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Proposed Bill Would Legally Allow Cyber Crime Victims to Hack Back

Proposed Bill Would Legally Allow Cyber Crime Victims to Hack Back

Mar 08, 2017
Is it wrong to hack back in order to counter hacking attack when you have become a victim? — this has been a long time debate. While many countries, including the United States, consider hacking back practices as illegal, many security firms and experts believe it as "a terrible idea" and officially "cautions" victims against it, even if they use it as a part of an active defense strategy. Accessing a system that does not belong to you or distributing code designed to enable unauthorized access to anyone's system is an illegal practice. However, this doesn't mean that this practice is not at all performed. In some cases, retribution is part of current defense offerings, and many security firms do occasionally hack the infrastructure of threat groups to unmask several high-profile malware campaigns. But a new proposed bill intended to amend section 1030 of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that would allow victims of ongoing cyber-attacks to fight
70+ Cyber Security Micro-Courses and Certifications To Boost Your IT Career

70+ Cyber Security Micro-Courses and Certifications To Boost Your IT Career

Feb 28, 2017
With the evolving hacking events around us, cyber-security skills are in high demand across all organizations and industries, because a shortage of skilled cyber security practitioners could leave an organization vulnerable to cyber attacks. But knowledge alone is not sufficient, 'certification as eligibility' also matters, which shows employers that you are serious about your career and eligible as you have demonstrated your technical ability in some form. I frequently receive emails and messages from my readers asking: Should I get certified?, Are certifications important to build up a career in IT?, What certifications can one get to start a career in information security? and more. These are some of the most frequent queries I came across, and in this article, I will attempt to answer these along with a solution on how to get started. Whether you are looking to launch your career in the IT industry, or perhaps get promoted at your current job — getting certified
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
Two Arrested for Hacking Washington CCTV Cameras Before Trump Inauguration

Two Arrested for Hacking Washington CCTV Cameras Before Trump Inauguration

Feb 03, 2017
Two suspected hackers have reportedly been arrested in London on suspicion of hacking 70 percent of the CCTV cameras in Washington with ransomware ahead of President Donald Trump's inauguration last month. The arrest took place on 20th January by the officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) of UK after it received a request from United States authorities, but it has not been disclosed until now. The NCA raided a house in the south of London last month and detained a British man and a Swedish woman, both 50-years-old, reported The Sun. Some 123 of the 187 police CCTV cameras used to monitor public areas in Washington DC stopped working on 12 January, just 8 days before the inauguration of Donald Trump, after a cyber attack hit the storage devices. The cyber attack lasted for about three days, eventually leaving the CCTV cameras out of recording anything between 12 and 15 January. It was reported that the surveillance cameras were left useless after a ransomware made
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.
Cloud-AI: Artificially Intelligent System Found 10 Security Bugs in LinkedIn

Cloud-AI: Artificially Intelligent System Found 10 Security Bugs in LinkedIn

Jan 24, 2017
2017 is the year of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), Big Data, Virtual Reality (VR) and Cyber Security with major companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, IBM and Salesforce and technology pioneers like SpaceX founder Elon Musk investing in these hot technologies. Since everyone seems to be talking about the hottest trend — artificial intelligence and machine learning — broadly, 62 percent of large enterprises will be using AI technologies by 2018, says a report from Narrative Science. But why AI is considered to be the next big technology? Because it can enhance and change everything about the way we think, interact, manufacture and deliver. Last year, we saw a significant number of high-profile hacks targeting big organizations, governments, small enterprises, and individuals — What's more worrisome? It's going to get worse, and we need help. No doubt, we, the human, can find vulnerabilities but can not analyze millions of programs with billions of lines of codes at o
Secure Your Enterprise With Zoho Vault Password Management Software

Secure Your Enterprise With Zoho Vault Password Management Software

Jan 11, 2017
Recent data breaches have taught us something very important — online users are spectacularly bad at choosing their strong passwords. Today majority of online users are vulnerable to cyber attacks, not because they are not using any best antivirus or other security measures, but because they are using weak passwords that are easy to remember and reuse same passwords on multiple accounts and reusable passwords to secure their online accounts. Ideally, your password should be at least 16 characters long and should contain a combination of digits, symbols, uppercase letters and lowercase letters. Most of us know about this good password practice, but we just ignore it because it is really painful for us to memorize complex password strings for different accounts. Here comes the need of a Password Manager OR  Password Management Software . Password Manager can significantly reduce your password memorizing problem, along with the cure for your bad habit of setting weak password
FBI Hacked into 8,000 Computers in 120 Countries Using A Single Warrant

