Last updated on May 20, 2024
Volume 05 Issue 05 – 20th May 2024
Phishing via SMS (Smishing)
Modern communication is very much dominated and everyone prefers a text message as it’s convenient. Cybercriminals have found this as a good source and tries to deceive people through text messages. Smishing means SMS phishing and it tries to trick recipients to reveal sensitive information or download malicious content.
- 75% of websites ignore Global Privacy Control (GPC) requests
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com - Google’s Top Spots: ccTLDs Command 56%, Subdirectories 20%, Subdomains 3%
https://www.digitalinformationworld.com - Cybercrime To Cost The World $9.5 Trillion USD Annually In 2024
https://cybersecurityventures.com - Netflix had around 269.6 million paid subscribers worldwide as of the first quarter of 2024
https://www.statista.com
6 tips to maintain your privacy while searching for jobs online
- Contact information
- Sharing your resume
- Limit personal information
- Limit social media
- Keep a log
- Be wary of scams
Cyber News
Google bans advertisers from promoting deepfake porn services
Google has had a longstanding ban on sexually explicit ads — but until now, the company hasn’t banned advertisers from promoting services that people can use to make deepfake porn and other forms of generated nudes.
https://www.theverge.com
World Wide Web of Inequality: New Study Reveals the Most and Least Affordable Countries for Mobile and Broadband Data
Internet connection is now central to economic prosperity, job opportunities, and forging meaningful social connections. In fact, some world leaders believe internet access is no longer a privilege but a human right.
https://www.digitalinformationworld.com
Google Announces Passkeys Adopted by Over 400 Million Accounts
Google announced that passkeys are being used by over 400 million Google accounts, authenticating users more than 1 billion times over the past two years.
https://thehackernews.com
Microsoft readies new AI model to compete with Google, OpenAI, The Information reports
Microsoft is training a new, in-house AI language model large enough to compete with those from Alphabet’s Google and OpenAI.
https://www.reuters.com
Sri Lanka’s Postal Department issues a warning
A scam is taking place where cybercriminals impersonate the website of the postal department to obtain personal information, including your address and credit card details.
https://cert.gov.lk/
Reel of the month
Watch the Reel posted on Hithawathi Facebook page on the 10th day of every month and Comment briefly on what you understood / added to your knowledge!
Five randomly selected winners will be awarded MD Gunasena bookshop gift vouchers of Rs.2,000/- each!
Many Thanks to LK Domain Registry for being the financial sponsor of this contest!
Mess out of the blue
Shakila was a schoolteacher in Nuwara Eliya. She was married and in the best period of her life as she was expecting a child. For her, life was peaceful and happy with new dreams. However, this happiness could not last that long.
Social Dialogue on Technology Facilitated Sexual & Gender Based Violence
AT UNIVERSITY OF COLOMBO
Hithawathi participated for the final workshop on Social Dialogue on Technology Facilitated Sexual & Gender Based Violence (TFSGBV) on 25th April 2024 at the University of Colombo. Around 30 officers from different organizations joined the discussion organized by the Centre for Women’s Research (CENWOR).
Awareness session on cyber safety
ONLINE VIA ZOOM
An awareness session on Cyber Safety was conducted by Hithawathi on May 4th, 2024 via Zoom. A group of 34 female students from University of Jaffna participated in this session.
A message for mothers
AT LK DOMAIN REGISTRY
In line with International Mothers’ Day, as invited by Hithawathi, Mr. Harsha Saparamadu, Information Security Engineer of LK Domain Registry provided a cyber safety tip to mothers.
To participate in future webinar sessions and learn about cyber security, please join our Viber or WhatsApp group by clicking the icons below:
Critical Tinyproxy Flaw Opens Over 50,000 Hosts to Remote Code Execution
More than 50% of the 90,310 hosts have been found exposing a Tinyproxy service on the internet that’s vulnerable to a critical unpatched security flaw in the HTTP/HTTPS proxy tool.
https://thehackernews.com
OS Command Injection Vulnerability in GlobalProtect Gateway
Australian organisations who have a Palo Alto Threat Prevention subscription can block attacks for this vulnerability by enabling Threat ID 95187, 95189 and 95191.
https://www.cyber.gov.au
Exploitation of vulnerabilities affecting Cisco firewall platforms
Cisco has published advisories detailing three vulnerabilities affecting its ASA and FTD devices.
https://www.ncsc.gov.uk
Movie Hint
The Imitation Game (2014)
Alan Turing, a British mathematician, joins the cryptography team to decipher the German enigma code. With the help of his fellow mathematicians, he builds a machine to crack the codes.
https://www.imdb.com
GADGET
LitterBug – Autonomous Trash Rover
Self-driving rover using computer vision and deep learning to identify and clean up small pieces of trash.
https://www.hackster.io
