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The past twelve months in cybersecurity have been a rough ride. In cybersecurity, everything is broken — it’s just a matter of finding it — and this year felt like everything broke at once, especially towards the end of the year.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2021/12/29/six-things-we-learned-cybersecurity/
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https://securityinfive.com/6-things-in-cybersecurity-we-didnt-know-last-year/
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CSRA Inc. (NYSE: CSRA) has won a task order through the Department of Defense Joint Service Provider program to develop and deploy an in-depth security network strategy that will deter and neutralize malicious activities for various offices within the Pentagon. The $114 million task order was awarded under the CIO-SP3 contract vehicle, and has a period of performance over four and a half years.
Under the task order, CSRA will protect government networks by blocking, detecting, reacting and responding to network incidents as well as leveraging tactics, techniques and procedures to prevent future incidents from occurring. CSRA will also work with U.S. Cyber Command and other government agencies to provide situational awareness about incidents and potential network threats.
"Often times, highly sophisticated technology is seen as the top defense against a cyberattack or intrusion," said Ken Deutsch, CSRA executive vice president, Defense Group. "While having the right technology in place is a critical element of a successful cybersecurity plan, we've found that developing and deploying a comprehensive network strategy, and collaborating with other parts of the government, is equally as important and needed to defend an organization's IT system effectively."
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http://www.asdnews.com/news-68287/dod_cybersecurity_support_and_services_contract.htm
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When Microsoft inked a deal with IBM last week to develop new business applications for Surface tablets, it felt like a case of deja vu. Details of the partnership closely resemble those agreed to almost exactly two years earlier by Apple and IBM. The difference, experts say, is how Apple and Microsoft are tackling the ‘next phase in enterprise productivity.’
IBM and Microsoft have been closely aligned on many business deals for decades, making it somewhat surprising that it took so long to bring this particular partnership to fruition. Apple’s deal with IBM, by comparison, was considered a watershed moment because it heralded a new era of cooperation between the longtime competitors [ Related: Microsoft expands its surface enterprise initiative ] “Apple scored a big win with their agreement with IBM but also came a bit as a surprise,” says Raul Castanon-Martinez, senior analyst at 451 Research. “IBM followed up with a similar agreement with Microsoft because partnering with Apple meant leaving out a significant chunk of the market.” Nowadays it’s common for companies to have a mix of Apple and Microsoft devices that IT must support, he says.
“The delay does seem a bit strange but I do not think this means Apple has gained a significant advantage in the enterprise,” Castanon-Martinez says. Microsoft’s enterprise play goes beyond positioning Surface tablets for work; it is also putting pieces together for the next phase in enterprise productivity, according to Castanon-Martinez. Microsoft is aggressively pushing its productivity tools, cloud infrastructure, Surface tablets, Cortana and artificial intelligence to enhance its presence in the enterprise, he says.
Brace for minor impact
Apple’s efforts in the enterprise aren’t as expansive as Microsoft’s, but they also don’t begin and end with IBM, says Van Baker, research vice president at Gartner. The iPhone maker is broadening its enterprise reach beyond IBM with its SAP and Cisco partnerships as well, he says.
“The Microsoft deal is hardware centric as I see it and is focused on Surface tablets running Windows 10 so basically they are PC apps,” Baker says. Apple’s deal with IBM includes hardware but the greater focus is on mobile software and support, so the impact of Microsoft’s partnership with IBM will be minimal to Apple’s momentum in the enterprise, according to Baker.
Gette says he doesn’t think Microsoft’s deal with IBM will negatively impact Apple, but the Cupertino giant should be worried about who it is as a company. “With iPad and IPhone sales slipping in a more saturated mobile market, how will they address the needs of the consumer of the future?”
Castanon-Martinez also sees cause for concern at Apple, but it has little to do with Microsoft. “Apple should be worried, but not because of what Microsoft is doing, but rather because of what Apple is not doing,” he says. Apple crawled into the enterprise and gained momentum as a tool for work through the popularity of iOS devices, says Castanon-Martinez. “But when it comes to a well-orchestrated strategy that looks at the enterprise from different angles, Microsoft is ahead of the game.”
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Apple Pencil: 9 great note-taking apps The Apple Pencil is an amazing tool for taking notes, and in this roundup you'll find nine of the best...
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http://www.cio.com/article/3098267/it-industry/should-apple-worry-about-microsoft-ibm-deal.html
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The following privacy policy applies to all parts of our website. Mounting Systems protects your personal data. In the following text we describe what personal data is, under what criteria personal information about the use of our website is collected, how and for what purpose it is used and what we do to protect your personal data against misuse by third parties.
Person-related data is data that can be assigned to a specific natural person, which can therefore be used to determine the identity of a natural person. The use of our offer is generally possible without the provision of personal data. The use of individual functions of our offer sometimes requires deviating regulations, which we will explain separately for each of these cases below. In any case, the personal data arising in connection with the use of this web platform will only be collected, processed and used by us in accordance with the applicable statutory provisions for the protection of personal data. We will also only make transfers of personal data to state institutions and authorities within the framework of mandatory legal provisions.
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https://www.mounting-systems.hu/data-protection
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number of threats, harassment and intimidation cases nearly tripling.
Overall the number of cyber-related crimes reported to the force rose by just over 57 per cent from 3,730 in 2015-16 to 5,860 in the 12 months ending this March.
In neighbouring County Durham, the increase - albeit based on far smaller numbers - is closer to 90 per cent.
This paper requested the figures as part of new investigative campaign launched today by our parent company, Johnston Press, to highlight emerging tactics used by digital criminals.
Yet we will also work with our local forces and other experts to advise our readers how to defend themselves online.
So new is cyber crime as a recognised category that nationally-collated figures are still at what the Government terms the “experimental” stage and concentrate on fraud.
Today’s previously unpublished figures, released to us following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to each North-East force, cover all offences deemed to have a cyber element.
committed to tackling this issue head on.”
The number of sex crimes - covering areas such as revenge porn and offences against children - has increased in 12 months by just over 53 per cent from 474 cases to 726.
Incidents of threats, harassment and intimidation have risen over the same period by from 942 to 2,604.
Know your botnets from your bitcoins? Here's your A-Z of cyber-crime terms
Other areas showing marked increases are theft and fraud - up from 79 to 110 cases - and blackmail - which has gone up from 85 to 114 cases.
The overall rise is partly put down to the force increasing public awareness of cyber crime with some victims previously unaware that they have been targeted in the first place.
Dame Vera added: “Cybercrime is a growing problem internationally and one taken very seriously by Northumbria Police.
In Durham, the number of reported “cyber enabled” crimes has increased over from 2015-16 to 2016-17 by 87 per cent from 452 cases to 846.
Harassment cases - including cyber bullying on Facebook and Twitter - account for more than half the figure with a rise from 244 to 546 reports.
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https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/crime/cyber-crime-on-the-rise-throughout-north-east-1-8663834
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Fully capable of providing knowledgeable and experienced support to all phases of the NIST Risk Management Framework (RMF) process to include subject matter experts in DIACAP to RMF transition, Assessment and Authorization, and vulnerability assessments. We bring a wealth of experience with DoD and Federal clients that supporting Plan of Action and Milestone (POA&M) management, patch management, on-going authorization, remediation of vulnerabilities, vulnerability scanning, and enterprise cyber program management.
Whether dealing with a rogue trader or a rogue traitor, foresighted prevention trumps real-time interdiction, and event interdiction trumps after-the-fact investigation. To counter the Insider Threat, an enterprise must be vigilant in all three lifecycle time spaces: future, present, and past.
TAPE provides a comprehensive – and constantly growing – suite of cyber security countermeasures aimed at protecting the Intelligence Community, DoD, and Fortune 5000 companies from their worst nightmare: the cybertraitor. We prove, test, and rapidly deploy innovative cyber security solutions that keep our clients one step ahead of the Insider Threat.
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https://tape-llc.com/services/technology-services/cyber-security/
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The series consists of the following sections:. The steps set out in this series provide a general direction of travel to assist you on your cyber resilience journey. Download Introduction. Organisations must develop a culture of cyber resilience. Everyone in the organisation should feel supported to make decisions that protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information assets. Download Step One. Download Step Two.
First name. USQ is collecting the personal information on this form for support for students and prospective students and for marketing purposes. Further information concerning privacy is available. If your download doesn't start automatically click the link below. We will also send you an email with a link to your PDF if you entered your email address. It looks like there was an error while generating your brochure. Please try again later.
Information Security Management To protect an organizations valuable resources, such as information, hardware, and software Identification of an organizations information assets The development, documentation, and implementation of policies, standards, procedures, and guidelines Ensure Availability, Integrity and Confidentiality. CIA - Confidentiality Protection of information within systems so that unauthorized people, resources, and processes cannot access that information. The Threat Hackers, Masqueraders, Unauthorized user activity Unprotected downloaded files, networks, and unauthorized programs e. The Action Granting access on a need-to-know least privilege basis Separation of duties Rotation of duties. Separation of Duties No single employee has control of a transaction from beginning to end. Rotation of Duties Change Job assignments periodically Works well when used in conjunction with a separation of duties Helps organization when losing a key employee. The security program must employ a careful balance between ideal security and practical productivity.
PDF | In today's economic, regulatory, and social environment, information challenges to effective information security and risk management.
Similar to the learning units that we covered so far, in this unit we will learn about ISM purpose, objectives, scope, value, key concepts, triggers, interfaces, inputs and ouputs, challenges and risks. Let us begin with the purpose and objectives in the next slide. The ISM process should be the focal point for all IT security issues, and must ensure that an Information Security Policy is produced, maintained and enforced that covers the use and misuse of all IT systems and services. Understanding all of this will enable ISM to ensure that all the current and future security aspects and risks of the business are cost-effectively managed. To achieve effective information security governance, management must establish and maintain an Information Security Management System ISMS to guide the development and management of a comprehensive information security programme that supports the business objectives.
See full list on securityintelligence. It provides a prioritized flexible and cost effective approach for safeguarding your patients health information corporate capital and earnings from the impact of cybersecurity related risks. This integration deficit can have significant governance consequences. The development of cyber security regulation continues to be more patchy. IRGC develops concepts and tools for evidence based risk governance. The framework applies to departments and public bodies covered by the Financial Management Act Corporate Governance Risk and Compliance GRC management can help you An integrated approach is essential to sharing information and improving framework may comprise organizational measures such as security policies.
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https://fbfmnigeria.org/and-pdf/120-information-security-governance-and-risk-management-pdf-388-487.php
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$ 39.99|https://store.pandasecurity.com/300/purl-cart?currencies=USD&x-track=53699&cart=iA12APESD1_R〈uage=en&quantity=1&enablecoupon=false&coupon=30OFFWEB&x-coupon=30OFFWEB|$ 27.99 $ 49.99|https://store.pandasecurity.com/300/purl-cart?currencies=USD&x-track=53699&cart=iA12ISESD1_R〈uage=en&quantity=1&enablecoupon=false&coupon=30OFFWEB&x-coupon=30OFFWEB|$ 34.99 $ 69.99|https://store.pandasecurity.com/300/ purl-cart?currencies=EUR&x-track=53699&cart=iA12GPESD1_R〈uage=en&quantity=1&enablecoupon=false&coupon=30OFFWEB&x-coupon=30OFFWEB|€ 41.99 $ 94.99|https://store.pandasecurity.com/300/purl-cart?currencies=USD&x-track=53699&cart=iA12GLESD1_R〈uage=en&quantity=1&enablecoupon=false&coupon=30OFFWEB&x-coupon=30OFFWEB|$ 66.49 $ 6.99|https://store.pandasecurity.com/300/purl-pp?currencies=EUR&x-track=53699&cart=iA001PPC0SIL〈uage=en&quantity=1&enablecoupon=false&coupon=1STMOFFPPC&x-coupon=1STMOFFPPC|€ 0.00 $ 3.99|https://store.pandasecurity.com/300/purl-pp?currencies=EUR&x-track=53699&cart= iA001PPA0SIL〈uage=en&quantity=1&enablecoupon=false&coupon=1STMOFFPPA&x-coupon=1STMOFFPPA|€ 0.00
P2PWorm. OS is a worm that spreads by copying itself, without infecting other files.
P2PWorm. OS uses the following propagation or distribution methods:
Exploiting vulnerabilities with the intervention of the user: exploiting vulnerabilities in file formats or applications. To exploit them successfully it needs the intervention of the user: opening files, viewing malicious web pages, reading emails, etc.
Via Internet, exploiting remote vulnerabilities: attacking random IP addresses, in which it tries to insert a copy of itself by exploiting one or more vulnerabilities.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing programs: it makes copies of itself with enticing names in shared folders belonging to these programs. Other users of this type of networks then voluntarily download and run the infected files.
Computer networks (mapped drives): it creates copies of itself in mapped drives.
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https://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/about-malware/encyclopedia/overview.aspx?idvirus=223893
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I see mimikatz as one of the most significant collections of offensive capability available today. Because there’s so much capability, folks are often interested in how to detect its use on their network.
For example, one blog post recommends that use of Honey Hashes to detect mimikatz use. Others might recommend that you look for Kerberos tickets that expire 10 years from now. These are great examples of ways to detect different Mimikatz features. What if I told you there was a way to detect mimikatz use, regardless of feature?
This technology exists. Better, it’s cheap. This Mimikatz Detection Peripheral only costs $50. Here’s a demonstration of this technology in action:
Note: This technology only detects Mimikatz releases built after October 9, 2015.
“Dark Side Ops (DSO) is a course on targeted attacks, evasion, and advanced post exploitation… with a twist. The thesis of DSO is this: if you want to credibly simulate a real world attacker, you need advanced capability. You can’t do this with unmodified open source tools. This course teaches students how to build and modify advanced capabilities. Let’s take a closer look.”
Recently, I spent a few days in a course that combines malware development and advanced tradecraft into one package. I thought the course was so good, I wrote a review on it. You can check out the review over at ethicalhacker.net.
This is another meta-post about this blog. If you’re not a regular reader of this blog, this post is probably not for you. I’d like to share the different audiences I imagine when I write on this blog. Conveniently, the categories map quite well to audiences.
In the Metasploit Framework category I imagine that I’m writing to members of the Metasploit Framework community. I generally document the undocumented and share things I’ve learned digging deep into the framework here. My assumption is that if I find it interesting, others probably will too.
In the red team category I write a lot about my experiences supporting different cyber defense exercises. Once in a while, I delve into experiences from when I was penetration testing. This category is a mix of techniques and ideas about how to organize a red team. Earlier this year I had the opportunity to take part in a large-scale cyber war game run by folks I hadn’t worked with before. When I arrived, I found out that a big part of how I got there was this blog. Apparently, not enough people talk about how to scale large red teams and collaborate. Who knew?
In the Cobalt Strike category I announce new releases and I write about different Cobalt Strike features. This category is meant for Cobalt Strike’s users. I see my blog as an extension of the online training. I update the online course every two years. In between, this blog is my place to capture the thought process and tradecraft that goes with each new feature. If you want to keep up with the latest of what Cobalt Strike can do or where it’s going, this blog is the place to do it. Often times questions customers ask will end up as posts in this category too.
Once in a great while I make an attempt at writing reference pieces. These are my “What Penetration Testers Should Know” posts. I find these posts incredibly difficult to write. I usually stick these in the red team category. These posts have minimal marketing in them and usually appeal to a broad audience. I know when I want more traffic, I can sequester myself for a week to write one. Sadly, I don’t have many weeks where I can get away with this.
When I work on a project, I like to define a broad problem statement. This is the project’s intended mark on the world. I don’t have enough hubris to claim a solution for all cases. To make my project’s tractable, I define assumptions. These assumptions bound the problem statement and keep the work under control. I tend to live within my assumptions until I feel the project has outgrown them. When this happens, I look for an opportunity to redefine my work under a new problem statement or at least, new assumptions.
In this blog post, I’ll take you through the problem statements and assumptions that define Armitage and Cobalt Strike. It’s fitting that I write this now, because I’m re- examining Cobalt Strike’s problem statement and assumptions.
Armitage
Armitage is a scriptable user interface for the Metasploit Framework that allows red teams to collaborate. Armitage has a broad problem statement: how do I help red teams collaborate?
Armitage lives under a set of assumptions.
First, I had to define a use case for this project. I opted to scope Armitage’s use case to exercise red teams, particularly red teams for the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competitions, which I had a lot of volunteer involvement with.
Next, I scoped Armitage to the Metasploit Framework only. I had zero intention of building the one collaboration framework to rule them all. I wanted to explore some ideas within the context of the Metasploit Framework and what it offers. This meant I would not integrate third-party hacking tools with Armitage and I would not build new hacking capability into it. These assumptions gave me suitable constraints to build and reason about Armitage.
This weekend, Armitage will celebrate its fourth birthday. I continue to maintain this project, but Armitage was successful in its original efforts a long time ago. Today, most penetration testing and red team platforms have collaboration features. Armitage is a familiar face at events where hackers have to work together with the Metasploit Framework. We now have good practices [1, 2, 3, 4] to organize red teams in cyber defense exercises.
Cobalt Strike
I used to work on a red team support contract. Stealth and evasion mattered a great deal. I ran into the limitations of available tools. I saw a need for penetration testing tools to challenge harder targets. My work on these problems became Cobalt Strike. I define Cobalt Strike’s problem set as closing the gap between penetration testing tools and so-called advanced threat capabilities. It’s in my logo even! “Advanced Threat Tactics for Penetration Testers”. Like Armitage, Cobalt Strike lives under a set of assumptions too.
Every feature I build into Cobalt Strike requires synergy with a stock instance of the Metasploit Framework. This assumption led to a collection of tools very focused on the Windows attack surface. Some of Cobalt Strike’s concepts would be right at home with a MacOS X target, but there’s too little opportunity for synergy with the Metasploit Framework, so I haven’t looked in this direction. My emphasis on 32-bit payloads, also comes from this assumption.
Second, Cobalt Strike is made for a hypothetical internal red team for a large corporate or government enterprise. This assumption has had major influences on my product. It defines the problems I care about and the things I ignore. Let’s use browser pivoting as an example. This technology was made to meet a need for a segment of users. These users care about Internet Explorer, not Google Chrome or Firefox. Hence, browser pivoting was made for Internet Explorer.
Third, Cobalt Strike is built for a remote operations use case. This influences the problems I work on as well. I assume that my user is a remote actor. This is why I provide covert communication options and focus on ways to evade egress restrictions. Under my assumptions, if a user can’t get out, they can’t use the rest of the toolset. This assumption also limits the features I build and the workflows I support. If a tactic isn’t practical for a remote actor, I ignore it.
My last assumption relates to what Cobalt Strike does. Cobalt Strike executes targeted attacks and replicates advanced threats. That statement is marketing speak for sends phishing emails and focuses on post exploitation. I wrote the last sentence, tongue-in-cheek, but there’s a reality to it. My tool supports a process: setup a client-side attack, phish to get a foothold, abuse trusts for lateral movement, and conduct post exploitation to achieve some objective/demonstrate risk. I focus on this process and work to make this tool better support it. Few engagements execute this process end-to-end, so I make sure to decouple these pieces from each other. That said, this clear definition of what Cobalt Strike does helps guide my development efforts.
Cobalt Strike has nearly two and a half years on the market and it’s had a lot of updates in that time. I still have work to do within Cobalt Strike’s problem set, but I feel it’s a good product for its stated use cases.
What’s next?
I’m thinking a lot about Cobalt Strike’s next iteration. At this time, I’m revisiting Cobalt Strike’s problem statement and assumptions. As I think about what’s coming next, here are a few things at the top of my mind:
First, I believe there’s a “good enough” level for hacker capability. After a point, better malware and capability will only take a red team so far. I see several needs that I categorize as features to support assessors with growing accountability and story telling requirements. This is a sign that some security programs are maturing and these customers expect more detail from us. I think there’s a need to put equal effort into these requirements.
I also believe we’re witnessing the emergence of a service that most penetration testers and red teams will soon offer. These are assessments that assume compromise and focus on an organization’s post-compromise security posture. Particularly, the organization’s ability to detect and remediate a sophisticated intruder. I wrote about this in a previous blog post.
Finally, I believe the deprecation of Windows XP was the end of an era. There are ideas and concepts in our tools and services that date back to the beginning of this era. I think some of these things are holding us back.
I’m not ready to speak specifics on these things yet, but I’m closely examining my tradecraft, process, and tools. I’m asking the hard questions: what’s historic baggage? What makes sense for the red team and adversary simulation use cases going forward?
A VPN pivot is a virtual network interface that gives you layer-2 access to your target’s network. Rapid7’s Metasploit Pro was the first pen testing product with this feature. Core Impact has this capability too.
In September 2012, I built a VPN pivoting feature into Cobalt Strike. I revised my implementation of this feature in September 2014. In this post, I’ll take you through how VPN pivoting works and even provide code for a simple layer-2 pivoting client and server you can play with. The layer-2 pivoting client and server combination don’t have encryption, hence it’s not correct to refer to them as VPN pivoting. They’re close enough to VPN pivoting to benefit this discussion though.
Let’s start with a few terms: The attacker runs VPN server software. The target runs a VPN client. The connection between the client and the server is the channel to relay layer-2 frames.
To the attacker, the target’s network is available through a virtual network interface. This interface works like a physical network interface. When one of your programs tries to interact with the target network, the operating system will make the frames it would drop onto the wire available to the VPN server software. The VPN server consumes these frames, relays them over the data channel to the VPN client. The VPN client receives these frames and dumps them onto the target’s network.
These functions are the raw ingredients to build a VPN server. To demonstrate tunneling frames over layer 2, we’ll take advantage of simpletun.c by Davide Brini.
simpletun.c is an example of using a network TAP. It’s ~300 lines of code that demonstrates how to send and receive frames over a TCP connection. This GPL(!) example accompanies Brini’s wonderful Tun/Tap Interface Tutorial. I recommend that you read it.
When simpletun.c sends a frame, it prefixes the frame with an unsigned short in big endian order. This 2-byte number, N, is the length of the frame in bytes. The next N bytes are the frame itself. simpletun.c expects to receive frames the same way.
Now that we understand the VPN server, let’s discuss the VPN pivoting client. Cobalt Strike’s VPN pivoting client sniffs traffic on the target’s network. When it sees frames, it relays them to the VPN pivoting server, which writes them to the TAP interface. This causes the server’s operating system to process the frames as if they were read off of the wire.
Let’s build a layer-2 pivoting client that implements similar logic. To do this, we will use the Windows Packet Capture API. WinPcap is the Windows implementation of LibPCAP and RiverBed Technology maintains it.
First, we need to open up the target network device that we will pivot onto. We also need to put this device into promiscuous mode. Here’s the code to do that:
I define client_send_frame in client.c. This function writes the frame’s length and data to our layer-2 pivoting server connection. If you want to implement a new channel or add encryption to make this a true VPN client, client.c is the place to explore this.
We now know how to read frames and send them to the layer-2 pivoting server.
