A new FakeUpdates campaign targeting WordPress sites has been detected
20/03/2024Over the past few weeks, a new wave of the FakeUpdates malware, also known as SocGholish, has been detected, aimed at WordPress websites. The objective is to lure users into downloading remote access trojans, allowing attackers to take control of their systems. Since its emergence in 2017, FakeUpdates has been one of the most recurring malicious software in the cyber threat landscape. It has previously been associated with cybercriminal groups like Evil Corp, who monetize its use by selling access to infected systems. In this new campaign, cybercriminals are using JavaScript to target WordPress web pages, compromising compromised administrator accounts to introduce altered versions of WordPress plugins. These adulterated versions deceive users into downloading remote access trojans, granting attackers full control over infected devices. What is the most popular type of malware? In addition to the FakeUpdates attack, the threat index from Check Point Research, whose researchers have warned about this new attack, reveals around 200 suspicious content websites directed by ransomware groups. They utilize double extortion tactics to pressure victims into paying immediate ransoms. These attacks have impacted many companies, with the Lockbit3 ransomware being the most utilized by cybercriminals, followed by Play and 8base. The most exploited vulnerabilities by malicious actors include 'Web Servers Malicious URL Directory Traversal,' 'Command Injection Over HTTP,' and 'Zyxel ZyWALL Command Injection,' affecting numerous companies worldwide and allowing attackers to access and manipulate files or execute commands on compromised systems. In Spain, despite a 7% decrease in malware attacks in February, the most sought-after malware includes FakeUpdates, Qbot, and Pandora. In the case of FakeUpdates, it has affected 11.9% of companies in Spain. Mobile Malware In the realm of mobile devices, Anubis remains the most utilized malware in Spain, followed by AhMyth and Hiddad, all designed to compromise the security and privacy of Android device users by collecting confidential information and executing malicious actions.
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How can I hide my IP?
Accessing the Internet involves connecting our computer, smartphone, tablet, etc. to a communications server that is responsible for providing access to the network. This connection involves the identification and exchange of data about our identity, IP address, and online activities that are recorded forever as a trace of our navigation. Can I be tracked through my IP address? Yes, it is possible to trace an IP address and for those who consider privacy a priority, this is a major problem because, in addition to being exposed throughout the network, the increasingly intensive use of the Internet has led to this type of data becoming an object of interest for cybercriminals seeking personal or confidential information that can be used for their benefit. To safeguard against all this, there are several methods to hide the IP address, ensure our online privacy, improve our security on the Internet, and prevent anyone from knowing what pages we visit, the time we have spent on every connection, or what we are downloading. What are the advantages of hiding my IP? Apart from everything related to privacy and security already mentioned, hiding the IP offers different advantages for users in multiple circumstances: There are IP hiding services that prevent IP geolocation when we travel and allow us to connect to the network as if we were doing it from our own country, overcoming, for example, any network access limitations that may exist in the place where we are. We will be able to download files anonymously avoiding that the rest of the users can see our IP location. If our IP is not "in sight", the possible limitations and blockages of the Wi-Fi network and even of our ISP (Internet Service Provider) disappear. Thanks to the data encryption system of the most advanced IP hiding services, our vulnerability in connections to public Wi-Fi networks is minimized. When the system detects a location different from the real one, this can give us advantages to buy in online stores with different offers according to the country or to avoid the blocking of games, maps, and online game add-ons that may have restrictions on our location. How can I hide my IP? IP hiding is achieved through the use of specific services and tools to hide the IP and encrypt our traffic, those services allow us to hide the real communications we make during our navigation. Besides those techniques that are based on the modification of network protocols and require certain skills to carry them out, there are several technologies within the reach of all users: VPN or Virtual Private Network Proxy or Web proxy Tor Public Wifi How to hide the IP address with a VPN? VPNs are services that connect us to the Internet through intermediate servers, in which our original IP address is " masked " by the IP address of that secure server. This concealment ensures that anyone tracing our connection will only see the IP address and location of the VPN server, but not our own. In addition, to safeguard our activity on the network, VPNs use tunneling and data encryption, encrypting the information we exchange with the VPN server, hiding it, and preventing third parties from being able to read it during its transit. The security of VPN connections is determined by proprietary VPN protocols, based on different standards and encryption and authentication methods, which depend on each developer. The range of options is wide and this allows us to choose between, for example, options that prioritize speed over security, options that do the opposite, options with a greater or lesser degree of reliability, etc. VPN applications always run in the background and do not hinder browsing. How to use a proxy server to