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The FBI and other law enforcement agencies have waged legal war on encryption and privacy technologies. You may have heard many news stories about the legal battle between Apple and the FBI over unlocking an iPhone that belonged to the San Bernardino shooter. However, that was just one battle in a much larger fight. Now, in an effort to make its iPhone surveillance-and-hack proof, Apple has rehired security expert and cryptographer Jon Callas , who co-founded the widely-used email encryption software PGP and the secure-messaging system Silent Circle that sells the Blackphone. This is not Apple's first effort over its iPhone security . Just a few months back, the company hired Frederic Jacobs , one of the key developers of Signal — World's most secure, open source and encrypted messaging app . Now Apple has rehired Callas, who has previously worked for Apple twice, first from 1995 to 1997 and then from 2009 to 2011. During his second joining, Callas designed a ful...

Last year, a white hat hacker developed a cheap Arduino-based device that looked and functioned just like a generic USB mobile charger, but covertly logged, decrypted and reported back all keystrokes from Microsoft wireless keyboards. Dubbed KeySweeper , the device included a web-based tool for live keystroke monitoring and was capable of sending SMS alerts for typed keystrokes, usernames, or URLs, and work even after the nasty device is unplugged because of its built-in rechargeable battery. Besides the proof-of-concept attack platform, security researcher Samy Kamkar, who created KeySweeper, also released instructions on how to build your own USB wall charger. Now, it seems like hackers and criminal minds find this idea smart. The FBI has issued a warning advisory for private industry partners to look out for highly stealthy keyloggers that quietly sniff passwords and other input data from wireless keyboards. According to the advisory, blackhat hackers have developed their...

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...

I had the honor of hosting the first episode of the Xposure Podcast live from Xposure Summit 2025. And I couldn't have asked for a better kickoff panel: three cybersecurity leaders who don't just talk security, they live it. Let me introduce them. Alex Delay , CISO at IDB Bank, knows what it means to defend a highly regulated environment. Ben Mead , Director of Cybersecurity at Avidity Biosciences, brings a forward-thinking security perspective that reflects the innovation behind Avidity's targeted RNA therapeutics. Last but not least, Michael Francess , Director of Cybersecurity Advanced Threat at Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, leads the charge in protecting the franchise. Each brought a unique vantage point to a common challenge: applying Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) to complex production environments. Gartner made waves in 2023 with a bold prediction: organizations that prioritize CTEM will be three times less likely to be breached by 2026. But here's the kicker -...

In an era where major data hacks are on the rise, it is no surprise breaches on individuals are also up. In just three hours, over 100 criminals managed to steal ¥1.4 Billion ( approx. US$12.7 Million ) from around 1,400 ATMs placed in small convenience stores across Japan. The heist took place on May 15, between 5:00 am and 8:00 am, and looked like a coordinated attack by an international crime network. The crooks operated around 1,400 convenience store ATMs from where the cash was withdrawn simultaneously in 16 prefectures around Japan, including Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Kanagawa, Aichi, Nagasaki, Hyogo, Chiba and Nigata, The Mainichi reports . Also Read: Tyupkin Malware Hacking ATM Machines Worldwide Many ATM incidents involve a long-established technique called ' ATM Skimming ' in which criminals install devices to obtain card details via its magnetic stripe, or use ATM malware or from data breaches, and then work with so-called carders and money mules to pilfe...

Despite browsing incognito, blocking advertisements, or hiding your tracks, some websites monitor and track your every move online using a new web-tracking technique called Audio Fingerprinting . This new fingerprinting technique can be utilized by technology and marketing companies to deliver targeted advertisements as well as by law enforcement to unmask VPN or Anonymous users, without even decrypting the traffic. Researchers at Princeton University have conducted a massive privacy survey and discovered that Google, through its multiple domains, is tracking users on nearly 80 percent of all Top 1 Million Domains using the variety of tracking and identification techniques. Out of them, the newest tracking technology unearthed by the researchers is the one based on fingerprinting a machine's audio stack through the AudioContext API . "All of the top five third-parties, as well as 12 of the top 20, are Google-owned domains," the researchers note. "In fact, Goog...

