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Hackers rob co-operative bank of Rs 95 lakh

A private co-operative bank has alleged that tech-savvy criminals hacked into its official email ID and syphoned off Rs 95 lakh in two transactions on May 28 and 29 from their account at IDBI Bank.

The co-operative bank, Sri Sudha Co-Operative Bank Ltd, recently, through it email ID to IDBI Bank, had mandated the transfer of Rs 1 crore. But unknown persons hacked the email, altered the mandate in their favour and initiated RTGS for Rs 50 lakh to BOI, Noida branch, in the name of 'Khan Enterprises'. A similar transaction was made for Rs 45 lakh to Kotak Mahindra Bank, Gurgaon Branch in the name of 'Riya Enterprises', police said.

Cybercrime police of the Criminal Investigation Department have filed a case against unknown persons based on a complaint filed by T L Hanumantharaya, CEO of the bank. Police said the bank maintained a current account at IDBI Bank's JP Nagar branch and communicated with its banker through email ID sudhabank@vsnl.net for online transactions.

Cops said they will crack the case soon by tracking the beneficiary accounts.

Google mechanism for safety of smartphones











A new effective mechanism will make it quite difficult for the hackers to target the Pixel smartphones these days.

 Days are not far when the repeated attempts to update the firmware of a Pixel smartphone would be a daunting task without an access to the user’s password.
The US based information technology titan, of late, claimed to have put in place the firmware integrity protection system, first of its kind, to Pixel 2 smartphones to hold the hackers at bay who keep often tampering the smartphones.

This, it is precisely, a new mechanism to ensure the security of the smartphones.

 The cyber security experts say the new system would not allow any malicious insider to operate from any part of the device, since the hardware components along with other key parts would remain safe and any attempt to update these would require the password and the hackers have no easy access to it.

 The data stored in the hardware components of the device, beyond doubt, would be safe and secured like never before leaving little space for the hackers to strike.

 Moreover, the hardware which would keep running in a specified system of security would protect the user’s password where nobody can take resort to a guessing game to procure the password as the mechanism would constantly verify it, which would ensure its safety and security.

 Another system is in place to protect the firmware of a smartphone which is simply a code and once it us signed, no hacker can replace it even after repeated attempts with the help of a new one.

 Now no attacker has any key mechanism to put afresh a password to bypass the one belonging to the user.

 More fresh mechanism is in the offing to counter the security threat of the smartphones.

 Google, which developed the mechanism wants to ensure that the password of a smartphone remains safe at any cost.

 With this new Firmware Integrity Protection System to Pixel Smartphones, the hackers won't be able either to compromise the digital signature or to procure the user’s password.

 Experts say one of the duo might be compromised. But nobody can have the access to the both at the same time.

Author of Sigrun Ransomware helps Russian victims for free, charges other countries

The author of Sigrun ransomware is offering to decrypt computers of victims from Russia and some former USSR countries for free, while asking for payment in Bitcoin or Dash to citizens of other countries.

The ransomware already tries to avoid attacking computers of Russians by checking the keyboard layout of the computer. If it detects a Russian layout, it deletes itself and does not encrypt the computer. However, the ransomware has no provision for those computers who do not use a Russian layout, so some people from former USSR countries who choose not to use that layout can still be affected.

This is a common practice amongst Russian hackers and malware developers, who try to prevent from infecting Russian victims as they are concerned that the authorities will apprehend them, unlike when they are attacking victims from other countries.

This instance was first reported by Twitter user and security researcher Alex Svirid.


Another malware researcher, S!Ri, replied to the tweet with two pictures from ransomware victims of another attack.


Russian victim

U.S. victim

According to the Bleeping Computer, the ransomware author has added the Ukranian layout as well to be avoided during encryption.

"Ukranian users don't use Russian layout because of political reasons. So we decided to help them if they was infected," the author told them via email. "We have already added avoiding Ukrainian layout like was in Sage ransomware before."

They also reportedly said that they are not from former USSR republics, but rather added the condition “because of his Belarus partners”.

