iGyaan Network

Tag: hack

  • 1.4 Billion Apple iPhones And iPads Are Vulnerable To Hacks

    1.4 Billion Apple iPhones And iPads Are Vulnerable To Hacks

    Apple is looking forward to a very successful year overall with the announcement of iOS 13 and the upcoming iPhone 11. However, a company by the name of Cellebrite, notorious for its hacking capabilities regarding smartphones, has announced that it can hack into any and every iPhone device.

    Apple

     

    The Israeli forensics company has reported that it can break into any iPhone or iPad regardless of what version of the OS they are running. Apple has stated that there are about 1.4 Billion active devices as of 2019. With this news, all of the users of these devices are vulnerable and potentially in danger of being hacked. Cellebrite has also claimed that it can hack Android devices as well.

    Apple iPad Pro

    Cellebrite is planning on selling this hacking tool that can perform complete data extraction from the systems of any iOS handset. Furthermore, claims made by the company carry a lot more weight considering the FBI had collaborated with Cellebrite to crack an iPhone back in 2016.  Apple at that time refused to provide a backdoor to the FBI hence, its deal with Cellebrite.

    Apple

    The hacking tool although requires individuals to be in physical possession of the iPhone or iPad that is to be hacked. Breaking in apparently also requires lengthy security checks to determine the entitlement of the person trying to crack the device. Reportedly, Cellebrite’s past kits have sold for $100 (approx. Rs.7,000) on eBay, making it accessible for those that seek to harm or pry into other’s affairs.

    Through this announcement, it is clear that a backdoor entry to every iPhone and iPads out there has been discovered. Apple is clearly in the dark regarding the exploit that may end up actually affecting millions of its active users. iOS 13 is going to cut off support for some of the previous generation smartphones, meaning a fix to certain users’ vulnerable devices may not even be provided.

    Also Read: Huawei Nova 5i Pro Listed On Chinese E-Commerce Site Before Launch

    Apple has been proud of its security features, using it as a weapon against its competitors. The company now has to prove that claim and fix the issue that may soon become a widespread problem. The implications of such tools are terrifying in context to a user’s privacy and sensitive data. If the exploit does go live, it can be used by various agencies and organizations seeking to either extract data or harm people’s lives.

  • Google Outage Linked To Huawei Ban?

    Google Outage Linked To Huawei Ban?

    Early morning on June 2nd 2019 Google engineers struggled with a four hour Google cloud services outage. This took out critical Google services down, including Google Drive, Gmail, Youtube, and also affected sever other companies including Vimeo and Snapchat who use Google Cloud Services to host their platforms globally. 

    This comes soon after an announcement from Google stating that the company will remove Huawei as an authorized Android supported OEM and that the company will not officially get Android updates, or future security updates. Google’s services are crucial for any Android smartphone maker and allow for markets outside of China to fully utilize the devices. 

    This “ban” originated at the US governments blacklisting of Huawei. which banned US companies from using Huawei hardware or doing any kind of business with Huawei. And while a 90 day grace period was granted to the state funded Chinese Electronics and telecom giant, the future looks bleak for the company, and revenue estimates along with market value of the brand has dropped drastically. 

    China is not happy about this and has suggested a rare minerals export ban, which could intern affect US manufacturers. 

    “What is interesting is the timing of the outage,” claims our source ( An Ex Huawei Employee ) “this is the company fighting back”, Suggesting that Huawei or those close to Huawei are responsible for the outage.

    While Google has not explained what caused the outage publicly and managed to restore services back in four hours, with no impact to infrastructure or data. A large scale attack on Google’s crucial servers could be a possible reason. Google services were detected down in 249 locations in 170 cities around the world something that could have had long term implications on business and productivity. And if this was a third party attack, it could be considered a warning. 

     

     

    While we are not sure if anyone was responsible or if there was an attack, we will have to wait for an official statement from Google. 

  • Apple Demands Bloomberg To Take Down Chinese Chip Hacking Report

    Apple Demands Bloomberg To Take Down Chinese Chip Hacking Report

    A few weeks back, Blooomberg had reported that Chinese spies had compromised more than 30 US companies. This was apparently done by planting malicious chips into their servers while they were being manufactured in China. Through this chip, hackers where then able to create a backdoor into any networks running on the said server. The list of companies also includes tech giant Apple which has denied all the claims made by the report. Furthermore, Apple CEO Tim Cook had now asked Bloomberg to take down the report.