Next, we need logic to read frames from the server and inject these onto the target network. In tunnel.c, I create a thread that calls client_recv_frame in a loop. The client_recv_frame function reads a frame from our connection to the layer-2 server. The pcap_sendpacket function injects a frame onto the wire.
client.exe [server ip] [server port] [local ip]
Once the layer-2 client connects to the layer-2 server, use a DHCP client to request an IP address on your attack server’s network interface [or configure an IP address with ifconfig].
To try this Layer-2 client, you will need to install WinPcap on your target system. You can download WinPcap from RiverBed Technology. And, that’s it. I hope you’ve enjoyed this deep dive into VPN pivoting and how it works.
The layer-2 client is a stripped down version of Cobalt Strike’s Covert VPN feature. Covert VPN compiles as a reflective DLL. This allows Cobalt Strike to inject it into memory. The Covert VPN client and server encrypt the VPN traffic [hence, VPN pivoting]. Covert VPN will also silently drop a minimal WinPcap install and clean it up for you. And, Covert VPN supports multiple data channels. It’ll tunnel frames over TCP, UDP, HTTP, or through Meterpreter.
For some people, programming comes naturally to them. For others, it’s a struggle or something that doesn’t click with the way they think. The same thing with hacking.
Hackers often complain about “script kiddies”, people who use tools without any clue about what they do. What’s the difference between someone who will become a good hacker and someone who will stay a script kiddie, forever?
I know the answer. Here it is. The number one trait for a successful hacker is the ability to reason about things one can’t directly observe.
Since a hacker is in the business of circumventing controls or discovering the unknown, they’re constantly in the blind. They have to reason about what they’re trying to hack though. If they can’t, they’ll never figure out the system they’re working on.
This innate ability to reason comes from a solid mental model. A mental model is your ability to quickly ask a question and have several guesses at an answer. When someone asks me a question, sometimes I have a few ideas. Other times I’m stuck. I’m stuck when I have no reference for the situation as described to me. Sometimes, I’m stuck because there are too many possibilities and I don’t have enough information to pick one. This is how I feel when with 99% of the Armitage “support requests” I get.
Where does a mental model come from? A mental model comes from knowing how something works. Reading, attending classes, and otherwise consuming information provide some of the pieces of a mental model, but inactive learning, by itself, will not build a mental model for you. To create a mental model, you have to do something active with these pieces. This active piece requires envisioning an outcome or goal, attempting it, failing, figuring out why, and going on to eventually succeed with the task. There’s an emotion that goes with this active learning process. It’s called frustration.
If you’re frustrated at different times while you’re learning or doing, but you still get the job done, then congratulations–you’re building your mental model.
When I was working on the browser pivoting feature for Cobalt Strike, I had the benefit of an unexpected learning experience. My proxy server would process a request, send a response, and close the socket. In local testing, this worked perfectly. When I used a port forward through Meterpreter, it would work most of the time. When I tried to browser pivot with Meterpreter tunneled through Cobalt Strike’s Beacon connected to Amazon’s EC2–requests failed 90% of the time.
What happened? Why was it failing? I could have thrown up my hands and said “it doesn’t work” or “this lousy performance is acceptable”. I went through each component of my system and tried to understand it. Eventually, I figured out that my call to closesocket would make a best effort to finish sending data in the socket’s outbound queue. Usually, this worked fine. As I introduced latency into my pivoting process, I increased the opportunity for data to get discarded. Before I released this feature, I was able to solve this problem.
This frustrating experience improved my mental model. I couldn’t just look at my code to solve the problem. I had to setup experiments and reason about parts of the system I didn’t write or have full knowledge of.
If you want to succeed as a hacker, learn to troubleshoot. Learn how the things around you work. If you can’t directly observe a detail, learn how to get the answer another way. If you run out of ideas, keep digging. The answer is out there.
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http://blog.cobaltstrike.com/category/uncategorized/
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During the Microsoft Ignite keynote in Chicago today, only one customer graced the stage, but it was a doozy: Real Madrid, the world’s no. 1 sports franchise.
Together with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Real Madrid CEO José Ángel Sánchez announced a new, expanded partnership with Microsoft under which the club will embark on a total digital transformation built on the Microsoft Cloud platform.
“Having more than 450 million supporters around the world is really a challenge,” Sánchez tells CIO.com. “This partnership with Microsoft will help us understand who they are, to really get to their passion and love for Real Madrid.”
Real Madrid C.F. CEO Jose Angel Sanchez speaks at the Microsoft Ignite conference in Chicago.
Sánchez says it is critical to understand who the clubs supporters are so it can engage them in more personal ways.
As Sánchez notes, Real Madrid boasts 450 million fans globally, but only about five percent of them are in Spain. In fact, both the U.S. and Indonesia individually have more Real Madrid supporters than all of Spain. Orlando Ayala, chairman and corporate vice president of Emerging Businesses at Microsoft notes that China too has become a strong base of Read Madrid supporters. Creating engagement with all of those fans — especially two-way communication — is no mean feat.
“At the center of this partnership are the 450 million fans that Real Madrid has around the world,” Ayala tells CIO.com. “We’re going to ensure that Real Madrid is going to get access to an incredible amount of information about their fans.”
That data will include age, location and gender, he says.
Real Madrid-Microsoft teamwork continues
The expanded partnership builds on an existing relationship between Real Madrid and Microsoft established in 2014. Last year, Microsoft began working with the Real Madrid Foundation on social projects for Latin American youth around the globe.
“We worked together to create a situation where children could have access to technology and be able to develop themselves,” Sánchez says.
Now Real Madrid has asked a Microsoft Services team to develop a new technology solution that provides it with a cohesive structure for digital services that will help it engage fans, but also put data in the hands of players and business users to help them transform the way they work.
“The Microsoft Azure platform is helping us rebuild and reinterpret our business in a way that makes it possible for us and our fans to do things that used to be impossible,” Sánchez says. “It is really a complete disruption of the business model that football has had over the past 15 to 20 years.”
The starting lineup
The new platform is based on the Microsoft Cloud and Office 365 platform. It includes the following:
Fan Engagement Platform. This component is the marketing back-office engine of the solution. It captures and stores every interaction with a fan, including mobile check-ins at its stadium, online fan profile updates and online merchandise purchases. The platform is hosed on Microsoft Office 365 and makes use of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, Dynamics Marketing and Power BI. Microsoft Social Engagement collects club mentions and other data from Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites. The data resides in Azure Table Storage and Azure DocumentDB, which is used for querying the data.
Extended Video Platform. This platform is hosted on Azure Media Services and features both new and historical video content, including Real Madrid’s previous games. It uses Azure App Service to integrate the apps to Azure Media Services, with Azure Media Player used to present content. Azure Search is the search engine, allowing fans to search content by criteria. For instance, a fan could search for games in which the club scored a certain number of goals.
Consumer App. This mobile interactive app serves as the key interface with fans. Designed for iOS, Android and Windows platforms, it was built with .NET Framework with Microsoft Visual Studio 2013. The app can be used to virtually access the stadium and search for data on all the club’s past and present players as well as detailed statistics from specific games. The app uses a preview version of the Azure Active Directory Business to Consumer identity service for user authentication and profile storage.
Telemetry and Data Analysis. From the cross-platform mobile applications to the supporting web services, the solution uses Visual Studio Application Insights to provide rich telemetry on application usage by fans and in-depth technical and operational insight across the entire infrastructure. The majority of the telemetry data is automatically collected and can be surfaced through Power BI.
The platform will help Real Madrid capture and discover fans’ personal preferences, allowing it to provide more relevant content to individual fans through the mobile app. When fans check in at the stadium for a live match, it can automatically provision a personal QR code for a loyalty in-stadium offer, or just a message thanking the fan for investing time and money to see the game.
By collecting all this data and creating a detailed user profile of each fan, Sánchez wants to help Real Madrid marketers offer more targeted, customized marketing initiatives.
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https://www.cio.com/article/246859/how-real-madrid-scores-fan-engagement-in-the-cloud.html
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App-V 5: Installing to the PVAD: Don’t do it . Yes . I said it.
Update 12/5/2014: The PVAD feature is now optional as of App-V 5.0 SP3. Also SP3 allows for merged roots with Connection Groups. Read more here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn858700.aspx#BKMK_pvad_hidden If you have ever dealt with me directly as a customer, attended one of my presentations, or even simply stomached one of my diatribes in a casual, technical conversation,…
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https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/gladiatormsft/tag/vfs/
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Joining other western countries, the Trump Administration is rumored to be considering effectively banning end-to-end encryption by mandating back-doors according to a Politico report last week. End-to-end encryption is a system of communication where only the communicating users can read the messages. Providing the ultimate level of privacy to users, the system is also a […]
The post Trump Administration rumored to be considering effectively banning end-to-end encryption appeared first on SiliconANGLE.
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https://masmaz.com/index.php/2019/07/02/trump-administration-rumored-to-be-considering-effectively-banning-end-to-end-encryption/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=trump-administration-rumored-to-be-considering-effectively-banning-end-to-end-encryption
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Specialized virtual machines, recently released in beta mode, ensure cloud workloads haven’t been compromised.
Google recently rolled out in beta specialized virtual machines, called Shielded VMs, so account holders on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) could run workloads without fear of running compromised code.
Now the company is publishing details on how Shielded VMs keep the cloud secure from attack vectors, including guest system firmware, guest OS via malicious guest-VM kernel or user-mode vulnerabilities, and malicious customer insiders tampering with guest VM images. Threats like boot malware or firmware rootkits often lay undetected while the compromised VM boots.
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https://securitycurated.com/cloud-security/google-details-tech-built-into-shielded-vms
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2 Comments Filed Under: Law & order, Vulnerability A man suspected of hacking into computer systems belonging to Sony Pictures, and stealing the personal information and passwords of thousands of innocent internet users, has been arrested by the FBI.
20-year-old Raynaldo Rivera, of Tempe, Arizona, is said to have been involved in the Sony hack last year that exposed online the names, birth dates, addresses, emails, phone numbers and passwords of people who had entered Sony contests.
At the time LulzSec published what they called a "Pretentious Press Statement" about the hack which was said to have been done via an SQL injection attack against a vulnerable Sony website:
"SonyPictures.com was owned by a very simple SQL injection, one of the most primitive and common vulnerabilities, as we should all know by now. From a single injection, we accessed EVERYTHING. Why do you put such faith in a company that allows itself to become open to these simple attacks?"
The security breach is said to have cost Sony over $600,000.
According to the FBI, Rivera was an accomplice of 24-year-old LulzSec member Cody Kretsinger, who pleaded guilty in April to charges connected to the Sony Pictures hack, reversing an earlier not guilty plea.
Kretsinger used the HideMyAss.com proxy server website to disguise his IP address as he the Sony Pictures' website was probed in May 2011, hunting for vulnerabilities.
HideMyAss.com's terms and conditions stipulate that their service is not to be used for illegal activity, however, and they co-operated with the authorities when a court order was received requesting information.
Rivera, who is said to use the online handles "neuron,"royal" and "wildicv", is suspected of similarly using a anonymising proxy in an attempt to conceal his computer's real IP address.
On Rivera's Facebook page (which can be found at https://www.facebook.com/wildicv) he describes himself as "just your common computer geek", and appears to have recently left a job at the University of Advancing Technology in Tempe, Arizona.
Others considering committing crimes on the net might be wise to stop believing that using an anonymising proxy service will necessarily keep them out of the clutches of the law.
Rivera faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the charges against him. Follow @NakedSecurity
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http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/08/29/suspected-lulzsec-member-arrested-by-fbi-for-sony-pictures-hack/
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- Performing penetration testing and application assessments to our clients.
- Designing and performing realistic Red team activities for our clients.
- Must have solid working experience and knowledge of Windows operating system (incl. Active directory), and Linux operating system. Mobile operating systems are an advantage.
- Solid understanding of networking, TCP/IP and virtualization architecture.
- Strong familiarity with some of the following: OWASP, 10 and penetration testing standards.
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https://www.iheartremotework.com/remote-jobs/820/penetration-tester-onpoint
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In this Avast antivirus assessment, we’ll look at the main options that come with the popular security program. We’ll also look at its program, which is friendly and straightforward. As the program’s methods and protocols are advanced, you may not have to do much to use this. This is an important plus, because Avast the actual process relatively easy. You can even configure some of it is features, including its VPN and Cleaning feature, with no need for any technical understanding.
As for its performance, Avast is an example of the best free ant-virus programs to choose from, with more than 400 , 000, 000 users world-wide. Despite their reputation being a absolutely free antivirus system, the program will likely not slow down your laptop or computer and will battle malicious software without your understanding. Moreover, Avast’s list of equipment is outstanding. If you’re within the fence about whether or not to get Avast, consider each of our Avast anti-virus review.
Avast is well-equipped to handle prevalent problems, which includes out-of-date software and vicious web browser add-ons. In addition , it picks up network concerns, unprotected sensitive documents, and weak accounts. Despite the relatively small number of Avast’s features, we don’t think it’s essential to pay for the premium variant. We’d recommend a free antivirus instead, or at least a trial version that offers a totally free trial.
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https://gslservice.net/avast-antivirus-review
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To foster cyber awareness and protect communities from evolving cyber threats, an event “Cyber-e-Vision- Decode the art of digital deception: Stay one step ahead of scammers’ was organised recently at Shri Ramdeobaba College of Engineering and Management, Nagpur (RCOEM). Chief guest of the function Archit Chandak, DCP of EOW and Cyber Crime, Nagpur, urged the people to unite to fight against the cyber crime. He stressed the prevalent issue of cyber crimes, highlighting that a staggering 99.99% of such crimes occur due to the victims’ inadvertence.
Chandak informed the gathering the concerning number of daily cyber complaints, ranging from 25-30 regular cases in the Nagpur zone alone, resulting in frauds worth Rs 15-20 lakh per day. The session concluded with an engaging Q&A, addressing the audiences’ concerns about cyber crime. The event also witnessed the presence of Dr Manoj Chandak, Dean Academics, Isha Mujumdar – Founder & CEO of VCF Cyber Solutions Pvt. Ltd. and others.
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https://www.thehitavada.com/Encyc/2023/9/19/Unite-to-fight-against-cyber-crime-DCP-Archit-Chandak.html
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Go here for the entire series of posts.
Let's face it, ransomware is not gong away. It's simply too damn profitable for the criminals and too damn easy for them to perpetrate. When an highly publicized incident happens (last week is Colonial Pipeline) you'll see a whole host of articles in the press (IT and otherwise) list a series of steps that organizations can take to prevent it. Platitudes such as "zero trust", "AI", and other meaningless suggestions make their way out. Rarely do these articles have anything by the way of useful and actionable tools and techniques you can utilize to prevent this type of attack.
For the past 6 months I've been giving presentations on ransomware prevention (trust me, you want to prevent.....recovery is lot harder and will eventually be covered in this series). I have decided as a public service to break out this private presentation to a series of blog posts to give enterprise IT professionals the tools and techniques to help prevent their organization becoming the next Colonial Pipeline. You don't need to be a CISSP to protect your network, Nor do you need to pay a big 5 consultancy firm a lot of money to protect your network. You can do it. Just no one has showed you how. Until now.
I don't yet know how many articles will make up this series (it could be 6, it could be 9) but this is the first. The plan is to cover vulnerability analysis, patching, GPO tricks, email security and backup and recovery. This being the first, it is going to be the easiest one organizations can do to protect themselves, add protection at the DNS layer.
At it's heart DNS filtering is having your DNS forwarders/resolvers use a service that will prevent knowingly malicious DNS entries from resolving thus preventing users and services from locating the malicious site hosting whatever is about to ruin your day.
The most basic implementation of this is to simply have your Active Directory and edge firewall DNS settings (or even your home router) to point to one of the free services that provide this type of protection. At the other end of the spectrum are paid services that will allow filter categories, reporting, and filtering of off-LAN devices. Off-LAN devices is the Achilles heel of the free services.
This is not an exhaustive list of services, so if I've missed a good one add a comment.
The free DNS filtering services
Again, there is no mobile filtering for these services, and you need to be behind a router or AD DNS for these to work. For malicious only, I'd start with Quad9. If you need adult or family friendly filtering, CleanBrowsing will be your jam.
CleanBrowsing, has free services that will also block "adult content" and force safe search. Also does malicious filtering. This is very good for public access wifi's were you need to block adult sites.
Quad9, malicious filtering with a good dose of privacy. Recommended by MS-ISAC.
OpenDNS, bought by Cisco and now part of Cisco Umbrella but the free servers have remained online. This service will filter out malicious sites.
The paid DNS filtering services
Paid services will add a whole lot of features and usually the ability to also filter off-LAN devices such as laptops (essential in these COVID WFH times). There are fully fledged filters that will allow for reporting and customization, some also offer on-prem proxies. In some circumstances these can even replace your on-prem web filters but I'm not sure I would recommend that wholeheartedly as most "appliance" web filters can also do ATP on attachment downloading, etc, and DNS filtering only works when the malware has a URL for the command and control infrastructure it's communicating with. If it's communicating directly to an IP address, well you are out of luck.
Webtitan, by far the best value I've come across. Not the best reporting web interface, but the price will make up for that.
DNSFilter, very nice interface.
CleanBrowsing, the paid version of their free offering. No mobile client which is a shame.
Cisco Umberalla. It's Cisco, so expect it to be more expensive than the competition. Usually part of the larger system you will implement. Getting a price is not fun either. Essentially the paid version of OpenDNS.
Conclusion
Adding even the free filters as your upstream DNS resolvers will give you layer of protection you may never have had or even considered. This is important as enterprise IT security is like the skin of an onion. Layered and deep.
If you need to DNS filter mobile devices such as laptops then you will need to look at paid as setting a laptop forwarder to a free service will play havoc when they return to the office and cannot resolve local LAN DNS addresses.
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https://blog.darrenduke.net/darren/ddbz.nsf/dx/ransomware-prevention-part-1.htm
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The information society is a complex network of interconnected public and private entities and human beings. Many of them choose a certain level of technological development from the generally available solutions to support internal processes attaining objectives that support operations, creating technological dependence via internal or external services of the information and communication technologies (ICTs).
Due to the technological development and technological dependence caused by ICTs, a society-wide political need has arisen for tackling security requirements for cyberspace in several sectors to satisfy the individuals’ needs that directly or indirectly define the requirements for such services, resulting in a complex ecosystem with several participants. Although the European Union has formulated some crucial rules via regulations and directives with which it increasingly defined cybersecurity stakeholders from time to time, there are several missing affected parties.
This paper aims to review the relevant technological, societal, and economic factors of the information society creating the necessity to strictly handle cybersecurity requirements and analyse decisive stakeholders via a theoretical framework. Furthermore, it also identifies the current legislative framework issues to identify pain points.
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https://www.europeansources.info/record/analysis-of-the-cybersecurity-ecosystem-in-the-european-union/
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DSD 72B-SP and DSD 72A-SP (STM) SONET/SDH Encryption military, rugged industrial and industrial variants interoperate, seamlessly overlay on existing networks, and are centrally managed by KEYNET Optical Manager.
Cipher X 7211 IP Encryption LAN and WAN unicast and multicast security with robust flexibility, scalable performance up to 1 Gb/s, and ease of use.
DSD 72A-SP Military Bulk Data Encryption secures foreign government networks, including missile firing commands of leading missile systems.
CSD 3324 SP Secure Voice Telephone and Fax Encryption provides integrated voice and fax secure communications for mission-critical environments.
CipherTalk Secure Mobile Phones provide hardware-based end-to-end voice and text encryption over GSM bands or via Wi-Fi worldwide. Interoperable with the CipherTalk IP desktop phone.
CSD 3324 SP secure voice/fax has AES-256 and public key.
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https://www.cipherone.com/secure-command-encryption.aspx
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FILE PHOTO: A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. Capitalizing on spying tools believed to have been developed by the U.S. National Security Agency, hackers staged a cyber assault with a self-spreading malware that has infected tens of thousands of computers in nearly 100 countries. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo | Photo Credit: KACPER PEMPEL
Cyber attackers are likely to weaponise operational technology (OT) environments by 2025 to successfully harm or kill humans, according to Gartner, Inc.
Attackers are increasingly targeting operational technology which includes hardware and software that monitors or controls equipment, assets and processes.
They have also evolved from immediate process disruption such as shutting down a plant, to compromising the integrity of industrial environments with intent to create physical harm, Gartner said.
One of the most recent notable security incidents is the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack. Colonial Pipeline, an American oil pipeline system originating in Houston, Texas suffered a massive ransomware attack onay 7, 2021. The pipeline carries gasoline and jet fuel mainly to the Southeastern United States, accounting for nearly 45 per cent of the East Coast's fuel, as per reports. The company had to shut down all of the pipeline's operations for nearly a week to obtain the attack that had impacted computerised equipment managing the pipeline.
The attack highlighted the need to have properly segmented networks for IT and OT.
“In operational environments, security and risk management leaders should be more concerned about real world hazards to humans and the environment, rather than information theft,” said Wam Voster, senior research director at Gartner.
“Inquiries with Gartner clients reveal that organizations in asset-intensive industries like manufacturing, resources and utilities struggle to define appropriate control frameworks.," Voster further said.
According to Gartner, security incidents in OT and other cyber-physical systems (CPS) have three main motivations: actual harm, commercial vandalism (reduced output) and reputational vandalism (making a manufacturer untrusted or unreliable).
It has predicted that the financial impact of CPS attacks resulting in fatal casualties will reach over $50 billion by 2023.
"Even without taking the value of human life into account, the costs for organizations in terms of compensation, litigation, insurance, regulatory fines and reputation loss will be significant," it said.
Gartner has also predicted that most CEOs will be personally liable for such incidents.
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https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/cyber-attackers-could-weaponise-tech-to-kill-humans-by-2025-gartner/article35519872.ece
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1. The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on them. If someone takes your checkbook, they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name, but your bank will know how you sign your checks.
2. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put ‘PHOTO ID REQUIRED.’ 3. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the ‘For’ line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check-processing channels will not have access to it.
4. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box, use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printed on your checks, (DUH!). You can add it if it is necessary. However, if you have it printed, anyone can get it.
5. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. Also carry a photocopy of your passport when traveling either here or abroad. We have all heard horror stories about fraud that is committed on us in stealing a name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.
6. When you check out of a hotel that uses cards for keys (and they all seem to do that now), do not turn the ‘keys’ in. Take them with you and destroy them. Those little cards have on them all of the information you gave the hotel, including address and credit card numbers and expiration dates. Someone with a card reader, or employee of the hotel, can access all that information with no problem whatsoever.
Unfortunately, this attorney, had first hand knowledge because his wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a creditline approved to buy a Gateway computer and received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online.
Here is some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:
1. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. The key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.
2. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation.
3. However, here is what is perhaps most Important of all. Call the three national credit-reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security Number.
The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.
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https://thelyonsdenblog.com/2008/06/24/identity-theft-prevention-tips-passed-on-from-an-attorney/
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Microsoft has fixed a critical vulnerability in some versions of Windows that can be exploited to create a powerful worm. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2019-0708, is located in Remote Desktop Services. Because the risk and vulnerability are “that” high, Microsoft even released patches for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, even it these platforms are out of support for year (even if still used).