Visa apologises to customers after massive network crash






Millions of Visa card users across Europe and the UK  were unable to process any transactions due to a nationwide outage in the Visa network.

Things got out of control when some of the customers of MasterCard and American Express card were not able to make payment after transactions were rerouted through Visa’s IT network.


“This incident is preventing some Visa transactions in Europe being processed,” the statement said. “We are investigating the cause and working as quickly as possible to resolve the situation."


But, the company restored its payment system within five hours after the complaint. However,  executives have ruled out any kind of "malicious"  activity behind the failure of the payment system.

In a statement, Visa said: "The issue was the result of a hardware failure within one of our European systems and is not associated with any unauthorized access or cyber attack.

"Visa Europe’s payment system is now operating at full capacity, and Visa account holders can now use Visa for any of their purchases and at ATMs, as they normally would."


Chief executive officer of Visa, said: "We apologize to all of our partners and Visa account holders for any inconvenience this may have caused."


Patanjali’s messaging app is a security disaster



Yoga guru turned businessman Baba Ramdev has launched a messaging app, "Kimbho", to challenge the monopoly of most popular messaging app WhatsApp.

Patanjali Yogpeeth's spokesperson SK Tijarawala tweeted, "Now Bharat will speak. After launching sim cards, Ramdev has launched a new messaging application called Kimbho. Now WhatsApp will be given a competition. Our own #SwadeshiMessagingplatform. Download it directly from Google Play store."

On the first day itself, the app faced serious criticism and controversies as it was taken o from the Google Play Store due to allegations of security flaws by some of the users who downloaded the app.

According to the company, the app was uploaded for a single day on a "trial basis" and would be formally launched later, but the company's website has a different story to tell, it states that it was “facing extremely high traffic” and was “upgrading” its servers.

Patanjali spokesperson S K Tijarawala tweeted that the app was only uploaded for a single day on "trial" basis and would be back with a formal launch soon. However, a few hours earlier, a message on the app’s website had said that it was “facing extremely high traffic” and was “upgrading” its servers.

“ #Patanjali ne #Kimbho app matr ek din ke liye Play Store par trial par daala tha. Matr teen ghante mein hi 1.5 lakh log ise download karne lage. Hum is bhaari va utsahjanak response ke prati aabhaari hain (Patanjali put up the Kimbho app on the Play Store only for a day on trial. In just three hours, 1.5 lakh people downloaded it. We are grateful for this enthusiastic response),” Tijarawala tweeted.


Kimbho is a Sanskrit word,  which means ‘how are you’ or ‘what’s up’.

The app was backlashed by a French hacker Elliot Alderson, who had earlier raised concern over  Aadhar security, called the messaging app a “joke.”

"This @KimbhoApp is a joke, next time before making press statements, hire competent developers... If it is not clear, for the moment don't install this app. #Kimbho," Alderson tweeted.

Alderson added that the Android version of the app was a security disaster, and he can access the messages of all the users.



Leak Reveals Surprise 5GHz Intel Core i7-8086K Anniversary Processor


Intel was going to release one of its fastest ever processors on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of its 8086 processor but the circumstances changed so much that the surprise super-fast processor - the Core i7-8086K processor that had  been rumoured for a couple of months, had been revealed by online retailer listings gathered by Videocardz.

On the 30th of May, retailers were found online that were advertising the special processor with a speeds of 4 GHz and 5 GHz.

The core and thread count and indeed the L3 cache amount of 12MB matche that of Intel's existing Core i7-8700K, which has a maximum speed of 4.7GHz.


While the product listing at Merlion has been taken down, the product page was still available at Connection.com as of the morning of 31st of May and had just recently been taken down. The Connection.com page had listed the CPU as having a manufacturer part number of BX80684I78086K.

While the 8086 processor was released in 1978 and lead to the highly successful x86 architecture, it's not the first time that Intel has launched an anniversary edition CPU either.

The 5 GHz edition was currently being priced at $489.83 on Connection.com, which is approximately $140 more than then Intel Core i7-8700K, which has base speed of 3.70 GHz and can be pushed up to 4.70 GHz.



