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Security researchers have been warning for years about critical security holes in the Signaling System 7 (SS7) that could allow hackers to listen in private phone calls and read text messages on a potentially vast scale, despite the most advanced encryption used by cellular networks. Cellular networks, on the other hand, have consistently been ignoring this serious issue, saying that it is a very low risk for most people, as the exploitation of the SS7 flaws requires significant technical and financial investment. But some unknown hackers have just proved them wrong by recently exploiting the design flaws in the SS7 to drain victims' bank accounts, according to a report published Wednesday by German-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. SS7 is a telephony signaling protocol created in the 1980s by telcos and powered more than 800 telecom operators across the world, including AT&T and Verizon, to interconnect and exchange data, like routing calls and texts with one a

How do you reset the password for your Facebook account if your primary email account also gets hacked? Using SMS-based security code or maybe answering the security questions? Well, it's 2017, and we are still forced to depend on insecure and unreliable password reset schemes like email-based or SMS code verification process. But these traditional access recovery mechanisms aren't safe enough to protect our all other online accounts linked to an email account. Yahoo Mail can be used as an excellent example. Once hackers have access to your Yahoo account, they can also get into any of your other online accounts linked to the same email just by clicking the link that says, "Forgot your password?" Fortunately, Facebook has a tool that aims to fix this process, helping you recover access to all your other online accounts securely. At the Enigma Conference in Oakland, California on Monday, Facebook launched an account recovery feature for other websites

Since its emergence, Generative AI has revolutionized enterprise productivity. GenAI tools enable faster and more effective software development, financial analysis, business planning, and customer engagement. However, this business agility comes with significant risks, particularly the potential for sensitive data leakage. As organizations attempt to balance productivity gains with security concerns, many have been forced to choose between unrestricted GenAI usage to banning it altogether. A new e-guide by LayerX titled 5 Actionable Measures to Prevent Data Leakage Through Generative AI Tools is designed to help organizations navigate the challenges of GenAI usage in the workplace. The guide offers practical steps for security managers to protect sensitive corporate data while still reaping the productivity benefits of GenAI tools like ChatGPT. This approach is intended to allow companies to strike the right balance between innovation and security. Why Worry About ChatGPT? The e

Hacking password for a Facebook account is not easy, but also not impossible. We have always been advising you to enable two-factor authentication — or 2FA — to secure your online accounts, a process that requires users to manually enter, typically a six-digit secret code generated by an authenticator app or received via SMS or email. So even if somehow hackers steal your login credentials, they would not be able to access your account without one-time password sent to you. But, Are SMS-based one-time passwords Secure? US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is also no longer recommending SMS-based two-factor authentication systems , and it's not a reliable solution mainly because of two reasons: Users outside the network coverage can face issues Growing number of sophisticated attacks against OTP schemes So, to beef up the security of your account, Facebook now support Fido-compliant Universal 2nd Factor Authentication (U2F), allows users to log into

WhatsApp has introduced a new security feature that fixes a loophole in the popular messaging platform, which if exploited, could allow an attacker to hijack victim's account with just knowing the victim's phone number and some hacking skills. The attack does not exploit any vulnerability in WhatsApp; instead, it relies on the way the account setup mechanism works. WhatsApp allows users to sign up to the app using their phone number, so if an attacker wants to hijack your WhatsApp account, they would require an OTP (One time password) send to your phone number. The attacker can grab this OTP by diverting the SMS containing the passcode to their own computer or phone, using either a malicious app or SS7 vulnerability , and then log into the victim's WhatsApp account. The attack even works in case the phone is locked. In August, Iranian state-sponsored hackers reportedly hijacked over dozens of Telegram accounts belonging to activists and journalists by exploiting a

Joomla – the world's second popular open source Content Management System (CMS) software packages, has just released the latest version of its CMS, which includes patches for two critical security vulnerabilities and a bug fix. The two critical flaws, both exist in the Joomla Core functionalities, include Account Creation Vulnerability ( CVE-2016-8870 ) and Elevated Privileges flaw ( CVE-2016-8869 ) that, if unpatched, could put millions of websites that run on Joomla at risk. The account creation bug could allow any user to register on a website, even if the registration process has been disabled, while the elevated privileges flaw could enable users to perform advanced functions on a registered site that ordinary users are not authorized to do. Both the critical vulnerabilities affect Joomla version 3.4.4 through 3.6.3. The update also includes a bug fix for Two-Factor Authentication. Millions of websites used in e-commerce and other sensitive industries used Joomla,

