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Russia proposes 10 Year in Prison Sentence for Hackers and Malware Authors

Russia proposes 10 Year in Prison Sentence for Hackers and Malware Authors

Dec 08, 2016
The Russian government has introduced a draft bill that proposes prison sentences as punishment for hackers and cyber criminals creating malicious software used in targeting critical Russian infrastructure, even if they have no part in actual cyber attacks. The bill, published on the Russian government's website on Wednesday, proposes amendments to the Russian Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code with a new article titled, "Illegal influence upon the critical informational infrastructure of the Russian Federation." The article introduces punishment for many malicious acts, including the "creation and distribution of programs or information, which can be used for the destruction, blocking or copying data from the Russian systems." When suspects found as part of any hacking operation, they will face a fine between 500,000 and 1 Million rubles (about $7,700 to $15,400) and up to five years in prison, even if the hacking causes little or no harm. Also R
3G technology will increase cyber crime !

3G technology will increase cyber crime !

Feb 17, 2011
Cyber Crime has now reached to hacking information from the mobile phones. The 3G technology recently launched by the mobile service providers is in much rage nowadays. The 3G technology allows a user to access internet on a good quality network on the cellphone. As such hackers will now target the 3G users for accessing their personal information and this in turn will result into increased cyber-crime", said Sunny Vaghela, the cyber-crime expert while talking to TOI. When questioned is there any solution to this new problem, Vaghela mentioned that as of now there exists no solution to prevent hacking from taking place from a mobile phone but he added that certain steps can be taken to minimise the cases of hacking. "Never reply to the e-mails that offer lottery prize money. Always keep your anti-virus updated and do not download pictures of celebrities from mails sent by anonymous sender. Also avoid downloading songs from Pakistani wesbites. All these steps if taken can
How to Accelerate Vendor Risk Assessments in the Age of SaaS Sprawl

How to Accelerate Vendor Risk Assessments in the Age of SaaS Sprawl

Mar 21, 2024SaaS Security / Endpoint Security
In today's digital-first business environment dominated by SaaS applications, organizations increasingly depend on third-party vendors for essential cloud services and software solutions. As more vendors and services are added to the mix, the complexity and potential vulnerabilities within the  SaaS supply chain  snowball quickly. That's why effective vendor risk management (VRM) is a critical strategy in identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks to protect organizational assets and data integrity. Meanwhile, common approaches to vendor risk assessments are too slow and static for the modern world of SaaS. Most organizations have simply adapted their legacy evaluation techniques for on-premise software to apply to SaaS providers. This not only creates massive bottlenecks, but also causes organizations to inadvertently accept far too much risk. To effectively adapt to the realities of modern work, two major aspects need to change: the timeline of initial assessment must shorte
Why You Should Enroll In Cyber Security Awareness Training

Why You Should Enroll In Cyber Security Awareness Training

Apr 14, 2015
When it comes to cyber security, even big organizations lack the basic knowledge of how to protect company's data from the outside. Everyday businesses are facing the threat of phishing, ransomware , data breaches and malware attacks that not only results in millions of dollars losses, but also damaged the reputations. A new study shows that five out of six of the most serious IT security threats directly relate to phishing or the aftermath of a successful phishing attack . SEA, short for Syrian Electronic Army , is famous for its advanced phishing attack capabilities and with the help of the same technique they fooled many popular organizations, social media and news media, including Twitter, Microsoft, Skype, Forbes, eBay and Paypal. Where do we lack? According to the annual Verizon Data Breach Investigations report, about 58% of cyber security incidents were caused by employees, either due to failure in handling data or approving malicious data. So, in
cyber security

Automated remediation solutions are crucial for security

websiteWing SecurityShadow IT / SaaS Security
Especially when it comes to securing employees' SaaS usage, don't settle for a longer to-do list. Auto-remediation is key to achieving SaaS security.
These Top 7 Brutal Cyber Attacks Prove 'No One is Immune to Hacking' — Part II

These Top 7 Brutal Cyber Attacks Prove 'No One is Immune to Hacking' — Part II

Sep 08, 2015
In Part I of this  two-part series from The Hacker News , the First Four list of Top Brutal Cyber Attacks shows that whoever you are, Security can never be perfect. As attackers employ innovative hacking techniques and zero-day exploits, the demand for increased threat protection grows. In this article, I have listed another three cyber attacks, as following: #5 Car Hacking Driving a car is a network's game now! ' Everything is hackable ,' but is your car also vulnerable to Hackers ? General Motors' OnStar application and cars like Jeep Cherokee, Cadillac Escalade, Toyota Prius, Dodge Viper, Audi A8 and many more come equipped with more advanced technology features. These cars are now part of the technology very well known as the " Internet of Things ". Recently two Security researchers, Chris Valasek and Charlie Miller demonstrated that Jeep Cherokee could be hacked wirelessly over the internet to hijack its steering, brakes, and transmi
U.S. Federal Agencies Fall Victim to Cyber Attack Utilizing Legitimate RMM Software