Although it is not known for sure when these CPUs will be available but according to the original image at VideoCardz it appears that they are slated to be available for order starting on June 8th 2018 and shipping on June 12th 2018.




Vulnerability in Windows JScript component allows remote code execution


Trend Micro’s Zero-Day Initiative yesterday released a summary of light technical details regarding a vulnerability in Windows operating system’s JScript component that allows remote hackers to execute malicious code on the victim’s computer.

According to ZDI, the vulnerability can be exploited by targeting installations on Microsoft Windows and requires user interaction by visiting a malicious page or downloading and opening a malicious file on the system.

“The specific flaw exists within the handling of Error objects in JScript,” ZDI said in the advisory. “By performing actions in script, an attacker can cause a pointer to be reused after it has been freed. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to execute code under the context of the current process.”

ZDI had first reported this vulnerability to Microsoft in January after Dmitri Kaslov of Telspace Systems had discovered the bug and has disclosed the vulnerability to the public according to its 120 day deadline.

Microsoft is reportedly working on a patch but since it was unable to meet ZDI’s deadline, ZDI has disclosed light details of the vulnerability.

Brian Gorenc, director of Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative, told Bleeping Computer, “Due to the sensitivity of the bug, we don’t want to provide too many technical details until a full fix from Microsoft is available.”

He also said that the flaw does not lead to a full system compromise as it only allows code execution “within a sandbox environment”. "An attacker would need additional exploits to escape the sandbox and execute their code on the target system," he said.

The vulnerability has received a 6.8 CVSS score out of 10.

Google Rewards $36,000 For Finding Vulnerability





Google has rewarded an Uruguayan teenager with $36,000 for finding a  severe security vulnerability.

Ezequiel Pereira, a 17-year-old was surfing the site when he found a serious security flaw that would have abled him to make changes to internal computer systems of the company.

"I found something almost immediately that was worth $500 and it just felt so amazing. So I decided to just keep trying ever since then," Pereira told CNBC. "It feels really good - I'm glad that I found something that was so important," he added.

Although Pereira found the vulnerability earlier this year but was not allowed to write about the flaw and how he did it. However, this week he got permission from Google to write how he found the vulnerability after Google confirmed that it had fixed the issue.

This was Pereira’s fifth accepted bug, but his most lucrative.

Afghan diplomats in Pakistan targeted by hackers

Afghan diplomats in Pakistan have been warned they are believed to be victims of "government-backed" digital attacks trying to steal their email passwords.

Afghan embassy sources told BBC two staff members and a generic account received alerts from Google this month.

Last week Amnesty International detailed attempts to install malware on computers and phones of activists critical of Pakistan's military. The army did not comment on allegations intelligence services were to blame.

After the Google warning alerts were sent out, another Afghan diplomat's email account was hacked and made to send out emails, without his knowledge, containing suspicious attachments.

The emails purported to contain photographs of rallies by protesters known as the Pashtun Protection Movement (PTM). In fact, the attachments appear to contain malicious files, although it was not possible to download and examine them.

The PTM movement has accused the Pakistani military of committing human rights abuses in the country's fight against terrorism. Protests have been non-violent but controversial due to their unusually direct criticism of the Pakistani intelligence services.

A source in the Afghan embassy told BBC he was concerned that recipients of the emails sent out from the diplomat's account could believe the Afghan embassy was linked to the movement. The two countries regularly accuse each other of working to undermine the other's security.

The email was sent to addresses publicly linked to a number of political figures in Pakistan. They include a former information minister and a former law minister.

It was also sent to a former senator from a Pashtun nationalist party, Bushra Gohar. Ms Gohar told the BBC: "I know for a fact that all my accounts are being observed… this is condemnable." She added: "Parliament needs to form a committee and look into what is going on."

An employee of the Afghan embassy and a former member of staff were also both targeted by a fake Facebook profile linked to cyber-attacks.