hide the IP address? Unlike VPN services, proxy servers focus their activity solely on hiding the IP, without performing any type of concealment on our network traffic or any other data that could reveal our identity. Proxy servers act as intermediaries between our device and the destination server to which they transmit our requests on our behalf. Therefore, our IP will be hidden and the only one they will see will be the proxy one. There are different types of proxy services, from the simplest ones that only help us to hide the IP to others with extra functionalities such as blocking cookies, scripts, and other files hosted on websites and sent to the user. Browsers or applications based on the HTTP protocol offer the manual proxy configuration function so that we can indicate the proxy web address and port to which we want to connect before browsing. In this way, any activity that we perform through that browser will always be routed to the proxy. Alternatively, you can also opt for the automatic proxy format that searches through DNS or DHCP for the URL from which to download the wpad.dat file that runs and allows the proxy connection with automatic authentication on your computer. How to hide your IP with Tor? Tor is a free software developed to ensure anonymous browsing of users on the Internet. To mask the IP Tor uses a network of volunteer computers or nodes through which it redirects our traffic and encrypts it before it reaches its destination. At least this redirection goes through three of these nodes, achieving repetitive re-encryptions so that any possible clue about our identity disappears. In this process, Tor assigns a random and geographically different IP to our connection so that the location by third parties is impossible (if you are curious to know the IP you have been assigned you can check it through our tool). This system allows different configurations depending on whether we are using a firewall, if our ISP is blocking Tor connections or if we navigate through proxy for example. Can I hide my IP with a public Wi-Fi connection? The answer is yes. A public Wi-Fi network can also be used to hide our IP address, although if we do not have it constantly at our disposal, the IP hiding is limited to the time we have access to a public network. As this type of network is a connection shared by many other people, this makes it impossible to trace a particular user or identify them on the destination server. However, it is precisely this general access that also makes us more vulnerable. And although through a connection to a public Wi-Fi we will solve the issue of IP hiding, security will never be total, because being an open network, we can be exposed to the will of hackers and other threats, including malware and viruses. And if I want to hide my IP address, how can I change it? It may also be the case that instead of masking the IP all we need to do is change our IP address at a given moment. Then, the solution is as simple as disconnecting the modem from the power supply and restarting it after a few minutes. In that time, if your IP address is dynamic (you can check it through the network connections tab on your computer), it will be deleted and your Internet provider will give you a new one. To make sure that everything went well, we recommend doing something as simple as writing down the IP address before turning off the router and checking it again once it is up and running again. Another possible way to achieve the same result if you have a smartphone with a data plan is to turn this device into a wireless access point to which you can connect your computer, thus hiding your usual connection. There are many options to hide the IP or to change it and now that you know how each of them works you will be able to decide which one suits you best.
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Google incorporates Artificial Intelligence into its search results
05/06/2023During Google's annual developer conference, Google I/O, the company has publicly announced its commitment to Artificial Intelligence to improve its search results. Similarly, Google will introduce the generative AI collaboration tool, Duet AI, in Cloud and Workspace. The objective in this case is to assist in programming and generating personalized content in services like Gmail, Slides, or Meet. Google has opened generative AI support in Vertex AI and has also announced the Text Embeddings API for applications that require semantic understanding of text or images. At the developer conference, Google's Vice President and General Manager of Search, Elizabeth Reid, gave a live demonstration of how they are applying Artificial Intelligence in their search engine. The AI results will be displayed in a box at the top of the page with links to verify the provided information. Below the box, the rest of the results will be listed as usual, although Reid also mentioned that thanks to AI, they will now be more relevant.
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Europe will have its own satellites constellation to guarantee secure communications
13/12/2022With the sights set on 2027, the EU has closed a provisional agreement about the regulation of secure connectivity throughout its territory, which will include the deployment of a constellation of satellites that will ensure communications, especially in the event of cyberattacks or natural disasters that affect critical infrastructure. The plan, linked with the 'Global Gateway' strategy from the UE, that will allow the provision of affordable Internet access throughout Europe, will provide, also, secure connectivity in geographical areas of strategic interest, such the Arctic region and Africa, and services to protect the critical infrastructures of the Member states, too. The objective, according to the EU, is to ensure improvements in people's daily lives, identifying reliable and secure communications as the cornerstone of the EU's strategic autonomy.
