password security | Breaking Cybersecurity News | The Hacker News

The importance of increasing online security around personal information has risen due to the increase in cyber attacks and data breaches over recent years. I find it hilarious people are still choosing terrible passwords to protect their online accounts. The massive LinkedIn hack is the latest in the example that proves people are absolutely awful at picking passwords. The data breach leaked 167 Million usernames and passwords online, out of which "123456" was used by more than 750,000 accounts, followed by "LinkedIn" ( 172,523 accounts ), and "password" ( 144,458 accounts ). In a typical authentication mechanism, two-factor verification is the second layer of security that is designed to ensure that you are the only person who can access your account, even if someone knows your password. Project Abacus: Password-free Logins Now Instead of just relying on uniquely generated PINs, Google intends to use your biometrics data – like your typi

1. Spotify Hacked! Change your Password ASAP If you are one of the millions of people around the world who love to listen to music on Spotify, you may need to change your password immediately. Has Spotify been hacked? The company says no, but some Spotify users have claimed their profiles were hijacked, and details were changed without knowledge, including passwords and email addresses, TC  reported . Spotify apparently suffered a security breach that leaked hundreds of Spotify accounts details, including emails, usernames, passwords and account type, which was published last week to the popular anonymous file sharing website Pastebin. Spotify is investigating the Pastebin leaks of Spotify user information. 2. Over 1 Million Android Apps Are Coming to Chrome OS Google is ready to integrate millions of Android applications onto its Chrome OS platform by bringing the entire Play Store to it. Redditor 'TheWiseYoda' first spotted a new option to "Enable And

To minimize the risk of privilege misuse, a trend in the privileged access management (PAM) solution market involves implementing just-in-time (JIT) privileged access. This approach to  privileged identity management  aims to mitigate the risks associated with prolonged high-level access by granting privileges temporarily and only when necessary, rather than providing users with continuous high-level privileges. By adopting this strategy, organizations can enhance security, minimize the window of opportunity for potential attackers and ensure that users access privileged resources only when necessary.  What is JIT and why is it important?   JIT privileged access provisioning  involves granting privileged access to users on a temporary basis, aligning with the concept of least privilege. This principle provides users with only the minimum level of access required to perform their tasks, and only for the amount of time required to do so. One of the key advantages of JIT provisioning

Hijacking an online account is not a complicated procedure, not at least in 2016. Today, Instagram confirmed that the company is in the process to roll out two-factor authentication for its 400 Million users. It is impossible to make your online accounts hack-proof, but you can make them less vulnerable. Then what you can do to protect yourselves from hackers? Several companies provide more enhanced steps like Encrypted Channel Services, Security Questions, Strict Password Policy and so on. But, what would you do if a hacker had somehow managed to access your accounts' passwords? Since the online accounts do not have an intelligent agent inbuilt to verify whether the person is the legit driver of the account; beyond a username and password match. Hence the concept of Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) born out! Jumbos like Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon have already blended the 2FA feature with their services to tackle account hijacking. 2-F

What do you expect a tech giant to protect your backdoor security with? Holy Cow! It's " 12345678 " as a Hard-Coded Password . Yes, Lenovo was using one of the most obvious, awful passwords of all time as a hard-coded password in its file sharing software SHAREit that could be exploited by anyone who can guess '12345678' password. The Chinese largest PC maker made a number of headlines in past for compromising its customers security. It had shipped laptops with the insecure  SuperFish adware , it was  caught using Rootkit  to secretly install unremovable software, its  website was hacked , and it was  caught pre-installing Spyware  on its laptops. Any of these incidences could have been easily prevented. Now, Research center of Core Security CoreLabs issued an advisory on Monday that revealed several software vulnerabilities in Lenovo SHAREit app for Windows and Android that could result in: Information leaks Security protocol bypas

The majority of Internet users are vulnerable to cyber threats because of their own weaknesses in setting up a strong password. But, are end-users completely responsible for choosing weak passwords? Give a thought. Recently we wrote an article revealing the list of Worst Passwords of 2015 that proved most of us are still using bad passwords, like ' 123456 ' or ' password ,' to secure our online accounts that when breached could result in critical information loss. If the end-user is to blame for weak password security, then the solution is to educate each and every Internet user to follow the best password security practice. But is that really possible? Practically, No. Even after being aware of best password security measures, do we really set strong passwords for every website? I mean EVERY. Ask yourself. Who's Responsible for allowing Users to Set a Weak Password? It's the websites and their developers, who didn't enforce a

Some things online can never change like -- Terrible Passwords by Humans . When it's about various security measures to be taken in order to protect your Internet security, like installing a good anti-virus or running Linux on your system doesn't mean that your work gets over here, and you are safe enough from online threats. However, even after countless warnings, most people are continuously using deadly-simple passwords, like '123456' or 'password,' to safeguard their most sensitive data. Evidence suggests that weak passwords are as popular now as they ever were, and the top 25 passwords of 2015 are very easy to guess. Password management firm SplashData on Tuesday released its annual " Worst Passwords List ". The 2015 list almost resembled the 2014 list of the worst password, but there are some interesting new entries, including the Star Wars-inspired ' solo ,' and ' starwars .' Also Read:  Best Password Manager —