This post includes excerpts from a CSO Online article “Microsoft urges Windows customers to patch wormable RDP flaw”. Read the full article here.
What makes the vulnerability so dangerous is that it can be exploited remotely with no authentication or user interaction by simply sending a maliciously crafted RDP request to a vulnerable system. A successful attack can result in malicious code being executed on the system with full user rights, giving attackers the ability to install programs, modify or delete user data and even to create new accounts.
« In other words, the vulnerability is ‘wormable’, meaning that any future malware that exploits this vulnerability could propagate from vulnerable computer to vulnerable computer in a similar way as the WannaCry malware spread across the globe in 2017, » Simon Pope, director of Incident Response at the Microsoft Security Response Center, said in a blog post.
« While we have observed no exploitation of this vulnerability, it is highly likely that malicious actors will write an exploit for this vulnerability and incorporate it into their malware. »
RDP has been a popular infection vector for malware threats in the past, particularly for ransomware, crypto miners and point-of-sale memory scrapers. Attackers typically steal or brute-force RDP credentials in order to gain access to systems. Unfortunately, too many RDP environments are left without the proper security perimeter as Awingu research showed in 2018 (e.g. Belgium, Italy, Sweden).
With Awingu, users don’t get direct access to the RDP infrastructure. Everything runs through a secure connection in the browser. As such, a lot of the RDP vulnerabilities are not that relevant of a risk. However, it is best to practice to update your systems with the relevant patch as soon as possible. Microsoft furthermore advises the following:
Disable Remote Desktop Services if they are not required. If you no longer need these services on your system, consider disabling them as a security best practice. Disabling unused and unneeded services helps reduce your exposure to security vulnerabilities.
Awingu develops a software to simplify enterprise mobility and liberate legacy applications.
Our software aggregates all company files and applications to one secure online workspace that can be accessed from any device or OS using any HTML5-based browser.
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https://www.awingu.com/fr/new-rdp-vulnerability-found-microsoft-urges-users-to-patch-wormable-rdp-flaw-asap/
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Thank you for visiting this website! In the interest of transparency, we would like to provide you with the following information related to this specific website as well as general information that applies to your interaction with BASF Corporation.
This website is hosted by RnB Design LLC on behalf of BASF Corporation. BASF Corporation's Privacy Policy related to your use and interaction with this website application can be located here: https://www.basf.com/us/en/legal/data-protection.html. Information on how to turn off cookies can be found there as well contact information if you have any questions or concerns. If you are a resident of California, this Privacy Policy also contains information about the rights you have in and related to your personal information and how you can exercise your rights.
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ChemetallNA.com is geared to North America. Global customers are encouraged to use www.chemetall.com.
Chemetall, an affiliated company of BASF, is delighted that you have visited our website and thanks you for your interest in our company. Chemetall takes data protection seriously.
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2. To what extent and for what purposes does Chemetall process such data?
(1) When you visit our website, we use your IP address and the other data that your browser transmits automatically to our server (see Section 1 (1) in order to send the requested content to your browser. In doing so, we store the complete IP address only to the extent necessary to serve the requested content to you.
(2) We store the IP address of your computer after having removed the last octet of the IP address, i.e. in anonymous form, for web audience measuring that allows us to improve our website. We remove the last octet of the IP address immediately after collection. That is why we do not collect personal data about your use of our website.
(3) We use the services of Google Analytics to analyse usage data. Here, cookies are used which enable the statistical analysis of the use of this website by its visitors as well as the display of usage-relevant content or advertising. Cookies are small text files that are stored by the Internet browser on the user's device. Google Analytics cookies do not contain any information that could identify a user.
The data generated with Google Analytics is processed and stored by Google.
Our legitimate interest using the service of Google Analytics is the optimization of our online offer and our website. As the privacy of our visitors is very important to us, we anonymize the IP address as early as possible and converts login or device IDs into a unique key with which, however, no connection to any specific person can be made with. We do not use it for any other purpose, combine it with other data or pass it on to third parties.
(4) If you contact us by email or by contact form on our website, we use the data under Section 1 (2) to answer and, if possible, to meet your request. We store such data to the extent necessary to answer and meet your request.
(5) If you use the online applicant portal (Section 1 (3)): We will exclusively use the personal data that you provide for the purpose of processing your application. Personal data will only be collected while using our online applicant portal if and to the extent that you provide us with the relevant data via the online applicant portal. Your data will only be shared internally with persons who require access to your personal data in order to fill a position. As a rule, these are employees from the Human Resources department and the respective specialized department. We will not share your personal data with third parties unless you have given us advance permission to do so or unless a binding official/legal requirement exists.
(6) If you requested us to send you the necessary Material Safety Data Sheet or Technical Data Sheet (Section 1 (4) you must register in order for us to provide the requested content and services.
3. Are you required to provide the data? Are you entitled to object to processing?
When you visit our website, your browser transmits the information under Section 1 (1) automatically to our server. You are free to transmit such data. Without providing such data we are not able to serve you the requested content.
You are not obliged to let us use your anonymized data for web audience measuring. You can object to the data processing outlined in Section 2 (2) and Section 2 (3) at any time provided it is related to your person. Your objection has no detrimental consequences for you.
If you want to contact us by a) email or by contact form on our website or b) via the online application portal, you are free to transmit the data under Section 1 (2) or 1 (3). We will mark mandatory fields, if any, of a contact form. Without providing the required data you may prevent us from answering and meeting your request properly.
If you need access to your Material Safety Data Sheets or Technical Data Sheets you are free to transmit the data under Section 1 (4). Without providing the required data you may prevent us from permitting you access to the requested Data Sheets.
4. How do we protect your personal data?
Chemetall implemented technical and organizational measures to ensure an appropriate level of security to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful alteration, destruction, loss or unauthorized disclosure. Such measures will be continuously enhanced in line with technological developments.
5. Do we use cookies on our website?
We use ASP.NET_SessionID to support the collection of your data outlined in Section 1.
We use Google Analytics to support in the collection of statical data outlined in Section 2.
6.1. Right to access: the right to obtain access to your information (if we’re processing it), and certain other information (like that provided in this Privacy Policy); 6.2. Right to correct: if your personal is inaccurate or incomplete you have the right to have your personal information rectified; 6.3. Right to erasure: this is also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’ and, in simple terms, enables you to request the deletion or removal of your information where there’s no compelling reason for us to keep using it. This is not a general right to erasure; there are exceptions. For example, we have the right to continue using your personal data if such use is necessary for compliance with our legal obligations or for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims.
6.4. Right to restrict our use of your information: the right to suspend the usage of your personal information or limit the way in which we can use it. Please note that this right is limited in certain situations: when we are processing your personal information that we collected from you with your consent you can only request restriction on the basis of: (a) inaccuracy of data; (b) where our processing is unlawful and you don't want your personal information erased; (c) you need it for a legal claim; or (d) if we no longer need to use the data for the purposes for which we hold it. When processing is restricted, we can still store your information, but may not use it further. We keep lists of people who have asked for restriction of the use of their personal information to make sure the restriction is respected in future; 6.5. Right to data portability: the right to request that we move, copy or transfer (where technically feasible) your personal information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, for your own purposes across different services; 6.6. Right to object: the right to object to our use of your personal information including where we use it for our legitimate interests, direct marketing; 6.7. Right to be informed: you have the right to be provided with clear, transparent and easily understandable information about how we use your personal information; and 6.8. Right to withdraw consent: if you have given your consent to anything we do with your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time (although if you do so, it does not mean that anything we have done with your personal information with your consent up to that point is unlawful).
The exercise of these rights is free of charge for you, however you are required to prove your identity with 2 pieces of approved identification. We will use reasonable efforts consistent with our legal duty to supply, correct or delete personal information about you on our files.
To make inquiries or exercise any of your rights set out in this Privacy Policy and/or make a complaint please contact us by emailing or write to us and we will endeavor to respond within 30 days. Contact details can be found in section 10 below.
When we receive formal written complaints, we will contact the person who made the complaint to follow up. We work with the appropriate regulatory authorities, including local data protection authorities, to resolve any complaints that we cannot resolve directly.
If you are not satisfied with the way any complaint you make in relation to your personal information is handled by us then you may refer your complaint to the relevant data protection supervisory authority.
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https://www.chemetallna.com/data-privacy/statement.aspx
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Certification Country: UNITED STATES (2002)Certificate Details: CCEVS-VR-02-0025, October 2002 Certification Method: CCCrypt Evaluation: CompletedManufacturer/Vendor/Distributor: Microsoft CorporationMicrosoft CorporationOne Microsoft WayRedmond WA 98052 United StatesWebsite: http://www.microsoft.comContactMicrosoft CorporationMicrosoft Corporation USPhone: +61 13 20 58 Fax: +1 650 786 5731 Email: [email protected] Documents Security Target Certification ReportThe Windows 2000 Target of Evaluation (TOE) is a general-purpose network operating system that provides controlled access between subjects and user data objects. Windows 2000 has a broad set of security capabilities including: single network logon; access control and data encryption; extensive security audit collection; and Light-weight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory-based resource management. The Windows 2000 TOE provides the following security services: user data protection; audit; identification and authentication; security management; protection of the TOE Security Functions (TSF); resource quotas; and TOE access banners. The Windows 2000 security policies provide network-wide controlled access protection (access control), encrypted data/key protection and encrypted file protection. These policies enforce access limitations between individual users and data objects. The TOE is capable of auditing security relevant events that occur within a Windows 2000 network. All these security controls require users to identify themselves and be authenticated prior to using any node on the network.
CAVEAT: DSD only approves the use of EFS for the protection of information up to and including the security classification of RESTRICTED and X-IN-CONFIDENCE (excluding CABINET-IN-CONFIDENCE).
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http://asd.gov.au/infosec/epl/index_details.php?product_id=MTQ1IyMjODEuMTkuMTg4LjIyOQ==
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Matjaž Škorjanc, also known as “Iserdo”, has been sentenced to prison for nearly five years by a Slovenian court, after writing a piece of malware used to infect millions of computers around the world.
Computer crime-fighting authorities were successful at bringing down the Mariposa botnet at the end of 2009. But at its height, the botnet (named after the Spanish word for “butterfly”) had silently compromised and hijacked almost 13 million computers in more than 190 countries.
The polymorphic malware behind the Mariposa botnet was Rimecud, which spread between computers using a variety of methods – includingcopying itself to removable storage devices, instant messaging and P2P file-sharing systems.
Once infected, compromised computers were recruited into the botnet, and operators could steal information including passwords and credit card details from victims.
According to police, the code created by Škorjanc was sold to hundreds of other online criminals around the world.
Yesterday, the regional court of Maribor convicted Škorjanc as the creator of the malware, and money laundering. In addition, he was fined 3000 Euros and had his apartment and car (which were purchased with proceeds from selling the malware and its updates to a crimianal gang) confiscated.
Škorjanc’s ex-girlfriend, Nuša Čoh, was also sentenced – receiving a punishment of eight months’ probation for money laundering.
Hopefully, the sentencing of Iserdo will act as a warning to other online criminals that the international authorities are determined to investigate those behind online attacks, and are prepared to hand out stiff sentences if guilt is proven.
United States Customs and Border Protection had sensitive data stolen, but the hackers didn't have to breach its network. Apple has ambitious plans to make iPhone users safer online. And trolls are using Twitter lists to target their victims.
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You're missing the point, they've convicted the guy who created the tools to break into your home and then sold those tools to burglars. It's not clear from the article what happened to the burglars themselves.
While I do agree he needs to be punished, it shouldn't be for creating the malware but for selling it to criminals (criminal intent). Otherwise we should arrest arms manufacturers for murders committed with their weapons also.
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https://www.grahamcluley.com/mariposa-botnet-mastermind-receives-almost-five-year-prison-sentence/
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Single-user computer systems are further classified as Mobile and non-mobile computers. Single user mobile system includes smartphones, laptops, notebooks, and tablets. Single user non-mobile computers include thin client, Servers, and Workstations. Some of the characteristics of Single user computer systems are:
They are designed to manage the computer so that one user can efficiently do multiple tasks at a time.
Single user mobile systems are easy to carry almost everywhere.
It provides a platform for multiple users at any given time.
Allows a single user to interact with several programs, simultaneously.
Allows CPU utilization effectively.
Multiuser computer systems include Server, Mainframe, and Super computers. Some of the characteristics of Multiuser computer system are given as:
Allows multiple users to efficiently share computer resources simultaneously.
Provides access to a number of users by maintaining a database of known users.
The operating system simulates real-time performance by task switching.
It manages multiple requests to same resource concurrently.
A single user operating system provides facilities to be used on one computer by only one user...
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https://www.bartleby.com/solution-answer/chapter-2-problem-2lo-fundamentals-of-information-systems-9th-edition/9781337097536/identify-the-characteristics-of-various-classes-of-single-user-and-multiuser-computer-systems-and/4b0e75ae-29ea-11e9-8385-02ee952b546e
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Wiseman is committed to facilitate business improvement through the adoption of secure business practices and business management. It is the policy of Wiseman that the information assets it manages shall be protected from all threats, whether internal or external, deliberate or accidental. Wiseman shall ensure that:
Information should be made available with minimal disruptions to staff and the public as required by the business process. The integrity of information will be maintained and confidentiality of information will be assured. Hence, non-public Information should be secured against disclosure, modification, and access by unauthorized individuals.
All suspected breaches of information security having impact on confidentiality; integrity and availability of information will be reported to, and investigated by relevant HOD with consent of C&A.
Appropriate access control will be maintained and information will be protected against unauthorized access.
Business continuity management framework shall be made to minimize disruption to business functions by preventing and minimizing the impact of security incidents.
Information security awareness and trainings will be made available to staff.
The goals and objectives defined by the company will be supported by ISMS policies and procedures.
Policies, procedures and guidelines not limited to information security will be made available for all staff.
All staff, management and suppliers are responsible for implementing, complying and reporting improvements in relation to this policy and supporting information security management system policies and documentation.
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https://wisemaninnovations.com/information-security-policy/
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Bluehost is amongst the leading and most preferred options for affordable web hosting. They have actually been around quite a while, have a excellent credibility for servicing their customers, and are budget friendly even for beginners. If you have a concern or get stuck, they even have complete 24 hours support by means of phone or live chat. Whether you‘re having a technical problem or have questions about Bluehost itself, you can call up, talk to somebody, and get the responses you require, no matter the time of day. What precisely are Bluehost and how does it help newbies to develop their own site?
Bluehost started as a basic company based out of Texas, called HostGator. In less than 3 years, HostGator has actually grown considerably to turn into one of the biggest full-service webhosting companies worldwide. Now, Bluehost likewise provides a fundamental shared hosting plan. This indicates that you‘re going to be able to host a site on the exact same server that hosts HostGator, in effect utilizing the very same hardware and bandwidth.
With a basic shared hosting plan, Bluehost offers you the ability to host sites that include online forums, image galleries, online stores, e-mail accounts, totally free design templates, and unrestricted domain names. Bluehost provides a totally free domain with every site and this is among their major selling points. Numerous other cheap webhosting providers don’t provide this all-in-one alternative
Although Bluehost isn’t the cheapest webhosting provider, it‘s still fairly affordable. The very best place to find a cheap host is on the Internet, with the biggest number of hosts marketing for cheap rates. There are many good hosts on the Internet, so you should not have any trouble discovering the right one. Simply bear in mind that not all hosts are created equivalent.
One thing you can anticipate with any Bluehost server is that you will constantly get a excellent customer support system in place. You always have the option to call them at any time during service hours, even if it‘s for a technical concern. If the problem you‘re dealing with is something extremely basic, like your domain name not working, you can always try calling the consumer support agent on the phone for aid. With any credible hosting business, a minimum of once a year, you need to have the alternative to renew your hosting contract, so you can ensure that you get a longer period of time to pay your costs.
Another major selling point for Bluehost is that they offer a really generous one-click site builder. This website builder offers you overall control over how your site looks and what pages it consists of. With this control, you have the ability to personalize the layout and make changes to your site at any time. In addition to site home builder control, Bluehost likewise offers unmetered bandwidth, which implies that you will be able to publish and download limitless email accounts without fretting about discussing your enabled bandwidth. Another essential selling point for Bluehost is that they enable you unlimited domain names. There is really no optimum limit on how many domain you can have, so if you think you might want to go with a various domain in the future, you can do so without any problems
One other huge selling point for Bluehost is that they provide a really generous money-back guarantee. Their money-back assurance enables you to evaluate out their services totally run the risk of totally free. That suggests that if you do not feel that you‘re completely happy with the services that Bluehost supplies, or with the way that they take care of their consumers, you can merely get a refund from them and not be charged a penny. A great deal of web hosts only use a money-back guarantee on their products if you cancel within the very first thirty days of purchase. Bluehost provides a complete forty-eight-day money-back guarantee, so even if you change your mind after that long, you‘re still free to get a refund.
These are just some of the pros and cons of Bluehost. As you can see, there‘s a fair bit to like about this hosting business. If you‘re trying to find a reputable and economical way to begin online, Bluehost makes a very good start. However make sure to check out all of the pros before you choose whether to join them. The pros certainly exceed the cons, however that‘s a small factor to consider when you‘re currently getting a quality service at such a discount.
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https://adeli-suit.com/bluehost-billing-phishing-email/
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An malware is just as superb as its spyware and adware detection. Avast Antivirus is a wonderful place to get started. Summary Avast Free Ant-virus is unquestionably the most effective free of charge total stability managers available.
Your ant-virus should secure your computer by any means times, in which you aren’t upon it. K7 Antivirus security software is a tough security choice developed by K7 Computing utilizing the most innovative technology available at now. Antivirus has got ever been the particular go-to remedy to avoid malicious computer software and internet criminal techniques. just remember that , antivirus is merely one of the typical computer security practices you should be following. Avast Free Ant-virus took the most notable spot resulting from a blend of amazing check outcome and even built-in capacities. Speed Avast Free Anti-virus includes a attain of normal scanning alternatives, dependent on interesting depth and acceleration.
Nearly each component of the antivirus you may think about, effortlessly them staying measured. A great antivirus is vital have. You should discover the best possible antivirus.
An antivirus will get a maximum of 6 points for each single criterion. Now that you know what things to hunt for in an anti virus, it’s time for you to figure out what type that you ought to work with. Most anti virus can’t be downloaded and set up in the daily life of different antiviruses. Rising Antivirus security software appears to be fairly light about resources. In a colorful, first interface Rising Antivirus provides all the equipment you want to protect your system although browsing the world wide web emailing your friends or simply applying the computer. Nearly the rest of the anti virus can’t be installed with a completely different antivirus, it’s because the antivirus security software constructed designed for main cover in your PC. The BitDefender Free Anti virus is among the most inconspicuous antivirus found on the Internet at present.
Antivirus for Windows and Antivirus for Windows – The Perfect Combination
Your antivirus security software doesn’t need to produce a fortune or even slow through your PC. Amidst all of the software’s available, it’s actual indeed pretty hard to think of the ideal antivirus program right for the LAPTOP OR COMPUTER. Most anti-virus software cannot be installed using a different antivirus program. Anti virus software simply address a new subset involving malware. Antivirus Windows software is as essential as you’re on your computer.
There are a handful of crucial circumstances to take into account when ever deciding on a great antivirus course. Most anti virus programs right now include a trial offer testing time period that will help you evaluate if you really want this or not. Nevertheless free anti-virus programs generally offer adequate safety for the majority regarding users, the most beneficial protection needs to be bought.
To avoid prospective issues generated at this time kind of harm, it’s advised to have a top-rated Internet Secureness solution. Stick with the names you aren’t familiar to receive trusted security and safety. Kaspersky Web Security consolidates one of the most reliable security fits readily available in the industry.
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http://rioparana.org/uncategorized/the-inexplicable-puzzle-into-antivirus-for-windows-revealed/
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TP-Link introduced three new Multi-Gigabit switches for business customers. As an expansion to the TP-Link Omada business product line, the new switches enhance network setups for business and provide upgrade options for prosumers in need of an ultra-fast connection.
With these new switches, users can upgrade their wired speeds by up to 2.5X to better work with new Wi-Fi 6 devices.
The first products out of the gate are the 5-port 2.5G desktop switch TL-SG105-M2 and the 8-port 2.5G desktop switch TL-SG108-M2.
Outfitted with robust 2.5-Gigabit ports, these switches unlock the highest performance for your Multi-Gig bandwidth and devices while delivering super-fast connections to workstations, Multi-Gig NAS, PCIe adapters, Wi-Fi 6 AP, gaming consoles, VR devices and more.
Auto-negotiation 3-speed (100Mb/1G/2.5G) connections sense the link speeds and intelligently adjust for compatibility and optimal performance for all your devices.
Additionally, an fanless design ensures silent operation, housed by a durable metal casing and desktop/wall-mounting design that is well-suited for multiple environments.
Next up is the TL-SG3210XHP-M2 JetStream managed switch, featuring 8× 2.5 Gbps PoE+ ports and 2× 10 Gbps SFP+ slots.
This ultra-fast switch is capable of future network expansion and deployment, providing sufficient bandwidth for incoming Wi-Fi 6 APs, with 8× 802.3at/af-compliant PoE+ ports that support up to 240 W of total power.
Robust Security features include IP-MAC-Port Binding, ACL, Port Security, DoS Defend, Storm control, DHCP Snooping, 802.1X and Radius Authentication.
L2/L3/L4 QoS and IGMP snooping additionally optimize voice and video applications. More exciting, the new switch is Omada SDN compatible, featuring Zero-Touch Provisioning and intelligent monitoring.
Omada’s SDN platform further integrates network devices, including access points, switches and gateways, providing 100 percent centralized cloud management.
Along with the three new switches, TP-Link also introduced a new Omada Gigabit VPN router ER7206.
A professional, secure and reliable gateway, ER7206 seamlessly integrates into the Omada SDN platform and allows for remote and centralized management, anywhere, anytime. Standalone management via the web UI or app is also available for maximum convenience.
Up to four WAN ports (1 gigabit SFP WAN port, 1 gigabit RJ45 WAN port, 2 gigabit WAN/LAN ports) satisfy various internet access requirements.
Highly Secure VPN connections support up to 100× LAN-to-LAN IPsec, 50× OpenVPN, 50× L2TP and 50× PPTP VPN. Advanced firewall policies, DoS defense, IP/MAC/URL filtering and more secure your network and data.
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https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2021/04/14/tp-link-switches/
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Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.
The game industry has been under attack for a long time. Security professionals have often had to deal with distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks going back years.
It seemed like the problem was solved not so long ago, but then, the vector for attacks changed. With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), hackers were able to get their hands on many more compromised machines, and in turn, they were able to marshal those machines in much larger DDoS attacks. And so, the game companies are finding that they are getting flooded with attacks once again.
Nokia Deepfield helps companies defend themselves against such attacks. I spoke with Craig Labovitz, general manager of Nokia Deepfield, about the game industry’s ongoing vulnerability to DDoS attacks. That may not sound like the specialty you’d expect Nokia to have, but Nokia acquired Deepfield back in 2016 to ensure real-time network security and performance.
