IT NEWS

Amazon has patched a flaw in the Amazon Photos app which could have allowed an attacker to steal and use a user’s unique access token that verifies their identity across multiple Amazon APIs.

That would give attackers access to a trove of information, since many of these APIs contain personal data, such as names, email addresses, and home addresses.

Amazon Photos, previously known as Prime Photos, is a service related to Amazon Drive, the company’s cloud storage application. To date, it has been downloaded more than 50 million times from the Play Store. The Photos app is geared towards the storing, organizing, and sharing photos and videos.

Due to a misconfiguration of a component in the app, rendering a client’s access token severely unprotected, a third-party malicious app could access and use this token. In a ransomware scenario, threat actors could steal, delete, and encrypt files and leave affected users with no means to restore them.

To put it plainly, it’s like sending a password over to another app in plain text, the researchers who found the bug explained.

The researchers from Checkmarx informed Amazon in November 2021. The following month, the company issued a patch for the vulnerability.

Because this flaw also affects Amazon Drive, threat actors could theoretically modify files while erasing a user’s history, effectively rendering original content irrecoverable.

Erez Yalon, Checkmarx’s vice president of security research, was quoted in an interview with The Record:

“We know there is nothing completely secure in the software world. But seeing that kind of vulnerability in the software of Amazon, one of the leading companies in the world when it comes to security practices, means that it can happen to every software company.”

An Amazon spokesperson also told The Record they found “no evidence that sensitive customer information was exposed as a result of this issue.”

“We appreciate the work of independent security researchers who help bring potential issues to our attention,” the spokesperson said.

The post Amazon Photos vulnerability could have given attackers access to user files and data appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

Researchers have analysed a campaign leveraging infected SOHO routers to target predominantly North American and European networks of interest.

The so-called ZuoRAT campaign, which very likely started in 2020, is so sophisticated that the researchers suspect that there is a state sponsored threat actor behind it.

SOHO routers

SOHO is short for small office/home office and SOHO routers are hardware devices that route data from a local area network (LAN) to another network connection. Modern SOHO routers have almost the same functions as home broadband routers, and small businesses tend to use the same models. Some vendors also sell routers with advanced security and manageability features, but most SOHO devices are only monitored in exceptional cases.

Which is probably the reason why the ZuoRAT managed to fly under the radar for so long.

Compromise the router

The first step in the campaign is to take control of the router. The researchers identified infected routers of several manufacturers including popular brands like ASUS, Cisco, DrayTek, and NETGEAR. It is likely that the threat actor used unpatched vulnerabilities to steal credentials from the targeted routers. Although patches for these vulnerabilities exist, it is not uncommon for device administrators never to apply these patches.

This lack of security is often caused by lack of awareness. And the lack of awareness starts by small business owners not knowing which type or model of router they have exactly. So even if they read about a vulnerability in their router, it may not sink in that it applies to them. The rebranding of routers by providers is another contributing factor to the owners’ ignorance.

Drop the RAT

The vulnerability or chain of vulnerabilities allow the threat actor to download a binary, then execute it on the host. Once installed, ZuoRAT enumerates the devices connected to the infected router. The threat actor can then use DNS hijacking and HTTP hijacking to cause the connected devices to install other malware.

The ZuoRAT agent framework enables in-depth reconnaissance of target networks, traffic collection and network communication hijacking. Some of the functions will run by default, while others might be intended to be called by additional commands.

Mirai

ZuoRAT looks like a heavily modified version of the Mirai malware. The authorities may have caught the Mirai creators, but the spirit of their botnet lives on. Numerous groups took advantage of the open-source code to create mini variants. But the command and control infrastructure used in this campaign is intentionally complex in an attempt to conceal what’s happening.

Attribution

While attribution is always hard, the researchers listed several indications that the group behind this campaign might be of Chinese origin. One set of C2 infrastructure controlled by this threat actor and used to interact with the Windows RATs was found to be hosted on internet services from China-based organizations. Also, some of the program database paths contained Chinese characters, while others referenced “sxiancheng”, a possible name or Chinese locality.

