Midnight Web by Rahul Banerjee

LUCKNOW : The digital landscape is witnessing a disturbing trend in cybercrime, with extortion schemes becoming increasingly sophisticated. One such victim, Dr. Ruby Thomas, a practicing physician at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Lucknow, experienced a harrowing ordeal when she was targeted by cybercriminals who held her digitally captive for five hours. A Terrifying Ordeal Dr. Thomas's nightmare began with a WhatsApp message containing an arrest warrant and a police ID. During a video call with the scammers, who displayed a convincing official Mumbai Police monogram, she was accused of being linked to a high-profile scam involving Naresh Goyal and a shooting incident. The criminals demanded physical verification of her identity, preying on her fear and distress, leading her to the brink of suicide. Ultimately, they extorted ₹90,000 before abruptly disconnecting the call. The Mechanics of Deception The scammers used forged documents, including an ID card of a supposed...

Meta will send notifications within its apps to public figures and celebrities, letting them know they are part of a new experiment and that they can choose to opt-out. Agranovich, the Director of Global Threat Disruption at Meta, explained that if Meta suspects an ad or account might be a scam using a celebrity's image, they will use facial recognition technology (FRT) to compare the celebrity’s face from their Facebook or Instagram profile picture to the one in the ad. If there’s a match and the ad is confirmed to be a scam, Meta will block it. He mentioned that this process is quicker and more accurate than human reviews. The second use of FRT is for account recovery. Meta will use FRT along with video selfies to help users verify their identity more easily when trying to regain access to hacked accounts. Sometimes, users lose access to their Facebook or Instagram accounts if they forget their password, lose their device, or get tricked by a scammer. If an account is comp...

                                           Telegram is a popular messaging app with over one billion users. Recently, it made headlines because its CEO, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France. Durov is facing legal issues for not responding to requests to identify a suspect in an ongoing investigation. This arrest is unusual because tech executives rarely face legal trouble of this sort. Here's a breakdown of the key points about Telegram and whether you should trust it: Safety Concerns Durov’s arrest was due to Telegram's failure to assist French authorities in identifying a user involved in illegal activities. This incident highlights a broader issue: Telegram has a history of not responding to legal requests, which raises concerns about how it handles safety and cooperation with authorities. For not cooperating with investigations, Telegram gets a negative point on trust...

  In recent months, YouTube users have noticed a big increase in how often they see ads, and it’s causing a lot of frustration. Here’s a closer look at what’s happening:               1. More Ads, More Often: YouTube has started showing more ads than before. Instead of just one ad before a video, you’re now often seeing two or even three ads one after the other. This change means that viewers have to sit through more ads before they can watch their videos, which many people find really annoying. 2. Ads When Switching Videos: If you like to jump from one video to another, you’ll notice that ads pop up every time you make a switch. Even if YouTube is having trouble loading or the app freezes, you still end up seeing ads. This makes it feel like you’re always waiting for an ad to finish, no matter what. 3. Constant Frustration: Because of the rise in ad frequency, many people are finding ways to avoid long ad breaks by quickly changing videos. ...

  The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued a warning to Android users. The cyber security authority has spotted “high risk” vulnerabilities on Android smart phones powered by Qualcomm and MediaTek chipsets. It added that the smartphones affected are running on Android versions 12, 12L, 13, and 14 software. These multiple vulnerabilities can be exploited by an attacker to get access to sensitive information and gain elevated privileges. As per the warning, these vulnerabilities exist in Android due to flaws in the Framework, System, Kernel, Arm component, Imagination Technologies, MediaTek components, Qualcomm components and Qualcomm closed-source components. Notably, the critical security flaw identified in the Framework component poses a risk of privilege escalation, allowing attackers to gain elevated access without any additional execution privileges. The severity of this vulnerability is determined by its potential impact on affected devices, assuming th...

              Originally anticipated for the iOS 18 release on compatible devices, Bloomberg recently reported that it would not debut with the initial rollout. The iOS 18.1 Beta, now available to developers with active accounts, allows them to enroll and test Apple Intelligence ahead of its broader release. According to release notes from iOS 18.1 beta seen by BleepingComputer, "iOS 18.1 beta is an early preview of an update to iOS 18 scheduled for later this autumn. This beta introduces initial features powered by Apple Intelligence." "To participate in the Apple Intelligence beta, users can join the waitlist in Settings and will receive notifications when it becomes available for their devices. Both the device language and Siri language must be set to US English, and the device region must be configured to United States." "Apple Intelligence debuts on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, though it is not currently available in the EU or China," acco...

    Recently, a widespread issue has paralyzed computers globally, initially mistaken for a cyber attack. Speculations pointed fingers at Microsoft, as only Windows systems seemed affected. However, the real culprit was CrowdStrike, a major cybersecurity firm renowned for its endpoint protection services, akin to antivirus for corporate fleets of computers. The problem stemmed from an automatic update pushed by CrowdStrike, designed to enhance security through its endpoint sensors. Unfortunately, a critical bug slipped into the update, causing affected computers—running CrowdStrike's software—to crash irreparably. Since the sensors operate at a deep system level, the glitch caused entire systems to enter a continuous cycle of crashes, known ominously as the "blue screen of death." CrowdStrike quickly acknowledged the issue and provided a fix, albeit a cumbersome one. Affected PCs must be manually booted into safe mode to remove specific files, a process that needs to be r...