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Last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was ordered to reveal the complete source code for the TOR exploit it used to hack visitors of the world's largest dark web child pornography site, PlayPen. Robert J. Bryan, the federal judge, ordered the FBI to hand over the TOR browser exploit code so that defence could better understand how the agency hacked over 1,000 computers and if the evidence gathered was covered under the scope of the warrant. Now, the FBI is pushing back against the federal judge's order. On Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI filed a sealed motion asking the judge to reconsider its ruling, saying revealing the exploit used to bypass the Tor Browser protections is not necessary for the defense and other cases. In previous filings, the defence has argued that the offensive operation used in the case was " gross misconduct by government and law enforcement agencies, " and that the Network Investigative Technique (NIT)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has lengthened its Most Wanted List by adding seven Iranian hackers who are accused of attacking a range of US banks and a New York dam. On Thursday, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) charged seven Iranian hackers with a slew of computer hacking offences for breaking into computer systems of dozens of US banks, causing Millions of dollars in damages, and tried to shut down a New York dam. The individual hackers, who allegedly worked for computer security companies linked to the Iranian government, were indicted for an " extensive campaign " of cyber attacks against the US financial sector. All the seven hackers have been added to the FBI's Most Wanted list, and their names are: Ahmad Fathi , 37 Hamid Firoozi , 34 Amin Shokohi , 25 Sadegh Ahmadzadegan (aka Nitr0jen26), 23 Omid Ghaffarinia (aka PLuS), 25 Sina Keissar , 25 Nader Saedi (aka Turk Server), 26 All the hackers have been charg

Over the past two years, a shocking  51% of organizations surveyed in a leading industry report have been compromised by a cyberattack.  Yes, over half.  And this, in a world where enterprises deploy  an average of 53 different security solutions  to safeguard their digital domain.  Alarming? Absolutely. A recent survey of CISOs and CIOs, commissioned by Pentera and conducted by Global Surveyz Research, offers a quantifiable glimpse into this evolving battlefield, revealing a stark contrast between the growing risks and the tightening budget constraints under which cybersecurity professionals operate. With this report, Pentera has once again taken a magnifying glass to the state of pentesting to release its annual report about today's pentesting practices. Engaging with 450 security executives from North America, LATAM, APAC, and EMEA—all in VP or C-level positions at organizations with over 1,000 employees—the report paints a current picture of modern security validation prac

There's more coming to the high-profile Apple vs. FBI case. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) might not need Apple's assistance to unlock iPhone 5C  that belonged to San Bernardino shooter, Syed Rizwan Farook. If you have followed the San Bernardino case closely, you probably know everything about the ongoing encryption battle between the FBI and Apple. In short, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) wants Apple to help the FBI create a backdoored version of its iOS operating system that could let it access data on Farook's locked iPhone 5C. Apple, meanwhile, is evident on its part , saying that the FBI wants the company to effectively create the " software equivalent of cancer " that would likely open up all iPhones to malicious hackers. FBI to Apple: We'll Unlock iPhone by Our Own Now the Feds say they may be able to crack the iPhone without the Apple's assistance after all. In a court filing [ PDF ] submitted on Mo

Yes, FBI Director James Comey admitted that the investigators made a " mistake " with the San Bernardino investigation during a congressional hearing held by the House Judiciary Committee. Apple is facing a court order to help the FBI unlock an iPhone belonged to San Bernardino Shooter by developing a backdoored version of iOS that can disable the security feature on the locked iPhone. Apple's Chief Executive Tim Cook has maintained his stand over Privacy and Security , saying the company will fight the court order because it is dangerous for the security and privacy of all of its users. As the company earlier said, Apple had been helping the FBI with the investigation in San Bernardino case since early January by providing an iCloud backup of Farook's iPhone under a court order and ways to access Farook's iPhone… ...but the problem, according to Apple, was that the feds approached the company after attempting a ' blunder ' themselv

Everything is now crystal clear: The security researchers from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) were hired by the federal officials to discover a technique that could help the FBI Unmask Tor users and Reveal their IP addresses as part of a criminal investigation. Yes, a federal judge in Washington has recently confirmed that the computer scientists at CMU's Software Engineering Institute (SEI) were indeed behind a hack of the TOR project in 2014, according to court documents [ PDF ] filed Tuesday. In November 2015, The Hacker News reported that Tor Project Director Roger Dingledine accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of paying the CMU, at least, $1 Million for providing information that led to the criminal suspects identification on the Dark Web . After this news had broken, the FBI denied the claims , saying "The allegation that we paid [CMU] $1 Million to hack into TOR is inaccurate."  Meanwhile, the CMU also published a press

