Tag Archive for: number

I’m a tech expert – millions risk losing everything by breaking ‘number one security rule’ on iPhone and Android

/in


CYBER experts have revealed why you must never use the same password more than once.

Gadget users risk a dangerous wave of cyber-attacks if they make a simple (and very common) mistake.

It might seem like a handy option, but re-using passwords is extremely dangerousCredit: Unsplash

Often people choose one strong password – and then use it over and over again.

That’s because it’s easy to remember just one password, giving you quick access to all of your accounts and apps.

But it’s extremely dangerous, according to Brad Freeman, director of technology at SenseOn.

“The number one security rule is don’t reuse passwords,” Brad exclusively told The U.S. Sun.

“Many websites will get compromised and reusing the same password could cause a cascading failure as attackers can access multiple services which you have signed up for.

“This could allow an identity thief to build up a rich picture about you to commit fraud against you or your employer.”

If one account is hacked or leaked, crooks can use your password to break into all of your accounts that share the same login.

This means that a small breach somewhere can suddenly cascade into an enormous cyber-attack.

It puts you at serious risk of financial loss and being defrauded.

Hackers could even use a major cyberattack like this to spy on you, or even extort or blackmail you.

Thankfully staying safe is easy: Don’t re-use passwords.

If that seems difficult, it’s best to start using a password manager.

You may already have one: Apple devices like the iPhone offer you iCloud Keychain.

This will automatically generate strong passwords for accounts and then save them for you – refilling the login field when it’s needed.

Google offers a similar password-management feature through its Chrome browser.

And both Apple and Google are trying to push users away from passwords altogether to a new system called Passkeys.

Password-less logins are only just becoming available, and mean you don’t have to risk having a password for an account at all.

Source…

Two women, one Social Security number, and a mighty big mess

/in


They have the same name. They were born on the same day in South Korea. And they were both assigned the same Social Security number after they emigrated to the United States.

This bureaucratic bungle has bedeviled Jieun Kim, of Los Angeles, and Jieun Kim, who lives just outside Chicago in Evanston, Illinois, for almost as long as they’ve been in this country.

Over the past five years, the 31-year-old women have had their banking and savings accounts shut down. They have had their credit cards blocked. They have been suspected of engaging in identity theft.

And, they say, the Social Security Administration has been either unable, or unwilling, to rectify its mistake.

The result has been a level of frustration that LA Kim has likened to “throwing (an) egg onto the huge rock.”

“I’m left with fear about what is in store for me as I have to deal with this terrible aftermath of the Social Security Administration’s mistake in giving one Social Security number to two people,” she said.

Chicagoland Kim said the SSA won’t own up to its mistake.

“This kind of mix-up can happen with Asian people because they have very similar names,” she says she was told by its workers.

But after she recently filled out an application to get a new Social Security number, the SSA sent her the same number she had before and blamed the snafu on computer error.

“This is because the computer recognizes you guys as one person,” Chicagoland Kim says she was told by agency workers.

More ominously, LA Kim said, she was warned by some of the SSA workers she dealt with not to make a fuss about the mistake because it could delay her getting a green card.

“The officer told me that talking about this Social Security number mix-up could result in delaying the green card process that could be done in six months to 2-3 years,” she said.

NBC News reached out to the SSA by email and telephone Wednesday seeking an explanation for how the two women ended up with the same Social Security number, and for comment on the insensitive and threatening remarks the two women say agency workers made. The agency has not responded.

James A. Lewis, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International…

Source…

Record-breaking number of record-breaking DDoS attacks confirmed • The Register

/in


Dozens of companies over the weekend were hit by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, including the largest one yet recorded, or so Cloudflare says.

That record-breaking HTTP/2-based DDoS tsunami soared to more than 71 million requests-per-second, more than the previous record of 46 million rps blocked by Google in June 2022. It’s just record after record being broken, huh. Most of the other network flooding over the weekend peaked at between 50 million and 70 million rps.

The attacks, according to Cloudflare, originated from more than 30,000 IP addresses and targeted such businesses as gaming providers, hosting providers, cloud computing platforms, and cryptocurrency companies.

They also continued a growing trend of network traffic originating from cloud providers rather than residential ISPs, the more typical tools used by DDoS attackers who tend to roll IoT devices and home gateways into botnets.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen more attacks originate from cloud computing providers, Cloudflare researchers wrote in a report, adding that the network traffic used in the attacks over the weekend came from “numerous cloud providers.”

Given the increasing number of DDoS attacks coming from cloud providers, Cloudflare is trialing – what convenient timing – a free botnet threat feed to monitor attacks. Those interested in can sign up here to join the early access waiting list.

Script kiddies going for pay-to-play, for us all

HTTP DDoS attacks overwhelm websites with bogus traffic, and they’re efficient and inexpensive for miscreants to run.

The larger the botnet, the larger an attack can be. And DDoS-as-a-service platforms make it even easier and cheaper for cybercriminals to launch an attack, removing the time and cost of building a botnet by offering the platform for as little as $30 a month, Cloudflare said.

DDoS attacks are also increasingly lucrative, with crooks demanding payment from victims in return for shutting off the flood of traffic. According to Cloudflare, in the fourth quarter 2022, 16 percent of victims said they were targeted by ransom DDoS attacks, compared with 10 percent in Q1 2022.

Cloudflare said the weekend incidents from unknown…

Source…