By Owais Sultan
Cyber attacks are a real and common issue surrounding businesses and personal accounts, especially if they have sensitive…
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Combating the Ever-Increasing Cyber Attacks in 2023

**Cyber attacks** are a real and common issue surrounding businesses and personal accounts, especially if they have sensitive information nowadays. In recent years, there have been multiple data breaches and hackers evolving their cyber attack processes to achieve their goals, which is why everyone should evolve their cyber security.

There are multiple ways to protect ourselves and our companies from cyber attacks, but we must first understand the risks we face. When discussing cyber security, we must consider our passwords, software, websites, browsers, and even Wi-Fi.

**What risks do cyber attacks involve?**

According to **CyberGhost’s guide**, the easier targets for cybercriminals are employees, as they can access businesses’ software and systems. It has been proven that cyber attacks have been increasing due to the pandemic and online work.

Some of the risks that cyber attacks involve are:

*   Data breaches
*   Disrupted devices
*   Paralyzed systems
*   Bank account hacks
*   Electrical blackouts
*   Failure of equipment

There are many risks from cyber attacks, which is why it is so important to have good cyber security.

**Top 5 Security Risks in 2023**

1.   **Ransomware**

A **ransomware attack** has proven to be the most expensive type of cyber attack for victims. Ransomware encrypts victims’ information and restricts users’ access until they pay to get it unlocked. To avoid this kind of infection, you must prevent spam, malvertising, phishing, etc.

2.  **API Attacks**

**API attacks** work through automated threats, such as bot attacks or access violations, which can lead to data loss, stolen private information, or even service disruption. To prevent these kinds of attacks, it is recommended to use antiviruses, VPNs, and ad blockers.

3.  **Social Engineering Attacks**

**Social engineering attacks** are made through psychological manipulation, tricking victims into making security mistakes, such as giving away sensitive information. That can be done with baiting, pretexting, phishing, etc. To prevent these attacks, we must ignore emails and attachments from suspicious sources, use a multifactor authenticator, be wary of tempting offers, and use an antivirus. 

4.  **Supply Chain Attacks**

**Supply chain attacks** usually target organizations to hack their supply deliveries and steal them to sell to third-party vendors. They achieve this thanks to malware installation and malware, so if we want to stay safe, we must use antivirus, malware software, and a VPN, and always connect to secure Wi-Fi.

5.  **Fileless Malware Attacks** 

**Fileless malware** is one of the hardest malware to detect since it leaves no footprints and relies on no files. Victims usually get this malware by clicking on suspicious links, which leads to the downloading of malware to upload all sensitive information to their database.

So, even if it’s hard to trace, we can easily get protected by using an antivirus, avoiding spam, and activating a VPN and an Ad Blocker.

**How can we identify cybersecurity threats?**

**Cyber attacks have been categorized** into three different categories, depending on their objective: financial gain, corporate espionage, or patent theft. Once we know this, we can comprehend how to identify them, since they will always seek access to your devices. They gain access by the following:

*   Malware
*   Phishing
*   Trojans
*   Ransomware
*   Spear Phishing
*   Denial of Service 
*   Attacks on IoT Devices
*   “Man in the Middle” attack

This kind of attack can easily be prevented by not clicking, downloading, logging in, or giving access to others to your devices, accounts, and emails.

**How to prevent cyber attacks?**

Preventing cyber attacks is easy, but it requires patience and consistency, as results will improve as we evolve our cyber health. If you’d like to **improve your cyber security**, then you should implement the following activities on your devices.

1.  Use a VPN.
2.  Activate an ad blocker. 
3.  Use password managers.
4.  Invest in a good antivirus.
5.  Use trustworthy browsers.
6.  Don’t share accounts with others.
7.  Activate multi-factor authenticator.
8.  Always use the last versions of software and apps
9.  Use strong passwords and change them every four months.
10.  Separate work and personal information and account access.

If you follow these practices, you can be sure you have good cyber health. Still, you must keep researching new ways at least twice a year, since hackers keep developing new ways to attack as technology advances.

