The Hacker News | #1 Trusted Source for Cybersecurity News — Index Page

U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) is infamous for conducting Global Mass Surveillance to snoop secretly on users' online communications, phone calls, private instant messages, and personal emails, but there is something shocking about it. The Security Agency also asked its employees to watch Porn -- Yes! Porn and a lot of Porn. The Analysts and Terrorism experts employed by U.S. Intelligence Agencies including the NSA and the CIA ( Central Intelligence Agency ) are tasked to watch graphic videos all day long. According to the recent report by Daily Beast , the Graphic video contents containing ISIS prisoner beheading, attacks on U.S. military forces, and sometimes sexual abuse of children are gathered from the computers and smartphones of captured or killed terrorists, and from websites frequented visited by jihadists. WHY NSA IS WATCHING PORN? Islamic State (Isis) and Al-Qaeda terrorists are using Reddit, eBay and pornography to send coded messages to thei...

Is Facebook planning to integrate WhatsApp Messenger into its ' Facebook for Android ' app? Yes, this might be possible soon. According to latest rumours, Facebook is reportedly working on it. The social network giant, Facebook has begun testing a new feature in its Facebook app for Android that includes the first integration of WhatsApp Messenger, according to a blogger. WHATSAPP INTEGRATION INTO FACEBOOK APP According to this update, a year after of acquiring WhatsApp Messenger, Facebook has only added a 'Send' button with the WhatsApp icon. This WhatsApp ' send ' will work as part of the status actions options that appear under each status update. It means that Facebook for Android users soon may have this particular version of Facebook app with a dedicated WhatsApp button that would allow an Android user to share posts, status and anything else directly through WhatsApp by just clicking the Share button. If rumours are true, th...

Mozilla has rolled out the latest Version 37 of its Firefox browser for Windows desktop, Mac, Linux and Android operating systems. The new release also adds patches for 13 different security advisories along with some new security improvements as well as user-experience features. The biggest security feature added to Firefox 37 among others is the "Opportunistic Encryption" (OE) for servers and websites that support " HTTP/2 AltSvc. " Opportunistic Encryption (OE) allows Firefox browser to encrypt the traffic over plaintext HTTP connection without any need to authenticate it. This will help you to create, not complete, but some confidentiality from attackers to eavesdrop on your connection. So Opportunistic encryption can be implemented with very minimal changes to an existing IPsec implementation. The move by Mozilla is really a bonus for HTTP users with no encryption measure at all, but still it is not as good as authenticated encryption ...

SaaS Adoption is Skyrocketing, Resilience Hasn't Kept Pace SaaS platforms have revolutionized how businesses operate. They simplify collaboration, accelerate deployment, and reduce the overhead of managing infrastructure. But with their rise comes a subtle, dangerous assumption: that the convenience of SaaS extends to resilience. It doesn't. These platforms weren't built with full-scale data protection in mind . Most follow a shared responsibility model — wherein the provider ensures uptime and application security, but the data inside is your responsibility. In a world of hybrid architectures, global teams, and relentless cyber threats, that responsibility is harder than ever to manage. Modern organizations are being stretched across: Hybrid and multi-cloud environments with decentralized data sprawl Complex integration layers between IaaS, SaaS, and legacy systems Expanding regulatory pressure with steeper penalties for noncompliance Escalating ransomware threats and inside...

OnePlus One users might be waiting for the new Lollipop based ROM for their smartphones. The wait is over as the popular Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has finally released its own custom ROM --  OnePlus OxygenOS , which is based on Android 5.0 Lollipop. Last month, the OnePlus announced the official release of its in-house OxygenOS to 'One' on or before March 27, but was failed to deliver the update due to a couple of security issues discovered in the update. The news disappointed many OnePlus customers, including me, who were looking forward to their Lollipop updates. However, the update is now ready for downloading from the OnePlus servers. Also, a full installation guide has been provided for customers who want to switch from the CyanogenMod 11S to the latest OxygenOS. "Developing OxygenOS has been an incredibly fun and challenging experience for all of us, " the company wrote . " In this environment where everyone is fighting to standou...