China is a likely candidate even if it seems they have already bitten off more than they can chew. According to an article in the Financial Times Chinese university students have been lured to work as translators to help identify hacking targets, and to analyze stolen material.

DNS hijacking

Using the gathered information about the DNS settings and the internal host in the adjacent LAN, there were several functions designed to perform DNS hijacking. Some functions allowed the threat actor to update DNS hijacking rules specifying which domains to hijack, the malicious IP address resulting from the hijack and the number of times to trigger the rule.

HTTP hijacking

Another noteworthy function enabled the actor to specify which client or subnet to hijack. It hijacked the process so that it could match the traffic pattern. If the pattern matched one of the rules, it displayed a 302 error that redirected the client’s browser to another location where the threat actor could manipulate the connection.

Mitigation

If you fear that your router has been compromised, simply restarting an infected device will remove the initial ZuoRAT exploit. To fully recover, however, a factory reset clears infected devices.

To avoid your router from getting infected, find the most recent firmware and install it so you have all the latest patches.

Systems that used an infected route for their internet access and used no block lists that included the C2 infrastructure of ZuoRAT may be infected. This is not only true for Windows systems. The researchers found samples written in GO, which is a cross-platform language.  

IoCs associated with this campaign for threat hunting can be found on the Black Lotus Labs GitHub page.

Stay safe, everyone!

The post ZuoRAT is a sophisticated malware that mainly targets SOHO routers appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

Mozilla released version 102.0 of the Firefox browser to Release channel users on June 28, 2022.

The new version fixes 20 security vulnerabilities, five of which are classified as “High”. The new version also comes with a new privacy feature that strips parameters from URLs that track you around the web.

Vulnerabilities

Publicly disclosed computer security flaws are listed in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database. Its goal is to make it easier to share data across separate vulnerability capabilities (tools, databases, and services). These are the CVEs we think you should know:

High

CVE-2022-34479: A malicious website that could create a popup could have resized the popup to overlay the address bar with its own content, resulting in potential user confusion or spoofing attacks. This bug only affects Firefox for Linux. It does not apply to other operating systems.

CVE-2022-34470: Use-after-free in nsSHistory. Use after free (UAF) is a vulnerability caused by incorrect use of dynamic memory during a program’s operation. If after freeing a memory location, a program does not clear the pointer to that memory, an attacker can use the error to manipulate the program. Navigations between XML documents may have led to a use-after-free and potentially exploitable crash.

CVE-2022-34468: CSP sandbox header without ‘allow-scripts’ can be bypassed via retargeted javascript: URI. An iframe that was not permitted to run scripts could do so if the user clicked on a javascript: link.

CVE-2022-34484: Memory safety bugs fixed in Firefox 102 and Firefox ESR 91.11. Some of these bugs showed evidence of JavaScript prototype or memory corruption, and with enough effort some of these could have been exploited to run arbitrary code.

Moderate

CVE-2022-34482 and CVE-2022-34483: Two separate issues with the same effect. Drag and drop of malicious image could have led to malicious executable and potential code execution. An attacker who could have convinced a user to drag and drop an image to a filesystem could have manipulated the resulting filename to contain an executable extension.

CVE-2022-34478: The ms-msdt, search, and search-ms protocols deliver content to Microsoft applications, bypassing the browser when a user accepts a prompt. These applications have had known vulnerabilities, exploited in the wild, so in this release Firefox has blocked these protocols from prompting the user to open them.

New privacy feature

Many companies involved in advertising use custom URL query parameters that enable them to track clicks on links. The most well-known example is probably the ?fbclid= parameter that Facebook adds to outbound links.

With the release of Firefox 102, Mozilla has added the new “Query Parameter Stripping” feature that automatically strips some of these query parameters. It does not matter whether you clicked on a link or pasted the URL into the address bar.