Also, it is important to **take care of Wi-Fi protection** and always run a malware and virus test if you use public Wi-Fi, as these are vulnerable ways of being hacked.

**5 activities to do as an employee/executive for cyber security**

1.   Ask/create cybersecurity training programs.
2.  Have different devices for both home and work usage.
3.  Perform a regular audit of cyber protection procedures.
4.  Install antivirus and VPN software on all work devices. 
5.  Create a backup of all employees’ and clients’ data.

Combating the Ever-Increasing Cyber Attacks in 2023

By Deeba Ahmed
The refutation came days after Europe and North America were rattled by ESXiArgs Ransomware attacks.
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: VMware Disputes Old Flaws at Root of ESXiArgs Ransomware Attacks

Edward Hawkins, the High-Profile Product Incident Response Manager at VMware, has refuted claims that two-year-old vulnerabilities have been exploited in the ongoing ESXiArgs ransomware attacks.

Over the weekend, reports emerged about cybercriminals exploiting a two-year-old vulnerability in virtualization services provider VMware in a ransomware campaign. French CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) **said** the campaign has been active since February 3rd, 2023.

Moreover, Italy’s ACN (National Cybersecurity Agency) **issued** a warning about a large-scale ransomware campaign. The agency noted that attackers were aiming to target thousands of organizations across Europe and North America.

It was also reported that VMware’s ESXi servers were vulnerable, as these had not been patched against a remotely exploitable flaw discovered in 2021. Attackers compromised the server and added a ransomware variant called ESXiArgs.

For your information, ESXi is VMware’s hypervisor technology, which allows organizations to host multiple virtualized computers running multiple operating systems on a single physical server.

The vulnerability is tracked as **CVE-2021-21974** and assigned a CVSS rating of 8.8. It is an OpenSLP heap-based buffer overflow flaw, which an unauthorized actor can exploit to gain remote code execution. A fix for it was released on February 23, 2021, by VMware.

However, on Monday, VMware denied the news and stated they could not find any evidence that threat actors were trying to leverage a zero-day in its software in a worldwide active ransomware campaign.

“Most reports state that End of General Support (EoGS) and/or significantly out-of-date products are being targeted with known vulnerabilities which were previously addressed and disclosed in VMware Security Advisories (VMSAs),” said Edward Hawkins, the High-Profile Product Incident Response Manager at VMware in a **blog post**.

The company has advised its customers to upgrade to its latest vSphere components release to mitigate the threat. Furthermore, the company recommends disabling the OpenSLP service in ESXi. It is worth noting that the service was disabled by default in ESXi 7.0 U2c and ESXi 8.0 GA, shipped in 2021.

According to GreyNoise data, 19 unique IP addresses have attempted to exploit the ESXi vulnerability since February 4, 2023. Eighteen IP addresses were classified as benign, whereas one instance of malicious exploitation of the issue was reported in the Netherlands.

The intrusion involved exploiting the already-susceptible ESXi servers, which were exposed to the internet on the OpenSLP port 427. The victims were asked to pay 2.01 Bitcoin or $45,990 in exchange for the encryption key for file recovery. But so far, there are no reports of data exfiltration.

The alleged ESXiArgs ransomware (Source: DarkFeed)

The U.S. CISA is investigating the ESXiArgs campaign. According to the agency’s spokesperson, they have collaborated with private and public sector partners to analyze the impact of the reported incidents and offer assistance where required.

“Any organization experiencing a cybersecurity incident should immediately report it to CISA or the FBI,” they added.

1.  **Shipping Software Hit by Ransomware Attack**
2.  **Royal Ransomware Spreading Through Google Ads**
3.  **COVID-19 Tracking App Drops Punisher Ransomware**
4.  **Ransomware Gang Leaks Medibank Data on Dark Web**
5.  **US Charges Iranian Hackers Over Ransomware Attacks**

VMware Disputes Old Flaws at Root of ESXiArgs Ransomware Attacks

By Habiba Rashid
Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, described the ChatGPT rival, Bard, as an "experimental conversational AI service" powered by LaMDA.
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Google Introduces Bard: New ChatGPT Rival

For now, Bard is only available to “trusted testers”; however, Google intends to make it more widely available to the public in the coming weeks.

