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Tuesday, August 25, 2020

WhatsApp hijack and blackmailing

Whatsapp Logo transparent PNG - StickPNGThe recent extortion of a few people through their compromised WhatsApp accounts has put the spotlight back on a hacking tool that had surfaced less than two years ago: using a WhatsApp account to start a chain blackmailing and phishing scam.WhatsApp is now an inbuild application in most of the mobile phones it gives an ease of sending messages, videos, photos, calling and even sharing documents. Hackers have always been ahead to gain access to these applications. This time hackers have gained access to whatsapp and are blackmailing with some personal photos and chats after gaining access to these aplications .Recently Maharashtra Cybercell has issued an advisory for WhatsApp users, alerting them about a recent modus operandi used by hackers for gaining access to WhatsApp accounts.

Let us see how it works
When a WhatsApp user changes their phone, he/she will have to verify that the new device is linked to his/her mobile number. This is done through WhatsApp verification code. The hacker knows the user’s mobile number and this whole series of attacks begins with one person (Mr P). If Mr P shares his WhatsApp verification code, he allows the hacker to gain access to his account.
Once Mr P’s account is hacked, the hacker gets access to all his contacts as well as groups. A chain reaction begins after this. Knowing that Mr K is the most contacted person from Mr P’s list, the hacker impersonates Mr P and convinces Mr K that his WhatsApp verification code is not reaching him, so he has sent the code to Mr K’s phone. Mr K falls for the trap without realising that it is his own verification code. As he shares the code, the hacker hijacks his account also.

Once the hijacker gains control of your WhatsApp account, it becomes an extortion tool. By impersonating you, the fraudster can threaten to post obscene photographs on your groups, and also convince your contacts to share their verification codes under some pretext, thereby allowing their accounts to be hacked. “The scamster can also trick a user’s contacts by impersonating him/her and ask for money, citing distress, and access banking information if it is already shared in previous conversations”. 


How can we protect ourself from these hijacks

The cybersecurity agency has advised people to not share their WhatsApp verification code with anyone whatsoever. If you share the verification code, then immediately re-verify your WhatsApp account. Further, users are also advised to activate 'two-step verification' for enhancing the security of their WhatsApp accounts and do not open links sent by unknown people .Always use two-step verification an optional feature that adds more security to your account. When you have two-step verification enabled, any attempt to verify your phone number on WhatsApp must be accompanied by the six-digit PIN that you created using this feature that secures your account from hijack.

Friday, July 24, 2020

DISASTER 2020 (WILL WE SEE 2021?)

Corona virus,earthquake, amphan,landslide, forest fire these are some of the deadliest disasters that have taken place in the year 2020.List is very long and has also yielded many lives not only humans many animals have also lost their lives some are still struggling to survive.The biggest question that is arising now a days is WILL WE SEE 2021? Most experts are saying that it is the end of the earth, but if we look for the situation than the question stands correct at its position.


Corona
This is how long coronavirus lives on kitchen/bathroom surfaces ...
Corona the deadliest virus originated from china whose epicenter was flesh market in wuhan, China. Corona virus has brought whole world on knees even the supar power is also affected adversely. Economy of the world has taken a deep dive and is at the lowest point each country is fighting to defeat the deadly virus. Many upfront doctors and nurses have lost their lives being affected by the virus, while treating patience affected with virus. Whole world has been under lockdown.Some countries are still strugling while some countries have come up with decreasing mortality rate and high recovery rate. 
Mostly oldage people having previous medical history like high blood pressure, diabetes cholesterol etc are adversely affected and if we check with the stats mortality rate is more in oldage people with medical history. As our doctors are trying to mix up and treat patient according to the symptoms because no one is aware which medicine will be effective and which medicine would be harmful,still our doctors have got a better recovery graph.Recovery rate graph has increased a bit and mortality rate graph has declined while the new cases graph is also increasing.


Amphan

At least 80 dead after Cyclone Amphan lashed India and Bangladesh ...
Super Cyclonic Storm Amphan was a powerful and deadly tropical cyclone that caused widespread damage in Eastern India, West Bengal to be specific, and also Bangladesh in May 2020.Highest wind speed that was recorded during the cyclone was 260 km/hr. The main impact of this cyclone was in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, East India. Amphan has been categorized under the Category of 5 Hurricane (SSHWS). Many of Kolkata's people were without electricity and communications have been disrupted. In fact, in some of the worst-hit areas mobile signals are also not working. As per local news networks many trees got uprooted, lamp posts and traffic lights, streets got waterlogged, vehicles were crushed under fallen trees.
May 20 Cyclone Amphan news
Due to corona virus social distancing measures and mass evacuation have made the situation more difficult for authorities.Almost 1 lakh houses have been destroyed and over 1 crore people have been affected by Amphan, according to the government. Cyclone Amphan has wreaked havoc in West Bengal and Odisha. With entire villages being drowned, the cyclone is the worst in decades, and has claimed 72 lives.many people's were rescued to safer places as soon as it hit the mumbai region it's speed slowed down causing less impact over damage and life.



