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This 10-year-old Boy becomes the youngest Bug Bounty Hacker

This 10-year-old Boy becomes the youngest Bug Bounty Hacker

May 07, 2016
" Talent has no Age Limit " That's what I said for a 10-year-old Finnish boy on our official Facebook page while sharing his recent achievement with our readers i.e. Winning $10,000 bug bounty from Instagram . Last Tuesday when we at The Hacker News first acknowledged this talented boy and the flaw he discovered in image-sharing social network Instagram, I did not have an idea that the Facebook post would get an enormous response from our followers, encouraging me to introduce Jani to our website readers too. Those who aren't aware, Jani from Helsinki recently reported an Instagram bug to Facebook that allowed him to delete other Instagram users' comments just by entering a malicious code into the app's comment field. " I would have been able to eliminate anyone's comment from Instagram, even Justin Bieber, " Jani told a local newspaper. Jani responsibly disclosed the vulnerability details to Facebook, who owns Instagram, in February and
Brazil blocks WhatsApp for 72-Hours — Here's Why

Brazil blocks WhatsApp for 72-Hours — Here's Why

May 03, 2016
In Brief For the second time in past five months, a Brazil court ordered local telecommunications companies to block the popular messaging app WhatsApp for 72 hours, afterFacebook-owned WhatsApp company refused to hand over information requested in a drug trafficking investigation. The WhatsApp's shutdown is affecting more than 100 million users throughout the country. Moreover, if Brazilian telecommunications companies do not comply, they could face a fine of $143,000 per day. Brazil just blocked its roughly 100 Million citizens from using WhatsApp, the popular messaging service owned by Facebook, for 72 hours (3 days). A Brazilian Judge ordered the blackout after WhatsApp failed to comply with a court order asking the company to help a branch of civil police access WhatsApp data tied to a criminal investigation. This is for the second time in last five months when a Brazil court ordered local telecommunications companies to block access to the popular messaging servi
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
More than 1 million People now access Facebook Over Tor Network

More than 1 million People now access Facebook Over Tor Network

Apr 22, 2016
In Brief Facebook has hit another Milestone: More than 1 MILLION people, or you can say privacy conscious, are accessing Facebook over TOR. Facebook proudly announced today that, this month, for the first time, the people connected to the anonymous version of Facebook that's accessible only through the TOR anonymity network exceeded 1 Million – an increase of almost 100% in the past ten months. Today, when global surveillance system continues to grow, encryption has the power to protect users' security and privacy online. And it is ultimately a good thing that companies like Facebook are competing on users' security. In 2014, Facebook launched a special version of its website that runs only with the help of Tor anonymity software that offers privacy to users. Tor anonymity software or Tor browser secures and encrypts connections to prevent cyber criminals or law enforcement agencies from tracking users' web activity. Tor users can visit Facebook's Tor hidden s
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.
Facebook uses Artificial Intelligence to Describe Photos to Blind Users

Facebook uses Artificial Intelligence to Describe Photos to Blind Users

Apr 06, 2016
Today the Internet has become dominated by images, and it's the major feature that got Facebook to a Billion daily users. We can not imagine Facebook without photos, but for Millions of blind and visually impaired people, Facebook without photos has been the reality since its launch. But not now! Facebook has launched a system, dubbed Automatic Alternative Text , which describes the contents of pictures by telling blind and visually-impaired users what appears in them. Blind and visually-impaired people use sophisticated navigation software known as screen readers to make their computers usable. The software turns the contents of the screen into speech, but it can't "read" pictures. However, Facebook's Automatic Alternative Text or AAT uses object recognition technology that can decode and describe photos uploaded to the social network site using artificial intelligence and then provide them in a form that can be readable by a screen reader. V
Bored With Chess? Here's How To Play Basketball in Facebook Messenger

Bored With Chess? Here's How To Play Basketball in Facebook Messenger

Mar 19, 2016
Hope all of you have enjoyed the Game of Chess in the Facebook Messenger. But if you're quite bored playing Chess or not really good at the game, then you probably felt a bit excited about Facebook's recent inclusion of a little Basketball mini-game into Messenger. Now you can play Basketball through Facebook Messenger, just by typing in the Basketball emoji and sending to one of your friends. This would enable a secret Basketball mini-game between you and your friend. Here's How to Play Basketball: Just locate the basketball emoji from your emoji list, send to one of your friends and click it to start the game. Once sent, you would be taken to the Basketball court in a pure white background, where there is no sidebars of any friend suggestions or any promotional ads; only appears a basketball and a hoop, nothing else! All you have to do: Just Swipe up and Toss the basketball into the hoop. A single swipe on your phone in the directio
Facebook's Vice President Arrested in Brazil for Refusing to Share WhatsApp Data

