Social Media

The messaging app stopped working for about two hours on Tuesday morning. WhatsApp did not provide a cause. LONDON — WhatsApp, the popular messaging app, was inaccessible to users in several countries around the world for about two hours on Tuesday morning, including Britain, India and South Korea. The outage started around 3 a.m. Eastern time, according to Downdetector.com, which tracks internet disruptions, and users reported that services were back up after 5 a.m. Internet service outages are often restored within a few minutes or hours, but given WhatsApp’s size and position as an indispensable communication tool in many countries, every minute without access had added consequences. “We know people had trouble sending messages on WhatsApp today,” Josh Breckman, a spokesman, said in a statement. “We’ve fixed the issue and apologize for any inconvenience.” The statement did not specify the cause or extent of the problem. WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, lets users make calls and send text messages for free over the internet, has more than two billion users around the world. The app is particularly popular in parts of Africa, Europe and South America, where it is used by more than 96 percent of messaging app users in some countries, according to Statista, a company that provides market data. Just 41 percent of messaging app users in the United States use the service, according to the data. In India, WhatsApp’s largest market with hundreds of millions of users, the outage prompted an outpouring of frustration over life coming to a halt, mixed with comic relief over a brief respite from the overwhelming amount of daily spam, from political propaganda to forwarded messages of “good morning” virtual flowers from elderly uncles. “Was WhatsApp not able to handle the Diwali messages of Indians?” joked one user on Twitter, referring to the flood of congratulatory messages over the long holiday weekend. The last major Facebook outage occurred just over a year ago, when Facebook and its family of apps, including Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, went down for about five hours. Before that, Facebook’s biggest outage was in 2019, when a technical issue brought down the services for nearly 24 hours, preventing WhatsApp users from sending messages and Instagram users from viewing other profiles. Tuesday’s outage came at a difficult time for Meta, which recently began a major advertising campaign touting WhatsApp as a safe and reliable alternative to iMessage and other messaging services. Meta has also been struggling to convince customers and investors that a bet by its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, on virtual reality technology and the so-called metaverse will pay off. The company is expected to report a drop in revenue in its earnings report on Wednesday. Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for $22 billion. NOTE:: This article is copyright bynytimes.com and we are using it for educational or Information purpose only

Twitter logged out some users after addressing a bug where some Twitter accounts remained logged on some mobile devices after voluntary password resets. “That means that if you proactively changed your password on one device, but still had an open session on another device, that session may not have been closed. Web sessions were not affected and were closed appropriately,” Twitter explained. There are some potential privacy risks for Twitter users who were affected by this bug, including having their accounts accessed by others who got their hands on devices that remained logged in without the user’s knowledge. Because of this, the company reached out to those who might have been impacted and logged them out of their accounts on all active sessions across all devices. “We have directly informed the people we were able to identify who may have been affected by this, proactively logged them out of open sessions across devices, and prompted them to log in again,” the company “We realize this may be inconvenient for some, but it was an important step to keep your account safe and secure from potential unwanted access.”   In July, Twitter was hit by a data breach after threat actors put up for sale a database of phone numbers and email addresses linked to 5.4 million Twitter accounts stolen in December 2021.  The vulnerability the attacker used to collect the data is one disclosed to Twitter through HackerOne on January 1st and fixed on January 13th, as first reported by Restore Privacy.  Verified with some of the Twitter users listed in a small sample of data shared by the hacker that the leaked private info (email addresses and phone numbers) was accurate. One month later, Twitter confirmed the reports, saying the threat actor used the zero-day vulnerability patched in January to collect private user information.  As part of the disclosure, Twitter told that they had begun sending out notifications to alert impacted users that the data breach exposed their phone numbers or email address. Since July, hacked verified Twitter accounts are also being used to send fake but well-written suspension messages that attempt to steal other verified users’ credentials. NOTE: This article is copyright by bleepingcomputer.com and we are using it for educational or Information purpose only