Here’s an edited transcript of our interview. GamesBeat and Akamai will hold a breakfast at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) on June 14 to talk about games and security. Contact us through deantak on Twitter if you’d like to attend.
GamesBeat: Tell us about your interest in security and game companies.
Craig Labovitz: I’ve been doing DDoS for about 20 years now. I was a founder and chief architect at Arbor Networks, one of the first commercially successful DDoS companies. I was with Arbor for 12 years. After we left Arbor, we started Deepfield about five years ago, but our history goes back 25 years doing security, doing DDoS, particularly focused on unusual traffic blocking, traffic floods, things like that.
Deepfield had its start trying to do the next generation of security for both the large cloud guys, the large game guys, and the large carriers. Deepfield was an independent company for about five years. We grew pretty quickly, to cover about 90 percent of North America. We’d just started to enter Europe and Latin America and other parts of the world when we joined Nokia, about a year ago. Since then, we’ve been able to — Nokia provided additional investment. We’ve grown our technology, grown the base. Now, we’re deployed all over the world, doing both engineering and DDoS security.
GamesBeat: Why has this problem persisted for so many years? It sounds like an almost unsolvable issue in some ways, the fact that people can still do DDoS attacks.
Labovitz: Well, I’d actually say the opposite. When we left our last company, one of the reasons I left is I thought we were done. If you go back to 2011, all the carriers deployed appliances. It’s always an arms race between attackers and defenders, whether it’s war or security. In 2011, the defenders had the upper hand. Everyone had deployed the tech they bought from Arbor Networks. Generally, while DDoS was a nuisance, it wasn’t on the front page.
Back in 2000, when we started Arbor, DDoS was on the evening news. All the major brand names were under attack. 2011, there were still attacks, but most of them were easily mitigated. Technology had advanced to a point where we thought it was basically over. We saw the market declining. There wasn’t a lot of growth. It wasn’t in the news. Everyone who was going to buy had already bought: 80 or 90 percent of the large cloud and game companies. Then, things started to change, and you get to where we are today, which of course is a very different market.
GamesBeat: 2011 was a big deal in gaming security, because it was the year of the PlayStation Network hack.
Labovitz: Right. That was when things began to change, in that time frame. I left Arbor in 2011, and in the last five or six years, we’ve seen the resurgence. As far as why things changed, a couple of things have really changed the marketplace to where you’re seeing DDoS be such a pain point for our customers and for games, as well as other verticals.
What changed is, number one, the platforms changed, in the sense of we went from compromising PCs in consumer homes to millions of mobile devices. On a regular basis, we’re seeing cloud DVRs and other home devices participating in attacks. The number of compromised devices participating in botnets has tilted the balance of DDoS back to favor the attackers.
The second thing is just the bandwidth available. In 2010, I had a megabit, a couple of megabits at home? Now, I have hundreds. Other people have gigabits. You see significant last-mile advances in bandwidth and not just to consumers. We’ve seen the explosion of cloud servers and VMs, all of which we see being used as part of DDoS today. The firepower in terms of bandwidth has grown dramatically.
Now, we’ve gone from one device in a home you can compromise to as many as 30 or 40. We’re seeing some of these IOT devices participate in DDoS — like webcams. It’s gotten much easier for criminals to hijack devices all around the world. These devices aren’t connected to just a megabit anymore. Some of them have gigabit bandwidth to the rest of the Internet.
Labovitz: Well, concern. It puts you in a tough position when your attackers grow by 10 or 100 times. It’s hard to counter that. That’s why DDoS, particularly in the last few years, is making headlines again and becoming more of a challenge.
It’s a pretty fundamental shift in the way people are thinking about security. When attacks are occasional, when attacks are small, whether you’re a game company or a provider you respond by adding stuff to the network, by adding servers or different security devices. When you get to this scale of attacks, when the attackers are 10 times bigger than any capacity you have, it’s no longer a matter of just adding more devices to the network. You have to fundamentally shift how you think about security, particularly with an eye toward things like DDoS.
Above: Here’s why game companies need more defense against attacks.
Labovitz: Back in the day, I used to have a Palm Pilot. I had an MP3 player. I had five different devices that I carried with me that were all sort of adjunct. Similarly, in networking, you used to have a separate device for every possible function. You had a firewall, a DDoS box, an analysis box, a router, a management box. You tried to scale by scaling up all five or six of these things, and that worked for a good 15 [to] 20 years.
The problem, of course, is your attackers are now so much bigger than you are. It’s hard to scale each of those things separately by 10 or 100 times. What you’re seeing now across the market is a shift to move away from that Palm Pilot view of the universe and look to have this embedded in the network, embedded in the infrastructure. You can’t just add it on as an afterthought.
For years, security was an afterthought. You build your network, your game, or your data center, and then, you added security to it. The real shift today is it needs to be part of how you build it from day one. It needs to be everywhere, ubiquitous, embedded. It needs to scale at the same rate you scale your game servers and your network. That’s what we’re seeing in the market today.
GamesBeat: If you had to tick off, say, five things game companies have to worry about, where would you put DDoS in that spectrum of security problems?
Labovitz: It’s kind of like asking a homeowner how they consider security. If they’ve never been burglarized, that’s the last thing on their list. Someone who’s just been broken into or someone who’s made the front page of the Wall Street Journal because they just lost five percent off their stock value, they might have a different opinion. Having done DDoS for 20 years, our best sales were the day after. We used to call them the day-after sales. The day after someone made the front page of the Financial Times, those were the easiest sales we ever had. You hear similar stories about home alarm systems.
When we started doing DDoS 20 years ago, we had to convince people they needed DDoS protection. I think the market has largely matured, and people believe they need it. The question is how much. Clearly losing all your game infrastructure for a period of hours or days is catastrophic to the business. In terms of things you worry about, that would probably be near the top of the list. Things that pose an existential threat to a company are good things to worry about.
GamesBeat: As far as where the online game operators are at, are they effectively all outsourcing this function to the likes of Akamai or Amazon? Do they say to the providers, “Hey, if I get attacked, just give me some more compute resources and get me through it?” Or, is there a different mix of infrastructure.
Labovitz: If you look at the game companies, what’s been interesting over the last three or four years is they’ve come to look a lot like network providers. They’re starting to not only do DDoS themselves, but they’re building their own data centers, laying their own dark fiber, handling more and more as performance becomes a competitive element in games. We see the top five game companies take over more and more of their own infrastructure, down to dark fiber. They’re building out their own global networks.
We did see a period of outsourcing, but now, the opposite is happening, as performance and latency and jitter become more important. As scale has grown, the major game operators — certainly in the U.S. and also in other parts of the world — have made big investments in infrastructure.
GamesBeat: We haven’t talked much about platforms yet, but are we talking about consoles or PC or even mobile? I know that on mobile now, the fast interaction has been very important for games like Clash Royale or Arena of Glory. These are multiplayer team games. They seem to be very sensitive to latency problems. If they’re getting attacked, is that another layer to the problem?
Labovitz: There are definitely attacks there. I think most of the issues we see and hear about from our game customers and carrier customers are more the first-person shooters. We see a ton of — it’s just constant. At any given time for some networks, as much as five or 10 percent of traffic is just people with Xboxes or other console games trying to block someone else.
When we talk about DDoS with respect to gaming, there are two types of attacks. One is you’re specifically targeting another consumer, trying to knock them off, knock their IP address off. The other is you might have monetary incentives. You might go after one of the main game companies and attack their servers. We see both of those. Less frequent, though they happen on a regular basis, are the attacks against servers. But we do see a constant, never stopping wave of gamers attacking each other for whatever motives.
Labovitz: I don’t know if it’s a farm exactly. There are just sites that you can go to, pay $10 or whatever, and get a link. I don’t think it’s that much trouble. If you have a credit card or Bitcoin, you too can launch a DDoS.
GamesBeat: Now, we’re getting to another part of the problem, then, that something like this isn’t getting shut down.
Labovitz: No, they’re not. It used to be a big deal, to find a machine that [had] a gigabit of bandwidth. Today, you can rent one. We’ve seen an explosion of bandwidth, an explosion of devices out there, servers and others. Stuff on the edge has grown by 10 or 100 times. You’re left with the guys in the middle of the Internet facing — I remember I had a pool growing up, and sometimes, the algae in it would just explode overnight. I think that’s how a lot of game companies and carriers feel, facing 10 times the devices with 10 times the bandwidth. You can buy any of it for a few bucks.
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https://venturebeat.com/games/why-the-game-industry-is-still-vulnerable-to-distributed-denial-of-service-attacks/
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Browse the most popular software utility lists, setup the fresh updates of the general tools, and obtain free! The hottest software downloads for PC and cell appliances. Tools, freeware, applications, and trial programs, combined into special sections are at the service. Software application solutions from our catalogue lead you useful tools and applications for the computer or mobile devices. In general software utility downloads are free, so you may not only improve the notebook with recent programs, but also economize money!
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* Hidden Key Press Recording software records login time and date of every session.
* Remote monitoring software captures almost all keystrokes or login information in a log file.
* Freeware keylogger is non-destructive utility does not affect the performance of your computer system.
* Parental control software cannot be detected in the ? Add Remove Program List?, ? System Startup? and ?Program Menu List?.
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http://www.softempire.com/Remote-Keylogging-Software.html
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by Nikola Strahija on October 5th, 2015 The first iOS malware capable of infecting stock and jailbroken iOS devices has been identified. It's target are users running iOS 8.
For at least 10 months, mostly in China and Taiwan, YiSpecter has been running in the wild by connecting to private APIs in iOS 8 to perform malicious actions. The malware uses a wide range of attacks to spread itself. Initially the malware spread by promoting itself as a "private version" or "version 5.0" of the popular QVOD app which was discontinued, but grew to distribution tactics such as hijacking traffic, injection by the Windows Lingdun worm, an offline app installation and community promotion (forums, social networks, etc.).
According to security researchers at Palo Alto Networks, YiSpecter infection consists of four different components that are signed with enterprise certificates: various main apps and three different malicious apps installed by them.
The main apps identified thus far are: HYQvod (bundle id: weiying. Wvod) and DaPian (bundle id: weiying. DaPian). The three malicious apps installed by the malware are NoIcon, ADPage and NoIconUpdate.
NoIconUpdate (bundle id: com.weiying.noiconupdate) periodically checks for other components' existence, connects with the command and control server to report its installation information, checks for updated versions of the malware and installs them.
These malicious apps were signed with three iOS enterprise certificates issued by Apple which allows them to be installed as enterprise apps on non-jailbroken iOS devices. While the main apps used a certificate for "Changzhou Wangyi Information Technology Co., Ltd." and "Baiwochuangxiang Technology Co., Ltd.", the three malicious components all used the same certificate belonging to "Beijing Yingmob Interaction Technology co, Ltd".
Using this kind of distribution the app can bypass Apple's strict code review procedures and invoke private iOS APIs to perform sensitive operations.
The disadvantage is that by using this method compared to the official App Store the user needs to confirm installation through a dialog box.
Most iOS users simply click continue, unaware of the repercussions.
In iOS 9 enterprise certificate security has been improved by making the user manually set a provisioning profile as "trusted" before they can install Enterprise provisioned apps.
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http://www.xatrix.org/news/yispecter-ios-malware-4479/
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Power grid not at risk from cyber attack despite scary government propaganda.
Obama plans to violate the Constitution again and issue yet another executive order.
The latest EO would create a government program protecting vital computer networks from cyber attacks, according to Bloomberg [1]. The Department of Homeland Security would establish cybersecurity standards that companies could “voluntarily adopt to better protect banks, telecommunication networks and the U.S. power grid from electronic attacks.”
As we have pointed out [2] on numerous occasions, cyber attacks do not threaten the power grid in the United States. Critical infrastructure in the U.S. is rarely connected directly to the public internet. “The fact of the matter is that it isn’t easy to do any of these things. Your average power grid or drinking-water system isn’t analogous to a PC or even to a corporate network,” writes Michael Tanji [3] for Wired.
Despite this, the government has perpetuated propaganda designed to scare average Americans into backing cyber security legislation. In July, the Department of Homeland Security [4] said companies controlling the country’s power grid, water filtration facilities and a nuclear facility have come under hacker attack.
Regardless of the sustained propaganda effort, the public has not demanded lawmakers pass legislation allowing government to impose cybersecurity measures on public and private infrastructure companies.
In August, despite the best efforts of “top military and national security officials,” a much-anticipated (by government) cybersecurity bill went down in the flames in the Senate. A Republican filibuster killed “years of bipartisan efforts to establish stricter security standards and, some experts say, could leave the nation vulnerable to widespread hacking or a serious cyberattack,” the Washington Post [5] reported.
Obama’s latest EO was contrived after the failure to push through legislation in the Senate. “The administration is contemplating using an executive order because it isn’t clear Congress would pass a cybersecurity bill,” reports Bloomberg.
In other words, the imperial presidency controlled by Obama’s globalist handlers will once again violate the Constitution, specifically Article 1, Section 1 [6], that states: “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” The Constitution does not say that if Congress fails to pass legislation, the president can then implement it by executive fiat. Specific bills must originate in the House and Senate and then go to the president for signature in order to become law.
“An executive order is one of a number of measures we’re considering as we look to implement the president’s direction to do absolutely everything we can to better protect our nation against today’s cyberthreats,” said White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden. “We are not going to comment on ongoing internal deliberations.”
Jerry Brito and Tate Watkins [7] noted last year that cybersecurity is a big and booming industry. “The U.S. government is expected to spend $10.5 billion a year on information security by 2015, and analysts have estimated the worldwide market to be as much as $140 billion a year. The Defense Department has said it is seeking more than $3.2 billion in cybersecurity funding for 2012,” they wrote in August/September issue of Reason magazine.
The military-industrial complex is the tip of the spear of the national security state. Cybersecurity supposedly protecting against exaggerated and phantom threats is a key element of the public-private partnership takeover of industry:
Traditional defense contractors, both to hedge against hardware cutbacks and get in on the ground floor of a booming new sector, have been emphasizing cybersecurity in their competition for government business. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, L-3 Communications, SAIC, and BAE Systems have all launched cybersecurity divisions in recent years. Other defense contractors, such as Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and ManTech International, have also invested in information security products and services.
As James E. Miller [8] and others have noted, it is also a key element of corporatist fascism. “Public-private partnerships are the embodiment of what Mussolini dubbed ‘corporatism;’ that is the ‘merger of state and corporate power.’ Under corporatism, the ruling class is able to expand unbeknownst to the Boobus Americanus and its equivalent in other countries,” Miller writes.
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http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-plans-executive-order-to-force-cybersecurity-boondoggle-on-america.html/print/
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Mimecast in collaboration with The Cyber Resilience Think Tank released “Commencing a New Decade: 2020 Predictions.” This e-book reflects on the previous decade in cybersecurity and predicts trends for 2020. Among the 2020 trends, the security experts discuss DevOps, industry consolidation, and the future of penetration testing. However, one of the most interesting cybersecurity trends focuses on microbreaches.
Our Buyer’s Guide for SIEM helps you evaluate the best solutions for your business use case and features profiles of the leading profiles, as well as a category overview of the marketplace.
According to Mimecast and the Cyber Resilience Think Tank, microbreaches only slightly manipulate data as opposed to larger breaches; the latter could involve the whole theft of databases, whereas the former could involve just a few data points. Yet microbreaches can set off a domino effect in distributed IT environments.
Moreover, since many legacy solutions’ alerting systems may not recognize a microbreach, these attacks may proliferate in the coming decade. In fact, the security experts in “Commencing a New Decade: 2020 Predictions” warn of an outright spike in microbreaches in the coming year. As enterprises continue to decentralize their IT infrastructures through mobility, cloud migration, and mobility, hackers have new points of entry. Monitoring the IT environment generally may ironically leave specific points of entry vulnerable to hackers.
In the e-book, Head of Global Cyber Defense at Worldpay Peter Tran shared his perspective on the growth of microbreaches. “We’re moving into the fourth platform of IT – distributed IT, aided by blockchain and IoT – which is beyond social, mobile, and cloud. Microbreaches in 2020 will be enabled by mobility, software defined environments, and they will be smaller and faster.” Meanwhile, Malcolm Harkins—Chief Security and Trust Officer at Cymatic—gave an even more concise statement. “Every breach will start with a microbreach.”
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https://solutionsreview.com/security-information-event-management/2020-trends-will-we-see-a-rise-in-microbreaches/
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Organizations must communicate the right facts in a timely manner. Leaders are often so overwhelmed with the situation at hand that information shared is often not 100% accurate which lead them to retract from their original message causing unnecessary angst amongst all the stakeholders and result in the loss of faith in the company. Marissa Meyer, the CEO of Yahoo, recently lost millions in bonuses because of her handling of the infamous Yahoo breaches. Not only was the organization’s communication delayed but also inaccurate.
Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report 2016 confirm that no organization is 100% secure from a data breach.
#3 Confront the customers
On the other hand, due to the increased frequency of cyber-attacks, customers too are aware of a possibility of such breaches. However, what’s worrisome is that many organizations fail to comfort the customers in the correct fashion. Businesses lack the necessary customer-centric approach to pacify clients and seldom apologize for the mishap which can have a detrimental effect on the company reputation and customer relationships.
For example, US retail giant Target waited over a month of publicly disclosing its breach to personally advise customers about the breach. The customers meanwhile followed the breach report through different mediums. If an organization does not confront the customers at the right time, they stand a chance to lose their credibility in the eyes of their customers.
According to Harvard Business Review (2015), regardless of who is to blame, businesses must apologize to customers for the inconvenience and traumatic experience to avoid severely damaging their reputation.
Organizations are advised to refrain from micromanaging the situation once an external agency is involved. This brings in accountability and helps businesses to recover from the loss quicker.
As mentioned above, no organization is immune from a data breach or a security threat. However, having the appropriate enterprise security solution in place along with a robust process can help businesses respond to the situation better. Take a look at the reasons why you should invest in IT security right now.
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https://embee.co.in/blog/security/6-tips-to-prepare-your-company-at-the-time-of-a-data-breach/
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I recently wrote about gathering user profile data for Exchange Server 2003 and 2007 by using the Exchange Server Profile Analyzer tool. As a re-cap the EPA tool uses WebDAV to interrogate the mailboxes and generates user profile data, including..
messages sent per mailbox per day messages received per mailbox per day average message size Note: This information is vital for performing good quality Exchange server scaling.
The problem of course is that Exchange Server 2010 does not include WebDAV and so the EPA tool will not work. This poses an interesting problem, however I am happy to report that we have a solution…
One of the nice things about Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 is that we can interrogate the message tracking logs via PowerShell. This provides us with a nice way to query what the Exchange Server is doing. Usefully the message tracking logs include sufficient information for us to approximate our user profile data, without needing the EPA.
Gathering the Data
After asking around internally within Microsoft about how to gather EPA data for Exchange Server 2010, it became apparent that PowerShell would be the best way to interrogate the message tracking logs. I mentioned to a few people that I was going to write something up over the next few weeks, however before I had a chance to even put any significant thought into the task, someone sent me a copy of the following script which I have uploaded here.
MessageStats.zip Now, I must confess that despite my best efforts I have been unable to track down the original author! As such it is provided here without credit (if you wrote this, then please get in touch!).
The script basically works by parsing the messaging tracking logs of your Exchange Servers and then tabulates the information into a CSV file for analysis in Excel. To provide some data to parse I configured a loadgen test against 10 mailboxes with a heavy profile, this should approximate to around 80 messages received and 20 sent per user.
The MessageStats script has a single command line parameter which controls how many days back it will look in the tracking logs. For my lab test I only wanted a single days worth, so I just tagged “1” on the end of the PS1 script.
Date User Received Total Received MB Total Sent Unique Total Sent Unique MB Total Note: Due to my test lab being very small I have added a filter to remove any non-loadgen accounts from the data analysis.
In the Total row at the bottom of your table add “AVERAGE” subtotals for “Received Total” and “Sent Unique Total”.
In the “Received MB Total” column total cell, add in an “AVERAGE” subtotal, then edit the formula in the cell and divide that value by the Total Row average for “Received Total”, then multiply the result by 1024 – this will report the average message size in KB.
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https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/msukucc/2011/08/09/user-profile-analysis-for-exchange-server-2010-who-needs-the-exchange-profile-analyzer/
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$ 39.99|https://store.pandasecurity.com/300/purl-cart?currencies=USD&x-track=53699&cart=iA12APESD1_R〈uage=en&quantity=1&enablecoupon=false&coupon=30OFFWEB&x-coupon=30OFFWEB|$ 27.99 $ 49.99|https://store.pandasecurity.com/300/purl-cart?currencies=USD&x-track=53699&cart=iA12ISESD1_R〈uage=en&quantity=1&enablecoupon=false&coupon=30OFFWEB&x-coupon=30OFFWEB|$ 34.99 $ 69.99|https://store.pandasecurity.com/300/ purl-cart?currencies=EUR&x-track=53699&cart=iA12GPESD1_R〈uage=en&quantity=1&enablecoupon=false&coupon=30OFFWEB&x-coupon=30OFFWEB|€ 41.99 $ 94.99|https://store.pandasecurity.com/300/purl-cart?currencies=USD&x-track=53699&cart=iA12GLESD1_R〈uage=en&quantity=1&enablecoupon=false&coupon=30OFFWEB&x-coupon=30OFFWEB|$ 66.49 $ 6.99|https://store.pandasecurity.com/300/purl-pp?currencies=EUR&x-track=53699&cart=iA001PPC0SIL〈uage=en&quantity=1&enablecoupon=false&coupon=1STMOFFPPC&x-coupon=1STMOFFPPC|€ 0.00 $ 3.99|https://store.pandasecurity.com/300/purl-pp?currencies=EUR&x-track=53699&cart= iA001PPA0SIL〈uage=en&quantity=1&enablecoupon=false&coupon=1STMOFFPPA&x-coupon=1STMOFFPPA|€ 0.00
Bredolab. S is a backdoor that allows hackers to gain remote access to the affected computer in order to carry out actions that compromise user confidentiality and impede the tasks performed on the computer.
It reduces the security level of the computer: it listens on open ports in order to control the computer remotely.
It terminates its own execution if it detects that it is being executed in a virtual machine environment, such as VMWare or VirtualPC.
Bredolab. S uses the following propagation or distribution methods:
Exploiting vulnerabilities with the intervention of the user: exploiting vulnerabilities in file formats or applications. To exploit them successfully it needs the intervention of the user: opening files, viewing malicious web pages, reading emails, etc.
Via Internet, exploiting remote vulnerabilities: attacking random IP addresses, in which it tries to insert a copy of itself by exploiting one or more vulnerabilities.
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https://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/about-malware/encyclopedia/overview.aspx?idvirus=216765
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We totally understand that you may still feel anxious and have more questions. We are more than happy to discuss these with you, please get in touch with us to talk through any worries you may have.
If you have not yet downloaded our new Parent App, please contact the office if you need any support with activating your account to make sure you receive all the latest news and updates from college.