Security researchers have uncovered an active cyber attack campaign that has successfully stolen more than $1 Million from a variety of targeted enterprise organizations using spear phishing emails, malware and social engineering tricks. The campaign, dubbed " The Dyre Wolf " by researchers from IBM's Security Intelligence division, targets businesses and organizations that use wire transfers to transfer large sums of money, even if the transaction is protected by 2-factor authentication. A MIXTURE OF MALWARE, SOCIAL ENGINEERING & DDoS Nowadays, cybercriminals not only rely on banking Trojans to harvest financial credentials, but also using sophisticated social engineering tactics to attack big corporations that frequently conduct wire transfers to move large sums. " An experienced and resource-backed [cyber criminal] gang operates Dyre ," John Kuhn, Senior Threat Researcher at IBM Managed Security Service, wrote in a blog post published Th...

Last year at Google I/O developer event, Google launched a limited beta " App Runtime for Chrome " (ARC) project, which now expanded to run millions of Android apps within Chrome browser. Google has released a new developer tool called App Runtime for Chrome (ARC) Welder that allows Android apps to run on Chrome for Linux, Windows, and OS X systems. App Runtime for Chrome (ARC) was an early experiment specifically designed for app developers, but now anyone can download it. Google Chrome's ARC Welder app can now run any of your favorite Android apps like WhatsApp, Candy Crush, Angry Birds, all from your Chrome web browser . ARC welder tool operates via some special runtime implemented using Native Client (NaCl) in-browser binary execution tech. Native Client is a Chrome sandboxing technology that allows Chrome plugins and apps to run at near-native speeds, taking full advantage of the system's CPU and GPU. Google ported complete Android s...

The Fourth and final member of an international hacking group called " Xbox Underground " (XU) has pled guilty to steal more than $100 Million in intellectual property and data from Microsoft, Epic Games, and Valve Corporation. In addition, the group also stole an Apache helicopter simulator developed by Zombie Studios (''Zombie") for the U.S. Army and gained access to the U.S. Army's computer network. Austin Alcala , a 19-year-old of McCordsville, Indiana, along with two other Americans and a Canadian, has found guilty to charges of computer hacking conspiracies and criminal copyright infringement involving theft of information related to then-unreleased Xbox One gaming console and Xbox Live games. All the other members of the hacking group have been pleaded guilty before. Two members, Sanadodeh Nesheiwat , 28, and David Pokora , 22, pleaded guilty last September, while a third member, Nathan Leroux , 20, pleaded guilty to the same conspira...

The Security audit of TrueCrypt disk-encryption software has been completed, with no evidence of any critical design vulnerabilities or deliberate backdoors in its code. TrueCrypt -- one of the world's most-used open source file encryption software used by Millions of privacy and security enthusiasts -- is being audited from past two years by a team of security researchers to assess if it could be easily exploited and cracked. Hopefully, it has cleared the second phase of the audit. TrueCrypt is a free, open-source and cross-platform encryption program available for Windows, OSX and Linux that can be used to encrypt individual folders or encrypt entire hard drive partitions including the system partition. NO NSA BACKDOORS Security Auditors and Cryptography Experts at NCC took an initiative to perform a public information security audit of TrueCrypt in response to the concerns that National Security Agency (NSA) may have tampered with it, according to a leaked cl...

In the War against Ad injectors , Google has started removing ad-injecting extensions for its Chrome browser after it discovered as many as 200 Chrome extensions that exposed Millions of its users to malicious software and fraudulent activities. While working with a team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, the search engine giant found that over 5 percent of its users were infected with ' Ad Injectors ' — software that inserts ads or replace existing ads into the pages you visit while browsing the web. In last three months, Google received more than 100,000 complaints from its Chrome users about ad injection, which is far more than what the company receives for network errors, performance problems, or any other issue. Ad Injectors are sometimes more than just intrusive. A visitor to a website can be tricked into downloading an unwanted software and programs that could result in a major security risk, just what happened in the recent Sup...