    The incident took place back in 2015, and according to the report, Apple had discovered the said ‘breach’. The report also states that Apple had cut ties with the vendor, Supermicro and reported the incident to the FBI. While the tech giant not only denies the report, it also made a detailed company statement signed by the Vice President of Information Security, refuting the claims of such an incident. However, Bloomberg did not back down after this. They proceeded to publish a follow up story which further backed up the original report.

    Apple’s Rebuttal

    Tim Cook Apple

    In an interview with a news agency, Tim Cook said that he was personally involved in the response to the story by the company. The CEO said that they searched through Emails, data centre records, financial records and shipment records and found nothing. He further said ,”This did not happen. There’s no truth to this”.  Bloomberg on the other hand, said that this the report is the result of more than a year of research and reporting which involves more than a 100 interviews. They claim sources such as government officials and insiders at companies who confirmed the attack. They further said “We stand by our story and are confident in our reporting and sources.”

    Also Read: Samsung Working On An In-Display Front Facing Camera

    This is the first time Apple has asked a company to take down a report for carrying false information. Earlier reports which showed the company in a poor light and were made from fragmented tales did not bother them so much. With both sides not willing to back down from their respective claims and defending their sides, it is difficult to say as to who is actually presenting the truth.

  • More than 50 Million Accounts Affected In Facebook Hack, Your’s Could Be Too

    More than 50 Million Accounts Affected In Facebook Hack, Your’s Could Be Too

    Twitter was ablaze with users commenting about how they had suddenly been logged out of their Facebook  apps. This seemed to be faced by a lot of users, and you might be one of them too. The reason is the latest breach into Facebook’s security system which affected almost 50 million accounts.

    Also Read: Sony Introduces PlayStation Classic, With 20 Pre-Loaded Games

    The Hack:

    The breach was detected by Facebook on 25th September. A hacker or some hackers had used a vulnerability in the code of the social networking giant to gain access to user accounts. This was done by gaining control of the access tokens for the accounts. The access tokens are basically what allow you to log int your mobile accounts without having to retype your password every time. An update to the video uploading feature in July 2017, led to this vulnerability and attackers only needed to find this out to get the access tokens to user accounts.

    To combat this, Facebook immediately reset the access tokens of all the affected accounts and an additional 40 million accounts. This led to users being abruptly logged out of they Facebook and Messenger apps. Along with this, the company is also disabling the ‘View As’ feature in your account until it conducts a thorough security review.

    What has not been answered is who the attackers were and what they used the accounts for. They could have used the accounts to change settings . It could have even been used to log in to third party apps using the accounts. The possibilities are many, but the company has still not found an answer to the question. However, it has added that no credit card information has been exposed.

    Facebook is treading through rocky waters. Earlier this year, Facebook had a crisis which forced CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify in court. The company pledged soon after this that it holds the protection of user information above everything else. Although this is completely different, it is the users who are affected. With around 2.23 billion active monthly users, and the absence of a Chief Security Officer, its high time Facebook steps up its security game.

  • Apple Admits Spectre And Meltdown Affects All macOS And iOS Devices

    Apple Admits Spectre And Meltdown Affects All macOS And iOS Devices

    Alphabet’s Google, along with a few other security researchers published a document which chronicled two major flaws found in nearly all modern CPUs. The reason this flaw is much more complex than the usual software or hardware bugs is that it’s more than just a bug that can be fixed with an update. The flaw lies in the middle, at the level of the processors’ “architectures,” in the way all the millions of transistors and logic units work together to carry out tasks.

    In the architecture of modern CPUs, there are unpenetrable spaces where data passes through in raw, unencrypted form, such as inside the kernel, the most central software unit, or in system memory carefully set aside from other applications. This data has powerful protections to prevent it from being interfered with or even observed by other processes and applications.

    MacBook Pro

    Meltdown and Spectre exploit critical vulnerabilities in modern processors. These hardware bugs allow programs to steal data which is currently processed on the computer. While programs are typically not permitted to read data from other programs, a malicious program can exploit Meltdown and Spectre to get hold of secrets stored in the memory of other running programs. This might include passwords stored in a password manager or browser, personal photos, emails, instant messages and even business-critical documents.