You should be very careful while visiting websites on the Internet because you could be hit by a new upgrade to the World's worst Exploit Kit – Angler , which lets hackers develop and conduct their own drive-by attacks on visitors' computers with relative ease. Many poorly-secured websites are targeting Windows users with a new "Cocktail" of malware that steals users' passwords before locking them out from their machines for ransom. Yes, stealing Windows users' passwords before encrypting their data and locking their PCs for ransom makes this upgrade to the Angler Exploit Kit nastier. Here's How the New Threat Works: Once the Angler exploit kit finds a vulnerable application, such as Adobe Flash, in visitor's computer, the kit delivers its malicious payloads, according to a blog post published by Heimdal Security. The First Payload infects the victim's PC with a widely used data thief exploit known as Pony that systematic

SHA-1 – one of the Internet's widely adopted cryptographic hash function – is Just about to Die. Yes, the cost and time required to break the SHA1 algorithm have fallen much faster than previously expected. According to a team of researchers, SHA-1 is so weak that it may be broken and compromised by hackers in the next three months. The SHA-1 algorithm was designed in 1995 by the National Security Agency (NSA) as a part of the Digital Signature Algorithm. Like other hash functions, SHA-1 converts any input message to a long string of numbers and letters that serve as a cryptographic fingerprint for that message. Like fingerprints, the resulting hashes are useful as long as they are unique. If two different message inputs generate the same hash (also known as a collision ), it can open doors for real-world hackers to break into the security of banking transactions, software downloads, or any website communication. Collision Attacks on SHA-1 Researchers

Encrypting your sensitive data is important. As you may know, CIA... C onfidentiality I ntegrity A vailability ...are the essential elements of Information Security. There are a number of tools and methods available out there, but not all encryption tools are same. We are now living in an era where everyone is watching everyone else, and now you need to pay extra attention before choosing any tool. VeraCrypt , a TrueCrypt alternative, is an open source file encryption software designed to protect your online privacy. VeraCrypt enters the market within months after TrueCrypt died , almost similar to it, but with enhancements to further secure your data. A week ago, latest version VeraCrypt 1.12 released with a new feature called PIM, which stands for " Personal Iterations Multiplier ". PIM (Personal Iterations Multiplier) is a new parameter introduced in VeraCrypt 1.12 to secure your data. PIM is basically a secret numerical value that

As Millions of Hackers, Spammers and Scammers are after your sensitive online data, you can't really expect your passwords to stay secure forever, even if you are using long passwords. Most of us might be worried about losing our passwords as we keep signing up for online services. However, Google is equally concerned about your online security and wants to help you protect your most sensitive data in a most smarter way. Google has now made what has to be one of the smallest computers ever — Project Vault. That's a really catching name announced on the second day of the annual Google I/O developers conference on Friday. Project Vault, designed by Google's ATAP (Advanced Technology and Projects) group, is a secure computer entirely packed onto a microSD card that can be plugged into any system whether it's a desktop or a mobile phone. The vault is technically a computer though it is not for regular computing. Rather it is a new and secure way to com

The Weakest Link In the Information Security Chain is still – Humans. And this news has ability to prove this fact Right. One of London's busiest railway stations has unwittingly exposed their system credentials during a BBC documentary. The sensitive credentials printed and attached to the top of a station controller's monitor were aired on Wednesday night on BBC. What could be even worse? If you think that the credentials might have been shown off in the documentary for a while or some seconds, then you are still unaware of the limit of their stupidity. The login credentials were visible for about 44 minute in the BBC documentary " Nick and Margaret: The Trouble with Our Trains " on Wednesday night, which featured Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford – the two business experts, both famous for their supporting role on The Apprentice. The documentary was available on the YouTube , but have now been removed due to security concerns. While

Less than 24 hours after Google launched the new Phishing alert extension Password Alert , a security researcher was able to bypass the feature using deadly simple exploits. On Wednesday, the search engine giant launched a new Password Alert Chrome extension to alert its users whenever they accidentally enter their Google password on a carefully crafted phishing website that aimed at hijacking users' account. However, security expert Paul Moore easily circumvented the technology using just seven lines of simple JavaScript code that kills phishing alerts as soon as they started to appear, defeating Google's new Password Alert extension. Google shortly fixed the issue and released a new update to Password Alert extension that blocked the Moore's exploit. However, Moore discovered another way to block the new version of Password Alert, as well. The first proof of concept exploit by Moore relied on a JavaScript that looks for instances of warning screen every five mil

You would have been holding a number of online accounts for different services, but how many of you hold a different and unique password for every single account? Probably a very few of you. The majority of people have one or two passwords that are quite simple and easy to remember and comfortably manage on their own. However, you need not worry as the Future of identification would not rely on Passwords , according to PayPal's global head of developer evangelism Jonathan Leblanc . Neither it will depend on the old Biometric identification technologies, such as Fingerprint scanners and IRIS scanners , Rather depends on something More Secure and Easier to Use … ...Embeddable, Injectable and Ingestible Devices Yes, the next generation of identification for mobile payments and other sensitive online interactions will depend on embeddable, injectable, and ingestible devices, completely replacing passwords with the identification of your body. KILL ALL PASSWORDS

Many times organizations, companies and groups of people come across the problem when their social media teams have to work within a single Twitter account or maintain multiple twitter accounts. In this case, either they need to use some third party API-based services or they use TweetDeck software, the official free alternative tool to manage multiple twitter accounts. But the major problem with TweetDeck service is that everyone in the team need to have access to the same TweetDeck account password or multiple Twitter account passwords in order to use multiple accounts at one interface, and this is a known password sharing security issue from past few years. To cope up with these issues, Twitter has started rolling out a new feature called TweetDeck Teams , a new way to let you share your Twitter accounts on TweetDeck to multiple users without sharing passwords. ROLE OF ADMINISTRATORS TweetDeck Teams, which is rolling out to TweetDeck for the web, TweetDeck for Chro