10 Biggest Hacking Attacks of 2014


It is very difficult to decide whether it was the biggest hacking attack or the worst hacking attack that created a sense of insecurity in the mind of common users, 2014 is about to end (well happy new year and holidays) and the echo of the hacking attack carried out in this year, will be listened in the next year or may be in many years after.

2014 was the year of cyber criminals and hackers, their unstoppable hacking attack has shocked the world's population; from corporate sectors to the famous celebrities; everyone seems to be their target. While writing this article, I am still thinking to rearrange the list of hacking attacks because every attack was a disaster and it is not an easy job to give them a rank.


10. Heartbleed Bug


Heartbleed was not an actual hacking attack but heartbleed is a bug/vulnerability in the popular OpenSSL software that led many hackers to exploit the servers. Heatbleed was the serious security threat even six months after of its discovery. One the POC of heartbleed is that the hackers exploited it to steal4.5 Million patient records; Community Health Systems, the renowned hospital operator in U.S was the victim of this hacking attack.

9. Shellshock

ShellShock vulnerability was bigger than HeartBleed Bug. It was affecting Linux and Mac OS X, Shellshock was targeting the kind of machine that runs most of the servers around the globe. Hackers created their botnet that exploited the shellshock vulnerability, some of the famous target was:
Akamai
United States Department of Defense
NAS (network attached storage system)

8. Neiman Marcus Hack

More than 1.1 million customers were affected in the hack of high-end retailer Neiman Marcus. The sophisticated, self-concealing malware was "clandestinely" installed on the department store operator's system. The software then actively tried to collect or "scrape" payment card data from July 16 to Oct. 30, the company explained.

7. Ebay

In May, eBay revealed that hackers had managed to steal personal records of 233 million users. The hack took place between February and March, with usernames, passwords, phone numbers and physical addresses compromised. The notorious Syrian Electronic Army had claimed the responsibility of this attack but Ebay or any other authentic source did not confirm it.

6. South Korea Credit card hack

South Korea credit card hack was the nightmare for the infosec security professionals. Credit card details from almost half of all South Koreans have been stolen and sold to marketing firms. The data was stolen by a computer contractor working for a company called the Korea Credit Bureau that produces credit scores. 20 million South Koreans or 40% of the country's population was the victim of this attack.


5. Home Depot

The payment system of one of the largest home improvement retailer was hacked, the corporation said that the hacking attack was bigger than the one that struck Target Corp. last year. In addition to the 56 million credit-card accounts that were compromised, Home Depot said around 53 million customer email addresses were stolen as well.


4. JPMorgan credit card hack

The JPMorgan Chase & Co breach is being called the worst known compromise in history, affecting approximately 76 million households and 7 million small businesses. Contact information, including name, address, phone number and e-mail address, as well as internal JPMorgan Chase information about the users, was compromised.

3. iCloud Hacks - Celebrities Photos

This is one of the famous hacking attack where hackers have posted the nude pictures of celebrities on the Internet. The privacy of many celebrities were invaded when a hacker obtained personal photographs from various digital devices, and began spreading them across the Internet, all the photographs were stolen from iCloud. Apple said it was a targeted attack and none of the cases they have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple's systems including iCloud(R) or Find my iPhone.

2. Sony Hacks

On November 24, 2014, personally identifiable information about Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) employees and their dependents, e-mails between employees, information about executive salaries at the company, copies of unreleased Sony films, and other information, was obtained and released by a hacker group going under the moniker "Guardians of Peace" or "GOP".


1. Regin

On November, Symantec has discovery piece of software called Regin, which it had found lurking on computers and stealing data in Ireland, Russia, Saudi Arabia and several other countries. Regin may have been created by Western state to spy on governments, it can steal password, take snapshot and even recover the deleted files. Researcher claimed that Regin is more advanced than Stuxnet, which was developed by US and Israel government hackers in 2010 to target the Iranian nuclear programme. The European Union and a Belgian telecommunications company were also the target of Regin.

Cybercrime and hacking attack have reached new heights. At the end of 2014, we should start working to create security awareness in order to prevent the hacking attacks in future. We need more advance protection system and the training to think smarter than hackers; yes we can do this because this is the only option that we have.

Facebook launches new feature to add stickers on the photos

Facebook is releasing a new app called Stickered for Messenger in which you can edit the photo and paste the sticker on the photo. Funny right? “Stickers and photos are two of the most popular ways that people express themselves on Messenger. This is a fun experiment to see how people combine the two” the company tells Tech Crunch. This is the first companion app built for the messenger.

Stickered for Messenger is now available only for android and will be released soon for iOS. Facebook says the stickered for messenger is a “lightweight” app. On the New Year, the selfie camera in Messenger will let you add a new year thread frame over your photo. Snapchat had this feature similar to this one and it also proved to be similar too. Now even Facebook is trying to launch similar style of feature. Additional update including holiday sticker pack rolled out yesterday.

With stickered for messenger you can first choose the pic for which you want to add the sticker. Then after selecting the sticker you can resize, tilt and then paste on the photo as you wish. Due to the snapchat drawing on the photos became so popular in the last few months.

Remote Screen sharing and conroling in windows without any software

Remote sharing is nowadays on its peak, people use remote sharing to provide live support or for sharing screens. Most of us always use third party software’s for sharing or controlling remote systems using software’s like Teamviewer or Radmin etc. Today i am going to teach you guys how to connect any two or as many as windows PC through remote without using any third party tool like team viewer etc. So lets learn how to share screens without any third party tool.As we all knows Windows OS is full of hidden programs that are only limited to developer or geeks. Today we are going to learn about MSRA (windows remote assistance) executable. MSRA is windows inbuilt remote assistance program using which you can control remote pc’s, share remote screens, provide remote support and much more. Lets learn how to use MSRA for remote sharing.

