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Security researchers have unearthed multiple vulnerabilities in hundreds of GPS services that could enable attackers to expose a whole host of sensitive data on millions of online location tracking devices managed by vulnerable GPS services. The series of vulnerabilities discovered by two security researchers, Vangelis Stykas and Michael Gruhn, who dubbed the bugs as ' Trackmageddon ' in a report , detailing the key security issues they have encountered in many GPS tracking services. Trackmageddon affects several GPS services that harvest geolocation data of users from a range of smart GPS-enabled devices, including children trackers, car trackers, pet trackers among others, in an effort to enable their owners to keep track of where they are. According to the researchers, the vulnerabilities include easy-to-guess passwords (such as 123456), exposed folders, insecure API endpoints, and insecure direct object reference (IDOR) issues. By exploiting these flaws, an unaut...

What do you expect from your cat to come back with?? Perhaps with a mouse or a bird – none of your use. But what if she come back with your neighbours' wifi details? Really Interesting! A creative security researcher has found a way to use his pet cat mapping dozens of vulnerable Wi-Fi networks in his neighborhood. Gene Bransfield , a security researcher with Tenacity, managed to turn his wife's grandmother's pet cat Coco into a roaming detector for free Wifi networks by just using a custom-built collar , which was made from a Wi-Fi card, GPS module, Spark Core chip, battery and some fetching leopard print fabric. Bransfield dubbed his experiment " Warkitteh " – on the concept of " Wardriving ", where hackers used unsecured Wi-Fi connections from a parked car. He decided to turn his cat into a hacker because he found the idea amusing, and also because cats are the one that consumes as much as 15 per cent of internet traffic, with the popularity among the internet users....

As a relatively new security category, many security operators and executives I've met have asked us "What are these Automated Security Validation (ASV) tools?" We've covered that pretty extensively in the past, so today, instead of covering the " What is ASV?" I wanted to address the " Why ASV?" question. In this article, we'll cover some common use cases and misconceptions of how people misuse and misunderstand ASV tools daily (because that's a lot more fun). To kick things off, there's no place to start like the beginning. Automated security validation tools are designed to provide continuous, real-time assessment of an organization's cybersecurity defenses. These tools are continuous and use exploitation to validate defenses like EDR, NDR, and WAFs. They're more in-depth than vulnerability scanners because they use tactics and techniques that you'll see in manual penetration tests. Vulnerability scanners won't relay hashes or combine vulnerabilities to further attacks, whic

Facebook – one of the popular social networking website that connects you worldwide with your friends, families, and many more to your network. Now, Facebook is introducing a new feature named "Nearby Friends" for its Android and iPhone mobile users that will allow them to find their friends when they are nearby. Earlier this month, Facebook added new voice calling feature over Internet functionality for its Messenger app worldwide, that helps its users make free voice calls to their online pals by just tapping the blue phone icon and now Facebook is rolling out its new feature which is completely optional, that means you can turn it ON or OFF at anytime accordingly. LOCATION SHARING TO LIMITED NETWORK If you enable the " Nearby Friends " feature, it's only your friends (friends or close friends or specific friends list) who are able to know your GPS location and nobody else, and that too only if you and your friends both have turned on the 'Nearby Friends' feature on ...

If you are using WhatsApp to chit-chat with your friends or relatives, then you should be careful about sharing your location with them using WhatsApp 'Location Share' feature. No doubt, WhatsApp communication between your phone and company's server is now encrypted with SSL, which means whatever you are sharing with your friends, is secured from the man-in-the-middle attacks . But the extremely popular instant messaging service for Smartphones that delivers more than 1 billion messages per day has another serious security issue. According to Researchers at UNH Cyber Forensics Research & Education Group , WhatsApp location sharing service could expose your location to hackers or Spy Agencies. While sharing the location on WhatsApp users need to first locate themselves on Google Map within the app window, as shown:  Once selected, WhatsApp fetches the location and thumbnail (an image) from the Google Map service to share it as the message icon, but unfortunatel...

Beware! Hackers can cause Traffic jams with just a navigation Smartphone application. Two Israeli students were assigned by college to hack Google-owned Waze GPS app , an Israeli-made Smartphone app that provides directions and alerts drivers to traffic and accidents. Shir Yadid and Meital Ben-Sinai , fourth-year students at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, with the help of two advisers created a virtual program that successfully caused the popular navigation application Waze to report fake traffic jams,  Haaretz  reported. They successfully launched a demo cyber attack against the popular navigation app, with no evil intention to cause any damage to the app, instead it was a simple assignment handed over to these students to demonstrate up to what a malicious hacker could do by creating a fake traffic jam on any popular app, like Waze that provides real-time traffic updates and notifications to users on the road. HOW TO JAM TRAFFIC? To carry out th...

Using Popular Online Dating app - Tinder on iPhone ?? Then you are at significant risk that exposed members' private information without their knowledge. Online Dating app Tinder, available for the iPhone from the app store , has become incredibly popular in the past few months. Tinder app allows you to find dates nearby your location within a few miles and connects you with them, but a vulnerability allowed the attacker to potentially pinpoint your exact location to within 100 feet. Security Researchers at Include Security discovered that Tinder GPS vulnerability making members vulnerable to hackers. The Security flaw was discovered by the company last October, that enabled any member with some programming skills to access the app's API (Application Programming Interface) to get the exact latitude and longitude for another member. " Due to Tinder's architecture, it is not possible for one Tinder user to know if another took advantage of this ...

