and customised malware to conduct espionage . A Chinese hacking group with advanced cyber-espionage capabilities has been targeting managed IT services providers across the globe in a campaign to stealAttack.Databreachsensitive data . The cybercriminal gang is using sophisticated phishing attacksAttack.Phishingand customised malware in order to infect victims ' machines and then gain access to IT providers and their customer networks . Dubbed Operation Cloud Hopper , the cyber-espionage campaign has been uncovered by security researchers at PwC , BAE Systems , and the UK 's National Cyber Security Centre . The researchers say the campaign is `` highly likely '' to be the work of the China-based APT10 hacking group . The group has been focusing on espionage since 2009 and has evolved from targeting US defence firms as well as the technology and telecommunications sectors to targeting organisations in multiple industries across the globe . The group was behind the Poison Ivy malware family and has evolved its operations to include using custom tools capable of compromisingAttack.Databreachhigh volumes of data from organisations and their customers , and stealthily moving it around the world . It 's because of the sophisticated nature of the campaign that PwC 's Operation Cloud Hopper report describes how APT10 `` almost certainly benefits from significant staffing and logistical resources , which have increased over the last three years '' . The group 's work shifted significantly during 2016 , as it started to focus on managed service providers , following the significant enhancements to its operations . The move enabled APT10 to exfiltrateAttack.Databreachdata from multiple victims around the world as part of a large scale campaign . Managed service providers ( MSPs ) represent a particularly lucrative target for attackers , because as well as having accessAttack.Databreachto their clients ' networks , they also store significant quantities of customer data , which can provide useful information or be sold for profit . Researchers note that the spear phishing campaignAttack.Phishingundertaken by APT10 indicates that the group conducts significant research on targets , in order to have the best chance of trickingAttack.Phishingthem into opening malicious documents attached to specially crafted emails . Once the hacking group has infiltrated a network , it conducts reconnaissance to ensure legitimate credentials have been gainedAttack.Databreach, before deploying tools such as mimikatz or PwDump to stealAttack.Databreachadditional credentials , administration credentials , and data from infected MSPs . The shared nature of MSP infrastructure enables APT10 's success , allowing the hackers to stealthily move between the networks of MSPs and clients -- hence the name Cloud Hopper . Using this approach , the group has been able to target organisations in the US , Canada , the UK , France , Switzerland , Scandinavia , South Africa , India , and Australia . `` The indirect approach of this attack highlights the need for organisations to have a comprehensive view of the threats they 're exposed to -- including those of their supply chain , '' Kris McConkey , partner , cyber threat detection and response at PwC , said . `` This is a global campaign with the potential to affect a wide range of countries , so organisations around the world should work with their security teams and providers to check networks for the key warning signs of compromise and ensure they respond and protect themselves accordingly . '' The National Cyber Security Centre has issued guidelines following the global targeting of enterprises via managed service providers , and notes how the activity detected `` likely represents only a small proportion of the total malicious activity '' .
The Russian hacking group blamed for targeting U.S. and European elections has been breaking intoAttack.Databreachemail accounts , not only by trickingAttack.Phishingvictims into giving up passwords , but by stealingAttack.Databreachaccess tokens too . It 's sneaky hack that 's particularly worrisome , because it can circumvent Google 's 2-step verification , according to security firm Trend Micro . The group , known as Fancy Bear or Pawn Storm , has been carrying out the attackAttack.Phishingwith its favored tactic of sending outAttack.Phishingphishing emails , Trend Micro said in a report Tuesday . The attackAttack.Phishingworks by sending outAttack.Phishinga fake email , pretending to beAttack.Phishingfrom Google , with the title “ Your account is in danger. ” An example of a phishing email that Fancy Bear has usedAttack.Phishing. The email claims that Google detected several unexpected sign-in attempts into their account . It then suggests users install a security application called “ Google Defender. ” However , the application is actually a ruse . In reality , the hacking group is trying to dupeAttack.Phishingusers into giving up a special access token for their Google account , Trend Micro said . Victims that fall for the scheme will be redirected to an actual Google page , which can authorize the hacking group 's app to view and manage their email . Users that click “ allow ” will be handing over what ’ s known as an OAuth token . Although the OAuth protocol does n't transfer over any password information , it 's designed to grant third-party applications access to internet accounts through the use of special tokens . In the case of Fancy Bear , the hacking group has leveraged the protocol to buildAttack.Phishingfake applications that can foolAttack.Phishingvictims into handing over account access , Trend Micro said . “ After abusing the screening process for OAuth approvals , ( the group ’ s ) rogue application operatesAttack.Phishinglike every other app accepted by the service provider , ” the security firm said . Even Google 's 2-step verification , which is designed to prevent unwarranted account access , ca n't stop the hack , according to Trend Micro . Google 's 2-step verification works by requiring not only a password , but also a special code sent to a user 's smartphone when logging in . Security experts