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Anonymous Denies Involvement in Indian Army Online Hacking Incident

Nov01
2011 Leave a Comment Written by blogadmin

If you regularly follow any online hacking weblog, the name Anonymous wouldn’t be unfamiliar. They’ve been in the news for all the wrong reasons, even though they are wont to justify their actions by citing certain motivating factors.

Anonymous Denies Hacking Indian Army SiteThere has been some online hacking activity recently, however, that has put even this daring group of civil disobedience activists in the denial mode. Recently, hackers claiming to be from the infamous activist group Anonymous (known for several online hacking attacks) hacked into a Government of  India, GoI for short, website to express their support the ‘India Against Corruption” movement in the country. Obviously, this misguided group claiming to be the Indian chapter of Anonymous seem to believe that their actions are somehow contributing positively to the movement. It is hard to understand how targeting the government websites with online hacking attacks will help the cause. Now, after having seen a spate of attacks on Indian websites, and promises for more, India seems to be a big target on the hit-list of hackers of global notoriety. Though none of the hacks have so far proved to be too damaging, concerns on level of Internet security in the country have grown sharply.

Online Hacking Weblog: The Attack Backfires

The ‘Anonymous’ hackers group also hacked the Indian Army website but quickly retracted after a lot of outraged Indians flooded the Facebook and Twitter pages of Operation India with angry responses to the online hacking attack. Soon after the event, the Facebook and Twitter pages for Anonymous India were removed – a move that took everyone by surprise. It is also not clear whether the move was taken by the online hacking group or the social networking sites were too involved into it.

Things became more confusing after a message, purportedly from the ‘real’ Anonymous, posted on PasteBin said that Anonymous did not launch any online hacking attacks against the government sites but that it was someone else misusing its name.

Here’s excerpt of the message:

“It has come to our notice that some of the Indian hackers and their groups are taking the undue advantage of the situation and the name and platform of Anonymous” “You targeted organizations and other Indian Government properties to settle your own issues and you used the name Anonymous for personal benefits. By doing all this activities, you have not only hampered the image of Anonymous but you all are responsible for the damage caused to #OpIndia.”

Other Online Hacking Attacks

Other than the blame game and discussing who is responsible for the menace, focus should remain on the factors leading to such events. The recent breach of computer networks of International Monetary Fund (IMF) apparently shows the vulnerability of Internet communication across the world. Even after intensification of security, such hacking events are the on rise. Famously, companies like Sony and Citigroup were not spared either. Many will agree increasing online hacking attacks have raised the risks of critical and private data getting out in public. Anonymous India or whosoever it was justified hacking the government website in the name of the anti-graft movement. And then it follows that up with the online hacking attack on the Indian Army website. It is very hard to relate the two acts of online hacking, as they don’t seem to have been done with the same intentions.

Posted in Hacking News - Tagged ,

Need for Change to Tackle Online Hacking

Oct17
2011 Leave a Comment Written by blogadmin

The need for better education on online hacking and cybersecurity on all levels is now acknowledged by many IT security experts and even government officials, but it seems that nobody quite knows where to begin.

A paper published by Chatham House last month found that “there was considered to be Need for Change to Tackle Online Hackingan absence of an authoritative ‘rich picture’ that could help to develop a more comprehensive and urgent sense of the online hacking threats that need to be tackled.”

The UK Cyber Security Strategy has recently been put back to later this month, in order to attempt to create links between government and law enforcement groups.

Online Hacking Weblog: Tackling Hacking with Education

Virtually everyone acknowledges the dangers of online hacking and related cybercrime, but few, if any, have a clear idea of what to do.

There exists a need to educate from the bottom up and a strategy must be reached to protect the national infrastructure.

With online hacking crimes against individuals still on the rise, there is also an ongoing danger to corporations and government, especially from botnets.

However, it is a mammoth task to change the surfing habits of users and the gaps in the understanding of company leaders and their ICT departments.

