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Russian Cyber Security
Cyber Security Cyber Security News Russia Russian Cyber Security

More than half of Russian companies are concerned about the protection of personal data of employees and customers


The antivirus company ESET studied the state of information security in the Russian business sector, interviewing dozens of IT Directors and business owners. According to ESET research, different types of cyber threats affected 90% of Russian businesses. 60% of Russian IT managers are seriously concerned about the safety of personal data.

"The discontinuation of Windows 7 will play a role. Many Russian companies, despite the risks, will continue to use the operating system in the workplace. This will increase the risk of infection with new viruses, compromise and loss of corporate data," said the ESET representative. In addition, on January 14, 2020, support for the Windows 2008 and Windows 2008 R2 server systems was completed. They are used by many small and medium businesses. According to Ruslan Suleymanov, the Director of Information Technology Department of ESET Russia, this year, powerful and frequent DDoS attacks on the corporate sector and deepfakes will remain a trend.

Elena Ageeva, a consultant for the Information Security Center Jet Infosystems, notes that the development of cloud technologies will contribute to an increase in the number of attacks on cloud services.

According to InfoWatch, in Russia, ordinary employees have been and remain the main threat to the personal information of company customers. They account for more than 70% of the violations leading to leaks.

Andrey Arsentyev, head of the InfoWatch Analytics and Special projects Department, believes that phishing attacks will be further developed in 2020.

According to Dmitry Stetsenko, the head of the Kaspersky Lab’s group of system architects, attacks, almost undetected by standard antiviruses, through supply chains and BEC (Business Email Compromise) are gaining more and more popularity. After infecting the system, attackers prefer to use legal IT tools to develop attacks, which also complicates data protection.

Yevgeny Gnedin, head of Analytics at Positive Technologies, believes that attacks to steal information will prevail over attacks with the aim of direct financial theft. "Especially if the company does not provide ongoing monitoring of information security events and the investigation of cyber incidents," said the representative of Positive Technologies.
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RPF
bengaluru police Cyber Crime e-ticket hack IRCTC RPF

Railway Protection Force (RPF) bust a multi-crore ticket fraud



Bengaluru: The Railway Protection Force busted a multi crore ticket booking fraud and apprehended two miscreants who hacked the railway booking website and used the ANMS Tatkal software to book tickets.



The ticketing racket seems to have been working all around the nation and the police as well as RPF are making all efforts to snub the fraud and catch all the agents involved in the fraudulent scheme.

The accused arrested by the police are Gulam Mustafa (26),  from Jharkhand, and Hanumantharaju M (37), from Peenya.

Akhilesh Kumar Tiwari, post commander RPF, South Western Railway told that Hanumantharaju was arrested last year and Mustafa on Jan 8th.

Upon questioning, Mustafa said to deccanherald that, "in 2017, he had created an Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) agent ID to book an e-ticket. He later joined hands with the other accused and hacked the booking portal through ANMS software and created 563 fake IDs and started booking e-tickets illegally."

He even rented out the hacked ANMS software, which led to the department incurring losses up to crores of rupees. He also had in his possession a Pakistan-based DARKNET software and Linux software to hack central government websites, bank accounts etc. He had gained access to government websites and banned websites.( by deccanherald) 


Hanumantharaju worked for Mustafa in selling the e-tickets illegally. The RPF couldn't file the report under IT act, so instead they filed the complaint with the city Police under IPC Section 419 (cheating by personation) and 420 (cheating).

The accused are still under RPF custody but will soon be moved to the city Police station,  Rajagopala Nagar Police Station.
The IRCTC mobile app can be download by anyone and used to book tickets online within two minutes, five tickets per month for personal usage. The accused made hundreds of IRCTC accounts to book several tickets.

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Technology
Android Google iPhone Snapchat Technology

Google Maps…Creepy or Useful?



Whether Android or iPhone there is no denying that Google is there for all of us, keeping a track log of our data in a "Timeline" that unequivocally shows wherever we've been, which while in some cases is amazingly valuable and helpful yet for the rest it’s downright creepy.

The creepy degree of details range from like precisely the time at which the user left for home, arrival at home, the exact route taken along the way, pictures taken in specific locations and then some.

