1. Use Strong, Unique Passwords

One of the simplest yet most effective security measures is creating strong, unique passwords for each of your accounts. Avoid common passwords like “password123” or “admin,” as these are easy targets for hackers. Instead, use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Consider using a password manager to generate and store complex passwords securely. This way, you won’t have to remember them all — just one master password.

2. Enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

Adding an extra layer of security with two-factor authentication is a game-changer. With 2FA, even if hackers get hold of your password, they’ll need a second form of verification—like a code sent to your phone or fingerprint scan—to gain access. Many popular services like Gmail, Facebook, and banking apps support 2FA, so enable it wherever possible.

3. Keep Software Up to Date

Software developers frequently release updates to fix security vulnerabilities. Failing to install these updates leaves your devices open to attacks. Turn on automatic updates on your operating system, browsers, and apps to ensure you’re protected against the latest threats.

4. Be Wary of Phishing Attacks

Phishing scams are emails or messages designed to trick you into revealing sensitive information. They often appear legitimate, mimicking trusted brands or contacts. Always scrutinize emails for signs of fraud, such as suspicious sender addresses, grammatical errors, or unusual requests. Never click on suspicious links or share personal data unless you are certain of the sender’s identity.

5. Secure Your Wi-Fi Network

Your home Wi-Fi network is a gateway to all your connected devices. Secure it with a strong password and WPA3 encryption. Change the default router credentials and disable remote management features. Consider setting up a separate guest network for visitors to prevent access to your main devices.

6. Backup Your Data Regularly

Data loss can occur due to malware attacks, hardware failure, or accidental deletion. Protect yourself by regularly backing up important files to an external drive or cloud storage service. In case of an attack, having recent backups ensures you can restore your data quickly.

7. Use Antivirus and Anti-Malware Software

Installing reputable antivirus and anti-malware programs adds a vital layer of defense. These tools can detect and remove malicious software before it causes harm. Keep your security software updated and run regular scans.

8. Limit Personal Information Sharing

Be cautious about how much personal information you share online, especially on social media. Details like your address, phone number, or travel plans can be exploited by hackers for identity theft or targeted attacks. Keep your privacy settings tight and share information only with trusted contacts.

9. Be Vigilant on Public Wi-Fi

Public Wi-Fi networks are convenient but often insecure. Avoid accessing sensitive accounts or conducting financial transactions on public networks. If necessary, use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to encrypt your internet connection and protect your data from prying eyes.

10. Educate Yourself and Stay Informed

Cyber threats evolve constantly. Stay informed about the latest scams, security tools, and best practices. Regularly educate yourself about online safety and encourage your friends and family to do the same.

The post Top Security Tips and Tricks to Protect Yourself in Today’s Digital World 2025 appeared first on ITBlogSec.com.

By opening ports from the Internet to your raspberry pi (ssh, http, ftp, https etc.), you are automatically becoming a victim of many hacker’s attempts. Hackers are seeking exploits and trying to get access to your server. To protect you against such attacks, there is a tool called Fail2Ban. It supports a lot of services (sshd, apache, qmail, proftpd etc.) and can be integrated directly with your IPTables. By this tutorial, we will guide you via the whole process of how to protect against such attacks.   

Who is trying to access my raspberry pi?

If you think that your raspberry pi is safe and you do not need any tool to be installed, please check the content of the following file:

cat /var/log/auth.log | grep 'Failed'

As you can observe above, there are many password failures. Usually, the hacker bots are seeking exploits.  Each attempt consumes resources as your raspberry pi needs to evaluate each request. It is known as DoS attack. 

Hackers can try also a brute-force attack.  Such an attack consists of an attacker submitting many passwords or passphrases with the hope of eventually guessing a combination correctly. The attacker systematically checks all possible passwords and passphrases until the correct one is found. 

What is Fail2Ban and how does it work?

Fail2Ban is a daemon that scans access log files and it bans IP addresses that show malicious signs. It protects you against too many password failures as shown above. 

It is a must have tool to protect your from intruders to your server or network especially if you allow outside SSH traffic or any traffics from an outside network to your Raspberry Pi. Fail2Ban tool supports many different services (sshd, apache, qmail, proftpd, sasl, asterisk, etc) and can be integrated with your IPTables.