Although awareness of the affects of cyber crime is growing, “there is still limited understanding of the nuances of the debate”.

Governments all over the world recognize that they can’t change things by themselves and so there is a need for private and IT security companies to get involved too.

However, research and funding in the area of cyber security to counter online hacking is still sadly lacking in both the public and private sector, although it is recognized that more is needed.

This can be addressed within organizations by identifying future threats and budgeting accordingly.

It is more important now than ever that corporations understand the risks and allocate funds and implement plans in order to tackle the problem.

Online Hacking Weblog: Re-engineering Social Web Behavior

On a societal level, greater public awareness about online hacking needs to be achieved and this can be done by first of all ensuring more understandable terminology.

The problem with addressing society as a whole is that it is made up of such a diverse mix of people.

Not only does information have to be accessible to everyone, but it needs to be put across in such a way that gives it “value” to people.

One of the key areas to address is modifying human behavior, because humans, not computers, can be the weakest link in defense against online hacking, say cyber crime experts.

The cyber crime industry has thrown posters, mug mats and beseeching hope at a problem that needs, what behavioral scientists call, ‘choice engineering’. The difficulty in getting both companies and individuals to adopt good security practices is recognized. A more fundamental cultural change may be necessary to drive large-scale transformation in cyber security outreach and online hacking awareness. Whilst awareness surrounding the issues is improving in both government and organizations, this isn’t in any uniform manner and there still exists a basic lack of understanding about the threats of online hacking and in many cases, inadequate response measures are being put in place. Additional work is also needed on improving the culture of cyber security at the societal level, with clearer guidance on what it means to be a ‘good netizen’.

Progress towards improving this culture would serve to establish a kind of immunity to the most widespread and common threats, while also educating a broad group of users about emerging online hacking threats.

Posted in Hacking News - Tagged , ,

Online Hacking: Using Your Credit Card Online

Oct11
2011 Leave a Comment Written by blogadmin

Online hacking of credit card information is an abomination arisen out of a phenomenon that has otherwise done only good for the betterment of mankind.

Purchasing products and services on the internet using credit cards has always been dicey for most people since the early days of the internet. While the internet has evolved, bringing new and improved security measures, the danger of online hacking still lurks. And the trouble with online hacking is that the perpetrators of online hacking are always a step ahead; they discover a fault or a security hole in a system and exploit it to gain unauthorized access to information. When the fault is discovered, they are filled up, leaving online hacking experts to look for other fault lines; and they usually do find them.  When it comes to online usage of credit cards, the ramifications of identity theft, even without considering the potential financial loss, are huge. Your credit card leaves an electronic trail of purchases and anybody stealing the credit card details could effectively be using it for something illegal in your name. Online Shopping With Credit Card

The situation might seem hopeless and you may think that there’s not much you can do short of vowing never to use your credit card online, but that is drastic, unnecessary and inconvenient. Sure, some online merchant sites have other payment options too, but the credit card still remains the most widely offered option. Not using a credit card online is likely to prevent you from availing the awesome deals and sales you can participate in on the internet shopping sites. There are, however, ways and means to improve your defenses against online hacking.

Protecting your Credit Card Information from Online Hacking

The first thing you need to check, when shopping online with a credit card, is to ensure that you’re always on a secure page. Online merchant sites often use a high level of on-page encryption to render their pages secure, so that the sensitive information your provided may not be intercepted. This, however, is unlikely to protect you if you have malware such as keyloggers installed on your system, which is one way that perpetrators of online hacking gain your information. Therefore, using anti-virus as well as anti-spywate software is essential. Another trick that you may be subjected to is through phishing emails. It works like this: you get an email that seems to be from your credit-card company or bank, and everything looks like the real deal. The mail would request you to click on a link which would also look a genuine page of the bank or credit card company. This page, however, is a phishing page, one way of online hacking, that would ask you for your password, credit card number or some other sensitive detail (and you wouldn’t suspect a thing because it seems natural for the page to ask this information). This method of online hacking literally tricks you into giving away your own details. So be careful of any email claiming to be from your bank-salsh-credit card company-slash-online payment processor; doubly so if it contains a link to click on. Always access your bank site or any financial transaction site directly by typing the address into your online browser, the old fashioned way.