To enable Query Parameter Stripping, go into the Firefox Settings, click on Privacy & Security, and then change Enhanced Tracking Protection to Strict.

You will need to click Reload All Tabs to apply the changes. If you find that setting Enhanced Tracking Protection to Strict could causes issues with certain sites, you can use the Manage Exceptions option to add these websites, or use the “Custom” setting to choose which trackers and scripts to block.

Updating

Under normal circumstances, updates will be applied without user intervention. You can check for the version number in the products’ menu under Help > About

Should you not be using the latest version for some reason, e.g. automatic updates are disabled, then this screen will inform you that a new version is available and will start downloading it.

When it’s done, you’ll see a prompt to restart the browser. This will apply the update.

Stay safe, everyone!

The post Update now! Mozilla fixes security vulnerabilities and introduces a new privacy feature for Firefox appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

In the continued saga of annoying search extensions we have a new end-of-level boss.

Victims have been reporting browser extensions that were removed by Malwarebytes, but “magically” came back later. Since the victims also complained about the message saying their browser was “managed”, we had a pretty good idea where to look.

Search extensions

The culprits turned out to be search extensions. Which is often the case when we spot potentially unwanted programs (PUPs) that use malware tactics to get installed and gain persistence.

The search hijackers “active search bar” and “custom search bar” were both available in the Chrome web store at the time of writing even though we reported them days ago.

PowerShell

It took some digging to find the origin, since all we had were the extensions. And when the extensions were installed directly from the webstore, nothing happened out of the ordinary. However, some hunting on VirusTotal soon led me to a few recently uploaded PowerShell scripts that included the string “ExtensionInstallForcelist.” I looked for that string because we know from the past that these registry policies account for the “Your browser is managed” warnings.

$CPath = "HKLM:SOFTWAREPoliciesGoogleChromeExtensionInstallForcelist";

$EPath = "HKLM:SOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftEdgeExtensionInstallForcelist";

The description in the Chromium documentation about the ExtensionInstallForcelist states:

“Specifies a list of apps and extensions that are installed silently, without user interaction, and which cannot be uninstalled nor disabled by the user.”

And to confirm this finding, the victims that provided logs all had one of these PowerShell script listed in their Scheduled Tasks.

The Scheduled Task was set to run every four hours, which explained why the extensions kept coming back.

Installer

But Scheduled Tasks don’t install themselves either and dropping PowerShell scripts in the System32 folder requires Administrator privileges, so we needed to dig a little further to find an installer.

The domain wincloudservice.com was used as a download location in all the PowerShell scripts so we used that domain as a search parameter in our next stage of VirusTotal hunting. This search eventually returned three installers. What they had in common at first glance was that the filenames all ended with “_x64LTS.exe” and that they were all signed by “Tommy Tech LTD.”

Upon further inspection we noticed that the installers all asked for Administrator privileges twice. The first part installs something that is called “Setup” and the second part installs an application that aligns with the name of the installer. So, it appears that the original installer files were “patched” to add the installer for our browser hijacker. It stands to reason that these installers are offered for download somewhere by the threat actors.

The EULA points to tommytechil.com which is unreachable. I was unable to find an installer that actually dropped an extension in Edge, but the “Your browser is managed by your organization” setting does get enforced.

Javascripts

Malwarebytes customers were protected against these extensions as Malwarebytes’ web protection module blocked the domain wincloudservice[.]com. On inspection, this domain hosted several javascripts including heavily obfuscated files called crypto.js and crypto-js.min.js.

Detection and removal

Malwarebytes detects these browser hijackers as PUP.Optional.ActiveSearchBar and PUP.Optional.CustomSearchBar. Included in the removal procedure are the extension, and the Scheduled Task, which is enough to permanently get rid of the extension.

Some Windows registry changes have been made that will take a system administrator to decide what they want to keep or not.

