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  • Microsoft continues its legacy of spying on its windows users! Windows 10 Privacy Spy destroyer

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    DISTROY WINDOWS 10 SPYING – Privacy Concerns

    Microsoft Windows 10 Software

    As we all know since windows 7 Microsoft has altered its operating system to be more user friendly and at the same time collect more user data on its customers, When windows 8 was launched , there were big changes including location platform and many more but now with the new Windows 10 release there are endless limitations on the collection of data being sent to Microsoft.

    Some group has released a piece of software which eliminates all apps, and blocks the data from being sent to Microsoft. I will not comment much on the software but see below what it does block.

    Also a new app by the name of DoNotSpy10 has been created by a German developer pXc-coding.

    Destroy Windows 10 Spying is an app that can block anonymous data being sent, remove apps that can’t be removed the standard way and more. I liked that it can remove some of the Windows default programs that can’t be removed under Apps & Features, an annoyance I immediately discovered since I prefer to “slim” down windows.

    I should note that there are still a few steps to complete, you’ll still need to go online to Microsoft’s site and opt out of the company’s invasive advertising tracking features when using DoNotSpy10 or other piece of software.

    It’s your own fault if you don’t know that Windows 10 is spying on you. That’s what people always say when users fail to read through a company’s terms of service document, right?

    Well, here is Microsoft’s 12,000-word service agreement. Some of it is probably in English. We’re pretty sure it says you can’t steal Windows or use Windows to send spam, and also that Microsoft retains the right to take possession of your first-born child if it so chooses. And that’s only one of several documents you’ll have to read through.

    Actually, here’s one excerpt from Microsoft’s privacy statement that everyone can understand:

    Finally, we will access, disclose and preserve personal data, including your content (such as the content of your emails, other private communications or files in private folders), when we have a good faith belief that doing so is necessary to: 1.comply with applicable law or respond to valid legal process, including from law enforcement or other government agencies; 2.protect our customers, for example to prevent spam or attempts to defraud users of the services, or to help prevent the loss of life or serious injury of anyone; 3.operate and maintain the security of our services, including to prevent or stop an attack on our computer systems or networks; or 4.protect the rights or property of Microsoft, including enforcing the terms governing the use of the services – however, if we receive information indicating that someone is using our services to traffic in stolen intellectual or physical property of Microsoft, we will not inspect a customer’s private content ourselves, but we may refer the matter to law enforcement.

    If that sentence sent shivers down your spine, don’t worry. As invasive as it is, Microsoft does allow Windows 10 users to opt out of all of the features that might be considered invasions of privacy.
    Some of the domains we know send anonymous information back to Microsoft include:
    vortex.data.microsoft.com
    vortex-win.data.microsoft.com
    telecommand.telemetry.microsoft.com
    telecommand.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
    oca.telemetry.microsoft.com
    oca.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
    sqm.telemetry.microsoft.com
    sqm.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
    watson.telemetry.microsoft.com
    watson.telemetry.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
    redir.metaservices.microsoft.com
    choice.microsoft.com
    choice.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
    df.telemetry.microsoft.com
    reports.wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
    wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
    services.wes.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
    sqm.df.telemetry.microsoft.com
    telemetry.microsoft.com
    watson.ppe.telemetry.microsoft.com
    telemetry.appex.bing.net
    telemetry.urs.microsoft.com
    telemetry.appex.bing.net:443
    settings-sandbox.data.microsoft.com
    vortex-sandbox.data.microsoft.com
    survey.watson.microsoft.com
    watson.live.com
    watson.microsoft.com
    statsfe2.ws.microsoft.com
    corpext.msitadfs.glbdns2.microsoft.com
    compatexchange.cloudapp.net
    cs1.wpc.v0cdn.net
    a-0001.a-msedge.net
    statsfe2.update.microsoft.com.akadns.net
    sls.update.microsoft.com.akadns.net
    fe2.update.microsoft.com.akadns.net
    diagnostics.support.microsoft.com
    corp.sts.microsoft.com
    statsfe1.ws.microsoft.com
    pre.footprintpredict.com
    i1.services.social.microsoft.com
    i1.services.social.microsoft.com.nsatc.net
    feedback.windows.com
    feedback.microsoft-hohm.com

    feedback.search.microsoft.com
    rad.msn.com
    preview.msn.com
    ad.doubleclick.net
    ads.msn.com
    ads1.msads.net
    ads1.msn.com
    a.ads1.msn.com
    a.ads2.msn.com
    adnexus.net
    adnxs.com
    az361816.vo.msecnd.net
    az512334.vo.msecnd.net