ChatGPT’s sensational popularity, which has been growing ever since its launch last November, seems to have finally affected Google, seeing as it has announced its very own **ChatGPT** alternative and rival named Bard.

Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, officially announced the project in a blog post on Monday, describing the tool as an experimental conversational AI service, designed to engage in conversations with users while answering their queries. 

Despite not revealing many details about Bard’s capabilities, it seems apparent that the chatbot will have free-ranging characteristics similar to those of **OpenAI’s ChatGPT**.

“Bard seeks to combine the breadth of the world’s knowledge with the power, intelligence and creativity of our large language models. It draws on information from the web to provide fresh, high-quality responses.

Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity, helping you to explain new discoveries from **NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope** to a 9-year-old, or learn more about the best strikers in football right now, and then get drills to build your skills,” writes Pichai. 

However, a significant difference is that, unlike ChatGPT, which can only access information up to 2021 and does not have access to the web, Bard is powered by Google’s Language Model for Dialog Applications (**LaMDA**) and will draw on all the information from the web to curate responses. 

Image: Google

Bard has been opened up to trusted testers, and according to Google’s **blog post**, the technology and search engine giant intends to make it “more widely available to the public in the coming weeks.” 

Although Google promises to “combine external feedback with our own internal testing to make sure Bard’s responses meet a high bar for quality, safety and groundedness in real-world information,” it is likely that Bard will face limitations similar to those faced by ChatGPT since both are built on text generation software. 

Besides being prone to providing fabricated information, AI models trained on text scraped online are susceptible to exhibiting racial and gender biases and repeating hateful language.

Along with Google’s AI image generator, Imagen, and its AI music generator, MusicLM, Bard has also been added to a list of advanced AI services that have yet to be released to the public.

1.  **Fields of application of artificial intelligence**
2.  **AI-based Model to Predict Extreme Wildfire Danger**
3.  **How Artificial intelligence (AI) Stops Cybercriminals**
4.  **Microsoft patent reveals chatbot to talk to dead people**
5.  **AI-Powered Glasses Give Deaf People Power of Speech**

I’m a student and cybersecurity writer. On a random Sunday, I am likely to be figuring out life and reading Kafka.

Google Introduces Bard: New ChatGPT Rival

By Owais Sultan
You might shy away from installing a video surveillance camera in your business but the fact is that…
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Benefits Of Having Video Surveillance In Your Business

You might shy away from installing a video surveillance camera in your business but the fact is that this practice has become increasingly popular in big and small businesses, with many companies finding it to be a great security measure.

With video surveillance, businesses can monitor their property 24/7 and observe the activity inside and outside their building for added safety. Not only does video surveillance provide security benefits, but it also comes with several other advantages that benefit the business as well.

One of the biggest benefits of video surveillance is its ability to deter criminal activity from taking place on-site. Potential criminals are much less likely to attempt break-ins or vandalism if they know they are being monitored by cameras.

Additionally, having video evidence of any potential crimes can be incredibly beneficial when trying to prosecute them in court. Video surveillance can also help protect employees by providing an extra layer of safety and protection against workplace violence or theft.

Having a surveillance video system is like having eyes watching over your organization at all times. With this, there is assurance that you are safe, even if you have other safety measures in place. Video surveillance monitoring services are vital, and you need to find the right company to install the cameras appropriately.

Some additional benefits of having video surveillance cameras in your business include:

**Protects you from fraud **

Video surveillance is a powerful tool to help businesses detect and prevent fraud. From shoplifting to fraudulent purchases, a video surveillance system can be used to quickly alert law enforcement if required or identify potential threats.