If you’re experiencing issues on Twitter, you are not the only one, as the social network is currently going through an outage that makes it impossible for users to read tweets and tweet replies on the web. Users report seeing “Something went wrong. Try reloading.” and “Uh oh, there was an error” messages. Mobile users also see the same errors displayed when clicking tweets. When trying to click tweets on the Twitter web app, the only things that show up are the errors and a Retry button underneath, with no sidebar menu. Some users also have issues loading the Twitter website altogether, while others say that their not even able to connect to Twitter’s servers, according to Downdetector. The issue behind the outage remains unclear for now, and the Twitter API status page shows no problems today. Despite this, thousands of users have reported experiencing these issues while trying to use Twitter’s website or mobile app. Until now, the Twitter Support account has remained silent on the current outage, and the company is yet to update the API Status page, which shows that all systems are operational.  Twitter went through a similar outage last month, with the company pinning the issues on “some trouble with our internal systems,” which affected users across the globe.   Earlier today, Twitter announced the introduction of a new Edit Tweet button in the coming weeks, available as part of a test for Twitter Blue subscribers. NOTE:: This article is copyright by bleepingcomputer.com and we are using it for educational or Information purpose only  

Researcher shows how Instagram and Facebook’s use of an in-app browser within both its iOS apps can track interactions with external websites. Users of Apple’s Instagram and Facebook iOS apps are being warned that both use an in-app browser that allows parent company Meta to track ‘every single tap’ users make with external websites accessed via the software. Researcher Felix Krause, who outlined how Meta tracks users in a blog posted Wednesday, claims that this type of tracking puts users at “various risks”. He warns both iOS versions of the apps can “track every single interaction with external websites, from all form inputs like passwords and addresses, to every single tap” via their in-app browsers. iOS users’ concerns over tracking were addressed by Apple’s 2021 release of iOS 14.5 and a feature called App Tracking Transparency (ATT). The added control was intended to require app-developers to get the user’s consent before tracking data generated by third-party apps not owned by the developer. Krause said that both iOS apps Facebook and Instagram are using a loophole to bypassed ATT rules and track website activity within their in-app browsers via the use of a custom JavaScript code used in both in-app browsers. That means, when an iOS user of Facebook and Instagram click on a link within a Facebook and Instagram post (or an ad), Meta launches its own in-app browser which can then track what you do on external sites you visit. Meta’s Use of a JavaScript Injection  “The Instagram [and Facebook] app injects their JavaScript code into every website shown, including when clicking on ads. Even though pcm.js doesn’t do this, injecting custom scripts into third party websites allows them to monitor all user interactions, like every button & link tapped, text selections, screenshots, as well as any form inputs, like passwords, addresses and credit card numbers,” Krause wrote. A PCM.JS code, according to the researcher, is an external JavaScript file injected into websites viewed within the in-app browser. The code is used by both apps and enables both apps to build a communication bridge between in-app website content and the host app.  Meta responded to Krause’s research with a statement published by The Guardian: “We intentionally developed this code to honour people’s [Ask to track] choices on our platforms… The code allows us to aggregate user data before using it for targeted advertising or measurement purposes. We do not add any pixels. Code is injected so that we can aggregate conversion events from pixels.. For purchases made through the in-app browser, we seek user consent to save payment information for the purposes of autofill.” In-App Browsers and Privacy Risks The use of in-app browsers, whether it be Meta’s or another company’s, presents a host of privacy risks, according to Krause. For starters it could allow a company to collect browser analytics, such as taps, input, scrolling behavior and copy-and-paste data without unambiguous user consent. In-app browsers could also be used as a loophole by a firm to steal user credentials and API keys used in host services or inject ads and referrals links to siphon ad revenue from websites, the researcher noted. While citing these as examples, Krause is not accusing Meta of any of these actions. “As my understanding goes, all of [these privacy concerns] wouldn’t be necessary if Instagram were to open the phone’s default browser, instead of building & using the custom in-app browser,” he wrote. FUD-busting FAQ While Krause’s research has sparked outrage with privacy activists and he is careful to temper his research with answers to questions raised by his research. Can Instagram/Facebook read everything I do online? No! Instagram is only able to read and watch your online activities when you open a link or ad from within their apps. Does Facebook actually steal my passwords, address and credit card numbers? No! I didn’t prove the exact data Instagram is tracking, but wanted to showcase the kind of data they could get without you knowing. As shown in the past, if it’s possible for a company to get access to data legally and for free, without asking the user for permission, they will track it. Is Instagram doing this on purpose? I can’t say how the decisions were made internally. All I can say is that building your own in-app browser takes a non-trivial time to program and maintain, significantly more than just using the privacy and user-friendly alternative that’s already been built into the iPhone for the past 7 years. Krause offers advice to privacy-minded users of the apps and suggests that, “whenever you open a link from Instagram (or Facebook or Messenger), make sure to click the dots in the corner to open the page in Safari instead.” Safari, he points out, already blocks third party cookies by default. The researchers is also careful to point out that he does not have a precise list of data both apps send back to Meta. “I do have proof that the Instagram and Facebook app actively run JavaScript commands to inject an additional JavaScript SDK without the user’s consent, as well as tracking the user’s text selections,” he wrote. Apple’s 11-Word Response In July, Apple upped its privacy game and announced a feature called Lockdown Mode that is said offered as “an extreme, optional level of security for the very few users who, because of who they are or what they do, may be personally targeted by some of the most sophisticated digital threats, such as those from NSO Group and other private companies developing state-sponsored mercenary spyware.” The researcher filed what is called an Open Radar Community Bug Report with Apple last month claiming “iOS Lockdown Mode allows custom in-app webviews, host apps can steal information.” Apple responded within a comment to the report simply stating “Thanks for your report. This isn’t what Lockdown Mode is for.” Meta responded directly to Krause’s report stating the PCM.JS JavaScript is used to “helps aggregate events, i.e. online purchase, before those events are used for targeted advertising and measurement for the Facebook platform.” Meta explained to Krause

