Zoom's Web Client is Down, Users Report 403 Forbidden Errors

By Sergiu Gatlan April 3, 2020 11:20 AM



Zoom users are currently reporting that they are unable to use the Zoom web client or start and attend webinars, with reports saying that the web client is throwing '403 Forbidden' errors.

Other reports mention time out errors saying that "Your connection has timed out and you cannot join the meetings. Verify your networkk connectivity and try again."

Based on user reports on DownDetector, Zoom users from the US East Coast and Western Europe are most affected by these ongoing issues,

According to the platform's status page, the Zoom web client is under maintenance and, as detailed on the company's dev forum, Zoom is "working to get the Zoom Web Client and Zoom Web SDK back online."
Zoom outage map (DownDeetector)

A Zoom spokesperson confirmed the web client outage, and advised users to download and install the desktop application until the issues are resolved.

"Our team is currently aware of issues with users joining Zoom meetings and webinars using Zoom’s web client," a statement from a Zoom spokesperson says.

"In the interim, we recommend downloading and installing Zoom from zoom.us/download to connect to your meeting. We are working on it and will post further information and updates on status.zoom.us shortly.

"Sorry for the inconvenience. Thank you very much for your patience."
Zoom timeout error (aleksandr.borovsky)

Software company Zoom provides users with a cloud-based communication platform that can be used for video conferencing, online meetings, and chat and collaboration via mobile, desktop, and telephone systems.

Zoom has seen a quick increase of new monthly active users since the start of 2020, with millions of employees and students who are now working and learning from home using the platform.

Zoom has gained around 2.22 million new users this year alone, while only 1.99 million were added last year. In total, it now has over 12.9 million monthly active users, with Bernstein Research analysts saying last month that Zoom saw a user growth of about 21% since the end of 2019 as reported by CNBC.

Facebook Messenger: Η desktop εφαρμογή είναι πλέον διαθέσιμη!

ByPohackontas  3 Απριλίου 2020, 15:50

Το Facebook Messenger μόλις κυκλοφόρησε μια desktop εφαρμογή για MacOS και Windows, η οποία παρέχει στους χρήστες τη δυνατότητα να συνομιλούν μέσω βίντεο από τον υπολογιστή τους, διατηρώντας έτσι την επικοινωνία και την επαφή τους με φίλους, οικογένεια και άλλα πρόσωπα σε κάθε γωνιά του πλανήτη.

Αυτή την περίοδο, οι άνθρωποι χρειάζονται και χρησιμοποιούν περισσότερο από ποτέ την τεχνολογία, τόσο για την δουλειά τους όσο και για να επικοινωνούν με άτομα από το επαγγελματικό και το προσωπικό τους περιβάλλον, ακόμα και αν δεν μπορούν να βγουν από το σπίτι τους. Ενδεικτικά, τον προηγούμενο μήνα σημειώθηκε περισσότερο από 100% αύξηση των χρηστών που χρησιμοποιούν τον browser του desktop τους για φωνητικές κλήσεις και βίντεο στο Messenger. Τώρα που υπάρχουν εφαρμογές για MacOS και Windows, έρχεται στο desktop σας η καλύτερη εκδοχή του Facebook Messenger, η οποία προσφέρει απεριόριστες και δωρεάν ομαδικές βιντεοκλήσεις.

Σε αυτό το σημείο, αξίζει να αναφερθούν ορισμένα highlights της νέας εφαρμογής Messenger:

Ομαδικές βιντεοκλήσεις σε μεγαλύτερη οθόνη: Έχετε τη δυνατότητα να επικοινωνήσετε με την οικογένεια και τους φίλους σας, να συμμετάσχετε σε ένα workout ή να ψυχαγωγηθείτε.

Εύκολη σύνδεση: Δεν χρειάζεται να γνωρίζετε το email ή τον αριθμό τηλεφώνου κάποιου, αφού οι φίλοι που έχετε στο Facebook έχουν Messenger.

Multitasking: Μπορείτε να έχετε εύκολη πρόσβαση στις συνομιλίες σας ενώ μπαινοβγαίνετε στην εφαρμογή, κάνοντας παράλληλα άλλα πράγματα στον υπολογιστή σας.