Steps to Share or Control Remote PC using MSRA:

1. First of all click on startup and type command “MSRA” and press enter as shown below:

Type msra in search option

2. Now you will see screen like below having title “Windows Remote Assistance” , there are two options displayed:

Invite someone you trust to help you : Choose this option if you want to share your screen with someone.

Help someone who invited you : Choose this option if you want to control someone others PC remotely.

Click on Option a “Invite someone you trust to help you” to share your screen:

Select shown option to continue

Once you click the above option then you will see below panel with multiple options:

Options displayed for Windows remote assistance

Now you can see three different options :

Send this invitation as file : On clicking this option you can save the invitation file and send it to anyone from which you require help. After saving the file another window will open containing the password. You have to provide that password to person whom you want to connect to your machine.

Use email to send an invitation: You can send invitation directly via email but it requires email client on your machine to send email like outlook etc.

Use Easy connect: Another method to directly connect two PC is using Easy connect but this require some basic settings at your routers end i.e. If the computer has IPv6 disabled or is behind a NAT router that blocks Teredo traffic, the Easy Connect option will be unavailable.

Now once you have send the remote assistance invitation file to user, he can connect to your PC by double clicking the invitation file and then entering the password.

Note: You need to enable remote assistance service.

3. Help someone who invited you : By clicking this option you can provide help to anyone who has done the above task. You will need two things : Invitation file and password to connect remote PC.

Woohooo… Did you know there is another smart option by which you can directly connect to any PC using IP address? If not, well lets learn that too. Yup we can also provide windows remote assistance support using IP address too. Here are options.

1. First of all click on startup and type command “MSRA” and press enter.
2. Now you will see screen where two options are displayed, Select “Help someone who invited you”.
3. After that you will see some option, click on the bottom one “Advanced connection option for help desk” as shown below :

Select advanced connection option for help desk

After clicking option you see below panel to enter IP address:

Enter IP address or computer name

After entering IP address press Next to connect to IP address. That’s all.
Hope you all enjoyed the learning. If you have any queries ask me in form of comments.

How To Change Blogger Template?

When I start blogging on blogger, I used to run my blog on blogger’s default templates. But as I started learning more about blogging I feel that default templates are not so much attractive and professional. They are even not search engine optimized because they all was designed many years ago and don’t even updated a single time after that. Search engines like Google has updated its search algorithms many times and they are continuously updating to improve search results and user’s experience. That’s why it is very important for us as a blogger that we used a SEO friendly template for our blog. We should change our blog’s default theme with any third party templates. That’s why today I bring a tutorial to help newbie bloggers so that they can learn how to change template in blogger.

Change Blogger Template


To change your blog template first you need to download a template from internet which you want to apply to your blog. There are many sources of blogger template on the internet from where you can get lot of professional templates easily for free. Just go to Google and search for “Blogger Templates” and download a template of your choice. Once you have your template, perform below steps.

1. Log in to your Blogger account.

2. Now click on the drop down menu and choose Template.

TEMPLATE SETTING

3. Press Backup/Restore button located at the top right corner.

4. First you should download your existing template as a backup. So, click on “Download full template” button.

DOWNLOAD FULL TEMPLATE

5. Now click on Choose File button and choose your new template which you want to apply to your blog.

TEMPLATE BACKUP & RESTORE

6. Once you select your template, simply click on Upload button for final step.

You are done! 

Note: If you just started your blog then you must read below tutorials to improve your blog performance.

10 Android features that still make it better than iOS 8

ANDROID VS. IOS

Your friends may still be waiting in line to buy a new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, but while they're out there braving the unpredictable weather, you're inside your cozy house customizing the heck out of your Android device. That's the beauty of being an Android user: you can tweak the interface, change up the icons on individual apps, and plop widgets wherever you see fit. Can your iPhone-loving friend do that?

Apple's new iOS 8 may have blatantly appropriated some of Android's marquee features—like the Notifications panel and support for third-party keyboards—but it still misses some of what Android users love about the mobile operating system. Your Apple-using friends may try to rub your nose in their shiny new version of iOS on their shiny new iPhone, so here are ten features that Android has that you can retort with. (And of course, don't forget to remind them that Android L is coming soon, and that will have even more features to boast about.)

Better app management

In Android’s Settings menu, under Application manager, you can force quit and uninstall apps as you see fit. You can also clear the cache for apps that are acting up, or view how much storage space each app takes up. And if your carrier bundles bloatware on your device, you can disable it in STOCKAndroid, or hide it entirely on Samsung and LG’s user interfaces. Best of all, you can choose your own app defaults, so if you really don’t want to use Google Chrome as your browser (for example), you can choose something else from the Google Play Store.

android appinfo2 You can force stop, uninstall, or disable an app, and clear its data or cache if it's bumming out your OS, man.

iOS 8 merely allows you to force-quit an application by swiping up on the app in the App Switcher. You can delete an app by long-pressing it on the interface or through iTunes. But you don’t have much control over whether or not you want to use Safari as your default browser, for example, and not many applications offer transparent options for limiting how much room its data takes up.

Widgets on Home and Lock screens

It's wonderful that Apple finally allowed widgets inside iOS’s notifications panel, but it's too little, too late. Android users have been able to plop widgets on both the Home screen and the Lock screen for years now.

android widgets Widgets may take up the screen, but it's up to you to choose which offer valuable information.

Most widgets come bundled with an application when you download it from the Google Play Store. The FitBit widget, for instance, helps you track your steps and how many calories you've burned throughout the day, while the Google Keep widget lets you quickly pen notes and voice reminders to yourself with just a tap of a button. There are even customizable widgets available, like Elixir 2 Widgets, which lets you create custom widgets for your Home screen.