Until now, the FBI is asking for Apple's help in unlocking the iPhone belonging to one of the terrorists in the San Bernardino shootings that killed 14 and injured 24 in December. However, in addition to iPhone 5C belonged to San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook, the U.S. Justice Department is looking at court orders forcing Apple to help officials unlock at least 12 iPhones. Citing sources, the Wall Street Journal reported that the federal authorities want to extract data from iPhones seized in a variety of criminal investigations are involved in undisclosed cases where prosecutors are compelling Apple to help them bypass iPhone's lockscreen. Although more details of these cases are not yet publicly disclosed, these dozen or so cases are all distinct from San Bernardino shooter's case and involve many iPhones using an older iOS version that has fewer security barriers to bypass. Also Read:    Police Reset Shooter's Apple ID that leaves iPhone Data U

As the groundwork for the presidential election is being cooked up in the United States to be held on 8 November 2016, candidates are very busy in sharpening their skills to gain the vote of reliance. By struggling to gain an upper hand in the National issues at this moment could benefit the candidates bring them into the limelight and stardom. Donald Trump (a Presidential Candidate from Republican Party) is not an exception to this. Recently, Trump made a controversial statement to boycott Apple until the company handovers the San Bernardino terrorist's phone data to the authority; during a rally in South Carolina yesterday. "First of all, Apple ought to give the security for that phone. What I think you ought to do is boycott Apple until they give that security number," Trump addressed in the rally. This action was the outcome of the Apple denial to the request of Californian Judge to build a backdoor for the shooter's iPhone. Also Read:

Another Surprising Twist in the Apple-FBI Encryption Case : The Apple ID Passcode Changed while the San Bernardino Shooter's iPhone was in Government Custody. Yes, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been screwed up and left with no option to retrieve data from iPhone that belonged to San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. Apple has finally responded to the Department of Justice (DoJ) court filing that attempts to force Apple to comply with an FBI request to help the feds unlock Farook's iPhone, but Apple refused to do so. According to Apple, the company had been helping feds with the investigation since early January to provide a way to access Farook's iPhone, but the problem is that the feds approached the company after attempting a 'blunder' themselves. Here's How the FBI Screwed itself On October 19, 2015, Roughly six weeks before the San Bernardino terrorist attacks, Syed Farook made a last full iCloud backup of his iPhone 5

Apple has been asked to comply with a federal court order to help the FBI unlock an iPhone 5C by one of the terrorists in the San Bernardino mass shootings that killed 14 and injured 24 in December. The FBI knows that it can not bypass the encryption on the iPhone, but it very well knows that Apple can make a way out that could help them try more than 10 PINs on the dead shooter's iPhone without getting the device's data self-destructed. Although Apple refused to comply with the court order and has always claimed its inability to unlock phones anymore, the FBI so cleverly proved that Apple does have a technical way to help feds access data on a locked iOS device. And this is the first time when Apple has not denied that it can not unlock iPhones, rather it simply refused to build the FBI a Backdoor  for the iPhone, in an attempt to maintain its users trust. So, now we know that Apple is not doing so, but it has the ability to do so. Now, when you know

FBI declared War against Encryption. Encryption is defeating government intelligence agencies to detect terrorist activities and after the recent ISIS-linked terror attacks in Paris and California, the issue has once again become a political target in Washington. ...and meanwhile, Kazakhstan plans to make it Mandatory for its Citizens to Install Internet Backdoor , allowing the government to intercept users' traffic to any secure website and access everything from web browsing history to usernames and passwords. FBI: For God's Sake, Don't Use End-to-End Encryption At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, FBI's Director James Comey called for tech companies currently providing users with end-to-end encryption to reconsider "their business model" and simply stop doing that, reported The Intercept . Yes, instead of asking companies for a " backdoor " this time, Comey suggested them to adopt encryption techniques that help federal agencie

That's a lot of Login credentials fetch by a single hacker. The FBI believes a single hacker who goes by the moniker Mr.Grey has stolen login credentials for over 1.2 Billion online accounts – apparently the biggest heist of log-in credentials the FBI has investigated thus far. Yeah, that's not Fifty, but 1.2 Billion Shades of Grey . The information came from the court documents the federal agents submitted to support its search warrant request in 2014, Reuters reported . The cyber security firm ' Hold Security ' initially reported the theft of the credentials last year. It found out that Russian hacking group CyberVor has stolen 1.2 Billion login details and an additional 500 Million email accounts. Botnet Breach These data were said to have been harvested from over 420,000 websites via botnets looking for SQL injection flaws ; the same technique recently used to hack TalkTalk . Botnets are usually employed to attack an individual targ

