Global Cyber Attack: Security blogger Halts Ransomware By Accident

CYBER ATTACK HALTED BY ACCIDENT

The world has become much advanced since the inception of the internet. The internet has revolutionised the world and has been able to bridge the gap between the world. This has made the world a much better place to live. We are quite fortunate that we are living in this era to experience the impossible ones.

Well, there are many cyber-attacks which break the net often. Some become the easy victim of all this. Often we hear that the accounts have been hacked and this leads to the chaos. Recently there was a news of a UK security where he has reported to the BBC that how accidently he had brought a stop of the malicious ransomware which has affected the numerous organisations.

THE REPORT 

The man is known as the Malware Tech which is his pseudo name. After hearing about the technological news about the latest malware attack, he wanted to investigate the matter. The cyber-attack spread all across the globe and it has created a huge impact in the world of technology.

The technological news kept the update on this cyber-attack. After the investigation, he found that the solution and brought malicious ransomware to a halt. It appeared to be a kill switch in the code of the software. He admitted that the discovery was purely accidental.

Even after the accidental discovery, it did not let to the proper repair of the ransomware. The event brought a halt in spreading it to the other computers. Well this was something very crucial that has to be needed.

THE DISCOVERY

After the discovery, the guy found that the malware was trying to contact a particular type of web address every time a new computer was affected. The web address was not that simple. It was a combination of letters and moreover it was not registered. The person decided to register the web address and eventually he ended up buying the address for $10.69 (£8). This gave him the access where the computers were accessed from. This gave him the idea how the ransomware was spreading.

THE DEFEAT

The registration has only stopped but that doesn’t mean it had stopped the malware spreading. There are still files which will be held for ransom. The recent technology news have stated that the ransomware has started ignoring the kill switch. You should keep an update on the recent technology news to know more details.

THE IMPACT

The impact has been huge in the UK affecting the health clinics and several computers. There were many spam emails that appeared to contain invalid invoices and job offers. The incident took the world by storm. There were also many security warnings and other valid files.

The encrypted ransomware demanded almost payment of $300 to $600 to restore access. Well, this was a huge issue and the people had to face the consequences for this. The digital transactions went for a toss. The antivirus giant Avast had observed infections of more than 57000 in 100 countries.

Hacking of Phones through Sound wave is Possible

In the contemporary world, where the science and technology have seen a massive growth, which helps the society to have some of the most important articles and services to make the life more easier. The electronic devices are nowadays the most important parts of our daily life and people are quite obsessive about this equipment and their well-beings.

These days, there are some issues; so far the technology is concerned, which need to be addressed with special care and attention to get the best feedback from the same. Nowadays, we can find that there are rampant uses of such devices or equipment, such as; laptop, smartphones, fitness machines etc., which are all having some security provisions to deter the harmful intruders. In these cases, special measures are being taken to get the best possible safety coverage and the respective manufacturers proudly claim the benefits of these measures.

Very recently, researchers have proved that this security base of some of the “secured” devices can be broken by using a remote device and through sending some commands, which is considered as a great threat for these kinds of equipment. An amazing security loophole has been located, through that someone can add some of the most horrifying steps to any Fitbit monitor. Although it can be sighted as a very small and negligible issue; but according to researchers, it is the sign that broader risks will be there, if this issue has not been addressed with extreme care and sincerity.

Some Notable Revelations

Most of us have seen a television ad, where an opera singer broke the glass with her pitched sound wave, which reminds us the splitting power of the sound. A group of researchers, involved in the security of the computer, from the University of Michigan, have demonstrated the vulnerability, which allows them to control or surreptitiously influence some of the devices through a small accelerometer; a standard element in any computer, smartphone or fitness monitor and most importantly in the automobile.

In this case, the sound wave sent from the remote device can spell out specific words and can intrude into the targeted device; not only being able to shut down it but by entering commands, which can be described as a musical virus or such kind of a thing. The researchers have tested almost 20 different kinds of chips, prepared by 5 different chip manufacturers and found that this security challenge is more vulnerable in nature for any digital appliances, available in the society.

Conclusion

There are lots of companies, who are involved in the manufacturing of trucks and cars of self-driving nature and unaware of the vulnerabilities, unknowingly allowing an attacker, which is capable of attacking the vehicles by remotely controlled means, with unnerving possibilities. At the same time, it can be noted that the problem is not so grave like "sky is falling", at this moment, rather it can be considered as an eye opener or revealing window for the cyber security concepts and applications, which challenges the complex security systems, having possibility of interactions of digital and analog components.