    Meltdown affects Intel processors and works by penetrating through the barrier that prevents applications from accessing arbitrary locations in kernel memory. Spectre affects Intel, AMD, and ARM processors, which basically means that it affects anything with a chip in it, from mobile phones to thermostats.

    iPhone X

    In a response to this revelation, Apple has come out and conceded that its devices are not immune to the security flaws. In a statement, the company announced that all its macOS and iOS devices are affected but, mitigations are either already in place or in the final stages of being rolled out. Apple has stated that it has already dealt with Meltdown:

    Apple released mitigations for Meltdown in iOS 11.2, macOS 10.13.2, and tvOS 11.2. watchOS did not require mitigation.

    This is what the company had to say about Spectre:

    Analysis of these techniques revealed that while they are extremely difficult to exploit, even by an app running locally on a Mac or iOS device, they can be potentially exploited in JavaScript running in a web browser.

    Apple will release an update for Safari on macOS and iOS in the coming days to mitigate these exploit techniques.

    In a nutshell, this means that while Meltdown is no longer a threat, Spectre remains the only major flaw which can be exploited and Apple will soon release a fix for that.

  • While FBI and Apple were Fighting in Court , LAPD unlocked an iPhone 5s : Report

    While FBI and Apple were Fighting in Court , LAPD unlocked an iPhone 5s : Report

    A new report originating from the LA Times claims that while Apple and FBI were taking matters to court and creating a public issue over iOS privacy. Los Angeles police investigators obtained a method to open a locked iPhone 5s.

    The LAPD was able to unlock and access information on the iPhone 5s which belonged to April Jace, wife of actor Michael Jace, accused in her killing at their South L.A. home in 2014.

    iphone 5s gold white 10

    The report mentions that LAPD found a “forensic cellphone expert” who could “override the locked iPhone function,”. There is no other information on how the iPhone was actually unlocked and it looks like only those involved will know the actual details of the case.

    While the FBI managed to do this with a foreign third party organization, the appearance of a sum of US $ 1 Million which was paid for the obtaining the crack of the iPhone 5c in the San Bernardino case. It is also unknown what the version of iOS  on the iPhone 5S which was unlocked by LAPD was, if similar the same “forensic cellphone expert” could have been used by the FBI and saved the US $ 1 MillionCould it be the infamous Siri bypass?

    Could it be the infamous Siri bypass?  Hard to tell!

    [LA Times]

  • IRS Website Hacked, Down Since Saturday

    IRS Website Hacked, Down Since Saturday

    The Indian Revenue Service (IRS) website has been hacked and reports suggest that a Pakistani group is behind the hack. According to Indian Express, after hacking the website http://www.irsofficersonline.gov.in, the hackers reportedly wrote ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ and ‘We are cyber attack team of Pakistan’.

    After the hack, the website put up a message saying, “We’ll be back soon! Sorry for the inconvenience but we’re performing some maintenance at the moment.” The IRS site is used as an official communicator for official work between the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the IT department field offices in the country.

    IRS

    As per the Daily, the hackers got into the ‘Official Communique (for IRS officers only)’ section and wrote – “Hacked by Faisal 1337, Dated: 05/02/2016, Pakistan Zindabad” and “We are Team Pak Cyber Attacker. Go Home Kiddo India Kids Hacker.”

    The technical team of IRS website is seeking help from the Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In), an agency that deals in combat hacking, phishing and fortifying security-related defences of the Indian Internet domain.

    “Thankfully, the website does not have information that can compromise national security,” an IRS officer commented.

  • OnePlus’ Exclusive Invite System Gets Hacked

    OnePlus’ Exclusive Invite System Gets Hacked

    Line-cutting, is by far the most annoying thing on earth. This happens at banks, colleges, restaurants, coffee shops etc. and now it has happened on the, already miles long, OnePlus 2 sales line.

    How did this happen? We are all aware that OnePlus has an exclusive system in place, if you want to get a hold of its new device – OnePlus 2. This system needs one to score an invite to avail the new device. The invites are limited in number and tough to get a hold of. However, even after registering for the device there are a couple of other things one needs to do in order to get ahead. For example- one has to be up to date with all the giveaways, one needs to pair up with a friend by using the invite that can be shared with friends or family, keep up with all the contests on social media about the new device, and one can even join the company’s forum to get a preference of receiving an invite.

    OnePlus 2 3

    This system has been kept in place to ensure that they only manufacture enough inventory as the demand, so that the supply will never overpower the demand. Again you ask why? This is because they are a young start up and this system will help them manage their risks far better than a mass-scale production would.

