E-Protectors.com, PC maintenance & Critical Security » Hacker News

Hacking site Hacked by a Hacker due to Sting

Pierce — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 10:05:45 +0000

A computer hacker known as “KillaWho” has hacked the underground community of “r00t-y0u.org” due to a warning yesterday that was supposedly made by Police of some sort. The hacker explained how the Police who were running the case do not understand how to use a computer. The facts were very persuasive.

The hacker claimed that most agencies do not fully understand computers, and he sounded pretty accurate.

It seems as if he is trying to prove the internet is not secure, and will not be for a while. Which I absolutely agree with. Computer hackers will not get caught by agencies due to the fact no computer hacker is going to work on a $60,000-100,000 salary when he can make more independently (legitimately or not). So if no computer hacker works on the side of the law, no black-hat computer hacker is going to get caught.

Thank god for open community’s though, these make it easier for the police to track down the carders and bot harvesters much like r00t-y0u.org was apart of.

2 Links to “The FTP Report” by KillaWho, please note these reports contain some harsh language:

FTP Report #2
FTP Report #1

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e-Mail and Spam

Pierce — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:42:36 +0000

Are you sick of e-Mail spam? Well, so are the rest of us. e-Mail spamming has been around for quite a while, yet it is still used very frequently! This month, e-Mail spam is said that 90% of e-mails are spam (according to Symantec)!

Over 50% of this spam comes from botnets. A Botnet is a large network of PC’s controlled by a “bot master” in which infected these PC’s with his trojan (virus).

To prevent all this from happening, once again, stay updated! Also, if you would like to keep your personal e-Mail spam free, I would suggest having 2 e-Mail addresses. You should have one for personal, meaning you don’t post it on ANY sites, no forums, blogs, newsletters, nothing. This will prevent spammers from crawling websites and extracting e-Mails, thus spamming your inbox. You can then create another e-Mail if you need to sign up at forums, blogs, and other websites.

Using the methods above is a good method of saving time and money. You will not need anti-spam protection firewalls in which do less than nothing!

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Gas, first polution, now a front for cybercrime.

Pierce — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:30:45 +0000

Hackers located in Russia have been using a gas company named “GazTranzitStroyInfo LLC” have been using this as a front. They’ve been exploiting web-browsers with the famous exploit known as “Zeus”. Zeus can exploit browsers on a large scale, so stay updated! Due to the fact their hosting is offshore, security professionals are unable to shut down most of their websites, as the hosting company may not comply in the same language, or even at all.

Due to the fact webbrowser security is not very great right now because of new exploits like Zeus being published at a rapid rate; it is smart to stay updated for your computer will be less vulnerable to attacks.

More and more black-hat organization’s are being founded, almost on a daily basis. It seems as if 50% or more are located in Russia. Currently, our only way to keep everybody secure, is by helping you all out with common computer knowledge, and hopefully giving you some basic pointers that should save you from getting your identity, information, or money stolen.

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The secret behind Mac Security, released!

Pierce — Sun, 17 May 2009 06:27:40 +0000

So, Macs are supposedly really secure? Well, this fact is not so true. Mac’s are just as easily of a target as Windows. The only difference, is that Windows is used far more, therefore more viruses and exploits are found for it. Hackers target Windows operating systems due to the fact they can get more victims at a faster rate. Making a proper virus for Mac would take a while, so usually they will avoid it.

Don’t get me wrong, there are still thousands of reported (and many more unreported) Macintosh vulnerabilities and viruses. Even though Mac’s do not have anywhere as near as many viruses as Windows, it still seems like they spend much more time on security then Microsoft. The amount of remote code execution exploits for Microsoft applications is amazing. I would be embarrassed if I was Microsoft. On the other hand, Apple has so few remote code execution exploits.
Apple knows what they are doing when it comes to coding and security, they still have room to further grow. Microsoft… well, instead of releasing an operating system every couple months, maybe they could spend more time making an operating system with far less bugs, and maybe take a couple months and take some coding courses.

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Paypal Registration Page Vulnerable to XSS

Jake — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:41:34 +0000

Methodman, a grey-hat hacker specializing in finding XSS flaws, reported that Paypal has some dangerous cross-site scripting vulnerabilities that need to be taken care of. The vulnerabilities are still not patched as I write this article. The flaws continue to affect the registration.paypal.com, www.paypal-press.co.uk and www.paypal-press.fr websites.