Ειδοποιήσεις: Μπορείτε να λαμβάνετε ειδοποιήσεις για νέα μηνύματα, ώστε να βρίσκετε απευθείας τη συζήτηση που αναζητάτε. Μπορείτε να επιλέξετε να απενεργοποιήσετε (mute) ή να αναβάλλετε (snooze) τις ειδοποιήσεις.
Οι συνομιλίες συγχρονίζονται στο κινητό και τον υπολογιστή σας: Με αυτόν τον τρόπο, δεν θα χάνετε ποτέ μια κλήση ή ένα μήνυμα, ανεξάρτητα από τη συσκευή που χρησιμοποιείτε.

Όλα όσα σας αρέσουν στο Messenger θα τα έχετε σε μεγαλύτερη οθόνη, συμπεριλαμβανομένων των GIF και του dark mode που υπάρχουν στη συνομιλία.


Μπορείτε να κατεβάσετε την εφαρμογή από το Microsoft Store ή το Mac App Store. Αυτή η desktop εφαρμογή του Facebook Messenger εγγυάται να διευκολύνει την καθημερινή σας επικοινωνία με οικεία και άλλα πρόσωπα, ώστε να συνεχίσετε να κοινωνικοποιείστε ακόμα και κατά το “social distancing” που επιβάλλουν οι υφιστάμενες συγκυρίες.

HBO: Δωρεάν πρόγραμμα 500 ωρών στα HBO NOW και HBO GO!

By Pohackontas
3 Απριλίου 2020, 15:20

Το HBO δήλωσε ότι θα παρέχει δωρεάν πρόγραμμα 500 ωρών στις υπηρεσίες streaming HBO NOW και HBO GO, χωρίς να απαιτείται συνδρομή, ξεκινώντας από σήμερα, Παρασκευή 3 Απριλίου. Με αυτόν τον τρόπο, το HBO δίνει στους ανθρώπους ακόμη περισσότερους λόγους να παραμείνουν στο σπίτι και να τηρήσουν τα μέτρα του “social distancing” που συνιστώνται, σε μία προσπάθεια να σταματήσει η εξάπλωση του COVID-19.




Στα σόου που μπορεί να παρακολουθήσει το κοινό δωρεάν μέσα από τις υπηρεσίες streaming HBO NOW και HBO GO συγκαταλέγονται μερικές από τις καλύτερες τηλεοπτικές εκπομπές που έγιναν ποτέ, όπως “The Sopranos” και “The Wire”, καθώς και άλλες πολύ καλές εκπομπές του HBO όπως οι “Veep” και “Six Feet Under”.




Κινηματογραφικές ταινίες όπως το “Pokémon Detective Pikachu”, το “Crazy, Stupid, Love” και οι “πολύτιμοι λίθοι” των καταλόγων, όπως το “Empire of the Sun”, περιλαμβάνονται στα docuseries, μαζί με το “McMillion $” και το “The Case Against Adnan Syed” ως δωρεάν προσφορές. Το κοινό που θέλει να παρακολουθήσει το αναμφισβήτητα καλύτερο σόου που έγινε ποτέ – The Wire – μπορεί να κατεβάσει τις εφαρμογές HBO NOW ή HBO GO ή να επισκεφτεί το HBONOW.com ή το HBOGO.com.




Το HBO ανακοίνωσε ότι οι εκπομπές θα είναι διαθέσιμες για δωρεάν streaming από σήμερα. Αυτή η προσφορά που περιλαμβάνει δωρεάν πρόγραμμα 500 ωρών, παρέχεται για πρώτη φορά από το HBO. Ο κατάλογος του περιεχομένου του HBO που θα είναι διαθέσιμο για δωρεάν streaming χωρίς να απαιτείται συνδρομή περιλαμβάνει τα εξής:

9 Σειρές

• Ballers (5 Seasons)
• Barry (2 Seasons)
• Silicon Valley (6 Seasons)
• Six Feet Under (5 Seasons)
• The Sopranos (7 Seasons)
• Succession (2 Seasons)
• True Blood (7 Seasons
• Veep (7 Seasons)
• The Wire (5 Seasons)