FBI Hacked into 8,000 Computers in 120 Countries Using A Single Warrant

Nov 24, 2016
The FBI hacked into more than 8,000 computers in 120 different countries with just a single warrant during an investigation into a dark web child pornography website, according to a newly published court filings. This FBI's mass hacking campaign is related to the high-profile child pornography Playpen case and represents the largest law enforcement hacking campaign known to date. The warrant was initially issued in February 2015 when the FBI seized the Playpen site and set up a sting operation on the dark web site, in which the agency deployed malware to obtain IP addresses from alleged site's visitors. The piece of malware used by the FBI is known as a Network Investigative Technique (NIT). The malware was used for at least 13 days to break into the computer of users who visited certain threads on Playpen and then sent their IP addresses back to the bureau. Earlier this year, court documents related to the Playpen case revealed that the FBI hacked over 1,000 alleg
The Hacker News (THN) Celebrates 6th Anniversary Today

The Hacker News (THN) Celebrates 6th Anniversary Today

Nov 01, 2016
Can you believe that it's been 6 years since we first launched The Hacker News? Yes, The Hacker News is celebrating its sixth anniversary today on 1st November. We started this site on this same day back in 2010 with the purpose of providing a dedicated platform to deliver latest infosec news and threat updates for Hackers, Security researchers, technologists, and nerds. Times flies when you are having fun! The Hacker News has become one of the World's popular and trusted Hacking News channel that went from ~100,000 readers to more than 10 million monthly readers — all because of THN readers high enthusiasm. In this short span of time, The Hacker News has achieved a series of milestone: The Hacker News Facebook page is going to hit 1.5 Million Followers, More than 1.6 Million followers on Google Plus+ , Over 200,000 Email Subscribers , And around 307,000 Twitter Followers. What's more? The Twitter Account of The Hacker News became officially verified (
Breaking — Russian Hacker Responsible for LinkedIn Data Breach Arrested by FBI

Breaking — Russian Hacker Responsible for LinkedIn Data Breach Arrested by FBI

Oct 19, 2016
The alleged Russian hacker arrested by the FBI in collaboration with the Czech police is none other than the hacker who was allegedly responsible for massive 2012 data breach at LinkedIn , which affected nearly 117 Million user accounts. Yevgeniy N , 29-year-old Russian hacker was arrested in Prague on October 5 suspected of participating in conducting cyber-attacks against the United States, according to Reuters . Earlier it was suspected that the hacker could be involved in hacking against the  Democratic National Committee  (DNC), or its presidential candidate Hillary Clinton , intended to influence the presidential election. However, the latest statement released by LinkedIn suggests that the arrest was related to a 2012 data breach at the social network that exposed emails and hashed password of nearly 117 Million users. "We are thankful for the hard work and dedication of the FBI in its efforts to locate and capture the parties believed to be responsible for this
Russian Hacker who was wanted by FBI arrested in Prague

Russian Hacker who was wanted by FBI arrested in Prague

Oct 19, 2016
UPDATE — It Turns out that the Russian Hacker arrested by the FBI is responsible for 2012 LinkedIn Data Breach. ( Read latest update here ) Czech police, in cooperation with the FBI, has arrested a Russian citizen in Prague suspected of participating in conducting cyber-attacks against the United States. Czech police announced the arrest on its official website Tuesday evening, without giving any further details about the man and for what he is wanted for. Yevgeniy N , 29-year-old, alleged Russian Hacker, was arrested after Interpol issued a warrant. Police detained the individual at a hotel in the city's center 12 hours after receiving the order. Officials say he was living in the country with his girlfriend and enjoying a lavish lifestyle, driving expensive cars. Neither the Czech police nor the FBI has issued any details on the charges that led to the arrest of the suspect. "Czech police carried out a successful joint operation with the US Federal Bureau of
LastPass Bug Lets Hackers Steal All Your Passwords

LastPass Bug Lets Hackers Steal All Your Passwords

Jul 27, 2016
A critical zero-day flaw has been discovered in the popular cloud password manager LastPass that could allow any remote attacker to compromise your account completely. LastPass is one of the best password manager that also available as a browser extension that automatically fills credentials for you. All you need is to remember one master password to unlock all other passwords of your different online accounts, making it much easier for you to use unique passwords for different sites. However, the password manager isn't as secure as it promises. Also Read:  Popular Password Managers Are Not As Secure As You Think Google Project Zero Hacker Tavis Ormandy discovered several security issues in the software that allowed him to steal passwords stored with LastPass. " Are people really using this LastPass thing? I took a quick look and can see a bunch of obvious critical problems. I'll send a report asap ," Ormandy revealed on Twitter . Once compromise a v
End of SMS-based 2-Factor Authentication; Yes, It's Insecure!