It'll show them if they were driving, strolling or on a train, and any pit stops they may have made during their journey. Like here is an example including a user's stop for lunch, and a meeting they took with Snapchat on the Upper West side earlier in the day.



Zoomed in, one can see the exact course taken to arrive and where the car was parked.


And hence there's no reason as to why Google has to know this much information about any user, except if they truly care about things like Google's recommendations based on where they've been.

So there are a couple of ways the user can recover their privacy. First, here’s how the user can delete everything Google Maps currently knows about them:

  • Open Google Maps on your iPhone or Android phone.
  • Tap your profile picture on the top-right. 
  • Choose “Your data in Maps.” 
  • Choose “See & Delete activity.” 
  • Hit the menu button on the top-right of the page and select “Settings.” 
  • Choose “Delete all location history.” 


 And here’s how the user can set it up so Google automatically deletes all this location data every three months:

  • Open Google Maps on iPhone or Android. 
  • Tap the menu bar on the top-left of the app. 
  • Choose “Your Timeline.” 
  • Tap the three dots on the top-right of the screen. 
  • Choose “Settings and privacy.” 
  • Select “Automatically delete location history.” 
  • Change the setting from “Keep until I delete manually” to “Keep for 18 months” or “Keep for 3 months.” 


 Or, if the user doesn’t mind Google tracking them day to day but just want to stop it for a little while, they can simply turn on Incognito mode in Maps by doing this:


  • Open Maps on your iPhone or Android phone. 
  • Tap your profile picture on the top-right. 
  • Choose “Turn on Incognito mode.”



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Privacy
IoT IoT devices IOT Security Privacy

Bot List Containing Telnet Credentials for More than 500,000 Servers, Routers and IoT Devices Leaked Online


This week, a hacker published a list on a popular hacking forum containing Telnet credentials for over 515,000 servers, home routers and IoT (Internet of Things) "smart" devices. The massive list which reportedly was concluded by browsing the whole internet in search of devices that left their Telnet port exposed, included IP addresses of all the devices, username and password for the Telnet service and a remote access protocol that can be employed to control devices over the internet.

After scanning the Internet in search of devices exposing their Telnet port, the hacker attempts to use either factory-set default usernames and passwords or custom but guessable combinations, as per the statements by the leaker himself.

These lists, generally kept private – are known as 'bot lists' that are built after hackers scan the Internet and then employed them to connect to the devices and install malware. Sources say that although there have been some leaks in the past, this one is recorded as the biggest leak of Telnet passwords till date.

As per the reports of ZDNet, the list was made available online by one of a DDoS-for-hire (DDoS booter) service's maintainer. There's a probability that some of these devices might now run on a different IP address or use other login credentials as all the leaked lists are dated around October-November 2019. Given that using any of the listed username and password to access any of the devices would be illegal, ZDNet did not use it. Therefore, they were not able to comment on the validity of these credentials.

A security expert in the field of IoT, requesting for anonymity, tells that even if some of the listed credentials are invalid by the time for devices now have a new IP address or password. However, the listings still hold a lot of value for a skillful and talented attacker who can possibly use the present information in the list to identify the service provider and hence update the list with the current IP addresses.

Certain authentic and verified security researchers are given access to the list of credentials as they volunteered for it.
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WeLeakInfo
Dark Web Data Breach FBI Security WeLeakInfo

Website Puts 12 Billion User Records Up For Sale and Gets Seized By US Authorities


Are you fond of buying stolen'/leaked data? Because, one such domain, named ‘WeLeakInfo.com’ recently got seized by the US authorities.

WeLeakInfo, with its absolutely convenient name, had been selling stolen data from other hacked websites, online for the past three years.

The website provided an online service where hacked data was made available to people willing to pay for it.

Per sources, hackers were made available people’s “cleartext passwords” which aided them to purchase a subscription on the site in order to attain access to tons of user credentials.

Apparently, this illegal website was doing so well that it had gotten quite a popular fan-base for itself in the hacking “underworld”.

Reportedly, people were even providing them with consignments to execute recon on targeted individuals and organizations alike.

The modus operandi was in the way, that hackers would buy access to the site. They’d then search for names, emails and usernames of people they want to hack. The site would come up with results in the affirmative as to in which data breaches exactly were the required user’s data available.

The hackers would then have complete access to people’s passwords which they could easily run against that person’s other online profiles as well.

