How Many Times Has Your Data Been Exposed to Hackers? Take The Quiz And Know

 The New York Times has come up with a quiz that will tell you if your personal information has been compromised during the recent cyber attacks and leaks of major companies.

Hack has become the new ‘viral’ today. Google is filled from news reports to ‘How To’ hacks. Every month there are revelations about companies being hacked, or the government snooping around millions of its citizens- the list is endless. When the Government itself is not safe from the hackers, how can you possibly think to be! In fact, you could be under attack anytime.

New York Times has created a quiz that will tell you how much of your personal information is already out there. The quiz involves some of the major security breaches that have happened in past two years and if you contacted, or used the services of any of these companies.

The quiz will tell you how many times your personal information like address, social security number, email, password, your financial history and even your fingerprints have been compromised.

The New York Times gave the reasons for your information leak and even the guidelines for you to do next if you were the unlucky one.

Even in a utopian online world, 100 percent safety is not guaranteed. But do not worry. With some awareness and security measures, you can at least try to keep yourself safe in future. Use password managers or two-factor authentication. Monitor your bank accounts and report in case of suspicious money transfers. Don’t reveal your personal information on social media.

Take the quiz here and tell your experiences.

NSA Hacked Kaspersky Labs and Other Anti-virus Software to Track Users

According to the latest documents revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency (NSA) and its British counterpart, Government Communications (GCHQ) Headquarters have reverse engineered the popular security firm Kaspersky Lab and other security solutions providing companies.

The US and British spy agencies have launched this attack on the anti-virus companies since 2008 to track users and breach the networks. According to the Snowden documents revealed by The Intercept, NSA  and GCHQ have reverse engineered popular security software products under “questionable legal authority” and kept an eye the web and email traffic of the users.

While different companies have been under attack, the company which is mentioned repeatedly in the report is the Russia-based Kaspersky Labs. The company is one of the leading security solutions providers, and has more than 270,000 corporate clients and claims to protect more than 400 million spread across the globe.

Below is the screenshot of the leaked 2010 presentation named “Project CAMBERDADA.”

The technique software reverse engineering, or SRE, was used to thwart Kaspersky anti-virus software. The NSA has also shown a keen interest in the past to study the weaknesses and monitored the communications between users and the Kaspersky servers.

The attack on the antivirus companies like Kaspersky makes perfect sense as they are responsible for defending the users from inbound threats. The Intercept says that spy agencies and anti-virus companies share a cat and mouse relationship. If a spy agency is able to find weaknesses in the anti-virus software and hack it, it gives it them the obvious advantage.

The Project CAMBERDADA presentation lists 23 additional AV companies from all over the world under “More Targets!” Take a look below.

A top secret warrant issued by GCGQ tells the same motives behind these attacks: “Personal security products such as the Russian anti-virus software Kaspersky continue to pose a challenge to GCHQ’s CNE [Computer Network Exploitation] capability,” the warrant stated, “and SRE is essential in order to be able to exploit such software and to prevent detection of our activities.”

In an email, Kaspersky Lab told The Intercept, “It is extremely worrying that government organizations would be targeting us instead of focusing resources against legitimate adversaries, and working to subvert security software that is designed to keep us all safe. However, this doesn’t come as a surprise. We have worked hard to protect our end users from all types of adversaries. This includes both common cyber-criminals or nation state-sponsored cyber-espionage operations.”

The Intercept asked for comments from the NSA and GCHQ- which was obviously declined.