A security researcher has discovered a simple but critical vulnerability in Google-owned YouTube that could be exploited by anyone to knock down the whole business of the popular video sharing website. Kamil Hismatullin , a Russian security bod, found a simple logical vulnerability that allowed him to delete any video from YouTube in one shot . While looking for Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) or Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) flaws in YouTube Creator Studio, Hismatullin came across a simple logical bug that could wipe up any video by just sending an identity number of any video in a post request against any session token. The bug was simple but critical as it could be exploited by an attacker to fool YouTube easily into deleting any video on its system. "I've fought the urge to [delete] Bieber's channel," Hismatullin wrote in his blog post . "Luckily no Bieber videos were harmed." Citing the consequences of the issue, Hismatullin said "this vulne...

The recently disclosed FREAK (Factoring attack on RSA Export Keys) attack is an SSL/TLS vulnerability that is affecting major browsers, servers and even mobile devices.  FREAK vulnerability allows the attacker to intercept HTTPS connections between vulnerable clients and servers and force them to use weakened encryption, which the attacker can break to manipulate or steal sensitive data. Although most major hardware/software vendors and owners have patched this flaw, many are still susceptible to this kind of attack.  Instrumental in discovering FREAK flaw, the University of Michigan conducted scans and discovered that an estimated 36.7% of the 14 million websites offering browser-trusted certificates were vulnerable at the time of disclosure.  This includes some very high profile pages like nsa.gov, irs.gov and even the ubiquitous connect.facebook.com (the source of all Facebook "Like" buttons.) IMPACTS OF FREAK ATTACK Intercepts your sensit...

Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus who recently announced that the company is planning to launch its latest flying drone, OnePlus DR-1 , saying it would be a " Game Changer. " There have already been some speculations about a drone from OnePlus circulating on the Internet, but now the company has confirmed during a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Almost Anything) session that OnePlus DR-1 (aka DR-ONE ) will land on its online store next month. OnePlus also posted a Vine video on Tuesday with the caption " Feeling adventurous? The DR-1 is flying to our store next month. #OneGameChanger. " The six-second short video did not give much information about the new drone, but it hints more or less that the company is working on a drone. The product page of DR-1 sectioned impressive lines such as " innovating a whole new way of thinking about drones " and telling users to " experience the next age of aviation technology with effortless transportation and...

Imagine — reaching into your pocket — and pulling out a computer ! Google has made it possible to put your whole computer into your pocket by introducing a whole new kind of Chrome device — a tiny stick that plugs into HDMI port of any display. Dubbed ChromeBit , a fully featured computer-on-a-stick from Asus that Google promises to retail for less than $100 when it comes out this summer. You just need to plug a Chromebit right into your TV or any monitor in order to turn it into a full-fledged Chrome OS -based computer. Google Chromebit is portable with an impressive look and will be available in three attractive colors — silver, blue and orange. It has a smarter clinch on the business end so that a user can easily plug it into practically any HDMI port without the need of any extension cable. SPECIFICATIONS This tiny little Google ChromeBit stick packaged with: Rockchip RK3288 (with quad-core Mali 760 graphics) 2GB of RAM 16GB of solid state storage memory ...

The famous cyber hacker group Anonymous has vowed an ' Electronic Holocaust ' against Israel in response to what the group calls 'crimes in the Palestinian territories'. In a spooky video " message to Israel " posted on YouTube March 4, Anonymous declared yet another cyber attack on April 7, which is one week before Holocaust Remembrance day. Totally in news delivering style, the video clip shows a man wearing an Anonymous mask and threatening to take down Israeli servers and websites related to critical infrastructure next week, promising to 'erase you from cyberspace'. " We will erase [Israel] from cyberspace in our electronic Holocaust ," says the video. " As we did many times, we will take down your servers, government websites, Israeli military sites, and Israeli institutions. " The cyber activist group declared Palestinians youths as a 'symbol of freedom', and urged them to "never give up. [Anonymous] are with...

Two former Federal investigators who helped to shut down the infamous black-market website ' Silk Road ' accused of fraud and stealing more than a Million dollars in Bitcoins during their investigation. Silk Road, an infamous online drug market that hosted more than $200 Million in transactions, was seized by the FBI in 2013, but during that period two of FBI agents took advantage of their position. CHARGES AGAINST FEDS The US Department of Justice indictment charges 46-year-old former Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) special agent Carl Force , and 32-year-old former Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges , with the following charges: Theft of government property Wire fraud Money laundering Conflict of interest MILLION DOLLAR EXTORTION Both Force and Bridges were part of Baltimore's Silk Road Task Force to investigate illegal activity in the black marketplace. The creator of Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, was arrested and found guilty of running the Tor-h...

