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If your Social Security number gets hacked in any data breaches, including recently hacked T-Mobile , then there's a way to prevent hackers from misusing your identity (i.e. identity theft ). The solution here is that you can institute a security freeze at each of the three credit bureaus, Equifax , Experian , or TransUnion . Once frozen, nobody will be allowed to access your credit report, which will prevent any identity thieves from opening new accounts in your name. Because most creditors required to see your credit report before approving a new account. But, if they are restricted to see your file, they may not extend the credit or open a new account in your name. However, there are some disadvantages of doing so. 1.   Cost The cost of a security freeze differs by state (check yours here ). However, it is often free for already affected people, but the issue is – if you want to let anyone check your credit, you will need to pay a fee every time to

If you applied for financing from T-Mobile anytime between 1 September 2013 and 16 September 2015, you have been HACKED! – even if you never had T-Mobile service. T-Mobile's credit application processor Experian was hacked, potentially exposing the highly personal information of more than 15 million people in the United States. The stolen information includes names, addresses, phone numbers and – most unfortunately – Social Security numbers . The massive data breach was first discovered in mid-September and has now been confirmed by T-Mobile CEO John Legere . According to Legere, Hackers successfully obtained Millions of people's private information through Experian, one of the world's largest credit check companies that process T-Mobile's credit applications. Both customers and people who submitted to a T-Mobile credit check ( but either canceled or never activated their T-Mobile service ) between September 1, 2013, and September 16, 2015, are most at ris

Over the past two years, a shocking  51% of organizations surveyed in a leading industry report have been compromised by a cyberattack.  Yes, over half.  And this, in a world where enterprises deploy  an average of 53 different security solutions  to safeguard their digital domain.  Alarming? Absolutely. A recent survey of CISOs and CIOs, commissioned by Pentera and conducted by Global Surveyz Research, offers a quantifiable glimpse into this evolving battlefield, revealing a stark contrast between the growing risks and the tightening budget constraints under which cybersecurity professionals operate. With this report, Pentera has once again taken a magnifying glass to the state of pentesting to release its annual report about today's pentesting practices. Engaging with 450 security executives from North America, LATAM, APAC, and EMEA—all in VP or C-level positions at organizations with over 1,000 employees—the report paints a current picture of modern security validation prac

Difficult to believe this, as we hardly come across such news. But trust me, a person managed to buy no ordinary .com domain, but — Google.com and that too for one whole minute. Sanmay Ved , an ex-Google employee and current-Amazon employee, experienced something of a shock when he found that the world's largest search engine website, Google.com , was " available " for purchase. What's Even More Shocking? It's the cost of the most-trafficked domain in the world — Only $12 . Expecting to get an error message, Ved added the domain to his shopping cart and made payment. The entire purchasing process went through without any difficulty. Within moments, his inbox and Google Webmaster Tools were flooded with webmaster related messages confirming his ownership for Google.com . "The scary part was I had access to the webmaster controls for a minute," Ved said. However, soon he received an order cancellation email and refund fro

Attention Android users! More than 1 Billion Android devices are vulnerable to hackers once again – Thanks to newly disclosed two new Android Stagefright vulnerabilities . Yes, Android Stagefright bug is Back… …and this time, the flaw allows an attacker to hack Android smartphones just by tricking users into visiting a website that contains a malicious multimedia file, either MP3 or MP4. In July, Joshua Drake, a Security researcher at Zimperium revealed the first Stagefright bug that allowed hackers to hijack Android smartphones with just a simple text message ( exploit code ). How Stagefright Bug 2.0 Works Both newly discovered vulnerabilities ( CVE-2015-6602 and CVE-2015-3876 ) also reside in the Android Media Playback Engine called ' Stagefright ' and affects all Android OS version from 1 to latest release 5.1.1. Reportedly, merely previewing a maliciously crafted song or video file would execute the Stagefright Bug 2.0 exploit , allowing h