U.S. Federal Agencies Fall Victim to Cyber Attack Utilizing Legitimate RMM Software

Jan 26, 2023 Cyber Threat / Phishing
At least two federal agencies in the U.S. fell victim to a "widespread cyber campaign" that involved the use of legitimate remote monitoring and management (RMM) software to perpetuate a phishing scam. "Specifically, cyber criminal actors sent phishing emails that led to the download of legitimate RMM software – ScreenConnect (now ConnectWise Control) and AnyDesk – which the actors used in a refund scam to steal money from victim bank accounts," U.S. cybersecurity authorities  said . The joint advisory comes from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), and Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC). The attacks, which took place in mid-June and mid-September 2022, have financial motivations, although threat actors could weaponize the unauthorized access for conducting a wide range of activities, including selling that access to other hacking crews. Usage of remote software by criminal grou
As State-Backed Cyber Threats Grow, Here's How the World Is Reacting

As State-Backed Cyber Threats Grow, Here's How the World Is Reacting

Apr 15, 2022
With the ongoing conflict in Eurasia, cyberwarfare is inevitably making its presence felt. The fight is not only being fought on the fields. There is also a big battle happening in cyberspace. Several cyber-attacks have been reported over the past months. Notably, cyber attacks backed by state actors are becoming prominent. There have been reports of a rise of ransomware and other malware attacks such as  Cyclops Blink ,  HermeticWiper , and  BlackCat . These target businesses as well as government institutions and nonprofit organizations. There have been cases of several attempts to shut down online communications and IT infrastructure. The ongoing list of  significant cyber incidents  curated by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) shows that the number of major incidents in January 2022 is 100% higher compared to the same period in the previous year. With the recent activities in cyberspace impacted by the emergence of the geopolitical tumult in February, it
‘BitTorrent’ exploit could be used to stage massive cyber attacks !

'BitTorrent' exploit could be used to stage massive cyber attacks !

Jan 01, 2011
With the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) treating successful cyber attacks by "Operation Payback" as criminal offenses, a new level of ambiguity is being introduced into the enforcement of cyber crime laws. The FBI was treating efforts by "Anonymous" and "4chan" as an "unauthorized and knowing transmission of code or commands resulting in intentional damage to a protected computer system," according to a search warrant affidavit published online Thursday. Not all distributed denial of service (DDoS) efforts are a crime. This is especially true when systems within the networks staging the attack are placed there voluntarily by their users, with thousands of willing individuals simply flooding a server by asking it to do what it's designed for: loading pages. Botnets of this nature have been compared to cyber "sit-ins": a computer-age echo of civil rights-era protests. However, a newly discovered software exploit in peer-to-pee
Hacker Who Tried to Blackmail Apple for $100,000 Sentenced in London

Hacker Who Tried to Blackmail Apple for $100,000 Sentenced in London

Dec 21, 2019
A 22-year-old man who claimed to have access to over 300 million iCloud accounts and threatened to factory reset all accounts unless Apple pays ransom has pleaded guilty in London for trying to blackmail Apple. In March 2017, Kerem Albayrak from North London claimed to be a spokesman for a hacking group called the " Turkish Crime Family " and in possession of 319 million iCloud accounts. Albayrak gave Apple a deadline until April 7, 2017, to pay up $75,000 in crypto-currency or $100,000 worth of iTunes gift cards in return for deleting the copy of stolen database, the U.K. National Crime Agency said in a statement , calling the blackmailer a "fame-hungry cyber-criminal." However, if the company failed to meet his demands, Albayrak threatened that he would start remotely wiping the victim's Apple devices, factory reset iCloud accounts, and dump the stolen database online. In late March 2017, the NCA's National Cyber Crime Unit arrested Albayrak at
Europol and IT Security Companies Team Up to Combat Ransomware Threat

Europol and IT Security Companies Team Up to Combat Ransomware Threat

Jul 25, 2016
No More Ransom, so is the Ransomware Threat. The European Police agency Europol has joined forces with police and cyber security companies to launch a worldwide initiative to combat and tackle together the exponential growth of Ransomware used by cyber criminals. Europol announced today the initiative, dubbed NO More Ransom, that has been backed by technology giant Intel, cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab and the Netherlands police, aiming at decreasing an "exponential" rise in Ransomware threat. Ransomware is a piece of malware that typically locks victim's device using encryption and demands a fee to decrypt the important data. The estimated number of ransomware victims tripled in the first quarter of this year alone. "For a few years now ransomware has become a dominant concern for EU law enforcement," said Europol's deputy director Wil van Gemert. "We expect to help many people to recover control over their files, while raising awareness
TalkTalk Telecom Ordered to Pay Record £400,000 Fine Over 2015 Data Breach