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https://www.futurefinders.org/2021/01/05/updated-covid-19-risk-assessment/
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Pity the poor IT manager trying to get his arms around the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) movement.
Even the most cutting-edge tech leaders -- those who are working to make mobile devices secure and productive corporate tools -- are feeling overwhelmed by the frenetic pace of change in the marketplace.
While Apple iOS devices have dominated the landscape, the surging popularity of Android phones and tablets and the emergence of platforms like Windows 8 and BlackBerry 10 promise to open the floodgates to an even wider range of personal devices vying for corporate resources. For IT, that means new and more complicated support and security challenges ahead.
The clock is ticking, says Christian Kane, an enterprise mobility analyst at Forrester Research. "Now is the time to figure out how to embrace [BYOD] by defining a strategy, determining who is eligible and what they have access to, and by becoming familiar with the platforms that can facilitate device management," he says.
Specifically, the pressure is on to devise a solid mobile device management (MDM) strategy, says Kane. At the same time, he acknowledges that tools and policies are still evolving. "This is just the start of a long journey," he says. "It's not as simple as saying, 'We will now allow employees to bring their devices to work and connect.' Requirements will continue to change."
With that uncertainty in mind, here's how five IT departments are mitigating BYOD-related pain points while plotting long-term strategies for mobile device management.
" Organization: Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, Va. Delivers management, technology and engineering consulting services to government agencies, corporations and nonprofits.
" Key numbers: Approximately 25,000 employees; between 12,000 and 16,000 mobile devices in use -- some are corporate-owned and others are employees' personal devices.
" Devices supported: It's a multiplatform environment at Booz Allen, which provides mobile devices to a few thousand corporate executives. Those company-issued tools include iPads, iPhones, Android devices and BlackBerries, all of which are managed and supported by the IT department. Other employees may use personal devices for work, but they're primarily on their own when it comes to fixing problems -- unless the issue is something the help desk can address fairly quickly, says Joe Mahaffee, executive vice president and chief information security officer. About 10,000 employees currently use their own devices, he estimates.
" How BYOD happened: A year ago, Booz Allen had an informal BYOD program, which made IT leadership uncomfortable. "People were using their own devices in the environment, and we didn't really understand who was connecting and when, and if they were compliant with corporate security policies," says Mahaffee. "We recognized we needed to get out in front of this before a problem did occur." How it's coping: Booz Allen put corporate policies in place and then deployed an MDM system, according to CIO Kevin Winter, who declined to name the MDM platform.
Corporate policy now requires mobile users to have encryption and password protection on their devices -- and the MDM system automatically enforces those policies. "As soon as the user registers with the MDM, it checks to see if the device is compliant with our security controls," Winter says.
The biggest pain point now involves users' lingering concerns about privacy, he says. "Users are concerned that if they take their personal device and connect to the corporate network, the business can see their personal data, listen in on conversations with loved ones or see pictures of their kids," Winter says.
We want to keep [employee] privacy intact while still providing flexibility.
Kevin Winter, CIO, Booz Allen Hamilton
In particular, users are uneasy about the requirement that they must agree to have their devices wiped if they're lost or otherwise compromised. But Winter points out that the MDM system allows IT to selectively wipe devices so only corporate data and apps are erased. "Our message is we are not interested in acquiring or looking at your data," he says. "We want to keep your privacy intact while still providing flexibility." What's on the horizon: Expanding the MDM program with an app store is next on the docket, as is adopting additional encryption and security measures that will be critical as Booz Allen broadens its mobile app portfolio beyond email and calendaring to include HR-related tools, time capture functionality and apps that help track travel expenses. "We're trying to be as accommodating as we can to give the workforce what they need to perform their job as effectively as possible," Mahaffee says.
" Organization: Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA), Boston. Owns and operates Boston's major conference and exposition venues.
" Key numbers: 450 employees (some part time); about 250 mobile users.
" Devices supported: A total of 331 employer-owned Apple devices, including a variety of iPhone and iPad models, all of which are supported by the internal IT team.
" How BYOD happened: It didn't. Since the MCCA is a state agency, there was no way IT could mandate or even encourage union workers to bring in their own mobile devices, according to Steven Snyder, the agency's CIO and CTO. Because officials didn't want workers to take matters into their own hands -- and because mobility was an obvious way to increase employee productivity in cavernous convention facilities -- the MCCA decided to standardize on the latest Apple mobile technology in an attempt to give users what they'd likely choose on their own.
"We try to be really proactive about providing the tools that people need and want to do business," Snyder explains. "So far, we haven't had anyone showing up at my door with a [Samsung] Galaxy saying they want to use that instead."
Until recently, there was a dearth of mature technologies to help IT tackle the headaches of multiplatform device support. That's starting to change with the rise of mobile device management (MDM) and, more recently, mobile application management (MAM) software.
A wide range of MDM systems, now available from dozens of specialty vendors as well as mainstream software providers, give IT visibility into and control over diverse employee- and corporate-owned mobile devices connecting to the network. These packages give IT the tools to enforce security policies, control access to corporate resources and remotely lock and wipe devices that have been lost or stolen.
MAM pushes the technology a step further by allowing enterprises to manage and secure not just the physical device, but the data and applications hosted on the hardware.
According to Gartner, 90% of enterprises will have two or more mobile operating systems to support through 2017, and 65% of enterprises will start using MDM technology over the next five years.
Standardizing on one mobile platform was also critical for simplifying development and support -- an important point when budgets are tight and resources are limited. "By mandating one platform," Snyder says, "we can develop one app and not have to support all those additional permutations of devices." How it's coping: Even though the MCCA supports only one mobile platform and supplies the devices, mobile device management is still critical for control, Snyder says. The agency uses the AirWatch MDM system to build user profiles, shut down devices if necessary, wipe devices if there's a problem and push out apps.
Users are not restricted from using the corporate-owned iPhones or iPads for personal reasons -- they're even allowed to tie the devices to their personal iTunes accounts. "We're not going to be Big Brother, but if we need to wipe it, we're going to wipe it, and it's too bad if you don't have your stuff backed up," Snyder says. IT doesn't get much pushback on that policy, he says, because the procedures are clearly spelled out in the policy manuals, and users are generally thrilled to be working with a high-end device on the company's dime.
" What's on the horizon: Beyond delivering access to standard email, contacts and calendaring tools, custom app development is a top priority at the MCCA. The IT group has five people who focus on mobile app development. Some apps are built internally, and some development work is contracted out to third parties.
Currently, the agency has mobile apps designed to let service reps book conference rooms or serve up work orders to contractors while on the convention center floor, and more are in development. "We have a lot of things in the works to better our service delivery processes," Snyder says. "We're looking at how to make it easier to triage things [so that] 90% of the time you don't need to make a phone call."
" Company: Clif Bar, Emeryville, Calif. Maker of organic food and beverages.
" By the numbers: 335 employees; 250 company-supported mobile users.
" Devices supported: 250 company-owned Apple iOS devices, including 200 smartphones and 50 tablets, which are fully supported by the four-person help desk. Other users can bring in their own phones or other mobile devices, but they aren't allowed to access company information or email.
" How BYOD happened: The wake-up call came in early 2011, when talk of BYOD was just getting started, according to Gary Hensley, Clif Bar's IT director. While some IT leaders were excited about the possibility of opening up device choice, Hensley says he was nervous about the resulting support demands that would fall to his already strapped 13-person IT team.
Resolving to deal with BYOD before it got out of hand, Hensley worked with Clif Bar's CFO and the rest of the IT team to map out a three-pronged approach to mobile device management that includes formulating usage and security policies, creating a business case for the use of mobile devices and an MDM system, and creating processes to oversee and manage the devices.
" How it's coping: The team settled on Apple devices because "they were the best in practice for manageability," Hensley says, but the choice also reflected what users wanted.
Users who meet the justification criteria and get management approval to use a mobile device are given a company-issued iPhone or iPad and get access to email, contacts and calendars in Outlook Exchange. Employees approved for mobile usage who opt to purchase their own Apple device can also port their personal number to the company plan and will be able to maintain their original refresh cycles on the hardware, Hensley says.
Currently, the company is using Microsoft ActiveSync for MDM, which Hensley says provides visibility into who is accessing company information and gives administrators the ability to block access if necessary. Using the Bomgar remote help desk platform, Clif Bar has automated remote provisioning and activation of devices. Bomgar can also walk users through the process of connecting the device to the corporate network.
[We're] listening to users to determine what their needs and wants are. It's a constantly evolving challenge.
Gary Hensley, IT Director, Clif Bar
" What's on the horizon: While a base MDM platform and standardization on Apple iOS have served the company well, Hensley is aware that users may demand support for additional devices. To prepare for such requests, Clif Bar is evaluating more-robust MDM platforms that could more easily handle myriad devices and provide more granular wipe capabilities.
"We're bringing in test devices, figuring out how to integrate them into the environment and listening to users to determine what their needs and wants are," Hensley says. "It's a constantly evolving challenge."
" Organization: Novation, Irving, Texas. Provides healthcare supply chain expertise, sourcing services and information and data services to more than 65,000 members of leading national healthcare alliances, including VHA and UHC.
" Key numbers: 2,000 employees; 1,500 mobile users.
" Devices supported: Novation doesn't officially issue smartphones or tablets to employees, but it has adopted a new mobile policy under which workers are allowed to use any device on the job as long as they follow proper security protocols. As a result, employees are bringing in a variety of gadgets, including iOS and Android phones and tablets, to access corporate email and calendars, even though Novation's IT group doesn't provide formal help desk support for personal devices.
" How BYOD happened: On the day of the first iPhone release, Novation's CIO issued a memo advocating caution in allowing the devices into the enterprise. "The memo went out at 10:30 in the morning, and we had to answer back that it was too late -- users had already bought them, hooked them up to Exchange and were accessing corporate email," says Guillermo Ramas, vice president of commercial solutions, part of Novation's information data services function. "Two months later, the CIO had his own iPhone." How it's coping: Employees who legitimately need to use a smartphone for work simply buy devices and sign up for service on their own and then bill some or all of their expenses to the company; the amount is subject to the approval of their managers.
Novation needs a formal strategy governing what corporate resources can be made available to employee-owned devices and how that can be done securely. Currently, mobile users can connect to corporate email and calendars via Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync, but that setup doesn't give IT the ability to carry out remote wipes, deploy password protection tools or take other steps to enforce security protocols.
" What's on the horizon: Novation is prototyping an MDM strategy using the AirWatch platform, which will provide important security controls, including the ability to identify devices, block jail-broken equipment and perform remote wipes. Eventually, Novation would like to move to "agentless" MDM, which doesn't reside on the client device, Ramas says. This option would still provide critical controls like passcode enforcement but would be slightly less onerous from the user's point of view, because it would allow IT to perform selective wipes but wouldn't leave users feeling as though IT is policing their personal data. "We're looking for a happy medium," says Ramas, noting that use of mobile devices would decline if IT was too strict about security.
" Company: Riverside Medical Center, Kankakee, Ill. A 325-bed hospital that provides both inpatient and outpatient care.
" Key numbers: 2,400 users; 300 company-supported mobile units.
" Devices supported: Riverside owns and manages some 300 mobile devices, a mix of Android tablets and phones and iPhones and iPads, all of which are supported by IT. Some users, including visiting doctors, also bring in their own devices; depending on their role, IT may provide them with some base support.
" How BYOD happened: If BYOD is what doctors and medical staff are demanding, then Riverside has little choice but to ride the wave. "We have to support anything because the hospital three blocks down the street does, and doctors and nurses have a choice of where to work," says CISO Erik Devine. "We have to be flexible -- it's almost like a recruiting tool." How it's coping: Some users, including home healthcare professionals, are issued corporate tablets, secured and managed via McAfee's Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) software. EMM lets the IT department restrict the apps and content that can be loaded onto a device, deploy two-factor authentication and remotely wipe devices if they are misplaced or stolen.
Other employees can use personal devices to access corporate resources like email and certain areas of the hospital's healthcare management system -- provided they sign an agreement and install EMM on their devices, according to Devine. Doctors on temporary assignments at the hospital may access noncritical resources through the guest network, as can workers who want to use their own devices but don't want to install EMM.
The biggest concern with BYOD is data leakage, Devine says. Even if visiting doctors install the requisite MDM client to gain access to hospital systems, Riverside has limited control over what they do with that information later on. "When a doctor comes in and accesses resources to do the job, we don't know what they do with the data after they're done," he says. "You have to open up doors for BYOD, but essentially you're opening doors you closed a couple of years ago." [If] we have to manage 600 devices next year... " What's on the horizon: Development of a captive portal for the guest network is in the works. It will give IT more control by, among other things, making it possible to capture more data about devices that log on to the hospital network. Riverside is also evaluating MDM alternatives that will support more granular security policies and more readily accommodate new devices.
"EMM is aimed at iOS, not Android, and many MDM solutions are aimed at Microsoft devices," Devine points out. "If [BYOD] explodes and we have to manage 600 devices next year, I don't want to have to go through three different systems. I want to find a robust system that hits all my points."
Stackpole, a frequent Computerworld contributor, has reported on business and technology for more than 20 years.
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https://www.cio.com.au/article/459895/byod_explodes_it_managers_learn_cope/
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Read these 8 Identity Theft Legislation tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Identity Theft tips and hundreds of other topics.
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Identity theft and fraud are not new emerging crimes, but it wasn't until The Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act was enacted by Congress in October 1998 that identity theft became a federal crime.
Criminal identity theft occurs when someone “knowingly transfers, possesses or uses, without lawful authority, a means of identification of another person with the intent to commit, or to aid or abet, or in connection with, any unlawful activity that constitutes a violation of federal law, or that constitutes a felony under any applicable state or local law."
The definition of “means of identification” includes someone's name, Social Security number, bank accounts and credit card numbers, mobile phone serial number, and any other piece of personal information that can be used alone or with other information to identity an individual.
Identity theft cases are investigated by federal law enforcement agencies, and prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Identity theft and fraud cases can be difficult to prosecute, primarily because the key to prosecuting and convicting criminals is solid evidence. With the burden of proof on the prosecutor, the process can be costly and challenging.
Victims must do their part by filing complaints and police reports to document the crime. If you prefer, you can submit your information anonymously. However, evidence for identity theft cases is usually built bit by bit, establishing a pattern and profile of the criminal. The ability for law enforcement officials to contact you during the investigation could be critical to seeking and winning a conviction.
If you are a victim of identity theft, file a police report in the city where the theft occurred, and submit a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). You can file your complaint online or call 1-877-438-4338.
The National Do Not Call Registry allows you to register both your home and mobile phones for free and is effective for five years. Calls from telemarketers should end once your number(s) has been on the registry for 31 days. If you receive a call from a telemarketer after the 31 days has passed, you can also file a complaint with the registry.
If you do not register your phone number with the Do Not Call Registry, you can still be removed from telemarketers' lists by simply saying, “Put me on your do-not-call list” whenever you receive a telemarketing call.
Opt-Out for Credit Offers
One simple phone call will let you opt out of all pre-approved credit-related mail or phone offers coming from the credit bureau lists. The standard length of time you will be exempt from receiving solicitations is two years, but you can also request permanent removal. And, if you change your mind, you can opt back in by calling the same number.
To opt out, call toll-free: 888-567-8688.
Identity theft and fraud victims quickly learn that, by law, they can request a fraud alert be placed on their credit report to monitor activity. This 90-day alert requires each of the three credit reporting agencies to closely track your account and notify you of any new or suspicious activity.
However, more than 30 individual states have adopted credit freeze laws. A credit freeze does more than just require monitoring of account activity – it prevents anyone from reviewing your credit report. Access to your credit report and credit scores is locked and you are the only one with the authority to release information using a predetermined PIN to unlock access to your credit file.
Lenders, retailers, utilities and other businesses need access to a credit report to review and approve new credit, loans and services. With a freeze on your credit report, it doesn't matter how much personal information an identity thief has in his or her possession, without access to your credit report, he or she cannot get new loans, credit, or accounts in your name.
In some states, a security freeze on credit reports is only available to proven victims and it is typically free of charge. In other states, the option is also available to non-victims for a fee. For example, in Minnesota, the fee to place, remove, temporarily suspend, lift for a specific creditor, or have a PIN reissued is $5. While it may be a bit of a nuisance to use a PIN every time you want to apply for a new credit card, home or car loan, the protection that a security freeze provides is invaluable.
As identity theft and fraud become a growing concern, legislation is introduced and passed to help protect consumers. The Identity Theft Protection Act was established to give consumers more protective services and access to personal information collected about them. It is also designed to encourage credit issuers and credit reporters to do their part in making sure credit is extended to the right person. This bill codified the fraud alert option for victims of identity theft. By requesting a fraud alert to be placed on credit reports, the report is closely monitored by the credit reporting agencies and notifies consumers of suspicious activity.
Historically, the Social Security number has often been used by businesses as a person's identification number. In many companies, including health care insurance companies, it has been used as an individual's account number. However, this practice opens doors wide for identity theft. With this growing concern, the Identity Theft Prevention Act of 2007 amends title II of the Social Security Act and the Internal Revenue Code to prohibit the use of the Social Security number for any other reason except for specified Social Security and tax purposes.
This is great news for consumers and you must be diligent in ensuring that companies and organizations you do business with abide by this rule. Check your current accounts to determine if your Social Security number has been used as your account number. Check health insurance membership cards, utility bills, credit card numbers, retirement plans, and any loans or brokerage accounts you may have. If you discover that your Social Security number has been used as identification for the account, contact the organization and request that a new account number be issued.
Just about everything you read about preventing identity theft and fraud tells you that the first line of defense is to review your credit report on a regular basis. And the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) makes that easy by requiring agencies to provide you with your reports once each year at no charge. All you have to do is ask.
The three free reports covered by FACTA are in addition to the free reports you can order when you discover you have been a victim of identity theft and place fraud alerts on your credit reports. Once you receive the free reports you are entitled to from the fraud alert process, follow up a few months later to take advantage of your free FACTA copy.
In 2005, an additional federal Disposal Rule became part of FACTA, requiring businesses and individuals to properly dispose of information in consumer reports and records. This rule was added to protect against “unauthorized access to or use of the information.”
The method of proper disposal of consumer report information is left up to the organizations and individuals who must comply with the rule.
The rule, according to the Federal Trade Commission, applies to any person or organization that uses consumer reports. This includes insurers, employers, landlords, car dealers, debt collectors, mortgage lenders and brokers, government agencies, and any other individual who pulls consumer reports on prospective home workers, such as contractors, cleaning personnel and nannies. The rule also applies to any entity that maintains consumer report information as a service provider to other organizations covered by the rule.
Identity thieves seem to devise new, high tech methods every day to steal identities and commit credit card fraud, both offline and in the virtual world. But a long-standing tactic that victimizes deceased individuals shows no signs of slowing down.
Quite simply, identity thieves acquire the Social Security numbers of the recently deceased and use them to open accounts, apply for credit, and assume the identity as long as possible before being discovered.
The damages from this practice affects surviving spouses and family members, making a difficult time due to the loss of a loved one even more difficult. Depending on the severity of the credit damage, surviving spouse benefits could be affected, and liens placed on bank accounts by creditors for incurred debt could create a financial mess for family members to piece together and restore.
The Identity Theft Protection and Timely Reporting Act of 2007 directs the Department of Commerce, through the National Technical Information Service, to provide a monthly updated Death Master List (prepared by the Social Security Administration) to each consumer reporting agency identified in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
The Identity Theft Protection and Timely Reporting Act amends the FCRA to require fraud alerts to be placed in the consumer files of each individual on the Death Master List by each of the consumer reporting agencies.
By increasing the timeliness of attaching fraud alerts to accounts of deceased individuals, damage due to identity theft crimes will be reduced and more easily remedied.
When your credit is damaged by identity theft and fraud, it is not uncommon for the accumulating debt to be sent to debt collectors to try to recover payment. And debt collectors have a reputation for being aggressive and harassing in their attempts to acquire payment.
If you are the victim of identity theft and debt collectors contact you insisting you pay the bills on fraudulent accounts, follow these steps provided by Privacyrights.org:
Tell the caller that you are a victim of identity theft for charges related to the account.
Ask for the contact information for the referring credit issuer, along with the amount of the debt, account number, and dates that the charges occurred.
Write down the name, phone number, and address of the person contacting you and ask if you need to submit to them a completed fraud affidavit.
Follow up in writing to the debt collector confirming your phone conversation and enclose a fraud affidavit if required. Send the letter with return receipt requested so you have a record of delivery.
Ask that the company confirm, in writing, that they have notified the creditor of the fraudulent account, that you do not owe the debt, and that the account(s) has been closed.
Why ask the debt collector to relay information about the account? Because under provisions set forth in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a debt collector is required to notify creditors that a collection account that incurred debt may be a result of identity theft. The FCRA also prohibits the transfer or sale of a debt caused by identity theft.
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http://identitytheft.lifetips.com/cat/65302/identity-theft-legislation/index.html
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Talk about absurdities. California is losing population, yet state and regional officials are ordering cities to plan for more housing.
Palo Alto is required to zone for an additional 6,000 homes — a 23% increase in its housing stock — in nine years. I guess they figure people are going to turn around and start coming back to the state.
City officials are on the hunt for new places for housing. One place to consider is the Palo Alto Square office complex at Page Mill Road and El Camino Real, featuring two 10-story buildings. Stanford owns the property though it’s on a long-term lease to Hudson Properties.
Obviously Stanford would have to agree to any changes to this 333,000-square-foot property built in 1972. But I think the case could be made that this would be ideal for a high-density apartment complex.
There’s plenty of land, which would allow for 1,000 or more apartments plus offices. It’s close to transit, which is important to city planners these days. There’s no neighbors to complain about building heights.
Less rent
The problem is that apartments rent for a lot less per square foot than offices, so Stanford would have to take a hit.
One of these days, Stanford is going to bring back its General Use Permit (GUP) application to expand the campus. And building housing at Palo Alto Square might be a bargaining chip for the university during neogitations with the county over the GUP.
Another Stanford property nobody is talking about is 95 University Ave., where the bus and train stations are located along with the Red Cross and MacArthur Park restaurant. Again, it’s close to transit and it’s walking distance to downtown. Yet it’s far enough away from residential neighborhoods that the sacred 50-foot height limit could be relaxed.
Frankly, we’ll never find places for 6,000 new homes unless we relax the 50-foot limit. How about a sliding scale for height limits that would allow only short buildings near residential neighborhoods, and taller buildings the farther you get from single-family homes?
Menlo Park City Council has hired a high-powered Los Angeles law firm to serve as its city attorney, replacing the retiring Bill McClure, and this new firm is already revving up to file its first suit on behalf of the city.
The new law firm is Burke, Williams & Sorensen, which represents cities and government agencies all over the state. It has assigned partner Nira Doherty to serve as Menlo Park’s City Attorney.
On Tuesday, Council met behind closed doors to talk about litigation. Such a secret meeting is allowed under the open meetings law known as the Brown Act.
Council emerged from its secret conclave and announced it had voted to sue somebody. But council said the identity of the defendant will be concealed until the suit is filed.