One prevalent fraud that video surveillance cameras can protect a business from is called buddy punching. Buddy punching is a type of time theft that occurs when an employee has another person punch in or out on their behalf. It’s a very common form of fraud, and unfortunately, it can be difficult to detect.

According to an independent survey of 1,000 employees, 16% admitted to clocking in for a colleague. However, a security camera can certainly help put a stop to this type of fraud.

It keeps getting better; most modern security camera systems come equipped with capabilities that make it easier to detect fraud. One can also set up motion detection sensors alert business owners when there is unexpected or unusual activity in a certain area or when someone is trying to tamper with the system itself.

The latest video surveillance system comes with facial recognition software which helps authorities compare images against databases of suspects or known criminals. This allows businesses to identify those who are attempting fraud and take appropriate action. Additionally, many systems come with analytics tools that allow businesses to pinpoint patterns of behaviour which could indicate possible fraudulent activities.

**Easier monitoring at night **

Most activities, including theft and vandalism, take place at night. Cameras around the premises allow you and your guards to monitor the whole area. Having a guarded guard and cameras around makes it easier to eliminate the target in case of any break-in.

**Reduces lawsuits **

Lawsuits are very common in large organizations, and most cases usually arise when employees injure themselves. When cameras are present, they can be used as evidence in court when any issue arises in the office. When bringing camera evidence to court, it can shut down any lawsuits, as the videos show what happened and serve as evidence for the court.

**It provides you with long-term investment **

Installing cameras is a lifelong investment that bears many benefits for your business. Even if you spend a lot of money on setting up the cameras, they will pay off in the long run. When you install the cameras, you will save yourself from loss prevention and safeguard your assets. Moreover, you will also be able to scale based on your requirements. When you finally install the cameras, you will be able to maintain and grow affordably.

**Conclusion **

As a business owner, you need to make sure you invest in the best cameras so that you and your employees are always safe while working. Moreover, you need to safeguard your assets and clients, and cameras can help with that.

1.  How to use AI in cybersecurity?
2.  Cirotta Launches Anti-Hacking Phone Cases
3.  How To Compare The Top Home Security Brands
4.  Will Labeling System Solve IoT Security Challenges?
5.  Night Vision Security Cameras Secretly Transfer Data

Owais takes care of Hackread's social media from the very first day. At the same time He is pursuing for chartered accountancy and doing part time freelance writing.

Benefits Of Having Video Surveillance In Your Business

By Waqas
The infamous encrypted messenger service, Exclu, was hacked by Dutch police to spy on criminal gangs for over five months.
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Major Cybercrime Crackdown: Encrypted Messenger Exclu Seized

So far, authorities have arrested 48 people in connection with Exclu, discovered two drug labs and a cocaine-processing facility, and confiscated $4.3 million, several kilograms of drugs, and luxury items.

European law-enforcement authorities have seized Exclu, an encrypted communication service that cybercriminals used as their primary channel to carry out organized crime, mainly trading drugs.

**According to** authorities, 48 people have been arrested so far in connection with the service and seizure of guns, drugs, and millions in cash. Reportedly, police raided 79 locations in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium on Friday. The arrested individuals were operators, administrators, and users of Exclu.

The investigation into the encrypted communication service, identified as Exclu Messenger Service, was started in September 2020. Their probe revealed that Exclu was offered as a smartphone app and came with a 6-month license, costing around 800 euros or $860. The service had 3,000 users, of which around 750 were based in the Netherlands.

“Exclu made it possible to exchange messages, photos, notes, voice memos, chat conversations, and videos with other users,” Dutch police **revealed**. The service was popular among criminals for its high level of security.

After starting their investigation into the Exclu secret communication service, authorities hacked the platform and accessed the messages passed between criminal gangs for five months before carrying out the raids.

Dutch, French, Italian, and Swedish police participated in this investigation, which was supervised by Eurojust and Europol. At least two drug labs, a cocaine-processing facility, four million euros (or $4.3 million), several kilograms of drugs, and luxury goods were confiscated from the suspects.

