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We are once again here with our weekly round up based on last week's top cyber security threats and challenges. I recommend you to read the entire thing ( just click ' Read More ' because there's some valuable advice in there as well ). Here's the list: 1. Reminder! If You have not yet, Turn Off Windows 10 Keylogger Now Microsoft is very powerful in tracking every single word you type or say to its digital assistant Cortana using its newest Windows 10 operating system. The keylogger that Microsoft put in the  Technical Preview of Windows 10  last fall made its way to  Windows 10 Free  public release first rolled out back in July. Besides various  Windows 10 privacy issues , there is a software component that is a bit more complicated than you thought. It tracks your inputs using: Keyboard Voice Screen Mouse Stylus Information about your Calendar and Contacts If this keylogger, which is more than just a keylogger, makes yo...

Yes, you heard it correct! First the Password Cracking Team 'CynoSure Prime'  cracked more than 11 Million Ashley Madison's passwords in just 10 days ( quite an achievement, though ), now a member of the team shares the same list of passwords with few calculations. The calculations are... ... What passwords are mostly used and by how many users? Terrible? Out of 11 million passwords, only 4.6 million passwords were unique, and the rest were such weak and horrible ones that one could even think. ArsTechnica to whom CynoSure Prime updated the news published the calculations and say that this is expected to change as they still left with 3.7 million passwords to decrypt. While going through the list of password, top 5 used were: 123456 by 120511 users 12345 by 48452 users password by 39448 users DEFAULT by 34275 users 123456789 by 26620 users for more s ee the list of passwords in above image. AND, Even a 5th grader can literally guess t...

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...

Your device's lock screen PIN is believed to keep your phone's contents safe from others, but sadly not from a new piece of ransomware that is capable of hijacking safety of your Android devices . A group of security researchers has uncovered what is believed to be the first real example of malware that is capable to reset the PIN code on a device and permanently lock the owner out of their own smartphone or tablet. This Android PIN-locking ransomware, identified as Android/Lockerpin.A , changes the infected device's lock screen PIN code and leaves victims with a locked mobile screen, demanding for a $500 (€450) ransom . Here's the Kicker: Since the lock screen PIN is reset randomly, so even paying the ransom amount won't give you back your device access, because even the attackers don't know the changed PIN code of your device , security researchers at Bratislava-based antivirus firm ESET warn . LockerPIN , as dubbed by the researchers,...

Yesterday we reported you that Microsoft is auto-downloading Windows 10 installation files — between 3.5GB and 6GB — onto users' PCs even if they have not opted into the upgrade. Microsoft plans to deploy Windows 10 on over 1 Billion devices worldwide, and this auto-downloading Windows 10 could be one of its many strategies to achieve its goal. The company has dropped and saved a hidden $Windows.~BT folder on your PC's main drive (C drive), if you are running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 . The bottom line is: Many Windows users are on limited or metered Internet connections. As Microsoft is not only consuming storage space but also using user's Internet bandwidth for large unrequested files, as the Windows 10 installer downloads up to 6 gigabytes. So, here are some methods that you can use to stop Microsoft from automatically downloading Windows 10 installation files. Method 1 This method is applicable for both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 us...

Microsoft wholeheartedly wants you to upgrade to Windows 10. So much that even if you have not opted-in for Windows 10 upgrade, you will get it the other way. Surprised? If you have Windows Update enabled on your PCs running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, you'll notice a large file — between 3.5GB and 6GB — mysteriously been downloaded to your computer in the background. The huge file is actually linked to Windows 10 installation that Microsoft is reportedly downloading on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 computers even if users have not opted into the upgrade. The news comes days after it was disclosed that Microsoft is installing Windows 10's data collecting and user behavior tracking features onto Windows 7 and 8.1 machines. With this latest automatic Windows 10 installation, Microsoft is not only consuming your storage space but also using your Internet bandwidth for unrequested files, as the Windows 10 installer downloads up to 6 gigabytes, depending on which Wind...

Zimperium Mobile Security Labs (zLabs) have been working hard to make Android operating system more safe and secure to use. Zimperium team has publicly released the CVE-2015-1538 Stagefright Exploit , demonstrating the process of Remote Code Execution (RCE) by an attacker. The released exploit is a python code creating an MP4 exploiting the 'stsc' vulnerability dubbed Stagefright. The purpose behind the release is to put penetration testers and security researchers to test and check the vulnerability of the code and analyze the results. Considered as the most critical flaw among all the existing vulnerabilities; the Stagefright flaw is capable of revealing user's information remotely by injecting malicious code, even without any involvements of the user. Two months ago, Zimperium Labs uncovered multiple vulnerabilities in 'libstagefright,' a service attached with the software-based codecs natively in Android smartphones for media playback. The vulnera...

Health Care Hacks  —   the choice of hackers this year! In a delayed revelation made by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS) ,   which says that about 10.5 Millions of their clients' data and information has been compromised by hackers. Excellus BCBS headquartered in Rochester, New York, provides finance and health care services across upstate New York and long-term care insurance nationwide. On August 5, 2015, Excellus BCBS discovered that the hackers targeted their IT systems back in December 2013, initiating a sophisticated attack to gain access to their systems and record client's personal data. The Compromised Data includes: Social Security Number (SSN) Date of birth Mailing address Telephone number Member identification number Financial account information Claims information Did they forget something?...It seems everything is gone! Moreover, it's been two years Excellus systems were open to the hackers. So, what the company was doi...

Good News for Jailbreakers! Just within 24 Hours after the launch of iOS 9 at Apple's Annual Event, a well-known iOS hacker has managed to untether jailbreak iOS 9. That's quite impressive. Believe it, iOS 9 has been Jailbroken! A reputed hacker ' iH8sn0w ', who previously developed the popular jailbreak tools like Sn0wbreeze and P0sixspwn , published a new YouTube video last night, demonstrating the first untethered jailbreak for the yet-unreleased iOS 9 . Apple plans to publicly release its latest iOS 9 software update for all supported devices on 16th September while the company has already made the Gold Master seed of the software available to developers. Untethered Jailbreak for iOS 9 iH8sn0w has jailbroken his iPhone 5 running the iOS 9 GM seed . The jailbreak is an untethered – a jailbreak where your devices don't require any reboot every time it connects to an external device capable of executing commands on the device. You ...