The cost of the website was incredibly low making it easily accessible to all sorts of hackers of all sorts of abilities and financial attributes.

Reportedly, for a lowly amount of $2/day hackers could fully wring the website for unlimited searches for any user’s data which was ever in a data breach.

During the silence before the storm period, WeLeakInfo was proudly flaunting on its website its expanded network of over 12 billion user records owing it to more than 10,000 data breaches, reports mentioned.

The storm hit and WeLeakInfo got taken down together by FBI, authorities from the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, the UK, and Germany.
Also, per sources, two arrests were made in the Netherlands and Northern Ireland each. Reportedly, the arrested suspects are allegedly staff members of the site.

After the US authorities took down “LeakedSource” in February 2017, “WeLeakInfo happens to be the second most major website to go down the same drain.

There still exist several websites that are providing people access to stolen data especially cleartext password, as you read this.

Per sources, similar websites, allegedly by the name of “Detached”, “Leak-Lookup” and “Sunbase” have been created on the model of a website “Have I Been Pwned” which is a website created by Australian researchers, per reports.

The model of the three websites and “Have I Been Pwned” may be the same but the latter never permits access to cleartext passwords.

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Ukrainian Cyber Security
Data Breach Sensitive data Leaked Ukraine Ukrainian Cyber Security

Ukrainian government job site posted passport scans of thousands of civil service candidates


Government job site https://career.gov.ua/ published scans of passports and other documents of citizens who registered on the portal to search for work in the government sector. This was announced on January 16 by the Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine on Facebook.

“A possible leak of personal data of citizens who registered on the site https://career.gov.ua/ with the aim of passing a competition for government service was identified. A copy of the passport and other scanned documents that users uploaded to the Unified Vacancy Portal for public service are in free access," the message said.

It is noted that data leakage became known from posts on Facebook by job seekers in the public sector. So, on January 15 at night in the social network, there were messages from candidates for government posts about publishing scans of their passports, diplomas and other documents. A spokeswoman for the Ukrainian cyber activist community, Ukrainian Cyber Alliance, known as Sean Townsend, filed a complaint with the Ombudsman’s Office.

The press service of the Ombudsman's Office noted that the circumstances of this incident are being established and monitoring is being carried out. However, Ukrainians are afraid that their documents will be used by fraudsters.

"Don't be surprised if a loan is accidentally taken in your name," users write in the comments.
The cybersecurity expert Andrei Pereveziy wrote the following: "Minister Dmitry Dubilet, what about digitalization? Probably, this vulnerability in the framework of #FRD should be demonstrated to the European Ombudsman, so that Europe understands what it supports."

The National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine held an extraordinary meeting of the working group on responding to cyber incidents and countering cyber attacks on state information resources in connection with the leak of data from the Unified Vacancy Portal.
During the meeting, experts noted the need for state authorities to ensure proper cyber protection of their own information systems.
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Uzbekistan
Bitcoin Technology Technology News Uzbekistan

The authorities of Uzbekistan to launch a national mining pool


Uzbekistan plans to legalize mining by providing the status of a participant in the mining pool, which is planned to be created in the Republic. This is stated in the draft resolution of the President "On measures for further development of the sphere of turnover of crypto assets".
Participants of the mining pool will be provided with privileges for paying for electricity. In addition, all transactions with crypto assets, as well as the receipt of income from this activity, will not be taxed.

According to the draft resolution, it is also planned to create a regulatory body for the development of digital technologies Uzbekistan Blockchain Valley. The organization will launch pilot projects to implement blockchain, crypto assets turnover, and other technologies.

In addition, the national mining pool Uzbekistan Cryptocurrency Mining Pool will be created. It will combine hardware mining facilities located in Uzbekistan. Experts believe that the establishment of a pool will legalize mining.

The nationwide mining pool will consolidate mining capacity, create favorable conditions for industrial and private miners on the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan, increase the transparency, security and control of mining processes, as well as increase the efficiency of energy consumption and generally increase the investment attractiveness of Uzbekistan in the eyes of foreign cryptocurrency investors.

Also, from February 1, 2020, it is proposed to oblige industrial miners to undergo licensing, and private and small miners to register, as a result of which they will receive the status of a member of the mining pool.

Discussion of the draft resolution and the introduction of proposals and comments will last until January 31, 2020.