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  • CTB-Locker ransomware spreading through fake Windows 10 Update emails

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    With the highly publicized release of Microsoft’s Windows 10 on July 29th, scammers and malware developers were quick to jump in and use it as a method of distributing malware. Cisco’s Talos Group has discovered a email campaign underway that pretends to be from Microsoft and contains an attachment that will supposedly allow you to upgrade to Windows 10. In reality, though, this email is fake and once you double-click on the attached file, you will instead become infected with the encrypting ransomware CTB-Locker.

    win10_blacked_out.png

    Image of fake Windows Update Email courtesy of Cisco

    As you can see the email pretends to be from the email address update@microsoft.com and contains the subject [b]Windows 10 Free Update. Even the email message looks legitimate with no spelling mistakes or strange grammar. This is because the content is copied directly from Microsoft’s site. The only tell-tale sign is that there will be some characters that do not render properly. Unfortunately, this small sign will not be enough for many people to notice.

    Furthermore, once they download the attachment and extract it, the attached Win10Installer.exe icon will be the familiar Windows 10 logo.

    It isn’t until you inspect the file properties of the attachment, do you see that something is not right as its file description will be iMacros Web Automation and the copyright for the program will belong to Ipswitch. Ipswitch is a legitimate company and not the ones who released this malware.

    Finally, if a user double-clicks on the Win10Installer.exe file, they will not be greeted with the normal Windows 10 upgrade screen. Instead, after a brief delay they will be shown the screen for the CTB-Locker ransomware.

    CTB-Locker Computer Virus removal and data file recovery service. Local and Online service. Fort Lauderdale,Miami, Boca Raton and all South florida
    CTB-Locker Computer Virus removal and data file recovery service. Local and Online service. Fort Lauderdale,Miami, Boca Raton and all South florida

    At this point, the computer’s data will be encrypted and there is not much that can be done about it.

     

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  • Cryptowall 3.0 is back and rapidly spreading – Ransom Virus Malware Spyware Spam Email

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    Cryptowall 3.0 Spreading again Removal DecrypterCryptowall 3.0 Rapidly Spreading again Removal Repair Recovery and Decrypter
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    Since the Angler Exploit Kit began in late May spreading Cryptowall 3.0 ransomware, traffic containing the malware has continued to grow, putting more potential victims in harm’s way.

    A week ago, the SANS Internet Storm Center reported that Cryptowall 3.0 infections are emanating from not only the prolific exploit kit, but also from malicious spam campaigns. The two means of infections share some common characteristics, lending credence to the theory that the same group may be behind both.
    Version 3.0 is the latest iteration of Cryptowall, which is also known as Crowti. Like other ransomware families, Cryptowall 3.0 encrypts files stored on a compromised computer and demands a ransom, usually $500 payable in Bitcoin, in exchange for the encryption key. The malware uses numerous channels to communicate and send stolen traffic to its keepers, including I2P and Tor anonymity networks. Researchers at Cisco in February said that Cryptowall 3.0 abandoned using a dropper for propagation, opting instead to use exploit kits.

    As of this morning, SANS incident handler and Rackspace security researcher Brad Duncan said that the latest run of Angler Exploit Kit traffic showed that the attackers had added a different Bitcoin address than the one used previously.

    At this point, I’m not 100 percent certain it’s the same actor behind all this Cryptowall 3.0 we’ve been seeing lately,” Duncan wrote on the SANS ISC website. “However, my gut feeling tells me this activity is all related to the same actor or group. The timing is too much of a coincidence.

    Duncan said that a check on blockchain.info for activity on the two Bitcoin addresses shows some transactions, indicating some victims are paying the ransom.

    “We’re seeing a lot more samples of CryptoWall 3.0 in the spam/EK traffic now than before, so maybe the increased exposure might help infect more computers,” Duncan said, adding that he had no data on whether any of the victims who did pay the ransom were receiving encryption keys and are able to salvage their data.

    Duncan said this latest spike began May 25 from both the malicious spam and Angler angles; both campaigns were still active as of early this morning.

