Protect your phone number to protect your identity

Protect Your Phone Number and Protect Your Identity

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Back in the day, a phone number was simply a piece of contact information, a way for your friends and family to call you. Nowadays, companies use phone numbers to identify you or prove who you are by texting security codes or calling for verification.

Think about the many ways you use your phone number. You include it when you sign up on websites or log into an app. You give it to your favorite store as part of their loyalty program and share it to receive text alerts from your bank. You use it when you need to reset a password or login to your accounts using two-factor authentication.

That also means that with your phone number and some other information, like your birthday or address, bad guys have a better chance of impersonating you and getting to your personal data and accounts.

Here are a few ways to secure your phone number to protect your identity from the bad guys.

• Don’t overshare your mobile phone number. Don’t share your phone number online (social media, comments sections , untrusted apps, etc.) or provide it to strangers.
• Think about where your number is used. Keep a running list of the companies and accounts that use your phone number to prove who you are.
• Consider using a landline number. For situations where a phone number is an identifier for discounts and loyalty rewards, like grocery stores, consider using a landline or other non-mobile number.
• Unsubscribe from text alerts. Text messages from companies, like your airline or bank, can be convenient. But sometimes there are other ways they can contact you. Some companies have apps so you can receive updates without including your phone number.
• Set up an extra layer of protection for your wireless account. For example, AT&T customers can add a passcode to their account. 
• Secure your mobile device. Lock your phone when it’s not in use and avoid bad apps. 

Aside from the risk for identity theft, giving out your phone number can lead to spam calls, phone scams or unsafe text messages that have links to malware.

Bottom line: it’s important to secure both your personal information and your mobile number. The next time an app, a company or a stranger asks for your mobile number, take a moment to decide whether you really need to give it out.

What's the way forward with ever changingtechnology?

With technology advancing as quickly as it is, it seems like it’s always time for a new smartphone, tablet or other gadget. When you get it, you probably can’t wait to turn it on and see what it can do. But as you set up your new device, that’s the perfect time to set up your safety features to better protect yourself from the bad guys.

Here are a few tips to get started.

Set Up Strong Personal Security

Depending on the kind of device, there are multiple ways to lock and unlock it, including passcode, fingerprint, pattern-based lock or facial recognition. Use a long passcode number or a passphrase to strengthen the security. Short codes are easier to break. The pattern-based lock is less secure because scammers can trace the trail your fingers leave on the screen.

Adjust the time it takes before your phone to automatically lock. The shorter, the better – this helps prevent a bad guy from picking up an unattended phone and getting past your lock screen.

Most phones come with the option for encryption. Enable this feature. The device will then translate your data and information into a secret code that is hard for fraudsters to see.

Keep Your Phone Updated

Many people think the newest smartphones always include the latest operating systems. However, some phone-makers roll out updates within weeks after launching a new device. It’s important to update your operating system and apps regularly to make sure you have the latest security features.

Download Trusted Apps

Bad guys often create apps that promise one thing, but also steal passwords, get your personal information and potentially take over your phone. Make sure you only install trustworthy apps, and download a security protection apps.

Make sure your old device is ready to say “goodbye.”

When you turn in your old device, make sure you don’t trade in all your personal information, too. 

Also, remember to back-up your data often. If you ever lose your phone or its contents, you’ll still have another place where your photos, files and contacts are stored.

Fear over sharing of intelligence info as Huawei takes on 5G network implementions in UK,

While Boris Johnson previously argued that Huawei’s work on the British 5G network won’t affect ties between London and Washington, Mike Pompeo warned that the US takes a dim view of the Chinese company’s involvement.

The United Kingdom’s decision to allow Huawei to have a role in the country’s 5G networks does not affect Britain’s ability to securely share intelligence data, a spokesman for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on 29 January.

Previously, Johnson himself dismissed concerns that Huawei’s involvement could negatively impact London’s cooperation with Washington.

