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In last few years, we saw an innumerable rise in ransomware threats ranging from Cryptowall to Locky ransomware discovered last week. Now, another genre of ransomware had been branched out from the family of CTB-Locker Ransomware with an update to infect Websites. The newly transformed ransomware dubbed " CTB-Locker for Websites " exclusively hijacks the websites by locking out its data, which would only be decrypted after making a payment of 0.4 BTC. This seems to be the very first time when any ransomware has actually defaced a website in an attempt to convince its administrator to comply with the ransom demand. However, the infected website admins can unlock any 2 files by the random generator for free as a proof of decryption key works. Here's How CTB-Locker for Websites Ransomware Works Lawrence explained that CTB-Locker ransomware replaces the index page ( the original index.php or index.html ) of the servers hosting websites with the ...

China has gained a considerable global attention when it comes to their Internet policies in the past years; whether it's introducing its own search engine dubbed " Baidu ," Great Firewall of China , its homebrew China Operating System (COP) and many more. Along with the developments, China has long been criticized for suspected backdoors in its products: Xiaomi and Star N9500 smartphones are top examples. Now, Chinese Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been caught red-handed for injecting Advertisements as well as Malware through their network traffic. Three Israeli researchers uncovered that the major Chinese-based ISPs named China Telecom and China Unicom , two of Asia's largest network operators, have been engaged in an illegal practice of content injection in network traffic. Chinese ISPs had set up many proxy servers to pollute the client's network traffic not only with insignificant advertisements but also malware links, in s...

As the number of threats is on the rise, Android platform is no longer safe, which isn't a surprise to anyone. Most of us are usually worried more about the security of our desktops or laptops and forget to think about the consequences our smartphones can make if compromised or stolen. Unlike desktops, your smartphones and tablets carry all sorts of information from your personal photographs, important emails, messages to your sensitive financial details. And due to rise in mobile usage, the hackers have shifted their interest from desktops to the mobile platform. Nowadays, nearly all possible threats that were previously attacking desktop platform are now targeting smartphone users. Ransomware , Phishing, Spams, Spyware, Botnets, Banking Malware , OS and Software vulnerabilities, just to name a few examples, but users don't understand the potential threat when it comes to mobile devices. Additionally, your smartphones and tablets are also subjectable mo...

If you've upgraded your older version of Windows OS to an all new Windows 10 operating system then you may have noticed an advertisement appearing on your desktop or laptop's lock screen over the past couple of days. Yes, this is what Microsoft has chosen to generate revenue after offering Free Windows 10 Download to its users: Monetize the Lock Screen . Thanks to Windows 10's new Spotlight feature that usually shows you clean and beautiful photographs and fun facts on your lock screen, but now started displaying advertisements to over 200 Million devices running Windows 10. Some Windows 10 users have reported seeing ads for Rise of the Tomb Raider with links to Windows Store from where users can purchase the video game. Microsoft started selling the game last month. Although the ads are not as annoying as the Windows 10 privacy concerns related to the way Microsoft collects your personal data , the good news is that you can turn the ads OFF. Must...

Apple is serious this time to enhance its iPhone security that even it can not hack. To achieve this the company has hired one of the key developers of Signal — World's most secure, open source and encrypted messaging app. Frederic Jacobs, who worked to develop Signal, announced today that he is joining Apple this summer to work as an intern in its CoreOS security team. "I'm delighted to announce that I accepted an offer to be working with the CoreOS security team at Apple this summer," Jacobs tweeted Thursday. Signal app is widely popular among the high-profile privacy advocates, security researchers, journalists and whistleblowers for its clean and open source code, and even the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden uses it every day. Signal messages are end-to-end encrypted, which means only the sender and the intended recipient can read the messages. Although Apple's iMessage is also end-to-end encrypted, it is not open source. Apple to bu...

Amid an ongoing dispute with the United States government over a court order to unlock iPhone 5C of one of the San Bernardino shooters Syed Farook… ...Apple started working on implementing stronger security measures "even it can't hack" to achieve un-hackability in its future iPhones. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is deliberately forcing Apple to create a special, backdoored version of iOS that could let them brute force the passcode on Farook's iPhone without erasing data. However, the FBI approached the company to unlock the shooter's iPhone 5C in various ways like: Create a backdoor to shooter's iPhone. Disable the Auto-destruct feature after numerous tries. Increase the brute force time to try out all combinations. Minimize the time of waiting for a window after each try. ..and much more Apple is still fighting the battle even after the clear refusal to the court that it will not provide any backdoor access to the a...

