Hackers Revive Dark Web Forum Called Hell
February 8, 2016
After personal details of over four million Adult Friend Finder users was found on the Dark Web site called Hell, this notorious internet hacking forum was shut down by authorities around July 2015. Reported by Instant Tricks, an article Hell is back with Hell Reloaded on the Dark Web explains Hell is currently accessible again on the Dark Web. The article states,
“The exact date of the website’s returning on-line is troublesome to determine, for the posts don’t have a date next to them for security functions. However, judgement by the quantity of posts, it’s honest to mention that the web site came back simply over every week past. Hell is a web portal on the Dark internet that’s employed by hackers everywhere the globe to share their hacking tricks moreover as transfer and post taken knowledge.”
Hell is one of the world’s largest hacking forums on the Dark Web and, as such, is difficult to imagine the site will ever kick the bucket. Interestingly, in its re-emergence, it has been rendered with the same branding as if nothing had changed. “Stephen E Arnold’s Dark Web Notebook” describes this Dark Web resource. We recommend this read for security, law enforcement and information technology officials as these industries’ landscapes evolve due to the enduring presence of sites like Hell on the Dark Web.
Megan Feil, February 08, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Its Official: Facebook and the Dark Web
February 5, 2016
A piece from Nextgov suggests just how ubiquitous the Dark Web could become. Published as Facebook is giving users a new way to access it on the ‘Dark Web’, this article tells us “a sizeable community” of its users are also Dark Web users; Facebook has not released exact figures. Why are people using the Dark Web for everyday internet browsing purposes? The article states:
“Facebook’s Tor site is one way for people to access their accounts when the regular Facebook site is blocked by governments—such as when Bangladesh cut off access to Facebook, its Messenger and Whatsapp chat platforms, and messaging app Viber for about three weeks in November 2015. As the ban took effect, the overall number of Tor users in Bangladesh spiked by about 10 times, to more than 20,000 a day. When the ban was lifted, the number dropped back to its previous level.”
Public perception of the darknet is changing. If there was any metric to lend credibility to the Dark Web being increasingly used for mainstream purposes, it is Facebook adding a .onion address. Individual’s desire for security, uninterrupted and expansive internet access will only contribute to the Dark Web’s user base. While the Silk Road-type element is sure to remain as well, it will be interesting to see how things evolve.
Megan Feil, February 5, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Elasticsearch Works for Us 24/7
February 5, 2016
Elasticsearch is one of the most popular open source search applications and it has been deployed for personal as well as corporate use. Elasticsearch is built on another popular open source application called Apache Lucene and it was designed for horizontal scalability, reliability, and easy usage. Elasticsearch has become such an invaluable piece of software that people do not realize just how useful it is. Eweek takes the opportunity to discuss the search application’s uses in “9 Ways Elasticsearch Helps Us, From Dawn To Dusk.”
“With more than 45 million downloads since 2012, the Elastic Stack, which includes Elasticsearch and other popular open-source tools like Logstash (data collection), Kibana (data visualization) and Beats (data shippers) makes it easy for developers to make massive amounts of structured, unstructured and time-series data available in real-time for search, logging, analytics and other use cases.”
How is Elasticsearch being used? The Guardian is daily used by its readers to interact with content, Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM use it to index and analyze social feeds, it powers Yelp, and her is a big one Wikimedia uses it to power the well-loved and used Wikipedia. We can already see how much Elasticsearch makes an impact on our daily lives without us being aware. Other companies that use Elasticsearch for our and their benefit are Hotels Tonight, Dell, Groupon, Quizlet, and Netflix.
Elasticsearch will continue to grow as an inexpensive alternative to proprietary software and the number of Web services/companies that use it will only continues to grow.
Whitney Grace, February 5, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Cybercrime as a Service Impacts Hotel Industry and Loyalty Points
February 4, 2016
The marketplaces of the Dark Web provide an interesting case study in innovation. Three types of Dark Web fraud aimed at the hotel industry, for example, was recently published on Cybel Blog. Delving into the types of cybercrime related to the hospitality industry, the article, like many others recently, discusses the preference of cybercriminals in dealing with account login information as opposed to credit cards as detectability is less likely. Travel agencies on the Dark Web are one such way cybercrime as a service exists:
“Dark Web “travel agencies” constitute a third type of fraud affecting hotel chains. These “agencies” offer room reservations at unbeatable prices. The low prices are explained by the fact that the seller is using fraud and hacking. The purchaser contacts the seller, specifying the hotel in which he wants to book a room. The seller deals with making the reservation and charges the service to the purchaser, generally at a price ranging from a quarter to a half of the true price per night of the room. Many sellers boast of making bookings without using stolen payment cards (reputed to be easy for hotels to detect), preferring to use loyalty points from hacked client accounts.”