Security Experts Identify Dozens of iPhone Apps Vulnerable to Hacking

Hacking has turned out be a global issue and no matter how full proof a system is it remains vulnerable to the system of hacking. Most of the hackers are trained professionals who can very easily extract information digitally from our phones and computers. According to recent news, a group of security experts have discovered a flaw in several popular iPhone apps which can make the user’s device vulnerable to hacking. Through the mobile applications the hackers can very easily gain access to all the sensitive data including details about latest transactions and bank details.

33 Names Already Revealed 

Will Strafach, an Infosec expert recently published a blog post to caveat users that a scan of the regular Apple Store iPhone apps has identified 76 apps which can be used as a medium for hacking. Through these applications the hackers will play the role of ‘man in the middle’, and will gain access to all the useful data and information sent from phone to the cloud. The blog post also revealed the names of 33 such apps which are vulnerable including FirstBank, a banking app and a car application called Uconnect Access.

43 More Apps Named

That’s not all, the names of the apps already revealed are believed to be low risk and the blog further warns that there are 43 applications that are high risk apps. The name of these applications will also be revealed within a few weeks, after the developers have been given a fair chance to fix the flaws immediately. The Infosec expert revealed that this security hole can be derived by hackers through network related code be misconfigured in an unfortunate manner. He also stated that most of the names of apps already revealed are Snapchat add-on apps. These also include the apps used for uploading videos and photos to Snapchat and also those used for increasing Snapchat contacts. Another popular application which is a high risk app is Epic, which offers unlimited books for kids.

Onus of App Developers 

He also said that because of the type of flaw, Apple has not yet issued a widespread fix for that would make the applications even more vulnerable to hacking. It is the obligation and responsibility of the app developers solely to fix this issue and to ensure that their apps are free from risk of attacks. The blog post by Will Strafach contains the full names and details of the app list issued earlier. The scariest part of this is that all the 76 apps vulnerable to hacking have been downloaded and installed over 18,000,000 times.

The blog post not only reveals the name of these apps but also categories them into sections of low, medium and high risk. This will make it easier for the iPhone users to stops using the high & medium risk apps until the risk of attack is gone and the apps are safe to use. Strafach has also advised iPhone users to safeguard their device through properly configured VPN. If the users are not keen on using VPN, then they must switch off the Wi-Fi connection in all public places.

Hacker 'Guccifer' Jailed for Four Years

A hacker that is believed to hails from Romania who has targeted US politicians that maintain a high profile has been sentenced to a prison period of 52 months. His name is Marcel Lazar however online he is commonly known as "Guccifer". It was in May that he pleaded guilty for theft of aggravated identify as well as access of computers that were unauthorized.

Marcel Lazar is known to have targeted many individuals such as the ex-secretary of state –Mr. Colin Powell as well as many members of the Bush family. In the year 2014 Marcel Lazar was arrested in Romania for a period of 4 years on charges for his hacking. While in March 2016 Marcel Lazar was handed over to face charges in the US.

44 year old Marcel Lazar is known to have uncovered Hillary Clinton, the presidential nominees email account back in the year 2013 by breaking into Hillary's former political advisor - Sidney Blumenthal's account.

After a mere two years it has been understood that Mrs Clinton made use of her personal account exclusively and that account was connected to a server which was private at her residence in New York while she was serving as secretary of state.

A while later, it became a matter of FBI investigation that Hillarys private email was being made use of while she was at the State Department. This investigation has followed her on the campaign trail as well which is pretty recent.

Clinton's 'email gate' diced and sliced

It was some time previously in this year that Marcel Lazar stated that Mrs Hillarys private server had been hacked by him, however this claim has been denied by the Clinton campaign as there has been no breach noticed by them. At the same time, the FBI also stated that nothing has been found to state and ensure that Marcel Lazar has hacked Hillary. Marcel Lazar, prior to this, in Romania was a taxi driver by profession and in the duration of 2012-2014 is known to have hacked into approximately 100 email accounts of the US which is beyond belief.

Democratic hack: Who is Guccifer 2.0? 

It was not so long ago in June this year itself that a hacker who goes by the name "Gucffier 2.0" online claimed that he had acquired data on the Democratic National Committee as well as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The officials of the US intelligence seem believe that there is a definite link between Guccifer 2.0 and the Russian intelligence services, they also suggest that the hacking was sponsored by the state which could lead to high levels of unrest if found to be true.

However until date there has been no connection found between Marcel Lazar and Guccifer 2.0. Nonetheless investigations regarding the same are still being carried out so as to crosscheck if there is any connection as well as work towards bringing an end to the hacking.