Tech News - Security

In this ever-growing technology era, one has to ensure the data they put on the internet is in safe hands. No matter which platform you use to share data, there is always a risk of your data being misused. Recently, a group of hackers managed to breach Vevo’s YouTube channel taking down their most-watched videos. This security breach alarmed a lot of viewers as they witnessed something unexpected when searching for popular music videos like ‘Despacito’. The hackers not only took down these videos but also replaced them with a different thumbnail and video title. Apparently, the thumbnail picture used was of a masked gang with guns taken from a Netflix show Casa de Papel and the video title consisted of their nicknames (Prosox and Kuroi’sh). Immediately after this news spread like wildfire, YouTube claimed that it was Vevo that was hacked and not YouTube.  Vevo is owned by the big three record companies in the United States: Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment. Vevo only hosts music videos from artists signed to Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group and those are published on YouTube. YouTube also claimed that there is a big difference between YouTube and Vevo. Anyone with a google account can upload a video to YouTube’s mainstream. But this isn’t the case for Vevo. Vevo is managed by administrators responsible for uploading videos to the website and the Vevo YouTube channel. This means only authorized personnel have access to Vevo’s platform, which is broadcasted on YouTube. This personnel does not have any access to the rest of YouTube overall. It was Vevo’s servers that were hacked as all the affected videos came from that server. Since this attack catered to specific music artists it is still unclear if the hackers got through individual artist accounts or had a wider breakthrough Vevo accounts. So far, only one hacker has claimed that they used scripts to alter video titles. Vevo has already started fixing their security breaches where they have claimed that their affected videos and catalog have been restored to full working order. They are also currently investigating the source of the breach. You can know more about this developing news originally reported by BBC. Check out other latest news: Cryptojacking is a growing cybersecurity threat, report warns Top 5 cloud security threats to look out for in 2018

Cryptojacking is a growing threat to users, a UK cyber security agency warns. In its Cyber Threat to UK Business report, the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), outlines the growing use of cryptojacking as a method of mining bitcoin by stealth. The report quotes an earlier study by Checkpoint, done at the end of 2017, indicating that 55% of businesses globally had been impacted by the technique. One of the most interesting aspects of cryptojacking is how it's blurring the lines of cybercriminality. Although the NCSC 'assumes' that it is ultimately a new technique being used by experienced cyber criminals, the report also notes that websites - without necessarily having any record of cybercrime - are using it as a way of mining cryptocurrencies without users' knowledge. It's worth noting that back in February, Salon gave users the option to supress ads in return for using their computing power. This was essentially a legitimate and transparent form of cryptocurrency mining. What is cryptojacking? Cryptojacking is a method whereby a website visitor's CPU is 'hijacked' by a piece of JavaScript code that runs when the user accesses a specific webpage. This code then allows cybercriminals to 'mine' cryptocurrencies (at present Monero) without users' knowledge. The NCSC report gives an example of this in action. According to the report, more than 4,000 websites "mined cryptocurrency through a compromised screen-reading plugin for blind and partially sighted people." Cryptojacking looks set, then, to become a larger problem within the cybersecurity world. Because it's so hard for users to identify that they are being exploited, it's likely that this will be difficult to tackle. However, technology savvy users are already creating solutions to protect from cryptojacking. This will effectively become the next wave of ad blockers. It will be interesting to see whether this does, in fact, become a model that the media industry takes on to tackle struggling revenues. Could Salon's trial lead to the increased adoption of legitimate cryptojacking as a revenue stream? Whatever happens, user consent is going to remain an issue. Source: Coindesk Vevo’s YouTube account Hacked: Popular videos deleted Top 5 cloud security threats to look out for in 2018

Kali Linux 2018.1, the first of the many versions of Kali Linux for this year is now available. This release contains all the updates and bug fixes since the last version 2017.3, released in November 2017. The 2018.1 version is boosted by the new Linux 4.14.12 kernel. This brings in an added support for newer hardware and an improved performance. This means, ethical hackers and penetration testers can now use Kali in a more efficient manner to enhance security.   The release also has two exceptional features which include, AMD Secure Memory Encryption, a new feature in the AMD processors that enables automatic encryption and decryption of DRAM. The addition of this feature means that systems will no longer be vulnerable to cold-boot attacks because, even with physical access, the memory will be not be readable. Increased Memory Limits – This release also includes a support for 5-level paging, a new feature of the upcoming processors. These new processors will support 4 PB (petabytes) of physical memory and 128 PB of virtual memory. Several packages including zaproxy, secure-socket-funneling, pixiewps, seclists, burpsuite, dbeaver, and reaver have been updated in Kali 2018.1. Also, for those using Hyper-V to run Kali virtual machines provided by Offensive Security, the Hyper-V virtual machine is now generation 2. This means, the Hyper-V VM is now UEFI-based and supports expanding/shrinking of HDD. The generation 2 also includes Hyper-V integration services, which supports Dynamic Memory, Network Monitoring/Scaling, and Replication. Know more about Kali’s latest release on the Kali Linux Blog.