The registry keys to remove the “Your browser is managed” are:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesGoogleChromeExtensionInstallForceList

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftEdgeExtensionInstallForceList

And another change made by the installer was the registry value:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftPowerShell1ShellIdsMicrosoft.PowerShell\ExecutionPolicy

The installer set that to “Unrestricted” which may not be your favorite setting. If you are not sure or you have never actively set that policy, the default is “Restricted”. Please note that in some organizations PowerShell is required to run.

IOCs

Domains:

activesearchbar[.]me

customsearchbar[.]me

optimizerupdate[.]com

securedatacorner[.]com

wincloudservice[.]com

Installers:

4kvideodownloader_5.22.371_x64LTS.exe

AutoClicker_x64LTS.exe

FPSUnlocker_4.1_x64LTS.exe

PowerShell scripts:

PrintWorkflowService.ps1

WindowsUpdater1.ps1

OptimizerWindows.ps1

Extensions:

custom search bar nniikbbaboifhfjjkjekiamnfpkdieng

active search bar pkofdnfadkamabkgjdjcddeopopbdjhg

The post Forced Chrome extensions get removed, keep reappearing appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) has revealed a sophisticated spyware activity involving ISPs (internet service providers) aiding in downloading powerful commercial spyware onto users’ mobile devices. The spyware, dubbed Hermit, is reported to have government clients much like Pegasus.

Italian vendor RCS Labs developed Hermit. The spyware was spotted in Kazakhstan (to suppress protests against government policies), Italy (to investigate those involved in an anti-corruption case), and Syria (to monitor its northeastern Kurdish region), all deployed by their respective governments.

Hermit affects Android and iOS devices and is described as a modular spyware. This means it can download pieces of itself (modules) for additional functionalities, making it customizable to suit client needs, from a C2 (command and control) server.

Unlike NSO’s Pegasus, Hermit is not as stealthy. But at its core, it functions like any government-grade spyware. It can read SMS and chat messages, view passwords, intercept calls, record calls and ambient audio, redirect calls, and pinpoint precise locations of victims.

Hermit also roots all infected Android devices, giving itself deeper access to phone features and user data. On iOS, Hermit is packed with six exploits, two of which were targeting zero-day vulnerabilities. According to Google’s report, these are the following exploits:

• CVE-2018-4344 internally referred to and publicly known as LightSpeed.
• CVE-2019-8605 internally referred to as SockPort2 and publicly known as SockPuppet
• CVE-2020-3837 internally referred to and publicly known as TimeWaste.
• CVE-2020-9907 internally referred to as AveCesare.
• CVE-2021-30883 internally referred to as Clicked2, marked as being exploited in-the-wild by Apple in October 2021.
• CVE-2021-30983 internally referred to as Clicked3, fixed by Apple in December 2021.

A Hermit spyware campaign starts off as a seemingly authentic messaging app users are deceived into downloading. A government actor also poses as a mobile carrier over SMS—sometimes with the help of the target’s ISP—to socially engineer targets into downloading the spyware masquerading as a tool to “fix” their internet connection.

Both Apple and Google have already notified their users regarding this spyware, and then some. Apple revoked the legitimate certificates Hermit abused to reside on iPhone devices, while Google beefed up its Google Play Protect security app to block Hermit from running. Google also pulled the plug on Hermit’s Firebase account, which it uses to communicate with its C2.

When questioned by TechCrunch, RCS Labs provided a statement, which we have replicated in part below:

RCS Lab exports its products in compliance with both national and European rules and regulations. Any sales or implementation of products is performed only after receiving an official authorization from the competent authorities. Our products are delivered and installed within the premises of approved customers. RCS Lab personnel are not exposed, nor participate in any activities conducted by the relevant customers.

Providers of government-grade spyware like Pegasus and Hermit always claim to have legitimate reasons for creating malware. But as we’ve seen and heard from countless reports, they are mainly used to spy on journalists, activists, and human rights defenders.