Facebook's Vice President Arrested in Brazil for Refusing to Share WhatsApp Data

Mar 01, 2016
Apple is not the only technology giant battling against authorities over a court order; Facebook is also facing the same. Brazil's federal police arrested Facebook Latin America Vice President for failing to comply with court orders to help investigators in a drug trafficking case that involves WhatsApp, a popular messaging app owned by Facebook that has over 100 Million users in Brazil. Facebook VP Diego Jorge Dzodan was arrested on his way to work in São Paulo, Brazil today because the company refused to provide details of a WhatsApp user involved in organized crime and drug trafficking. Dzodan is still in police custody and is responding to police questioning in Sao Paulo, Local media reported . According to a statement released by a spokesperson from WhatsApp: "We are disappointed that law enforcement took this extreme step. WhatsApp cannot provide information we do not have. We cooperated to the full extent of our ability in this case, and while we re
Facebook Offering You $1000 to Run Advertisement Against Terrorism

Facebook Offering You $1000 to Run Advertisement Against Terrorism

Feb 16, 2016
Over a past few times, we have seen a steady growth in the online recruitment of Jihadis from social networking sites by many radical groups. ISIS has topped the online recruitment, and it is the only terror group that leverages the enormous power of Twitter and Facebook to radicalize young minds, spread its message and recruit foreign supporters to its fights. Many ISIS militants maintain extremely active accounts on the popular social media platforms and have a strong presence on the most popular encrypted messaging app Telegram with more than 100,000 followers. This issue had impacted the society deeply. Recent examples include last year's Paris attack in which ISIS used some popular messaging apps to plot the attack. As the Dark Siders of social media began to turn this platform into a Terror-Picker, the White Siders of the same social media came under a single roof to declare fight against terrorism, and rage cyber war against these anti-humans. Facebook
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
Breaking — India Bans Facebook's Free Basics Service

Breaking — India Bans Facebook's Free Basics Service

Feb 08, 2016
Facebook's Free Basics Internet service has been Blocked in India. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has banned mobile carriers and broadband providers to charge customers based on what services or content they access over the Internet. Under Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016, "no service provider shall offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services on the basis of content." With this, Facebook's Free Basics is dead in India. All Zero-Rated Internet Services are BLOCKED!  It is not just Facebook's Free Basics Internet program that has been blocked inside the country, but also the zero-rated internet services altogether. Zero-rated internet services means those services that allow people access to some websites and web services without utilizing any of their mobile data allowance. Under the new regulation, no such services are now allowed. Free Basics (previously known by Int
How to Unlock (and Play) Hidden Chess Game Inside Facebook Messenger

How to Unlock (and Play) Hidden Chess Game Inside Facebook Messenger

Feb 05, 2016
What can you do with Facebook Messenger? Chat with your friends Send GIFs, stickers, and photos Make video calls Send people money in Messenger Have you ever wondered to Play a game while you chat with friends? Yes, it is possible. Facebook had made it to the reality by building a hidden built-in functionality in Facebook Messenger that lets you play Chess with your friends without having to install a third-party app. It just takes one simple step to unlock this hidden game. All you need to do is: type " @fbchess play " and hit Enter, during a conversation, and a small square box would appear in the chat box. Here's how to play: The person who initiated the game would be assigned "White" side, to make the first movement. Although there is some standard algebraic notation like:- B for "Bishop" R for "Rook" Q for "Queen" K for "King" N for "Knight" P for "Pawn" Pawns could be moved by issuing the simple commands
WhatsApp to Share your Personal Data With Facebook

WhatsApp to Share your Personal Data With Facebook

Jan 30, 2016
Recently the Facebook-owned messaging app dropped its $1 annual subscription fee to make WhatsApp Free for Lifetime . Now, WhatsApp has plans to introduce a new feature that would allow its users to integrate their Facebook accounts with the most widely used messaging app. So far, the social media giant has been focusing on its own messaging platform, Messenger and both WhatsApp and Facebook have been working separately in terms of adding new features. WhatsApp to Share User Data With Facebook Android developer Javier Santos spotted a new feature in the latest beta build of WhatsApp, which indicates that soon you'll start seeing some features interconnected between WhatsApp and Facebook. The feature (optional, for now), dubbed " Share my account info ," when selected will share your personal WhatsApp account information with Facebook in order "to improve your Facebook experience," according to the description. Although it's uncle
Mark Zuckerberg Plans to Build Iron Man's JARVIS like Artificially Intelligent Assistant