Once again, Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) has gain media attention by compromising a number of popular web hosting brands of one of the leading web-hosting companies Endurance International Group INC that manages over 60 different hosting brands. SEA, a pro-hacker group supposed to be aligned with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is famous for hacking high-profile websites and targeting leading organisation with its advanced phishing attacks. This time the group hacked Endurance Group wings, including Bluehost, Justhost, Hostgator, Hostmonster and FastDomain, which are some of the world's leading web hosting companies. The official Twitter account linked to SEA group claimed responsibility for the hack. The group has posted the screenshots of the hacked panels of all the respective web hosting companies. REASON BEHIND HACK According to SEA group, Endurance Group's BlueHost, JustHost, HostGator and HostMonster were hosting terrorists web sites on their se...

$US1 may be a very little amount, but it is enough to buy you a stolen Uber account and free car rides around the city. Two separate vendors on AlphaBay , a relatively new Dark Web marketplace launched in late 2014, are selling active Uber accounts with usernames and passwords for $1 each, Motherboard reports . Once purchased, these active Uber accounts let you order up rides using the payment information provided on the file. Additionally, other sensitive information that comes with the purchase includes partial credit card data (the last four digits and expiration date), trip history, email addresses, phone numbers, and location information of users' home and work addresses. Over on AlphaBay market, a vendor identified as " Courvoisier " is claiming to sell hacked Uber accounts for $1 each. Under the product listing for ' x1 UBER ACCOUNT - WORLDWIDE TAXI!, ' anyone can buy a Uber account anonymously. Another vendor, identified as ThinkingFo...

Do you realize how often your smartphone is sharing your location data with various companies? It is more than 5000 times in just two weeks. That is little Shocking but True! A recent study by the security researchers from Carnegie Mellon reveals that a number of smartphone applications collect your location-related data — a lot more than you think. The security researcher released a warning against the alarming approach: " Your location [data] has been shared 5,398 times with Facebook, GO Launcher EX, Groupon and seven other [applications] in the last 14 days. " During their study, researchers monitored 23 Android smartphone users for three weeks. First Week - Participants were asked to use their smartphone apps as they would normally do. Second Week - An app called App Ops was installed to monitor and manage the data those apps were using. Third Week - The team of researchers started sending a daily " privacy nudge " alert that would ping particip...

Thomas Jiřikovský , an alleged Owner of one of the most popular Darknet website ' Sheep Marketplace , ' has been arrested after laundering around $40 Million, making it one of the biggest exit scams in Darknet history. After the arrest of Silk Road owner 'Ross Ulbricht' in 2013 -- Sheep Marketplace became the next famous anonymous underground marketplace among Black Market customers for selling illicit products, especially drugs. But only after few weeks, Sheep Marketplace was suddenly disappeared and was taken offline by its owner, who had been suspected of stealing $40 million worth of Bitcoins at the time when Bitcoin market value was at the peak. Shortly after this Bitcoin Scam, a Darknet commentator ' Gwern Branwen ' doxed the owner, and the suspect was identified -- Thomas Jiřikovský as the owner of the black market website. Unfortunately, Jiřikovský forgot to hide his identity and residential address from the Internet, which was exposed by his Facebook ...

The most popular and widely used encryption scheme has been found to be weaker with the disclosure of a new attack that could allow attackers to steal credit card numbers, passwords and other sensitive data from transmissions protected by SSL ( secure sockets layer ) and TLS ( transport layer security ) protocols. The attack leverages a 13-year-old weakness in the less secure Rivest Cipher 4 (RC4) encryption algorithm , which is the most commonly used stream cipher for protecting 30 percent of TLS traffic on the Internet today. BAR-MITZVAH ATTACK The attack, dubbed " Bar-Mitzvah ", can be carried out even without conducting man-in-the-middle attack (MITM) between the client and the server, as in the case of most of the previous SSL hacks. Itsik Mantin, a researcher from security firm Imperva, presented his findings in a research titled, " Attacking SSL when using RC4 " at the Black Hat Asia security conference Thursday in Singapore. Bar Mitzv...