Total interface customization

iOS 8 may have a few new neat new interface perks, but the overall interface of Apple’s mobile operating system hasn't evolved much over the years. It's still the same old grid of icons, one stacked after the other. You can't hide apps, and you still have to cycle through various screens to find the app you want to use. You can’t even change the icons or really customize how things appear, save for changing the wallpaper.

android interface On Android, you can use apps like Beautiful Icon Styler to style individual app icons. Here, I'm using two different icon packs.

Android allows you to customize the interface as you see fit. You can move icons around, group them however you like, ban apps to the Application Drawer so that they're there if you need them but aren't taking up Home screen space, and toss in a few widgets to change it up a bit. You can even use apps like Beautiful Icon Styler to quickly change the icons on your Home screen.

And, if you really want an interface makeover, you can download one of the many different launcher apps in the Google Play Store to tweak every little nook and cranny of the Android interface.

Transit directions in Maps

android transit Don't feel like taking the bus? Take the subway! Don't feel like taking the subway? Take an Uber! Google Maps offers many options.

Apple may have fixed its Maps app since its disastrous launch in iOS 6, but when you ask it for directions it still won't tell you how to get there by bus. Google Maps offers options for different types of transit, too, so if you decide to take a boat, bus, or train to get to where you're going, you're covered. And while some might not be too crazy about the fact that there's Uber integration in Google Maps, at least you have the option to call for a ride when you're in a bind.

Easy split-screen multitasking

While split-screen multitasking isn’t a feature that comes with stock Android, manufacturers like LG and Samsung have made it a standard part of their interfaces. Samsung calls it Multi Window Mode, and LG calls it Dual Window, but both do exactly the same thing: allow you to use two apps simultaneously, side-by-side. It’s something that every large-screened phone or tablet should have to make it easier to flip between apps.

LG G3 dual window

LG's Dual Window lets you run two apps side by side with ease.

At present, iOS 8 does not have a feature for split-screen multitasking. There’s hearsay that Android L will have it at launch, but nothing has been confirmed. Still, it’s a good example of how Android’s openness has enabled the development of these types of features, and the more users clamor for it the more it seems to become a standard part of the interface.

Individual user profiles for tablets

There’s nothing worse than having to share your device with a kid. They’re already getting their grubby, sticky fingers all over your phone or tablet, and now you have to accommodate them with apps to keep them entertained? Ugh.

androidusers primary Michael Homnick

You might have to share your tablet, but you don't have to share your apps, or your data.

That’s why Android’s profiles were a welcome respite for all the inevitable gadget sharing. It essentially allows you to create different partitions in the operating system with its own custom apps and settings. Currently, this feature is limited just to Android tablets running Jelly Bean and above, but there's some evidence that it might come to smartphones too in Android L.

NFC available for more than tap-to-pay

It's pretty cool that iOS users can use the NFC chip in their new iPhones to pay for stuff, except that Apple Pay won't be available for another month. Android users already have this capability—and the ability to do more than just pay for stuff.

nfc lead image

Paste NFC chips anywhere in your house to make your phone do cool things.

Apple won’t open up the NFC capabilities to other developers in iOS 8. So, while you can use your Android phone to do things like walk into a room and swipe the phone on an NFC tag to engage Do Not Disturb mode, your iPhone-using friend can only use his smartphone to pay for things like nachos at the baseball game. Been there, done that.

Keep music, movies, and more on a MicroSD card

Apple requires as much as 5.8GB of free space before it will let you upgrade your iPhone to iOS 8, which has caused a lot of users to go through deletion anxiety. It wouldn't be such an issue if iOS users could store their videos, images, and music on a MicroSD card.

Android users can. If you want up to 128GB more room to store photos, music, and videos, all you have to do is buy the MicroSD card and then pop it into the phone or tablet. And while it’s true that Android KitKat nixed some of the powerful abilities of expandable storage, you can at least still move over those extraneous files as you see fit. Oh, and you can use a USB flash drive, too.

More phone security options

android screenlock Choose a screen lock—any screen lock!

The iPhone lets you swipe, scan a fingerprint, or enter in a four-number PIN number to unlock your device. Android offers more choice: you can enter in a PIN number that's four or more numbers, trace a pattern across a grid of dots, have Android scan your face, or use a super long password to unlock the phone. Samsung’s Galaxy S5 also lets you use a fingerprint scanner, if you so wish, while the LG G3 has its neat Knock Code. Also, when you encrypt your Android device, the OS requires that you set up a PIN number or pattern to keep your phone locked up. It’s one good way to get in the habit of password protecting your phone, and if all else fails and you still lose your device you can track it down with the web-based Android Device Manager.

Installing apps from the web—or anywhere

This is simply one of the best things about Android. If you want to install an app, you can type in "play.google.com" from any web browser, log in with your Google account, and hit Install to download an app to any of your linked Android devices. The iTunes App Store doesn't really exist on the web for iOS devices; if you click to install an app, it opens up iTunes or the mobile App Store app on a device.

Also cool: if you want to try out a new app that’s in beta, or simply can’t wait for the Google Play Store to push out an update, all you have to do is download the appropriate APK from a trusted source and then sideload it on to your device. You don't need to be a hacker to do this, and it’s easy-to-do hacks like this that make Android that much more customizable than iOS.

Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook is 'thinking about' a dislike button

MARK ZUCKERBURG

Facebook is considering ways users can express their feelings beyond the Like button, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during a Q&A at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park Thursday.