Virtual Credit Cards to Fool Online Hacking

Using a payment processor such as Paypal is also a good way to protect yourself while shopping with a credit card online. You’re furnishing your information to only one site (Paypal, in this case) which then proceeds to make payments to the sites you do your purchases from, thus limiting risk by limiting online exposure of your data. The downside is that while these payment processors have a good coverage of online merchant sites to provide you the service, there are still an awful lot of sites which wouldn’t be covered by your payment processors. You see, all processors don’t work for all websites or, for that matter, for all geographical locations.

Using virtual credit cards is another alternative to using credit cards online. These cards eliminate the risk involved in your online credit card transactions by giving you single time useable credit card numbers that can only be used online, and only be used once. Contact your credit card company to know more of these facilities that would help you shop online with your credit card.

Keep watching this space for cyber-security tips and tricks to protect yourself from the dangers of online hacking, whether for credit card information or otherwise.

Posted in Malware, Security Software, Web Sematics - Tagged , ,

Cyber-security: Fighting Online Hacking makes for a Lucrative Career

Sep27
2011 Leave a Comment Written by blogadmin

Fight the Hacking Menace

Electronic fraud and Internet-related offenses such as hacking are fast-turning into a serious law-and-order issue, especially in the Western world. With internet technology becoming an ever pervasive part of our lives, it is becoming more and more crucial to be aware of security issues with respect to hacking and the dos-and -don’ts of being a netizen so as to not be a victim. Also, with corporations becoming more aware of the need for computer security, a qualification in cyber security can make for a lucrative career, turning you into a veritable cyber-Marshall who combats the evil of hacking. What’s more, a lot of these courses are available online!

Of course, there exist proper brick-and-mortar institutions that offer similar courses, but online learning affords you the luxury of learning at your own pace. Effectively, it lets you plan your course to suit your life instead of the other way round.

A Course to Counter Hacking

While yoCyber Security Against Hackingu’ll learn many things in this course, of utmost importance is the part where they teach you about countering cyber-terrorism. Cyber-terrorism is still a tentative term and aspects of it are still emerging. However, one can say that cyber-terrorism is where the menace of hacking, hitherto ranging from merely annoying fiddling to financial crimes or even corporate espionage, has now turned into a full-blown hazard threatening the national security of various countries and endangering millions of lives.

Cyber terrorism is the sort of hacking where a hacker breaks into a system containing sensitive classified information pertaining to a nation’s security interests; the access is usually granted via the internet, but sometimes a hacker may have to connect to a more secure, exclusive network through the internet, thus involving another layer of security that has to be compromised. The classified information thus accessed may be made public for all to see, or just sold to the highest bidder. Such hackers can even be in the employ of intelligence agencies seeking to spy on another country. Cyber-terrorism is just an extension of one way that hacking has been used by the business world for quite some time: corporate espionage by breaking into a rival company’s systems. The difference is that the stakes are much higher in this case than just corporate hacking. The anonymous nature of the Internet makes it easy for certain groups to attack rival groups or target individuals with impunity.

A few of the other topics of relevance that are taught in the course are cyber law, computer forensics, fighting malware and cyber-compliance. There is also a fair degree of stress on countering intrusion with software/ hardware and firewalls.

In a Nutshell

What it comes down to is protecting sensitive information and checking unauthorized access to any data. Implications of this can be very wide, from preventing national-security level espionage, to saving critical computer systems from malicious software, and even to preventing identity theft that ultimately leads to credit card fraud or possibly something more nefarious.

A computer is like a gun; it can be used for evil or for good, and that depends on the man controlling it. By being a cyber security professional, you are choosing to take things in your hands and do your bit to counter the threat of hacking.