    OnePlus 2 0

    Now one particular user, Jake Cooper, an avid OnePlus follower, who fulfilled all these commands and finally got a position on the OnePlus invite waiting list at number 9000, was faced with a strange crisis after falling to a position of > 70,000 even after following all the processes. However, for the OnePlus 2, the company suggested, that in order to get ahead in line, one can refer as many friends to the invite list, and accordingly one’s position moves forward.

    OnePlus

    His solution: he hacked the system via a number of technical manoeuvres, a couple of python lines and mailinator.com, and managed to send a number of references to random email ids through an affiliated account. He actually managed to get from > 70,000 in line to just 1,694 in about 20 minutes.

    OnePlus 2 12

    However, he has actually notified OnePlus about the hack, and has even shared the entire procedure on a website, as to how he skipped so far ahead on an exclusive and protected line. He has also offered to take down the procedure if notified by OnePlus. For more details of how this happened, click here.

    Do you approve of this technical manoeuvre?

  • Exclusive: Starting at Rs. 55,000, the Turing Phone is Set to Launch in India by September

    Exclusive: Starting at Rs. 55,000, the Turing Phone is Set to Launch in India by September

    In a post-Snowden world, privacy has become an integral part of our lives. We have seen in TV shows and movies where the protagonist and spies carry an uncrackable, heavily encrypted phone. Turing Robotics Industries has launched a smartphone, the Turing Phone, which the company claims is unhackable and unbreakable. Appropriately named after Alan Turing, the first person to develop cryptographic machines, otherwise known as computers, the device will launch in India by the first week of September, starting at a price of Rs. 55,000.

    If the price seems too steep, there is a reason behind it. The Turing Phone has been constructed from a material called Liquidmorphium, which is stronger than titanium and steel. It uses nano-coating to cover the internal parts, which makes it waterproof. To round off its main selling point, the phone has built-in end-to-end encryption in its core apps, which means servers and third parties cannot intercept your calls and messages. The phone has been built keeping security in mind. To that extent, it doesn’t even has a headphone jack or a USB port. It is meant to be unhackable.

    The Turing Phone lacks a headphone jack and USB port. Source: Turing Robotics Industries.
    The Turing Phone lacks a headphone jack and USB port. Source: Turing Robotics Industries.

    On the specifications front, the Turing Phone runs on the 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 801c processor with 3GB of RAM. The phone supports 4G LTE and is powered by a 3000 mAh non-removable battery. The rest include a 5.5 inch full HD display, a 13MP rear and an 8MP front camera and a fingerprint scanner on the left side of the phone. The phone runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with Turing Aemaeth UI. The phone can be charged via a  magnetically attached power connector, like Apple’s MagSafe.

    TuringPhoneFrontBack-932x583
    Source: Turing Robotics Industries

    It is available in three variants – 16GB, 64GB and 128GB. In India, the 64GB variant will be available for a price of around Rs. 55,000 and the 128 GB variant will be available at a price of around Rs. 68,000. The Turing Phone comes in three models – Pharaoh, Cardinal, and Beowulf, each one taking colour and texture cue from the source material.

    Turing Robotics’ CEO SYL Chao hopes that the material used in the Turing Phone will become standard in the near future. In the present, it seems that the phone will only attract businessmen and people working at higher positions in corporate sectors, considering its steep price tag.

  • This Upcoming App Converts Your Facebook Page into a Full-fledged Website

    This Upcoming App Converts Your Facebook Page into a Full-fledged Website

    The Facebook Page feature helps businesses, brands and other organisations create public profiles. They use this to gain followers or fans, with people who ‘like’ their page. Now if you ever thought of converting your page into a full fledged website, you may very well have a chance of doing so. An experimental app is being worked upon that shows potential of achieving this feat.

    The app, named Pager, has been developed by a team of three engineers. The rough framework was developed within 24 hours. All you need to do is link your Facebook account, and a list of pages owned by you pops out. You can then choose your desired page and save it, after which the site goes live. The site is divided into four categories, namely, ‘About’, ‘News’, ‘Events’ and ‘Gallery’.

    Pager 1
    ‘The Trap’ page converted into a website

    The ‘About’ gallery displays your business details like name, site information, etc. The ‘News’ section works pretty much like a wall post and ‘Events’ and ‘Gallery’ displays upcoming events and photos/videos, respectively. Alex llea, Anton Shevchenko and Darrel-Day Guerrero, who developed this app during the Disrupt NY Hackathon said that the central idea behind this was to allow small businesses who use Facebook to manage their website. The app is still in its infancy stage, but the team is laying down all the codes that can support the Facebook API.

