Latest news with #PIN
Daily Tribune
17-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Tribune
Dinah Sta Ana leads with compassion to serve Filipino community
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the Kingdom of Bahrain, it had profound implications on the nation's health, as well as its economy. In the midst of such uncertainty and tribulation, Dinah Sta Ana, a 65-year-old leader of the Pinay Ikaw Na (PIN) women's group in Bahrain, stood above the challenge and surpassed expectations by becoming a shining light of hope. She went the extra mile in rendering aid to expatriates regardless of class and status including her fellow countrymen. Dinah's commitment to offering support to the needy amidst such trying situations put her on the forefront of community action be it distributing food packs, providing much-needed things, or simply listening to lend an ear, she displayed extraordinary empathy and leadership. Her services not only added beauty to the daily lives of many but also infused the oneness and defiance to the community at a time when they needed it the most. Her selfless deed relieved a hard situation, and her commitment to assisting others was clear. Philanthropy The crisis sent Dinah surfing on a tide of philanthropy, exercising her charitable bicep during economic hard times. She directed her activities towards supporting Filipino contract workers in industries most affected by the crisis, among them tourism and hospitality. These were beauticians, barbers, hotel staff, waitresses, gym trainers, and massage therapists, all of whom were severely impacted by the crisis. Recognizing their struggles, Dinah took action to provide assistance, ensuring that these workers received the support they needed to navigate difficult times. Commitment Her commitment to uplifting those who were most affected demonstrated her deep empathy and understanding of the community's needs. The sense of accomplishment that she felt while distributing goods to our fellow kababayans at the height of the pandemic was overwhelming. 'I feel good about it whether in small ways or great ones it is the effort that is fulfilling, I was overcome with emotions and I found tears in my eyes. There is a spirituality in what I did that has taken me over completely,' Dinah related. Personal capacity Through her personal capacity, she donated financial assistance to overseas workers for their air tickets who have not been fortunate enough to find good employment and took the last resort of having to go back to our country penniless. Dinah quietly worked behind the scenes, selflessly helping those in need and generously giving her personal resources without seeking recognition or fanfare. Unlike others who often broadcast their contributions to the community, Dinah preferred to operate in humility, focusing on the impact of her actions rather than the accolades.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump neutered Justice Department watchdogs that were there to prevent politically motivated prosecutions
Donald Trump's DOGE-ification of the federal government added a key team at the Department of Justice to its list of victims in a pair of moves that greased the wheels for his adminsitration to use the agency to go after Democratic members of Congress. The Justice Department's public integrity section (PIN) underwent a series of key changes this year at the direction of Trump-appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has overseen the agency as it charged a Democratic member of Congress, Monica McIver, with assault after she was repeatedly confronted by ICE agents during a legally permitted congressional oversight visit to a detention facility in Newark. McIver's charging is one of several instances where the Trump-led Department of Justice has brazenly defied the tradition of independence from the White House that agency officials typically follow. Under Bondi's leadership, the agency has quickly transitioned into an arm of the White House, focused on the president's priorities and willing to target his political enemies. Other targets of that trend have been a Milwaukee judge, arrested and charged with allegedly preventing immigration authorities from arresting a man outside of her courtroom by leading him out a back entrance after his hearing concluded, and Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was deported to a hellish prison in El Salvador in violation of a court ruling. Abrego Garcia was charged with trafficking migrants last week after the federal government relented in a weeks-long battle with the courts and returned him to the United States. A federal prosecutor in Tennessee, Ben Schrader, resigned over his concerns that the charges were filed for political reasons, according to ABC News. McIver's charging shortly followed the agency-wide suspension of a rule which previously required