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

When it comes to data breaches of major online services like LinkedIn , MySpace , Twitter and VK.com , it's two-factor authentication that could save you from being hacked. Two-factor authentication or 2-step verification is an effective way to secure online accounts, but many users avoid enabling the feature just to save themselves from irritation of receiving and typing a six-digit code that takes their 10 to 15 extra seconds. Now, Google has made the 2-Step Verification (2FV) process much easier for its users, allowing you to login with just a single tap instead of typing codes. Previously, you have had to manually enter a six-digit code received via an SMS or from an authenticator app, but now… Google has introduced a new method called " Google Prompt " that uses a simple push notification where you just have to tap on your mobile phone to approve login requests. Also Read: Google Plans to Kill your Passwords . In other words, while signing in to your

Do you have remote login software TeamViewer installed on your desktop? If Yes, then it could be possible that your system can be accessed by attackers to steal your personal details, including your bank and PayPal accounts, as several reports on Reddit and Twitter suggests. According to recent reports, the popular TeamViewer software that is used to remotely control PCs appears to have been HACKED ! Over the past few days, a number of users headed on to the Internet forums to report that unknown attackers are taking control of their computers through their TeamViewer accounts and, in some cases, trying to steal money through services like eBay or PayPal. This same behavior has also been reported by the IBM security researcher Nick Bradley, who said: "In the middle of my gaming session, I lose control of my mouse, and the TeamViewer window pops up in the bottom right corner of my screen. As soon as I realize what is happening, I kill the application. Then it dawns

Apple iOS 9 , codenamed Monarch , will be available to the world on September 16th. While most of the upgrades on iOS 9 focus on making devices: Faster Smarter Secure and more efficient. Today we are going to discuss the improved Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) pumped within the new iOS operating system. WHAT'S NEW AND HOW IT WORKS Apple has strengthened the foundation of iOS 9 and further of your device by modifying the operating system with an improved two-factor authentication built into it. As the two-factor authentication structure lies within the operating system, this makes the device's Apple ID even harder to break. 2FA secures your Apple ID by acting as an additional support to protect your data on your device, preventing any intrusion to occur on your device. Also, when you have more than one devices running Apple's operating system, 2FA enables sign-in on a new device in a streamlined manner… ...Besides verifying your identi

Hackers are getting smarter in fooling us all , and now they are using sophisticated hacking schemes to get into your Gmail. Yes, Iranian hackers have now discovered a new way to fool Gmail's tight security system by bypassing its two-step verification – a security process that requires a security code (generally sent via SMS) along with the password in order to log into Gmail account. Researchers at Citizen Lab released a report on Thursday which shows how the hackers are using text messages and phone-based phishing attacks to circumvent Gmail's security and take over the Gmail accounts of their targets, specifically political dissidents. The report detailed and elaborated three types of phishing attacks aimed at Iranian activists. Researchers also found one such attack targeting Jillian York , the Director for International Freedom of Expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation . Here's How the Attack Works Via Text Messages: In some case

Google has found an excellent idea to celebrate Safer Internet Day . The search engine giant is offering a nice perk for its users who complete a quick Security Checkup by February 17th. No doubt, its willing to bribe us, , but you probably should review your security settings anyway, and I loved the idea. Now, what's the perk?? Google is providing you 2GB of extra space in your Google Drive account and there's an easy way to fetch the offer. You just have to check your account security, and for that, simply follow the steps given below: In the next week, head to Google's security checkup page Then, follow some simple instructions given on the page Under the Security Checkup process, a user will go through simple confirmations, like: Your backup email address Ensures your account recovery information is current Lets you review recent sign-in activity Confirms the list of apps that access your account information. The process will hardly take 5 minutes or so t

A critical cross-site scripting ( XSS ) vulnerability in the Google Apps administrator console allowed cyber criminals to force a Google Apps admins to execute just about any request on the https://admin.google.com/ domain. The Google Apps admin console allows administrators to manage their organization's account. Administrators can use the console to add new users, configure permissions, manage security settings and enable Google services for your domain. The feature is primarily used by many businesses, especially those using Gmail as the e-mail service for their domain. The XSS flaw allowed attackers to force the admin to do the following actions: Creating new users with "super admin" rights Disabling two-factor authentication ( 2FA ) and other security measures from existing accounts or from multiple domains Modifying domain settings so that all incoming e-mails are redirected to addresses controlled by the attacker Hijack an account/email by resett