> 👏👏 Another criminal #cryptoservice dismantled thanks to int'l police cooperation: #Exclu!
> 
> 👮 Europol provided key support from the early stages, including a dedicated investigative task force, secure information exchange & coordination of operational cross-border activities. https://t.co/C1LRVl7dnw
> 
> — Europol (@Europol) February 3, 2023

Exclu isn’t the only encrypted online chat platform shut down by law enforcement. **Back in June 2020**, encrypted communication provider EncroChat was forced to cease operations after suffering a malware attack.

In July 2020, however, authorities **dismantled the entire infrastructure of EncroChat** and arrested over 800 individuals, including some prominent crime figures, by using information acquired through EncroChat.

1.  **Europol Busts Crypto Fraud Call Centers**
2.  **DoubleVPN’s servers used by ransomware seized**
3.  **48 DDoS-hiring Sites Busted by FBI in Major Sweep**
4.  **iSpoof seized; UK’s largest bank call scam disrupted**
5.  **Online piracy hacker network Sparks Group dismantled**

I am a UK-based cybersecurity journalist with a passion for covering the latest happenings in cyber security and tech world. I am also into gaming, reading and investigative journalism

Major Cybercrime Crackdown: Encrypted Messenger Exclu Seized

By Habiba Rashid
BAD: In total, the personal records of 717,814 Canadians were exposed to the public as a result of a database misconfiguration.
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Mortgage Broker 8Twelve Exposes Data of Canadian Residents

GOOD: 8Twelve secured its server and was swift in restricting public access within hours of being alerted by the good folks at Website Planet.

Toronto-based 8Twelve Financial Technologies, a mortgage broker, was found to have a misconfigured database exposed to the public. The database contained the personal information of more than half a million individuals.

According to cybersecurity researchers at Website Planet, who identified the server, it was worse: the data was left exposed without any security authentication or password.

However, after researcher Jeremy Fowler and the Website Planet staff sent a responsible disclosure notice to the company, 8Twelve was swift in restricting public access within hours of the discovery.

The database contains 717,814 records of thousands of Canadian residents, with information related to mortgage loans, including

Full names

Phone numbers

Email addresses

Physical addresses and more.

Many of the records appeared to be mortgage leads of people who want to buy a house, refinance, obtain an equity line of credit, or purchase an investment property, the report states.

According to Website Planet, the database contained applicants’ names, emails, and phone numbers for work, home, and cell. Some records contained physical addresses, states, or provinces. As most of the data can relate to a specific individual, the data found in the records can be considered Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

Information submitted by the applicants about their financial standing, such as their credit scores, bankruptcies, savings, finances, and other data required to start the loan application process was also found on it.

Aside from applicant information, Website Planet **reported** that the records also included eight twelve employee names, email addresses, and internal notes about the prospective loan or customer, indicating whether an applicant was creditworthy or not. 

Exposed data (Image provided by Website Planet)

**Potential Dangers**

A misconfigured database can be a major source of concern for organizations, as it can cause data breaches and other security issues. Not only can a malicious actor gain access to sensitive information stored in the database, but they may also be able to alter or delete existing data.

Furthermore, a misconfigured database can lead to an organization facing hefty compliance penalties due to its inability to protect customer data from unauthorized access.

The most common way for databases to become misconfigured is when their settings are not properly maintained or upgraded with the latest security protocols. This often leads to less secure authentication methods being used, as well as outdated encryption algorithms, which leaves them vulnerable to attack.

As businesses increasingly rely on databases for storing and managing their data, it’s essential that they ensure they’re properly configured and regularly monitored in order to protect against potential dangers.

1.  **U.S. No Fly List Leaked on Hacker Forum**
2.  **Truck Brokerage Company Leaking 140GB of Data**
3.  **Servers Exposed 579 GB of Users’ Website Activity**
4.  **US & China Exposed Most misconfigured Databases**
5.  **US Military’s Social Media Spying Campaign Exposed**

I’m a student and cybersecurity writer. On a random Sunday, I am likely to be figuring out life and reading Kafka.