Installation of Fail2Ban is very easy to install and basic setup will drastically improve security on your Raspberry Pi. Fail2Ban works by checking your access logs for failures and depending on the settings you setup, it will ban or timeout an IP Address for a certain amount of time. Fail2Ban tool can easily protect your raspberry pi against very known brute-force and DoS attacks.

How can I protect myself?

Very easy, by installing of Fail2Ban on your raspberry pi. We will first install Fail2Ban by typing the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install fail2ban

By doing that, you have Fail2Ban already installed. The configuration file is located at ‘/etc/fail2ban/jail.local’. If you want to change some parameters, you can simply modify this file and restart the service to take immediate effect.

Let’s edit our SSH Fail2Ban configurations. Open up the ‘/etc/fail2ban/jail.local’ file with the following command:

sudo nano /etc/fail2ban/jail.local

Your jail.local file should already contain some pre-defined config. We will need to tweak it a little bit. Find a section in the file called [sshd] and paste/modify accordingly:

[sshd]

enabled = true
filter = sshd
port = ssh
logpath = /var/log/auth.log
bantime = 86400
banaction = iptables-allports
findtime = 900
maxretry = 3
backend = %(sshd_backend)s

sudo service fail2ban restart

sudo fail2ban-client set sshd unbanip <IP-YOU-WANT-TO-UNBAN>

sudo iptables -L -n --line

The post How to install Fail2Ban on the Raspberry Pi/Unix server appeared first on ITBlogSec.com.

Cybersecurity will be a hot topic for as long as we are using computers and the internet. With the massive expansion of IoT devices, mobile, and technology in general, we can only expect to see this industry growing in the years to come to keep us safe from online thefts and data breaches.

Let’s review some of the most common types of cyber attacks. You’ll be surprised when you see the stats and learn that this issue is much more serious than you probably thought.

A Glance at the Statistics

Botnets
Robot networks or botnets are groups of computers acting much like an army with the aim of attacking one specific computer or groups of computers.

Think in terms of the inverse proportion examples you saw in school. If you have one hacker trying to target a network, it may take her a year or more. If you have hundreds of computers sending multiple attacks, it will take much less time. Experts from TechJury contend that botnet use rose to 34% in Q1 of 2018.

Facebook Attacks
If you use social media, then the chances are you use Facebook. By Q4 of 2018 alone, it had around 2.32 billion users. The sheer number of users is a huge call for online hackers. In September 2018, about 50,000,000 accounts were affected by an attack.

Financial Statistics
Estimates peg the cost of malware and phishing attacks as well as virus attacks on households at about $4.55. That is more than the GDP of a number of small countries.

Although that is a lot of money, the amount shouldn’t be too surprising because some of that cost comes from charges you only catch after a transaction. In a survey conducted in 2016, three years ago, 48% of participants actually responded that they had seen charges on their bank accounts that they weren’t privy to.

In the first half of 2018 alone, it is estimated that 15% of the attacks were to gain financial access be it through a virus, malware, ransomware and so on and so forth. Just take a look at the infographic below that reveals some pretty startling statistics.

What’s Next?
An integral part in solving any type of problem is knowing the root cause of the issue because that allows us to set up actions to combat the problem at hand. That is the absolute basic starting point of problem-solving.

What the statistics show are the areas where we are most vulnerable or have become more vulnerable. For example, the 33% increase in mobile ransomware in 2018 tells us that mobile attacks are definitely an area we need to continue to look at.

Overall diligence, an understanding of vulnerability and continuing to search for better security protocols are strategies that look to be necessary for the long haul.

cybersecurity 2019

The post The Cyber Security Periscope at a Glance 2019 (INFOGRAPHIC) appeared first on ITBlogSec.com.

WordPress is the most popular CMS used for million of websites worldwide. Take a look at the top WordPress plugins that are used by bloggers around the world to beef up the security of their site.

1. Wordfence Security

THE MOST DOWNLOADED WORDPRESS SECURITY PLUGIN
WordPress security is all we do. Secure your WordPress website with Wordfence. Powered by the constantly updated Threat Defense Feed, our Web Application Firewall stops you from getting hacked. Wordfence Scan leverages the same proprietary feed, alerting you quickly in the event your site is compromised. Our Live Traffic view gives you real-time visibility into traffic and hack attempts on your WordPress website. A deep set of additional tools round out the most complete WordPress security solution available.