Apple has rolled out the second minor iteration of its newest mobile operating system iOS 9, which fixes the iOS lockscreen vulnerability . The widely publicized LockScreen bug allowed anyone with physical access to your iOS device running iOS 9.0 or  iOS 9.0.1 to access all the contacts and photos without unlocking the device. Just one week after the last update iOS 9.0.1, Apple rolled out iOS 9.0.2 update that fixes: iMessage activation problems An issue with mobile data settings An issue with iCloud Backup An issue where the screen incorrectly rotates when receiving notifications Improves the stability of Podcasts According to an update on Apple's support website, the iOS lockscreen issue was the only security bug fixed in the latest iOS 9.0.2 release. Last week, iPhone user Jose Rodriguez published a " dead simple " method to bypass lock screen of the devices running iOS 9 and iOS 9.0.1. Using the benevolent nature of Apple's

October 1 Liability shift ENDS! Today, 1st October 2015 , is the deadline for US-based Banks and Retailers to roll out Chip-embedded Credit Cards ( powered by EVM Technology ) to customers that will make transactions more secure. EVM Technology stands for Europay , MasterCard and Visa -- a global standard for Payment Cards equipped with Chips used to authenticate chip card transactions. Starting Thursday, Merchants must have new Payment Terminals installed to accept Chip Cards in their stores or restaurants. Otherwise, they will be responsible for credit card frauds. Stephanie Ericksen, Visa's Vice President Risk Products said, " That's the date by which if a merchant doesn't have a chip terminal, and a counterfeit card is used at that location, they may be liable for that fraud on that transaction. '' 60% Customers Still have Old Credit Cards However, If you have not received a new credit card with chip technology, don't worry,

A highly mysterious update that was pushed out to Windows machines globally was the result of a test that was not correctly implemented. Yes, Microsoft accidentally released a test patch (KB3877432) to consumer machines running Windows 7, making users believe that the Windows Update service got hacked, and they are infected with malware. However, several hours later, a Microsoft spokesperson clear the air by confirming that the company had " incorrectly published a test update " and that they are "in the process of removing it." Windows users started raising concerns on social media, Microsoft community forums, and news-sharing sites that the Update service has been compromised in some way. The rogue patch, 4.3MB in size , advertised itself as a Windows Language Pack and flagged as an " Important " update, but featured strange and inaccessible URLs and lacked any detailed information. Is My Windows PC Being Compromised? A Wi

Apple Mac Computers are considered to be invulnerable to malware, but the new Exploit discovered by security researchers proves it indeed quite false. Patrick Wardle , director of research at security firm Synack , has found a deadly simple way that completely bypass one of the core security features in Mac OS X i.e.  Gatekeeper . Introduced in July of 2012, Gatekeeper is Apple's anti-malware feature designed to keep untrusted and malicious applications from wreaking havoc on Macs. However, Wardle has found a quick and simple way to trick Gatekeeper into letting malicious apps through on Mac OS X machines, even if the protection is set to open apps downloaded only from the Mac App Store. According to the researcher, before allowing any apps to execute on an OS X machine, Gatekeeper performs a number of checks, such as: Checking the initial digital certificate of a downloaded app Ensuring the app has been signed with an Apple-recognized developer certificat

If you are among thousands of privacy-conscious people who are still using ' no longer available ' TrueCrypt Encryption Software , then you need to pay attention. Two critical security vulnerabilities have been discovered in the most famous encryption tool, TrueCrypt, that could expose the user's data to hackers if exploited. TrueCrypt was audited earlier this by a team of Security researchers and found to be backdoor-free . James Forshaw , Security researcher with Google's Project Zero — which looks for zero-day exploits — has found a pair of privilege elevation flaws in TrueCrypt package. Last year, TrueCrypt project was dropped after its mysterious developers had claimed the Windows disk-encryption software had ' unfixed security issues '. TrueCrypt is a widely-used ' On-the-Fly ' Open source Hard disk encryption program. Reportedly, TrueCrypt vulnerabilities would not directly allow an attacker to decrypt drive data. Instead, successful exploitation