Xtra Reporters

Massive Wave of Ransom DDoS Threats Sweeps Globe A cyber-criminal group calling themselves the Phantom Squad has mounted a global extortion campaign, threatening thousands of companies with DDoS if they don’t pay a ransom demand. A widespread wave of spam targeting companies throughout the US, Europe and Asia was spotted by security researcher Derrick Farmer on September 19, with the messages demanding a payment of around $750 (i.e., 0.2 Bitcoin). The extortionists promise to launch attacks on September 30 unless the demands are met. Radware researchers, in an alert on the campaign, noted that ransom was the No. 1 motivation last year behind cyber-attacks; in the company’s 2016-2017 Global Application & Network Security Report, half of respondent organizations were subject to this type of extortion threat. And, in parallel to the ransomware plague, Radware said that it has witnessed an emerging trend of hackers (and copycats) who extort organizations by posing an imminent threat of...

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Insider Threats Organizations must balance the need to access information for conducting business with protecting this information from unauthorized misuse by trusted personnel. Unauthorized access to sensitive information is routinely considered as an external threat, yet surveys such as the one conducted by Symantec in late 2010 have found that the most serious security breaches are caused by trusted employees (insiders) with authorized system access. There is no simple checklist for identifying a potential insider threat, but there are some definite signs to look for, including the open threat from disgruntled employees, indicators in background checks, and an employees’ ideology. This article will address how new privacy laws are impacting the realm of insider threats, how these threats are affecting organizations in today’s rapidly changing landscape, and ways that an enterprise organization can effectively address the growing insider threat challen...

World’s Most Advanced Hackers are in Russia and Eastern Europe As MD for international markets, LogRhythm’s Ross Brewer is well versed in the latest geographical trends and targets. “Germany is a big target at the moment”, he once said. “It is a manufacturing country with amazing IP. It’s a country conscious of monitoring its population too much with a focus on employee privacy, and this is not lost on the hacking community.” German IP is therefore a target and tends to end up in Asia, according to Brewer. As an emerging market, the Middle East positioning itself as ‘the destination’ is also a target, Brewer said. “The biggest threat to Europe comes from Eastern countries where the most experienced, most capable hackers are. The most advanced hackers on the planet reside in Russia and Eastern Europe.” Threats from Asia tend to be less stealthy, however, Brewer declared. “So whilst the most obvious threat comes from Asia, the most real threat comes from East Europe.” LogRhythm’s Brewer ...

Cybersecurity, AI, IoT All Major Drivers of the Internet's Future There are many forces that are shaping the future of the internet today, from artificial intelligence (AI) and cyberthreats to the internet of things (IoT) and the rising role of government—all of which impact key areas, including digital divides, personal freedoms and rights, as well as media and society. The internet Society (ISOC)’s 2017 Global internet Report found for example that AI and IoT, for all of their benefits to people’s personal and work lives, could result in a “surveillance society.” Therefore, ethical considerations should steer technology development and guide its use. The survey also found wide-ranging fears that there are significant forces at work that may undermine the promise of the internet for future generations. For example, many believe that internet freedom will continue to decline around the world due to widespread surveillance, internet shutdowns and content regulation. At the same time...

Privacy and Security in the Internet Age IN LIGHT OF 2014’s unsettling string of data breaches and cyber-attacks, the Obama Administration is ramping up efforts to strengthen America’s cybersecurity and make it more difficult for hackers to damage our businesses, hurt our economy and threaten our freedom to information. On Tuesday, President Obama is expected to speak about cybersecurity in his State of the Union Address. Adopted by more than 2.5 billion people in the first 20 years of its existence, the Internet permeates through every aspect of our corporate, personal and government lives. The Internet is easily one of the most democratic and disruptive inventions of the last century; it is the epitome of free speech. Only two decades old, the Internet was unchartered legal territory, lacking firm regulatory standards and protection by international law. Further, the unprecedented demand for mobile devices (more people in the world have access to cell phones than toilets, according t...

Internet spyware useful or computer virus? While the internet is a great tool for research, or for just keeping in touch with e-mail or looking for a perfect gift. There is an annoying problem that is becoming increasingly dangerous for your computer. While everyone understands what a computer virus does, many people are still relatively unaware of the problem that is Spyware. This article will help you to determine if internet spyware is useful or it is a computer virus? Spyware Spyware is another word for Advertising Supported software (Adware). There are several large media companies that place banner ads and pop-ups on certain web pages.  Exchange for a portion of the revenue from banner sales is benefit. While the banner placement may be a great concept, the downside is that the advertising companies also install tracking software on your system, which is continuously “calling home” and using your Internet connection to report on everything on your computer and everywhere you ...

Credit card and paypal account, how people reveal sensitive information Phishing Phishing is a very sneaky type of fraud conducted over the Internet. Its name is from early days of hacking and identity theft and the practice of phone phreaking. While there can be very complicated schemes devised, they are all based on a very simple concept. Credit card and paypal account, how people reveal sensitive information is usually through phishing. Social engineering Phishers try to persuade you, or trick you into giving them sensitive information (social engineering). They can then use to make money out of the system. For example, one very attractive target for phishers would be your paypal account. Paypal is an online payment system. It allows you to put money in your account with your credit or debit card. Basically the money can be use for purchase or send to other people’s paypal accounts. It is very simple, cheap and fast. It's very popular for online shoppers as they do not have to g...

SoftAmbulance Partition Doctor, Safer Way to Recover Damaged Partitions Repairing damaged partitions Repairing damaged partitions on is a risky business. Even if you use the best toolkit and are absolutely sure in what you are doing, you are still risking your files shall something go wrong. Changes made to the damaged partition are irreversible; it is just too easy to overwrite an important system structure that holds vital information about your disk, files and data. Bottom line: it’s good to backup before performing data recovery. But is this really the best way to do it? Is this the safer way to recover damaged partitions Different approaches to do data recovery There is a different approach to do data recovery that is even safer. No need to backup and restore during the recovery. Instead of making a backup copy of corrupted data, you can simply take a binary snapshot of the partition being repaired, different settings can be used many times as you need on the snapshot instead of t...