prosecutors to obtain approval from the PIN before members of Congress could be criminally charged — a safeguard previously in place to prevent targeting of the administration's political opponents on spurious charges, Reuters reported. McIver was charged with assault after being involved in a scuffle with ICE agents outside of a Newark detention facility; video shows her making physical contact with an agent, but possibly by accident. The agency has not released an explanation for why agents engaged in a scuffle with McIver at the scene at all, given that the agency is, by law, prohibited from using its funding in any way to prevent members of Congress from conducting oversight visits. Newark's mayor, Ras Baraka, was arrested at the scene. The Independent reached out for comment regarding the suspension of the rule regarding criminal cases which involve members of Congress, and to inquire about any other reductions to the PIN division's responsibilities. As part of staff reductions across the whole of the federal government, the PIN team was also hit. The decision of federal prosecutors to drop an investigation into New York's Democratic mayor sparked a wave of resignations at the division, with departing attorneys having been asked to give the order to end the probe after federal prosecutors in New York refused. What followed was a gutting of the PIN section, which is now a fraction of its former size, according to multiple reports, and no longer handling cases directly. Just five prosecutors were directly assigned to the division by mid-March, down from 30. The suspension of the rule in May and the other reported erosions of PIN's authority marks a serious reduction in a key safeguard that the agency implemented in 1976 after the Watergate scandal. At the time, another Republican president leaned on the Justice Department to influence an investigation into a break-in at the Democratic Party's headquarters and the extent of the Oval Office's knowledge of the plot. Donald Trump, in an executive order, directed Bondi to review all DOJ teams with 'civil or criminal enforcement authority ' and identify whether individual divisions were, by Trump's standards, used for political purposes by the Biden administration. Biden officials have denied any weaponization of the DOJ, with prosecutions of the president's son Hunter and a Democratic senator from New Jersey as evidence to point to. The stated purpose of that executive action was to end the 'weaponization' of the Justice Department and other agencies. But over the course of six months, the DOJ's greatest tool for preventing that possibility has all but vanished. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator from Rhode Island, wrote to Bondi in March about the dismantling of the PIN division, but his office has not released a statement on the matter since. The DoJ issued no public statement in response. 'Certain political appointees in this Department of Justice have already proven they put President Trump's political interests over their duties as prosecutors and as lawyers. Multiple Public Integrity Section attorneys resigned rather than endorse then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove's unethical quid pro quo in dropping the case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams,' wrote the senator. He added: 'If the Trump administration's goal was to encourage corruption and abuse of office, it is hard to know what it would do differently.'
Forbes
31-05-2025
- General
- Forbes
New Phone PIN And Password Attack List Revealed — Do Not Wait, Act Now
Change your PIN code and password now if it's on these lists. Sometimes, the most critical security threats are right there in front of you. That's certainly the case when it comes to the passwords and PIN codes that you use to protect your devices, data and services. Here's the thing: when you opt for ease of use, memorability, something quick and simple to tap into your smartphone when you're on the move, you're playing into the hands of the hackers who would attack you. Unfortunately, the common perception of some geeky kid sitting a million miles away at a computer and using their genius to crack your password remotely is, well, as far from reality as you can get. Reports are circulating of an active campaign in which threat actors knock on doors, pretending to be from a bank, and actually request a PIN number in person on the doorstep. These, however, also fall into the expiation rather than the rule category. The truth is that criminals like the simple life as much as anyone else, and if your device, your accounts, can be hacked because you've used the wrong password or PIN, then all the better. Which is why, if yours are on this newly compiled list, you need to change them as an act of some urgency. Here's what you need to know. I must admit, the idea of someone knocking on your door to