Features:

• WordPress Firewall
• Blocking Features
• WordPress Login Security
• Security Scanning
• Monitoring Features
• Multi-Site WordPress Security
• IPv6 Compatible
• Free Learning Center

2. WP-DBManager

Allows you to optimize database, repair database, backup database, restore database, delete backup database , drop/empty tables and run selected queries. Supports automatic scheduling of backing up, optimizing and repairing of database.

3. AntiVirus for WordPress

AntiVirus for WordPress is a easy-to-use, safe tool to harden your WordPress site against exploits, malware and spam injections. You can configure AntiVirus to perform an automated daily scan of your theme files and database tables. If the plugin happens to detect any suspicious code injections, it will send out a notification to a previously configured e-mail address. In case your WordPress site has been hacked, AntiVirus will help you to become aware of the problem very quickly in order for you to take immediate action.

Features:

• Virus alert in the admin bar
• Cleaning up after plugin removal
• Translations into many languages​​
• Daily scan with email notifications
• Database tables and theme templates checks
• WordPress 3.x ready: both visually and technically
• Whitelist solution: Mark suspected cases as “no virus”
• Manual check of template files with alerts on suspected cases
• Optional: Google Safe Browsing for malware and phishing monitoring.

4. JetPack

Jetpack simplifies managing WordPress sites by giving you visitor stats, security services, speeding up images, and helping you get more traffic. Jetpack is a free plugin.

Features:

• Traffic Growth & Insights
• Security
• Image Performance
• Centralized Management
• A few more things that our users love
• Dedicated Support
• Contributing to Jetpack

5. Sucuri Security

Sucuri is a globally recognized authority in all matters related to website security, with specialization in WordPress Security. The Sucuri Security WordPress Security plugin is free to all WordPress users. It is a security suite meant to complement your existing security posture with seven key security features.

Features:

• Security Activity Audit Logging
• File Integrity Monitoring
• Remote Malware Scanning
• Blacklist Monitoring
• Effective Security Hardening
• Post-Hack Security Actions
• Security Notifications

6. iThemes Security (formerly Better WP Security)

iThemes Security is the #1 WordPress Security Plugin. iThemes Security (formerly Better WP Security) gives you over 30+ ways to secure and protect your WordPress site. On average, 30,000 new websites are hacked each day. WordPress sites can be an easy target for attacks because of plugin vulnerabilities, weak passwords and obsolete software.

Most WordPress admins don’t know they’re vulnerable, but iThemes Security works to lock down Wordpress, fix common holes, stop automated attacks and strengthen user credentials. With advanced features for experienced users, our WordPress security plugin can help harden WordPress.

Features:

• Maintained and Supported by iThemes
• Plugin Support and Pro Features
• iThemes Sync Integration
• iThemes Brute Force Attack Protection Network
• Protect
• Detect
• Obscure
• Recover
• Compatibility
• Translations

7. WP Security Audit Log

Keep an audit log of everything that is happening on your WordPress and WordPress multisite with WP Security Audit Log to ensure user productivity and identify WordPress security issues before they become a security problem. WP Security Audit Log, WordPress’ most comprehensive user monitoring and audit log plugin already helps thousands of WordPress administrators, owners and security professionals ensure the security of their websites and blogs. Ensure the security of your WordPress too by installing WP Security Audit Log. The community’s favourite WordPress user monitoring and security auditing plugin is developed by WordPress Security Consultants and Professionals WP White Security.

Features:

• WP Security Audit Log for WordPress Multisite
• Monitor WordPress Users Activity & Productivity
• Keep A WordPress Security Audit Log & Identify WordPress Security Issues
• Free and Premium Support
• WordPress & PHP Errors Monitoring Tools

8. Security Ninja

A combination of WP security best practices rolled into a single plugin, Security Ninja performs over 31 security tests, like brute-force attacks. Your site is checked thoroughly for holes and security vulnerabilities, and preventative measures help stop attacks.

