Author: HackWatchit

Your business can’t realize the many benefits of cloud computing without ensuring performance and availability in its cloud environments. Let’s look at some examples. Scalability: To scale your business’s cloud computing services, you need those services to be available and to perform according to your business’s requirements. Otherwise, your business might miss out on opportunities or end up paying for resources it doesn’t use. Disaster recovery: In the event of a disaster, you might need to recover from backups based in the cloud. Poor availability might render those backups inaccessible, while poor performance might limit your ability to recover fully.…

Whether or not you’re much into online banking, protecting yourself from bank fraud is a must.  Online banking is well on its way to becoming a cornerstone of the banking experience overall. More and more transactions occur over the internet rather than at a teller’s window, and nearly every account has a username, password, and PIN linked with it. And whether you use your online banking credentials often or not, hackers and scammers still want to get their hands on them.  The fact is, online banking is growing and is here to stay. No longer a novelty, online banking is…

Bitcoin (BTC) has remained locked in a tight trading range of $91,000 to $102,000 for the past 81 days, reflecting traders waiting for clearer macroeconomic signals before making decisive moves, according to Bitfinex.The firm’s latest Alpha report highlighted that BTC has shown little directional momentum despite escalating global geopolitical tensions. Its weekly performance posted only a modest 4.3% peak-to-trough movement and closed with a slight 0.82% gain.This period of stagnation has also impacted altcoins, many of which have struggled amid uncertainty. The broader altcoin market has significantly underperformed Bitcoin, with meme coins like PEPE suffering dramatic losses — declining 46.4%…

Key Findings First observed in March 2024, “BlackLock” (aka El Dorado or Eldorado) has rapidly emerged as a major player in the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) ecosystem. By Q4 2024, it ranked as the 7th most prolific ransomware group on data-leak sites, fueled by a staggering 1,425% increase in activity from Q3. BlackLock uses a double extortion tactic—encrypting data while stealing sensitive information—to pressure victims with the threat of public exposure. Its ransomware is built to target Windows, VMWare ESXi, and Linux environments, though the Linux variant offers fewer features than its Windows counterpart. BlackLock’s rise has been both swift and strategic,…

Researchers earned a $50,500 Bug Bounty after uncovering a critical supply chain flaw in a newly acquired firm, highlighting security risks in business acquisitions. Two cybersecurity researchers have walked away with a $50,500 bug bounty after finding a critical vulnerability in a major company’s software supply chain. The exploit targeted a recently acquired company, exposing a flaw that could have widespread ramifications. The duo, Lupin (Roni Carta) and Snorlhax, have a history of collaboration; recently turned their focus to the often-overlooked area of business acquisitions. They noticed that these integrations frequently present security gaps as newly acquired entities may not…

Microsoft announced the deprecation of the Location History feature from Windows, which let applications like the Cortana virtual assistant to fetch location history of the device. By deprecating and removing the feature means that the data will no longer be saved locally and the setting will disappear from the operating system (Windows 10 and 11). “We are deprecating and removing the Location History feature, an API that allowed Cortana to access 24 hours of device history when location was enabled,” reads Microsoft’s announcement. Deprecation announcementsource: Microsoft The API behind the feature, ‘Geolocator.GetGeopositionHistoryAsync’, provides apps with locally stored data that had…

Discover the top Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) books in this curated list. From investigative techniques to digital footprint analysis, these titles offer insights for security professionals, journalists, and researchers looking to master the art of gathering and analyzing publicly available data. Hunting Cyber Criminals: A Hacker’s Guide to Online Intelligence Gathering Tools and Techniques Author: Vinny Troia This is a deep dive into the world of OSINT from multiple perspectives, including those of hackers, investigators, and security professionals. The book provides a narrative-driven approach, weaving an investigative storyline that immerses readers in the real-world challenges of tracking cyber threats. With years…

Dutch Police shut down bulletproof hosting provider Zservers and seized 127 servers Pierluigi Paganini February 17, 2025 Dutch police seized 127 servers of the bulletproof hosting service Zservers/XHost after government sanctions. On February 11, 2025, the US, UK, and Australia sanctioned a Russian bulletproof hosting services provider and two Russian administrators because they supported Russian ransomware LockBit operations. Alexander Igorevich Mishin and Aleksandr Sergeyevich Bolshakov are the two Russian nationals and administrators of Zservers.   “Zservers, headquartered in Barnaul, Russia, has advertised BPH services on known cybercriminal forums to evade law enforcement investigations and takedowns, as well as scrutiny from cybersecurity firms.…

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published last week a report on progress in protecting the maritime transportation system from cyber threats posed by China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, transnational criminal organizations, and other actors. It also found that some areas have been neglected in addressing these high cybersecurity risks and recommended that the Coast Guard update its system of record to provide ready access to complete cyber deficiency data, ensure its cyber strategy and plans align with all key characteristics of a national strategy, and analyze, assess, and address workforce competency gaps.  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)  concurred…