The post Hermit spyware is deployed with the help of a victim’s ISP appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

Omegle reached the heady heights of fame when everyone least expected it. Thanks to TikTok influencers, children flocked to this 13-year-old platform during the pandemic, unaware of the dangers already there.

The concept of talking to strangers online is Omegle’s main selling point, but it’s not new. When you think about it, most of us always engage with strangers on online platforms that promote conversations and debate or inspire reactions.

But unlike other social sites, Omegle has scant security to protect anyone willing to take that risky but exciting dive. Users are, once again, left to fend for themselves as they explore an online world through a platform where the only thing simple is its interface.

So what are the things every parent, potential and current user, or school personnel should know about; and what can they do to protect themselves and the children in their care?

What do you need to sign up for Omegle?

Nothing. Unlike other popular social networking sites, users wanting to try out Omegle don’t need to sign up and create a profile. You just need to visit it from your computer or smartphone’s browser to start.

Once a user is signed up and paired with another user, the platform automatically sets the names to “You” and “Stranger”.

What are the risks of using Omegle?

Because people are randomly paired up for a text or video chat, anyone could meet anyone. These include VCH (virtual cam whore) puppets (which are bots), other extortionists, and impersonators (including child predators).

Content in Omegle isn’t guaranteed clean either. Your child might be exposed to nudity, grooming, privacy threats (such as strangers earning your child’s trust so they can get sensitive information from them), scams, and sexual abuse.

There is also the risk of your child being coaxed into exposing themselves and their younger siblings, or performing sexual acts. Child predators and extortionists do this so they can sell the clips, keep them for personal use, or use them in other extortion campaigns to lure more Omegle users into participating in sexual acts. Remember that the majority of these incidents happen in a house where parents and other family members are present.

Lastly, your child could become a target of cyberbullies. One TikTok user documented his experience of racism while using Omegle to TikTok users. Dr. Joanne Meredith, a cyberpsychologist, said the incident is a consequence of people losing their inhibitions online.

“Due to various features of online interaction—including dissociative imagination, or the view that the online world is a kind of game—people become less inhibited and behave in ways that they would not normally.”

Does Omegle have any parental controls?

No, none.

What other features does Omegle have?

Omegle used to have what it called “Spy Mode” (or “Spy (question) mode”), wherein the “spy” becomes the third party in a conversation between two strangers. The “spy” can ask questions for them to answer, or the “spy” could just listen in on the conversation without contributing.

This has now been removed, reportedly because it was being used to sell child pornography.

Another feature is the College Student Chat, where curious college students can enter their student email addresses before getting paired with others enrolled in their school.

Finally, there is the Adult chat function, which is free for kids to access.

Is Omegle safe for kids?

I think you know the answer to that at this point.

If your child looks up to a TikTok influencer who encourages followers to use Omegle, explain that it is not a safe place to meet other people online because it doesn’t have safeguards, unlike other social media platforms.

Staying safe on Omegle

It is better for parents, carers, and other responsible adults to deter their young persons from using Omegle altogether until they are 18. Personally, this is a non-negotiable because of the lack of safeguards and high risk of children being targeted, especially if they are young teen girls.

Any one-on-one stranger video chat platform like Omegle is risky for kids. It is paramount to keep an open and healthy communication with your child regarding this.

If you have found out your child has or continues to use Omegle, it’s time to sit them down for a quiet chat. Never punish them for being curious. Instead, let them know about the risks in order to explain why they need to stop using the platform until they’re at the right age.

Should your young person insist on using stranger video chat apps despite knowing the risks and repeated warnings, then do whatever you can to keep them from reaching these sites. Blacklist them locally using your security solution of choice with a web filter feature on your browser, on Windows via the HOSTS file (but take care not to put a lot of URLs there) or on a Mac.

Good luck!

