a "God Mode" on infected PCs, giving attackers control over every face of the user's machine.

Angler exploit kit also scans for the Flash-based CVE-2015-5122, CVE-2015-5560, and CVE-2015-7645 vulnerabilities which are less powerful intrusions, compared to the Windows OLE one, but dangerous nevertheless.

These vulnerabilities have been fixed by Microsoft and Adobe, and users who keep their systems up to date have nothing to fear while reading the article on Guardian.

Meanwhile, Guardian has assured to fix the contaminated links on its website.

This news came days after Angler was found serving malvertising to visitors of video site DailyMotion.

Indian researchers work on establishing human robot communication

With the increasing use of robots in every sphere of life, it becomes utmost important to establish proper communication between humans and robots.
 A team of researchers of Speech and Audio (SAG) at Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Bengaluru have been working towards enhancing Human and Robot communication to which they call it as ‘HUBOT’. The research aims to obtain better response from robots to given commands. This team is led by Dr. T.V Sreenivas, Professor at the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering. He leads the research activities of SAG.
There are different kinds of robots with different programmes. While human beings can differentiate between various sounds, it is difficult for robots to do the same. This is a major obstacle in human-robot interactions.
The researchers are actively engaged in enhancing Hubot communication. The techniques used to enable Hubot communication includes voice and word recognition and gross localisation of sound.
The setup required to effectively capture the data needed involves the use of multiple microphones which are used to capture the data from the surrounding environment after which it will be processed in a suitable form to give the required response to the robot.
The team has developed several techniques which work to make Hubot communication more effective. One of these is the Y-Array technique which works in an indoor environment to localise and track moving source. Another technique involves the use of multiple rotating microphones on the robot. This method has given satisfactory results which have further enhanced the efficiency of HUBOT communication.
Digital Signal Processing techniques and properties of speech signals are studied by the SAG in order to overcome the existing difficulties in human-robot voice based interactions. A lot of processing steps are involved to make the robot behave in a certain way in the considered environment and the foremost step is to analyse real life situation or physical problem faced by it after which it will convert problem into mathematical form and written as algorithm.
The team is working on challenges which must be addressed before Hubot can be considered perfect.