Mortgage Broker 8Twelve Exposes Data of Canadian Residents

By Waqas
The leaked data apparently belongs to Convex, the leading Russian internet provider.
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Anonymous Leaks 128 GB of Data from Russian ISP Convex

Caxxii, an affiliate of Anonymous hacktivists, has released 128 GB of documents revealing the Russian government’s illegal surveillance tactics to spy on its citizens.

The hacktivist group **Anonymous** released 128 gigabytes of data from Convex, the leading Russian internet provider, detailing the Kremlin’s alleged illegal monitoring of its citizens across the country.

Such surveillance activities are classified as unauthorized wiretapping, espionage, and warrantless surveillance of civilians, which are against the country’s laws.

In 2015, in **Zakharov v. Russia**, the European Court of Human Rights warned that the laws governing the country’s System for Operative Investigative Activities surveillance system didn’t offer sufficient and impactful guarantees against arbitrariness and abuse of any secret surveillance system, urging Kremlin to circumvent the legal authorization requirements.

The passage of the **Yarovaya Law in 2016** allowed authorities to obtain communication information without needing a court order.

**What Data was Dumped?**

The alleged data reveals how the **Russian government** apparently spies on its citizens’ internet and phone usage, and exclusive details of the yet-undisclosed Green Atom surveillance program, which Anonymous claims. was operated by Russia’s Federal Security Service.

The data also contains records of thousands of Russian citizens who were customers of Russian corporations targeted by this program.

As per Anonymous, the Green Atom data provide evidence of the extent to which the Russian government abuses its legal structures, as Convex virtually captured the entire data. Anonymous also noted that they had more unreleased information on FSB’s intelligence-collecting activities.

**What is Green Atom Surveillance Program?**

In their **Twitter post**, Anonymous stated that the data was stolen from Convex, which led to the revelation that the company had been running a project named Green Atom involving installing and maintaining surveillance equipment for monitoring **Russian citizens** and private corporations’ online activities.

Through the Green Atom program, the government could perform wide-ranging surveillance activities, using the equipment from Convex to monitor their incoming and outgoing traffic.

At the time of publishing this article, the data was available on the official website of DDoSecrets.

**Anonymous – Russia and Ukraine Conflict**

The Ukraine-Russia conflict has reached a new level with Anonymous cyber attacks on Russian networks. Anonymous, the international hacktivist group that works to fight censorship and corruption, has so far claimed responsibility for several cyber and social engineering attacks against the Russian government and the private sector.

Some of the collective’s attacks include hacking the Yandex taxi app **(1)**, Payment processor Qiwi **(2)**, Ministry of Culture **(3)**, State-Run Broadcaster **(4)**, Central Bank of Russia **(5)**, unsecured printers **(6)**, security cameras **(7)**, media censoring agency Roskomnadzor **(8)**, 90% of Russian misconfigured databases **(9)**, TV transmissions **(10)**, Electic vehicle charging station **(11)** and more.

I am a UK-based cybersecurity journalist with a passion for covering the latest happenings in cyber security and tech world. I am also into gaming, reading and investigative journalism

Anonymous Leaks 128 GB of Data from Russian ISP Convex

By Habiba Rashid
The man exchanged sexually explicit photographs and videos with a 14-year-old and intended to have the victim killed so that they would be unable to testify against him in court.
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Dark Web Hitman Paid with BTC to Murder Teen Victim

The 31-year-old man paid $20,000 to a supposed murder-for-hire website on the dark web, which turned out to be a scam.

A resident of Haddonfield, New Jersey, John Michael Musbach pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez for **hiring a hitman** to murder a 14-year-old, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old exchanged sexually explicit photographs and videos with the then-13-year-old victim during the summer of 2015. After the victim’s parents found out about the inappropriate contact, they informed law enforcement, who identified Musbach in the case, the Department of Justice revealed.

Musbach intended to have the victim killed so that the victim would be unable to testify against him in the pending criminal case.