    The spam campaign uses Yahoo email addresses to send Cryptowall 3.0 via attachments. The attachments are called my_resume.zip and contain an HTML file called my_resume.svg. Duncan said the attackers have begun appending numbers to the file names, such as resume4210.html or resume9647.html.

    Opening the attachment and extracting the malicious file gives you an HTML document. If you open one of these HTML files, your browser will generate traffic to a compromised server,” Duncan wrote. “The return traffic is gzip compressed, so you won’t see it in the TCP stream from Wireshark. Exporting the text from Wireshark shows HTML that points to a shared document from a Google server.

    Cryptowall is hosted on a number of different docs.google.com URLs, he said, a list of which is posted on the SANS website. The Bitcoin address used for payment in the spam campaign is 16REtGSobiQZoprFnXZBR2mSWvRyUSJ3ag, the same address found in other spam samples.

    Infections coming from Angler began May 26, and were the first Cryptowall 3.0 infections seen from Angler. The Bitcoin address used in Angler infections is 16Z6sidfLrfNoxJNu4qM5zhRttJEUD3XoB, SANS said. Duncan reports that a second Bitcoin address, 12LE1yNak3ZuNTLa95KYR2CQSKb6rZnELb, was used as of today.

    “There are any number of reasons to use more than one Bitcoin address. It could be a back-up, in case law enforcement is closing in on the other one. It could be a way to track different infections, geographically,” Duncan said. “I’m not sure on this one. It’s just my gut feeling, which could be wrong.”

    Duncan said that a new slate of WordPress sites were redirecting to Angler in this campaign, based on web injects observed.

    “The significance is that there are plenty of vulnerable websites running outdated or unpatched versions of WordPress,” Duncan said. “The actors behind this (and other) campaigns will have a continuous supply of websites that can be compromised and used for these efforts.”

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  • Malicious Ads on Yahoo, AOL, Match.com, Trigger CryptoWall Infections

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    cryptowall

    Attackers have been leveraging the FlashPack Exploit Kit to peddle the CryptoWall 2.0 ransomware on unsuspecting visitors to sites such as Yahoo, The Atlantic and AOL. Researchers believe that for about a month the malvertising campaign hit up to 3 million visitors and netted the attackers $25,000 daily.

    According to experts at Proofpoint, a firm that primarily specializes in email security, the exploit kit targeted a vulnerability in Adobe Flash via users’ browsers to install the ransomware on users’ machines.

    Malvertising is an attack that happens when attackers embed malicious code – in this case code that led to the latest iteration of CryptoWall – into otherwise legitimate ads to spread malware via drive-by downloads. Users can often be infected without even clicking on anything.

    CryptoWall, which takes users’ files, encrypts them with rigid RSA-2048 encryption, then asks for a fee to decrypt them, made a killing earlier this summer. In August it was reported that the ransomware made more than $1.1 million for its creators in just six months.

    Similar to Critoni/Onion, a ransomware dug up in July, CryptoWall 2.0 downloads a TOR client on the victim’s machine, connects to a command and control server and demands users send Bitcoin – $500 worth – to decrypt their files. Since the campaign lasted about a month, from Sept. 18 to this past Saturday, researchers are estimating that 40 of the campaign’s Bitcoin addresses collected at least 65 BTC each, a number that roughly translates to $25,000 a day.

    cryptowall1

    Proofpoint claims that high ranking sites such as AOL, The Atlantic, Match.com and several Yahoo subdomains such as their Sports, Fantasy Sports and Finance sites, were spotted serving up the tainted ads. Other sites lesser known in the U.S. such as Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and the Brisbane Times, were reportedly also doling out the ads.

    While the campaign started a month ago the firm claims things didn’t start to ramp up until recently.

    “After crossing a threshold level, it became possible to associate the disparate instances with a single campaign impacting numerous, high-traffic sites,” Wayne Huang, the company’s VP of Engineering, said of the campaign.

    The firm claims it worked quickly to notify those involved in the campaign, including the ad providers, and as of this week, believes the situation has been nullified.

    Last month researchers with Barracuda Labs found a CryptoWall variant with certificate signed by Comodo being distributed through ads on a handful of different websites. None of those sites were nearly as trafficked as those spotted by this most recent campaign however. The Alexa rankings for Yahoo (4), AOL (37), Match (203), and The Atlantic (386) place them within the top 500 of the internet’s most popular sites, something that likely upped the campaign’s exposure level.