Mark Zuckerberg Plans to Build Iron Man's JARVIS like Artificially Intelligent Assistant

Jan 04, 2016
What's the coolest part of the Iron Man movies? The hyper-intelligent Artificial Intelligence that helps Tony Stark by doing data analysis, charging his armor, presenting information at crucial times and doing other business operations. That's right — we are talking about J.A.R.V.I.S. , Iron Man's personal assistant. We all dream of having one of its kinds, and even Facebook's Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has ambitions to live more like Iron Man's superhero Tony Stark. While disclosing his 2016 resolution via a Facebook post on Sunday, Zuckerberg revealed that he is planning to build his own Artificial Intelligence to help him run his home and assist him at office — similar to Iron Man's digital butler Edwin Jarvis . "You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man," Zuckerberg wrote in his Facebook post . "I'll start teaching it to understand my voice to control everything in our home — music, lights, tempe
India temporarily Bans Facebook's Free Internet Service

India temporarily Bans Facebook's Free Internet Service

Dec 24, 2015
Facebook's Free Internet access to India has hit a hurdle: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ( TRAI ) has ordered the mobile carrier to temporary suspend the Facebook's Free Basics Internet program. Facebook's Free Basics is an app that allows users to access certain Internet websites, including Facebook, for free. However, India's independent regulatory body has asked Reliance Communications – the only mobile carrier that provides Free Basics in India – to disable the free internet service temporarily while the regulator investigates whether the service violates net neutrality . Facebook's Free Basics – Free Internet for ALL Facebook introduced Free Basics ( then known as Internet.org ) app to India in February this year, offering people access to more than three dozen Web services for free. Users of Facebook's Free Basics app must have a Reliance mobile network and are limited to a range of portals including Wikipedia, BBC New
WhatsApp Blocks Links to Telegram Messenger (Its biggest Competitor)

WhatsApp Blocks Links to Telegram Messenger (Its biggest Competitor)

Dec 01, 2015
It seems like Facebook-owned popular messaging service WhatsApp is blocking links to rival messaging applications – at least Telegram app  for now. Telegram users are noticing that WhatsApp is blocking any links to the privacy-oriented messaging service Telegram.me. Although users are free to send or receive Telegram links on WhatsApp, the links appear as non-clickable that you cannot copy or forward. This strange behavior was first noticed this morning by Telegram users over on Reddit. The URLs – which are generally automatically made clickable – still appeared as plain text messages, but they didn't register as hyperlinks, blocking users from copying or forwarding them to other users or other apps. Read Also: How to Auto-BackUp Your WhatsApp Data to Google Drive with Encryption . In general, this odd behavior is done with malicious URLs such as malware or spam. The Culprit However, this strange behavior was not exhibited on every device. Only W
Mark Zuckerberg Just Quits his Job at Facebook — Check Yourself!

Mark Zuckerberg Just Quits his Job at Facebook — Check Yourself!

Nov 19, 2015
Yes, you heard it right. Mark Zuckerberg has left his job at Facebook. Don't believe me? I can prove it to you. —  Check this Facebook Post by yourself  — This is weird, Isn't it? But, don't be surprised or shocked, because what you just saw was only an illusion. This is actually a minor bug in the popular social media website that allows anyone to manipulate the life event of any user who has his work status posted on Facebook. The bug, uncovered by the independent hacker Sachin Thakuri , is not a technical flaw. So how was he able to do this? All Thakuri did is took the original URL of Mark Zuckerberg life event: https://www.facebook.com/zuck/timeline/story?ut=32&wstart=-2051193600&wend=2147483647&hash=971179541251&pagefilter=3 &ustart=1 &__mref=message_bubble ...and remove the ustart=1 parameter, which left him with: https://www.facebook.com/zuck/timeline/story?ut=32&wstart=-2051193600&wend=2147483647&ha
Facebook will Let You Send Self-Destructing Messages with Messenger App

