So long story short, a few months ago I was contacted by someone who claimed to have taken over my phone and has access to everything. I thought I had that taken care of. In the last few days, this person resurfaced and is now attempting to blackmail me for $1500. They claim to be running something called a “gritx gap” that is paused on a timer. Should I be worried, or is it just a scam?

Hey everyone,

I’m taking my CEH (Theory) exam in the coming months, and I urgently need a daily checklist or roadmap to land an entry-level remote role right after passing.

My Background & Situation:

• Education & Experience: Master of Computer Applications (MCA). Completed an internship involving web dev and security testing. Built the front-end for an Intrusion Detection & Vulnerability Scanner.
• The Hurdle: I have a solid grasp of the foundational concepts from the CEH modules, but I currently lack deep, hands-on practical experience.
• The Plan: Land a job immediately after passing the theory exam, learn the practical side on the job, and prepare for the CEH Practical exam concurrently.
• The Constraint: I’ve already taken a drop year. I absolutely cannot afford another gap in my profile, so getting hired quickly is my top priority.
• Target Hours: Remote, specifically aligning with 10:30 AM to 7:30 PM Eastern Time (EDT).

What I’m looking for:

1. What exact daily checklist or actionable steps should I follow to secure an entry-level remote role given my lack of hands-on experience?
2. How can I best market my theoretical knowledge and internship experience to get my foot in the door?

Any direct guidance to help me execute this plan successfully would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hello everyone!

I am an 18 years old first year student currently studying IT in a University.

I'm kinda overwhelmed and doesn't know where to start learning about CyberSecurity, my goal is to be a SECURITY ENGINEER.

I heard about people saying that certificates and experience in IT fields are more important than a degree and I'm just wondering on how to start with one of those.

I am very passionate about learning and is willing to do anything to get into CyberSecurity.

This is where the problem starts for me, I am overwhelmed by the amount of resources that I need to study, so much that I don't know where to start. I am panicking because I might be running out of time and I don't want to waste my life not doing what I love the most... There's also a lot of paid courses which I can't afford yet because I'm still studying. I am just wondering how do I get started learning for free for now(preferably if there's a certificate) and maybe in the future, I get to save up money to buy courses that'll get me certificates that's needed.

Someone is claiming to be running “gritx gap” that is paused on a timer. Should I be worried?

White House launches cybersecurity clearinghouse to patch software flaws discovered by AI

The 'Gold Eagle' initiative seeks to help federal agencies, critical infrastructure operators and artificial intelligence developers patch crucial security flaws uncovered by advanced AI models.

So about a week ago I was hit by a infostealer attack, and my instagram, facebook and discord were affected. At the time when I downloaded the virus, my internet was turned off by me. I didn’t do a USB reset, but instead used the built in factory reset. I chose to delete all files, and used a cloud download. I enabled 2FA on all my accounts and changed the password to a more secure password. How safe am I?

How Is This Even Possible?

Look, make it make sense. I factory reset a phone, and before I even hit the screen to sign in or make an Apple ID, the camera indicator light pops on.

Look, make it make sense. I factory reset a phone, and before I even hit the screen to sign in or make an Apple ID, the camera indicator light pops on.

So I skip signing into Apple completely. I keep it off-grid, make a brand-new Proton Mail account, and write the username and password down by hand on a physical piece of paper. No cloud, no saved credentials, nothing.

How the fuck does a setup like that still get compromised? I’m genuinely losing my mind trying to figure out how this is even possible. Anyone got answers?

For the longest time I used the same email and phone number for basically every account I made online. Didn't really think much of it because that's just what everyone did. Now that I've started using aliases giving some random website my actual email feels weird. If it's a site I'm only going to use once or I'm not sure I trust yet why should they get something I've been using for years? The annoying part is realizing I can't undo all the years before this. My main email has already made its way onto spam lists and my number gets calls from people who definitely shouldn't have it. I'm curious if others eventually moved most of your old accounts over to aliases too, or just started using them for anything new.

​

Hi everyone,

I’m a college student and I’m working on a Cyber Crime case study assignment.

Has anyone here personally experienced any type of cyber crime, such as:

- UPI/Bank fraud

- Instagram or social media hacking

- Online shopping scam

- OTP scam

- Phishing

- Fake job/internship scam

- Any other online fraud

If something like this has happened to you and you’re comfortable sharing your experience for an academic assignment, please DM me.

I won’t share your name, phone number, account details or any other personal information. The information will be used only for my college assignment.