10 docuseries και ντοκιμαντέρ

• The Apollo
• The Case Against Adnan Syed
• Elvis Presley: The Searcher
• I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter
• The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
• Jane Fonda in Five Acts
• McMillion$
• True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality
• United Skates
• We Are the Dream: The Kids of the MLK Oakland Oratorical Fest

Και 20 κινηματογραφικές ταινίες της Warner Bros

• Arthur
• Arthur 2: On the Rocks
• Blinded By the Light
• The Bridges of Madison County
• Crazy, Stupid, Love
• Empire of the Sun
• Forget Paris
• Happy Feet Two
• Isn’t It Romantic?
• The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
• Midnight Special
• My Dog Skip
• Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase
• Pan
• Pokémon Detective Pikachu
• Red Riding Hood
• Smallfoot
• Storks
• Sucker Punch
• Unknown

U.S. Government: Update Chrome 80 Now, Multiple Security Concerns Confirmed

 Davey Winder Senior Contributor
Cybersecurity




Update Google Chrome now, U.S. federal agency says. AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has advised users to update Google Chrome as new high-rated security vulnerabilities have been found. Here’s what you need to know.

CISA, a standalone federal agency under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) oversight, is responsible for protecting "the Nation’s critical infrastructure from physical and cyber threats." In an April 1 posting, CISA confirmed that Google Chrome version 80.0.3987.162 "addresses vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit to take control of an affected system," be that Windows, Mac or Linux. It went on to state that it "encourages" users and administrators to apply the update.
Center for Internet Security also issues Google Chrome update advisory

It's not just CISA that is warning about the need to update Google Chrome. The Center for Internet Security (CIS) is a non-profit entity that works to safeguard both private and public organizations against cyber threats. In a multi-state information sharing and analysis center (MS-ISAC) advisory, it has also warned of multiple vulnerabilities in Google Chrome. The most severe of these could allow an attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution within the context of the browser. What does that actually mean? The answer is it depends upon the privileges that have been granted to the application. Still, in a worst-case scenario, the attacker would be able to view data, change data or delete data.
Are these vulnerabilities being exploited right now?

Although, at the time of writing, there have been no in-the-wild reports of these vulnerabilities being exploited by threat actors, that does not reduce the potential impact upon users who do not ensure the security update is applied as soon as possible. All it would take for an attacker to exploit the vulnerabilities is to get the user to visit, by way of a phishing attack or even redirection from a compromised site, a maliciously crafted web page. 

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What is known about these high-rated security vulnerabilities in Google Chrome?

As is often the case, precise detail of the vulnerabilities is not being disclosed at this stage so as to allow the update to roll out to as many users as possible first. However, what is known is that there are three high-rated vulnerabilities discovered by external researchers that have been allocated Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) identification numbers CVE-2020-6450, CVE-2020-6451 and CVE-2020-6452.


CVE-2020-6450 is described as being a use-after-free vulnerability in WebAudio, reported by Man Yue Mo of the Semmle Security Research Team on March 17.

CVE-2020-6451 is another use-after-free vulnerability in WebAudio, also reported by Man Yue Mo but five days earlier.

CVE-2020-6452 was reported, according to the Google Chrome update release blog, by a user just known as 'asnine' on March 9. This one is a heap-buffer overflow in the media component. 

MORE FROM FORBESGoogle Confirms 40,000 Nation-State Cyber Attack Warnings IssuedBy Davey Winder

A further five security vulnerabilities were discovered by the Google internal security team using a combination of internal audits and fuzzing. Fuzz testing is an automated method that prods code with unexpected inputs in order to reveal potential leaks or crashes that could be exploited by a threat actor. The precise nature of these vulnerabilities has not been disclosed by Google at this point.
Update your Google Chrome browser now to protect against these vulnerabilities

Google has said that the Chrome update will roll out over the coming days and weeks, but you really shouldn't wait for your browser to update automatically.

You can check to see what version you currently have by going to Help|About Google Chrome, which revealed that my copy had not been updated this morning, for example. The good news is that checking to see what version you have will also prompt an update to the latest version. You will need to relaunch the browser once the update has been installed and will then be protected against all of the vulnerabilities as mentioned earlier.