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  • Microsoft PowerPoint Vulnerable to Zero-Day Attack

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    New Windows zero day being exploited through PowerPoint

    Summary: A vulnerability exists in Windows OLE for all versions except Server 2003. The company has released a workaround to block known attacks, but newer attacks could still get through.

    All Windows versions affected except Server 2003

    Microsoft has disclosed a vulnerability affecting all supported releases of Microsoft Windows, excluding Windows Server 2003. The attack is being exploited through limited, targeted attacks using Microsoft PowerPoint.

    Microsoft has released a Fix it “OLE packager Shim Workaround” that should stop the known PowerPoint attacks. It does not stop other attacks that might be built to exploit this vulnerability. The Fix it is not available for 64-bit editions of PowerPoint on x64-based editions of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

    There are some important mitigating factors for this problem. It is a remote code execution vulnerability, so if a user opens an affected Office document, the attacker would gain control of the system with the same privileges as the user. Using Windows with limited permissions limits the damage this attack can cause.

    Microsoft reports that in the attacks they know of, a User Account Control (UAC) prompt was raised when the user opened the document. This is not typical behavior and should alert many users that something is wrong.

    Attacks could be sent through files other than Microsoft Office documents, if the handling application supports OLE objects. In reality, Office documents are the obvious vehicle for spreading such an attack.

    The security advisory describing the problem also includes instructions for configuring the Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit 5.0 to protect against the known attacks.

     

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  • Privacy criticism hits OSX Yosemite over Location data and Safari Search Results being submitted to apple

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    apple rainbow logo

    Apple has fixed a huge number of security vulnerabilities in OS X and iTunes and, at the same time, is being hit with criticisms about privacy issues in the new version of OS X.

    The latest version of the operating system, known as Yosemite, sends location information to Apple by default via the Spotlight search feature, something that has angered users and privacy advocates. Yosemite was released to users on Oct. 17 and within hours users began reporting that highly specific location data was being sent from their machines back to Apple. The feature that enables this data collection and transmission is Spotlight, a powerful search function in OS X that in Yosemite now has the ability to return search results not just from the user’s Mac, but also from iTunes, the App Store and the Web.

    APPLE COLLECTS USERS’ DATA AND FORWARDS IT TO MICROSOFT AS WELL

    On one hand, where Apple decided to enable hard drive encryption by default, despite the FBI requests not to do so. But on the other, the company is itself putting its users’ privacy on risk. The same data Apple collects from the users’ searched term on Spotlight will also be forwarded to Microsoft’s Bing search engine as Apple freely admits in its terms of service.

     

    When a user has location services on her Mac enabled, some of the data from searches, including location information, is sent to Apple.

    “When you use Spotlight, your search queries, the Spotlight Suggestions you select, and related usage data will be sent to Apple. Search results found on your Mac will not be sent. If you have Location Services on your Mac turned on, when you make a search query to Spotlight the location of your Mac at that time will be sent to Apple. Searches for common words and phrases will be forwarded from Apple to Microsoft’s Bing search engine. These searches are not stored by Microsoft. Location, search queries, and usage information sent to Apple will be used by Apple only to make Spotlight Suggestions more relevant and to improve other Apple products and services,” the disclaimer in Yosemite says.

    HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF

    Users can turn off Spotlight Suggestions and Bing Web searches in System Preferences which are enabled by default, noted the company.

    A developer has created a Python script which you can  Download The Script  from our site to prevent Apple from collecting data, so you can switch off the Spotlight search by going through step-by-step instructions for doing it.

    Disable “Spotlight Suggestions” and “Bing Web Searches” in System Preferences > Spotlight > Search Results.

    Safari also has a “Spotlight Suggestions” setting that is separate from Spotlight’s “Spotlight Suggestions.” This uses the same mechanism as Spotlight, and if left enabled, Safari will send a copy of all search queries to Apple.

    You’d be forgiven for thinking that you’d already disabled “Spotlight Suggestions,” but you’ll also need to uncheck “Include Spotlight Suggestions” in Safari > Preferences > Search.

    “Yosemite Spotlight’s default sending of precise location and search terms is probably the worst example of ‘privacy by design’ I’ve seen yet.

    On the security side of things, Yosemite includes fixes for dozens of vulnerabilities, several of which can result in remote code execution. Yosemite includes a patch for the Bash Shellshock vulnerability as well as fixes for flaws in a number of components, such as the app sandbox, IOKit, the OS X kernel and many others. One of the more serious issues fixed in this release is a problem with the 802.1x implementation that could allow an attacker to get the user’s credentials.