say it 's an effective way to protect your account . However , the phishing schemeAttack.Phishingfrom Fancy Bear manages to sidestep this security measure , by trickingAttack.Phishingusers into granting access through the fake Google security app . Google , however , said it takes many steps to protect users from such phishing attacksAttack.Phishing. `` In addition , Google detects and reviews potential OAuth abuse and takes down thousands of apps for violating our User Data Policy , such as impersonatingAttack.Phishinga Google app , '' the company said in a statement . `` Note that a real Google app should be directly accessed from a Google site or installed from the Google Play or Apple App stores , '' it added . According to Trend Micro , victims were targeted with this phishing attackAttack.Phishingin 2015 , and 2016 . In addition to Google Defender , Fancy Bear has used other apps under names such as Google Email Protection and Google Scanner . They ’ ve also gone after Yahoo users with apps called Delivery Service and McAfee Email protection . The attackAttack.Phishingattempts to trickAttack.Phishingusers into handing over access to their email through fake Google third-party applications . “ Internet users are urged to never accept OAuth token requests from an unknown party or a service they did not ask for , ” Trend Micro said . Although a password reset can sometimes revoke an OAuth token , it 's best to check what third-party applications are connected to your email account . This can be done by looking at an email account 's security settings , and revoking access where necessary . Fancy Bear is most notorious for its suspected role in hacking the Democratic National Committee last year . However , the group has also been found targeting everything from government ministries , media organizations , along with universities and think tanks , according to Trend Micro .
The Russian hacking group blamed for targeting U.S. and European elections has been breaking intoAttack.Databreachemail accounts , not only by trickingAttack.Phishingvictims into giving up passwords , but by stealingAttack.Databreachaccess tokens too . It 's sneaky hack that 's particularly worrisome , because it can circumvent Google 's 2-step verification , according to security firm Trend Micro . The group , known as Fancy Bear or Pawn Storm , has been carrying out the attackAttack.Phishingwith its favored tactic of sending outAttack.Phishingphishing emails , Trend Micro said in a report Tuesday . The attackAttack.Phishingworks by sending outAttack.Phishinga fake email , pretending to beAttack.Phishingfrom Google , with the title “ Your account is in danger. ” An example of a phishing email that Fancy Bear has usedAttack.Phishing. The email claims that Google detected several unexpected sign-in attempts into their account . It then suggests users install a security application called “ Google Defender. ” However , the application is actually a ruse . In reality , the hacking group is trying to dupeAttack.Phishingusers into giving up a special access token for their Google account , Trend Micro said . Victims that fall for the scheme will be redirected to an actual Google page , which can authorize the hacking group 's app to view and manage their email . Users that click “ allow ” will be handing over what ’ s known as an OAuth token . Although the OAuth protocol does n't transfer over any password information , it 's designed to grant third-party applications access to internet accounts through the use of special tokens . In the case of Fancy Bear , the hacking group has leveraged the protocol to buildAttack.Phishingfake applications that can foolAttack.Phishingvictims into handing over account access , Trend Micro said . “ After abusing the screening process for OAuth approvals , ( the group ’ s ) rogue application operatesAttack.Phishinglike every other app accepted by the service provider , ” the security firm said . Even Google 's 2-step verification , which is designed to prevent unwarranted account access , ca n't stop the hack , according to Trend Micro . Google 's 2-step verification works by requiring not only a password , but also a special code sent to a user 's smartphone when logging in . Security experts say it 's an effective way to protect your account . However , the phishing schemeAttack.Phishingfrom Fancy Bear manages to sidestep this security measure , by trickingAttack.Phishingusers into granting access through the fake Google security app . Google , however , said it takes many steps to protect users from such phishing attacksAttack.Phishing. `` In addition , Google detects and reviews potential OAuth abuse and takes down thousands of apps for violating our User Data Policy , such as impersonatingAttack.Phishinga Google app , '' the company said in a statement . `` Note that a real Google app should be directly accessed from a Google site or installed from the Google Play or Apple App stores , '' it added . According to Trend Micro , victims were targeted with this phishing attackAttack.Phishingin 2015 , and 2016 . In addition to Google Defender , Fancy Bear has used other apps under names such as Google Email Protection and Google Scanner . They ’ ve also gone after Yahoo users with apps called Delivery Service and McAfee Email protection . The attackAttack.Phishingattempts to trickAttack.Phishingusers into handing over access to their email through fake Google third-party applications . “ Internet users are urged to never accept OAuth token requests from an unknown party or a service they did not ask for , ” Trend Micro said . Although a password reset can sometimes revoke an OAuth token , it 's best to check what third-party applications are connected to your email account . This can be done by looking at an email account 's security settings , and revoking access where necessary . Fancy Bear is most notorious for its suspected role in hacking the Democratic National Committee last year . However , the group has also been found targeting everything from government ministries , media organizations , along with universities and think tanks , according to Trend Micro .