  • ‘FREAK attack’ Security Flaw Makes iOS and Android Devices Vulnerable to Hackers

    ‘FREAK attack’ Security Flaw Makes iOS and Android Devices Vulnerable to Hackers

    Thanks to a newly discovered security flaw, millions of users surfing through mobile browsers of two top companies are now vulnerable to hackers. Codenamed as FREAK (Factoring RSA Export Keys) attack, the flaw allows hackers to intercept the electronic communication of Apple’s Safari and Andriod browsers from Google.

    As of now, researchers haven’t found any evidence of the flaw being exploited by any hacker, but the companies don’t wish to take a chance. The internet search giant, as well as Apple, are working in a direction to fix it.

    According to the researchers, the problem has its roots in a decade-old U.S. government policy that prevents consumers from having access to secure encryption.

    [quote text_size=”small” author=”Edward Felten” author_title=”Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs at Princeton”]

    This was a policy decision made 20 years ago and it’s now coming back to bite us.

    [/quote]

    The flaw is caused by poor implementation of the encrypted link between browsers and the websites visited by users. Researchers also found out that they could attack from websites that are considered secure, and make them use weaker encryption for easy hacking. These websites can range from official US government sites like Whitehouse.gov, NSA.gov and FBI.gov to banks.

    Meanwhile, Apple has clarified that it will provide a software update to address the vulnerability by next week, while the former on will share the same through device makers and wireless carriers.

  • US Military’s Social Media Accounts Hacked By ISIS Sympathizers

    US Military’s Social Media Accounts Hacked By ISIS Sympathizers

    Last year saw some mega hacks attacking some of the most prominent names in the world. First there was the iCloud hack which led to a leak of personal images of Hollywood actresses. Then came the supposed attack from North Korea on Sony Pictures, which did some considerable damage to the production house. But today something even unprecedented happened; social media pages belonging to US Military establishment have gotten hacked by alleged ISIS sympathizers.

    The Twitter and YouTube accounts of US Central Command (Centcom) were hijacked by the hackers who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State. They started posting propaganda videos and threatening messages on the websites. The hackers also uploaded some military documents which Centcom claims aren’t confidential and are available on the internet.

    The hackers took over the twitter page and left threatening messages for the US Army.
    The hackers took over the twitter page and left threatening messages for the US Army.

    US Centcom is dedicated to the combat missions undertaken in Iraq, Afghanistan and the rest of the middle east. This is definitely an embarrassing situation for the most powerful military in the world.

    Following the information about the hijack, the hacked pages were taken offline but not before the perceptional damage was done. Centcom spokesperson has said that the US military network hasn’t been compromised by the hack, and they see this attack as a case of “cybervandalism.” They also added that none of the documents released by the attackers came from the Centcom’s servers or any other social media website.

    After Hijacking the YouTube page the attackers posted propganda videos.
    After Hijacking the YouTube page the attackers posted propganda videos.

    The case is being overseen by the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI). The White House also released a statement that said that they are considering the attack seriously and “examining and investigating the extent of the incident.” Several Miltary experts have said that this is an attack on the social media pages and not on the US Military network and hence isn’t a major breach.

    The twitter page was taken down for a while and now its back online.
    The twitter page was taken down for a while and now its back online.

    These major releases show that if something is on the internet, it can be stolen with ease. So in these times, just consider any information you have saved on the internet is up for grabs and live in peace with that thought.

  • DIY : iGyaan Hackintosh Build : Parts

    DIY : iGyaan Hackintosh Build : Parts

    We recently decided to build us up a hackintosh, and while the project is slightly time consuming and laborious, the outcome truly makes it worth your while.

    We were highly conflicted between a mac-pro and a hackintosh, and the latter made sense for the kind of ‘on the fly’ upgradability we need.

    Here are the parts that we used, and we are listing both INR and Dollar Prices for the convenience of easy purchase.

    1. Corsair Graphite 600T Cabinet

    2. Motherboard : Gigabyte GAZ97x UD7TH

    The motherboard is one of the few that has thunderbolt ports that can be enabled even though the process of doing so is tedious.

    3. Intel® CoreTM i7-4790K Unlocked 4.0 GHz

    4. EVGA GTX 770 Superclocked with Boost 4 GB DDR 5

    While there are many upped GPUs available, this one works out of the box with a mackintosh and is SLI ready so it works well with a similar card over the bridge. We got two of these so it made sense. Although EVGA cards are slightly difficult to find, you do get similar cards, also 2GB cards are available easily. Linked below.

