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Facebook releases Osquery Security Tool for Windows

Facebook releases Osquery Security Tool for Windows

Sep 27, 2016
OSquery , an open-source framework created by Facebook that allows organizations to look for potential malware or malicious activity on their networks, was available for Mac OS X and Linux environments until today. But now the social network has announced that the company has developed a Windows version of its osquery tool , too. When Facebook engineers want to monitor thousands of Apple Mac laptops across their organization, they use their own untraditional security tool called OSquery. OSquery is a smart piece of cross-platform software that scans every single computer on an infrastructure and catalogs every aspect of it. Then SQL-based queries allow developers and security teams to monitor low-level functions in real-time and quickly search for malicious behavior and vulnerable applications on their infrastructure. In simple words, OSquery allows an organization to treat its infrastructure as a database, turning OS information into a format that can be queried using SQL
Hacker reveals How He Could have Hacked Multiple Facebook Accounts

Hacker reveals How He Could have Hacked Multiple Facebook Accounts

Aug 27, 2016
How to Hack a Facebook Account? That's possibly the most frequently asked question on the Internet today. Though the solution is hard to find, a white hat hacker has just proven how easy it is to hack multiple Facebook accounts with some basic computer skills. Your Facebook account can be hacked, no matter how strong your password is or how much extra security measures you have taken. No joke! Gurkirat Singh from California recently discovered a loophole in Facebook's password reset mechanism that could have given hackers complete access to the victim's Facebook account, allowing them to view message conversations and payment card details, post anything and do whatever the real account holder can. The attack vector is simple, though the execution is quite difficult. The issue, Gurkirat ( @GurkiratSpeca ) says, actually resides in the way Facebook allows you to reset your password. The social network uses an algorithm that generates a random 6-digit passcode ‒
Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Making Sense of Operational Technology Attacks: The Past, Present, and Future

Mar 21, 2024Operational Technology / SCADA Security
When you read reports about cyber-attacks affecting operational technology (OT), it's easy to get caught up in the hype and assume every single one is sophisticated. But are OT environments all over the world really besieged by a constant barrage of complex cyber-attacks? Answering that would require breaking down the different types of OT cyber-attacks and then looking back on all the historical attacks to see how those types compare.  The Types of OT Cyber-Attacks Over the past few decades, there has been a growing awareness of the need for improved cybersecurity practices in IT's lesser-known counterpart, OT. In fact, the lines of what constitutes a cyber-attack on OT have never been well defined, and if anything, they have further blurred over time. Therefore, we'd like to begin this post with a discussion around the ways in which cyber-attacks can either target or just simply impact OT, and why it might be important for us to make the distinction going forward. Figure 1 The Pu
I'm Warning You, Don't Read this Article. It's a Federal Crime!

I'm Warning You, Don't Read this Article. It's a Federal Crime!

Jul 14, 2016
Yes, you heard it right. If I tell you not to visit my website, but you still visit it knowing you are disapproved, you are committing a federal crime, and I have the authority to sue you. Wait! I haven't disapproved you yet. Rather I'm making you aware of a new court decision that may trouble you and could have big implications going forward. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has taken a critical decision on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA): Companies can seek civil and criminal penalties against people who access or visit their websites without their permission. Even Sharing Password is also a Federal Crime... Yes, a similar weird decision was taken last week when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that sharing passwords can be a violation of the CFAA, making Millions of people who share their passwords "unwitting federal criminals." Now, you might be wondering how visiting a publically open website could be a crime. We
cyber security

Automated remediation solutions are crucial for security

websiteWing SecurityShadow IT / SaaS Security
Especially when it comes to securing employees' SaaS usage, don't settle for a longer to-do list. Auto-remediation is key to achieving SaaS security.
STOP Sharing that Facebook Privacy and Permission Notice, It's a HOAX

STOP Sharing that Facebook Privacy and Permission Notice, It's a HOAX

Jun 29, 2016
Recently, you may have seen some of your Facebook friends started posting a Facebook " Privacy Notice " clarifying that they no longer give Facebook permission to use their photos, personal information, and so on. The Privacy message looks something like this: "From Monday, 27th June, 2016, 1528 IST, I don't give Facebook permission to use my pictures, my information or my publications, both of the past and the future, mine or those where I show up. By this statement, I give my notice to Facebook it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, give, sell my information, photos or take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and/or its contents. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of privacy can be punished by law (UCC 1-308-1 1 308-103 and the Rome statute). Note: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must post a note like this. If you prefer, you can copy and paste this version.
Ever Wondered How Facebook Decides — How much Bounty Should be Paid?

Ever Wondered How Facebook Decides — How much Bounty Should be Paid?