Google has stopped Wednesday ’ s clever email phishing schemeAttack.Phishing, but the attack may very well make a comeback . One security researcher has already managed to replicate it , even as Google is trying to protect users from such attacks . “ It looks exactly likeAttack.Phishingthe original spoofAttack.Phishing, ” said Matt Austin , director of security research at Contrast Security . The phishing schemeAttack.Phishing-- which may have circulatedAttack.Phishingto 1 million Gmail users -- is particularly effective because it fooledAttack.Phishingusers with a dummy app that looked likeAttack.PhishingGoogle Docs . Recipients who receivedAttack.Phishingthe email were invited to click a blue box that said “ Open in Docs. ” Those who did were brought to an actual Google account page that asks them to handover Gmail access to the dummy app . While foolingAttack.Phishingusers with spoofed emails is nothing new , Wednesday ’ s attack involved an actual third-party app made with real Google processes . The company ’ s developer platform can enable anyone to create web-based apps . In this case , the culprit chose to name the app “ Google Docs ” in an effort to trickAttack.Phishingusers . The search company has shut down the attack by removing the app . It ’ s also barred other developers from using “ Google ” in naming their third-party apps . More traditional phishing email schemesAttack.Phishingcan strike by trickingAttack.Phishingusers into giving up their login credentials . However , Wednesday ’ s attack takes a different approach and abuses what ’ s known as the OAuth protocol , a convenient way for internet accounts to link with third-party applications . Through OAuth , users don ’ t have to hand over any password information . They instead grant permission so that one third-party app can connect to their internet account , at say , Google , Facebook or Twitter . But like any technology , OAuth can be exploited . Back in 2011 , one developer even warned that the protocol could be used in a phishing attackAttack.Phishingwith apps that impersonateAttack.PhishingGoogle services . Nevertheless , OAuth has become a popular standard used across IT . CloudLock has found that over 276,000 apps use the protocol through services like Google , Facebook and Microsoft Office 365 . For instance , the dummy Google Docs app was registered to a developer at eugene.pupov @ gmail.com -- a red flag that the product wasn ’ t real . However , the dummy app still managed to foolAttack.Phishingusers because Google ’ s own account permission page never plainly listed the developer ’ s information , unless the user clicks the page to find out , Parecki said . “ I was surprised Google didn ’ t show much identifying information with these apps , ” he said . “ It ’ s a great example of what can go wrong. ” Rather than hide those details , all of it should be shown to users , Parecki said . Austin agreed , and said apps that ask for permission to Gmail should include a more blatant warning over what the user is handing over . “ I ’ m not on the OAuth hate bandwagon yet . I do see it as valuable , ” Austin said . “ But there are some risks with it. ” Fortunately , Google was able to quickly foil Wednesday ’ s attack , and is introducing “ anti-abuse systems ” to prevent it from happening again . Users who might have been affected can do a Google security checkup to review what apps are connected to their accounts . The company ’ s Gmail Android app is also introducing a new security feature to warn users about possible phishing attemptsAttack.Phishing. It 's temptingAttack.Phishingto install apps and assume they 're safe . But users and businesses need to be careful when linking accounts to third-party apps , which might be asking for more access than they need , Cloudlock 's Kaya said . `` Hackers have a headstart exploiting this attack , '' she said . `` All companies need to be thinking about this . ''
An effective new phishing attackAttack.Phishingis hittingAttack.PhishingGmail users and trickingAttack.Phishingmany into inputing their credentials into a fake login page . The phishers startAttack.Phishingby compromising a Gmail account , then they rifle through the emails the user has recently receivedAttack.Phishing. After finding one with an attachment , they create an image ( screenshot ) of it and include it in a reply to the sender . They use the same or similar subject line for the email , to invoke recognition and automatic trust . “ You click on the image , expecting Gmail to give you a preview of the attachment . Instead , a new tab opens up and you are prompted by Gmail to sign in again , ” WordFence CEO Mark Maunder warns . The phishing page is a good copy of Gmail ’ s login page , and its URL contains the accounts.google.com subdomain , which is enough to foolAttack.Phishingmany into believing that they are on a legitimate Google page . “ This phishing techniqueAttack.Phishinguses something called a ‘ data URI ’ to include a complete file in the browser location bar . When you glance up at the browser location bar and see ‘ data : text/html… .. ’ that is actually a very long string of text , ” Maunder explained .