Try to settle this
In my opinion, it makes sense to announce now who the city is planning to sue so that both sides can negotiate a settlement before the lawsuit is filed. That could save the city a lot of money on legal fees.
You never know, but in the weeks before the suit is filed, members of the community might convince the would-be defendant to settle with the city, and solve the problem that the suit would address.
But a law firm that charges between $260 and $305 an hour might be looking at the filing of a lawsuit as a way of raking in some billable hours.
Speaking about closed council sessions, last Monday the Palo Alto City Council had a timely but closed session on cybersecurity. The discussion came the same week that a major oil pipeline serving the South and Northeastern U.S. was shut down in a ransomware attack, allegedly carried out by Russian hackers.
In a ransomware attack, the hackers encrypt a system’s data and demand a ransom in bitcoin in order to release the data.
Since Monday’s meeting was closed, I’ve got no official information about what the council members were told. But a few things are obvious.
First, the city of Palo Alto has more to protect than the typical municipality because it also runs utilities providing electric, natural gas, drinking water, sewage, etc.
Second, more than 2,300 government agencies suffered ransomware attacks last year, according to the cybersecurity company Emsisoft.
Even VTA was the target of an attack in April, according to the Mercury News, in which hackers threatened to release confidential information. It’s not known if VTA paid any ransom.
Hackers have gone after local businesses too. Palo Alto-based Accellion, a secure file sharing company, was attacked by a cybercrime group that was using ransomware to extort its customers, according to Homeland Security. One of Accellion’s customers, the University of California, warned students and employees last month that their personal data might have been stolen. The legendary VC firm Sequoia Capital in Menlo Park disclosed that the email of one of its employees was compromised by hackers. The number of ransomware attacks is probably greater than what makes the papers because the victims are embarrassed to come forward, experts say.
As for the Palo Alto City Council, this is one of those situations where we have to trust that they’re making the right decisions. We really don’t know what they’re doing to ensure cybersecurity because the law allows the city to keep that kind of information confidential. I can see the benefit of such laws — you don’t want to tip off the hackers to your plans — but the public, particularly the tech-savvy people in this town, can provide advice to the city if they’re told what’s going on.
Editor Dave Price’s column appears on Mondays. His email address is [email protected].
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http://padailypost.com/2021/05/30/opinion-find-a-middle-ground-on-housing-city-attorney-creates-unnecessary-mystery-and-city-examines-its-cybersecurity/
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In information security, social engineering is the use of deception to manipulate individuals into disclosing confidential or personal information that may be used for fraudulent purposes. It refers to the methods cybercriminals use to get victims to take some sort of questionable action (defying common sense), often involving a breach of security, the sending of money, or giving up private information. “If cybercriminals use malware and viruses to hack our computers, then social engineering is how they hack our minds.”
There are dozens of stories about successful social engineering attacks, and a significant threat to businesses. Although social engineering attacks are not technically cyber-crime by themselves, most cyber-attacks involve social engineering tactics. While a business may spend money on firewalls, cameras, locks, and other security systems, it cannot ignore the human element. Without addressing the human component of the security system, a business may be at significant risk of cyber-crime. Businesses of all sizes are affected. Previously, it used to be that only larger businesses had to deal with cyber-crime, but this is no longer the case. Small businesses are being attacked and at a growing rate.
Social engineering is always part of a larger con, taking advantage of the fact that the perpetrators and their victims never have to meet face to face. The main objective usually involves getting the victims to give up usernames and passwords; install malware on their device; send money via electronic fund transfer, money order, or gift cards; authorize a malicious software plugin, extension, or third-party app; act as a money mule for the purpose of laundering and transferring illicit funds.
Examples of social engineering range from phishing attacks where victims are tricked into providing confidential information through fraudulent emails, claiming to be from a reputable and trusted source; vishing attacks where an urgent and official-sounding voice mail convinces victims to act quickly or suffer severe consequences; or physical tailgating attacks that rely on trust to gain physical access to a building. Many have suffered some form of social engineering over the period through phone calls, lured to end up transferring funds from their mobile money or bank accounts.
The one common thread linking these social engineering techniques is the human element. Cybercriminals know that taking advantage of human emotions is the best way to steal. As companies focus on the technical aspects of cybersecurity, it is time to take a people-centric approach to cyber security awareness. Social engineering happens because of the human instinct of trust. Cybercriminals have learned that a carefully worded email, voicemail, or text message can convince people to transfer money, provide confidential information, or download a file that installs malware on the company network.
Since 2020, the number of scams, threats, and malware campaigns taking advantage of public concern over the coronavirus has been increasing. There are many instances of phishing campaigns that impersonate organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and promise the latest on "corona-virus." The incorrect use of a hyphen in “coronavirus” in the subject line should alert users with a critical eye for grammar. However, since WHO is often touted as a trustworthy resource, many will be tempted to open such emails. In such a campaign, for instance, threat actors use the fake e-book as a lure, claiming the "My Health E-book" includes complete research on the global pandemic, as well as guidance on how to protect children and businesses. The criminals behind this scheme try to trick victims into opening the attachment, contained in a zip file, by offering appealing content within the body of the email. The email content tells readers they can download and access the e-book from Windows computers only. As soon as they execute the file inside the “MyHealth-Ebook.zip” archive, malware will be downloaded onto their computers–this act successfully steals information.
Businesses need to understand the risk posed by social engineering attacks. Business email compromise (BEC) can expose an organization to ransomware, email spoofing, and related threats, as mentioned in the above paragraph. It is important therefore that, C-level employees and executives get to understand the nature and extent of such risks to their businesses, and need to be more vigilant than regular employees, as executives are valuable targets since their accounts are more likely to hold sensitive information. In most cases of BEC, cybercriminals would find critical/confidential data inside the emails of C-level victims.
C-level employees and executives are not regular employees; they are the most prominent employees, and they are supposed to be the most protected individuals in the company. They may need more reminders to lead the cyber security initiatives by example and not to be the exception. However, executives sometimes take security shortcuts, putting themselves (and their organizations) at risk. They are more likely to change technology and more likely to insist on breaking the rules. Hence, they require in-depth strategy, training, and education about these risks, essential for preventing these attacks.
Besides training employees to be on the lookout for social engineering attacks, organizations should also require multi-factor authentication (MFA) in case an attacker gets their hands on a password. Complementing that with technical controls, implementing things like MFA on email prevents or restricts attackers from authenticating if they get credentials.
To protect against social engineering attacks requires a focus on changing behavior. When company employees understand how easy it is to be tricked or scammed by a social engineering attack, they are more likely to be vigilant and suspicious of emails, voicemails, texts, or other cyber-attack approaches.
Executives and boards understand business risk. Cyber threats that operate through social engineering can be considered as matters of personal risk. However, they represent a clear business risk, and often the business risks that an organization's leaders are well-positioned to manage. Framing the risk of social engineering as a business risk is an important first step in managing that risk. While the threat actors are improving on the campaign’s sophistication by building reputable-sounding content within the body of the email, cybersecurity awareness training for executives and businesses will help avoid falling for targeted social engineering attacks, and actively monitoring emails to flag threats and making sure other users are protected are equally important control measures.
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https://www.modernghana.com/news/1113079/social-engineering-as-a-business-risk.html
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Small cube, that can be setup for 6 different things.
I bought it mainly for Yeelight as it can control also brightness with gesture.
One note, double tap works a bit different then you expect... You have to double tap with cube in your hand rather than double tap on it :-)
ES Warehouse:Generally, 2-5 days to the Spain, 3-7 days to the Portugal.
Shipping from warehouse nearest to shipping address is faster. Additional charges may apply.
Note:This is a general guide and delays maybe caused force majeure, natural disasters, inclement weather, war, public holidays, and factors outside our control.
For orders which exceed $1,500,please contact us at [email protected].
Note: please email us the order number,the amount transferred along with currency type,and the exact date of the wire transfer.
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https://www.gearbest.com/access-control/pp_1845856.html?lkid=10822974
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Facebook has admitted yet another astonishing privacy breach, this time exposing the photos – including those that hadn’t been posted – of 6.8 million users to thousands of third-party apps.
The under-fire social network says a bug in its Photo API gave 1,500 apps access to those photos during a two-week period between September 13 and September 26 this year.
The company says the bug affected people who used Facebook Login and granted permission to third-party applications to access their photos. However, the bug gave these developers (some 876 in total) broader access than usual to the photographs.
The company explained that, when users grant third-party apps access to their photos, it usually only pertains to those already shared on a timeline. However, this bug offered access to photos posted on Facebook Stories or Marketplace. Not only that, they also had access to photos uploaded to the app, but not yet posted.
Related: How to delete your Facebook account
If you’re wondering how that’s possible, Facebook explains “we store a copy of that photo for three days so the person has it when they come back to the app to complete their post.”
Now the company is back to the all-too-familiar process of notifying users who’ve been affected by the lack of reverence for their privacy. Again, it is notifying those users via an alert on Facebook.
“We’re sorry this happened,” Facebook’s engineering director Tomer Bar wrote in the blog post.
“Early next week we will be rolling out tools for app developers that will allow them to determine which people using their app might be impacted by this bug. We will be working with those developers to delete the photos from impacted users.
“We are also recommending people log into any apps with which they have shared their Facebook photos to check which photos they have access to.”
The issue has arisen at the end of an horrendous year for Facebook, not just in terms of protecting the data of its users, but in potentially undermining democracy and hastening the spread of fake news. The company is facing calls for greater regulation of its platform from governments around the world, while there are also calls for the company to be broken up.
Have you received a notification from Facebook informing you your photos had been compromised? Let us know @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/facebook-photos-data-breach-3636951
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Google is changing the way that it updates its Nexus Android phones and will now send out monthly over-the-air updates to users.
LAS VEGAS– The first update is being pushed out today, and the company said that other Android handset manufacturers are planning to follow suit and provide monthly updates to carriers.
The moves are a welcome change for Android users who are at the mercy of carriers for patches and other software updates. Individual carriers are responsible for sending out their own Android patches, and security researchers have been critical of the carriers in the past for being slow to do so–or for not patching at all. The change from Google, LG, and Samsung comes a week after the disclosure of a serious vulnerability in Stagefright, a component of Android that handles media playback.
That bug, discovered by researcher Joshua Drake of Zimperium, enables an attacker to gain control of a target device by sending a specially crafted malicious MMS message to it. Google has been aware of the vulnerability for several months and is pushing out the patch for it to Nexus users today. In a talk at the Black Hat conference here Wednesday, Adrian Ludwig, lead engineer for Android security at Google, said the company plans more frequent updates for Nexus users and for other handset makers.
“From this week on, Nexus devices will receive regular OTA updates each month focused on security, in addition to the usual platform updates. The first security update of this kind began rolling out today, Wednesday August 5th, to Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7, Nexus 9, Nexus 10, and Nexus Player. This security update contains fixes for issues in bulletins provided to partners through July 2015, including fixes for the libStageFright issues,” Ludwig wrote in a blog post explaining the changes.
The shift to monthly updates gives Nexus users a better chance of being safe from emerging vulnerabilities and attacks. But customers who use other handsets still have to rely on their carriers to actually push out the patches that the manufacturers provide. Both LG and Samsung, two of the larger Android manufacturers, have committed to getting those updates to carriers more quickly.
“With the recent security issues, we have been rethinking the approach to getting security updates to our devices in a more timely manner. Since software is constantly exploited in new ways, developing a fast response process to deliver security patches to our devices is critical to keep them protected. We believe that this new process will vastly improve the security of our devices and will aim to provide the best mobile experience possible for our users.” said Dong Jin Koh, executive vice president and head of Mobile Research and Development Office, IT & Mobile Communications at Samsung.
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https://threatpost.com/google-plans-monthly-security-updates-for-nexus-phones/114148/
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Microsoft hasn't been too specific, or specific at all for that matter, on what type of specifications that PCs will require in order to run the different versions of Windows Vista. The company plans on using the next few months to go into detail about what will be required of a very Vista-capable PC, but for now it has released a document that covers what constitutes a Windows Vista Capable computer. But don't get too excited because "Windows Vista Capable" only means two things: the PC can definitely run Home Basic Edition, and it gets to sport a pretty logo.
The Windows Vista Capable program is intended to be used as a way to entice customers into performing an early upgrade to Vista. If a customer sees the "Designed for Windows XP—Windows Vista Capable" logo, then he knows that he can purchase that PC and safely upgrade to some version of Vista in the future. But what exactly are the minimum requirements for a capable computer anyway?
Graphics memory bandwidth, as assessed by Windows Vista’s built in system assessment tool WinSAT.EXE, of at least 1,800MB/s at 1,310,720 pixels on a desktop and at the native resolution on a mobile PC
With those features in hand, Microsoft says that you should be able to run Aero. According to a Microsoft spokesman, even if the hardware is able to run Aero, that still doesn't necessarily mean that it can run any version of Windows Vista.
"The Windows Vista Capable program does not represent minimum hardware requirements for the different versions of Windows Vista – we look forward to providing additional information regarding minimum hardware requirements for Windows Vista and the Windows Vista logo program in the coming months."
Like I said earlier, Microsoft is only intending to use the Windows Vista Capable program to inform its customers that a PC currently running Windows XP could be upgraded to Windows Vista in the future. While most of us don't need a logo to tell us if a PC can run Vista, this program can come in handy for plenty of other users.
As for Microsoft, the move is brilliant. Average PC users won't want to buy outdated equipment, so they will pick up a Vista Capable PC. At the time, they may not even know what Vista is. But mark my word, when Vista is released, it will be all over the news, and there will be that Windows Vista Capable logo staring all those average users right in the face letting them know that their PCs are now outdated. They'll start hearing phrases like "improved security", "tiered graphics experience", "anti-phising filter", and "stay connected." And then they'll grudgingly get their computers upgraded to Windows Vista.
Oh, and by the way, you don't have to wait a month to see the Windows Vista Capable logo in person. You can pick one up right now on eBay.
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https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2006/03/3421/
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Infosec pros are being urged to patch or mitigate a wide range of consumer, medical, industrial, operational technology and industrial control systems after the discovery of a series of critical memory allocation vulnerabilities.
The remote code execution (RCE) bugs cover more than 25 critical vulnerabilities in versions of products including a number of real-time operating systems such as Amazon FreeRTOS, Linux Zephyr RTOS and Wind River’s VxWorks; embedded software development kits (SDKs) such as Google Cloud IoT Device SDK; and C standard library (libc) implementations such as Redhat newlib.
Adversaries could exploit to bypass security controls in order to execute malicious code or cause a system crash, according to researchers at Microsoft who discovered the vulnerabilities.
Its findings have been shared with vendors through disclosure led by the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), allowing vendors time to investigate and patch the vulnerabilities.
According to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, 17 of the 25 products already have patches available. Security updates for several are in the works. However, others that are no longer supported, such as the ARM mbed-uallaoc, will not be patched.
Texas Instruments says no patch is planned for the TI SimpleLink MSP432E4.
“For devices that cannot be patched immediately, we recommend mitigating controls such as reducing the attack surface by minimizing or eliminating exposure of vulnerable devices to the internet; implementing network security monitoring to detect behavioural indicators of compromise, and strengthening network segmentation to protect critical assets,” Microsoft researchers said.
A full list of affected products and CVEs can be found here.
Researchers are calling the family of vulnerabilities “BadAlloc.” All of them stem from the usage of vulnerable memory functions such as malloc, calloc, realloc, memalign, valloc, pvalloc, and more.
“Our research shows that memory allocation implementations written throughout the years as part of IoT devices and embedded software have not incorporated proper input validations. Without these input validations, an attacker could exploit the memory allocation function to perform a heap overflow, resulting in the execution of malicious code on a target device,” they wrote.
So far, Microsoft says it has not seen any sign these vulnerabilities have been exploited.
However, as news spreads there is the possibility that threat actors will try to leverage them in unpatched systems. Administrators who regularly patch their devices may already have their systems protected.
Microsoft also notes that network segmentation is important because it limits the attacker’s ability to move laterally and compromise an organization’s crown jewel assets. In particular, it adds, IoT devices and OT networks should be isolated from corporate IT networks using firewalls.
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https://www.itworldcanada.com/article/infosec-pros-urged-to-patch-iot-and-ot-devices/446883
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Critical Incidents are stressful events that can overwhelm Law Enforcement Officers. They are abrupt, and powerful events that fall outside the ordinary range of the human experience.
First In The Nation 1854 Critical Incident Checklists were designed to aid Law Enforcement Officers during times of significant duress, and to mitigate risk by compensating for potential limits of human memory and attention.
These Critical Incident Checklists help to ensure consistency and completeness in preparing for, responding to, and for actions taken during Critical Incidents.
The First In The Nation 1854 Critical Incident Checklist helps Law Enforcement Officers by providing a frame work that brings Order to Chaos.
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https://www.fitn-1854.com/products/critical-incident-response-unattended-package-or-device
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In recent years there has been a new focus by media lawyers on the operation of the “statutory privacy” provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 (“the DPA”). The Leveson Report and the resulting ICO publication “Data Protection and Journalism: a guide for the media” (“the ICO Guide”) has reminded us that the media must comply with the provisions of the act. Most importantly, the Court of Appeal’s “deletion” of section 13(2) (see our post here) has meant that general damages for distress are now available in DPA claims without proof of financial loss.
Over the seventeen years that the DPA has been in force it has not, generally, been thought to impose onerous obligations on the media. This is because they have relied the “journalism exemption” under section 32. However, the operation of this exemption is now coming under increasing scrutiny and there are powerful arguments that it is much more restricted in its scope than has previously been understood.
In a previous post I considered the “pre-publication“ provisions of section 32(4) and (5) and suggested that these should disapplied as being incompatible with EU law. In this post I will consider the operation of the “exemption” more generally. In the first post I will consider the law and in a second the possible practical implications.
(c) the data controller reasonably believes that, in all the circumstances, compliance with that provision is incompatible with the special purposes (s.32(1)”.
This provision must be interpreted in the light of the Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC)(“the Directive”) which it seeks to transpose into domestic law. It is intended to give effect to Article 9 which is headed “Processing of personal data and freedom of expression” and provides as follows:
Member States shall provide for exemptions or derogations from the provisions of this Chapter, Chapter IV and Chapter VI for the processing of personal data carried out solely for journalistic purposes or the purpose of artistic or literary expression only if they are necessary to reconcile the right to privacy with the rules governing freedom of expression.
Concerns were expressed, by amongst others Lord Lester, at the time that the Data Protection Bill was being considered, that the provision which became section 32 did not properly import the test of “objective necessity” required by the Directive. The Government expressed the view that the mandatory requirements of section 32(1) were sufficient to impose a “necessity” test and the section must be construed in this light.
In relation to the first condition it is a question of fact as to whether data is being processed only for one of these purposes. It is likely that a media organisation will be able to satisfy this requirement in any case where information is being collected, stored and edited for the purposes publishing articles. On the other hand, it may not be satisfied if the data is being used for purposes relating to advertising (see Sugar v BBC [2010] 1 WLR 2278 [55]).
“Journalism” is interpreted broadly. In the Satamedia case (Case C-73/07), the CJEU found that the reference to journalism in the Directive should be interpreted broadly and covered the disclosure to the public of information, opinions or ideas by any means.
Although there is some suggestion that “journalism” might be limited to news and current affairs however, as was pointed out by Lord Walker in the Sugar case, other media output would be covered by the wide terms “art or literature” and so would be within the exemption in any event ([2012] 1 WLR 439 [70]).
“this means that the exemption can potentially cover any information collected, created or retained as part of a journalist’s day-today activities, both before and after publication. However, the exemption cannot apply to anything that is not an integral part of the newsgathering and editorial process. For example, information created in response to a complaint about a particular story after publication is unlikely to be processed with a view to publication” (p.30).
It is well established that the exemption applies both before and after publication (see Campbell v MGN [2003] QB 633).
Third condition: “reasonable belief in public interest”
In relation to the third condition the position is more complex: it has two “limbs”, public interest and reasonable belief.
On the first limb, the statute appears to provide two pieces of guidance as to the meaning of “public interest”. The first is more apparent than real. This is the reference in section 32(1)(b) to “the special importance of the public interest in freedom of expression”. These words cannot be read as “privileging” freedom of expression over the privacy rights of data subjects. It is plain and well established that neither Article 10 rights to freedom of expression nor Article 8 rights to privacy has, as such, precedence over the other (see Re S (a child) [2015] 1 AC 593 [17]). In other words, this provision must be read as a “reminder” that Article 10 rights must be put in the balance – but not as an instruction to give them special, much less predominant, weight.
Second, section 32(3) refers to any code of practice designated for the purposes of the section. The Secretary of State has “designated” a number of Codes – in particular, the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, the BBC Producers Guidelines and the PCC Code (although this, strictly speaking, no longer exists). Common to these codes is relatively strict view of public interest. For example, the Ofcom Broadcasting Code “Examples of public interest would include revealing or detecting crime, protecting public health or safety, exposing misleading claims made by individuals or organisations or disclosing incompetence that affects the public” (p.42).
This strict view of “public interest” would be consistent with the approach to balancing privacy and expression rights in Strasbourg and under the tort of misuse of private information and is consistent with Article 9 of the Directive.
Further guidance is given in the ICO Guide (pp.32.-34) – although this falls into the error of treating “freedom of expression” itself as providing a public interest justification for publication. As already mentioned, this is illegitimate: neither freedom of expression nor privacy has “presumptive priority”.
In short, the provision contemplates “public interest” justification for processing of a similar type to that required to justify the publication of private or confidential information: a belief that the public will be interested in the story or that publication of stories of that type is necessary for the economic viability of the publisher will not be enough.
The second “limb” of this condition is the “reasonable belief” of the data controller that publication is in the public interest. The belief is not that of the journalist (or the editor) but of the person responsible for deciding the purposes for which an organisation’s data is processed.
This exemption can only apply insofar as it is “necessary” to reconcile privacy and freedom of expression. Contrary to the view expressed in the ICO Guide, section 32(1)(b) it cannot be taken to give “leeway” to the media (p.35). Such an approach would, again, wrongly, prioritise freedom of expression over privacy.
The test must be a strict one: the facts as they are reasonably believed to be at the time of processing must be such that a reasonable data controller would believe that publication would be in the public interest. Any lower hurdle would not meet the necessity test.
Anyone who seeks to rely on the journalism exemption must be in a position to show that specific consideration was given to the processing in question and to the public interest. “After the event” justification will not be enough as the mandatory conditions for the exemption will not have been satisfied at the time the data was processed.
Fourth Condition: “Compliance would be ‘incompatible’ with journalism”
In relation to the fourth condition the position is also complex. The data controller must reasonably believe that, in relation to each of the relevant provisions of the DPA, compliance with that provision is “incompatible with the special purposes”.
The ICO’s Guide suggests that this means that the data controller must reasonably believe that it is “impossible both to comply with a particular provision” and fulfil the journalistic purpose (p.37).
This is a high hurdle. The ICO correctly points out that when considering “incompatibility”, the data controller cannot rely on a blanket policy but must give specific consideration to the factual position in each case.