What will they come up with next? The business to consumer (B2C) sector includes more than hotels and presents a multitude of opportunities for cybertheft. Innovation must occur on the industry side as well in order to circumvent such hacks.
Megan Feil, February 4, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
The Encrypted Enterprise Search
February 3, 2016
Another enterprise software distributor has taken the leap into a proprietary encrypted search engine. Computer Technology Review informs us that “VirtualWorks Releases Its Encrypted Enterprise Search Platform ViaWorks Built On Hitachi Technology.” VirtualWorks’s enterprise search platform is called ViaWorks and the company’s decision to release an encrypted search engine comes after there has been a rise in data security breaches as well as concern about how to prevent such attacks. We will not even mention how organizations want to move to the cloud, but are fearful of hacking. More organizations from shopping in person on the Internet, banking, healthcare, government, and even visiting a library use self-service portals that rely on personal information to complete tasks. All of these portals can be hacked, so trade organizations and the government are instituting new security measures.
Everyone knows, however, that basic rules and a firewall are not enough to protect sensitive information. That is why companies like VirtualWorks stay one step ahead of the game with a product like ViaWork built on Hitachi’s Searchable Encryption technology. ViaWorks is a highly encrypted platform that does not sacrifice speed and accuracy for security
“ViaWorks encrypted enterprise search features are based on AES, a worldwide encryption standard established by NIST; special randomization process, making the encrypted data resistant to advanced statistical attacks; with key management and encryption APIs that store encryption keys securely and encrypt the original data. ViaWorks provides key management and encryption APIs that store encryption keys securely and encrypt the original data, respectively. Users determine which field is encrypted, such as index files, search keyword or transaction logs.”
VirtualWorks already deployed ViaWorks in beta tests within healthcare, government, insurance, and finance. Moving information to the cloud saves money, but it presents a security risk and slow search. A commercial encrypted search engine paired with cloud computing limits the cyber risk.
Whitney Grace, February 3, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
IBM Sells Technology Platform with a Throwback to Big Datas Mysteries
February 2, 2016
The infographic on the IBM Big Data & Analytics Hub titled Extracting Business Value From the 4 V’s of Big Data involves quantifying Volume (scale of data), Velocity (speed of data), Veracity (certainty of data), and Variety (diversity of data). In a time when big data may have been largely demystified, IBM makes an argument for its current relevance and import, not to mention its mystique, with reminders of the tremendous amounts of data being created and consumed on a daily basis. Ultimately the graphic is an ad for the IBM Analytics Technology Platform. The infographic also references a “fifth “V”,
“Big data = the ability to achieve greater Value through insights from superior analytics. Case Study: A US-based aircraft engine manufacturer now uses analytics to predict engine events that lead to costly airline disruptions, with 97% accuracy. If this prediction capability had ben available in the previous year, it would have saved $63 million.”
IBM struggles for revenue. But, obviously from this infographic, IBM knows how to create Value with a capital “V”, if not revenue. The IBM Analytics Technology Platform promises speedier insights and actionable information from trustworthy sources. The infographic reminds us that poor quality in data leads to sad executives, and that data is growing exponentially, with 90% of all data forged in only the last two years.
Chelsea Kerwin, February 2, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Metadata Could Play Integral Role in Data Security
February 2, 2016
A friend recently told me how they can go months avoiding suspicious emails, spyware, and Web sites on her computer, but the moment she hands her laptop over to her father he downloads a virus within an hour. Despite the technology gap existing between generations, the story goes to show how easy it is to deceive and steal information these days. ExpertClick thinks that metadata might hold the future means for cyber security in “What Metadata And Data Analytics Mean For Data Security-And Beyond.”