This development comes as US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who arrived in London just ahead of Brexit, announced his intent to explain to British officials the alleged dangers of relying on Huawei to roll out the UK’s next-generation 5G network, a move which he claimed would create a “real risk” to security.

"Our view of Huawei is putting it in your system creates real risk. This is an extension of the Chinese Communist Party with a legal requirement to hand over information to the Chinese Community Party," Pompeo said. "We'll evaluate what the United Kingdom did.... But our view is we should have Western systems with Western rules and American information should only pass across a trusted network. We'll make sure we do that."

US officials have long maintained that Huawei has been engaging in surveillance activities on behalf of the Chinese government; said allegations, however, have been vehemently denied by the Chinese authorities.

Two satellites may collide, leaving debris that may interfere orbiting of other satellites in the LEO

IRAS satellite

Close encounters of a third kind may not be as exciting as they sound. It was recently reported that two American defunct satellites in low Earth orbit could potentially crash into each other this evening. If this crash occurs it could result in hundreds of pieces of debris that could interfere with the paths of other satellites.

The NASA Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and the United States Naval Research Lab’s Gravity Gradient Stabilization Experiment (GGSE-4) will fly by each other this evening. The two satellites will be between 43 feet to 285 feet around 6:39pm EST nearly 600 miles above Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Both satellites are traveling at around 32,000 mph.

There is a 1 in 1,000 chance that the satellites will collide. At first glance, the crash appears to be very unlikely. However, Dr. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics remarked, “We start getting worried when it's 1 in 10,000, so 1 in 1,000 is unusual and it might actually be a lot worse than that.”

Depiction of Low Earth Orbit debris, image via NASA

The GGSE-4 only weighs 190 lbs, but the IRAS weighs a whopping 2,400 lbs. Their collision would result in at least a few hundred pieces of debris that would remain in orbit. The debris could interfere with other, larger satellites that are still in commission.

NASA’s IRAS was originally launched on January 25, 1983 to survey the sky at infrared wavelengths. Its mission only lasted ten months, but during that time it was able to capture images of the Milky Way’s core and other interesting discoveries. The GGSE-4 was launched in 1967 and was part of a United States intelligence mission. Its mission included intercepting radar emissions from Soviet Union vessels. It was decommissioned in the 1970s and part of its mission was declassified in 2005.

Since both satellites are now defunct, there is no way to communicate with them. All anyone can do at this point is to wait and see. Many astronomers are concerned about the number of satellites in orbit. The number of collisions and amount of debris will likely increase as companies such as SpaceX continue to launch satellites into orbit. Dr. McDowell further stated that, “If we're going to allow this large number of satellites, then we have to require more investment in the tracking and the sort of traffic control of them.” Perhaps the threat of this collision will encourage government programs and companies to further analyze how to control their satellites once they are in orbit.

How to avoid OTT on small phones

Since the beggining of the error of OTT tax, I discovered a simple way of helping those with small phones who couldn't use VPN!This technich is to avail those with small phones and had no mobile money access but needed to use Facebook. This simple technique can allow one to log to twitter,Facebook on opera,firefox,and all browsers. It also helps to log into Facebook on a mini Facebook lite app,and Instagram on Firefox and opera.Take a look at the screen shots on how to go about it in the settings.

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This simple trick also works on symbian,BlackBerry and all chinese is

On Android you edit as in the screen shots below

I have many  tricks and you can change those settings in many ways onball sim networks

USA's FBI hacked the iPhone 11..I have always told you my fellow Africans that you cannot hide yourselves from the intelligence bodies like CIA,MOSSAD,MI15/16

In the past, Apple has repeatedly refused to unlock the iPhone for the FBI pleasing its fan base with the notion that it indeed has no secret backdoor to your smartphone. Yet, this sadly did not mean that the iPhone was unhackable.

In fact, there have been numerous instances including strange cases such as when a teenager hacked Apple twice. No massive black hat teams sitting behind a plethora of big screens, literally a teenager. 

