Tag: Hackers

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Thousands of Hacked Home Routers are Attacking WordPress Sites

Thousands of Hacked Home Routers are Attacking WordPress Sites

Fascinating blog from WordFence, one of the best WordPress firewall out there. They uncovered attacks coming from various countries and regions. The target is home networks. There is a router vulnerability called “Misfortune Cookie” [really] that is being exploited. It appears many home routers are hacked with this vulnerability and they in turn launch attacks. The tricky part here is that the launched attacks are actually small per home router, so detection is difficult.

The really weird thing is that the IPS are coming from all over the place, but attacks from Algeria [!] are increasing dramatically.

Read the WordFence Blog here

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Windows Security, UAC

Security settings for Windows 10 are very important! In the Control Panel or via an “Ask Me Anything” search [Cortana – just type ‘Security’], can be found System and Security. The Firewall and anti virus/spam, and Internet Security [Edge + IE Browser ] are certainly must-haves.

But also required should be User Account Control(UAC)  Settings. Although these may involve an extra click or 2 when certain functions are started or Windows Apps opened, it is WELL WORTH IT. A simple additional prompt asking you to verify whether you want to make a change can save you loss of your identity or money,  or a complete system crash. What happens if your PC, laptop or tablet is secretly taken over by a group of hackers? Well, they would have to force UAC off or try to install small software to handle their nefarious goals, but you can stop them if a prompt occurs out of nowhere [in which case, run your Antivirus or Malwarebytes quickly!].

Why take chances? It is best to have all of these services active. Think of all of these settings as insurance, but it’s free.

Win10-Security

Win10-Security2

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France Faces Intense Cyberattacks

“France faces 19,000 cyberattacks since terror rampage”

Hackers have targeted about 19,000 French websites since a rampage by Islamic extremists left 20 dead last week, France’s cyberdefense official said Thursday, as the president tried to calm the nation’s inflamed religious tensions.

France is on edge since last week’s attacks, which began Jan. 7 at the offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The paper, repeatedly threatened for its caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, was burying several of its slain staff members Thursday.

Calling it an unprecedented surge, Adm. Arnaud Coustilliere, head of cyberdefense for the French military, said about 19,000 French websites had faced cyberattacks in recent days, some carried out by well-known Islamic hacker groups.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/france-faces-19000-cyberattacks-since-terror-rampage/ar-AA8bXRK?ocid=iehp

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Paid Lizard Squad DDoS Service is Down

It appears the ‘Lizard Squad’ DDoS ‘service’ is already out of business. The sleazy service was relatively new and caused outrage on the Internet due to its, uh, illegal activity: basically it would bombard websites until they could no longer reply to other requests (http), i.e. people would get a ‘page cannot be displayed’ type of message during said bombardment.

DDoS is not new at all, but the Lizard Losers actually set up a business via Paypal or Bitcoin, where one could pay them online for periodic outages of chosen websites. So, they monetized illegal internet activity. They also set up an impressive website. And, to add insult to injury, there is a YouTube video demo of sorts. Check it at the ‘Engadget’ link below. It’s very interesting.

Their service  did not last too long, but look for more of this in the coming months or years …

Engadget Article here