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Interpol opens its first office in the Metaverse
07/11/2022Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization or International Police, has presented its first office in the metaverse through which they intend to improve the fight against crime in the digital universe. The digital police station, which is a copy of the General Secretariat of Interpol in Lyon (France), will offer training for investigators and police officers and will allow the collaborators of this international organization to interact through their avatars, without geographical or physical limits. The inauguration of this new virtual center had been accompanied by the announcement of the creation of a group of Interpol experts that will advise police forces around the world about the risks on the global stage. Also, it has been announced that the International Police Organization has joined Meta, Microsoft and other technology giants to define the metaverse and protect communities from cybercrime, including globally recognized and criminalized crimes, such as sexual harassment, 'phishing', financial fraud or 'ransomware', among others. The objective of this joint work, they explained, is to create regulatory frameworks "and eliminate future criminal markets before they are fully formed." According to a study by the technology company Gartner, in over three years, in 2026, one of four people will spend at least one hour a day in the metaverse to work, shop and interact with other users.
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Hungary Proposes Orchestrated Attacks Against Illegal IPTV Platforms
23/09/2022Television operators in Hungary have come together in an unprecedented common front in the country to combat illegal Internet IPTV platforms.The objective is to put end to the unfair competition from these services and to do it they propose launching denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against the websites that host them.In order not to incur in the legality, the television stations would entrust these attacks to an organization that would act with legal authorization and under official levels of supervision and control.Upon receiving continuous DDoS attacks, the pirate platforms would be overwhelmed by malicious traffic and the hope of the television stations is that the inconvenience that would be shared by getting their services active again would make them rule out continuing their operations.
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Vodafone tests a new technology to identify the activity of their users on Internet
03/06/2022Vodafone has begin to test a new way of tracking the activity of their users on the network. This is an advertising identification system called TrustPid, which works by creating a fixed ID for each customer at the Internet Service Provider (ISP) level. After that, this ID will associates all user activity with it. The objective is to use the data obtained for the distribution of publicity and personalized advertising and to prevent publishers from losing revenue. According to the company, there is no way to circumvent the system at the browser level, blocking cookies or masking the IP address and they assure that it is a simple toll if people want to continue consuming high-quality content on the Internet without paying. “Consumers appreciate the idea of the free internet, but this needs a trade-off: publishers need a sustainable revenue model, which means adding subscription paywalls or relying on advertising to keep free access and ensure high-quality content”, they justify. At the moment, Vodafone is testing advertising identification in Germany with some of the country's largest websites, Bild.de and Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile.
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The EU wants to make USB-C the charging standard for all electronic equipment
27/04/2022The Commission for the Internal Market and Consumer Protection of the European Union has endorsed the proposal to make the USB type C charger the charging standard for all electronic equipment. With this decision, the objective is be able to reduce electronic waste and the environmental footprint linked to its production. In addition, the unification of standards in a single model eliminates the need for consumers to have a new charger every time we buy a new smartphone or other electronic devices, such as computers, peripherals, digital cameras and game consoles. The statement issued by the European Parliament indicates that the only equipment that will be left oyt of the implementation of the new standard will be the one that is too small to use it, such as smart watches or health trackers. The next steps related to this approval is reach an agreement with the EU governments on the final form of the legislation that will regulate the obligation to convert USB-C into a standard charging port for all electronic equipment. The EU is committed to making USB-C_the charging standard for all electronic equipment The introduction of the same charger for all devices aims to reduce electronic waste
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Recycling containers connected to the mobile to reward the citizen
31/03/2022The Spanish startup Recircula Solutions has just presented Recysmart to the market, a device that can be installed in any type of urban container and identify the material of the recycled packages. The objective of this development is to promote incentive programs that helps population to recycle. The device combines a unique mechanical design with AI algorithms based on acoustics, so the unique and characteristic acoustic signal that a package generates when it's inserted into a container is captured by the sensor, processed and reported in real time to the managers authoritys so they can remunerate the person who has use the container. To do this, the citizen will have previously identified himself on the device through his mobile or using a physical card. In Sant Cugat del Vallés (Barcelona) several of these devices have been installed in various containers in the town. Recircula Solutions will also send several units to Portugal, Austria, France, the United Kingdom and Greece.