Now, another incident is on the rise with it being reported that the FBI can unlock all iPhones using Graykey – a product of Grayshift, an Atlanta based company. Moreover, this is not the first time that the tool has been in the headlines for helping unlock any iPhone using brute force techniques.

As reported by Thomas Brewster from Forbes, a search warrant of a United States District Court for Ohio dated October 16 of last year confirms the use of such a device to obtain forensic data:

The iPhone in question was an 11 Pro Max belonging to Baras Ali Koch, a man alleged to have helped his brother escape the U.S following an arrest order using Baras’s passport. An alarming thing emerging from this is that it was expected that iOS 13 would finally guard against such attacks but alas, it doesn’t seem to get any better.

Graykey in function

What if the iPhone was already unlocked? To debunk this, Thomas reports that Forbes themselves confirmed from Koch’s lawyer, Ameer Mabjish, that the device was locked. Adding further, he stated that

“Koch had not given it to them nor did they force the defendant to use his face to unlock the phone via Face ID, as far as the lawyer was aware.” 

We also analyzed an application of a search warrant as shown below which clearly shows the suspect’s iPhone locked in an attachment within.

It is important to note though that the FBI is not the only government agency to possess such tech. Previously, the Immigration Customs and Enforcement Authority (ICE) has made hefty purchases in the past amounting to over $1.2 million.

This though poses another question, if the FBI can hack any iPhone in this way, why ask Apple for help? The reason is that Apple has been stepping up its efforts on the side such as introducing a USB restricted mode with iOS 12 which prevents tools like Graykey from working. Moreover, the tool would not be a success in all cases as certain measures can be taken to resist i

To start with, since a brute force technique is being used, you can start using longer digit passcodes instead of the more often used 4 digit ones. To put this in perspective, Caleb from PIA explains by stating that:

“It takes Graykey an average of 6.5 minutes to crack a four-digit passcode. For a six-digit passcode, the time needed is 11.1 hours on average. A 10 digit passcode, the maximum allowed, requires Graykey an average of 4629 days to average.”

However, we’re still wondering why Apple has failed to implement measures that resist tools like Graykey under normal conditions. Is it something intentional while maintaining a public stand to appease both governments and its users or is it a coincidence? What do you think? Let us know in the comment section.

Nevertheless, this is not the first time when Feds have unlocked an iPhone device without Apple’s help. In 2016, the FBI used Israel based firm CellebriteCellebrite to unlock the iPhone 5C device of San Bernardino suspected shooter

Clear view app can be used by police to get information about any cyber criminal by merely getting his or her photos

Clearview app is not for personal use but only for law enforcement authorities, the company emphasizes.

China has been for a long time the poster face of conducting mass surveillance on its citizens. This has been attributed to its use of advanced AI-powered algorithms being able to facially recognize anyone on the streets. Yet, it seems like it won’t be the only state to do so for long.

Recently, it has been revealed in an investigation by the New York Times that a startup named Clearview AI has developed a facial recognition app that allows anyone to snap a picture of a stranger anywhere and instantly learn about their name, address and any other details available online.

How it does this is no secret. By scrapping images available from social networking services like Facebook and YouTube, the company records number over 3 billion pictures, far more than the databases of law enforcement agencies such as the FBI which has over 641 million images of U.S Citizens comprising of passport and driver’s license photos. Therefore, it is no surprise that over 600 U.S law enforcement agencies like the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are already Clearview’s customers.

But the crucial question is, what are the implications of such a service being available? 

Firstly, it has been reported by The Times that the app has assisted in solving crimes ranging from minor misdemeanors like shoplifting to indictable offenses such as murder, sexual exploitation, and credit card fraud.

While this is a good thing, it needs to be realized that it could turn bad pretty quickly too. States could use it as a tool to monitor the lives of citizens at a very personal level. Additionally, since we cannot expect the tech to be 100% accurate, false positives can end up getting innocent people blamed for crimes they did not commit.