Tests included:

• brute-force attack on user accounts to test password strength
• numerous installation parameters tests
• file permissions
• version hiding
• 0-day exploits tests
• debug and auto-update modes tests
• database configuration tests
• Apache and PHP related tests
• WP options tests

9. Scan Security

Security plugin of the website it’s key to your safety and calmness. Protect your website from hackers attacks and spammers. Powerful tools with smart algorithms, simple interface and very effective action protect files on your server from any kind of malwares and vulnerabilities themes and plugin. S.A.F. plugin work in background to protect your entire website and every single part of your website. S.A.F. scan all plugins, themes and core files in background as result you get full reports and detailed logs. S.A.F. notfiy you multiply ways all security threats and attacks attempts. S.A.F. most powerfull security tool for wordpress with multi site functionality support. Scan files system, healing infected files, protect your website from brute force attacks it’s a main goals of S.A.F.

Features:

• Live System Monitor (System Log)
• Antivirus
• Cloud Antivirus Monitor
• Security Email Report
• Firewall (Network Monitor)
• Brute Force Monitor
• 404 Detector
• Easy Password
• Google Captcha
• Auto Update
• Cron Scheduler

10. BulletProof Security

Secure WordPress Website Security Protection: Firewall Security, Login Security, Database Security & Backup… View Security feature highlights below. View BulletProof Security feature details for specific details about security features. Secure your WordPress website even further by adding additional BulletProof Security Bonus Custom Code (See the BulletProof Security Bonus Custom Code help section). Effective, Reliable & Easy to use WordPress Security Plugin.

Features:

• One-Click Setup Wizard
• .htaccess Website Security Protection (Firewalls)
• Hidden Plugin Folders|Files Cron (HPF)
• Login Security & Monitoring
• Idle Session Logout (ISL)
• Auth Cookie Expiration (ACE)
• DB Backup: Full|Partial DB Backups | Manual|Scheduled DB Backups | Email Zip Backups | Cron Delete Old Backups
• DB Backup Logging
• DB Table Prefix Changer
• Security Logging
• HTTP Error Logging
• FrontEnd|BackEnd Maintenance Mode
• UI Theme Skin Changer (3 Theme Skins)
• Extensive System Info

The post 10 of the best plugins to keep your wordpress site safe appeared first on ITBlogSec.com.

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1. John Draper

John Thomas Draper (born March 11, 1943), also known as Captain Crunch. This phreaker (“Pirate’s phone”) whose real name is John Thomas Draper (born March 11, 1943) became famous because he managed to make free long distance calls with a whistle found in Cap’n Crunch cereal box. Indeed, the sound from this whistle had a frequency of 2600 Hertz, the same frequency as a long-distance line unoccupied continuously emitted to indicate to a telephone exchange is ready to receive a call. The phreaked called a remote toll opening an unused line that did not record billing.

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2. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

Both have several things in common, the two famous founders of Apple Computer have spent their youth as hackers. Before moving to Apple, they spent their days building called Blue Box devices that allowed for the whistle as John Draper to make long distance calls without paying a dime. They then started selling these devices to their classmates at the University of California.

We could add Mark Zuckerberg (founder of Facebook), Bill Gates (Microsoft founder), Linux Torvalds (Linux kernel founder) who have all some relations with hacking.

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3. David Smith

All the popularity of David Smith came after creation of the worm “Melissa” on 26 March 1999. The Worm was saturated messaging systems by spreading user to user via infected emails (there are over 60 000). Damage estimates were $385 million. Smith, who was arrested, sentenced to 2 years in prison and $5000 fine sad the worm was never intended to cause damage.

The first time the Melissa worm was hidden, it was in a file containing pornographic sites passwords. Smith said that the name Melissa has just met a dancer during a trip to Florida.

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4. George Hotz alias GeoHot

George Hotz is an American hacker known for unlocking the iPhone (the famous jailbreak) and its release the Playstation 3. The jailbreak of making jump the protections of devices running the iOS operating system, providing access to all the features of it, and making it possible to download and install applications without paying.

When Sony was attacked, allegedly by the group Anonymous, Hotz said he was not reponsible for the attack.

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5. Michael Calce alias MafiaBoy

Mafiaboy is a Canadian who has acquired a certain notoriety after launching in February 2000 a series of DDoS attacks against several web sites such business giants as eBay, Amazon, Yahoo!, Dell or CNN.

He was only 15 years old then, and now says he was not professional, far from it, he used the programs that his friends had done. Calce operated websites mainly for fame and to show his dominance in his group. He now works for a computer security company.