Facebook will Let You Send Self-Destructing Messages with Messenger App

Nov 13, 2015
Facebook is planning to offer you the popular Snapchat feature in its Messenger app – ' Self-Destructing' Messages . Yes, Facebook is testing a new feature within its Messenger app that will allow its users to send self-destructing messages. Some Facebook users in France have spotted this new feature in the Messenger app that lets them send messages that only last for an hour. How to Turn ON the Feature? Users can turn on the self-destructing message feature within Messenger through an hourglass icon on the top-right corner of the conversation. The icon, when tapped, sets the messages to self-destruct after an hour of sending it. Tapping the hourglass icon again will turn off the feature, with everything going back to normal. Here's what Facebook says about the feature: "We're excited to announce the latest in an engaging line of optional product features geared towards making Messenger the best way to communicate with the people that
Mark's Milestone: 1 Billion People Uses Facebook in A Single Day

Mark's Milestone: 1 Billion People Uses Facebook in A Single Day

Aug 28, 2015
Yesterday, Facebook Co-founder and Chairman Mark Zuckerberg broadcast in his Facebook post, that Monday Facebook made a record by counting ONE BILLION people accessing Facebook in a single day. Zuckerberg shared his happiness and thanked the world. He was overwhelmed with the milestone Facebook has touched and even shared a video expressing his emotions. "[Facebook] just passed an important milestone," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday. "For the first time ever, one billion people used Facebook in a single day." That means roughly 1 in 7 people on Earth connected with their friends and family using Facebook in a single day. Feeling Connected Indeed! So far, Facebook is the world's largest online social networking website with 1.5 Billion monthly active users . Comparatively, Twitter has 316 Million monthly active users . Zuckerberg felt proud of the Facebook community. As they are the ones, who helped him to reach such
These Laser Beams Will Offer Free Internet to the World from the Sky

These Laser Beams Will Offer Free Internet to the World from the Sky

Jul 02, 2015
During a wide-ranging online question-and-answer session on his Facebook page Tuesday, Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg predicted some wild things for Future. It includes: Telepathy Technology , the ability for humans to talk to each other with their minds. Laser Beams , used to transmit data from the sky to Earth. Growth of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality . Today, Mark Zuckerberg has posted a couple of demonstration pictures from its Connectivity Lab. To help connect people around the world, Facebook's Internet.org initiative is testing a method for delivering the Internet via Lasers. Laser Beam Technology - Future of The Internet  According to Mark, the Connectivity Lab has developed a laser beam technology (as shown) that has the ability to transmit data from the sky into communities. He has plans to equip drones and satellites with lasers to allow those laser-equipped devices to beam down Internet signals anywhere in the w
Facebook Can Recognize You Even if You Don't Show Your Face

Facebook Can Recognize You Even if You Don't Show Your Face

Jun 26, 2015
Well, this is incredible and scary both at the same time. Forget about "facial" recognition; Facebook's newest technology is way good at identifying you in photos even without the need to see your face . The New Scientist is reporting about the Facebook's new "experimental" facial recognition algorithm which is so powerful that it can identify you in photos even when your faces are hidden. Instead, the Facebook's extremely accurate facial recognition algorithm uses other unique characteristics — such as your hairstyle, your body shape, your body language, your clothing and how you carry yourself — to identify that it's you. Facebook's New Facial Recognition Technology - 83% Accurate Facebook's artificial intelligence lab is working on this technology and, according to the head of artificial intelligence at Facebook Yann Lecun , the experimental algorithm is currently able to identify individuals with 83% accuracy, even if
Facebook Starts WhatsApp Integration for Android Users

Facebook Starts WhatsApp Integration for Android Users

Apr 06, 2015
Is Facebook planning to integrate WhatsApp Messenger into its ' Facebook for Android ' app? Yes, this might be possible soon. According to latest rumours, Facebook is reportedly working on it. The social network giant, Facebook has begun testing a new feature in its Facebook app for Android that includes the first integration of WhatsApp Messenger, according to a blogger. WHATSAPP INTEGRATION INTO FACEBOOK APP According to this update, a year after of acquiring WhatsApp Messenger, Facebook has only added a 'Send' button with the WhatsApp icon. This WhatsApp ' send ' will work as part of the status actions options that appear under each status update. It means that Facebook for Android users soon may have this particular version of Facebook app with a dedicated WhatsApp button that would allow an Android user to share posts, status and anything else directly through WhatsApp by just clicking the Share button. If rumours are true, th
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