The registration.paypal.com site is used by companies to sign-up for a business merchant account. The XSS weakness was located in the registration page for accounts using the Payflow Pro payment solution. “Here’s a list of what you’ll need to sign up for PayPal’s Payflow Services: General business information; Primary business contact information; Credit Card and Billing Contact Information; Merchant Bank and Processor Information,” the page reads.
Having the ability to use these vulnerabilities, cyber criminals can create complex phishing systems.Methodman also discloses that Paypal’s website for its media centers in the UK and France are vulnerable to similar attacks. They are both vulnerable to IFrame injections, and stealth Javascript prompts and redirects.Methodman said that the “Paypal Staff has been alerted about this.”

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Who profits the most off of viruses?

Pierce — Wed, 13 May 2009 03:08:53 +0000

Do you rely on your anti-virus programs? Well truth is, anti-virus helps, but you should also think “outside of the box”. Who profits the most off of computer viruses? Well, anti-virus companies, and Microsoft. These companies could be using so many other coding techniques to secure your computer from viruses and possible hackers.

Why doesn’t Microsoft and Anti-virus companies use these techniques? Well, they want to keep profiting off of you. There is enough proof around that Microsoft, with all of their coders, techniques, money, and power.. they could easily make their operating system secure. Instead, they keep coming out with more operating systems in which seem to be actually even less secure.

So here is some information to keep your system secure:

If your Anti-virus application tells you that an executable file is safe, well it may not be. Hackers create applications called “packers” or “crypters” in which encrypt the executable, and make them undetectable by anti-virus companies. This is why you should not open a file unless you are certain the person or website you got it from is trust-able.

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The Infamous Conficker – Update

Pierce — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:33:55 +0000

OK, well here is an informative update to the so called “Conficker” virus. My last article about this virus, was explaining how it is probably a hoax. Well, I was a little off. I was wrong about it being a hoax, but I was right about it not being much different than any other bot (Trojan). It spreads via private exploits (public now). Once a computer is infected, Conficker will scan a random IP range and try to run the exploits against other computers, thus infecting more systems.

1 out of 10 computers scanned by the Conficker are infected. Why is this? Well, its actually the victims fault. The main cause of Conficker being spread is lack of updating!

Although, Conficker has been getting more and more detected by anti-virus company’s, so every now and then they will update their payload and try to make it un-detectable, with new and improved exploits.

What is the best way to avoid this worm?

Keep your computer UPDATED! As said in a few articles, 80% of updates are due to security patches. On top of staying updated, use common sense, and enable your firewall. Anti-virus is definitely recommended.

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“Hackers” Post a Ransom on Important Information

Pierce — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:30:46 +0000

Yesterday, May 7th 2009, some “hackers” posted a $10 million dollar ransom on Virginians’ private files. They say if they do not receive the ransom, the files will be released. The FBI are trying very hard to track down these “hackers”. The “hackers” posted this ransom on “Wikileaks” (a popular place for informative leaks, usually having to do with government data).

This database holds over a significant 8 million patients records! The breach was confirmed, and the investigations on this crime will be very big.

What is our opinions? Well, I for one, don’t believe this was a “hacker”. I believe think this was the work of a key-logger, somebody with a large botnet (many slave PCs commanded by one person). The bot master was looking at his newly found logs, and probably found an account to the Virginia Department of Health Professions. The bot master then quickly made a copy of part, or even all (not likely, since it is pretty big) of the information. He now claims he will release it if he does not receive his $10M. Well if this is the case, I’m sure the FBI will catch on!

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Phishing – A popular way among scammers.

Pierce — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:01:58 +0000

Many have heard of “Phishing”, but do not really know what it is (and no its not just a mis-spelled way of fishing!). Phishing is when schemers or “hackers” create fake websites in which look like the site they are targeting. They will then have you visit it, and enter your information/details (usually account log-in information), and therefore steal it!

Lets use PayPal for an example. The “hacker” would copy the source, and make an exact replica of PayPal. They would then buy a domain like “paypalsecurityverification.com”. Now they will e-Mail you saying stuff like “We are checking the security of your account, could you please click here to log-in and confirm this is your e-Mail address”. They expect you will click the link, and log in. They then have your account!

How do we stay protected from this?

When you are checking e-Mails like this, first check the e-Mail address, if the address is not like, *******@paypal.com, then it is likely not real. e-Mails can be spoofed by experienced “hackers”. Also, when ever you see a link on the e-Mail that they say to click, put your mouse over it. Even if the link looks like paypal.com, it may be masked and lead to another site. Hovering your mouse pointer over it will show you where it leads to, on some programs you may have to right click, and copy the link location.

Here is an example:
http://paypal.com

This link goes to “paypal-scam-site.com”.

Lastly, just make sure that when ever you log into a website, it is definitely the proper site!

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