Medical Devices Now Vulnerable To Cyber Attacks




It is no denying the Fact that with the advancement in technology and evolution in time tons of changes have been made as well as acknowledged by millions of individuals all around the world, as these progressions have contributed in making their daily lives all the more simpler and comfortable.
One such essential change is the one made in the medicinal field, now medical gadgets of all kinds have the network and connectivity that enormously increases their effectiveness and usefulness, making it significantly less demanding for patients to be monitored.

However, with the way digital attacks are on the rise, a significant number of these attacks may often feel like life and demise circumstances. Be that as it may, with such huge numbers of crucial medical devices requiring network connectivity, some of them may really be targets of lethal attacks. 

Disavowal of administration i.e. service attacks and hackings are two of the most serious dangers confronting the medicinal device industry and the patients, that these propelled medical devices are intended to secure and protect.

The astounding dangers related associated with medical gadgets is very much delineated by the case of implantable cardioverter defibrillators, or ICDs, which are embedded so as to keep a person's pulse controlled and to convey a  life-saving shock in patients who are at high risk of heart failure. ICDs are potentially powerless to a type of digital attack that is firmly identified with DDoS attacks thus, rather than utilizing a system of Internet-connected devices to overpower a target, an assault on an ICD would require only one internet connection.

Vulnerability is that of Insulin over-load. The creators of an insulin pump, in October 2016, made the novel stride of informing clients of a potential security weakness. In the wake of getting data about the defenselessness, Johnson and Johnson and Animas cautioned clients that an attacker, even a remote one, could possibly trigger insulin infusions by mocking the meter remotely, with the risk of eventually causing a hypoglycaemic response in the patient which could be a serious health hazard for a diabetic patient.

Medical imaging gadgets are likewise in danger of cyber interference, the sort that could cause a patient serious harm. The researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel found that attackers could be able to expand the level of radiation discharged amid a scan to the point that it could cause ailment, damage or possibly even radiation overdose to a patient.

Nevertheless the message with regards to the medical devices is the same as that of any sort of devices with network or internet connectivity: security should be organized and prioritized better. The device makers should focus on creating devices that focus on playing out the tasks that they had been intended to perform.

This is reasonable, however with the intrinsic vulnerabilities of these gadgets and the hazardous disavowal of administration attacks and hackings that are conceivable as a result of them, security should be the essential need of the hour.

Cryptocurrency Trading App Taylor loses 2,578 ETH in hack


The creators of Taylor, a cryptocurrency trading app, have claimed that they have lost about 2,578.98 Ether (which is currently valued at over $1.49 million) from the company’s wallet in an attack by an unidentified hacker.

Taylor posted on Medium on May 22, revealing that they had been hacked and almost all their funds stolen. The company said that apart from the Ether, TAY tokens were also stolen from the Team and Bounty pools, amounting to over 7 percent of the total supply.

“The only tokens that were not stolen are the ones from the Founders’ and Advisors’ pools, because there’s a vesting contract making them inaccessible for now,” the report read.

The company wrote that since they are still investigating the attack, they cannot reveal much, but said, “What we can say is that it was not a smart contract exploit. Somehow the hacker got access to one of our devices and took control of one of our 1Password files.”

Taylor believes that the hacker is the same person or group that hacked CypheriumChain and stole over 17,000 ETH (amounting to about $9 million), as the hacker worked by collecting the amount from multiple sources into a single wallet then transferring it to a bigger wallet, which is allegedly the same wallet where the tokens from the CypheriumChain hack were transferred.

The team also noticed an attempt to dump the stolen TAY tokens on IDEX and asked them to delist TAY until they knew more about the situation, which means that the market is down for TAY and even legitimate token holders cannot trade.

“We are considering to issue a new token and swap the old one,” the company said. “The goal is to make sure the hacker does not receive the new token. We analyzed all transactions made by him, and we know exactly where the stolen tokens are.”

Taylor warned token owners to stop all trading of TAY tokens until more information is revealed and new tokens are sent out, “otherwise, you may lose your money and will not be able to receive the new token.”

“We reassure that we will spare no efforts to find a way to mitigate the implications of this incident for every single legit token holder. We are not going anywhere!” the company said after the attack.