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Hacking Gmail accounts with password reset system vulnerability

Hacking Gmail accounts with password reset system vulnerability

Nov 22, 2013
Oren Hafif , a security researcher has discovered a critical vulnerability in the Password reset process of Google account that allows an attacker to hijack any account. He managed to trick Google users into handing over their passwords via a simple spear-phishing attack by leveraging a number of flaws i.e. Cross-site request forgery (CSRF), and cross-site scripting (XSS), and a flow bypass. In a proof of concept video demonstration, the attacker sends his victim a fake " Confirm account ownership " email, claiming to come from Google. The link mention in the mail instructs the recipient to confirm the ownership of the account and urged user to change their password. The link from the email apparently points to a HTTPS  google.com URL, but it actually leads the victim to the attacker's website because of CSRF attack with a customized email address. The Google HTTPS page will will ask the victim to confirm the ownership by entering his last password and then w...
Over 12,000 Google Users Hit by Government Hackers in 3rd Quarter of 2019

Over 12,000 Google Users Hit by Government Hackers in 3rd Quarter of 2019

Nov 27, 2019
As part of its active efforts to protect billions of online users, Google identified and warned over 12,000 of its users who were targeted by a government-backed hacking attempt in the third quarter of this year. According to a report published by Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG), more than 90 percent of the targeted users were hit with " credential phishing emails " that tried to trick victims into handing over access to their Google account. Google's TAG tracks over 270 government-backed hacking groups from over 50 countries that are involved in intelligence collection, stealing intellectual property, destructive cyber attacks, targeting dissidents, journalists, and activists, or spreading coordinated disinformation. The alerts were sent to targeted users between July and September 2019, which is consistent within a +/-10 percent range of the number of phishing email warnings sent in the same period of 2018 and 2017, the company said. These warnings u...
Hacking Google account through Locked Android Devices

Hacking Google account through Locked Android Devices

Jul 19, 2013
Google being one of the top web based service provider, has huge number of Internet users availing the free and paid services for their day-to-day personal and/or professional needs. Many of them have configured their mobile phone number for their account password recovery options. Certainly, when comes the mobility, many of these users prefer Google's android based smart phones and tablets to access these services anytime, anywhere. In case of issues in accessing GMAIL services, user is been provided with the option to reset the account password by simply asking Google to send a verification code on the pre-registered mobile number. On the other hand, Android (mobile operating system from Google) based devices are bundled with security features to keep the privacy of user data/information intact. The user can opt to set the security level from none to Password (High), this ensures that, to access the mobile device and information within it, the user needs to pass through ...
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Google Hacking Diggity Project, Advance Search Engine Hacking Tool !

Google Hacking Diggity Project, Advance Search Engine Hacking Tool !

Feb 04, 2011
The Google Hacking Diggity Activity is a analysis and development action committed to investigating the best recent techniques that advantage chase engines, such as Google and Bing, to bound analyze accessible systems and acute abstracts in accumulated networks. The activity folio contains downloads and links to our best recent Google Hacking analysis and chargeless aegis tools. Defensive strategies are additionally introduced, including avant-garde solutions that use Google Alerts to adviser your arrangement and systems. With the retirement of Google's SOAP Chase API on September 7, 2009, best of the aegis utilities accessible for Google Hacking cease to function, abrogation the aegis industry with a charge for fresh and avant-garde tools. GoogleDiggity is a fresh MS Windows command band account advised to advice ample that need. GoogleDiggity leverages the Google AJAX API, so it will not get you blocked by Google bot apprehension while scanning. Also, clashing added Google Hacking ...
WATCH OUT! Scammers targeting Google Account with Phishing Page hosted on Google Drive

WATCH OUT! Scammers targeting Google Account with Phishing Page hosted on Google Drive

Mar 18, 2014
You all are quite aware of phishing attacks , and for those who are not, Phishing scams are typically fraudulent email messages, masquerading as a well known and trustworthy entity in an attempt to gather personal and financial information from victims. However, phishing attacks have become more sophisticated recently. The Pro-hacker group, Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) is also popular for its advance phishing attack and had purposely targeted twitter account and websites of various popular brands like Forbes, Microsoft, Obama, Facebook, CNN, eBay and PayPal in the past using phishing techniques. Security researchers have seen an increase in the number of phishing attacks every day, but recently a tricky scam came across by the researchers at the Symantec , which is targeting Google Docs and Google Drive users. Under this phishing scam, an email with a subject of " Documents ", tricks recipient to view an ' important document ' stored on the Google Docs by cli...
Do You also want to Hack Facebook Account of your Girlfriend?

Do You also want to Hack Facebook Account of your Girlfriend?