The article uses biological analogy to explain metadata’s importance: “One of my favorite analogies is that of data as proteins or molecules, coursing through the corporate body and sustaining its interrelated functions. This analogy has a special relevance to the topic of using metadata to detect data leakage and minimize information risk — but more about that in a minute.”
This plays into new companies like, Ayasdi, using data to reveal new correlations using different methods than the standard statistical ones. The article compares this to getting to the data atomic level, where data scientists will be able to separate data into different elements and increase the analysis complexity.
“The truly exciting news is that this concept is ripe for being developed to enable an even deeper type of data analytics. By taking the ‘Shape of Data’ concept and applying to a single character of data, and then capturing that shape as metadata, one could gain the ability to analyze data at an atomic level, revealing a new and unexplored frontier. Doing so could bring advanced predictive analytics to cyber security, data valuation, and counter- and anti-terrorism efforts — but I see this area of data analytics as having enormous implications in other areas as well.”
There are more devices connected to the Internet than ever before and 2016 could be the year we see a significant rise in cyber attacks. New ways to interpret data will leverage predictive and proactive analytics to create new ways to fight security breaches.
Whitney Grace, February 2, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Big Data Is so Last Year, Data Analysts Inform Us
February 1, 2016
The article on Fortune titled Has Big Data Gone Mainstream? asks whether big data is now an expected part of data analysis. The “merger” as Deloitte advisor Tom Davenport puts it, makes big data an indistinguishable aspect of data crunching. Only a few years ago, it was a scary buzzword that executives scrambled to understand and few experts specialized in. The article shows what has changed lately,
“Now, however, universities offer specialized master’s degrees for advanced data analytics and companies are creating their own in-house programs to train talent in data science. The Deloitte report cites networking giant Cisco CSCO -4.22% as an example of a company that created an internal data science training program that over 200 employees have gone through. Because of media reports, consulting services, and analysts talking up “big data,” people now generally understand what big data means…”
Davenport sums up the trend nicely with the statement that people are tired of reading about big data and ready to “do it.” So what will replace big data as the current mysterious buzzword that irks laypeople and the C-suite simultaneously? The article suggests “cognitive computing” or computer systems using artificial intelligence for speech recognition, object identification, and machine learning. Buzz, buzz!
Chelsea Kerwin, February 1, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Bing Goes Green, as in Dollar Bills and Brand New Logo
January 29, 2016
The article on Microsoft News titled Microsoft Releasing New Bing Logo Today briefly overviews the recent growth and profitability of the often mocked and overlooked search engine. Microsoft also updated Cortana lately, which is deeply connected to Bing search. So what will the new Bing logo look like? The article explains,
“In the new logo, Microsoft is switching its color scheme to green as it “is easier to see over yellow” and “b” in now in upper case. This new version of the logo will be used across various Microsoft apps and services. Speaking to AdAge, Rik van der Kooi, Microsoft’s corporate VP of advertiser and publisher solutions said that Bing is the only search engine that is experiencing steady, consistent growth and have increased our share for 26 consecutive quarters.”
The article also points out that it is Bing powering Yahoo, AOL, Apple Siri and several other services, from behind the scenes. The green logo looks less like an imitation of Google, especially with the capitalization. Perhaps the new logo is meant to be easier on the eyes, but it is also certainly trying to keep up the positive attention Bing has been receiving lately as 1/3 of the search market.
Chelsea Kerwin, January 29, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
Trust and Security Lessons Offered by the Dark Web
January 27, 2016
Spreading lessons about trust is not what most people think when they think of the drug dealers, hackers and cyber criminals of the Dark Web, but an article from Medium begs to differ. Let’s hear it for the bad guys: What the Dark Web can teach us about trust focuses on the idea that these “bad guys” are successfully and efficiently making transactions, ultimately based on trust. The article states:
“Crucially, they offer the same kind of reliability of experience rather than ripping people off, thus creating a sustainable business model. Transactions are made using digital currency Bitcoin and are recorded and verified through a distributed public ledger called the block chain. In this way, such sites build trust by offering a straightforward transaction built on transparency, albeit achieved with complete anonymity.”
This trust may be seen as missing from many internet sites where collection of personal data is the price of admission; the Dark Web offers an alternative with the promise of information not being tracked. Ironically, the issue of information being collected, albeit through other means, and sold through channels in the Dark Web means the problem of security is not eradicated.
Megan Feil, January 27, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
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