Deeba Ahmed

1843 posts

Deeba is a veteran cybersecurity reporter at Hackread.com with over a decade of experience covering cybercrime, vulnerabilities, and security events. Her expertise and in-depth analysis make her a key contributor to the platform’s trusted coverage.

Man pleads guilty to sim swapping, steal crypto from high value social media accounts

2 minute read

Hacker pleads guilty to sim swapping, stealing cryptocurrency

A 21-year old hacker has admitted running a campaign over social media to hijack accounts of "high-value" account names and steal cryptocurrency.

byDeeba Ahmed

August 16, 2021

Child sexual abuse is a burning issue right now. It's a sad reality that people are forcing innocent kids to participate in torturous sexual acts to make money. Thankfully, the tech community is working towards eliminating this social evil. [wp_ad_camp_4] Reportedly, Apple will be launching a new machine learning-based system to be released later this year as part of the upcoming versions of iOS and iPadOS to ensure enhanced child safety. The system will scan iPhones across the USA to detect the presence of child sexual abuse images. Moreover, the messages app in iPhones will issue a warning whenever a child part of iCloud Family receives or tries to send sexually explicit images. About the New CSAM System Apple has developed a system dubbed neuralMatch to located child sexual abuse material/CSAM, and it will scan US customers' devices. The system will be launched soon amidst reservations from the cybersecurity fraternity as they claim authoritative governments could misuse the system to perform surveillance on their citizens. However, Apple claims that the system is a new "application of cryptography" to limit the distribution of CSAM online without impacting user privacy. How NeuralMatch Works? The new system will find matches for already known/available CSAM before storing an image in iCloud Photos. If a match is found, a human reviewer will conduct a thorough assessment and notify the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about that user, and the account will be disabled. "This innovative new technology allows Apple to provide valuable and actionable information to NCMEC and law enforcement regarding the proliferation of known CSAM," Apple noted. [wp_ad_camp_4] "Before an image is stored in iCloud Photos, an on-device matching process is performed for that image against the known CSAM hashes," and the system has "extremely high level of accuracy and ensures less than a one in one trillion chance per year of incorrectly flagging a given account," the company wrote. Could It be Exploited? Critics of this system have raised concerns that this technology might be expanded for scanning phones for banned/prohibited content or political views/speech. In addition to this, Apple is planning to scan users' encrypted messages to locate sexually explicit content as a separate child safety measure. It is worth noting that the detection system will flag images of child pornography already present in the center's database. So, parents need not worry about it. According to John Hopkins University's top cryptography researcher, Matthew Green, this system can be used to target and trap innocent people by sending them objectionable images to trigger a match with child porn images. Apple's algorithm could be fooled easily, and anyone could be framed because such systems are easily tricked. "Researchers have been able to do this pretty easily. What happens when the Chinese government says, 'Here is a list of files that we want you to scan for… Does Apple say no? I hope they say no, but their technology won't say no," Green stated. [wp_ad_camp_4] Did you enjoy reading this article? Like our page on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

3 minute read

Apple’s neuralMatch tool will scan iPhones for child abuse content

Apple has developed a system dubbed neuralMatch to located child sexual abuse material/CSAM, and for now, it will scan US customers' devices.

byDeeba Ahmed

August 7, 2021

2 minute read

New WeTransfer phishing attack spoofs file-sharing to steal credential

The phishing email claims that WeTransfer has shared two files with the victim, and there’s a link to view them.

byDeeba Ahmed

August 2, 2021

2 minute read

Crooks using phony call centers to spread ransomware via BazaCall attacks

In BazaCall, a "vishing-like" method is used in which victims are told to call a particular phone number or their subscription will expire.

byDeeba Ahmed

July 30, 2021

2 minute read

Crippling attack on Iranian trains linked to Meteor file wiper malware

The Meteor file wiper malware is linked to a cyberattack that took place on July 9th, 2021 on the Iranian railway system and transport ministry.

byDeeba Ahmed

July 30, 2021

Hackers posing as diet coach targeted defense contractor with malware

2 minute read

Hackers posed as aerobics instructors in malware attack on defense contractors

Iranian hackers used social media platforms especially Facebook to target employees of an aerospace defense contractor to steal their login credentials.

byDeeba Ahmed

July 28, 2021