TalkTalk Telecom Ordered to Pay Record £400,000 Fine Over 2015 Data Breach

Oct 05, 2016
TalkTalk, one of the biggest UK-based Telecoms company with 4 million customers, has been issued with a record £400,000 ($510,000) fine for failings to implement the most basic security measures to prevent the hack that made global headlines last year. The penalty has been imposed by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) over the high-profile cyber attack occurred in the company last October, which allowed hackers to steal the personal data of its 156,959 customers "with ease." The ICO said on Wednesday that TalkTalk, which offers TV, phone and broadband services, could have prevented the cyber attack if the company had implemented even basic security measures to protect its customers' data. The hacked data of 156,959 customers included full names, postal addresses, dates of birth, telephone numbers, email addresses and TalkTalk accounts information. The hacker also had even access to bank account details and sort codes in almost 16,000 cases. "When i
Offensive SMS/Spam can lead to 2 years in jail

Offensive SMS/Spam can lead to 2 years in jail

Nov 03, 2010
With mobile phones virtually taking over the role of a personal computer, the proposed amendments to the Information Technology Act, 2006, have made it clear that transmission of any text, audio or video that is offensive or has a menacing character can land a cellphone user in jail for two years. The punishment will also be attracted if the content is false and has been transmitted for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger or insult. And if the cellphone is used to cheat someone through personation, the miscreant can be punished with an imprisonment for five years. The need to define communication device under the proposed amendments became imperative as the current law is quiet on what kind of devices can be included under this category. The amended IT Act has clarified that a cellphone or a personal digital assistance can be termed as a communication device and action can be initiated accordingly. Accentuated by various scandals that hit the country during the
LIVE Webinar: Major Lessons to be Learned from Top Cyber Attacks in 2020

LIVE Webinar: Major Lessons to be Learned from Top Cyber Attacks in 2020

Feb 01, 2021
We likely all agree that 2020 was a year we won't soon forget - for many reasons. One area particularly impacted last year was (and continues to be) cybersecurity.  While Internet access allowed many businesses to continue functioning during the COVID-19 stay at home requirements, the unprecedented number of people accessing company assets remotely introduced many new challenges for cybersecurity professionals. With a history of leveraging societal maladies to their advantage, cyber criminals leverage the confusion and unpreparedness created by the global pandemic in their cyber attacks.  In just the last two months of 2020, several high-profile organizations and government entities were successfully attacked using clever approaches that were overlooked by cybersecurity experts. Making sense of how attacks have changed and what new defensive strategies should be taken is no easy task. Cybersecurity company Cynet will help by reviewing the 2020 high profile attacks in depth and
How Microsoft Cleverly Cracks Down On "Fancy Bear" Hacking Group

How Microsoft Cleverly Cracks Down On "Fancy Bear" Hacking Group

Jul 21, 2017
What could be the best way to take over and disrupt cyber espionage campaigns? Hacking them back? Probably not. At least not when it's Microsoft, who is continuously trying to protect its users from hackers, cyber criminals and state-sponsored groups. It has now been revealed that Microsoft has taken a different approach to disrupt a large number of cyber espionage campaigns conducted by " Fancy Bear " hacking group by using the lawsuit as a tool — the tech company cleverly hijacked some of its servers with the help of law. Microsoft used its legal team last year to sue Fancy Bear in a federal court outside Washington DC, accusing the hacking group of computer intrusion, cybersquatting, and reserving several domain names that violate Microsoft's trademarks, according to a detailed report published  by the Daily Beast. Fancy Bear — also known as APT28, Sofacy, Sednit, and Pawn Storm — is a sophisticated hacking group that has been in operation since at least
U.K. Hacker Jailed for Spying on Children and Downloading Indecent Images

U.K. Hacker Jailed for Spying on Children and Downloading Indecent Images

Jan 14, 2022
A man from the U.K. city of Nottingham has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for illegally breaking into the phones and computers of a number of victims, including women and children, to spy on them and amass a collection of indecent images. Robert Davies, 32, is said to have purchased an arsenal of cyber crime tools in 2019, including crypters and remote administration tools (RATs), which can be used as a backdoor to steal personal information and conduct surveillance through microphones and cameras, catching the attention of the U.K. National Crime Agency (NCA). The cyber voyeur's modus operandi involved catfishing potential targets by using fake profiles on different messaging apps such as Skype, leveraging the online encounters to send rogue links hosting the malware through the chats. "Davies was infecting his victims' phones or computers with malicious software by disguising it with the crypters so their antivirus protection would not detect it,&qu
FBI Arrest Over 100, Uncovers Cyber Crime Ring