    “An attacker could have impersonated a WiFi access point, offered to authenticate with LEAP, broken the MS-CHAPv1 hash, and used the derived credentials to authenticate to the intended access point even if that access point supported stronger authentication methods. This issue was addressed by disabling LEAP by default,” Apple said in its advisory. 

    There’s also a fix for a vulnerability in the way that OS X handled altered apps.

    “Apps signed on OS X prior to OS X Mavericks 10.9 or apps using custom resource rules, may have been susceptible to tampering that would not have invalidated the signature. On systems set to allow only apps from the Mac App Store and identified developers, a downloaded modified app could have been allowed to run as though it were legitimate. This issue was addressed by ignoring signatures of bundles with resource envelopes that omit resources that may influence execution,” the advisory says.

    In the new version of iTunes, Apple has fixed a bug that could allow an attacker with man-in-the-middle position to crash iTunes or execute arbitrary code. The release of iTunes 12.01 also includes patches for dozens of memory corruption vulnerabilities in WebKit.

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  • Microsoft released eight security bulletins on Tuesday that address dozens of vulnerabilities including a zero-day flaw

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    Microsoft Patches 3 Zero-day Vulnerabilities actively being Exploited in the Wild

    As part of monthly patch update, Microsoft released eight security bulletins on Tuesday that address dozens of vulnerabilities including a zero-day flaw reportedly being exploited by Russian hackers to target NATO computers and a pair of zero-day Windows vulnerabilities that attackers have been exploiting to penetrate major corporations’ networks.

    Just a day before yesterday, our team reported you about a Zero-day vulnerability discovered by the cyber intelligence firm iSight Partners affecting all supported versions of Microsoft Windows and is being exploited in a five-year old cyber-espionage campaign against the Ukrainian government and U.S organisations.

    Researchers at FireEye found two zero-day flaws, used in separate, unrelated attacks involving exploitation of Windows kernel, just a day after iSight partners disclosed zero-day in Windows. The pair of zero-day vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to access a victim’s entire system.

     

    According to the researchers at FireEye, the two of three so-called zero-day flaws are being actively exploited in the wild by hackers and are being used as “part of limited, targeted attacks against some major corporations.”

    Microsoft updates for the month of October 2014 Patch Tuesday address several vulnerabilities in all currently supported versions of Windows, Internet Explorer, Office, Sharepoint Server and the .Net framework. Three of the bulletins are marked “critical” and rest are “important” in severity. Systems administrators are recommended to apply the patches immediately for the critical updates.

    The zero-day flaw (CVE-2014-4114) discovered by iSight partners in all supported versions of Microsoft Windows and Windows Server 2008 and 2012 that is being exploited in the “Sandworm” cyberattack, are patched as part of MS14-060. Microsoft rated Bulletin MS14-060 as important rather than critical because it requires a user to open a Microsoft Office file to initiate the remote code execution.

    “The vulnerability [exists in Windows OLE] could allow remote code execution if a user opens a Microsoft Office file that contains a specially crafted OLE object,” Microsoft warned in its bulletin. “An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user.” (OLE is Microsoft technology for creating complex documents that contain a combination of text, sound, video and other elements.)

    However, the two zero-days discovered by FireEye are patched as part of MS14-058 and are marked critical. They are designated CVE-2014-4148 and CVE-2014-4113.

    “We have no evidence of these exploits being used by the same actors. Instead, we have only observed each exploit being used separately, in unrelated attacks,” FireEye explained.

    CVE-2014-4148 exploits a vulnerability in TrueType Font (TTF) processing. TTF processing is performed in kernel mode as part of the GDI and has been the source of critical vulnerabilities in the past as well.

    The vulnerability affects Windows 8.1/Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows 8/Windows Server 2012, Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2 (Service Pack 0 and 1) and Windows XP Service Pack 3. It affects both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Operating System, but the attacks have only been observed against 32-bit systems.

    However, CVE-2014-4113 is a local Elevation of Privilege (EoP) vulnerability that affects all versions of Windows including Windows 7, Vista, XP, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003/R2, Windows Server 2008/R2, Windows 8.x and Windows Server 2012/R2.