Thank you! 🙏

I signed up for Aura last year after a couple of data breaches hit companies I use and I started getting more spam than usual. I’d been freezing my credit the old-fashioned way and using free monitoring, but this felt incomplete. A few people on here had mentioned Aura as a solid all-in-one option that wasn’t as expensive as LifeLock, so I took advantage of a deal and got the individual plan. I went with annual billing since it came with a 60 day money-back guarantee.

My experience using Aura

Setup was straightforward. The app walks you through connecting bank accounts, credit, etc. Within the first week I got a couple of dark web alerts on an old email and a password that had been floating around, nothing active, but it pushed me to finally clean up some logins. They’ve also flagged a few hard inquiries that I recognized as legit and one transaction alert that turned out to be me (false positive, but at least it was fast).

Aura’s data broker removal tool gave me noticeable benefits. I’ve definitely seen a drop in junk mail and people-search hits for my info.

Another thing they really got right is credit monitoring. Each Aura subscription plan covers credit monitoring across three-bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) and the score updates monthly via VantageScore. The included VPN, antivirus, and password manager are fine for basic use, though I don’t use them a lot. Customer support seems responsive as I quickly got in touch with them about a suspicious alert. They are available 24/7 via live chat and there is also a number you can call to talk to someone directly.

Pros of Aura

• Everything is in one place: 3-bureau credit monitoring, dark web scanning, financial transaction alerts, home/auto title monitoring, and data broker removal. No separate tools required.
• $1M identity theft insurance + the “white glove” remediation team if something serious happens.
• Family plans look genuinely useful if you’ve got kids or multiple adults (flexible parental controls, sex offender alerts, etc.).
• Alerts are generally fast and the dashboard is clean.
• Pricing is very reasonable for the feature set, and there are deals you can find on Reddit

Cons of Aura

• No social media monitoring.
• No credit simulators or FICO scores (just relies on VantageScore and annual reports).
• The VPN is a bit glitchy (but I have a Proton VPN sub I’m keeping)
• App can feel a bit cluttered once everything is linked, but I’ve gotten used to it.

Other user opinions

Looking around Reddit, the consensus seems somewhat mixed but leans positive for people who want the all-in-one convenience. A lot of folks prefer Aura over LifeLock as it comes with more useful features. Another plus is the fact that 3-bureau monitoring isn’t locked behind a high tier.

Then again, some users say the extra features (VPN/AV) are “meh” and that manual freezes + something like Incogni for data removal are enough. The March 2026 marketing-data incident got a lot of eye-rolls for the irony, but from what I saw it didn’t expose SSNs or financials for active users.

Bottom line and my takeaways

I’m sticking with it. While it’s not perfect, Aura has given me solid monitoring and less mental overhead than juggling multiple free tools. You will still need to freeze your credit yourself and maintain good password hygiene, but I can live with that.

Considering the cost, especially for an annual plan, I’d recommend it to most people who want broad coverage without overpaying for a big brand name. If you’re on a tight budget or only care about credit freezes, you can probably skip it.

Another good thing is their refund window. Aura gives you a 60 day money-back guarantee on annual plans, allowing you to fully test it out risk-free, and simply cancel for a full refund within the first two months if you aren’t happy with it.

How easy is it block a recording camera and alter the recordings? Also is there a way I can prevent this from happening?

my family setup is getting a little messy. we have kids using tablets, my parents using their phones for basically everything, and a couple of shared computers at home. i'm less worried about the usual computer virus stuff and more concerned about phishing, scam sites, suspicious links and someone accidentally giving away account info.

what features have actually been useful? do parental controls make a big difference? what about identity or scam protection?

So there's this person calling me and threatening me to come to my place , he said that he's in my city and is in the area near my house . I know his phone number and want to really know if he's speaking the truth , SO IS THERE ANY CREDIBLE TOOL / WEBSITE / APP where I can check a number's location or the info of caller ? PLEASE I NEED IT. 🙏

Hi guys,
I want to share something, a month ago i get some notifications in my email that someone tried to access my rockstar and Microsoft account, i changed the password for them.
Then i see a weird story in one of my instagram pages, which i made secure with 2fa.

My steam account was hacked which i recovered, then one my Microsoft account couldn’t be recovered since Microsoft unable to verify my ownership, i sent them all the information i had.

One morning i got a notification that someone try to access iPhone account which got blocked.

I noticed a change in profile pic, bio and a purchase of 8k cad per yr sales pack which I cancelled after accessing.

Today this morning, a different account was accessed which i changed password a month ago.

What you think guys, where my accounts are getting accessed, i reinstalled the windows.
I have iphone and android.