As users have become more attached to their mobile devices , they want everything on those devices . There ’ s an app for just about any facet of one ’ s personal and professional life , from booking travel and managing projects , to buying groceries and binge-watching the latest Netflix series . The iOS and Android apps for Netflix are enormously popular , effectively turning a mobile device into a television with which users can stream full movies and TV programs anytime , anywhere . But the apps , with their many millions of users , have captured the attention of the bad actors , too , who are exploiting the popularity of Netflix to spread malware . Recently , the ThreatLabZ research team came across a fake Netflix app , which turned out to be a new variant of SpyNote RAT ( Remote Access Trojan ) . Please note that our research is not about the legitimate Netflix app on Google Play . The spyware in this analysis was portraying itself asAttack.Phishingthe Netflix app . Once installed , it displayedAttack.Phishingthe icon found in the actual Netflix app on Google Play . This is a common trickAttack.Phishingplayed by malware developers , making the user think the app may have been removed . But , behind the scenes , the malware has not been removed ; instead it starts preparing its onslaught of attacks . It does so using the Services , Broadcast Receivers , and Activities components of the Android platform . Services can perform long-running operations in the background and does not need a user interface . Broadcast Receivers are Android components that can register themselves for particular events . Activities are key building blocks , central to an app ’ s navigation , for example . The SpyNote RAT registers a service called AutoStartup and a broadcast receiver named BootComplete . MainActivity registers BootComplete with a boot event , so that whenever the device is booted , BootComplete gets triggered . BootComplete starts the AutoStartup service and the AutoStartup service makes sure that MainActivity is always running . What follows are some of the features exhibited by SpyNote RAT . Command execution can create havoc for victim if the malware developer decides to execute commands in the victim ’ s device . Leveraging this feature , the malware developer can root the device using a range of vulnerabilities , well-known or zero-day . SpyNote RAT was able to take screen captures and , using the device ’ s microphone , listen to audio conversations . This capability was confirmed when the Android permission , called android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO , was being requested along with code found in the app . They tend to target any antivirus protections on the device and uninstall them , which increases the possibility of their malware persisting on the device . SpyNote RAT was designed to function only over Wi-Fi , which is the preferable mode for Android malware to send files to C & C . - There were two interesting sub-classes found inside Main Activity : Receiver and Sender . Receiver was involved in receiving commands from the Server and the main functionality of Sender was to send all the data collected to the C & C over Wi-Fi . - SpyNote RAT was also collectingAttack.Databreachthe device ’ s location to identify the exact location of the victim . The SpyNote Remote Access Trojan ( RAT ) builder is gaining popularity in the hacking community , so we decided to study its pervasiveness . What we found were several other fake apps developed using the SpyNote builder , which should come as a warning to Android users . Furthermore , we found that in just the first two weeks of 2017 , there have been more than 120 such spyware variants already built using the same SpyNote Trojan builder as SpyNote RAT and roaming in the wild . A complete list of sample hashes is available here . The days when one needed in-depth coding knowledge to develop malware are long gone . Nowadays , script kiddies can build a piece of malware that can create real havoc . Moreover , there are many toolkits like the SpyNote Trojan builder that enable users to build malware with ease and few clicks . In particular , avoid side-loading apps from third-party app stores and avoid the temptation to play games that are not yet available on Android . Yes , we are talking about SuperMarioRun , which was recently launched by Nintendo only for iOS users . Recent blogs by the Zscaler research team explain how some variants of Android malware are exploitingAttack.Phishingthe popularity of this game and trickingAttack.PhishingAndroid users into downloading a fake version . You should also avoid the temptation to play games from sources other than legitimate app stores ; such games are not safe and may bring harm to your reputation and your bank account . Zscaler users are protected from such attacks with multiple levels of security . Zscaler security is so comprehensive , you can forget about it