Earthquake

Lake Erie earthquake detected on Ann Arbor seismograph - mlive.com     5.3 magnitude quake hits Lakshadweep: All you should know about ...
World is already shaken by deadly virus while earthquake had shaken many parts of the world. People are thinking that if they go out they would have fear from corona and if they remain inside their house then earthquake will shatter them. The biggest question arise where should a person go.The recent earthquake was in Falam, Chin,Myanmar of 4.8 magnitude, 64 km depth. On 14th june earthquake struck 122 kilometres away from the city of Rajkot in Gujrat causing destruction. 


Forest Fire

Human vs. Forest Fire
Indian state of Uttarakhand has been burning,as per individual accounts on social media.This is the second major tragedy to hit India in less than 10 days after Cyclone Amphan caused widespread destruction in Indian states of West Bengal and Odisha last week.
People took to social media,revealing pictures of uttarakhand forest fires, to bring attention to the tragedy facing the hill state amid coronavirus outbreak. As per the information available, different regions of Uttarakhand witnessed the outbreak of wildfires. When we see a forest burning it is even difficult to imagine the scale of the horrific death of wildlife in the fires. Another sign that we must work harder to protect our precious world.We are

Locusts


Alarm as locusts spotted near border
Locusts are short-horned grasshoppers with highly migratory habits and voracious feeding behavior. India has not witnessed any full-blown locust cycles after 1962. However, during 1978 and 1993, large-scale upsurges were observed.
The swarm has a capacity of travelling 150 km a day and its direction is difficult to predict. The Agriculture Director added, “Swarm sits in any area in the evening and settles, it gets active, the next day. Farmers have been asked to alert us if they spot any tiddi dal in any of the villages in evening.”



Visakhapatnam gas leak


The Visakhapatnam gas leak, also referred to as the Vizag gas leak, was an industrial accident that occurred at the LG Polymers chemical plant in the R. R. Venkatapuram village of the Gopalapatnam neighbourhood, located at the outskirts of VisakhapatnamAndhra PradeshIndia, during the early morning of 7 May 2020. The resulting vapour cloud spread over a radius of around 3 km. The death toll was 11, and more than 1,000 people became sick after being exposed to the gas.Two friends were playing PUBG in the night when they smell the gas and shouted and knocked the door of the village to wake them up.

Thursday, July 9, 2020

TELEGRAM FRAUD

As part of the mobile and social media revolution Telegram messaging app has experienced significant growth, adding 350,000 new users daily. This platform has been widely adopted globally and is available in 13 languages. The Telegram application available on play store allows users to create groups with up to 30,000 members and share files and documents of nearly any type. It even allows bots to be set up for specific tasks. Due to its rich feature set and rapid adoption, Telegram has become a sought after tool on the fraud scene.You will not be able to see the contact number or any other type of information about the person.


How do they trap innocent people.

Firstly they create a channel on telegram and tell that they are custom officer and they have shown some items as lost in custom and wanted to sell these items at a very low price.They publish their cheap rate list as follow.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX



From here the greed of the common man increases.Their advertisement is so attractive that it looks like a real and fair deal.These custom frauds ask the half payment in advance and ask to share screenshot of the payment and after that they will send you the courier tracking id and as soon as you will receive the tracking id you have to make the rest of the payment or the order would be stopped.The courier id that they provide is just a fake webpage created in regards to courier company.As soon as the payment is done they will send you a fake courier tracking link having your name address and contact number.After which they will ask you to make rest of the payment as the payment is done these fraud people will stop replying and block you from telegram.Further when there is no reply then a person realizes that something wrong has happened and he has been cheated. 

What they do after you pay?


If you paid for them. I’m sure they will cancel your chat and Block your Telegram Account. After they never reply to your chats. So Beware of these Scammers. Today India has 320 million Mobile users and Telegram is the Most downloaded App after Whatsapp. So we should be aware of some Digital Learning and Ethical Hacking to not being Prey to these Fraudsters
How to protect yourself from these frauds

1.Never make advance payment to unknown persons. Always opt for COD in such cases, if the seller is genuine he will provide COD facility. 
2.Always verify the background of the seller. 
Think why the item is available in such a low price he could open his shop and sell on the mrp, instead he is selling it in Rs 50,00 whose MRP is 2,34,000 INR. 
3.Always shop from trusted websites.Never get attracted towards attractive offers from fake websites. 
4.Check for the age of domain (website).This will help you to identify how old a website is. 


WhatsApp hijack and blackmailing

The recent extortion of a few people through their compromised  WhatsApp  accounts has put the spotlight back on a  hacking  tool that had...