"We're thinking about it," Zuckerberg said when asked whether the social network would ever add the long-requested dislike button

He quickly clarified that such a button likely wouldn't say "dislike" on it. Instead, he said, people often want to react to posts they see on Facebook with sentiments other than "like."

"Everyone feels like they can just push the Like button, and that's an important way to sympathize or empathize with someone," Zuckerberg told the audience. But there are times when you may want the simplicity of a one-click response but a "like" doesn't feel appropriate, he added.

"We need to figure out the right way to do it so it ends up being a force for good, not a force for bad," he said — because a "dislike" or other negative sentiment could easily be used for the wrong reasons. It's worth noting this isn't the first time Zuckerberg has claimed to be "thinking about" a dislike button— he's made similar comments as far back as 2010.

The Facebook CEO also defended the social network's recent controversial real names policy, which requires Facebook users to identify themselves by their legal names, saying it encourages accountability among users.

"It's part of building a safe community," he said. On Facebook, most people refer to themselves by their real name and that's a very important part of our culture."

The goal, Zuckerberg added, is to make the social network a "reflection of real world relationships" and that the real name policy "grounds everyone in that reality."

He also addressed another recent controversy: Facebook's experiments. Specifically, the highly cited emotional manipulation study that experimented with hiding various posts on users' news feeds to see whether it would affect their mood.

"Testing is a really important part of how Facebook works overall," Zukerberg explained.

He initially defended the test saying the company thought it "had a responsibility to the community" to investigate issues that could affect the "emotional or psychological wellbeing" of users. "We could have done it a lot better," he said.

Zuckerberg was also asked about his New Year's resolutions, which included becoming fluent in Mandarin. He revealed his goal for 2014 was to send one thank-you note a day, and said he's still not sure about his 2015 goal.

8 Super Windows 8.1 Tweaks For Power Users

Whether you’re using Windows 8.1 on a desktop, tablet, or something in between, there are a variety of useful tweaks you should know about. These options allow you to do everything from making Windows 8.1 work better on a desktop PC to tweaking the way it works on a tablet.

Many of these options are all-new in Windows 8.1 or have moved from where they were in Windows 8. Windows 8.1 is quite a large update compared to Microsoft’s old service packs for previous versions of Windows.

Tweak Desktop Integration

Windows 8.1 brings many useful options for desktop users. If Windows 8 was Microsoft’s declaration of war on desktop users, these options in Windows 8.1 are an attempted peace offering from Microsoft.

To access these options, right-click the desktop taskbar and select Properties. Click the Navigation tab and use the options here to configure Windows 8.1 to your liking. You can have Windows boot to the desktop, show your desktop background on the Start screen, show the Apps view automatically when you activate the Start button, and disable the app switcher and charms hot corners that appear when you move your mouse to the top-left and top-right corners of your screen.

Tweak Desktop Integration

Delete Old Windows Installation Files

When you upgrade from an old version of Windows, Windows keeps a C:\Windows.old folder with your old files in case there’s a problem. If your upgrade process went well and you have all your old files, you can delete this folder to free up gigabytes of disk space.

To do this, press Windows Key + S, search for Disk Cleanup, and click the Free up disk space shortcut. Click the Clean up system files button, enable the Previous Windows installation(s) option, and run a disk cleanup. If you don’t see this option, there’s nothing to clean up.

Delete Old Windows Installation Files

Remove Old Wireless Networks

Windows 8.1 no longer allows you to forget WiFi networks you’ve saved in the graphical interface. If you still want to do this, you can do so from the Command Prompt. Press Windows Key + X and click Command Prompt (Admin). Run the following command to view your saved wireless networks and their names:

netsh wlan show profiles

Next, run the following command to delete a saved WiFi network:

netsh wlan delete profile name=”PROFILE”

Remove Old Wireless Networks

Restore Libraries

Microsoft hid libraries by default in Windows 8.1. You can re-enable them from the File Explorer window if you still want to use them.

To do this, open a File Explorer window, click the View tab on the ribbon, and click the Options button. Activate the Show libraries option at the bottom of the Folder Options window.

Restore Libraries

Disable SkyDrive Integration

Microsoft doesn’t provide an easy way to disable SkyDrive integration on Windows 8.1. On typical versions of Windows 8.1, you can only disable this via the registry editor, if you activated SkyDrive integration when you set up your Windows user account.

We don’t recommend disabling this as so many features in Windows 8.1 depend on SkyDrive, but you can disable it if you really want. The easiest way to do so is by downloading theDisable_SkyDrive_Integration.reg file from here and double-clicking it. This will save you from having to edit the registry by hand.

Disable SkyDrive Integration

Disable Automatic Brightness

Windows now has integrated support for automatically adjusting your screen’s brightness level, which it will do on laptops and tablets with brightness sensors. Automatically adjusting your brightness can help your device save battery power.

If you’d rather control your screen’s brightness on your own, you can disable this from the Power Options window. Press Windows Key + S, type Power Options, and select the Power Options shortcut to open it.

Click Change plan settings next to the power plan you’re using and then select Change advanced power settings. Expand the Display section, expand Enable adaptive brightness, and set it to Off. You can disable it while plugged in and only use it on battery power, if you like.

Disable Automatic Brightness

Disable Bing Search

Windows 8.1 includes integrated Bing search, so you can search with Bing from the system-wide search charm. This also means that Windows sends your search terms to Bing, even if you’re just searching for apps, settings, and files on your local computer. You can disable this integration from the PC settings app if you’d rather not use it.

To do this, open the Change PC settings app — press Windows Key + C, click or tap the Settings icon, and select Change PC settings. Select Search and apps and disable the Use Bing to search online option.

Disable Bing Search

Use Quiet Hours

Windows 8.1’s integrated notifications pop up and notify you about new emails, tweets, and other information. This can be a serious distraction if you’re using your computer for work and you’d rather focus on what you need to do.