How to hack an Instagram account? The answer to this question is difficult to find, but a bug bounty hunter just did it without too many difficulties. Belgian bug bounty hunter Arne Swinnen discovered two vulnerabilities in image-sharing social network Instagram that allowed him to brute-force Instagram account passwords and take over user accounts with minimal efforts. Both brute-force attack issues were exploitable due to Instagram's weak password policies and its practice of using incremental user IDs. "This could have allowed an attacker to compromise many accounts without any user interaction, including high-profile ones," Swinnen wrote in a blog post describing details of both vulnerabilities. Brute-Force Attack Using Mobile Login API Swinnen discovered that an attacker could have performed brute force attack against any Instagram account via its Android authentication API URL, due to improper security implementations. According to his blog post , fo...

Bangladesh is not the only bank that had become victim to the cyber heist . In fact, it appears to be just a part of the widespread cyber attack on global banking and financial sector by hackers who target the backbone of the world financial system, SWIFT. Yes, the global banking messaging system that thousands of banks and companies around the world use to transfer Billions of dollars in transfers each day is under attack. A third case involving SWIFT has emerged in which cyber criminals have stolen about $12 million from an Ecuadorian bank that contained numerous similarities of later attacks against Bangladesh's central bank that lost $81 Million in the cyber heist . The attack on Banco del Austro (BDA) in Ecuador occurred in January 2015 and, revealed via a lawsuit filed by BDA against Wells Fargo, a San Francisco-based bank on Jan. 28, Reuters reported. Here's how cyber criminals target banks: Uses malware to circumvent local security systems of a bank. Gains acces...

Facebook is in trouble once again regarding its users' privacy. Facebook is facing a class-action lawsuit in Northern California over allegations that the company systematically scans its users' private messages on the social network without their consent and makes the profit by sharing the data with advertisers and marketers. According to the lawsuit filing, Facebook might have violated federal privacy laws by scanning users' private messages. Facebook routinely scans the URLs within users' private messages for several purposes like anti-malware protection and industry-standard searches for child pornography, but it has been claimed that the company is also using this data for advertising and other user-targeting services. Also Read:   Google to Face a Record $3.4 Billion AntiTrust Fine in Europe The plaintiffs, Matthew Campbell, and Michael Hurley argue that the Facebook is scanning and collecting URLs-related data in a searchable form, violating both the...

Meet this Robin Hood Hacker: Phineas Fisher, who breached Hacking Team last year, revealed on Reddit Wednesday that he hacked a bank and donated the money to Kurdish anti-capitalists in Rojava autonomous region in northern Syria that borders territory held by the ISIS ( Islamic State militant group ). Fisher, also known as "Hack Back" and "@GammaGroupPR," claimed responsibility for both the Hacking Team and Gamma Group data breaches. The vigilant hacker donated 25 Bitcoin (worth around US$11,000) to a crowdfunding campaign known as the Rojan Plan, which has been set up by members of the Rojava's economic committee, described by Fisher as "one of the most inspiring revolutionary projects in the world." Also Read:  Here's How Hackers Stole $80 Million from Bangladesh Bank The funds donated to the campaign came from a bank heist, though the hacker neither revealed the name of the bank nor provided any further details of the bank heist. Whe...

Here's some good news for victims who are trying to unlock and remove TeslaCrypt ransomware. Now, you can decrypt all your important files that have been encrypted by TeslaCrypt ransomware. So, stop Googling about How to decrypt TeslaCrypt Ransomware encrypted files, as the malware authors themselves provided the solution to your problem. Since its launch in March last year, TeslaCrypt computer virus has been used in massive malvertising attacks. The ransomware, which often targets PC gamers, locks up files until a ransom is paid, usually $500 in Bitcoin. Infection generally comes through corrupted websites, malvertising or phishing emails. In a surprising move in the malware's story, the cybercriminals behind the nefarious TeslaCrypt ransomware have apparently shut down their operations and released a master key to the public that can unlock all encrypted files on PCs infected by the latest versions of TeslaCrypt. The icing on the cake is that the universal decryption...