A team of Researchers at Rutgers University has developed an Android application which will notify you every time, whenever an app installed on your Smartphone accesses the GPS functionality. Smartphone is a multipurpose device, having features of both a mobile phone and a computer, allowing us to talk, text, access personal and official e-mail, browse the Internet, make purchases, manage bank accounts, and take pictures. Smartphone also help you to find the way to your destination using GPS (Global Positioning System) technology. Unlike many of our computers, our Smartphones are always with us and many of us rarely turn them off, that means your Smartphone even can be abused to track your real time location on the map. There are many legitimate applications which need your location in order to function properly and to enhance the app features, for example- Zomato app can give the list of all restaurants near you, WeChat like social messaging apps allows you to get...

A location based Social Networking platform with 45 million users,' Foursquare ' was vulnerable to the primary email address disclosed.  Foursquare is a Smartphone application that gives you details of nearby cafes, bars, shops, parks using GPS location and also tells about your friends nearby. According to a Penetration tester and hacker ' Jamal Eddin e ',  an attacker can extract email addresses of all 45 million users just by using a few lines of scripting tool. Basically the flaw exists in the Invitation system of the Foursquare app. While testing the app, he found that invitation received on the recipient's end actually disclosing the sender's email address, as shown above. Invitation URL:  https://foursquare.com/mehdi?action=acceptFriendship&expires=1378920415&src=wtbfe& uid = 64761059 &sig=mmlx96RwGrQ2fJAg4OWZhAWnDvc%3D Where 'uid' parameter represents the sender's profile ID.  Hacker noticed th...

After being an owner of Smartphones, now it's your turn to own a Smart Car. Wouldn't it sound great if you could use your favorite mobile apps on Car's dashboard display? Yes! You heard right.. Google has tied-up with several Auto manufacturers with the goal to bring Android to Cars with built-in controls and hardware by the end of this year. Google has announced at the CES technology trade show in Las Vegas, the Open Automotive Alliance (OAA) will achieve this with their partners i.e. General Motors, Honda, Audi, Hyundai and chipmaker Nvidia. This new project is designed to accelerate innovation in the Automotive sector, with the customized version of most popular mobile platform 'Android' for Cars, that will bring Google Places, Maps, Voice, Earth and developer support to cars. " This open development model and common platform will allow automakers to more easily bring cutting-edge technology to their drivers, and create new opportunities for developers to delive...

The GPS expert Todd Humphreys , professors at the University of Texas, demonstrated that just using a cheap apparatus composed by a small antenna, an electronic GPS " spoofer " built in $3,000 and with a laptop, it is possible to exploit GPS vulnerability to obtain control of sophisticated navigation system aboard a 210-foot super-yacht in the Mediterranean Sea.  Humphreys demonstrated the exploit of a GPS vulnerability aboard the yacht " White Rose of Drachs " commanded by Capt. Andrew Schofield, the official and his crew were stunned by the effect of the attack. Humphreys is a famous GPS experts, we met him last year when we discussed about drones hacking . The Assistant Professor of the University of Texas with his team has created the world's most powerful GPS spoofer that was tested on GPS-based timing devices used in mobile phone transmitters. Humphreys reported the results of his experiment to the Foxnews explaining how his team exploited the GPS system ...

The US government is claiming that authorities do not need court warrants to affix GPS devices to vehicles to monitor their every move. t's been more than a year since a Supreme Court decision established that affixing a GPS tracking device to a vehicle constitutes a search under the constitution. The decision, United States vs. Jones , throws out the drug-related conviction of nightclub owner Antoine Jones. The GPS locator was installed the day after the warrant expired and while the vehicle was outside of the department's jurisdiction, and DC police tracked Jones for nearly a month after installation before arresting him. " Requiring a warrant and probable cause before officers may attach a GPS device to a vehicle, which is inherently mobile and may no longer be at the location observed when the warrant is obtained, would seriously impede the government's ability to investigate drug trafficking, terrorism, and other crimes. Law enforcement officers co...

Samsung which is currently believed to the highest Smartphones Seller in the World is now providing a Remote tracking solution in all its smartphones to Track the lost phone with the name " Samsung Dive ". The Service is based on the Architecture which primarily acquires precise location of the smart phone using it GPS and other subsidiary location acquisition techniques. The Service is basically meant to be used by the users to track their phone in case of theft or lost phone. Security Researcher Jiten Jain discovered that this GPS based location tracking service provided by manufacturer (Samsung) is also vulnerable to Theft and Malwares. To use this inbuilt tracking Service, User has to simply create an account with Samsung (www.samsungdive.com). Users than have to enable remote services to track device and wipe data remotely. The permission can be disabled or modified only by the Samsung account holder after logging in and cannot be disabled by anyone else...

It's known, drones are privileged vehicles for reconnaissance and attacks, technology has achieved level of excellence and their use is largely diffused, that's why defense companies are providing new solution to make them increasingly effective. But the incredible amount of technological components could be itself a point of weakness, last year in fact an U.S. stealthy RQ-170 Sentinel drone was captured by Iranian military near the city of Kashmar. The vehicle was used in reconnaissance mission, it took off from near Afghanistan, exactly from Kandahar airfield. In this hours government of Teheran has announced to have captured a new drone, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Commander Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi reported that on Dec. 5th Iranian defense has captured a Scan Eagle drone that violated the fly zone over the Persian Gulf, around Kharg Island, in southern Iran. The zone is a strategic area, the place provides a sea port for the export o...