If you never want to see notifications during work hours or another period of time, you can use the Quiet Hours feature. In the PC Settings app, navigate to Search and apps > Notifications and select the quiet hours you want to use.

Use Quiet Hours

Remember to use the power user menu, too — either press Windows Key + X or right-click on the taskbar’s Start button to open it. This menu allows you to quickly access important applications like the Control Panel and quickly shut down your computer. It helps make up for the lack of a pop-up Start menu on Windows 8.1’s desktop.

Do you know any other great power-user tricks for Windows 8.1 users? Leave a comment and share them!

Google Removes All Pirate Bay Apps From the Play Store

PIRATE BAY APPLICATION

As part of a crackdown on piracy, Google has begun removing all Android apps related to The Pirate Bay from the Play Store. Anything that can be used to search and download from the popular torrent repository has been given the chop for violating Google’s content policy.

Some of the apps that have been pulled are The Pirate Bay Proxy, The Pirate Bay Premium, The Pirate Bay Mirror, and PirateApp — some of which were very popular. The apps were essentially just web browsers built specifically for accessing The Pirate Bay, and some had built-in proxy configurations so that users could avoid any restrictions placed upon torrent sites by their ISPs.

The reason for their removal, according to an email Google sent to developers, which was obtained by TorrentFreak, is, “Violation of the intellectual property and impersonation or deceptive behavior provisions of the Content Policy.” Google advises developers to “refer to the IP infringement and impersonation policy help article for more information.”

Google has also given those who have built Pirate Bay apps a “policy strike,” and it warns that repeat offenders could have their accounts terminated.

Gavin, the developer behind The Pirate Bay Proxy, an app with over 900,000 downloads and 45,000 active users every day, told TorrentFreak that he had tried to appeal Google’s decision by arguing that his app did little more than a traditional web browser pointed at the Pirate Bay website.

“The app is no different from Firefox or Chrome in that it’s a tool which provides access to TPB or any other web address,” Gavin said. However, Google disagrees, and it has denied Gavin’s appeal and confirmed it will not be reinstating his app in the Play Store.

If you’ve already downloaded Pirate Bay apps on your Android device, you can continue to use them. They won’t get any more updates, though, and if you do happen to wipe them, you won’t be able to redownload them from the Play Store.

Those who don’t have any Pirate Bay apps already will simply have to access the mobile site via Chrome or another Android web browser.

Facebook, Google, And Twitter’s War For App Install Ads

APP INSTALL ADS

An expected consequence of our love apps is that now there’s just too damn many of them. The app stores are overcrowded, leaving developers desperate for a way to get their games and utilities discovered. That is why the app install ad has become the lifeblood of the mobile platform busin

ess.

Big brands aren’t the only ones to suck up to anymore. No one buys a car or Coca-Cola on their phone, at least not yet, so proving the return on investment of mobile ads to these businesses is tough. There is one thing people willinstantly plop down a few bucks for on the small screen, though: Apps.

Lured by billions in app install ad spend per quarter and hoping to grow that pie, Facebook, Twitter, and Google have stepped up. But to win those dollars, they have to buddy up to developers.

Facebook and Twitter really have Apple and Google to thank. The critical need for app install ads stems from their negligence around app discovery. The App Store and Google Play provide search engines and Top 10 charts, but little in the way of personalized, social-proofed browsing or discovery. Basically the only way to get a hit app is to score enough downloads to break into the charts, and let the added visibility keep you there. That’s a struggle unless your app is inherently viral, kooky, or great enough to inspire word of mouth, or you win the favor of the app store editors who choose who to feature.

But then there were app install ads.

Rise Of The Install Ad

Before the big platforms redefined their roadmaps to pry open developers’ wallets, a slew of independent ad networks ruled the space.

AdMob, InMobi, Jumptap and Millennial Media flourished in the early mobile era. These let developers buy ads to promote their apps on mobile websites and other apps, or host them to earn money. The little pop-up banners and interstitials hawking games and shopping portals were inarguably annoying, but they worked to a degree even if they lacked advanced targeting data. Without a sales force or much know-how, developers could monetize their apps by selling ad space or buy growth for their products.

Google saw the potential of mobile advertising and bought the big dog AdMob in 2009, while Apple launched its own ad network iAd in 2010. Both ran app install ads, but those weren’t their sole focus. It wasn’t until 2012 when the real landslide shift from desktop usage to mobile happened that Facebook wised up.

Mark Zuckerberg’s company was in a bad place. Freshly IPO’d with no revenue on mobile as its users moved there, Facebook’s share price was getting crushed. While it had owned a popular web platform for gaming where it earned a 30% tax on in-app purchases, it didn’t own one on mobile after its HTML5 mobile web platform fizzled out. All the taxes were flowing to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android stores, even though apps were relying on Facebook’s free social login, friend finding, and sharing features.

What Facebook did have was relationships with developers, deep ad targeting data, and a steady influx of tons of mobile eyeballs.

Facebook’s mobile monetization platform strategy had been a bit far-fetched: Hook developers up with social sharing APIs, and hope users pushed their content from Facebook-connected apps back to the web or mobile News Feed to where Facebook shows ads.

The social network’s relationship with developers had become strained, though, after years of whiplash product and API changes. Even its garishly-named “Operation Developer Love” program to warn app makers of impending changes couldn’t shake the stigma. Viral channels opened and closed, functionality appeared and disappeared, and developers became weary of investing in developing on an unstable platform.