End of SMS-based 2-Factor Authentication; Yes, It's Insecure!

Jul 27, 2016
SMS-based Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) has been declared insecure and soon it might be a thing of the past. Two-Factor Authentication or 2FA adds an extra step of entering a random passcode sent to you via an SMS or call when you log in to your account as an added layer of protection. For example, if you have 2FA enabled on Gmail, the platform will send a six-digit passcode to your mobile phone every time you sign in to your account. But, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released a new draft of its Digital Authentication Guideline that says SMS-based two-factor authentication should be banned in future due to security concerns. Here's what the relevant paragraph of the latest DAG draft reads: "If the out of band verification is to be made using an SMS message on a public mobile telephone network, the verifier SHALL verify that the pre-registered telephone number being used is actually associated with a mobile network and not wi
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
Traveling to US? Agencies want to Spy on your Social Media activities right from Airport

Traveling to US? Agencies want to Spy on your Social Media activities right from Airport

Jun 27, 2016
Hey! Welcome to the United States. May we have your Twitter handle, please? That's exactly what you'll likely be asked by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the airport prior to entering U.S. soil. Yes, your Twitter handle may soon be part of the US Visa process as U.S. Customs and Border Protection has entered a new proposal into the federal register, suggesting a new field in which foreign visitors can declare their online presence. This new proposal submitted by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to the Federal Register on Thursday would update the required entry forms with a question asking travelers to " Please enter information associated with your online presence -- Provider/Platform -- Social media identifier. " This information would not be mandatory, but of course, foreign travelers who decline to reveal their online presence may subject for additional scrutiny. What's the idea behind Knowing the visitors' Online Prese
MIT builds Artificial Intelligence system that can detect 85% of Cyber Attacks

MIT builds Artificial Intelligence system that can detect 85% of Cyber Attacks

Apr 19, 2016
In Brief What if we could Predict when a cyber attack is going to occur before it actually happens and prevent it? Isn't it revolutionary idea for Internet Security? Security researchers at MIT have developed a new Artificial Intelligence-based cyber security platform, called ' AI2 ,' which has the ability to predict, detect, and stop 85% of Cyber Attacks with high accuracy. Cyber security is a major challenge in today's world, as government agencies, corporations and individuals have increasingly become victims of cyber attacks that are so rapidly finding new ways to threaten the Internet that it's hard for good guys to keep up with them. A group of researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) are working with machine-learning startup PatternEx to develop a line of defense against such cyber threats. The team has already  developed an Artificial Intelligence system that can detect 85 percent of attacks by
Hackers Are Offering Apple Employees $23,000 for Corporate Login Details

Hackers Are Offering Apple Employees $23,000 for Corporate Login Details

Feb 10, 2016
An unsatisfied Employee may turn into a Nightmare for you and your organization. Nowadays, installing an antivirus or any other anti-malware programs would be inadequate to beef up the security to maintain the Corporate Database. What would you do if your employee itself backstabbed you by breaching the Hypersensitive Corporate Secrets? Yes! There could be a possibility for an Internal Breach all the time. Just last year, an ex-employee stole Yandex Search Engine Source Code and tried to sell it for just $29,000 in the underground market. Over a few years, hackers have adopted various techniques ranging from Stress Attacks to Social Engineering tactics in order to gain the Classified Corporate information. Hackers Offering $23,000 for Internal Access Now hackers are rolling their dice for the next Deceptive Step to acquire Corporate Login Details of Irish Apple Employees in exchange of 20,000 Euro ( $23,000 USD ). The current situation is being faced
NASA HACKED! AnonSec tried to Crash $222 Million Drone into Pacific Ocean

NASA HACKED! AnonSec tried to Crash $222 Million Drone into Pacific Ocean

Feb 02, 2016
Once again the Red Alarm had been long wailed in the Security Desk of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ). Yes! This time, a serious hacktivism had been triggered by the Hacking group named " AnonSec " who made their presence in the cyber universe by previous NASA Hacks. The AnonSec Members had allegedly released 276 GB of sensitive data which includes 631 video feeds from the Aircraft & Weather Radars; 2,143 Flight Logs and credentials of 2,414 NASA employees, including e-mail addresses and contact numbers. The hacking group has  released a self-published paper named " Zine " that explains the magnitude of the major network breach that compromised NASA systems and their motives behind the leak. Here's How AnonSec Hacked into NASA The original cyber attack against NASA was not initially planned by AnonSec Members, but the attack went insidious soon after the Gozi Virus Spread that affected millions of systems a
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