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Google accepts the challenge of bringing the Internet to all of Africa
29/10/2021Google has just announced that it's going to invest a billion dollars in improving the internet infrastructure in Africa through the American technology company Alphabet Inc. The project has the ambitious objective of increasing the Internet capacity in Africa 20 times, reducing the average connection price on the continent and increasing the Internet speed five times in this territory, where countries as Ethiopia or Malawi have an average connection below 0.5 megabits/ second. To complet this objectives, Google hopes to have its Equiano submarine cable ready by the end of this year. This cable has been deployed since 2019 and will connect Europe and Africa, contributing then to a considerable improvement in the current infrastructure of Africa. The “African digital transformation” project as it has been described by Google and Alphabet CEO, Sundar Pichai has a budget of 1 billion dolars, and incorporates a 50 million dolars, 40 million of which for non-profit organizations that works improving the standard of living in Africa, and the remaining 10 million for low-interest loans aimed at tech startups in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.
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OPPO joins the Connectivity Standards Alliance
21/10/2021Oppo has announced its membership on the Board of Directors of the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), the organization with more than 400 technology companies working together to increase compatibility in IoT through simpler technology standards. One of Oppo's main objectives in his new role, explained Neil Yang, director of OPPO's Standards Research Department, is to promote Matter, the base protocol for the Internet of Things (IoT), offering a simplified user experience that allows connecting different devices "We want to create a highly compliant IoT ecosystem, and drive the development of the Alliance's advancements together with other partners through proposals for new protocols, setting new standards and developing new Matter-based products”, says Yang. For the CSA, Oppo's commitment is an open door to promote Matter in China and throughout Asia, offering the possibility of providing better IoT experiences to more than one billion users.
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The European Commission is committed to manufacturing chips in Europe to be less dependent on Asia
15/10/2021With the chip crisis still on the table, the European Commission is defining a new law to developing the semiconductor industry in Europe, so the local manufacturers can be less dependent on international supply chains. “We currently depend on chips made mostly by Asia. It's not a question of competitiveness: it's a question of technological sovereignty ”, said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. The document revealed by Euractiv, conclude that this new legislation demonstrates “the need to strategically reduce dependencies on third parties” and that its objective is to improve “security of supply”. The initiative would be part of the new European Commission’s digital policy that would also include, a cyber-resilience law, and also initiatives to promote digital skills among citizens. At the moment the implementation calendar of these new digital policies of the European Commission has not transcended, but it seams would not be until the third quarter of 2022, when it could be launched.
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How to keep your Mac safe?
28/06/20215 things you should do to protect your Mac How many times have we heard that Mac is a more than secure and unbreakable system? For years, Apple has made its security through obscurity, or in other words, its proprietary software, flagship and brand guarantee. Today, however, just when Mac is no longer a minority option, Steve Jobs' system has become another favorite target for hackers and cybercriminals. The market has responded to this with the development of specific protection tools for Mac, while Apple works on optimizing its system in each version. Knowing what kind of tools exist for Mac and which ones are already included in our computer will help us to stay safe and choose the best strategy that fits our needs and use of the equipment. 1. Use computer security tools Cybersecurity is a universal and necessary practice in all operating systems today. The objective is to ensure protection against attacks and theft by cybercriminals who are looking for personal or confidential information stored on our computers or that enters or leaves them, in order to use it for their own benefit. What is VPN security? Cybersecurity tools help us to minimize our footprint on the Internet and thus increase our privacy and security. In this regard, VPN services for Mac stand out, as they incorporate advanced protection technologies capable of connecting to the Internet through intermediate servers, so that our IP address - our identification on the network - is replaced by the IP address of this secure server, without anyone being able to trace our connection. This type of VPN service also encrypts any information leaving our computer, thus preventing it from being accessed on its journey to its destination. This is essential, for example, when using public Wi-Fi networks to connect to the Internet. 2. Keep the operating system and software up to date As simple as it may seem, one of the best and easiest ways to protect a Mac is to always have the latest version of the operating system installed and to work with updated software downloaded from the Mac App Store. System updates usually include security patches, among other things. How do I update my Mac? Through the System Preferences Panel of our computer we can set that when there are available updates we receive a notice from MacOs warning us of it or that these updates, whether system data files, security updates or official software are installed automatically. To check if we are working with the latest versions available and our Mac is up to date we can do it by checking through this same panel if there are updates available at that time. If we have checked the automatic updates option, Mac will do this task for us routinely. 3. Use secure settings Mac's default security settings can be greatly enhanced by manually configuring the security and privacy terms of our computer. How to change the Privacy and Security preferences on the Mac? By accessing the "Privacy" tab of the "Security and Privacy" option of the Control Panel we will have the option to manage what information we allow our computer to make available to others over the Internet or on a network and what applications we allow access to our data and files. In the same way, but through the "Security" tab, we will be able to incorporate passwords for the access to different tasks and operations of the computer and through the "FileVault" tool we will be able to ensure the encryption, for example, of our personal information or certain documents for which a password will be required to unblock them. 4. Use an Antivirus for Mac There are antivirus programs developed specifically for Mac. Some of them are special for certain threats, although in general most of them offer a wide range of services to help us keep our computers safe. Which is the best antivirus for Mac? The range of antivirus for Mac, free and paid, is nowadays much wider than a few years ago, highlighting among the most complete and advanced, antivirus with malware protection functions in real time, tools against digital identity theft, protection against spyware or advanced detection and removal of blackmail programs. 5. Make regular backups Apple has a native function, Time Machine, which makes backup copies of our hard disk on a separate secondary disk, so that if for any reason we suffer an attack or a breakdown we can recover all the information. Many antiviruses offer a backup service, backup or backup similar but in the cloud, as a preventive measure against writing errors on the disk, theft of devices or even against data hijacking or ransomware.