Everything is now crystal clear: The security researchers from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) were hired by the federal officials to discover a technique that could help the FBI Unmask Tor users and Reveal their IP addresses as part of a criminal investigation. Yes, a federal judge in Washington has recently confirmed that the computer scientists at CMU's Software Engineering Institute (SEI) were indeed behind a hack of the TOR project in 2014, according to court documents [ PDF ] filed Tuesday. In November 2015, The Hacker News reported that Tor Project Director Roger Dingledine accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of paying the CMU, at least, $1 Million for providing information that led to the criminal suspects identification on the Dark Web . After this news had broken, the FBI denied the claims , saying "The allegation that we paid [CMU] $1 Million to hack into TOR is inaccurate."  Meanwhile, the CMU also published a press ...

Currently, Asus is undergoing through a troublesome situation after a lawsuit had been filed by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding its Router Insecurity. On Tuesday, FTC settled charges with Asus, where the hardware manufacturing company agrees to: Undergo Independent Security Audits Once in 2 years, for the Next 2 Decades . This action had been taken as the result of security negligence in Asus Wireless Routers that put the home and corporate networks of hundreds of thousands of consumers at risk. If Asus is found to violate the agreement, the company could end up paying a civil penalty of up to $16,000 for each violation. Asus Router Security Blunders Since Asus markets its products under the label of Secure and Intelligent routers through its website, following flaws would splash its level of security and intelligence. 1. Default Username & Password: ADMIN In 2014, a serious security issue had been brought to the public regarding...

Until now, the FBI is asking for Apple's help in unlocking the iPhone belonging to one of the terrorists in the San Bernardino shootings that killed 14 and injured 24 in December. However, in addition to iPhone 5C belonged to San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook, the U.S. Justice Department is looking at court orders forcing Apple to help officials unlock at least 12 iPhones. Citing sources, the Wall Street Journal reported that the federal authorities want to extract data from iPhones seized in a variety of criminal investigations are involved in undisclosed cases where prosecutors are compelling Apple to help them bypass iPhone's lockscreen. Although more details of these cases are not yet publicly disclosed, these dozen or so cases are all distinct from San Bernardino shooter's case and involve many iPhones using an older iOS version that has fewer security barriers to bypass. Also Read:    Police Reset Shooter's Apple ID that leaves iPhone Data U...

No matter how secure you think your computer might be, something malicious can always happen. As a Computer is an open book with right tools and talent. The same is proved by a group of security researchers by hacking into a computer with no internet, and no Bluetooth devices. Yes, it is possible for attackers to Hack Your Computer through non-Bluetooth devices such as your wireless mouse and keyboard and install Malware or Rootkit onto your machine. That innocent-looking tiny dongle plugged into your USB port to transmit data between your wireless mouse, and the computer is not as innocent as it pretends to be. What's the Vulnerability? Security researchers from the Internet of things security firm Bastille have warned that wireless keyboards and mice from seven popular manufacturers including Logitech, Dell, Microsoft, HP and Lenovo are… …vulnerable to so-called MouseJack attacks , leaving Billions of computers vulnerable to hackers. The flaw actually resides in the way t...

There are several encrypted messaging apps for mobile and desktop platforms that shipped with "The Most Secure" tagline but ends up in de-anonymizing the real identity of its users in some or the other way. In fact, very few encrypted messaging apps available today deal with the core problem of Metadata .  The majority of apps offer end-to-end encryption that kept the content of your messages away from prying eyes, but your metadata will still be accessible to them, which is enough to know who you really are, and who you're talking to. But, one messenger app stands out of the crowd by providing superb anonymity to its users, and it is dubbed as " Ricochet ." Ricochet is a peer-to-peer instant messaging system available for Windows, Mac, and Linux and you can trust it as the app has already cleared its first professional security audit carried out by cyber security company NCC Group . What's so Promising about Ricochet? Unlike ...

Utah State computer systems are experiencing a massive cyber attack on up to 300 Million Hacking attempts per day due to National Security Agency's (NSA) data center in the state. Yes, 300,000,000 hacking attempts in a day! According to the statistical survey, it is evident that the computer systems in the US State of Utah began to experience the hacking attack a few years back, precisely, soon after the NSA revelations by global surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden. It is a less-known fact that the NSA has built its new data center near the city of Bluffdale, Utah. However, a couple of years back, when Snowden revealed the presence of the data center, the attacks have constantly been going on. The PRISM spying program by Big Brothers at NSA might have shifted the attention of hackers for the retaliation against mass-surveillance and flared up this heightened cyber attacks against the spying agency. According to Utah Commissioner of public safety, Keith S...