Jun 13, 2015
We at The Hacker News get a lot of requests via emails and messages from people who want to hack into someone else's Facebook account or Gmail account or break into somebody's network. However, 80 to 90 percent requests we receive every day are from people who want to hack into their girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, or husband's Facebook account in order to read their private conversations and reveal their secret relationships, if any. Even though we strongly deny any such requests because accessing someone else's account without their knowledge or permission is a crime… ...but there are demands from people – those cheated by their love, betrayal of trust, driven by greed or revenge – to break into the Facebook accounts of other people. So, what about Hiring a Hacker? As money could buy everything, a service received a lot of popularity earlier this year – even featured on the front page of the New York Times – claims to connect these needy people to professional ...
20-Year-Old BreachForums Founder Faces Up to 5 Years in Prison

20-Year-Old BreachForums Founder Faces Up to 5 Years in Prison

Mar 27, 2023 Cyber Crime / Data Breach
Conor Brian Fitzpatrick, the 20-year-old founder and the administrator of the now-defunct BreachForums has been  formally charged  in the U.S. with conspiracy to commit access device fraud. If proven guilty, Fitzpatrick, who went by the online moniker "pompompurin," faces a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison. He was  arrested  on March 15, 2023. "Cybercrime victimizes and steals financial and personal information from millions of innocent people," said U.S. Attorney Jessica D. Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia. "This arrest sends a direct message to cybercriminals: your exploitative and illegal conduct will be discovered, and you will be brought to justice." The development comes days after Baphomet, the individual who had taken over the responsibilities of BreachForums,  shut down the website , citing concerns that law enforcement may have obtained access to its backend. The Department of Justice (DoJ) has since confirmed that it co...
Hacker Abuses Google Apps vulnerability for Sending Phishing Emails

Hacker Abuses Google Apps vulnerability for Sending Phishing Emails

Mar 09, 2015
A critical vulnerability has been discovered in the Google Apps for Work that allows hackers to abuse any website's domain name based email addresses, which could then be used to send phishing emails on company's behalf in order to target users. If you wish to have an email address named on your brand that reads like admin@yourdomain.com instead of myemail@gmail.com , then you can register an account with Google Apps for Work. The Google Apps for Work service allows you to use Gmail, Drive storage, Calendar, online documents, video Hangouts, and other collaborative services with your team or organization. To get a custom domain name based email service from Google, one just need to sign up like a normal Gmail account. Once created, you can access your domain's admin console panel on Google app interface, but can not be able to use any service until you get your domain verified from Google. SENDING PHISHING MAILS FROM HIJACKED ACCOUNTS Cyber security researchers ...
Google Disrupts Blockchain-based Glupteba Botnet; Sues Russian Hackers

Google Disrupts Blockchain-based Glupteba Botnet; Sues Russian Hackers

Dec 08, 2021
Google on Tuesday said it took steps to disrupt the operations of a sophisticated "multi-component" botnet called Glupteba that approximately infected more than one million Windows computers across the globe and stored its command-and-control server addresses on Bitcoin's blockchain as a resilience mechanism. As part of the efforts, Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) said it partnered with the CyberCrime Investigation Group over the past year to terminate around 63 million Google Docs that were observed to have distributed the malware, alongside 1,183 Google Accounts, 908 Cloud Projects, and 870 Google Ads accounts that were associated with its distribution. Google TAG further said it worked with internet infrastructure providers and hosting providers, such as Cloudflare, to dismantle the malware by taking down servers and placing interstitial warning pages in front of the malicious domains. In tandem, the internet giant also announced a lawsuit against two Russ...
Russian APT29 Exploits Gmail App Passwords to Bypass 2FA in Targeted Phishing Campaign

Russian APT29 Exploits Gmail App Passwords to Bypass 2FA in Targeted Phishing Campaign

Jun 19, 2025 Email Security / Identity Protection
Threat actors with suspected ties to Russia have been observed taking advantage of a Google account feature called application specific passwords (or app passwords) as part of a novel social engineering tactic designed to gain access to victims' emails. Details of the highly targeted campaign were disclosed by Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) and the Citizen Lab, stating the activity seeks to impersonate the U.S. Department of State.  "From at least April through early June 2025, this actor targeted prominent academics and critics of Russia, often using extensive rapport building and tailored lures to convince the target to set up application specific passwords (ASPs), GTIG researchers Gabby Roncone and Wesley Shields said . "Once the target shares the ASP passcode, the attackers establish persistent access to the victim's mailbox." The activity has been attributed by Google to a threat cluster it tracks as UNC6293, which it says is likely affiliate...
Google Uncovers How Just Visiting Some Sites Were Secretly Hacking iPhones For Years