It is interesting to note that in December 2019, the government of Uzbekistan approved a resolution that sets an increased tariff for electric energy for miners. According to the innovations, from March 2020, miners will pay three times more for electricity.
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Privacy
AI EU Facial Recognition Privacy

European Union likely to ban Facial Recognition for 5 years


The EU (Europian Union) is considering restricting the use of facial recognition technology for a possible duration of 5 years, in public area sectors. The reason being is the regulators need some time to consider the protection of unethical exploitation of the technique. The facial recognition is a technique that lets to identify faces that are captured on camera footage to be crosschecked against real-time watchlists, mostly collected by the police.


However, the restrictions for the use are not absolute as the technique can still be used for research and development, and safety purposes. The committee formulating the restriction drafted an 18-page document, which implicates the protection of privacy and security of an individual from the abuse of the facial recognition technique. The new rules are likely to strengthen the security measures further against the exploitation. The EU suggested forcing responsibilities on either party, the developers, and the users of AI (artificial intelligence) and requested member countries of the EU to build an administration to observe the recent laws.

Throughout the ban duration that is 3-5 years, "a solid measure for evaluating the repercussions of facial recognition and plausible security check means can be discovered and applied." The recommendations appear among requests from lawmakers and activists in the United Kingdom to prevent the police from unethical abuse of the AI technique that uses live facial recognition technology for purposes of monitoring the public. Not too late, the Kings Cross estate got into trouble after a revelation that its owners were using facial recognition without the public knowing about it.

The politicians allege that facial recognition is fallacious, interfering, and violates the basic human right of privacy. According to a recent study, the algorithms that facial recognition uses are not only incorrect but are also flawed in identifying the black and Asian faces in comparison to those of the whites.

How Facial Recognition works?

  • The faces stored in a police photo database are mapped using the software.
  • CCTV present at public places identifies the faces. 
  • Possible matches are compared and then sent to the police. 
  • However, pictures of inaccurate matches are stored for weeks.
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Webcam
Data Breach Porn websites. PussyCash Security Webcam

Adult Webcam Models' Private and Sexual Data Compromised!


Undoubtedly, being an "Adult Webcam Model" means living a "revealing" life "out in the open". But to an extent where "Personal" and "Sexual" details are laid out on the table? Not what most would think.

PussyCash, an infamous “live webcam porn network” suffered a data breach and threw in the face of the internet all the tremendously “controversial” details of their adult webcam models’ lives.

Per sources, “PussyCash” hosts “affiliation programs” for numerous adult websites. Webmasters are paid for sending traffic to these sites via “banners”.

PussyCash owns and operates other similar websites via its parent organization “IML SLU” by the names of, “ImLive”, “Shemale”, “Forget Vanilla”, “Whiplr”, “Supermen”, “Phonemates”, “Fetish Galaxy”, “Sexier” and many more.

PussyCash, who really should’ve known better, had administered an “explicit webcam network” with over 870,000 files left unattended for ANYONE with an internet connection to access without the need for a PASSWORD.

The awfully gigantic plop of information about the adult webcam models that was leaked by PussyCash had in it the models’ full names, dates of birth, places of birth, addresses, nationalities, citizenship statuses, passport details, genders, photographs, signatures, parents’ full names, fingerprints, the entire credit card numbers their expiry dates, driving licenses, marriage certificates, birth certificates, body measurements, tattoo and piercing details and other such stuff.

But this was NOT ALL.

Other particularly uncanny and creepy details of the models’ personal and work lives got revealed, including, PHOTOGRAPHS, VIDEO CHATS and SCREENSHOTS of their work, apparently. And, their Sexual Fantasies, Favorite Sexual Positions, scans of their handwritten biographies, hobbies, favorite food, and the list goes on.

(Mortifying!)

This data leak has surely opened up new avenues for criminals by providing them fresh meat to ‘extort’, ‘stalk’, ‘blackmail’ and publicly humiliate these models in addition to the commonplace attempts at identity thefts and scams.

Once an adult webcam model, NOT ALWAYS an adult webcam model.
It is more than probable that out of the listed individuals some preferred to quit being “adult webcam models” and moved towards more conventional and professional jobs and careers. What would happen if their workplaces get privy to these exceedingly controversial details of their past lives?