In some cases the incompatibility will be obvious: for example, allowing the subjects of ongoing public interest journalistic research to make subject access requests would make that kind of journalism impossible. It is, however, less clear that other provisions of the DPA should not apply in such cases: if the publication is in the public interest then it is likely that the condition in Schedule 2, para 6 can be satisfied – namely that the processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests pursued by the data controller and the processing is not “unwarranted”.
In the case of other kinds of journalism it is difficult to see why compliance the provisions of the DPA makes journalism impossible. There seems to be no incompatibility between subject access requests and “entertainment” or sports journalism. Furthermore, the data of celebrities or sportspeople can be processed fairly and lawfully without making journalism “impossible”.
The ICO’s Guide suggests (p.37) that the incompatibility condition may be satisfied where compliance is not practical but this is not a qualification to be found in the DPA. In general, the DPA does qualify duties owed to data subject considerations of “practicality” and there is no reason why this requirement should be read into section 32(1)(c). The criterion – based on Article 9 of the Directive – must be “necessity” not practicality. In other words, is the exemption from the provisions of the DPA necessary to allow the journalist to fulfil the purposes of journalism? If it is not necessary then the provisions should be complied with.
Again, “after the event” justification will not be enough.
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https://inforrm.org/2017/03/28/the-journalism-exemption-in-the-data-protection-act-part-1-the-law-hugh-tomlinson-qc/amp/
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According to the latest Digital Health report by Accenture, healthcare providers are at risk of losing $305 billion in collective lifetime patient revenue over the next five years.
As the healthcare industry becomes increasingly digitalized with the evolution of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), consumers’ full names, social security numbers, addresses, insurance credentials and medical records subsequently become increasingly targeted amongst cyber criminals.
According to the US. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights, in 2014 alone, approximately 1.6 million Americans had their medical information compromised from their health provider. Accenture's’ analysis predicts that between 2015 and 2019, this number will rise to 25 million people, nearly one in 13 patients.
Now what many healthcare providers don’t seem to comprehend is that consumers losing their medical information can cause their customers a great deal of financial suffering. In fact, 65 percent of medical identity theft victims have paid an average of $13,500 in medical costs.
What this means for health providers is that consumers have the ability to choose a provider who makes cyber security and protecting their medical information a priority. Health providers who did not make protecting these credentials a priority in 2014 alone suffered losses of $113 million of lifetime patient revenue for every breach they suffered, amounting t0 $305 million in the next 5 years if not taken seriously.
As Accenture predicts that between 2015 and 2019, more than 6 million people will become victims of identity theft, it’s vitally important that health providers understand the seriousness of this cyber activity and do their best to protect the information of its consumers for not only the company’s benefit but most importantly for the consumer.
It’s now time for health providers to step up to the plate and implement first in class breach prevention & detection solutions to ward off cybercriminals and protect the medical and financial credentials of its consumers. Health providers need a completely infallible way of detecting the presence of malware & to ensure hardening measures and user access controls are being enforced. Any configuration drift or breach activity needs to be alerted in real time to ward off threats & potential damage. With solutions like Breach Detection & File Integrity Monitoring, your organization will be allowed to monitor any activity within sensitive files and alert you if and when a breach occurs.
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https://www.newnettechnologies.com/healthcare-providers-is-cybersecurity-a-priority-or-a-choice.html
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The University has been recently subjected to a phishing attack. The subject line of these new phishing messages is “Library Account Access”. These emails are designed to appear as if they are coming from the library concerning a library account activation. The phishing emails also contain links to malicious web sites that ask for your University information (Name and student/employee ID).
These are phishing emails and were NOT sent by OIT or the library. Please DO NOT respond to these emails! If you have provided your credentials, please change your password immediately.
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https://hslnews.wordpress.com/2014/10/09/beware-of-phishing-scam-impersonating-the-library/
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For many city and traffic employees, the threat of a data breach is a distant risk – something that only happens to other organizations. But it isn’t distant at all; it’s very real. City and critical infrastructure, like transportation, are high-value targets that are threatened and attacked daily, though most cases never make the news.
The total cost for a single cyberattack is determined by several factors: value of data, cost of downtime, and time between the hack occurring and being discovered. The best way for a city or organization to assess their cost is to identify a few potential scenarios and walk through what the likely impact would be in those situations. Three examples to walk through include:
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https://gridsmart.com/products/information-security-threat-intelligence/
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Never mind court injunctions that block sales of a hardware-based PS3 hack designed to let users play pirated games, Sony may already be running interference at the source.
The latest firmware update for the PS3 reportedly knocks the infamous PSJailbreak out of commission, or so users claim. That hack, which uses a USB dongle to “trick” the PS3, allows users to play pirated as well as homemade games on the system. Its creators had also claimed it was capable of shrugging off Sony’s “mandatory” firmware updates. Though the new firmware update isn’t technically mandatory–you have to manually accept and install it–ignoring it cripples your ability to access Sony’s PlayStation Network.
The update, which went live yesterday, was barely mentioned on Sony’s PlayStation blog.
“Hi everyone! A minor update to your PS3 system is now available via system software update v3.42 that includes additional security features,” wrote Sony director of hardware marketing John Koller. And that’s about it.
What’s it actually for? Sony’s isn’t saying. Code that blocks PSJailbreak? That recognizes the device and bricks your system? That, and perhaps only that? No one’s certain, but reactions in the comments section of Sony’s PlayStation blog were predictably ambivalent.
“Thanks but no thanks, Sony,” wrote one user, adding “I perfer [sic] Custom Firmware/Jailbreak.” “Great update…[w]e all know why people were wishing this update wouldn’t happen, and homebrew isn’t it,” countered another. “Homebrew clearly isnt [sic] all that useful if the most wanted psp features still arent [sic] available via homebrew.”
The preliminary hundred-plus comments were mixed, with several simply decrying the need for more frequent system updates.
“You’re going to lose customers this way,” wrote an obviously frustrated user. “This better not turn into the PSP with 5 updates only being for homebrew protection. You will never get ahead of the homebrew community. It’s been proven with everything.”
Another bemoaned the apparent pointlessness of the update: “Come on…useless updates are really annoying, you could at least give us people who dont [sic] mess with our consoles something good in the update.” “[T]he jailbreak is not gone, geniuses…people who don’t update can still use it,” wrote a third user, convinced the update missed the point. “[B]tw, that hack hasn’t been used in online games so stop blaming them…blame your crappy noobish skills.”
At least one person claimed the update “fixed” the PS3’s internet browser, noting the “font now seems bold and easier to read while browsing.”
The problem with verifying? I don’t use the PS3’s browser enough to say, and Sony isn’t talking.
And wherever you stand on the legitimacy of something like PSJailbreak, it really ought to be.
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https://www.pcworld.com/article/502968/latest_sony_playstation_3_firmware_blocks_psjailbreak.html
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See also https://nextcloud.com/endtoend/
It is planned that the feature is included in Nextcloud 13.
× Your link has been automatically embedded. Display as a link instead × Your previous content has been restored. Clear editor × You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.
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https://encryption.chat/topic/64-nextcloud-introduces-end-to-end-encryption/
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Ava Group (AVA), a market pioneer in security risk management technology is pleased to announce it will be exhibiting at GSX, booth 3830. Global Security Exchange (GSX), formerly the Annual Seminar and Exhibits and powered by ASIS claims to be the most comprehensive security event in the world. The event is focused on networking and education with a range of in-show features and a comprehensive conference schedule all taking place at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Ava Group will be presenting the latest solutions from its technology division with a brand new booth, incorporating Future Fibre Technologies and BQT Solutions. The Ava Group is a market pioneer of risk management services and technologies, offering a portfolio of complementary solutions encompassing both fibre optic intrusion detection and biometric and card access control.
Erick Reynolds, Vice President Americas commented, “We’re proud to be exhibiting both FFT and BQT together as Ava Group companies. These brands have a strong presence in the Americas and we’re looking forward to showing visitors at GSX how our combined portfolio can offer a superior risk management solution. We are bringing a lot of exciting new developments to the market and GSX is a great platform to really shout about them.”
The Ava Group team, representing both FFT and BQT will be welcoming visitors to booth 3830. FFT will be presenting the latest enhancements to the Aura Ai-2, leading the market with unrivalled high-sensitivity detection, location accuracy, cut resilience capability and the industry’s longest linear range. Aura Ai-2’s new ultra-low noise optical detection electronics provides exceptional optical power margins, with sensing distances extended to up to 80km on fences and to 110 km for buried application. Aura Ai-2 can accurately detect, locate and report multiple disturbances to within 2m on fences and to within 5m for buried applications.
BQT Solutions is also pleased to be launching their latest roller door lock this month - YG80 or Orca lock. BQT has built on the success of the highly popular YG10 to offer a host of additional features to cater to a broader range of applications. These include a tamper detection switch and an internal heater for cold storage and transportation environment requirements.
Furthermore, the YG80 is powered by a Super Capacitor instead of a battery backup, ensuring increased reliability and life expectancy. The unit is highly robust in extreme weather conditions, with a 3‐meter flying cable through an IP67 rated cable gland.
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https://www.sourcesecurity.com/news/ava-fibre-optic-intrusion-detection-biometric-card-access-control-gsx-2018-co-291-ga-co-8920-ga-co-1533890286-ga.1536301298.html
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Dish Network said in a data breach notification this week that it had "received confirmation" that data stolen by threat actors in a February ransomware attack was deleted, suggesting the company had paid the ransom.
The satellite television provider revealed on Feb. 28 via an 8-K filing that it had suffered a ransomware attack. Dish initially reported network and service disruptions on Feb. 23, and it was one of many major U.S. enterprises hit by ransomware attacks that month. In the 8-K filing, the company revealed that the attack affected internal servers and communications, including customer call centers and Dish websites, and that personal data might have been affected.
A breach notification letter sent to those affected this week provided additional clarification regarding the nature of the attack. Dish said customer databases were not accessed during the attack, but it had confirmed that "certain employee-related records and personal information (along with information of some former employees, family members and a limited number of other individuals) were among the data extracted."
According to the Office of the Maine Attorney General's website, stolen data included "Name or other personal identifier in combination with: Driver's License Number or Non-Driver Identification Card Number."
In addition, the notification letter included language suggesting Dish paid the ransom.
"We are not aware of any misuse of your information, and we have received confirmation that the extracted data has been deleted," the notification read. "Nevertheless, we are writing to notify you of this incident and to provide you with the information and resources contained in this letter, including the details of an offer for free credit monitoring through our vendor TransUnion."
Ransomware gangs generally only delete stolen data -- or provide a decryption key, when relevant -- after the victim pays an extortion fee.
TechTarget Editorial asked Dish Network whether it paid the ransom and how it "confirmed" that cybercriminals deleted data stolen in the ransomware attack, but the company has not responded at press time.
This is not the first time that a ransomware victim has referenced the deletion of stolen data in a breach notification. Following a ransomware attack in July 2022, digital marketing platform WordFly published a FAQ that indicated the company paid a ransom in exchange for the threat actors deleting stolen customer data.
"While this data was exported from the WordFly environment by the bad actor that perpetrated this incident, it is our understanding that as of the evening of July 15, 2022, that data has been deleted from the bad actor's possession," wrote Kirk Bentley, WordFly business development director, in the FAQ. "We have no evidence to suggest, before the bad actor deleted the data, that the data was leaked over the dark web and/or sent to any other public facing domain/disseminated elsewhere."
Alexander Culafi is a writer, journalist and podcaster based in Boston.
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The Biden administration likely won't retaliate for China's Micron Technology ban but will continue to play the long game ...
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https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/366538014/Dish-received-confirmation-stolen-data-deleted-by-ransomware-gang
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Toshiba's Satellite A305-S6864 may not have a name that rolls off the tongue. When you combine its handsome looks with its great sound and reasonable $1149 price tag, however, it quickly becomes a tasty-looking budget laptop choice. Even so, one major shortcoming will turn off frequent travelers--but I'll get to that soon enough.
With its 2.26-GHz Core 2 Duo P8400 processor and 4GB of RAM, the A305-S6864 achieved a WorldBench 6 score of 90--very reasonable for an all-purpose laptop. The machine that scored closest to the A305-S6864 is Sony's VAIO VGN-SZ791N; the only difference is that Sony's sexy laptop goes for about $2200, depending on where you look.
In our tests the A305-S6864 handled mainstream applications well. It isn't the best gaming laptop you can buy, but its ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3470 256MB graphics card did turn in decent frame rates in our 3D tests, topping out at 65 frames per second in Far Cry with antialiasing turned off.
An attractive, dark unit, the A305-S6864 has a sporty design on the upper casing that Toshiba calls a "fusion finish with horizon pattern." (We just call it a cool wavy stripe.) The keyboard's shiny, heavily lacquered black keys feel smooth and depress deeply enough for satisfying feedback. It doesn't match the silky action of a ThinkPad, but that's okay. Bright white status lights, a responsive touch-sensitive media panel, a borderless touchpad, and big, comfy chrome mouse buttons complement this laptop's pleasing design.
Add a bright 15.4-inch screen that's just a tad reflective (not enough to be a distraction) to sweeten the deal, and the machine starts feeling like a premium laptop despite the reasonable price. Another nice surprise, beyond the usual compliment of ports: FireWire and eSATA ports to attach one of the latest fast external hard drives. It even has room inside for you to add a second hard drive later on if you want to expand storage beyond the included 320GB hard drive.
Usually we keep audio expectations low for laptops, but the A305-S6864 sounds awesome. Thank the built-in Harman/Kardon speakers, supported by a downward-firing subwoofer. Even movies, whose sound often washes out on laptops, were rich and loud. Too bad the DVD drive is an older plain-vanilla model that won't play Blu-ray movies.
So where does Toshiba go wrong? For all the A305-S6864's multimedia glory, you won't be able to appreciate it on your next trip, because this laptop has a woefully short battery life. The 4000-MAh battery might keep the weight down to 6.3 pounds, but it will barely last 2 hours. Don't leave home without the power cord, even for short afternoons down at the coffeehouse.
If pocketbook concerns are paramount, the A305-S6864 is a great choice, especially for audiophiles. But it isn't the laptop for long work stints away from an outlet, and Blu-ray movie fans won't be happy with it.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.
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https://www.pcworld.com/article/152446/toshiba_a305s6864.html
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Security Essentials Ultimate Pack is a rogue security application that will detect a bunch of non-existent viruses, spyware and adware infections on your computer. The previous version of this rogue AV was called Security Essentials 2011 and like all the other rogue antivirus applications, it will display fake scanning results to scare you into thinking that your computer is infected with malicious software. To remove Security Essentials Ultimate Pack from your computer, please follow the steps in the removal guide below.
Security Essentials Ultimate Pack will display misleading security alerts as well and it has this very annoying splash screen or maybe it's more like a fake security warning titled "Windows Advanced Security Center" which loads up instead of your Windows Desktop.
It claims that there's something wrong with your computer and that you have to wait about two minutes or activate Security Essentials Ultimate Pack to clean the system supposedly. Hopefully, you can bring up the Task Manager and close it. Instead of waiting click on the Ctrl + Alt + Delete button at the same time to bring up the Windows Task Manager. Click on the Processes tab and end the process called SecEls.exe. Now click on the File menu and select New Task (Run...) from the menu. Type explorer.exe into the Open: field and press the OK button. After a minute or so you should be back at your Windows desktop. Then just download anti-malware software and run a full system scan.
Security Essentials Ultimate Pack security alerts:
If you can't close the Security Essentials Ultimate Pack scanner or it keeps blocking your web browser/other applications, you can use this serial AAS17-F7D9M-G3B2A orAAS17F7D9MG3B2A and any email to register the rogue application in order to stop the fake security alerts.
Once this is done, you are free to install anti-malware software and remove the rogue anti-virus program from your computer properly. If you need help in removing this annoying scareware from your computer, please leave a comment below. And remember, do not pay for this fake security application. Good luck and be safe online.
3. In order to protect your PC from such (new) infections we strongly recommend you to use ESET Smart Security.
Alternate Security Essentials Ultimate Pack removal instructions (in Safe Mode with Networking):
1. Reboot your computer is "Safe Mode with Networking". As the computer is booting tap the "F8 key" continuously which should bring up the "Windows Advanced Options Menu" as shown below. Use your arrow keys to move to "Safe Mode with Networking" and press Enter key. Login as the same user you were previously logged in with in the normal Windows mode. Read more detailed instructions here: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm 2. Download free anti-malware software from the list below and run a full system scan.
NOTE: in some cases the rogue program may block anti-malware software. Before saving the selected program onto your computer, you may have to rename the installer to iexplore.exe, explorer.exe or winlogon.exe With all of these tools, if running Windows 7 or Vista they MUST be run as administrator. Launch the program and follow the prompts. Don't forget to update the installed program before scanning.
3. New threats appear every day.
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http://deletemalware.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-to-remove-security-essentials.html
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1. Effective school organisation 2. School plans, policies and procedures 3. A respectful and caring school community
6. Partnerships with parents and local communities
The eSmart Committee meets regularly, ensuring we remain compliant and review our policies and practices. Articles on Cybersafety are regularly published to school community parent audiences via our internal news feed.
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http://www.kew.vic.edu.au/page/82/Cybersafety---eSmart
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"Growth outside the U.S. is as strong as it ever was," CTO Werner Vogels said in an onstage interview at the Gigaom Structure conference in San Francisco Wednesday.
Cisco and a few other vendors have complained that revelations about surveillance by the National Security Agency have eroded trust in U.S. technology firms overseas, harming their businesses. Cisco CEO John Chambers even complained to President Barack Obama, after reports that the NSA had intercepted routers en route to customers to plant surveillance tools.
Those concerns haven't affected Amazon and may even have helped the company, according to Vogels, because it leads to a conversation about the security of its platform.
He maintained that Amazon security tools like Cloud HSM allow customers to protect access to their data. "if you encrypt your data, you're the one who has full control over it," he said.
That seems an oversimplification, however, given the revelations about how the NSA has interfered with encryption standards.
Still, Vogels said 70 percent of the top 40 public companies in France use Amazon Web Services.
The CIA is a customer, too. Vogels was asked if the intelligence agency's $600 million contract with AWS gets it access to a "private cloud" -- or hardware that's not shared with other customers.
Vogels was reluctant to discuss the deal but seemed to confirm it does. "I'd call it a members only cloud," he said.
Asked if further regulation to harmonize data protection laws globally seems inevitable, Vogels said any disruption from regulations can be minimized through good design.
"I've yet to see a privacy regulation that can't be met by following good architecture principles," he said.
But ultimately, Vogels said, security tools provide better protection in the cloud than laws and regulations. "If someone [wants to] break into your house, you don't need a good lawyer, you need a good lock," he said.
James Niccolai covers data centers and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow James on Twitter at @jniccolai. James's e-mail address is [email protected]
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Tags servicesdata protectionamazon.comApplication servicesComputing servicesAccess control and authentication
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https://www.cio.com.au/article/547916/amazon_cto_says_business_unaffected_by_snowden_revelations/
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Freedom is worthy of celebration and reflection.
Celebrate, learn, be an ally. Juneteenth marks the end of slavery in the U.S. BOLD has planned a series of events leading up to the June 19 holiday.
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https://www.verizon.com/about/careers/cybersecurity
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Almost before you can dream up a new technology for information and communication services, it has been developed and implemented. In fact, change within information and communication technology (ICT) is now so rapid, it is impossible to keep up and still run an innovative organisation.
Artificial intelligence, machine learning, the cloud, virtual reality and augmented reality, and smart cities are fundamentally changing the way people do business. AI and machine learning are now capable of processing more data, and gleaning better insights, than humans are able to, and this is just the beginning. These technologies are changing the face of customer service around the world, to the point where the majority of customer service interactions will have some AI involvement by 2020.
The cloud is enabling businesses to switch from infrastructure-based operation to application-based operations, and this has a number of advantages. By providing a centralised, off-site storage system for data and applications, businesses are enabling more flexible and efficient access, better security, and faster disaster recovery, all at a reduced cost.
Virtual reality and augmented reality are enabling new and more exciting ways to interact with both within a business and with consumers, while smart cities are using the internet of things, data, and technology to streamline services to make a city more connected, efficient, manageable, and cost efficient.
Other demands are also shaping ICT, not in the least of which is an empowered, and demanding, consumer. Consumers now expect to be able to interact with a business when it is convenient and on the channel of their choice. This requires organisations to step up and offer 24/7 customer service with as few friction points as possible.
Of course, as the world becomes digitally transformed, security of IP and data are even more vitally important. Data security is a hot button issue with both lawmakers and consumers, and the cloud, as well as blockchain, are being implemented to ensure systems are impervious to breaches.
To navigate through this vast array of new technology, and then implement the solution that works best for a particular business, is no small feat, and most organisation have neither the time nor the expertise to undertake such a large task.
Increasingly, organisations are turning to partners to help them navigate through the ICT maze. Huawei is stepping up to offer smart service for smart businesses with technical management, integration verification, and operational support.
Huawei is assisting business and governments all over the world with everything from strategic development and implementation of cloud solutions, centralised command centres, legacy and network integration, network design, data centre design, issues analysis, and integrated testing, to training, customised apps, and on-site technical support.
This has resulted in across-the-board reductions in operational and management costs for clients, seamless service provision to consumers, and large improvements across key metrics. In one example, Huawei helped a utilities business save 90 per cent in labour costs, improve fee collection by 40 per cent, and reduce line loss from 45 per cent to 14 per cent, by integrating advance metering infrastructure, a customised app, and on-site support.
To find out more about cloud enablement, go to: http://e.huawei.com/topic/idc-whitepaper-service2018/en, or to find out more about Huawei’s
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https://www.cio.com/article/3328548/trends-and-technology-developments-shaping-enterprise-ict-services.html
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An overwhelming majority of tech users mistakenly attribute the term “virus” to virtually any category of malicious software. In reality, a virus is only one of the various existing subsets of malicious digital menaces that exist today.
Three of the most common types of malicious software – viruses, trojans, and worms – are noticeably different in the methods that they use to attack your digital resources. All three of them fall under the umbrella-like term: malware; which is a portmanteau of “malicious software”. However, virtually all antivirus software worth mentioning will be able to rid your device of these three types of malware (if it doesn’t, it’s time to get a new antivirus program).
Not to be confused with Spyware and Spy Software – again, different problems to worry about! You can check out more information about spy software here.
Viruses
So what does a virus do? Well similarly to its namesake, the biological virus (which infects cells), a computer virus seeks to infect uncontaminated files. If you have an infected file on your device, once you open/run that file the virus activates and tries to infect uncontaminated files on your device.
One of the most common file types that a virus will try to attach itself to is an .exe file. These are the files that execute whenever you open a program on your computer, so the virus will activate concurrently with the program. Viruses may also seek out documents, such as Word of Excel files. These files are commonly shared with other users via USB devices, emails, etc.; this serves to prolong the lifespan of a virus and ensure that it propagates or “reproduces” onto another device.
Viruses can get a lot worse. At times they may even succeed at going further than simply attaching themselves to a file – they may completely replace it (deleting it and masquerading as it). Last but not least, they can corrupt your system by obfuscating and using up your system memory, leading to crashes and malfunctions.