In the wake of the biggest digital exposure of personal nude selfies belonging to as many as 100 high-profile celebrities, Apple said the company plans to add extra security measures to keep hackers out of user accounts. Not just this, the company also plans to extend its two-factor authentication (2FA) feature to account logins to the iCloud service from mobile device in order to avoid future intrusions. APPLE BROADEN SECURITY WITH NEW RELEASE The company's chief executive, Tim Cook told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that the company will introduce more features to tighten up the security of its users' online accounts, but he " aggressively encourage " users to be more alert to the risks posed by cyber criminals, as you can't leave everything on the service providers. " We want to do everything we can do to protect our customers, because we are as outraged if not more so than they are, " Cook told the Journal. Apple will give alerts to users via emails a

The popular social media site Twitter is rolling out a couple of new features to its login process to help users prevent their account in a more secure way and restore access to their account if they forget their accounts' password. For tighten up the security measures Twitter is launching two factor authentication in its new password reset experience, making its users to reset their password in easier way and at the same time difficult for cybercriminals to log in to users' accounts. " The new process lets you choose the email address or phone number associated with your account where you'd like us to send your reset information. That way, whether you've recently changed your phone number, or are traveling with limited access to your devices, or had an old email address connected to your Twitter account, you've got options ," Twitter said in a blogpost on Thursday. RESET TWITTER PASSWORD WITH SMS This new experience will let Twitter users to

iBanking is nothing but a mobile banking Trojan app which impersonates itself as a so-called ' Security App ' for Android devices and distributed through HTML injection attacks on banking sites, in order to deceive its victims. Recently, its source code has been leaked online through an underground forum that gave the opportunities to a larger number of cyber criminals to launch attacks using this kind of ready-made mobile malware. The malicious iBanking app installed on victims' phone has capabilities to spy on user's communications. The bot allows an attacker to spoof SMS, redirect calls to any pre-defined phone number, capture audio using the device's microphone and steal other confidential data like call history log and the phone book contacts. According to new report from ESET security researchers, now this iBanking Trojan ( Android/Spy.Agent.AF ) is targeting Facebook users by tricking them to download a malware application. The malware uses

Code repository GitHub  offers two-factor authentication to beef up security around its users' accounts. Github is a coding repository where developers used to build their projects projects that may turn out to be valued knowledgeable assets. Two-Factor Authentication adds another layer of authentication to the login process, Now users have to enter their username and password, and a secret code in the second step, to complete the sign in. If a hacker manages to steal a user's credentials through phishing or trojans, cannot do anything, as they do need a second key to enter. " We strongly urge you to turn on 2FA for the safety of your account, not only on GitHub, but on other websites that support it, " the company says . This two-factor authentication for Githu can be turned on in your account settings. GitHub hit 3.5 million users' landmark along with 6 million repositories deposited on its 5th anniversary in April. Two-factor authentication can protect you

Google being one of the top web based service provider, has huge number of Internet users availing the free and paid services for their day-to-day personal and/or professional needs. Many of them have configured their mobile phone number for their account password recovery options. Certainly, when comes the mobility, many of these users prefer Google's android based smart phones and tablets to access these services anytime, anywhere. In case of issues in accessing GMAIL services, user is been provided with the option to reset the account password by simply asking Google to send a verification code on the pre-registered mobile number. On the other hand, Android (mobile operating system from Google) based devices are bundled with security features to keep the privacy of user data/information intact. The user can opt to set the security level from none to Password (High), this ensures that, to access the mobile device and information within it, the user needs to pass through

Q-CERT team found a critical vulnerability that allows the attacker to bypass the two-factor authentication in the most popular file sharing service ' DropBox '. Two Factor Authentication is an extra layer of security that is known as " multi factor authentication " that requires not only a password and username but also a unique code that only user can get via SMS or Call. Zouheir Abdallah demonstrated , if an attacker already knows the username and password of the victim's Dropbox account, which is protected by two-factor authentication, it is still possible to hack that Dropbox account using following explained technique. DropBox does not verify the authenticity of the email addresses used to Sign up a new account, so to exploit this flaw hacker just need to create a new fake account similar to the target's account and append a dot (.) anywhere in the email address. In Next step, enable 2-factor authentication for the fake account, and save the emerg