    Out of remaining bulletins, two are rated critical, both address remote code execution vulnerability in Internet Explorer and Microsoft .NET Framework respectively. Remaining bulletins are rated important in severity, include elevation of privilege bugs, Security Feature Bypass, and a remote code execution flaw.

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  • Nearly 7 Million Dropbox accounts Allegdely Hacked

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    Internet users have faced a number of major privacy breaches in last two months. Major in the list are The Fappening, The Snappening and now the latest privacy breach in Dropbox security has gained everybody’s attention across the world.

    Dropbox, the popular online locker service, appears to have been hacked by an unnamed hacker group. It is still unclear how the account details of so many users were accessed and, indeed, if they are actually legitimate or not. However, the group claims to have accessed details from nearly 7 million individual accounts and are threatening to release users’ photos, videos and other files.

    HACKERS CLAIMED TO RELEASE 7 MILLION USERS’ PERSONAL DATA

    A thread surfaced on Reddit today that include links to files containing hundreds of usernames and passwords for Dropbox accounts in plain text. Also a series of posts with hundreds of alleged usernames and passwords for Dropbox accounts have been made to Pastebin, an anonymous information-sharing site.

    Hackers have already leaked about 400 accounts by posting login credentials, all starting with the letter B, and labelled it as a “first teaser…just to get things going“. The perpetrators are also promising to release more more password details if they’re paid a Bitcoin ransom.

    “More Bitcoin = more accounts published on Pastebin. As more BTC is donated, More pastebin pastes will appear.”

    The security breach in Dropbox would definitely have bothered its millions of users and since passwords are involved in this incident, so it has more frightening consequences on its users. Reddit users have tested some of the leaked username and password combinations and confirmed that at least some of them work.

    DROPBOX DENIED THE HACK – THIRD PARTY IS RESPONSIBLE

    However, Dropbox has denied it has been hacked, saying the passwords were stolen apparently from third-party services that users allowed to access their accounts. In a statement to The Next Web, Dropbox said:

    “Dropbox has not been hacked. These usernames and passwords were unfortunately stolen from other services and used in attempts to log in to Dropbox accounts. We’d previously detected these attacks and the vast majority of the passwords posted have been expired for some time now. All other remaining passwords have expired as well.”

    The incident came just few days after the Snappening incident in which the personal images of as much as 100,000 Snapchat users were leaked online, which was the result of a security breach in the its third-party app.

    Snapchat has denied that its service or server was ever compromised, but the servers of a third-party app designed to save Snapchat photos, which became the target for hackers to obtain personal photographs.

    DROPBOX – “HOSTILE TO PRIVACY” SAYS SNOWDEN
    Dropbox was in the news earlier this week when, in a recent interview with The Guardian, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden called Dropbox a “targeted, wannabe PRISM partner” that is “very hostile to privacy” — referring to its ability to access your data itself, which is yet another security consideration when it comes to web services.Snowden suggested web users to stop using Dropbox and warned them that the cloud storage service does not safeguard users’ privacy because it holds encryption keys and can therefore be forced by governments to hand over the personal data they store on its servers. He suggested people to use an alternative cloud storage provider that do not store any encryption keys, so that the users’ data cannot be read by anyone.

    USERS ARE ADVISED TO CHANGE PASSWORDS

    Until the full scope of the problem is known, it’s probably worthwhile changing your password. But whether the attack is confirmed or not, it’s a good idea to change your password just to be on a safer side — especially for those users who use same password for multiple services.

    Users are also recommended to turn on two-factor authentication, which Dropbox now supports and install a time-based, one-time password app on a mobile device.

    Update: Dropbox has issued a statement on its blog further clarifying that the Dropbox passwords were stolen from “unrelated services.”

    “The usernames and passwords…were stolen from unrelated services, not Dropbox,” the company said in a blog post. “Attackers then used these stolen credentials to try to log in to sites across the internet, including Dropbox. We have measures in place that detect suspicious login activity and we automatically reset passwords when it happens.”

    “Attacks like these are one of the reasons why we strongly encourage users not to reuse passwords across services. For an added layer of security, we always recommend enabling 2 step verification on your account.”

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  • ONE MILLION people already running Windows 10

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    Microsoft announced early this week that they have released a Technical Preview of Windows 10. This sounds awesome. Because I always loved the moment when new OS release comes from Microsoft. People were expecting Windows 9 after the previous 8.1 but it was quite surprising that Microsoft Skipped 9 and released Windows 10.