    5. Kingston HyperX Fury 8 GB DDR3 RAM ( 4 Slots)

    No particular reason we chose this RAM. The Corsair Vengeance is alternative incase you don’t like the Kingston units.

    6. Samsung 850-pro SSD

    We got a 256 GB drive that we will use for a boot up and main app drive, we used a Thunderbolt RAID which was bought separately.

    7. LG Ultrawide 25 inch monitor

    We almost dropped our money for the Samsung 4k Monitor, but with the rumor mill abuzz about a Apple 5k Thunderbolt display, we wanted to wait just a bit longer. This monitor has a great 21:9 aspect ratio for editing and also does screen split, which is useful for better multitasking.

    8. Thunderbolt Raid

    This raid allows for 4 Full-Size Hard-Drives or SSDs and connects via Thunderbolt 2, also has a Thunderbolt out, for convenience of Daisy chaining.

    9. Drives for RAID

    We bought the HGST 7200rpm Deskstar 4TB drives for the Above Raid, and they work really well. They are designed for a commercial desktop NAS systems, so you can expect them to last long.

    10. Bluetooth Dongle

    The Motherboard does not come with Bluetooth, and most of the locally available adapters/dongles don’t work. Here are few that do.

    11. TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 Wi-Fi Card

    This is the most compatible card and it works out of the box.

    12. Corsair RM 750 PSU

    This 750watt PSU is powerful, efficient and easily available.

    13. Corsair H100i CPU Cooler

    This fits perfectly in the cabinet we chose, and is pre sealed with the cooling liquid, radiator and pipes come pre installed. So it’s a complete package ready to install, and it works well.

    14. Apple Magic Mouse

    What the heading says, it’s Apple’s mouse, so it just works, provided you get your bluetooth up and running.

    15. Apple Magic Trackpad

    You learn the importance of this trackpad once you start using it. Improves efficiency during multitasking. This is optional for those who want it. Works like a Charm.

    16. Apple Bluetooth Keyboard

    This final piece of the puzzle is highly recommended. You can also find any alternative Apple compatible keyboard. i.e. one which has a “cmd” key.

    That is basically the list of parts for our Hackintosh build. Our Install guide will be up shortly.

    You will also need a 16 GB USB 3 pen drive to make the install boot disk. It’s great if you have one lying around. Else we recommend :

    What we ended up Spending? A Whopping Rs. 3,13,000!

    Not all Mac-Hackintosh builds are or need to be this expensive. However this one worked the best for us. and we are happy.

  • Sony Pictures Employees Receive Threatening E-mails from Alleged Hackers

    Sony Pictures Employees Receive Threatening E-mails from Alleged Hackers

    It seems like troubled times for folks working at Sony Pictures is not going to come to an end anytime soon. The company that faced a massive hack which rendered most of its computers useless also faced release of its movies online. The attack was handled by a hacker group which calls itself Guardians of Peace or #GOP. It is now being reported that the employees of Sony Pictures are now getting threatening e-mails.

    Sony has lost a lot of ground in this attack. Not only has there been the loss of business days, but also they are not yet sure of the scale of the theft due to the hack. Four of Sony’s upcoming movies were released online along with the recently released and exceptional Brad Pitt movie, Fury. The hackers also released several documents relating to the company’s financial records, employee details and data relating to several movies.

    Sony has hired security firm FireEye Inc and its Mandiant forensics unit to investigate the hacking. FBI spokesman Joshua Campbell has said that the department is aware of the threatening e-mails received by the employees at Sony. It is not yet clear though that if the e-mails were actually sent by the hackers or if it is a work of some prankster who scored the e-mails of the employees through the leaked documents. In either case, this is now a serious issue as this is criminal intimidation. The case has fast escalating from thievery and blackmail to terrorising the production company and the people who work for it.

    This leak can lead to pernicious effects on people who work for the company. If the hackers have access to personal information, identification and financial details of people who’ve worked for Sony, they can attempt identity theft and cause harm to individuals. This attack can be easily be called a terrorist attack and maybe we could start seeing more of these in the coming future. The need of the hour is to train a massive workforce dedicated to cyber security just like a standing army. Our economies and identities have shifted from physical to the digital world, so it’s absolutely important to have soldiers online to protect our interests.

iGyaan Network
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.