How to Find & Fix the Japanese Keyword Hack

APRIL 2, 2020  ART MARTORI

If you’re wondering how to find and fix the Japanese keyword hack, get started by identifying a real-life example. First, open Google Translate, and then get the Japanese characters for the search term buy Ralph Lauren. Copy and paste that into your favorite search engine, and take a look at the results.A website dedicated to technology news from Africa… and Ralph Lauren gear?

Your results may vary, but one of the results in this recent search was a technology news website from Africa. Seems like an odd marketing strategy for them, right?

It’s very likely we just identified an example of the Japanese keyword hack. Read on to learn more about finding and fixing this common type of website infection.
What is the Japanese keyword hack?

The Japanese keyword hack is a type of SEO spam (which we discussed earlier). With these scams, bad actors hijack the search engine ranking of legit websites by compromising them, and then injecting spammy keywords and links.


This lets hackers take advantage of the visibility to promote any number of scams. In our example of the Japanese keyword hack, people searching for Ralph Lauren gear will almost certainly get ripped off if they click on the spammy links and make a purchase.

When a website gets hit with the Japanese keyword hack, it’s crucial to clean the infection immediately. As we just saw, the immediate consequences are obvious. But the longer this hack remains in place, the more damage it does. Let’s take a sec to examine that scenario.
What happens after a Japanese keyword hack?

Like any SEO spam infection, delaying cleanup of the Japanese keyword hack can have long-term consequences. When you look at the time and expense involved with leaving those consequences unchecked, taking immediate actions makes sense.
Your reputation gets damaged — Imagine customers search for your site because they’re attracted by your hard-earned reputation. What are the odds they’ll stay if they see an unfamiliar message in a language they don’t speak?
Your hosting gets suspended — Hosting companies are very sensitive about infected websites. Nobody wants to be the source of dangerous content. Web hosts may suspend sites with SEO spam, so nobody can visit them.
You get blacklisted by Google — Google also seeks to avoid the Japanese keyword hack (along with SEO spam in general). When a hacked site is detected, Google adds it to their blacklist, which will negatively impact a website’s traffic.
How to find the Japanese keyword hack

To find the Japanese keyword hack, start with scanning your website. You’ll discover there are numerous remote-side scanners out there, which comb through the pages your visitors can see to hunt for malware.

We believe our own SiteCheck is one of the best, along with UnmaskParasites. Both of these remote scanners are free and simple to use — all you do is type in the web address of your site, and then let them go to work.


The ultimate tool for finding the source of the Japanese keyword hack is a server-side scanner, which looks not only at public-facing pages, but also in the files and databases people can’t see.

For example, our Website Security Platform includes regular server-sider scans, as well as an array of features engineered to thwart infections like the Japanese keyword hack. In addition to the tools we just discussed, make sure to get on Google Search Console for a comprehensive view of your website’s overall health.
How to fix the Japanese keyword hack

Now that we’ve learned how to find the Japanese keyword hack, let’s figure out how to fix it. This basically comes down to deleting all the content hackers created, and then closing any vulnerabilities they used to access the website.

This is a highly involved process you can either attempt to do yourself or have a professional handle for you. For most people, the latter solution is recommended.

That’s because a poorly executed cleanup leads to a site getting reinfected. And as we saw earlier, the costs and damage only increase the longer a website remains infected. Reputable companies like Sucuri, however, typically offer a money-back guarantee in case a cleanup isn’t totally satisfactory.
Closing thoughts on the Japanese keyword hack

The Japanese keyword hack is bad news for any individual or organization operating a website. This common form of SEO spam defaces your site, damages your reputation, and can even cut off traffic you’ll never recover. And the longer it remains in place, the harder it is to get things back to normal.


Meanwhile, bad actors keep working away. Our security researchers are always discovering new kinds of SEO spam that most folks have yet to learn about, which target all types of CMS’s and tech providers. This makes securing your site from SEO spam injections all the more important.

When it comes to finding and fixing the Japanese keyword hack, the best strategy is avoiding it entirely. A security apparatus like the Sucuri Web Application Firewall (WAF) is truly a fire-and-forget solution in this instance. That’s because it’s constantly updated by security researchers in order to identify and block even the latest threats. All you need to do is set up your site behind the WAF, and then enjoy the peace of mind.