But app install ads let Facebook use its consistent mobile app traffic to turn things around. In August 2012,Facebook announced it would make app install ads its first ad unit not triggered by an action of a friend. By October they were rolling out, and I described Facebook’s strategy as “making a big bet on the app economy…to be the top source of discovery outside of the app stores.”

The ad units looked downright ugly compared to later versions, but early reports from advertisers were positive. Twitter had already seen developers experimenting with ads to drive app installs since at least 2012. With the formal launch of its app install Cards that could be amplified with Promoted Tweet ads in April 2013, it let developers turn a download of their app into the buzz at the global water cooler.

The battlelines were drawn. Facebook with its in-feed app install ads, Twitter’s promotable app install cards, and Google’s AdMob. Each has its own strength. Facebook knows a lot about who you are, Twitter knows what you talk about and are interested in, and Google deeply understands what you do on the Internet plus had a head start in the market. The next few years would see them turn app install ads from an ATM bolted onto the outside of their business to a full-fledged bank built on the ground-floor of their platform strategies.

Why App Install Ads Work

The web’s decline is dragging the banner ad towards its grave. On mobile, there’s no room for a shotgun approach of riddling the small screen with tiny, low-quality, poorly targeted marketing messages.

Instead, mobile ads are often shown one at a time. That means better targeting goes a long way. This has allowed platforms like Google, Facebook, and Twitter to outcompete the independent ad networks like Millenial Media by combining powerful personal data with native app install ad formats that blend into their content

While many would like to see banners ads die a painful death, app install ads are some of the only banners that can succeed on mobile. That’s because app install ads have two big advantages on mobile compared to traditional brand ads:

Apps Are Easy To Buy – Most iOS and Android users already have their credit card connected to their operating system’s app store. Users don’t need to clumsily input their payment details anywhere. Apps provide instant gratification since there’s no delay waiting for a physical object to ship, their low price means they can bought as impulse purchases without extra research necessary, and the diversity of apps means they appeal to a very wide demographic.

Installs Are Easy To Track – Conversions for app install ads are straightforward to measure, compared to mobile ads promoting products bought offline. Advertisers demand to see proof of return on investment on their ads to keep spending. This is difficult for traditional brand advertisers on mobile, as it’s difficult to tell if an ad for Honda or Coke actually led to conversions. It’s possible, but even then it’s unclear how much the mobile ads contributed to the purchase decision.But through software development kits (SDKs) and mobile tracking partners, Facebook, Twitter, and Google can all clearly measure when an app install ad leads directly to an actual install. As long as these installs produce users with lifetime values higher than the ad price, they’re ROI positive and developers will keep buying them.

With the app stores just getting more cluttered, developers began pouring cash into the ad format. By the end of April 2013, I suggested app install ads could become Facebook’s “growing cash calf”and wrote that “While brand advertising was the rock of Facebook’s desktop ads business, app install ads could form the base of the mobile ad business its future depends on.”

When Facebook revealed its earnings for that quarter, it noted that developers, including 40% of the top 100 on iOS and Android, had already bought 25 million installs. The ads contributed “real revenue” to its bottom line said Mark Zuckerberg, and helped total ad revenue from mobile jumped from 23% to 30%. Meanwhile, app install ads had helped Twitter file to IPO with over 65% of ad revenue coming from mobile. By late 2013, the world had proof that app install ads were poised to become a giant business.

PlAdform Strategy

Simply selling ads would have been a missed opportunity, though. Driving installs is so important to developers that, lacking operating systems, Facebook and Twitter built their mobile platform strategies around app ads. The goal: provide high-quality services and tools to developers in order to form relationships that lead to ad buys.

Facebook + Parse

That’s why Facebook bought Parse, a mobile-backend-as-a-service that takes some of the development work out of building and hosting apps. It would form the base of Facebook’s Build-Grow-Monetize strategy.

Essentially, Facebook offers solid, affordable development tools and SDKs for managing and testing apps through Parse, or adding social login and sharing to News Feed. These also aids ad targeting by letting Facebook know who has installed an app with its SDK. Once it has its hooks in, Facebook can then coax these developers to grow by buying its app install ads.

The last part, “monetize,” was a little hazy until recently. The expectation was that thanks to Facebook’s development and growth assistance, apps could make money on their own by hosting ads, virtual goods, or ecommerce. But Facebook wasn’t getting a cut of that until April 2014 when it launched the Facebook Audience Network, an ad network that lets advertisers target ads they buy in third-party apps be targeted using Facebook’s extensive personal data treasure trove. Suddenly,Facebook could pay developers by getting them to host its ads…which very well might be app install ads from other developers.

It’s a feedback loop where Facebook helps apps get built until they pay it to grow until they’re big enough that it pays them to help others grow. And it’s a lucrative one. Facebook earned $1.95 billion in Q3 2014 on mobile ads alone, and is suspected that a sizable chunk of that comes from app installs.

Google + AdMob

All the while, it appeared Google was resting on its laurels, satisfied to enjoy the gains from its prescient acquisition of AdMob. But it finally saw how hard others were chasing the market, and invested more resources. It had less reason to rush than Facebook and Twitter, as its ownership of Android gives it a steady income from taxes on in-app purchases. While they scrambled, Google calmly kept improving AdMob’s targeting and conversion tracking.

By April 2014, Google was ready to wrestle for the limelight,launching enhanced app install ads on AdMob that leverage the giant’s data on what apps people download, use, and spend money in. Beyond installs, it would join Facebook and Twitter in offering app re-engagement ads built on deeplinks that get users back into apps they’ve already downloaded, and straight to relevant purchase pages like HotelTonight listings for a city they just arrived in.

After a messy year for Google+ spent working on its login platform for third-party apps, Google finally brought its app install ads to mobile search and YouTube in August. That’s a full two years after Facebook put them in its mobile feed.