With cybercrime on the rise, companies have started adopting the hard ways of preventing system breaches. Cybersecurity has become the need of the hour. This article will explore how cyberattacks bring companies down to their knees giving rise to cybersecurity. The article also looks at some of the cybersecurity strategies that an organization can adopt to safeguard itself from the prevalent attacks. Malware, Phishing, Ransomware, DDoS - these terms have become widespread today due to the increasing number of cyberattacks. The cyber threats that organizations face have grown steadily during the last few years and can disrupt even the most resilient organizations. 3 cyber attacks that shook the digital world 2011: Sony Who can forget the notorious Sony hack of April 2011? Sony’s PlayStation Network was hacked by a hacking group called “OurMine,” compromising the personal data of 77 million users. This cyberattack made Sony pay more than 15 million dollars in compensation to the people whose accounts were hacked. A hack made possible through a simple SQL inject could have been prevented using data encryption. Not long after this hack, in 2014, Sony Pictures was attacked through a malware by a hacker group called “Guardians of Peace” stealing more than 100 terabytes of confidential data. Sony had once again not paid heed to its security audit, which showed flaws in the firewall and several routers and servers resulting in the failure of infrastructure management and a monetary loss of 8 million dollars in compensation. 2013: 3 billion Yahoo accounts hacked Yahoo has been the target of the attackers thrice. During its takeover by Verizon, Yahoo disclosed that every one of Yahoo's 3 billion accounts had been hacked in 2013. However, one of the worst things about this attack was that it was discovered only in 2016, a whopping two years after the breach. 2017: WannaCry One of the most infamous ransomware of 2017, WannaCry spanned more than 150 countries targeting businesses running outdated Windows machines by leveraging some of the leaked NSA tools. The cyber attack that has been linked to North Korea hit thousands of targets, including public services and large corporations. The effects of WannaCry were so rampant that Microsoft, in an unusual move to curb the ransomware, released Windows patches for the systems it had stopped updating. On a somewhat unsurprising note, WannaCry owed its success to the use of outdated technologies (such as SMBv1) and improper maintaining their systems update for months, failing to protect themselves from the lurking attack. How cyber attacks damage businesses Cyberattacks are clearly bad for business. They lead to: Monetary loss Data loss Breach of confidential information Breach of trust Infrastructure damages Impending litigations and compensations Remediations Bad reputation Marketability This is why cybersecurity is so important - investing in it is smart from a business perspective as it could save you a lot of money in the long run. Emerging cybersecurity trends Tech journalist and analyst Art Wittmann once said "the idea that security starts and ends with the purchase of a prepackaged firewall is simply misguided". It's a valuable thing to remember when thinking about cybersecurity today. It's about more than just buying software; it's also about infrastructure design, culture and organizational practices. Cybersecurity is really a range of techniques and strategies designed to tackle different threats from a variety of sources. Gartner predicts that worldwide cybersecurity spending will climb to $96 billion in 2018. This rapid market growth is being driven by numerous emerging trends, including: Cloud computing Internet of things Machine learning Artificial Intelligence Biometrics and multi-factor authentication Remote access and BYOD--Bring your own device Effective cybersecurity strategies The most effective strategy to mitigate and minimize the effects of a cyberattack is to build a solid cybersecurity. Here are some of the ways in which an organization can strengthen their cybersecurity efforts: Understand the importance of security In the cyberage, you have to take the role of security seriously. You need to protect the organization with the help of a security team. When building a security team, you should take into accountthe types of risks that could affect the organization, how these risks will impact the business, and remedial measures in case of a breach Top notch security systems You cannot compromise on the quality of systems installed to secure your systems. Always remember what is at stake. Shoulda situation of attack arise, you need the best quality of security for your business. Implement a Red and Blue Team The organization must use the Red Team and Blue Team tactics, where the Red Team tactics can be used in penetration for accessing sensitive data, and the Blue Team tactics will defend your system from complex attacks. This team can be appointed internally or this job could be outsourced to the experts. Security audits Security audits are conducted with the aim of protect, detect, and respond. The security team must actively investigate their own security systems to make sure that everything is at par to defend against the lurking attack if it should occur. The security team must also be proactive with countermeasures to defend the organization walls against these malicious lurkers. Employees must also be properly educated to take proper precautions and act wisely in case of occurrence of a breach. Continuous monitoring Securing your organization against cyberattacks is a continuous process. It is not a one-time-only activity. The security team must be appointed to do regular audits of the security systems of the organizations. There should be a systematic and regular process, penetration testing must be conducted at regular intervals. The results of these tests must be looked at seriously to take mitigation steps to correct any weak or problematic systems. Enhance your security posture In an event of a breach, once the security team has confirmed the breach, they need to react quickly. However, don't start investigating without a plan. The compromised device should be located, its behavior should be analyzed and remedial actions should be underway. Vigilance In the words of the world’s most famous hacker, Kevin Mitnick, “Companies spend millions of dollars on firewalls, encryption,and secure access devices, and its money wasted; none of these measures address the weakest link in the security chain.” It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to be ever vigilant. The security team must stay current with the latest threat intelligence and always be on the lookout for the latest malicious programs that disrupt the organizations. Think ahead The question is never “if”, the real question is “when.”The attackers come sneaking when you are not looking. It is absolutely critical that organizations take a proactive stance to protect themselves by dropping the “if” attitude and adopting the “when” attitude. If you liked this post explore the book from which it was taken: Cybersecurity - Attack and Defense Strategies. Written by Yuri Diogenes and Erdal Ozkaya, Cybersecurity - Attack and Defense Strategiesuses a practical approach to the cybersecurity kill chain to explain the different phases of the attack, which includes the rationale behind each phase, followed by scenarios and examples that bring the theory into practice. Yuri Diogenes is a Senior Program Manager @ Microsoft C+E Security CxP Team and a professor at EC-Council University for their master's degree in cybersecurity program. Erdal Ozkaya is a doctor of philosophy in cybersecurity, works for Microsoft as a cybersecurity architect and security advisorand is also a part-time lecturer at Australian Charles Sturt University.

An example of a social engineering attack using Kali Linux - use a credential harvester to gather the victim's credentials. Redirect your victim to a spoofed website and then collect the login credentials. Part of Kali Linux - Backtrack Evolved: Assuring Security by Penetration Testing. For the full course visit: https://www.packtpub.com/networking-and-servers/kali-linux-backtrack-evolved-assuring-security-penetration-testing-video