John Michael Musbach (Image credit: The DoJ)

According to the DoJ’s **press release**, from May 7, 2016, to May 20, 2016, Musbach remained in contact with the administrator of a murder-for-hire website on the **dark web**.

“Musbach asked if a 14-year-old was too young to target, and upon hearing that the age was not a problem, paid approximately 40 bitcoin (approximately $20,000 at the time) for the hit,” prosecutors said. 

Upon making the payment, Musbach maintained contact with the administrator, inquiring about when the murder would take place. When the website manager attempted to charge him an additional $5,000 for carrying out the attack, Musbach decided to cancel the hit and asked for a refund.

The website’s administrator then admitted that the website was a scam and threatened to turn him over to law enforcement.

Musbach faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine “of the greater of $250,000, twice the gross profits to Musbach or twice the gross losses of the victim of his offence”  for his attempts to have the teen murdered.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 13th, 2023.

**_More Dark Web News_**

1.  **8 Online Best Dark Web Search Engines for Tor Browser**
2.  **Student Running Germany’s Largest Dark Web Market DiDW**
3.  **What Are Dark Web Search Engines and How to Find Them?**
4.  **Dark Web search engine Kilos lets users find hidden markets**
5.  **Largest Dark Web Webinjects Marketplace “In The Box” Found**

I’m a student and cybersecurity writer. On a random Sunday, I am likely to be figuring out life and reading Kafka.

Dark Web Hitman Paid with BTC to Murder Teen Victim

By Deeba Ahmed
Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder are two subscription-based services allowing users to carry out background checks on people.
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: Instant Checkmate, TruthFinder Data Breach: 20M Accounts Leaked

Popular background check and verification services Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder have suffered a data breach, which has been confirmed by their parent company, PeopleConnect.

TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate are two prominent, subscription-based background check services owned by PeopleConnect. The service recently became a victim of a data breach, and as seen by Hackread.com, hackers have leaked the data of millions of its users.

Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder data leak – Screenshot: Hackread.com

**What is TruthFinder?**

TruthFinder is an online service that enables users to search for information about people, businesses, and even phone numbers. It provides access to public records and other data sources to provide accurate and up-to-date results. TruthFinder can be used for a variety of purposes, including background checks, address searches, reverse phone number lookups, court records searches, and more.

**What is Instant Checkmate?**

Instant Checkmate is an online tool that provides users with access to public records. This website collects detailed information from many sources, such as criminal records, address histories, marriage and divorces, bankruptcies, and more.

**Data Breach Details**

On January 21, 2023, unidentified hackers leaked a 2019 backup database belonging to TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate on Breach Forums, a hacker and cybercrime forum that surfaced as an alternative to the popular and **now-seized Raidforums**.

These leaked records were stored before the backup was created on April 16th, 2019, and were shared as two 2.9 GB CSV files. Upon extraction, the entire dataset turned out to be a whopping 7 GB, including the following information:

*   Full Names
*   Phone Numbers
*   Email Addresses
*   Passwords Hashes
*   Password Reset Tokens and more.

The following screenshot shows leaked files and the information that has been leaked in the Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder data breach.

Screenshot: Hackread.com

**PeopleConnect Confirms Breach:**

PeopleConnect has confirmed the incident and assured that an investigation has been launched.The company has published notices on both impacted websites (**1**) (**2**), confirming the data breach. The statement read:

“We learned recently that a list, including name, email, telephone number in some instances, as well as securely encrypted passwords and expired and inactive password reset tokens, of TruthFinder subscribers, was being discussed and made available in an online forum.”

“We have confirmed that the list was created several years ago and appears to include all customer accounts created between 2011 and 2019. The published list originated inside our company.”

**What Could Have Happened?**

The investigation is still underway, and PeopleConnect has collaborated with a third-party cybersecurity firm to find more details regarding the incident. However, the company has ascertained that the incident was an accidental leak or that hackers stole a particular list; however, there is no evidence of a network breach.