The industrial company on Tuesday releasedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitymitigations for eight vulnerabilities overall . Siemens AG on Tuesday issuedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitya slew of fixes addressingVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityeight vulnerabilities spanning its industrial product lines . The most serious of the patched flaws include a cross-site scripting vulnerability in Siemens ’ SCALANCE firewall product . The flaw could allow an attacker to gain unauthorized accessAttack.Databreachto industrial networks and ultimately put operations and production at risk . The SCALANCE S firewall is used to protect secure industrial networks from untrusted network traffic , and allows filtering incoming and outgoing network connections in different ways . Siemens S602 , S612 , S623 , S627-2M SCALANCE devices with software versions prior to V4.0.1.1 are impactedVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerability. Researchers with Applied Risk , who discoveredVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitythe flaw , saidVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitythat vulnerability exists inVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitythe web server of the firewall software . An attacker can carry out the attack by craftingAttack.Phishinga malicious link and trickingAttack.Phishingan administrator – who is logged into the web server – to click that link . Once an admin does so , the attacker can execute commands on the web server , on the administrator ’ s behalf . “ The integrated web server allows a cross-site scripting attack if an administrator is misledAttack.Phishinginto accessing a malicious link , ” Applied Risk researcher Nelson Berg said inVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityan analysisVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityof the flaw . “ Successful exploitation may lead to the ability to bypass critical security measures provided by the firewall. ” Exploitation of this vulnerability could ultimately enable threat actors to bypass critical security functions provided by the firewall , potentially providing access to industrial networks and putting operations and production at risk . The vulnerability , CVE-2018-16555 , has a CVSS score which Applied Risk researcher calculatesVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityto be 8.2 ( or high severity ) . That said , researchers saidVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitya successful exploit is not completely seamless and takes some time and effort to carry out – for an attacker to exploit the flaw , user interaction is required and the administrator must be logged into the web interface . Researchers saidVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitythat no exploit of the vulnerability has been discoveredVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitythus far . Siemens addressedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitythe reported vulnerability by releasingVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitya software update ( V4.0.1.1 ) and also advised customers to “ only access links from trusted sources in the browser you use to access the SCALANCE S administration website. ” The industrial company also releasedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilityan array of fixes for other vulnerabilities on Tuesday . Overall , eight advisories were released by the US CERT . Another serious vulnerability ( CVE-2018-16556 ) addressedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitywas an improper input validation flaw in certain Siemens S7-400 CPUs . Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could crash the device being accessed which may require a manual reboot or firmware re-image to bring the system back to normal operation , according to the advisory . “ Specially crafted packets sent to Port 102/TCP via Ethernet interface , via PROFIBUS , or via multi-point interfaces ( MPI ) could cause the affected devices to go into defect mode . Manual reboot is required to resume normal operation , ” according to US Cert . An improper access control vulnerability that is exploitableVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilityremotely in Siemens IEC 61850 system configurator , DIGSI 5 , DIGSI 4 , SICAM PAS/PQS , SICAM PQ Analyzer , and SICAM SCC , was also mitigatedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability. The vulnerability , CVE-2018-4858 , has a CVSS of 4.2 and exists inVulnerability-related.DiscoverVulnerabilitya service of the affected products listening on all of the host ’ s network interfaces on either Port 4884/TCP , Port 5885/TCP , or Port 5886/TCP . The service could allow an attacker to either exfiltrateAttack.Databreachlimited data from the system or execute code with Microsoft Windows user permissions . Also mitigatedVulnerability-related.PatchVulnerabilitywere an improper authentication vulnerability ( CVE-2018-13804 ) in SIMATIC IT Production Suite and a code injection vulnerability ( CVE-2018-13814 ) in SIMATIC Panels and SIMATIC WinCC that could allow an attacker with network access to the web server to perform a HTTP header injection attack .