    Microsoft has revealed that a million people have signed up for the Windows Insider Program it is using to offer early access to Windows 10 for those willing to test the operating system’s early iterations.

    Of those crash test dummies, Redmond says 36 per cent are running the OS in a virtual machine.That leaves about 650,000 people running Windows 10 on bare metal.

    Microsoft says

    “Insiders” have delivered “over 200,000” pieces of feedback. If the list of most-requested features Microsoft has presumably allowed to reach Paul Thurrott’s Supersite for Windows is any guide, feedback is not coming from sysadmins: most requests concern minor UI tweaks and aesthetics, although “Make it easier to use a local account” is the third-most-requested new feature.

     

    SNEAKPEAK

    Well if you are not familiar with previous release then Download Windows 8.1 ISO first. Then you can have better picture what changes Microsoft brought in this Metro Style User Interface. There was large community which was preferring Windows 7 on these new Metro Interface operating Systems. That’s why Microsoft had to take a new step. This time they created a Mix of Windows 7 and Windows 8 to create the New Windows 10.

    Windows 10 Download ISO 64 bit Free

    Features of Windows 10 Technical Preview

    Below are some noticeable improvements which you’ll get after Windows 10 Download ISO 32 Bit 64 Bit.

    • New Cleaned Start Menu.
    • Mix of Windows 7 Menu and Windows 8 Metro Interface.
    • Virtual Desktops Feature.
    • Task View Option with Arrays of Virtual Desktops.
    • Dynamically Resizing of Windows Apps.
    • Huge Search Improvements.

    More Features can be seen when you Download Windows 10 ISO.

    Windows 10 Download ISO 32 Bit 64 Bit

    Windows 10 Technical Specs

    • Software Full Name: Windows 10 Technical Preview 32 Bit 64 Bit English
    • Setup File Name: WindowsTechnicalPreview-x86-EN-US.iso (32 Bit), WindowsTechnicalPreview-x64-EN-US.iso (64 Bit)
    • Full Setup Size: 2.93 GB (32 Bit), 3.81 GB (64 Bit)
    • Setup Type: Offline Installer / Full Standalone Setup:
    • Compatibility Architecture: 32 Bit (x86) / 64 Bit (x64)
    • Latest Version Release Added On: 2nd Oct 2014
    • License: Free
    • Developers: Microsoft

    Minimum System Requirements for Windows 10

    Before you start Windows 10 Download ISO 32 Bit 64 Bit, Make sure you PC meets minimum system requirements.

    • Processor: 1 GHz
    • Memory (RAM): 1 GB (For 32 Bit), 2 GB (For 64 Bit)
    • Space: 16 GB Free Hard Disk Space

    Microsoft’s not saying when the feedback will result in a new release of of the OS, or when it will go on sale. ®


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  • Snapchat Hacker Threatens to Leaked thousands of Nude Celebriti Images

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    The waves of celebrities nude photos have not yet stopped completely, and a new privacy threat has emerged exposing tens of thousands of private photographs and videos of innocent users are circulating over the Internet.

    The personal image that are believed to be sent through Snapchat — the ephemeral messaging service that allows users to send pictures that should disappear after a few seconds — has been floating on the image based 4chan’s notorious /b/ board since last night. The incident was result of a security breach in an unofficial third-party app for Snapchat.

    Earlier this week, an anonymous 4chan user claimed to have obtained images on Snapchat and then the user warned of releasing thousands of nude videos and images sent using Snapchat soon in an event dubbed ‘The Snappening’.

    Previously, It was believed that the official SnapChat mobile app or its servers had been hacked by the hackers, and the third-party Snapchat client app has been collecting every photo and video file sent through the messaging service for years, giving hackers access to a 13GB private Snapchat files.

    But Snapchat has denied that its service was ever compromised. Earlier today, Snapchat issued a statement about the “Snappening” and blamed its consumers for using unofficial and unauthorized third-party apps.

    “We can confirm that Snapchat’s servers were never breached and were not the source of these leaks,’ a Snapchat representative said in a statement. “Snapchatters were victimised by their use of third-party apps to send and receive Snaps, a practice that we expressly prohibit in our Terms of Use precisely because they compromise our users’ security. We vigilantly monitor the App Store and Google Play for illegal third-party apps and have succeeded in getting many of these removed.“

    The most worrying part for the users is that Snapchat was right. The personal data is supposed to be obtained from a website called SnapSaved.com — an external app used by a number of Snapchatters in order to save Snapchat photos without the sender knowing — which has been inactive for the past few months and is apparently independent of the official Snapchat service.