FBI Arrest Over 100, Uncovers Cyber Crime Ring

Oct 31, 2010
The FBI announced last week that it had busted a major international cyber crime network after arresting more than 90 suspected members of the ring in the US alone. The FBI said that the suspects worked as so-called mules for hackers, who were based in Eastern Europe and used malware to hack US computers and succeeded in stealing around $70m. Some people were detained in Ukraine and the UK as well. FBI said in its statement that the hackers stole money from the bank accounts of small companies, municipalities, churches and other victims in the U.S. "This was a major theft ring," said FBI Assistant Director Gordon Snow, of the bureau's cyber division, in a statement. "Global criminal activity on this scale is a threat to our financial infrastructure, and it can only be effectively countered through the kind of international cooperation we have seen in this case." FBI officials said the arrests were part of "one of the largest cyber criminal cases we have ever invest
Unmasking Google Users With a New Timing Attack

Unmasking Google Users With a New Timing Attack

Sep 10, 2014
Researcher has discovered a new Timing attack that could unmask Google users under some special conditions. Andrew Cantino, the vice president of engineering at Mavenlink, detailed his attack in a blogpost st week. According to him, the attack could be used by an attacker to target a particular person or organization. A cyber criminal could share a Google document with an email address, un-checking the option by which Google sends the recipient a notification. TIMING ATTACK USED TO DE-MASK TOR USER'S IDENTITY Now, using timing attack exploit technique, a cyber criminal could figure out when someone logged into any one of the shared addresses visits the their site, Cantino said. An attacker could even use this attack in spear phishing campaigns or even could unmask the identity of Tor users if they're logged in to Google while using the Tor browser . Timing attack can allow to unmask targeted Google users as they browse the web. Cantino said the attack is straightforwa
Jailed cyber criminal hacked into prison computer system from Jail

Jailed cyber criminal hacked into prison computer system from Jail

Mar 04, 2013
Old habits seem to die hard for a hacker, a cyber criminal who masterminded a £15 million fraud was allowed to join a prison IT class and hacked into the jail's computer system. Nicholas Webber , serving five years in prison for running an internet crime forum Ghost Market , Which allowed those interested in creating computer viruses, partaking of stolen IDs and enjoying private credit card data to congregate. Webber had been arrested for using fraudulent credit card details to pay for a penthouse suite at the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, Central London. The incident occurred back in 2011, but it only came to light recently " At the time of this incident in 2011 the educational computer system at HMP Isis was a closed network. No access to personal information or wider access to the internet or other prison systems would have been possible, " A spokesman fοr prison tοƖԁ the Daily Mail reported . His IT teacher, Michael Fox ,who was employed by Kensington
Tesco Bank Hacked — Cyber Fraudsters Stole Money From 20,000 Accounts

Tesco Bank Hacked — Cyber Fraudsters Stole Money From 20,000 Accounts

Nov 07, 2016
Almost 20,000 Tesco Bank customers have had their money stolen from their accounts after the banking arm of UK's biggest retailer fall victim to a hacking attack this weekend. As a result of the hack, Tesco Bank has frozen online transactions in an attempt to protect its customers from, what it described as, the " online criminal activity. " However, customers can still use their debit and credit cards for cash withdrawals and card-based payments. Tesco Bank has not disclosed any details of the cyber attack or how accounts had been compromised, but Benny Higgins, chief executive of Tesco, confirmed that the hack affected 40,000 of its 136,000 accounts, half of which had already been used to withdraw money fraudulently over the weekend. The bank would not disclose the total amount stolen from the accounts, but confirmed that the amount stolen was a " big number but not a huge number. " If you have been affected by this incident, don't worry! Higgins has apo
British Hacker Admits Using Mirai Botnet to DDoS Deutsche Telekom

British Hacker Admits Using Mirai Botnet to DDoS Deutsche Telekom

Jul 25, 2017
An unnamed 29-year-old man, named by authorities as "Daniel K.," pleaded guilty in a German court on Friday to charges related to the hijacking of more than one Million Deutsche Telekom routers . According to reports in the German press , the British man, who was using online monikers "Peter Parker" and "Spiderman," linked to domains used to launch cyber attacks powered by the notorious Mirai malware has been pleaded guilty to " attempted computer sabotage ." The suspect was arrested on 22nd February this year at Luton airport in London by Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) at the request of the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany, aka the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA). The hacker, also known as 'BestBuy,' admitted to the court on Friday that he was behind the cyber attack that knocked more than 1.25 Million customers of German telecommunications provider Deutsche Telekom offline last November. According to the German aut
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