ask for a bank card and PIN struck me as utterly bizarre. But then again, he who dares wins isn't just the motto of the SAS, but seemingly the most brazen of social engineering hackers. The newly reported doorstep PIN theft campaign is targeting homes in South Africa, but that doesn't mean the rest of us can sit back and relax. I want to think that most readers are sensible enough not to fall for such a con, but what if the hacker already knows your PIN number and has a good idea of what your account passwords are? That's a real and present danger for many reading this article, and it's primarily due to inadequate critical security thinking. Regular readers of mine will be aware that password-stealing malware, commonly referred to as infostealers, has been running riot for years now. Despite the best efforts of the likes of Microsoft and global law enforcement to take down the leading players in this cybercrime circus, billions of passwords have been stolen and are available for sale on the dark web. The best advice I can give you is, as always, never to reuse any of your passwords across multiple devices, accounts and services. Never share the same password between even two logins, as you've just doubled the chance of getting hacked. But it gets worse when you realize that there are lists of passwords out there that you might already be using, even if only once, that are just as dangerous when it comes to potential compromise. And, sorry to be the bearer of even more bad news, the same applies to your smartphone PIN code. I am partly to blame, albeit in the cause of security awareness and in an attempt to change insecure behaviors, as I recently published lists of PIN codes and passwords that should be avoided. If you missed those original warnings, please do not ignore this one. Here is the ultimate combined list of passwords and PIN codes you should never use. If you are currently using any of these, you should change them as a matter of urgency. Let's start with the PINs. These are a combination of the most commonly used PIN codes that have been identified through the analysis of approximately 29 compromised PINs found in data breach databases, along with some that have been statistically determined to be the least likely to be used by anyone. Now, I know the latter statement sounds like they should be nowhere near a list of dangerous codes, but, and hear me out, as soon as those were published over ten years ago, and because they continue to be circulated as amongst the safest to use, the opposite actually applies. As a hacker, I'd certainly add them to my numbers to try, as people will likely choose them, thinking they are super secure. When it comes to passwords, the following list has been compiled using commonly used passwords that have appeared in global data breach databases across consumer and enterprise use, including various industry sectors. The takeaway being, of course, don't use any of them. If you are using any of these passwords or PIN codes, then it should go without saying that you need to change them immediately. If I know them, other readers know them, and hackers know them, that should be obvious. So, what are you waiting for?
Phone Arena
25-05-2025
- Phone Arena
If you are using these PIN numbers on your iOS or Android phone, change them immediately
PINs are important. You probably have a four-digit PIN to guard access to your phone, your bank account, and other online portals that you want to keep others away from. The problem, according to a report from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), is that the PINs most used are so popular that someone might be able to break into a phone they found or stole. ABC went to website "Have I Been Pwned" and analyzed 29 million PIN codes. What they found is pretty disturbing. The most popular four-digit PIN is 1234 and is used as a code by one out of every ten of the millions of codes that ABC looked at. The second most popular PIN is 0000 followed closely by 1111. People are lazy and don't want to have to tax their brains to remember a PIN so they will repeat the same number. The problem is, the bad guys might be able to figure this out and break into a device. PINs in the top ten of usage include 1212 (which repeats 12 twice) and 4444. Another popular series of PINs uses the device owner's year of birth which explains why 1986 is a very popular PIN. Someone born that year is 38-39 years old. Also in the top 20 of PINs used is 2004 which would include those who turned or are turning 21 this year. In countries outside the U.S., the Date/Month format is more popular than the Month/Date format used in America. Thus, special days that can be converted into four-digit PINs should also be avoided such as 2512 (December 25th-Christmas). You should also avoid 1225. Some popular four-digit PINs are popular because those who use it think that they are