1.  **Experian Vulnerability Exposed Credit Reports**
2.  **24M Customers Affected after Experian Data Breach**
3.  **Hacker dumps household records of 250M Americans**
4.  **Sensitive Data of 123M American Households Exposed​**
5.  **What is Identity Verification Service, How Does it Work?**

Instant Checkmate, TruthFinder Data Breach: 20M Accounts Leaked

By Waqas
The cause of the data leak is an ongoing server misconfiguration, identified by researchers on Shodan, the search engine for IoT devices.
This is a post from HackRead.com Read the original post: India’s Largest Truck Brokerage Company Leaking 140GB of Data

The misconfigured server is still exposing the data, and there has been no response from the company since their only contact email address available to the public is bouncing back all emails.

India’s largest truck brokerage and freight delivery company, FR8, is facing a serious data leak problem. According to the IT security researcher **Anurag Sen** working with Italian cyber security firm **FlashStart**, the organization has exposed more than 140 gigabytes of data, which is available to the public without any password or security authentication.

According to Hackread.com, the leaked data includes sensitive information such as customer records, invoices, and payment details across **India**. Not only that, but it also contains other personal information, such as names, addresses, and contact numbers of both customers and employees.

FR8 claims to be “India’s largest truck transport service company,” currently operating in over 60 cities across the country.

Anurag discovered the server on Shodan while searching for misconfigured cloud databases on January 30th, 2023. The researchers informed FR8 about the leak, but they did not receive any response. Their only contact email address available to the public is bouncing back all emails.

For your information, **Shodan is an OSINT tool** and a specialized search engine used by cybersecurity researchers to locate vulnerable Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including servers and misconfigured databases on the internet.

As for FR8, what is worse, at the time of writing, the server is still live and is exposing the following details:

*   Full name
*   Mobile number
*   Internal document
*   Delivery Full address
*   Bank payment details
*   Delivery Vehicle Details
*   Internal employee details

**India has a server misconfiguration issue**

With a population of over 1.4 billion people, India is a lucrative place for businesses to invest and for cybercriminals to target. The more investment there is, the more widespread and vulnerable the IT infrastructure becomes.

Just a couple of weeks ago, **Hackread.com exclusively reported** on how an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software provider had exposed half a million Indian job seekers’ data.

Last year, several top data exposure-related incidents involving tens of millions of victims were reported from India. These included **Covid antigen test results**, **Indian Federal Police and banking records**, **MyEasyDocs**, online packaging marketplace **Bizongo**, and more.

**Impact**

Since the server is live and there has been no response from the company, the chances of misuse and abuse of data are high if it gets into the hands of a third party with malicious intent.

While the data can be exploited to carry out identity theft-related fraud, hackers can hold the company’s server or **data for ransom** and leak it on cybercrime forums if their demands are not met.

**Misconfigured Databases – Threat to Privacy**

As we know, misconfigured or unsecured databases have become a major privacy threat to companies and unsuspecting users. **In 2020**, researchers identified over 10,000 unsecured databases that exposed more than 10 billion (10,463,315,645) records to public access without any security authentication.

**In 2021**, the number of exposed databases increased to 399,200. The top 10 countries with the most database leaks due to misconfiguration in 2021 included the following:

*   USA – 93,685 databases
*   China – 54,764 databases
*   Germany – 11,177 databases
*   France – 9,723 databases
*   India – 6,545 databases
*   Singapore – 5,882 databases
*   Hong Kong – 5,563 databases
*   Russia – 5,493 databases
*   Japan – 4,427 databases
*   Italy – 4,242 databases

1.  **Hackers selling 13TB of Domino’s India data**
2.  **Hackers leak millions of Airtel India user data**
3.  **Hackers leak 9 million Indian job seekers’ data**
4.  **Hacker claims to steal 8.2TB of MobiKwik data**
5.  **India’s COVID-19 surveillance tool leaked user data**

I am a UK-based cybersecurity journalist with a passion for covering the latest happenings in cyber security and tech world. I am also into gaming, reading and investigative journalism