Hasta La Gadget!

Snapchat has been in the news quite a lot recently. It was the target of a massive security breach which resulted in usernames and phone numbers of millions of users being compromised. Snapchat took a long time to acknowledge the hack, and even longer to actually apologize for it. Since then it has been working on beefing up defenses. It now makes new users solve a puzzle before they’re granted access, a simple step that shouldn’t take more than a few seconds, but is bound to keep bots looking to harvest information at bay.

(more…)

Snapchat Makes New Users Solve Puzzle To Keep Away Bots original content from Ubergizmo.

The Healthcare.gov website has had its fair share of troubles since launch, and one that has been persistent among them is claims of security vulnerabilities. TrustedSec’s CEO David Kennedy has … Continue reading

It is unsurprising to see that even in this day and age, people secure their online accounts with very weak passwords, ones that can easily be guessed if someone with malicious intent really put their minds to work. Every year SplashData compiles various lists of hacked accounts so as to determine the worst passwords of the year. The worst password of 2013 is no longer “password,” it has been edged out of the top slot by “123456,” which goes to show that there are a lot of people out there who think that the first six numbers on the keyboard constitute the best of passwords.

In 2012, “password” was indeed the worst password of the entire year, this year it merely traded places with the one that sits on top right now. In third place comes a even longer succession of numbers, from one to eight. Interestingly several Adobe themed passwords have made it on the list as well, including “adobe123″ and “photoshop.” Both of them did not make the list in 2012. Passwords that have retained their positions year-over-year include “12345678″ and “shadow,” which is down in 18th place. If for some reason you have been using a password that can be found on this list, and by some miracle haven’t been hacked as yet, it would be a very wise decision to change your passwords as soon as possible.

Worst Password Of 2013 Isn’t ‘Password’ original content from Ubergizmo.

By now most of you might have heard about what happened to Target’s point-of-sale registers during the holiday season. They were infected with malware, which ended up compromising personal information of more than 70 million people. It was initially believed that the ringleader of this massive attack was based in Eastern Europe, though security firm IntelCrawler appears to have found the person who wrote the malware. Apparently it was a 17-year old Russian, having roots in St. Petersburg, who has sold more than 60 variants of the software to hackers based in Eastern Europe and other countries.

IntelCrawler is of the view that this teenager isn’t behind the attacks himself, his involvement is limited to the malware known as BlackPOS, which was found to have infected retailers such as Target and even Neiman Marcus. This programmer is “very well known” for his skill set in underground online communities for malware distribution, it is claimed. The security firm is of the view that this malware, or an iteration of it, might have affected other retailers as well, retailers who have yet to discover that they too were hacked. The security firm says that it has detected six breaches at various other retailers in the country, though it has refrained from naming them.

Target Malware Presumably Developed By A Russian Teenager original content from Ubergizmo.

By now you have probably heard about the massive Target hack. Personal as well as credit and debit card information of more than 70 million users was stolen as a result of this hack, which took place during the holiday season, a time when customer activity is usually high. Customers who were affected have already been advised to keep an eye on their bank activity and report any anomalies, but as a precautionary measure, Citigroup has announced that it is going to replace all customer debit cards that were affected by the hack.

While the financial juggernaut declined to reveal how many debit cards are being reissued, it did say that they weren’t replaced sooner because Citi wanted to minimize disruptions during the holiday shopping season. JPMorgan has already said that it will reissue new debit cards at many of its branches. It has been reported that Citi does not plan on reissuing credit cards that might have been affected by said hack. On the other hand, Target has announced that it is now offering a year’s worth of credit monitoring and identity theft protection to all affected customers, there’s a three month window to sign up for the free service, which normally costs $191.

Citi To Replace All Debit Cards Affected By Target Hack original content from Ubergizmo.