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How to set up a digital marketing strategy?
16/06/2021As our daily life Internet gains prominence in our physical world, companies selling products and services are increasing their online presence. To do so, they resort to strategies and tactics that ensure their omnipresence in both worlds, with the main task of attracting and retaining customers who buy their products. In this race for customers' attention, strategies such as Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing have emerged as protagonists and although they are radically different in their forms, both techniques have found in online communication an ideal medium through which to achieve their goals. What is Inbound Marketing? Inbound Marketing is based on attracting customers through non-intrusive techniques that use content related to the needs and interests of our target audience to attract them to our brand and products. Inbound Marketing Strategy In Inbound Marketing, content is the king and the strategy to get the user to approach the brand is to create, through these contents, links with the customer and establish a relationship of trust and support that favors their interest in our products and services, as well as their loyalty. To achieve this attention on the contents, it is basic and essential to optimize the SEO search engine, which makes our website, our contents and brand visible, makes us relevant and also contributes to our authority. To achieve this optimization and positioning, SEO will be in charge of indicating which words are trending in searches related to our content, will improve the structure of the web to allow a correct user experience, will implement a good strategy of referral links or link building and will take care of other aspects such as the integration of CRM tools or user metrics. All this will make it possible for our content to be positioned and that in a totally "natural" way and without any intrusion, all those contents written according to the interests of a certain group of customers, awaken their interest and attract them to our brand. Inbound Marketing Tools Throughout the whole process of customer attraction and loyalty, the Inbound Marketing strategy has a wide variety of tools to achieve its goal: Blogs Landing page Lead Creation Calls to action Intelligent content Workflows, ... What is outbound Marketing? Unlike Inbound Marketing, outbound Marketing is based on a totally traditional commercial approach, in which the product or service being sold is the only protagonist of the communication. Outbound Marketing Strategy To reach the public, outbound strategies use invasive methods that address broad audiences, without a specific target, with the intention of reaching the maximum number of possible interested parties. Outbound Marketing strategies are based on one-way communication, from the brand to the customer. The company shows the value of its products and services and tries to convince the public to buy them. All this operation is implemented without the customer's request, even before he has made a search or has shown previous interest in a specific product or service. Outbound Marketing Tools In Outbound Marketing, since there is no specific target audience segment, the communication reaches many users, although it may not be of interest to any of them. To achieve this massive distribution, companies use resources such as: Pop-ups Advertisements inserted in videos Banners Email campaigns for which companies use powerful email marketing software in Spanish, with multiple integrated tools that allow from automating mass mailings to A/B testing, comprehensive monitoring of the actions of each recipient (open rate, clicks on links,...) or even advanced segmentation based on interactions and / or user behavior detected in previous actions. Newsletter, inbound or outbound marketing? Now that we know the differences between Inbound and Outbound Marketing, we will finish by looking at a very useful and versatile tool that, unlike those previously mentioned is used interchangeably by both strategies. We are referring to the Newsletters. If we look at the Newsletter of Which is my IP, for example, we would be talking about an Inbound strategy, because to receive the electronic newsletter you must first register (by the way, if you have not done so yet, do not miss it and you will receive timely information on news and updates to get the most out of your Internet connection). On the other hand, if we look at newsletters like the ones we have all surely received at some time, in which we are offered, for example, a telephone offer from a company that is not our own, we are dealing with an electronic newsletter included in the marketing plan of an Outbound strategy. At this point, we can only conclude that knowing our priorities as a company, analyzing the degree of knowledge we have about our target and assessing our objectives, we will have all the necessary answers to start working and designing our digital marketing strategy.
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