Mar 18, 2016
Facebook pays Millions of dollars every year to researchers and white hat hackers from all around the world to stamp out security holes in its products and infrastructure under its Bug Bounty Program. Facebook recognizes and rewards bug hunters to encourage more people to help the company keep Facebook users safe and secure from outside entities, malicious hackers or others. Recently, the social media giant revealed that India is on top of all countries to report the maximum number of vulnerabilities or security holes in the Facebook platform as well as holds the top position in the country receiving the most bug bounties paid. "India is home to the largest population of security researchers participating in the Facebook bug bounty program since its inception in 2011. The country also holds the top spot for most bounties paid," Adam Ruddermann, Facebook's technical program manager notes . If you are one of the Facebook's bug hunters, you might be aware of the fact t
Hacker Reveals How to Hack Any Facebook Account

Hacker Reveals How to Hack Any Facebook Account

Mar 08, 2016
Hacking Facebook account is one of the major queries of the Internet user today. It's hard to find — how to hack Facebook account , but an Indian hacker just did it. A security researcher discovered a 'simple vulnerability' in the social network that allowed him to easily hack into any Facebook account, view message conversations, post anything, view payment card details and do whatever the real account holder can. Facebook bounty hunter Anand Prakash from India recently discovered a Password Reset Vulnerability , a simple yet critical vulnerability that could have given an attacker endless opportunities to brute force a 6-digit code and reset any account's password. Here's How the Flaw Works The vulnerability actually resides in the way Facebook's beta domains handle 'Forgot Password' requests. Facebook lets users change their account password through Password Reset procedure by confirming their Facebook account with a 6-digit c
France Orders Facebook To Stop Tracking Non-Users or Face Fines

France Orders Facebook To Stop Tracking Non-Users or Face Fines

Feb 09, 2016
8th February 2016 would be considered as a cursed day in the history of Facebook. You might have known that just yesterday India bans Facebook's Free Basic Internet in the country. Now, Zuckerberg had got another bombshell in the form of a French Order from the European Data Protection Authority, who ordered Facebook to stop tracking non-users' online activity and to stop data transfers of personal data to the US servers. Facebook Is Following You Everywhere Do you know: Facebook can still track you, even if you log out, with the help of its tracking cookies and plugins ( like, share buttons ) placed on any 3rd-party website. Facebook knows what sites you are visiting, and by " you ," I mean specifically your account, not an anonymous Facebook user . As per the French Order, Facebook is not legalized to track the web browsing habits of all European citizens, even those without a Facebook account. The French Government had also provided a tim
Facebook Will Now Notify You If NSA is Spying on You

Facebook Will Now Notify You If NSA is Spying on You

Oct 19, 2015
Facebook just launched a new notification feature that will alert you if the social network strongly suspects that your account is being hijacked or targeted by hackers working in the interest of a nation-state. The message, which you can see below, recommends users to turn ON " Login Approvals ," so that their Facebook accounts can only be accessed using stronger two-factor authentication. Facebook insists that some necessary steps are already taken to secure users' Facebook accounts that may be targeted by hackers, but the company has also stepped up to directly warn its users when a government-sponsored attack is under away. In a blog post published Saturday, Facebook Chief Security Officer (CSO) Alex Stamos announced that this step to secure accounts is necessary "because these types of attacks tend to be more advanced and dangerous than others." Stamos added that "it's important to understand that this warning is not related t
Here's What Facebook 'Dislike or Empathy Button' Would Look Like

Here's What Facebook 'Dislike or Empathy Button' Would Look Like

Sep 22, 2015
A Facebook Dislike button is one of the most frequently requested features from users for years. Earlier in the last week, Facebook finally confirmed its plans to add a Dislike or Empathy to your Facebook Profile and News Feed. If you are thinking that Facebook Dislike is going to be a thumbs-down button, then you are dead wrong. Why Not Thumbs-Down? Because: … The Dislike Concept will lead to more bad behavior than good — vitriol or bullying or worse. Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg says, " We didn't want to just build a Dislike button because we don't want to turn Facebook into a forum where people are voting up or down on people's posts. " So what will this Dislike or Empathy button look like? Instead of a simple thumbs down to express disapproval or pity, it could be as simple as Emojis. Yes, Emojis reaction ( Emoticons ) Faces. A ' two-years old ' Patent filed by Facebook uncovered how the new feature might work. The Patent illustr
Change this Facebook Privacy Setting That Could Allow Hackers to Steal Your Identity

Change this Facebook Privacy Setting That Could Allow Hackers to Steal Your Identity

Aug 13, 2015
Facebook User: Who Can Find Me...? Hacker: Yes, I CAN!! A Security Researcher claimed " digi-crims could easily scan the population of an entire country to find targets ". Reza Moaiandin , technical director at Salt Agency, has figured out a way to exploit an important Facebook feature to gather personal data belonging to the users. Facebook Privacy Setting That Makes Your Identity Vulnerable If you pay attention to the security settings in your Facebook profile, you will find a privacy setting that says ' Who can look me up? ', or " Who can look you up using the phone number you provided? " which has been set to ' Everyone ' by default. This configuration allows you to search anyone just by entering his or her phone number; as a result, the search box in Facebook will display the profile of that person. But, Can you imagine, How Cybercriminals can take advantage of this crucial privacy blunder? By exploiting this default feature with a sim
Facebook Legacy Contact — Control What Happens to Your Account When You Die

