passwords

The word "hacked" is worth 16 points in Scrabble. It's also what appears to have happened to a database of 218 million users of the popular online game "Words With Friends." A few weeks ago game creators Zynga said it "recently discovered that ... certain player account information may have been illegally accessed by outside hackers." It didn't give any detail on numbers, but went on to say that account login information may have been accessed. (Source: zynga.com ) Now a hacker has come forth and is attempting to sell the details of 620 million Zynga game accounts, of which 218 million ... (view more)

Chrome may soon warn users if their passwords have been compromised. It works by checking inputted passwords against those exposed in public data breaches. The feature is already available for Chrome from an official Google extension known as ... Password Checkup, but users need to actively install this extension to use it. Web browser Mozilla Firefox already has a similar feature built-in. Now a similar feature named "password leak detection" has been spotted in the code of Chrome Canary. That's a version of Chrome that includes test features planned for release in the main Chrome edition in a ... (view more)

More than one million fingerprints were exposed online for at least a week, according to security researchers. The company responsible for the data says it will take immediate action if there's a security threat. The data is held by Suprema, which ... operates a biometric lock system called Biostar 2. It lets building owners restrict access by fingerprint or facial recognition, rather than relying on measures such as physical keys or pass codes. The Guardian newspaper reports that Biostar 2 is used in a wider system that has 5,700 customers accessing 1.5 million locations across 83 countries. ... (view more)

An app designed to make it easier to get on public WiFi has accidentally exposed more than two million WiFi passwords. It appears to be a case of terrible design, rather than pure malice by the app designers. The app is called "WiFi Finder - connect ... to hotspots" and is listed on the Google Play store as having more than 100,000 downloads. In theory the app is part of a project to make using WiFi on the move more convenient. It's designed to be a massive database to which users can add public WiFi networks and the relevant passwords. For example, visitors to a coffee store could add the ... (view more)

The demise of the password has come a step closer this week with the adoption of a new standard for physical "keys" for logging in to websites. "WebAuthn," as it's called, makes it easier for sites to let users log in through a physical method - ... rather than relying on users having to remember a password. These methods range from USB devices that act like a physical key to biometric devices such as fingerprint or eye scanners. The big hope is that such devices reduce the need to rely on passwords which can be guessed or stolen in data breaches. Browsers Already On Board Having a ... (view more)

Security researchers say some major password manager tools could be flawed. But they also say it's still sensible to use them, just with a degree of caution. It's a fact that using the same password for multiple sites is a massive security risk. ... That's because if one site gets hacked, it could mean that hackers can use the same password on another website to gain access to potentially sensitive information, resulting in identity theft or financial loss. Password manager tools (such as Roboform and Dashlane ) aim to overcome two big dilemmas with online passwords - which is keeping passwords ... (view more)

A security researcher says he's found a major security flaw in the Mac's password storage tool. But he's refusing to publish the details as a protest against Apple's "bug bounty" program. Linuz Henze has produced a video showing what he calls an ... exploit of the Keychain feature in MacOS Mojave, the current edition of the operating system for Mac computers. Keychain is an application on Macs that lets users save passwords for online accounts and digital certificates so that they don't have to type them in again. Users can also open Keychain and access a full list of passwords. Normally every ... (view more)

Question site "Quora" has become the latest high-profile hacking victim, with details of more than 100 million users breached. Fortunately, the implications likely won't be as serious as some previous hacks. The site lets users post questions and ... then get answers from other users. A voting system means more helpful answers from its community means the best answers float to the top. Quora says its systems were accessed without authorization and that it discovered the breach on November 30, 2018. It says the exposed information included account information such as name, email address ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Sam G. writes: " Dear Dennis, I get emails from hackers a few times a week saying that they have cracked my email account. As proof, they have supplied me with the correct password for the account. The message goes on to say that ... they have planted a Trojan on my computer which allows them to spy on me. Here's where it gets interesting. The hackers say I have been visiting websites of people in the buff. They are demanding I pay them bitcoin (worth $831) to keep this quiet, otherwise they will send images from the purported site I've visited and also a picture of me on my ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Marjie H. writes: " Dear Dennis, I just received an email offer from Norton Security asking if I would like to enroll in the Norton Identity Protection. In order to do so, the form says I need to provide my social insurance ... number. The protection being offered is free, so long as I renew my Norton Antivirus subscription. From what I understand, this service includes protection against personal credit, credit cards, bank, social insurance number (SSI), etc. My question is - with all this information they are asking for, what is the possibility they could be hacked and all my ... (view more)