Google Uncovers How Just Visiting Some Sites Were Secretly Hacking iPhones For Years

Aug 30, 2019
Beware Apple users! Your iPhone can be hacked just by visiting an innocent-looking website, confirms a terrifying report Google researchers released earlier today. The story goes back to a widespread iPhone hacking campaign that cybersecurity researchers from Google's Project Zero discovered earlier this year in the wild, involving at least five unique iPhone exploit chains capable of remotely jailbreaking an iPhone and implanting spyware on it. Those iOS exploit chains were found exploiting a total of 14 separate vulnerabilities in Apple's iOS mobile operating system—of which 7 flaws resided in Safari web browser, 5 in the iOS kernel and 2 separate sandbox escape issues—targeting devices with almost every version in that time-frame from iOS 10 through to the latest version of iOS 12. According to a deep-dive blog post published by Project Zero researcher Ian Beer, only two of the 14 security vulnerabilities were zero-days, CVE-2019-7287 and CVE-2019-7286, and unpat...
Exclusive: Any Chingari App (Indian TikTok Clone) Account Can Be Hacked Easily

Exclusive: Any Chingari App (Indian TikTok Clone) Account Can Be Hacked Easily

Jul 11, 2020
Following vulnerability disclosure in the Mitron app , another viral TikTok clone in India has now been found vulnerable to a critical but easy-to-exploit authentication bypass vulnerability, allowing anyone to hijack any user account and tamper with their information, content, and even upload unauthorized videos. The Indian video sharing app, called Chingari, is available for Android and iOS smartphones through official app stores, designed to let users record short-form videos, catch up on the news, and connect with other users via a direct message feature. Originally launched in November 2018, Chingari has witnessed a huge surge in popularity over the past few days in the wake of India's ban on Chinese-owned apps late last month, crossing 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store in under a month. The Indian government recently banned 59 apps and services , including ByteDance's TikTok, Alibaba Group's UC Browser and UC News, and Tencent's WeChat over priv...
Google Accidentally Shared Private Videos of Some Users With Others

Google Accidentally Shared Private Videos of Some Users With Others

Feb 04, 2020
Google might have mistakenly shared your private videos saved on the company's servers with other users, the tech giant admitted yesterday in a security notification sent quietly to an undisclosed number of affected users. The latest privacy mishap is the result of a "technical issue" in Google's Takeout , a service that backs up all your Google account data into a single file and then lets you download it straight away. According to a screenshot Jon Oberheide of Duo Security shared on Twitter, the issue reportedly remained active between 21st November and 25th November last year, during which "some videos in Google Photos [service] were incorrectly exported to unrelated user's archives." Vice versa, if you had also requested for your account backup during the same 5-day period, you might have even received unrelated videos from other Google accounts. So, the data leak incident potentially affects only those who used Google Takeout service...
Here's the Facebook Hacking Tool that Can Really Hack Accounts, But...

Here's the Facebook Hacking Tool that Can Really Hack Accounts, But...

Feb 09, 2016
Yes, you heard me right. A newly discovered Facebook hacking tool actually has the capability to hack Facebook account, but YOURS , and not the one you desire to hack. How to Hack Facebook account? How to Hack my Girlfriends Facebook account? My boyfriend is cheating on me, How do I hack his Facebook Account? These are the queries that most of the Internet users search on Google. But Beware! If you come across any Facebook hacking tool that promises you to help you hack your friends Facebook accounts, you may end up downloading a hacking tool that could hack you, instead of them. Facebook  Hacking Tool that Can Really Hack, But Your Accounts Dubbed Remtasu , the tool is marketing itself as a Facebook hacking tool but actually is a Windows-based Trojan that has accelerated globally over the past year, and has now capability to disguise itself as an app for accessing people's Facebook account credentials. The tool contains a Keylogger that can captur...
Hackers Are Using An Effective Way to Spread Fake News From Verified Accounts

Hackers Are Using An Effective Way to Spread Fake News From Verified Accounts

Jun 10, 2017
Social media networks are no doubt a quick and powerful way to share information and ideas, but not everything shared on Facebook or Twitter is true. Misinformation, or "Fake News," has emerged as a primary issue for social media platforms, seeking to influence millions of people with wrong propaganda and falsehoods. In past years, we have seen how political parties and other groups have used spoofed social media profiles of influencers or leaders to spread misinformation, and most of the time such techniques work to successfully convince people into believing that the information is true. Although social media services like Facebook, Twitter, and Google, offers account verification (verified accounts with blue tick) for public figures, we have seen hackers hijacking verified accounts to spread fake news from legitimate account to their millions of followers. Now, researchers have uncovered a new, cunning attack technique currently being used by hackers to take ove...
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