Though Google’s mobile search traffic keeps it far in first place for total mobile ad share, its piece of the pie isexpected to shrink while Facebook’s grows. eMarketer believes Google will fall to 44.6% of mobile ad market share by the end of 2014 from above 50% two years ago, while it projects Facebook will grow to 20.4% from a mere 5.4% in 2012, and Twitter is expected to grow from 2.25% in 2013 to 2.64% in 2014. That’s why Google’s CFO said on its recent earnings call that “Our focus [is] on helping developers generate app downloads.”

Where’s Apple?

Beyond its iAd ad network, Apple’s largely been silent regarding the app install ad business even though it’s a huge reason it exists. Mainstream iPhone users rely on Apple’s top charts and editors’ picks to discover apps. Despiteacquiring app discovery site Chomp in 2012, the experience of digging great apps out the million in the store hasn’t gotten much better.

If developers don’t have the clout or virality to get on the charts, they have to buy their way there. That’s led some to like Hunter Walk to wonder if Apple could barge into the market with app install ads on the App Store itself or elsewhere on iPhones and iPads. iOS 8 can offer location-based recommendations for apps other people nearby frequently download, such as the Starbucks app when you’re in one the cafes. It’s sensible to assume it could sell these recommendation slots.

For now, though, it seems dead-focused on its high-margin hardware business, ceding the opportunity to the other platforms.

Deciding A Winner

With the app store overpopulation problem getting worse at an accelerating pace, app install ads will only grow in importance. They could take on new forms, though.

As apps evolve to be more vivid, so might their ads. Facebook is deeply investing in video advertising with its recent acquisition of LiveRail. It could combine LiveRail’s video ad inventory across the web with its targeting and developer connections to sell video app install ads that really show how fun or useful an app can be.

Developers are also experimenting with Twitter’s Vine video sharing social network. They get Vine creators with huge followings to make sketches about their apps or name-drop them by commissioning the stars through content monetization networks like Niche [Disclosure: Niche was founded by my cousin Darren Lachtman]. Some devs then pay again to promote tweets containing the Vines that shill their apps.

Contextual home screens that replace Android’s default launcher app navigation and folders with dynamic suggestions of apps you might need at the moment could also host app install ads. Popular home screen Everything.mealready sells its app recommendation slots. There are also pre-install deals with carriers and manufacturers where devs might pay upfront or a cut of future earnings to have their app come with a phone.

Ultimately, it is the balance sheet that will decide the winner of the app install ad war, though is likely to be more of an ongoing turf war than one with a uncontested conqueror.

Which platform has the best targeting and ad formats that can deliver the best conversion rates at scale and can prove the highest lifetime value per user for the lowest ad prices? If Facebook, Twitter, or Google can prove they supply the highest return for app install ad spend, developers will come running. And not only will the victor get the spoils as developers thrust open their wallets, they’ll become the gate-keeper to success in the new app economy.

TOP 10 Black Hat Hacker and their story

To accompany the technological advancements of the computer world and the constant changing definition of a hacker, we thought it was time to look back at ten of the most notorious black hat hackers and the legendary hacks that earned them such a title.

First, it should be known that a black hat hacker is computing slang for a person who engages in illegal or malicious hacking. A white hat hacker is a computer hacker who intends to improve internet security. It is note-worthy that many white hat hackers, such as Steve Jobs of apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, and even many hackers listed below, were once black hat hackers.

After reading these all tell us in comment who inspired you and who is now your favourite.

10. Kevin Poulsen (Dark Dante)

The notorious ’80s black hat hacker, Kevin Poulsen, gained recognition for his hacking of the telephone lines for LA radio station KIIS-FM, securing himself a place as the 102nd caller and winning a brand new Porsche 944, among other prizes. Law enforcement dubbed Poulsen the “Hannibal Lecter of computer crime.” Poulsen went underground as a fugitive when the FBI began its search for him, but in 1991, he was finally captured.

He pleaded guilty to seven counts of mail, wire and computer fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and for obtaining information on covert businesses run by the FBI. Kevin Poulsen was sentenced to 51 months in prison (4 years and 3 months), which was the longest sentence ever given for hacking at the time. However, since serving time, Poulsen has worked as a journalist and is now a senior editor for Wired News. Poulsen’s most note-worthy article details his work on identifying 744 sex offenders with MySpace profiles.

9. Albert Gonzalez

Cyber-criminal Albert Gonzalez has been accused of masterminding the biggest ATM and credit card theft in history; from 2005 to 2007, he and his cybergroup had allegedly sold more than 170 million card and ATM numbers. Gonzalez’s team used SQL injection techniques to create malware backdoors on several corporate systems in order to launch packet-sniffing (specifically, ARP Spoofing) attacks, allowing him to steal computer data from internal corporate networks. When he was arrested, authorities seized $1.6 million in cash including $1.1 million found in plastic bags placed in a three-foot drum which had been buried in his parents’ backyard. In 2010, Gonzalez was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.

8. Vladimir Levin

It’s almost like the opening of a James Bond movie: in 1994, while working from his laptop from his Russian apartment in St. Petersburg, Vladimir Levin transferred $10 million from the accounts of Citibank clients to his own accounts around the world.However, Levin’s career as a hacker was only short lived, with a capture, imprisonment and recovery of all but $400,000 of the original $10 million. During Levin’s 1997 trial in the United States, he was said to have coordinated the first ever internet bank raid. The truth is Levin’s ability to transfer Citibank client funds to his own accounts was possible through stolen account numbers and PINs. Levin’s scam was a simple interception of clients’ calls while recording the punched in account numbers.