Cyber Monday is here ! If you avoided the retail stores and skipped their Black Friday deals , do n't worry , you 'll get another chance for major savings today . From clothing to travel to exclusive online-only deals , Cyber Monday still has tons to offer . But just in time for the Cyber Monday shopping rush , watch out for sinister phishing scamsAttack.Phishingthat are making the rounds . With more online shoppers this time around - searching every nook and cranny of the web in search of the best Cyber Monday deals - crooks are again looking to dupeAttack.Phishingunsuspecting bargain hunters . Stop and Think , Did I order this ? One of the most effective tools for a cybercriminal is the phishing scamAttack.Phishing. This is when a scammer poses asAttack.Phishinga trustworthy entity and tries trickingAttack.Phishingyou into clicking on a malicious link . Their ultimate goal , of course , is to stealAttack.Databreachyour sensitive information such as credit card details , usernames and passwords . With this year 's holiday online shopping numbers projected to be the biggest ever , millions of items will be processed and shipped . With this surge in shipping activity , consumer protection groups are warning everyone to watch out for fake delivery notices and package verification scams . For example , if you receiveAttack.Phishingan email from `` Amazon '' saying that you have a pending delivery that needs verification from you , then that is most likely a phishing scamAttack.Phishing. Other email phishing scamsAttack.Phishingmay also pretend to provideAttack.Phishingyou with a link for shipping updates or special discount coupons and offers . Another popular ploy is the phantom order scam . These alarming emails are meant to get you clicking by pretendingAttack.Phishingyou ordered thousands of dollars of merchandise . But before you click that link , look out , these deceitful messages can be extremely convincing . Fake delivery and shipping notifications can look just likeAttack.Phishingthe real thing , using real logos and art from company websites . These cybercriminals will even set upAttack.Phishingfake websites that look likeAttack.Phishingthe real deal to lureAttack.Phishingyou into giving away your personal information and credit card details .
This attack model was brought to light towards the end of 2016 by a team of six researchers , who presented their findings at the Black Hat Europe 2016 security conference in November and the 33rd Chaos Communication Congress held last week . When the ad plays on a TV or radio , or some ad code runs on a mobile or computer , it emits ultrasounds that get picked up by the microphone of nearby laptops , desktops , tablets or smartphones . Speaking at last week 's 33rd Chaos Communication Congress , Vasilios Mavroudis , one of the six researchers , detailed a deanonymization attackAttack.Databreachon Tor users that leaksAttack.Databreachtheir real IP and a few other details . The attackAttack.Phishingthat the research team put together relies on trickingAttack.Phishinga Tor user into accessing a web page that contains ads that emit ultrasounds or accessing a page that contains hidden JavaScript code that forces the browser to emit the ultrasounds via the HTML5 Audio API . According to Mavroudis , the mobile phone must have an app installed that has embedded one of the many advertising SDKs that include support for uXDT . In tests carried out by Mavroudis , the researcher has interceptedAttack.Databreachsome of the traffic these ultrasound beacons trigger on behalf of the phone , traffic which contains details such as the user 's real IP address , geo-location coordinates , telephone number , Android ID , IMEI code , and device MAC address . According to Mavroudis , there are multiple ways to deliver these attacks other than social-engineering Tor users to access certain URLs , where these ultrasound beacons can be served . Similarly , the attackers could also run a malicious Tor exit node and perform a Man-in-the-Middle attack , forcibly injecting the malicious code that triggers uXDT beacons in all Tor traffic going through that Tor node . A simpler attack method would also be to hide the ultrasounds , which are inaudible to human ears , inside videos or audio files that certain Tor users might be opening . The FBI might be very interested in this method and could deploy it to track viewers of child pornography videos on the Tor network , just like it previously did in Operation Playpen , where it used a Flash exploit .
Digital payments have gained popularity among consumers but have also brought in the threat of cyber criminals placing fake e-wallet apps to dupeAttack.Phishingusers . According to cyber security solution firm Kaspersky , no such incidentAttack.Phishinghas been reported yet but the probability of cyber criminals adding fake apps on app stores remains high . “ Digital payment companies ensure that the transactions are safe on their apps . Besides , there are checks like two-factor authentication for ensuring secure transactions for consumers , ” Altaf Halde , Managing Director at Kaspersky Lab , South Asia , told . In such a scenario , cyber criminals could look at trickingAttack.Phishingconsumers into downloading fake apps that look almost likeAttack.Phishingthe genuine one , allowing a backdoor entry into their smartphone . While financial institutions like banks and mobile m-wallet companies take steps to protect customer information , users also need to take precautions as negative experiences could lead to losing trust in digital transactions .