The Federal Aviation Administration must tighten the security around air traffic control in the United States, according to a new report filed by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The post Air traffic control vulnerability could allow criminals to hack the skies appeared first on We Live Security.
The use of open, unprotected Wi-Fi networks has become increasingly popular across the globe. Whether you’re traveling around a new city and rely on public Wi-Fi networks to get around or you’re at your favorite coffee shop and connect to its Wi-Fi, you’re left in a vulnerable situation when it comes to protecting your data. Just as you lock the door of your house when you leave, you should also use a security app if using public Wi-Fi.
Using unsecured Wi-Fi can easily expose photos and other personal information to hackers.
Avast’s hack experiment examines browsing habits of people across the globe
The Avast team recently undertook a global hacking experiment, where our mobile security experts traveled to cities in the United States, Europe, and Asia to observe the public Wi-Fi activity in nine major metropolitan areas. Our experiment revealed that most mobile users aren’t taking adequate steps to protect their data and privacy from cybercriminals. In the U.S., the Avast mobile experts visited Chicago, New York, and San Francisco; in Europe, they visited Barcelona, Berlin, and London; and in Asia, they traveled to Hong Kong, Seoul, and Taipei. Each of our experts was equipped with a laptop and a Wi-Fi adapter with the ability to monitor the Wi-Fi traffic in the area. For this purpose, we developed a proprietary app, monitoring the wireless traffic at 2.4 GHz frequency. It’s important to mention that there are commercial Wi-Fi monitoring apps like this available in the market that are easy-to-use, and available for free.
In front of the German Bundestag, Berlin: On public Wi-Fi, log in details can easily be monitored.
The study revealed that users in Asia are the most prone to attacks. Users in San Francisco and Barcelona were most likely to take steps to protect their browsing, and users in Europe were also conscious about using secure connections. While mobile users in Asia were most likely to join open networks, Europeans and Americans were slightly less so; in Seoul, 99 out of 100 users joined unsecured networks, compared with just 80 out of 100 in Barcelona.
1) Seoul: 99 out of 100
2) Hong Kong: 98 out of 100
3) Taipei: 97 out of 100
4) Chicago: 96 out of 100
5) New York: 91 out of 100
6) Berlin: 88 out of 100
7) London: 83 out of 100
8) Barcelona: 80 out of 100
9) San Francisco: 80 out of 100
Our experiment shed light on the fact that a significant portion of mobile users browse primarily on unsecured HTTP sites. Ninety-seven percent of users in Asia connect to open, unprotected Wi-Fi networks. Seven out of ten password-protected routers use weak encryption methods, making it simple for them to be hacked. Nearly one half of the web traffic in Asia takes place on unprotected HTTP sites, compared with one third U.S. traffic and roughly one quarter of European traffic. This can most likely be attributed to the fact that there are more websites in Europe and the U.S. that use the HTTPS protocol than in Asia.
So, how much of your browsing activity can actually be monitored?
Because HTTP traffic is unprotected, our team was able to view all of the users’ browsing activity, including domain and page history, searches, personal log in information, videos, emails, and comments. Before the start of any communication, there is always a communication with the domain name server (DNS). This communication is not encrypted in most cases, so on open Wi-Fi it is possible for anybody to see which domains a user visits. This means, for example, that somebody who browses products on eBay or Amazon and is not logged in can be followed around. Also, it is visible if people read articles on nytimes.com or CNN.com, and users who perform searches on Bing.com, or who visit certain adult video streaming sites can be monitored.
Beware of weak encryption
The majority of Wi-Fi hotspots were protected, but we found that often their encryption methods were weak and could be easily hacked. Using WEP encryption can be nearly as risky as forgoing password-protection altogether, as users tend to feel safer entering their personal information, but their data can still be accessed.
San Francisco and Berlin had the lowest percentage of weakly encrypted hotspots, while more than half of password-protected hotspots in London and New York and nearly three quarter of the Asian hotspots were vulnerable to attack.
1) Seoul: 70.1%
2) Taipei: 70.0%
3) Hong Kong: 68.5%
4) London: 54.5%
5) New York: 54.4%
6) Chicago: 45.9%
7) Barcelona: 39.5%
8) Berlin: 35.1%
9) San Francisco: 30.1%
Our goal is not to discourage you from visiting HTTP sites, but instead, encourage you to protect yourself on public Wi-Fi. If you install protection that allows a secure Internet connection while accessing public networks, public Wi-Fi is harmless. But when you go unprotected, hackers can follow your way around the Internet. Even if the user accesses a HTTPS site, the domain visited is still visible to hackers.
Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo has been victim to a website hack, with Lizard Squad claiming responsibility.
The post Lenovo website hacked, Lizard Squad claims responsibility appeared first on We Live Security.
A 51 year old man is facing a lengthy prison sentence in the United Kingdom after admitting to a series of distributed denial of service attacks against social housing, social services and crime prevention websites.
The post British hacker due for sentencing over public service DDoS attacks appeared first on We Live Security.
The online queuing system for the 40,000 tickets to the Burning Man festival was hacked by 200 people accessing a ‘technical backdoor’ to virtually queue jump, according to Computer World.
The post Burning Man queue jumping hackers caught out appeared first on We Live Security.
Kris Jenner is reportedly being blackmailed over a naked video that was stolen from her iCloud and could be released in the public sphere.
The post Kris Jenner reveals naked video could be leaked in iCloud hack appeared first on We Live Security.
WWE superstar Antonio Cesaro was the victim of a Twitter hack this week, as a wrestling fanatic hacked his account to vent against company chairman and CEO Vince McMahon.
The post Hacker puts words into wrestler’s mouth in WWE Twitter hack appeared first on We Live Security.
Modern cars are more and more dependent on computer systems. And guess what? They can be hacked.
The post Watch how car hackers can disable brakes and steal your personal data appeared first on We Live Security.
Victims of the Anthem Inc health insurance hack are being bombarded with phishing scams including fraudulent emails and cold calls, reports Slashgear.
The post Anthem hack victims hit with phishing scams appeared first on We Live Security.
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, a medical insurance provider in the US, was subject to serious data breach that included personal information of its members past and present.
The data stolen includes names, birthdays, medical IDs/social security numbers, street address, email addresses and employment information including income data.
The type of data that has been reported to have been stolen means that this breach is potentially much more serious than most of the large data breaches we saw last year. These hacks were primarily of credit card and transaction data.
Generally, when credit card account details are taken, victims can limit the damage by stopping their card and changing their password. Credit card companies will also cover most of the liability.
The difference with this theft though is that stolen data is a lot more difficult to track than a simple financial transaction. Social security and insurance information can be used for anything from a false insurance claim to collecting prescription drugs.
If you think that this data breach may affect you then you should carefully check your next health insurance bill. Be sure to check that all the claims are indeed yours and dispute things that seem strange.
It’s important to catch the misuse of your insurance quickly before medical debt notices are issued because of unpaid bills. That could lead to credit rating issues or in the worst case, you could be refused insurance due to a condition that you don’t actually suffer from.
As a precaution here some other actions you should take, not forgetting the above one of checking medical statements:
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