Facebook Legacy Contact — Control What Happens to Your Account When You Die

Feb 13, 2015
When I Die, I'd like someone to keep updating my Facebook Status, just to Freak people out, because who knew I'd have WiFi signal up there. Jokes apart, Facebook has fulfilled my this wish as well. The social networking giant is giving its users control over what happens to their Facebook accounts when they die. Until now, Facebook allowed people to turn the profiles of their loved one into "memorialized" accounts after Facebook verifies that person has died, meaning the account could be viewed but not be managed or edited. But Facebook is now adding a new option that users can select prior to their death: ' Legacy Contact '. " Until now, when someone passed away, we offered a basic memorialized account which was viewable, but could not be managed by anyone, " the Facebook team wrote in a blog post . " By talking to people who have experienced loss, we realized there is more we can do to support those who are grieving and those who wa
​Facebook launches ThreatExchange for Sharing Cyber Security Threats

​Facebook launches ThreatExchange for Sharing Cyber Security Threats

Feb 12, 2015
Social Networking giant Facebook has just launched a new platform called ThreatExchange , which is designed to mount a coordinated defense against cybercrime. Many security professionals rely largely on manual methods for collecting, analyzing, and consuming information about latest cyber security threats such as malware and botnets . Whereas, Mark Zuckerberg's ThreatExchange is a unique social media platform where multiple organizations can sign up and share information about new threats to cyber security, new types of hacks, phishing attacks and malicious activities they may have experienced. COLLABORATE AND TAKE ACTION Facebook is currently using a threat analysis framework called " ThreatData " to discover and tackle scams and cybercrimes, but with the growth in the magnitude of cyber attacks, Facebook believes that better communication between companies could help stamp them out. " We quickly learned that sharing with one another was key to bea
Facebook Now Accessible Via Tor Anonymous Network Using .Onion Address

Facebook Now Accessible Via Tor Anonymous Network Using .Onion Address

Nov 01, 2014
If you are fan of the largest social networking site Facebook, but also want to remain anonymous while using your Facebook account, then there is really a Good news for you. Facebook on Friday began offering a way for security and Privacy conscious users to connect to its social networking service using the anonymizing service running on the Tor networ k, by launching a .onion address. This is really a historic move of the social network. Tor Browser is an open source project, launched in 2002, designed to increase the anonymity of your activities on the Internet by not sharing your identifying information such as your IP address and physical location with websites and your service providers. Browsing and data exchange over a network is made through encrypted connections between computers. The social network just created a special URL – https://facebookcorewwwi.onion – that will allow users running Tor-enabled browsers to connect Facebook's Core WWW Infrastructure. Hidden service
Facebook “Safety Check” Allows You to Connect with Family during Natural Disasters

Facebook "Safety Check" Allows You to Connect with Family during Natural Disasters

Oct 16, 2014
Facebook is moving a step ahead from others and making its social media service as an information sharing platform in serious situations as well. The social networking giant has announced a new tool, which lets users notify their family and friends that they are safe during or after natural disasters. The tool, named " Safety Check, " will soon be available globally to over 1.32 billion Facebook users on Android, iOS, feature phones and the desktops. The tool is designed to be activated after a natural disaster and by using either the city you lived in or your last location - if you have checked in on " Nearby Friends ", it let's you alert your friends and family that you are safe, while also tracking the status of others. " In times of disaster or crisis, people turn to Facebook to check on loved ones and get updates, " wrote the company in a blog post about the feature. " It is in these moments that communication is most critical both for people in the affected
Facebook Introduces Anonymous Login to Limit Third-party App Permissions

Facebook Introduces Anonymous Login to Limit Third-party App Permissions

May 01, 2014
We're comfortable in sharing information with our Facebook friends, but it is quite sneaky for Facebook users to offer their Identities and credentials when logging in to third-party apps , they don't trust. To deal with this issue, the social network giant has plans to improve the way users login to the third party apps with more privacy controls on the web as well as mobile devices. ANONYMOUS LOGIN At Facebook's F8 developer conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, Keynote speaker - Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced the new Facebook's login tool, " Anonymous Login " that would let users sign into apps and websites anonymously without sharing their personal information-Biggest news for Facebook users. " Today, we want to do more to put control and power back into people's hands, " Zuckerberg said at the conference. " Up until now, your friends have been able to share your data via using apps. Now we're changing this, so every
Snowden's disclosures haven't changed much about Facebook Security

Snowden's disclosures haven't changed much about Facebook Security

Mar 19, 2014
Mark Zuckerberg is continually denying working with the NSA or any other Government Intelligence Agency in serving out data they gathered through extended surveillance, and even he expressed his indignation over the damage the Government is creating for all, on the phone call to the US President Obama . " I've called President Obama to express my frustration over the damage the government is creating for all of our future ," he said in a blog post. Facebook - HTTPS Now, just yesterday morning, Facebook's Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan sat down whiteboard session on social networks in Silicon Valley headquarters for providing information on the company's security policy diving. The session was conducted after a recent report revealed by The Intercept , suggested the National Security Agency (NSA) may have masqueraded as the social network to infect a number of target's computers, according to Edward Snowden documents. He said, " no one co
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