Thousands of Twitter users across the world are reporting problems connecting to the platform on both desktop and mobile devices. While the Twitter API status page shows no issues for today, almost 55,000 users have reported over the past 30 minutes that that the service is not working. At the time of writing, the browser version of the Twitter app is showing the typical “Something went wrong, but don’t fret — it’s not your fault” errors. On mobile, the service shows the message “Oops, something went wrong. But don’t worry – it’s not your fault,” without providing more details. The issue behind the outage remains unclear at the moment but it is preventing users from retrieving or posting tweets, and problems logging back into their accounts. For now, Twitter’s API Status page shows that all systems are operational. However, trying to reload the page takes much longer than normal. The Twitter Support account is also silent on the current outage. Update 1 [July 14, 09:09 EST]: Twitter’s API Status page has been updated to inform that a “possible outage” is under investigation. The page shows degraded performance for multiple APIs, including endpoints for standard statuses or updates, the v2 streaming Tweets endpoints, and the standard endpoints responsible for searches, followers, user timelines, mentions, and trends. Update 2 [July 14, 12:41 EST]: Twitter has confirmed a few minutes ago “some trouble with our internal systems,” which affected users across the globe. The issues have been fixed and the service should be running normally now. The current Twitter API Status has not added new details about the outage. NOTE:: This article is copyright by bleepingcomputer.com and we are using it for educational or Information purpose only  

WhatsApp is down according to user reports mentioning issues connecting to the messaging platform and the inability to send messages although still connected. Starting roughly one hour ago, users have been describing how they can no longer connect to WhatsApp’s servers, with the application displaying a continuous “Connecting…” message. Others have said that they are no longer able to send messages even though their app is still connected to the messaging platform’s servers. The desktop and mobile apps are still working which hints at the outage being localized and not affecting the company’s services worldwide. Outage site DownDetector shows thousands of user reports that started streaming in around 4:15 PM EST, with affected WhatsApp users reporting the same issues from Europe, North and South America, and Asia. The company has issued a statement on Twitter, acknowledging the outage and saying that its engineers are working on fixing the ongoing issues.   “You may be experiencing some issues using WhatsApp at the moment,” WhatsApp tweeted earlier today. “We’re aware and working to get things running smoothly again. We’ll keep you updated and in the meantime, thanks for your patience.” In early October, WhatsApp experienced a five-hour-long worldwide outage together with Facebook and Instagram following a BGP routing issue. Facebook later revealed that the outage was caused by faulty configuration changes made to some of its backbone routers that brought all services to a halt. Update: According to an update issued by WhatsApp, the connection issues should now be fixed and users can again get back to their chats. NOTE:: This article is copyright bybleepingcomputer.com and we are using it for educational or Information purpose only                     