But that’s not all. Since one needs to upload photos to Clearview’s servers, who makes sure those photos are secure? We’ve seen billion-dollar companies suffering from breaches, what makes this small company bulletproof?

Moreover, currently, we’ve only seen a few cities like San Francisco banning the app with there being no federal law regulating their use. This is expected to change with their being a significant focus on making laws governing facial recognition as a result of increasing advocating for such.

As an example, several civil rights groups like the  American Civil Liberties Union have complained of such systems, primarily like those of Amazon stating,

“We demand that Amazon stop powering a government surveillance infrastructure that poses a grave threat to customers and communities across the country.” 

On the other hand, when it comes to the mass public, although the app is not available for them currently, it is highly probable that it will be in the near time. With this, we’ll see stalkers stepping up their game and a rise in cyberbullying.

However, not everyone is criticizing the startup. According to Detective Constable in the Sex Crimes Unit Canadian Law Enforcement,

“Clearview is hands-down the best thing that has happened to victim identification in the last 10 years. Within a week and a half of using Clearview, [we] made eight identifications of either victims or offenders through the use of this app "

To conclude, social media platforms must learn from this expose and work on finding ways to avert the scraping of their data on a large scale. If they do that, all of these apps will find it difficult to engage in such business. Meanwhile, if government agencies are going to indeed use it, they should at the very least urge the app’s management to take the strictest of security precautions.

Israel's NSO at a blame of spying again ,after the company spyware was used in tracking late kashoggi

A UN investigative report has accused the billion-dollar Israeli firm NSO Group of providing spyware to hack Amazon’s president Jeffery Bezos’s iPhone, and the hacker is none other than the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

For tho who don’t know, NSO Group is a secretive (not so much now) spyware firm known for making its client capable of conducting offensive-cyber activities. The group was once in the news after one of its employees allegedly stole the company’s secrets with the intention to sell it on the dark web.

The UN report, published Wednesday, claims that Saudi crown prince used malicious spyware developed by the NSO Group to hack Bezos’s phone and stole sensitive private data including his nude selfies.

According to the UN high commissioner for human rights, Bezos’s iPhone was hacked using NSO Group’s spyware Pegasus. The report states that the Pegasus-3 spyware was acquired by the Saudi Royal Guard in November.

It is worth noting that in 2016, NSO Group also made headlines for developing Pegasus, a spyware which in 2016 targeted iPhone devices making them vulnerable to government-sponsored attacks.

In a report published by Citizen Labs and Lookout Security, Pegasus spyware was caught targeting dissidents and activists including Ahmed Mansoor, a renowned human rights activist in UAE.

Reportedly, there was a brief exchange of messages between the Saudi crown prince and Bezos’s back in spring 2018 via WhatsApp. On May 1, 2018, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sent Bezos’s a video file, which was likely infected with spyware. After the malicious code was executed, a huge amount of data was transferred from Bezos’s phone. 

WhatsApp conversation between MBS and Bezos (left) – Video message accused of carrying malware that hacked Bezos’s iPhone (Image credit: Motherboard/Vice)

The NSO Group has previously been accused of providing spyware to countries including Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Panama, and the Middle East for conducting cyberattacks against their adversaries. However, the company denied any involvement.

Nevertheless, this time around too, NSO Group has rejected the report’s claims and is apparently “shocked and appalled” by the news.

“We can say unequivocally that our technology was not used in this instance,” stated the NSO Group.

The timeline of Bezos’s phone hack is integral, claims the UN report, because around the same time the phones of two very close associates of late journalist Jamal Khashoggi were hacked using the same spyware. The UN has asked the US and other authorities to take notice and investigate the matter on an immediate basis.