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6. Gary McKinnon

In 2002, a special message appears on the screen of a computer of the US Army: “Your security is the sh*t, I am Solo and I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels.”

It was later learned that this is a message from a British systems administrator named Gary McKinnon. McKinnon allegedly accessed 97 computers belonging to the US Army, NASA, the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Ministry of Defense and the Pentagon.

Gary explains that he wanted to do all this to find out once and for all if there were UFOs and thought the US had recovered an alien anti-gravity technology. Then he risked 70 years in prison, Gary was diagnosed as suffering from a form of autism and will not be extradited to the United States where he faced a big trouble.   [/lgc_column]

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7. Robert Tappan Morris

In 1988, the graduate student from Harvard University decided to test the size of the Internet. He created the Morris worm that infect 6000 Unix machines by making it crash. Millions of dollars of damage will then be estimated. It was probably the first worm of this kind. Morris was finally captured, fined, sentenced to three years probation and 400 hours of community service.

The disk used to write the worm is now available in Boston science museum. And Morris is now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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8. Adrian Limo

In December 2001, Lamo was praised by Worldcom for helping to fortify their corporate security. In February 2002, he broke into the internal computer network of The New York Times, added his name to the internal database of expert sources, and used the paper’s LexisNexis account to conduct research on high-profile subjects. The New York Times filed a complaint, and a warrant for Lamo’s arrest was issued in August 2003 following a 15-month investigation by federal prosecutors in New York. At 10:15 AM on September 9, after spending a few days in hiding, he surrendered to the US Marshals in Sacramento, California. He re-surrendered to the FBI in New York City on September 11, and pleaded guilty to one felony count of computer crimes against Microsoft, LexisNexis, and The New York Times on January 8, 2004.

In February 2009, a partial list of the anonymous donors to the WikiLeaks not-for-profit website was leaked and published on the WikiLeaks website. Some media sources indicated at the time that Lamo was among the donors on the list.
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9. Kevin Poulsen

The black hat hacker in the 80s, Kevin Poulsen, became popular when he “earned” a Porsche by hacking a radio station. A radio station in Los Angeles (KMS-FM) launched a radio contest in which the 102nd caller wins a Porsche. Kevin, along with two friends entered the radio telephone system to make sure to be the 102nd caller and win the prize.

He plead guilty and was sentenced to 4 years and 3 months in prison, the longest sentence ever imposed at the time. After leaving prison, Kevin is now working as a journalist for Wired News.

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10. Kevin Mitnick

At age 13, Mitnick used social engineering and dumpster diving to bypass the punch card system used in the Los Angeles bus system. After he convinced a bus driver to tell him where he could buy his own ticket punch for “a school project”, he was able to ride any bus in the greater LA area using unused transfer slips he found in a dumpster next to the bus company garage. Social engineering later became his primary method of obtaining information, including user-names and passwords and modem phone numbers.

Mitnick first gained unauthorized access to a computer network in 1979, at 16, when a friend gave him the phone number for the Ark, the computer system Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) used for developing their RSTS/E operating system software. He broke into DEC’s computer network and copied their software, a crime he was charged with and convicted of in 1988. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Near the end of his supervised release, Mitnick hacked into Pacific Bell voice mail computers. After a warrant was issued for his arrest, Mitnick fled, becoming a fugitive for two and a half years.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Mitnick gained unauthorized access to dozens of computer networks while he was a fugitive. He used cloned cellular phones to hide his location and, among other things, copied valuable proprietary software from some of the country’s largest cellular telephone and computer companies. Mitnick also intercepted and stole computer passwords, altered computer networks, and broke into and read private e-mails.

Since 2000, Mitnick has been a paid security consultant, public speaker and author. He does security consulting for Fortune 500 companies and the FBI, performs penetration testing services for the world’s largest companies and teaches Social Engineering classes to dozens of companies and government agencies.

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The post Top 10 of the world’s most famous hackers appeared first on ITBlogSec.com.

The Internet grew over several decades to become a huge complex network as we know it today. Since the beginning there were attempts to compromise security and to receive a profit from leaked data. Explore some of the milestones in the development of our insecure online world.

We are not makers of history. We are made by history.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

The post History timeline of Internet Security appeared first on ITBlogSec.com.