Posted in Ethical Hacking, Hacking News - Tagged , , , ,

Aussies Worried About Phone Hacking

Jul25
2011 Written by blogadmin

A new study has found that people are increasingly concerned about hacking the phone in Australia because of revelations in a British newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch.

The survey week Essentials Online Research found that 51 percent of respondents are concerned about the phone hacking scandal after news the world has not existed since the British newspaper.

Only five per cent of the 1053 respondents said they were less concerned.

Half of the respondents also said the federal government should not allow one company to own the majority of Australia’s major newspapers.

Mr Murdoch’s group owns the Australian, Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph and Courier Mail mastheads.

Forty-eight percent also supported the need for more regulation of the media, against only six percent who said that there should be less, while 31 percent think current legislation was on the right.

Posted in Hacking News - Tagged ,

Washington Post Website Jobs Section Hacked

Jul16
2011 Written by blogadmin

Hackers last month, the exploitation of jobs maintained by the Washington Post Co., the site aims to touch more than one million user names and e-mail.

In an e-mail Wednesday night, a media company that informs the user of the online jobs that the Board of Directors by a third party had made a number of user names and email addresses for more than two separate events in June. No password or other personal information was accessed according to the company.

The incident affected about 1.27 million user IDs and email addresses. Washington Post said it was investigating the attack to the police and conducting an audit of your workplace.

The attack follows a theft of online travel companies and governments run around the world. Earlier this week, a group of hackers claim to have cleared the 74 sites of the Turkish government. Online Hackers have attacked Sony Corp., the U.S. Senate and AT & T Inc., among others.

Posted in Hacking News - Tagged , ,

Protect Yourself From Hackers, Experts Advise Young People

Jul11
2011 Written by blogadmin

Young people should be aware of ways to protect their identity on the Internet as a threat of violation of privacy is increasing and more and more cases of crimes reported, experts from IIT Kanpur said Saturday.

Internet security experts, including Gaurav Sharma and Tarun Bansal, for students and professionals in a seminar in Bharti Mandapam here.

“As companies increasingly go online, as more and more data being stored on the Internet and attracts Netbanking a growing number of people, the demand for Internet security experts is growing” , Gaurav said, adding that in Western countries, domestic companies are willing to pay a salary very much for the experts in this field.

After recent incidents of Internet data theft from companies and other agencies, both government agencies and private companies are extremely conscious about their online safety, Gaurav added.

“Always have an eye for suspicious activity on your online existence. Most of the time hackers create a duplicate website and as soon as you provide your log in address on it, your site is hacked,” said Gaurav. Tarun Bansal, another IIT Kanpur student, warned Internet users against Internet security loopholes.

Organized under the aegis of a web portal, allmycourses.com, the workshop witnessed focused and holistic discussions on various forms of hacking.

“Always exit from your account after each use. If you close your window without success to disconnection, the browser stores your login information, which can be used by hackers to tamper with your account,” say Tarun students.

“One of the most important things to remember is always to delete the browser history when using a public computer, because the cookie, which makes up automatically when you visit the site, hackers could be the way to get the login information. However, there is no need for private computers, “Tarun added yet.

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Nintendo Another Victim of Hacking

Jun06
2011 Written by blogadmin

Nintendo was targeted in a recent online data attack, but no personal or company information was lost, the Japanese maker of the Wii game console said on Sunday.

The server of an affiliate of Nintendo’s US unit was accessed unlawfully a few weeks ago, but there was no damage, company spokesman Ken Toyoda said.

“There were no third-party victims,” Toyoda said, declining to elaborate. “But it is a fact there was some kind of possible hacking attack.”

The damage from what could be part of a recent spate of such data breaches targeting big-name brands was more serious at rival Sony.