Unfortunately, PussyCash isn’t the first one to err so. Loads and tons of websites leave their sensitive data out on the face of the internet for people to exploit.

Porn websites certainly can’t be condoned of lack of security just because, well, they are porn websites. Everyone on the web should equally worry about the privacy of their data, it doesn’t matter if the organization is professional or not.

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US Army
Cyber Crime HackerOne Hacking US Army

52 Hackers get into the US Army system in the last 5 weeks


Last year, during October and November, 52 hackers were able to hack the US army. "It only strengthens our security systems as the hackers who hacked our systems did it on ethical principles, as the participants of second 'Hack the Army' event that is taking place since the year 2016," says the spokesperson of the US Department of Defense Defense Digital Service.



In today's world of cyber attacks and hacking, it is right to assume that inviting hackers to try and invade your system's security is not safe, not even for the US army. The hackers don't need a mere invite to hack into any organizations' cybersecurity. This statement raises a bit of doubt as lately, the US government warned users to update specific Virtual Private Network (VPN), or suffer from persistent cybersecurity attacks. Also, recently, the New York airport and New Orleans city suffered a cyberattack.

But still, there exists a plan in this obvious cyber insanity. 'Hack Army 2.0' was a mutual undertaking between the U.S. Army, a bug bounty program called 'HackerOne,' and the Defense Digital Service.

What is HackerOne?
In simple words, HackerOne is a platform where various exploits or vulnerabilities can be tested by hackers. This platform has allowed some of its best hackers to win millions of dollars. Surprisingly, one hacker was even able to hack the program itself. This reflects the caliber and potential of the hackers, who register in HackeOne.
Therefore, the whole reason for organizing 'Hack Army 2.0' is to find out any threats or vulnerabilities that might affect the security of the US army. This is crucial as it ensures the US army from other unethical hackers and national threats, for instance, Iran.

146 bugs detected, the Army pays $275,000-
The results after this drill revealed that a total number of 60 open US army assets were under the potential threat of hacking. The US army rewarded the hackers a total amount of $274,000 for their efforts. "The assistance of hackers can be helpful for the Army to increase its defense systems exceeding fundamental agreement lists to attain maximum security," said the spokesperson Alex Romero.
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Mobile Security
Android Applications Android Security Fleeceware Google Play Store Mobile Security

Over 600 Million Users Download 25 'Fleeceware' Apps from the Play Store


Researchers at security firm Sophos has discovered a new set of Android apps present on the Google Play Store that contain fleeceware. Notably, these apps have been downloaded and installed by over 600 million unsuspecting Android users.

The term 'Fleeceware' was first coined in September 2019 by cybersecurity firm Sophos in aftermath of an investigation that led to a new kind of financial fraud on the authentic Google Play Store.

Fleeceware is a new addition to the cybersecurity ecosystem, referring to the exploitation of the trial period mechanism in Android apps which generally is provided before one is charged for the full version from his signed up account.

Normally, users who register for an Android app's trial period are required to cancel the same manually in order to avoid being charged. However, it's common among users to simply stop using the app by uninstalling it in case they don't like it. The action of uninstalling is read by the developers as trial period being canceled and hence it doesn't result in the due amount being charged from the user account.

The UK based, a cybersecurity company, Sophos told that it identified over two-dozen android apps containing fleeceware, these apps were charging somewhere around $100 and $240 per year for apps as basic and mainstream as barcode readers, calculators, and QR scanners.

Suspecting the unusually high number of downloads on these apps, analyst Jagadeesh Chandraiah says, it's likely that these apps have resorted to third-party pay-per-install services to raise up the download counts. He also suspects the five-star reviews being fake and bought in order to better the apps ranking on the Play store and hence lure a large number of users.

Warning the users in their report, Sophos told, "If you have an Android device and use the Google Play Store for apps, you should rigorously avoid installing these types of “free trial” apps that offer subscription-based charges after a short trial."

"If you do happen to have a free trial, make sure you understand that merely uninstalling the app does not cancel the trial period. Some publishers require you to send a specific email or follow other complicated instructions to end the free trial before you are charged, though you might just need to log into your Google Pay to cancel. Keep copies of all correspondence with the publisher, and be prepared to share that with Google if you end up disputing the charges." the report further read.
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