    However, Business Insider has pointed to SnapSaved.com, a site which is no longer functional, and the SnapSave app as potential sources of the leak. Meanwhile, an assortment of photos has been traced back to SnapchatLeaked.com — site also posted personal and nude photos of Snapchat users, indicating that the photos could have been circulating for months.

    “The Snappening” is named in reference to the recent celebrity nude photos leak that was called “The Fappening.” The incident comes just weeks after thousands of celebrity nude images were leaked online through 4chan website, following a hack of Apple’s iCloud.

    Snapchat was first hacked in December 2013 when 4.6 million Snapchat users were exposed in a database breach. Later, the denial-of-service attack and CAPTCHA Security bypass The most worrying part for the users is that Snapchat was right. The personal data is supposed to be obtained from a website called SnapSaved.com — an external app used by a number of Snapchatters in order to save Snapchat photos without the sender knowing — which has been inactive for the past few months and is apparently independent of the official Snapchat service.

    However, Business Insider has pointed to SnapSaved.com, a site which is no longer functional, and the SnapSave app as potential sources of the leak. Meanwhile, an assortment of photos has been traced back to SnapchatLeaked.com — site also posted personal and nude photos of Snapchat users, indicating that the photos could have been circulating for months.

    “The Snappening” is named in reference to the recent celebrity nude photos leak that was called “The Fappening.” The incident comes just weeks after thousands of celebrity nude images were leaked online through 4chan website, following a hack of Apple’s iCloud.

    Snapchat was first hacked in December 2013 when 4.6 million Snapchat users were exposed in a database breach. Later, the denial-of-service attack and CAPTCHA Security bypass vulnerabilities were discovered by the researchers at the beginning of this year.

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  • TripAdvisor’s Viator Hit by Massive 1.4 Million Payment Card Data Breach

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    TripAdvisor’s Viator Hit by Massive 1.4 million Payment Card Data Breach
    TripAdvisor has reportedly been hit by a massive data breach at its Online travel booking and review website Viator, that may have exposed payment card details and account credentials of its customers, affecting an estimated 1.4 million of its customers.

    The San Francisco-based Viator, acquired by TripAdvisor – the world’s largest travel site – for £122 million (US$ 200 million) back in July, admitted late on Friday that the intruders have hacked into some of its customers’ payment card accounts and made unauthorized charges.

    The data breach was discovered in the bookings made through Viator’s websites and mobile offerings that could potentially affect payment card data.

    Viator said that the company has hired forensic experts to figure out the extent of the breach. Meanwhile, the company has begun notifying its affected customers about the security breach as said by the travel outfit in a press release.

    “On September 2, we were informed by our payment card service provider that unauthorized charges occurred on a number of our customers’ credit cards,” Viator wrote. “We have hired forensic experts, notified law enforcement and we have been working diligently and comprehensively to investigate the incident, identify how our systems may have been impacted, and secure our systems.”

    “While our investigation is ongoing, we are in the process of notifying approximately 1.4 million Viator customers, who had some form of information potentially affected by the compromise.”

    During investigation it found that the cybercriminals have broken into its internal databases and accessed the payment card data – including encrypted credit or debit card number, card expiration date, name, billing address and email address – of approximately 880,000 customers, and possibly their Viator account information that includes email address, encrypted password and Viator ‘nickname.’

    Additionally, the intruders may have also accessed the Viator account information, including email addresses and encrypted passwords, of over 560,000 Viator customers.

    According to the company, Debit-card PIN numbers were not included in the breach because Viator does not store them. The travel advisor said that they believe that the CVV number, the security numbers printed on the back of the customer’s credit card, were also not stolen in the breach.

    For those who are affected by the breach in United States, Viator is offering them identity protection and credit card monitoring services for free and and the company is also investigating the possibility of offering similar services to customers outside the country.

    Meanwhile, the company has warned its affected customers to regularly monitor their card activity and report any fraudulent charges to their card company. “Customers will not be responsible for fraudulent charges to their accounts if they are reported in a timely manner,” Viator said.

    Viator also recommends its users to change their password for the site, as well as all other websites that uses the same credentials.

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