7. Robert Tappan Morris

On November 2, 1988, Robert Morris released a worm that took down one-tenth of the Internet, crippling 6,000 plus computer systems. It didn’t take long for the police to track him down. Due in part to the need for social acceptance that seems to be common amongst many young hackers, Morris made the fault of chatting about his worm for months before its release on the Internet. Morris claimed it was just a stunt, and added that he truly regretted causing $15 million worth of damage: the estimated amount of carnage his worm left behind.

Morris was one of the first to be tried and convicted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act but only had community service and a fine as his penalty. The defense for such a light sentence was that Morris’ worm didn’t destroy the actual contents of affected computers. Morris now works in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

6. Michael Calce (MafiaBoy)





In February of 2000, Michael Calce launched a series of widely known denial-of-service attacks against large commercial websites, including Yahoo!, Amazon.com, Dell, eBay, and CNN. He hacked Yahoo! when it was still the web’s leading search engine and caused it to shutdown for about an hour. Like many hackers, Calce exploited websites primarily for pride and establishing dominance for himself and his cybergroup, TNT. In 2001, the Montreal Youth Court sentenced Calce to eight months of open custody, one year of probation, restricted use of the Internet, and a minimal fine.

5. David Smith

Smith’s fame is due to being the author of the infamous e-mail virus, Melissa. Smith claims that the Melissa virus was never intended to cause harm, but its simple means of propagation (each infected computer sent out multiple infected emails) overloaded computer systems and servers around the world. Smith’s virus takes an unusual turn in that it was originally hidden in a file that contained passwords to 80 well-known pornography websites. The name Melissa was derived from a lap dancer Smith met while on a trip in Florida. Even though over 60,000 email viruses have been discovered, Smith is the only person to go to federal prison in the United States for sending one.

4. Adrian Lamo

Nicknamed “the homeless hacker,” Adrian Lamo used coffee shops, libraries and internet cafés as his locations for hacking. Apart from being the homeless hacker, Lamo is widely-known for breaking into a series of high-profile computer networks, which include The New York Times, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and MCI WorldCom. In 2002, he added his name to the The New York Times’ internal database of expert sources and utilized LexisNexis account to conduct research on high-profile subjects. The Times filed a complaint, and a warrant for Lamo’s arrest was issued, followed by a 15-month investigation by federal prosecutors in New York.

After several days in hiding, he finally surrendered to the US Marshals, and then to the FBI. Lamo was ordered to pay approximately $65,000 in damages and was sentenced to six months house arrest at his parents’ home, with an additional two years of probation. In June 2010, Lamo disclosed the name of Bradley Manning to U.S. Army authorities as the source of the July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike video leak to Wikileaks. Lamo is presently working as a threat analyst and donates his time and skills to a Sacramento-based nonprofit organization.

3.George Hotz





The name of the acclaimed jailbreak artist, George Hotz, will forever be associated with the April 2011 PlayStation breach. Being one of the first hackers ever to jailbreak the Sony PlayStation 3, Hotz found himself in the midst of a very relentless, public and messy court battle with Sony – perhaps worsened by Hotz’s public release of his jail breaking methods. In a stated retaliation to Sony’s gap of the unstated rules of jail breaking – never prosecute – the hacker group Anonymous attacked Sony in what would be the dubbed as the most costly security break of all time to date.

Hackers broke into the PlayStation Network and stole personal information of some 77 million users. However, Hotz denied any responsibility for the attack, and added “Running homebrew and exploring security on your devices is cool; hacking into someone else’s server and stealing databases of user info. is not cool.”


2. Jonathan James (c0mrade)





Jonathan James, 16-year-old black hat hacker, became the first juvenile imprisoned for cybercrime in the United States. James gained his notoriety by implementing a series of successful intrusions into various systems. At an amazingly young age of 15, James specialized in hacking high-profile government systems such as NASA and the Department of Defense. He was reported to have stolen software worth over $1.7 million. He also hacked into the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and intercepted over 3,000 highly secretive messages passing to and from the DTRA employees, while collecting many usernames and passwords.
On May 18, 2008, at the age of 25, James committed suicide using a gun. The words in his suicide note provide some insight into this obviously brilliant but troubled youth who thought he would be a scapegoat and blamed for cyber crimes he did not commit: “I have no faith in the ‘justice’ system. Perhaps my actions today, and this letter, will send a stronger message to the public. Either way, I have lost control over this situation, and this is my only way to regain control.”

1. Gary McKinnon



In 2002, an exceptionally odd message appeared on a US Army computer screen: “Your security system is crap,” it read. “I am Solo. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels.” It was later identified as the work of Scottish systems administrator, Gary McKinnon.

McKinnon suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, which is the least severe form of autism. The symptoms of Asperger’s syndrome certainly match Gary’s actions: that is, highly intelligent with an exceptional understanding of complex systems. Though sufferers often have difficulty reading social cues and acknowledging the impact of their often-obsessive behavior, they tend to be geniuses in one particular subject. For Gary, it was computers.

Gary has been accused of executing the largest ever hack of United States government computer networks — including Army, Air Force, Navy and NASA systems. The court had recommended that McKinnon be apprehended to the United States to face charges of illegally accessing 97 computers, causing a total of $700,000 in damage. Even more interesting are McKinnon’s motives for the large scale hackings, which he claims were in search of information on UFOs. He believed the US government was hiding such information in its military computers.

+ Kevin Mitnick

Kevin David Mitnick (born on August 6, 1963) is an American computer security consultant, author, and hacker. In the late 20th century, he was convicted of various computer- and communications-related crimes. At the time of his arrest, he was the most-wanted computer criminal in the United States. Mitnick gained unauthorized access to his first 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.

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-mail.

Now tell us in comment whose story inspired you and who is your favourite