The post Internet Safety Month: Everything you need to know about Omegle appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

A person working in the city of Amagasaki, in Western Japan, has mislaid a USB stick which contained data on the city’s 460,000 residents.

The USB drive was in a bag that went missing during a reported day of drinking and dining at a restaurant last Tuesday. The person reported it to the police the following day.

Data on the USB drive included names, gender, birthdays, and addresses. Other additional personal details were included, though it’s not been revealed what this is. Bank account numbers of households receiving welfare also found themselves on the USB drive.

Safety first pays dividends

The one piece of good news to emerge from this story is that the drive was both encrypted and password protected. So, providing they used a good password, if someone finds the USB drive and plugs it into a computer, they won’t be able to just open up the files and view the contents.

If whoever put this drive together hadn’t bothered with security measures, the first person to find the lost drive would have a data payday on their hands. Perhaps as a result of this cautious approach, there’s been no evidence or reports of the data being leaked so far.

How to safely transfer data

There is the question of why this data was on a USB stick in the first place. According to CBSNews, it was being transferred to a call center in Osaka. There are plenty of alternatives to ferrying data around on easily lost USB sticks. While some industries have strict compliance and regulatory standards, others may simply not be able to use third-party products for a variety of reasons. Even so, anything along these lines is surely better than “I lost a USB stick on a night out”. With this caveat out of the way:

• Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). This is used in business as a way to securely send files from one device to another. Files sent using this method are done so via an encrypted connection. One potential drawback here is you’ll likely need software installed on all the machines receiving the files. If you need to send data to another organisation, this can quickly become complicated or unfeasible. Additionally, not everyone believes it’s a suitable option for secure file transfer when more custom-built solutions are now available.
• Data in the cloud. Third party cloud products like Dropbox and Box allow you to store, and share, files. They both have lots to offer, with Box in particular being specifically geared towards business solutions. Multi-factor authentication, malware detection and leak prevention, encryption and compliance: it’s all there. Services like the above are increasingly more popular in business circles where secure, pain-free data transfer is required but the in-house knowledge required to do it yourself isn’t to hand.
• Encrypting your data and your USB drive. In some situations it may well be “USB drive or nothing at all”. If you’re using Windows 10 Home, you’ll need to use a third-party solution to encrypt files as the option will be greyed out. If you’re on other versions like Pro and Enterprise, the encryption option will be available to you. Right click your file(s), then select Properties -> Advanced -> Encrypt contents to secure data. As for the drive itself, you’ll once again have to rely on third-party tools if you’re running Windows 10 Home. Otherwise, you can secure the drive with Bitlocker. Mac users should select the Encrypt USB stick option from the location entry, then create and verify the encryption password. Be sure to set a password hint, too. Hit Encrypt Disk to complete the process.

The post City worker loses USB stick containing data on every resident after day of drinking appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has warned the LGBTQ+ community about extortionists posing as potential romantic partners on Grindr and Feeld.

The scammers send their targets explicit photos and then ask for them to reciprocate. If they do, targets are then blackmailed into paying a ransom, usually in the form of gift cards, or risk having these photos leaked to family, friends, and employers.

And that’s not all, the scammers are also looking to out people, unless they pay a ransom. According to the FTC:

“Other scammers threaten people who are “closeted” or not yet fully “out” as LGBTQ+. They may pressure you to pay up or be outed, claiming they’ll “ruin your life” by exposing explicit photos or conversations.”

How to protect yourself from extortionists

• Always check who you’re talking to. Do is a reverse image search of their profile photo to see what shows up. If the name doesn’t match up with the face, end communications promptly, and report the account to the dating app/site.
• Be careful about sending compromising images of yourself to someone. Trust your gut. Realize that extortionists are after such photos to use them as bargaining chips.
• Never send your personal information. This includes email addresses, social media profiles, and smartphone numbers.
• Avoid opening attachments or clicking links. They may contain malware designed to hijack devices or steal your information.
• Disable your webcam and electronic devices when not in use.
• Never pay the ransom. Scammers are known for promising one thing and doing the other. Remember that if you pay them, there’s no guarantee they’ll keep their word.
• Report it to the FBI and FTC. Don’t wait to be in deep with the scammer. Once you smell fraud, cease communications immediately and report.