Cyber security blunder lead to Private data of 56M Americans to be exposed from China as apparently taken from CheckPeople.com

Security lapses are quite common nowadays and should not come as a surprise. But, there’s a difference between security lapse and blunder, and the recent incident is purely an example of the latter.

According to The Register, a white hat hacker using the Twitter handle @Lynx0x00 identified a database hosting personal sensitive data of over 56.25 million Americans. The database was stored on a computer in China using an IP address located in the Eastern Chinese region Hangzhou. 

The NoSQL database is massive, according to the hacker as it contains roughly 22GB of private data, which includes sensitive information including past and present home addresses, real name, age, and relations as well as phone numbers. What’s worse is that the database is still available for public access without any authentication.

Upon further digging, it was identified that the computer was linked to the Internet via web hosting service facilitated by Alibaba. It can be termed as a grave security blunder because even researchers are perplexed regarding why the information was stored on a Chinese computer and made freely accessible to give spammers and extortionists a chance to exploit it.

The origins of the database are, however, identified. The data belongs to a Florida-based company CheckPeople.com.

This is the homepage 

This company offers an “easy-to-use platform” to help people find information about anyone from the real name, and phone number to relatives and even felonious records for a nominal fee. But, seems like you don’t need to visit this website and pay to get the desired information as the entire data is now stored and accessible on a Chinese computer

In a statement to The Register, CheckPeople is looking into the incident. 

“CheckPeople is unaware of any database of information hosted in China or through Alibaba. CheckPeople’s records are stored in the United States on secure servers. However, CheckPeople takes security issues very seriously and is investigating this matter,” the company said.

This, however, is not the first time when personal data of unsuspected users have been stored and exposed in such a manner. In fact, since 2017, personal details of millions of Americans have been leaked online including household-related data of 123 million individuals, 82 million citizens data in Elasticsearch breach and millions of SMS and personal information of millions of Americans in Microsoft Azure breach.

Fake phones,illégal simcards and un seriousness of Uganda communication commission,Uganda national bureau of standards,carelessness of telecom companies..are making the work of crime investigation too tidious

For a long Time,i have been writing about thé issue of phones and this illégal simcards.Recently i remember writing about thé massive entry of Fake phones with Fake IMEI.it is hard to believe thisbut from around late july to mid October,there was massive importation of such phones in eastafrica and central Africa.The issue of simcards is still a great problème,illegally registres simcards are still being sold by various simcards vendors of whom some are Known by people are selling registered simcards and thèse simcards are sold to non ugandans and those who are apparrently dubious.And m'y question still stands as: Does UCC know this?Do thèse Telecom compagnies know that it is illégal to do such?....Thé only thing i can advise Telecom companies is that thé selling of simcards must bé by well Known and registered people and UCC must also register such people.How do simcards get registered in names of other people? I suspectes two scenerios of which i conclusively proved one.These people who do this registering of simcards get thé of national identity cards of REAL owners and  register thème on multiple simcards decieving thème that thé process is slow or that network is slow,thé Real owners will think that they are repeating thé same process on thé sale simcards yet they are registering another simcards,which they later sell  as already registered simcards.Every one can fall prêy to this trick although it is mainly thé old people and illiterate one who do fall prêy to this trick.
We,you and the rest may be taking this to be a simple issue but it is a problem to security more especially in the cases and during the course of investigations.we have and many know of the various kidnaps of people,and worse of it all of innocent children.it is annoying how such people do call parents of kidnapped kids asking for ransom,recently you heard of a kid who was killed just because of ransom of I hear"200000" Uganda shillings.Yes,the police can track and get such numbers but imagine if such a number is registered in names of a person who did not know that his identity card  was with another phone number.This makes the work of criminal investigation more hard and taking slot of time.with these Fake phones with Fake IMEI,am still on my research and am about to get to a final conclusion. Please ,UCC ,Police and UNBS wake up and fight this nonsense....let us wake up! You are making the work of security agencies to tough,you are making investigation become too costly in terms of time and information gathering..

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