The phishing attacks are spoofing LinkedIn to target ‘Great Resignation’ job hunters, who are also being preyed on by huge data-scraping bot attacks. Emotionally vulnerable and willing to offer up any information that lands the gig, job seekers are prime targets for social engineering campaigns. And with the “Great Resignation” in full swing, cybercriminals are having an easy time finding their next victim. Just since Feb. 1, analysts have watched phishing email attacks impersonating LinkedIn surge 232 percent, attempting to trick job seekers into giving up their credentials. “Current employment trends help to make this attack more convincing,” a new report from Egress said. “‘The Great Resignation’ continues to dominate headlines, and a record number of Americans left their jobs in 2021 for new opportunities. It is likely these phishing attacks aim to capitalize on jobseekers (plus curious individuals) by flattering them into believing their profile is being viewed and their experience is relevant to household brands.” The emails had subject lines that would be enticing to job hunters hoping to get noticed, like, “Who’s searching for you online,” “You appeared in 4 searches this week” or even “You have 1 new message,” the Egress team said. The phishing emails themselves were convincing dupes, built in HTML templates with the LinkedIn logo, colors and icons, the report added. The scammers also name-checked well-known companies throughout the bodies of the phishing emails, including American Express and CVS Carepoint, to make the correspondence seem more legitimate, the analysts said. Even the email’s footer lifted the company’s headquarters’ address and included “unsubscribe” links to add to the email’s authenticity, the analysts pointed out. “You can also see the LinkedIn display name spoofing, which is designed to hide the webmail accounts used to launch the attacks,” the report said. Once the victim clicks on the malicious links in the email, they were directed to a site to harvest their LinkedIn logins and passwords. “While the display name is always LinkedIn and the emails all follow a similar pattern, the phishing attacks are sent from different webmail addresses that have zero correlation with each other,” the analysts added. “Currently, it is unknown whether these attacks are the work of one cybercriminal or a gang operating together.” Data Scraping Attacks on Job Seekers Besides using potential job leads to trick targets into coughing up their credentials, Imperva, in a separate report, detailed how it stopped the largest bot attack the company has seen to date, on a global job listing site. Imperva didn’t specifically name the company, but the company said that it was bombarded with 400 million bot requests over 400,000 unique IP addresses over four days that tried to scrape all its job seekers’ data. The Imperva team added that these types of web-scraping attacks are common and can result in “lower conversion rates, skewed marketing analytics, decrease in SEO ranking, website latency, and even downtime (usually caused by aggressive scrapers).” But as Imperva pointed out in its report, data scraping is one of those cybersecurity gray areas. Collecting publicly available information isn’t itself a data breach, but collected in mass quantities, it can be a weapon wielded against users in social-engineering attacks. Last summer, a massive data-scraping attack against LinkedIn was discovered to have collected at least 1.2 billion user records that were later sold on underground forums. At the time, LinkedIn reiterated that the scraped data was public information, not private information, and didn’t qualify as a breach. LinkedIn isn’t really at fault here, according to Yehuda Rosen, senior software engineer at nVisium. “This has little to do with LinkedIn specifically – they’re not doing anything wrong here,” Rosen explained. “It boils down to the fact that LinkedIn has hundreds of millions of members – many of whom are very accustomed to seeing frequent legitimate emails from LinkedIn – and may inevitably click without carefully checking that each and every email is the real deal.” That leaves it to individual users to be mindful of the information they expose publicly and how it could be used to trick them into clicking on a malicious link. “While I don’t believe that this will hurt LinkedIn’s brand, this does reiterate the importance of email phishing education,” Ray Kelly, with NTT Application Security, “Given these emails are coming from a legit LinkedIn email address makes it especially difficult to identify the danger. My rule is to never click on email links. Always visit the site directly.” NOTE:: This article is copyright bythreatpost.com and we are using it for educational or Information purpose only