Grindr and Feeld also have helpful guides for their users.

Stay safe!

The post LGBTQ+ community targeted by extortionists who threaten to publish nudes appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs:

• LinkedIn scams are a “significant threat”, warns FBI
• DDoS-for-hire service provider jailed
• Internet Safety Month: 7 tips for staying safe online while on vacation
• Client-side Magecart attacks still around, but more covert
• Security vulnerabilities: 5 times that organizations got hacked
• You can be tracked online using your Chrome browser extensions
• Russia’s APT28 uses fear of nuclear war to spread Follina docs in Ukraine
• DFSCoerce, a new NTLM relay attack, can take control over a Windows domain
• Watch out for the email that says “You have a new voicemail!”
• 7-Zip gets Mark of the Web feature, increases protection for users
• MEGA claims it can’t decrypt your files. But someone’s managed to…
• Police seize and dismantle massive phishing operation
• Rogue cryptocurrency billboards go phishing for wallets
• Dial 311 for…cybersecurity emergencies?
• Conti ransomware group’s pulse stops, but did it fake its own death?
• Cybersecurity agencies: You don’t have to delete PowerShell to secure it
• 5 ways to avoid being catfished

Stay safe!

The post A week in security (June 20 – June 26) appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.

If Instagram suspects you are fibbing about your age, you’ll currently see the following message:

“You must be at least 13 years old to have an Instagram account. We disabled your account because you are not old enough yet. If you believe we made a mistake, please verify your age by submitting a valid photo ID that clearly shows your face and date of birth.”

Now Meta has announced it’s testing new options for people on Instagram to verify their age, starting with people in the US. The new options are uploading a video selfie, and social vouching. The old verification method to upload an ID is still an option for those that prefer it.

Users that are unable to verify their age will have their accounts deleted.

Trigger

The verification procedure starts when a user attempts to raise their age from under to above 18. This is relevant since Instagram provides users from 13 -17 years old with age-appropriate experiences like defaulting them into private accounts, preventing unwanted contact from adults they don’t know, and limiting the options advertisers have to reach them with ads.

Other reasons Instagram might ask you to verify your age are it receives a report from another Instagram user, or a content reviewers flags your accounts as appearing to be in use by someone underage.

Social vouching

The social vouching option allows you to ask mutual followers to confirm how old you are. You might expect this to be an option that can easily be abused, but Meta says it’s built in additional safeguards. Three people must independently confirm the user is over 18, and they all must be at least 18 years old themselves and not be vouching for anyone else at that time.

Video selfie

Certainly the option that raises some concerns is the video selfie. You can choose to upload a video selfie to verify your age. If you choose this option, you’ll see instructions on your screen to guide you through the process. The age analysis, an estimate of your age based on your facial features, is done by Yoti, and both Meta and Yoti promise to delete the image once the analysis has completed.

You may have heard of Yoti due to its digital ID app. Yoti is a free consumer app that offers you a way of proving who you are online and in person. In the UK, Yoti is a government-approved digital ID provider, which allows UK citizens to prove their identities with an app instead of physical documents when applying for a job or renting a property.

Additional AI usage

In addition to testing the new menu of options to verify people’s ages, Meta uses Artificial Intelligence to estimate people’s ages. This can be very simple indicators, like birthday wishes, or comparing the age of linked accounts, such as your Facebook and Instagram accounts. But it can also look at interactions with other profiles and content. For example, people in the same age group tend to interact similarly with certain types of content. From those signals, the model learns to make calculations about whether someone is an adult or a teen.

The post Instagram introduces new ways for users to verify their age appeared first on Malwarebytes Labs.