Sony has said massive personal information, including email addresses, names and birth dates, and involving more than 100 million users, is suspected of having been stolen after security was compromised in April for its network service for the PlayStation 3 game machine, for other online services and, in the past week, from Sony Pictures’ website.

It is still unclear who is behind the attacks at Sony or Nintendo, based in Kyoto.

Hackers calling themselves Lulz Security – a reference to Internetspeak for “laugh out loud” – claim to have compromised more than 1 million Sony users’ personal information, posting many of the details to the Internet.

Lulz Security also claimed credit for the Nintendo attack, posting what they said was a Nintendo server configuration file to the Web. The group added that they pulled the hack off just for fun.

“We’re not targeting Nintendo,” the group said in a message posted to Twitter over the weekend. “We like the N64 (gaming console) too much – we sincerely hope Nintendo plugs the gap.”

Tokyo-based Sony has said it is strengthening security measures. It has contacted the FBI and other authorities for an investigation into the cyber attacks. – Sapa-AP

Posted in Hacking News - Tagged ,

GMA-7′s Website Hacked

May30
2011 Written by blogadmin

His website of one of the leading television networks in the Philippines has been hacked by a username “D4RKB1T”.

GMA-7’s website – gmanews.tv, its Facebook and Twitter accounts have been simultaneously hacked on Sunday Morning.
Users are redirected to google.com whenever they tried to enter the network’s website.

“GMA HACKED BY D4RKB1T,” was displayed on the network’s official Facebook fan-page.
The hacker however had managed to explain why he hacked the sites.

“This is not about stupidity, but a message to webdevs [website developers]. Learn to secure your sites, user accounts and passwords with personal information are being stored there. We have to be ready for such cyber terrorism,” the hacker’s statement posted at the GMA’s fan-page. “No ‘database’ was altered or removed.

The hacker continued, “We have to be vigilant on securing sites or else personal information will be leaked.”

“I did not intend to make damage, just make the devs listen! They never respond to my messages telling them about the security hole,” the hacker said.

The hacking lasted for more than 30 minutes.

The TV Network in a statement on its Twitter account said, “We have re-established control of GMA News Online. Our apologies for the profanities.”

The identity of the said hacker has yet to be determined.

Last year, the government had expressed alarm over the series of hacking incidents on some of its agencies’ websites.

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Sony Restarts Internet Services Weeks after Hacking Debacle

May16
2011 Written by blogadmin

Sony has begun to increase its Internet service back online after a week of hacking debacle, which saw millions of users ‘personal information’ stolen.

The company announced a series of pumping actions of the security because it allows customers to return to play any games online to download music.

Moves may be too late for some customers, however, anecdotal reports of dumping their PS3 for Xbox 360 and Xbox Live online community.

The Japanese consumer electronics giant has been humiliated by the technology meltdown, with senior executives literally bowing in apology to customers worldwide.

Sony shut down its PlayStation Network (PSN) and Qriocity music-based service on April 21, after a cyber attack on its San Diego data centre.

The intruders accessed the personal details of more than 77 million user accounts, escaping with details ranging from passwords to home addresses.

Sony has been unable to rule out if the thieves got away with credit cards details as well.

Among the suite of security enhancements announced today was an early-warning system designed to detect unusual activity signalling a cyber attack.

Existing users must change their PSN and Qirocity account passwords as part of the revamped security measures.

Sony deputy chief Kazuo Hirai again apologised to customers.

“I’d like to send my sincere regret for the inconvenience this incident has caused you and want to thank you all for the kind patience you’ve shown as we worked through the restoration process,” he said.

“We are taking aggressive action at all levels to address the concerns that were raised by this incident and are making consumer data protection a full-time, company wide commitment.”

Internet security company Symantec, spokesman Francis deSouza, said there had been a dramatic rise in cyber attacks over the past 18 months along with their sophistication and impact.

“Today’s cyber crime attacks are proving to be more covert, more targeted and better organized than those we’ve seen in years past,” he said.

Posted in Hacking News - Tagged ,
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