Remember Junaid Hussain ? Junaid Hussain – a hacker turned ISIS cyber mastermind who was killed in a US drone strike in August this year. But something has emerged what we don't know about the death of Hussain. The infamous hacker who in the past hacked the Anonymous pseudo-official Twitter accounts, now claims he served as an FBI informant to help the US government track down Junaid Hussain. The hacker, goes by the online alias Shm00p ( @5hm00p ), is a member of the hacking collective Rustle League and believes he is "99.9% sure" that the information given by him to the FBI agents led to the extrajudicial killing of Hussain. "What the fuck have I done," Shm00p tweeted early Sunday morning. Over 15 hours later after his first tweet, Shm00p made a series of tweets at the FBI Twitter account. "I lost a lot of good friendship and my fucking honor," Shm00p tweeted at the FBI. You can see an archived copy of his now deleted t

Just day before yesterday, the Tor Project Director Roger Dingledine accused the FBI of paying the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) at least $1 Million to disclose the technique they had discovered to unmask Tor users and reveal their IP addresses. However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has denied the claims. In a statement, the FBI spokeswoman said , "The allegation that we paid [CMU] $1 Million to hack into Tor is inaccurate." The Tor Project team discovered more than hundred new Tor relays that modified Tor protocol headers to track online people who were looking for Hidden Services , and the team believes that it belongs to the FBI in order to reveal the identity of Tor-masked IP addresses. One such IP address belongs to Brian Richard Farrell , an alleged Silk Road 2 lieutenant who was arrested in January 2014. The attack on Tor reportedly began in February 2014 and ran until July 2014, when the Tor Project discovered the flaw. Within few

The non-profit Tor Project has accused the FBI of paying the security researchers of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) at least $1 Million to disclose the technique they had discovered that could help them… …Unmask Tor users as well as Reveal their IP addresses as part of a criminal investigation. As evidence, the Tor Project points to the cyber attack that it discovered last year in July. The team discovered more than hundred new Tor relays that modified Tor protocol headers to track people who were looking for Hidden Services – web servers hosted on Tor that offers more privacy. The Evidence The unknown attackers used a combination of nodes and exit relays, along with some vulnerabilities in the Tor network protocol that let them uncovered users' real IP addresses. The attack reportedly began in February 2014 and ran until July 2014, when the Tor Project discovered the vulnerability. Within few days, the team updated its software and rolled out new ve

The same group of teenage hackers that hacked the AOL email account of the CIA director John Brennan two weeks ago has now hacked into AOL email accounts of the FBI Deputy Director, Mark Giuliano and his wife. Yesterday, Cracka , a member of the teenage hacktivist group known as ' Crackas With Attitude ' (CWA) posted a new trove of information belong to thousands of government employees online; however they claim to have accessed far more than that. The hackers claimed to have obtained the personal information by hacking into AOL email accounts of the Giuliano and his wife. More Than 3,500 Government Employees Doxxed The published information includes more than 3,500 names, email addresses and contact numbers of law enforcement and military personnel. Though the FBI officials couldn't immediately verify the claims, Infowars has confirmed the authenticity of several people listed, which includes everyone from local police officers to FBI and mili

Your Headache is not my Problem. If your computer gets hacked and infected with malware that holds your data for ransom, just pay off the criminals to see your valuable data again and do not expect the FBI to save them – it's what the FBI is advising concerning ransomware . Ransomware is a sophisticated malicious software that lets hacker encrypts all the contents of a victim's hard drive or/and server and demands ransom (typically in Bitcoins) for the decrypt key. Also Read:   Free Ransomware Decryption and Malware Removal ToolKit Federal agencies and the FBI have long urged people not to pay ransom to the criminals, as there is no guarantee that they will even receive an unlock key. The FBI – 'Better Pay up the Ransom' However, while speaking at the 2015 Cyber Security Summit on Wednesday, Assistant Special Agent Joseph Bonavolonta , who oversees the FBI's Boston office, advised the companies infected with ransomware to better pay up th

In both April and June this year, a series of cyber attacks was conducted against the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) . These attacks resulted in 21 million current and former Federal government employees' information being stolen. After months of investigation, the FBI's Cyber Task Force identified several Remote Access Tools (RATs) that were used to carry out the attack. One of the more effective tools discovered is named ' FF-RAT '. FF-RAT evades endpoint detection through stealth tactics, including the ability to download DLLs remotely and execute them in memory only. Hackers use RATs to gain unlimited access to infected endpoints. Once the victim's access privilege is acquired, it is then used for malware deployment, command and control (C&C) server communication, and data exfiltration. Most Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) attacks also take advantage of RAT functionality for bypassing strong authentication, reconnaissance, spreading