hacker

How hackers gain access to information containing state secrets – in a really simple way

Posted on by Security Expert

Personal computers, smartphones, tablets, hard drives and so on may store information about usernames and passwords of their previous owners.

Cybercriminals often gain access to information containing state secrets if they get their hands on the devices previously used in ministries, departments, and state enterprises.

If a device falls into the hands of a hacker, they can extract and use critical information. There were cases when hackers got access to accounts and information that was stored on the hard drive, up to confidential and state secrets, when computers that were previously used in government agencies are sold.

Information that belongs to state secrets may become publicly available, when it falls into the hands of the people who should not have access to it.

So, it is reasonable to use special utilities that delete data without a trace, i.e. reset the information stored on such devices to the factory settings.

Remember that mere formatting the memory, both internal and external, may be insufficient.

WhatsApp users fall victims to the dangerous scam known since 2007

Posted on by Security Expert

May 03, 2021

Malicious messages, like those used to deceive ICQ users decades ago, have come back. For many younger users of modern messengers, such a scam is not familiar.

The cyberscammers attack primarily WhatsApp. Since mid-April, they have been massively sending out links to files with viruses. To make the messenger users become interested in the file, stimulate them download it to their smartphones and install the application, a time-tested scheme is used. The scammer says that this application changes the color of the messenger’s icon to pink, gold or some other. And there are people who believe in it.

The icon, of course, remains the same, but valuable information (photos, contact list, payment data, messaging history in instant messengers, usernames and passwords from sites and applications, and much more) leaks to the attackers from the victim’s smartphone. The malicious application disguises itself and behaves like a keylogger, that is, it records everything that the user types on the keyboard and forwards it to the remote server.

WhatsApp fights spreading of this virus by trying to block messages with dubious links, but now cybercriminals are attacking other messengers using a similar pattern.

Spreading viruses is much easier in modern messengers than it used to be in ICQ. There is no need to hack accounts – the scammer just goes into group chats with hundreds and thousands of interlocutors and posts links to malicious files there.

If you see such links, never follow them: this is the only effective way to protect yourself from the virus.