clever. For example, 1342 is the most popular code; it is simply a play on 1234. You might wonder why 2580 is in the top 40. If you can't figure out why that combination is so popular, look at the dial pad on your phone. See it now? It's the four numbers straight down starting with the number two. The math reveals the problem. Let's say someone steals a phone and has ten chances to guess before getting locked out or having the data automatically wiped. If the guesses are limited to the 50 most popular PINs, the chance of guessing the correct PIN can be as high as 15% according to Gemini. I don't know about you, but that is a concerning figure if you ask me. To reduce those odds, stay away from using the 50 most popular four-digit PINs: 1234-Popularity 9.0% 1111-Popularity 1.6% 0000-Popularity 1.1% 1342-Popularity 0.6% 1212-Popularity 0.4% 2222-Popularity 0.3% 4444-Popularity 0.3% 1122-Popularity 0.3% 1986-Popularity 0.3% 2020-Popularity 0.3% 7777-Popularity 0.3% 5555-Popularity 0.3% 1989-Popularity 0.3% 9999-Popularity 0.2% 6969-Popularity 0.2% 2004-Popularity 0.2% 1010-Popularity 0.2% 4321-Popularity 0.2% 6666-Popularity 0.2% 1984-Popularity 0.2% 1987-Popularity 0.2% 1985-Popularity 0.2% 8888-Popularity 0.2% 2000-Popularity 0.2% 1980-Popularity 0.2% 1988-Popularity 0.2% 1982-Popularity 0.2% 2580-Popularity 0.2% 1313-Popularity 0.2% 1990-Popularity 0.2% 1991 Popularity-0.2% 1983-Popularity 0.2% 1978-Popularity 0.2% 1979-Popularity 0.2% 1995-Popularity 0.2% 1994-Popularity 0.2% 1977-Popularity 0.2% 1981-Popularity 0.2% 3333-Popularity 0.2% 1992-Popularity 0.2% 1975-Popularity 0.2% 2005-Popularity 0.2% 1993-Popularity 0.2% 1976-Popularity 0.2% 1996-Popularity 0.2% 2002-Popularity 0.2% 1973-Popularity 0.2% 2468-Popularity 0.2% 1998-Popularity 0.1% 1974-Popularity 0.1%
Forbes
24-05-2025
- Forbes
Change Your PIN Code Now If It's On This List
Change your PIN now if it is on this list. getty Passwords are under attack, that's a given. Whether it's from initial access malware looking to open up networks for ransomware attacks, public databases containing hundreds of millions of stolen plaintext credentials, or state-sponsored threat actors with spying on their minds. Nobody can say they are unaware of the dangers of weak or reused passwords, but what about your PIN code? Yes, those four digits that are used when unlocking your smartphone and all the valuable data it provides instant access to. OK, so you might argue that you use your fingerprint or face to unlock your Android or iPhone, which is fair enough, apart from when there's been an update, reset, or something goes wrong and you have to resort to your PIN after all. What if there were a list of 50 PIN codes that should, under no circumstances, be used? Read on. PIN codes are not, let's face it, the most secure means of restricting access to your valuable smartphone. Yet they are used to lock your SIM card and the device itself. They underpin, if you'll excuse the pun, the biometrics that you rely upon to gain quick and safe access to your iPhone or Android when you are out and about, and are required under certain circumstances, whether you have fingerprint or facial recognition enabled or not. I mean, do the math, and you'll learn that a four-digit PIN 'only' requires 10,000 attempts at the most in order to crack it, if you include 0000 and 9999. That's still a lot of faffing around, of course, and there are far easier and much quicker ways to crack certain PIN codes. And that, dear reader, is where the danger list comes in. When it comes to advice about choosing a PIN code for your smartphone, if you want to prevent friends and family, even work colleagues, from being able to take a quick look at your stuff when you pop to the toilet without it, it's best to avoid birthdays and anniversaries. That's another given. But what if they could have a really good chance of cracking what appears, to you and many others at least, like a random code that has no obvious personal connection? An analysis of more than 29 million PIN codes that turned up in data breach lists, discovered that one in ten people used the same four numbers. That analysis produced a list of the top 50 PIN codes found, and as such, these are the ones used by most people and so the ones to avoid. After all, if I can find this list, so can smartphone thieves. Here's the list of 50 PIN codes you should never use. I sorted the list into numerical order to make it easier to check to see if you were using a dangerous PIN, but here are the top ten by most-used code numbers: My advice, however, is not to stop using PINs but simply to use longer ones. Instead of four-digit codes, use ten. This is easy to do by opting to use a password instead of a PIN number to lock your phone, and just employ numbers instead of characters. A custom PIN, that can still be easy to remember but is much, much harder for anyone to guess.
