Python-based Crawler Reveals That Dark Web Sites Are Most Commonly Used for Crime

Python-based Crawler Reveals That Dark Web Sites Are Most Commonly Used for Crime

Short Bytes: The Dark Web is the World Wide Web content that exists in the darkness. The Dark Web consists of networks which use the public Internet but require specific...

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US Teen Used 57 Twitter Accounts To Recruit For ISIS From Parents’ House

US Teen Used 57 Twitter Accounts To Recruit For ISIS From Parents’ House

Short Bytes: A Pennsylvanian teen has been arrested by the police for trying to recruit for ISIS using the internet and spreading the Islamic State propaganda. Over a small period of time, he used 57 Twitter accounts and posted pro-ISIS news and videos of execution. Also, from his parents’ house, police found weapons that included loaded M4-style high-capacity magazines and knife.

A 19-year-old teen from the Pennsylvania was arrested for using Twitter to recruit for ISIS and trying to provide material support to ISIS. The teenager, named Jalil Ibn Ameer Aziz, is charged in a two-count criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday in a U.S. District Court.

From his parents’ home, Police also discovered a pile of weapons that included five high-capacity magazines, ammunition, a kitchen knife, and other items. He allegedly acted as an intermediate between many ISIS members and a person in Turkey.

He spent his days using his Twitter handles like @MuslimBruho and chatting about killing US soldiers and buying women as slaves. As DOJ’s complaint mentions, Ameer Aziz used 57 Twitter accounts to recruit members for ISIS and spread its propaganda.

Also read: 4 Teenage Hackers Trace ISIS Twitter Accounts To The UK Government

Due to the radical nature of his Tweets, as soon as Twitter closed one account, Aziz opened a new one or created backup accounts. The Twitter handles were a different variation of some common usernames he preferred. Using Twitter, Aziz also established contact with common ISIS-associates. On his Twitter accounts, he spread pro-ISIS propaganda, including news from ISIL sources and as well as videos and pictures of execution. He not only tweeted about buying a 17-year-old female slave in the Islamic State, he also talked about travelling to the Islamic State.

Such incidents clearly show how easily ISIS is brainwashing the young minds and asking them to kill and become martyrs. Exploiting the teen angst and their attraction towards violence, sex, drugs, and other ‘adult’ activities, ISIS has been able to target the teens on social networks in a big manner.

Add your views about this social media exploitation of teens by ISIS in the comments below.

Read our coverage of the cyberwar going on between Anonymous and ISIS

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US Teen Used 57 Twitter Accounts To Recruit For ISIS From Parents’ House

This Nearly “Impossible to Trace” Spyware is Used by 32 Governments to Spy on You

This Nearly “Impossible to Trace” Spyware is Used by 32 Governments to Spy on You

Short Bytes: In 2015, the infamous spyware FinFisher is spread in 32 countries to perform advanced citizen surveillance. Citizen Lab, a security watchdog, has uncovered the nearly untraceable IP addresses and servers of the spyware. Read more and find out how it works and if it’s used by your government.

The preying eyes of your government are more active than ever and it’s using more advanced tools for surveillance purposes. Recently in the data breach at the Hacking Team, it was revealed that multiple governments contacted them to obtain spyware tools.

One such famous product in the spyware market is FinFisher, also known as FinSpy. This surveillance software came into the limelight in 2014, when a hacking attack at its marketing company Gamma International exposed it to the world.

One year after the hack, this sophisticated computer software suite, sold exclusively to governments and law enforcement agencies, is alive and serving more customers than ever. This suite is used to target computers or phones, and monitor all activities including calls, emails and messages.

Citizen Lab, a security watchdog, has published a new report unmasking the true locations of the master servers to identify the governments using FinFisher. The firm scanned the internet for FinFisher servers and separated masters from proxies and located 32 governments and 10 entities that are directly related to FinFisher.

The lab has been able to identify these servers that are claimed to be practically impossible to trace by the spyware makers.

Governments using FinFisher include those of Mongolia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Oman, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Mexico, Spain, Venezuela and other. Many suspected governments using FinFisher spyware have past records of human rights violations.

Citizen Lab researchers write than each instance of FinFisher includes the address of a command and control server that the spyware reports back to.

“These C&C servers are typically FinSpy Relays, which forward connections back and forth between a device infected with FinFisher, and a FinSpy Master. The purpose of the FinSpy Relay is explicitly to make it “practically impossible” (their emphasis) for a researcher to discover “the location and country of the Headquarter,” Citizen Lab writes.

The researchers were able to find some connection between Hacking Team and FinFisher IP addresses. Instead of being competitors, both of them shared some common clients.

They collected a total of 135 IP addresses belonging to FinFisher boxes, but not all of them were pointing back to one specific country. “So there’s definitely more customers,” one of the researchers Marczak told Motherboard.

“In presenting our scan results, we do not wish to disrupt or interfere with legitimately sanctioned investigations or other activities. Instead, we hope to ensure that citizens have the opportunity to hold their governments transparent and accountable,” writes Citizen Lab in its report.

Read the complete report here for the list of IP addresses and more insights.

Also read: “You Can Hack a Computer Just by Looking at It” – HP Explains Visual Hacking

Download our Google chrome, Mozilla firefox and Opera extension to get instant updates –

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This Nearly “Impossible to Trace” Spyware is Used by 32 Governments to Spy on You

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Just Used an iPhone Onstage. Surprised?

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Just Used an iPhone Onstage. Surprised?

Short Bytes: At Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella used an iPhone onstage and gave a demonstration of Microsoft’s cross-platform mobile apps. Know more about what he had to say and watch the video.

Things are changing, both at Apple and Microsoft. These companies are opening up and signaling the dawn of a new era that involves unsaid partnerships to benefit their businesses. A week ago, Apple brought Microsoft Office chief at the new iPad Pro launch event and then we witnessed another similar development.

Recently, at Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella used an iPhone onstage and gave a demonstration of Microsoft’s cross-platform mobile apps. Using the iPhone, Satya Nadella said, “I’m going to first start on this iPhone, and it’s not my phone, but it is an iPhone,” and everyone chuckled.

Further, Nadella showed that the iPhone he was holding in his hand, had all the Office apps and Skype from Microsoft, and thus it makes the iPhone a “pro” device. Showing off the Outlook app, Nadella said that Outlook is an email client, but it’s the best email client on iOS for Exchange and Gmail.

But, on the stage, Nadella made sure that people know the fact that he uses a Windows Phone and used it to demonstrate the Groups application from Microsoft.

All this development shows that this is the “new Microsoft” we are witnessing and it was impossible few years ago. Also, few years ago, Salesforce and Microsoft used to criticize each other publicly- but things have changed under Nadella.

Also read: Google, Microsoft, Apple and Mozilla Working Together On WebAssembly For Faster Web

Watch the video below and tell your views in comments-