Worms
So what does a worm do? Worms differ from viruses in a few ways. Firstly, they never actually need to be activated by users so that they can spread – they are standalone software. Secondly, they don’t actually try to infect files on your device, their main goal is to replicate themselves and distribute these copies.
For some worms (e.g. Mydoom) this may mean that they copy themselves and make an attempt to email themselves to your contacts. Some worms (e.g. Blaster) are more tenacious, they may abuse the weaknesses in unprotected networks by infecting connected systems that have weak firewalls that they can bypass. These worms can essentially slow a network to a standstill by creating an immense traffic load.
However, just like a virus, a worm can carry out the same malevolent activities once it breaches your system’s protections.
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http://huibit05.com/viruses-worms-and-trojans-a-basic-guide-to-malware/
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One of the reasons why the ransomware threats remain relatively unknown compared to malware such as Trojan Horses or Spyware is that they can be found under several different names. Alternatively, they are sometimes also called cryptoware, cryptovirus, cryptoworm or cryptotrojan. If you have come across any of these names before, then, in fact, you have been reading about ransomware.
Name it as you like, Kovter ransomware is an extremely dangerous and worrying malicious program and something you definitely would like to remove. If you wonder why it is so dangerous and what this malware can do, the names under which it is commonly found may give you a clue – ransom, crypto… Yes, it is a malware that has been created to infiltrate your PC, lock your data by encrypting it, and then demand a ransom for its release. The ransom amount required usually is not small and may vary from a couple of hundreds to a couple of thousands.
Encrypted this way, files literally cannot be opened by any program and remain locked forever. You will simply get an error message. This particular ransomware type encrypts your files and changes the file extensions to unrecognizable ones. What is more, it tries to delete all previous versions of the encrypted files and removes the backups, kept on your system. In theory, once you pay the ransom, you should receive a decryption code which will help you unlock your files. However, there is no guarantee of that.
Once it is activated, Kovter starts to lock your files immediately and remain unnoticed until all the files are encrypted. Then the virus reveals itself with a message on your screen stating that if you pay the ransom, they will send you a code with the help of which to have your files “released”.
However, it is not as simple and quick as that. Having in mind that you have been attacked by cyber criminals, please don’t think that by fulfilling their demands you will 100 % get your data back. With a malware break through your system, these hackers may introduce some other malicious programs and gain control over your PC, infect you with other spyware or data tracking programs and who knows what else. Moreover, the likelihood that the criminals behind the program are caring enough to really send you the decryption code once you have paid is… well, lets just say its not guaranteed to happen.
Danger Level High ( Infiltrates your PC, locks your data by encrypting it, and then demands a ransom for its release.)
Symptoms Remains unnoticed until all the files are encrypted. Then the virus reveals itself with a message on your screen.
Distribution Method It usually hides inside Trojan horse viruses and other types of malware distributed on the web, where it finds a gap in your system security and sneaks unnoticed.
Detection Tool Ransomware may be difficult to track down. Use SpyHunter – a professional parasite scanner – to make sure you find all files related to the infection.
Keep in mind, SpyHunter’s malware detection tool is free. To remove the infection, you’ll need to purchase the full version.
To remove parasite, you may have to meddle with system files and registries. Making a mistake and deleting the wrong thing may damage your system.
Avoid this by using SpyHunter - a professional Parasite removal tool.
Keep in mind, SpyHunter’s malware & virus scanner is free. To remove the infection, you'll need to purchase its full version. More information about SpyHunter and steps to uninstall.
A new file will open. If you are hacked, there will be a bunch of other IPs connected to you at the bottom. Look at the image below:
If there are suspicious IPs below “Localhost” – write to us in the comments.
Type msconfig in the search field and hit enter. A window will pop-up:
Go in Startup —> Uncheck entries that have “Unknown” as Manufacturer.
Please review SpyHunter's EULA, Threat Assessment Criteria, and Privacy Policy.
Right click on each of the virus processes separately and select Open File Location. End the process after you open the folder, then delete the directories you were sent to.
Type Regedit in the windows search field and press Enter. Once inside, press CTRL and F together and type the virus’s Name.
There is only one known way to remove the virus’ encryption that MAY work (no guarantees) – reversing your files to a previous state. There are two options you have for this:
The first is using a system backup. Search for Backup and Restore in the windows search field —–> “Select another backup to restore files from”
If you have no backups, your option is Recuva
Go to the official site for Recuva and download its free version. When you start the program, select the file types you want to recover. You probably want all files. Next select the location. You probably want Recuva to scan all locations.
Click on the box to enable Deep Scan. The program will now start working and it may take a really long time to finish, so be patient and take a break if necessary.
You will now get a big list of files to pick from. Select all relevant files you need and click Recover.
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https://howtoremove.guide/kovter-ransomware-removal/
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Follow @infoworld Print| British electronic-crime detectives are investigating a massive data theft operation that stole sensitive information from 8,500 people in the U.K. and others in some 60 countries, officials said Tuesday.
In total, cybercriminals targeted 600 financial companies and banks, according to U.K. authorities, who have worked over the past week to identify and notify victims.
Through intelligence sources, U.K. police were given several gigabytes of data -- around 130,00 files -- that came from a server in the U.S., said Charlie McMurdie, detective chief inspector for the Specialist Crime Directorate e-Crime Unit of the London Metropolitan Police. Most of the data related to financial information, she said.
The data was collected by a malicious software program nicknamed Haxdoor that infected victims' computers. Some 2,300 machines were located in the U.K. McMurdie said.
Haxdoor is a powerful program that can collect passwords and send them to another e-mail address plus disable a computer's firewall, among other functions, according to a description posted on security vendor F-Secure Corp.'s Web site. Symantec Corp., another security company, wrote it first detected Haxdoor in November 2003.
Computers can get infected with Haxdoor if they don't have security patches or up-to-date antivirus software. London police said it's believed many victims were infected through instant message programs.
Programs such as Haxdoor are often sent in spam messages as attachments, and if opened, infect the computers without the user's knowledge. The programs can also be distributed through unsolicited instant message links.
Metropolitan police experts built a special program to search through the data and identify victims, she said. The data contained information such as logins and passwords for major Web sites such as eBay Inc., Amazon.com, BT Group PLC and Pipex Internet Ltd., a U.K. Internet service provider.
In some instances, Haxdoor employed a screen-capture function to obtain information, McMurdie said.
Over the last week, the unit has contacted U.K. banks and other financial institutions to notify them what account numbers were compromised so those institutions could contact their customers, she said. But the data also showed information collected from computers in Germany, France, the U.S., Italy and Spain, but the number of victims is not known, she said.
The unit is working with Interpol, the international police organization, to find trace those who were collecting the data. "This is a significant theft of data from the U.K. and globally," McMurdie said.
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http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/uk-police-count-8500-victims-in-data-theft-535
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The vulnerability, now patched, let attackers query where, when, and with whom victims' photos were taken.
A now-patched vulnerability in the Web version of Google Photos could let cybercriminals learn the details of a user's photo history, Imperva reports.
Through browser-based timing attacks, hackers could analyze image data to learn when a person visited a particular place. It's not a common threat, and it's most effective in a targeted scenario, but it was possible for someone to use a malicious website to access photo data.
Google Photos knows a lot about the people who use it. The service automatically tags each image using metadata (date, location coordinates), and its artificial intelligence engine can detect objects and events that would indicate a wedding, waterfall, sunset, or range of other locations, explains Imperva researcher Ron Masas. Facial recognition tags people also present in the photos.
Coupled with Google Photos' powerful search engine, this detailed information could share a lot about when, where, and with whom a person has been. All of this data can be used in search queries to unearth certain photos – for example: "Photos of me and Ashley from Paris 2018."
Masas decided to investigate Google Photos for side-channel attacks when he learned the extent of its search capabilities. He found the service's search endpoint is vulnerable to an attack called Cross-Site Search, or XS-Search. In a proof of concept, he used the HTML link tag to create multiple cross-origin requests to the Photos search endpoint. Using JavaScript, he measured the time it took for the onload event to trigger. This is the baseline time, or the time it took to query Google Photos' server and receive zero photo results as a response.
With this baseline time, Masas queried "photos of me from Iceland" and compared the two times. If this search took longer, he could infer the user had visited Iceland based on the data. If he added a date, he could know whether photos were taken in a specific time frame. For every place queried, a time longer than the baseline time indicates the user took photos there.
Here's how this vulnerability works: An attacker would have to first send the target a malicious link while that person is logged into Google Photos, by embedding malicious JavaScript inside a Web advertisement or sending a direct message via email or a online messaging service. Malicious JavaScript code creates requests to the Google Photos search endpoint and extracts answers.
"The vulnerability is basically allowing different sites to search for you," Masas explains. As the malicious page is open, an attacker could repeatedly query Google Photos in the background. "By using the advanced search feature, I can ask a lot of questions about you," he adds.
However, once the victim closes the malicious page, the searches stop. "The moment you close the site, I no longer can do that," Masas says. "But I can trick you into opening another site in the future and can continue from there. It does require you to open a website each time."
In his opinion, this isn't a very complex attack but it does have the most value if a hacker is specifically targeting one individual. For example, someone could have used this to determine the location of a high-profile person or know who they have been spending time with. This type of attack "is very hard to detect if you're not looking for it actively," Masas adds. Could a similar vulnerability exist in other online services and applications? "Definitely," he notes. Many developers aren't aware of this problem, and it's important large and small sites learn of it.
This isn't the first time Masas has exposed an attack of this nature. Earlier this month, Facebook patched a flaw he had discovered in the Web version of Facebook Messenger, which could have let attackers view the people with whom someone had been chatting. Similarly, a victim would have to be tricked into opening a bad link; he'd also have to click somewhere on the page. When a new tab opened, the attacker could use the previous page to load the messenger chat endpoint and view which specific person or bots the target had been talking to.
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https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/google-photos-bug-let-criminals-query-friends-location/d/d-id/1334209?print=yes
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The endorsement guides apply to only those endorsements “made on behalf of a sponsoring advertiser.” The FAQs explain:
“[A]n endorsement would be covered by the FTC Act if an advertiser – or someone working for an advertiser – pays you or gives you something of value to mention a product. If you receive free products or other perks with the expectation that you’ll promote or discuss the advertiser’s products in your blog, you’re covered. Bloggers who are part of network marketing programs, where they sign up to receive free product samples in exchange for writing about them, also are covered.”
The test boils down to what information would affect the “weight or credibility your readers give to your recommendation.” As such, erring on the side of disclosure is essential. Will a third-party care that you received a cents-off company coupon on the purchase of a lipstick, in exchange for an online review? Possibly. But will a third-party want to know that the one-week cruise you’re raving about on Twitter was given to you for free? Definitely.
What is a Clear and Conspicuous Disclosure?
And not only is erring on the side of disclosure key, but any disclosure must also be “clear and conspicuous.” That means that “advertisers should use plain and unambiguous language and make the disclosure stand out,” and the disclosures should be easy to spot: a disclosure shouldn’t be buried in the middle or bottom of a comment box. Basically, the consumer should not have to look for the disclosure; the disclosure should find the consumer first. The FTC suggests that disclosures should be:
Close to the claims to which they relate.
In a font that is easy to read.
In a shade that stands out against the background.
For video ads, on the screen long enough to be noticed, read, and understood.
For audio disclosures, read at a cadence that is easy for consumers to follow and in words consumers will understand.
Disclosures must also comply with basic truth-in-advertising principles – that is, all claims must be substantiated. The FTC thus advises that endorsements must “represent the accurate experience and opinion of the endorser, and that:
You can’t talk about your experience with a product if you haven’t tried it.
If you were paid to try a product and you thought it was terrible, you can’t say it’s terrific.”
So if you’re a blogger and excited that a new face cream seems to have made your pimples disappear, you still can’t say “this product cures acne!” unless the advertiser makes its own claims about the cream’s ability to cure skin conditions, or you asked the advertiser whether there is substantiation for the claim. Making this excited statement without substantiation can have you, the blogger, on the hook for the false statements.
Embedded within each section of the FAQs are examples of proper, sufficient disclosure language, as well as statements that are not enough. Some examples:
Finally, many companies now use a network of social media influencers and bloggers to promote products. While the actions of these influencers can feel out of a company’s control, the FTC has made clear that the company itself is responsible for any comments those influencers/bloggers make in relation to its products. The FTC therefore recommends that advertisers and companies have reasonable programs in place to train and monitor members of their network. “The scope of the program depends on the risk that deceptive practices by network participants could cause consumers harm – either physical injury or financial loss. For example, a network devoted to the sale of health products may require more supervision than a network promoting, say, a new fashion line.” According to the FTC, these are some elements every program should include:
Given an advertiser’s responsibility for substantiating objective product claims, explain to members of your network what they can (and can’t) say about the products – for example, a list of the health claims they can make for your products, along with instructions not to go beyond those claims.
Clearly instruct members of the network on their responsibilities for disclosing their connections to you. Consider obtaining a signed statement of responsibility from the influencer agreeing to comply.
Review endorsements before they are posted to confirm that they comply with your Company’s guidelines.
Periodically search for what the influencers you work with are saying and to confirm that the disclosures are actually clear and conspicuous.
Follow up with the influencers you work with if you identify non-compliant practices. Terminate your relationship those who do not comply with your requests to make changes to their disclosure practices or claims.
As the FTC continues to nimbly adapt to quickly changing technology, the FTC’s FAQs are thorough, and even welcome further questions. We encourage any company relying on the dissemination of online opinions about their products – whether through their own employees, hired influencers, or loyal customers who receive free products – to familiarize themselves with the FTC Endorsement Guides and the latest FAQs. It will save a lot of #headaches in the future.
One enduring puzzle of interstate commerce is the fact that the common advertising phrase “Made in the USA” may mean different things under federal and state law. To the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the claim means that “all or virtually all” of the product in question was assembled or manufactured in the United States, even if the product includes imported content such as raw materials and component parts. In California, by contrast, the claim means that not only the finished product, but also 90-95 percent of the product’s components, were “made in America.”
In May of this year, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation favorably reported to the full Senate a draft bill from Senator Mike Lee [R-UT] that would resolve this conundrum by making the FTC solely responsible for regulating labeling claims regarding domestic origin, such as “Made in the USA,” “Made in America,” and equivalent claims (MUSA claims). If enacted, the Reinforcing American-Made Products Act of 2017 (S.118) would preempt conflicting state laws for products sold, advertised, or offered for sale in interstate or foreign commerce. By preventing states from enacting a conflicting “patchwork” of regulations that impose more stringent standards for MUSA claims that those required by the FTC, the proposed bill would simplify compliance for consumer-product companies that advertise and sell their goods across state lines. Nowhere is that compliance issue more challenging than in California, where the state’s uniquely restrictive MUSA statute, even after significant amendment in 2015, requires special attention from companies trying to do business in the nation’s largest consumer market.
The New Status Quo: How the FTC Regulates MUSA Claims Nationally
No federal statute imposes specific standards for making MUSA claims. Instead, under 15 U.S.C. § 45a (Labels on Products), the FTC regulates MUSA claims by applying its broad authority to prevent unfair or deceptive acts and practices under Section 5 of the FTC Act (15 U.S.C. § 45(a)(1)).1
The FTC identifies two broad categories of MUSA claims: unqualified claims and qualified claims. Unqualified claims do not acknowledge any non-U.S. processing or content: for example, labels that simply state “Made in the USA” or “Made in America.” Qualified claims, by contrast, disclose that only a portion of the production or manufacturing process occurred in the United States: for example, “Made in the USA with U.S. and foreign materials,” or “Assembled in the USA from foreign parts.”
Qualified claims are unlikely to be the target of FTC enforcement attention. The FTC permits all qualified MUSA claims, so long as the claim is accurate and does not express or imply more U.S. content than is actually present.2 FTC closing letters demonstrate that the agency is often lenient regarding the amount of foreign content, so long as the last “substantial transformation” of the product occurred in the States.3
Unqualified claims, by contrast, are subject to a higher degree of scrutiny. The FTC forbids unqualified MUSA claims unless “all or virtually all” of the product is made in the United States. There is no bright-line objective test for evaluating such claims, but per FTC guidance, (1) the foreign content must be de minimis or negligible; and (2) the final assembly or processing of the product must take place within the United States. Other factors may also be taken into account, including the portion of the product’s total manufacturing costs that are attributable to U.S. parts and processing.4
The FTC analysis becomes more complicated still if “all or virtually all” of the finished product is made in the United States, but some of the raw materials are imported. In that case, the FTC looks at both (1) the percentage of the finished product’s value attributable to the raw materials and (2) how far removed from the finished product the raw materials are. Under this standard, a gold ring “made” within the United States from foreign gold would likely fail the test for an unqualified MUSA claim, whereas a clock radio with a plastic case made from imported petroleum could very well pass.
When the FTC becomes aware of a potential violation, either on its own initiative or via a competitor or consumer watchdog report, FTC staff will typically contact the company via informal letter explaining the MUSA requirements, outlining the concern of potential violation, and asking for a response. The company must then provide substantiation of the MUSA claim to satisfy the FTC. If the company cannot substantiate its claim, but corrects its erroneous labels and institutes internal measures to ensure future compliance, the FTC will typically issue a closing letter with no further action. In the rare cases that proceed to litigation, defendants rarely fare well.
Changes Ahead: How California Regulates MUSA Claims
If passed, the proposed bill stands to have the most dramatic impact on companies currently marketing products in California—the only state with specific “Made in the USA” labeling laws. California MUSA regulations are currently not preempted by the FTC regulations because they do not prevent compliance with FTC standards, and do not impede the FTC’s regulatory objectives.6 That analysis would change immediately if the proposed bill becomes law, because the FTC standard would then become both the floor and the ceiling for MUSA claims.
Although California’s regulations were recently relaxed to better match the FTC regulations,7 its standards for MUSA claims are still significantly more restrictive than the FTC’s. Similar to the FTC regulations, California law does not subject qualified MUSA claims to the same stringent standards as unqualified claims. Though the language of the California statute is silent, courts have held that qualified MUSA claims such as “Made in the USA of globally sourced components” are permissible under section 17533.7 of California’s Business and Professions Code.8 Qualified claims must still comply, however, with California false advertising law, meaning that they must “accurately describe[] where a product and all its component parts are sourced and manufactured.”9
California currently limits unqualified MUSA claims to products in which at least 95 percent of the article, unit, or part was made, manufactured, and produced in the United States.10 This standard may be relaxed to 90 percent upon a showing that the article, unit, or part in question cannot be produced or obtained within the United States for reasons other than cost (if, for example, no domestic manufacturer makes the component, or the raw material is not native to the U.S.).11 Interestingly, California is less restrictive than the FTC with respect to foreign sourcing of raw materials. California permits products made from foreign-sourced raw materials to be labeled “MUSA,” so long as the actual making, manufacturing, or producing process that transforms the raw material into a product or product-component occurs within the U.S.12
What Lies Ahead
If enacted, Senator Lee’s bill would essentially eliminate the California standard, leaving the FTC standards as a nationally consistent set of MUSA regulations.
Companies marketing MUSA products should monitor the bill’s progress and take any necessary steps to ensure compliance with FTC standards. The FTC has been relatively vigorous in enforcing its MUSA labeling standard, issuing approximately 57 investigatory closing letters between 2014 and 2016, with 15 closing letters issued in 2017.
The proposed bill is consistent with the Trump administration’s stated commitment to working towards more domestic industry-friendly policies. The Trump administration has demonstrated its interest in highlighting “Made in USA” products, including by declaring the week of July 17, 2017 to be “Made in America Week” in recognition of “the incredible workers and companies who make ‘Made in America’ the world standard for quality and craftsmanship. ”13
Similarly, President Trump signed the “Buy American and Hire American” executive order on April 18, 2017 to fully enforce federal guidelines prioritizing the use of American firms and goods in federal projects. These federal guidelines are enshrined in the Buy American Act, which directs the federal government to purchase only American-made goods when possible, but defines American-made goods to be any product assembled in the US with more than 50 percent American-made parts. Companies that sell products to the federal government under provisions of the Buy American Act should monitor the proposed bill to standardize MUSA claims to see if it has a ripple effect on the Buy American Act standards for American-made products.
CPSC announced on September 7 that it has approved a new federal mandatory safety standard for infant bouncer seats. The standard seeks to improve stability to address tip-over incidents and for the battery compartment to address incidents involving battery leakage, corrosion, and overheating. The new standard is based on the existing voluntary standard, ASTM F-2167-17. This standard has been promulgated pursuant to Section 104 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which requires the Commission to implement safety standards for durable infant and toddler products.
CPSC announced on August 30 that Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. has entered into a settlement agreement with the agency to resolve allegations that the retailer knowingly sold and distributed recalled consumer products over a four year period. The Company has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $5.7 million and enhance its compliance program. This penalty is significant because it involves claims against a retailer who allegedly sold recalled products in violation of Section 19(a)(2)(B) of the Consumer Product Safety Act which makes it unlawful to sell a recalled product – and not the more typical “failure to timely report” claims against a manufacturer under Section 19(a)(4).
On August 29, CPSC voted unanimously to remove seven plastics from the requirement to conduct independent third party testing for compliance with the mandatory phthalates prohibitions of children’s toys and child care articles.
FDA
FDA has approved its first biosimilar (Mvasi) for the treatment of cancer. Mvasi is approved for the treatment of adult patients with certain colorectal, lung, brain, kidney and cervical cancers.
On September 7, FDA announced that it will allow companies to state on product labels that some baby foods can prevent peanut allergies. The new claim will state: “for most infants with severe eczema and/or egg allergy who are already eating solid foods, introducing foods containing ground peanuts between 4 and 10 months of age and continuing consumption may reduce the risk of developing peanut allergy by 5 years of age.” This is the first time the FDA has recognized a qualified health claim to prevent a food allergy.
FDA has made available the first gene therapy in the U.S. The FDA approved Kymriah for certain pediatric and young adult patients with a form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
FDA announced a new strategic initiative to discourage the use of e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems by kids. The agency plans to expand its “The Real Cost” public education campaign to include messaging about the dangers of these products.
On July 25, Acting Chairman Ohlhausen announced the appointment of Bruce Hoffman to be the Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. One week earlier, Ohlhausen had announced the departure of Ginger Zhe Jin, the FTC Bureau of Economics Director. Acting Chairman Ohlhausen named Michael Vita, Acting Director of the Bureau.
The Commission announced on July 21 that it will publish a series of blog posts to help businesses ensure that they are taking reasonable steps to protect and secure consumer data. The blog posts will use hypothetical examples based on lessons from closed investigations, enforcement actions, and questions from industry. The Commission is calling this its “Stick with Security” initiative. Its first blog post entitled “Insight into FTC Investigations” can be found here.
On August 15, the Commission announced that it had reached a settlement with Uber Technologies, Inc. over allegations that the ride-sharing company deceived consumers by failing to monitor employee access to consumer personal information and by failing to reasonably secure sensitive consumer data stored in the cloud. As part of the settlement, Uber has agreed to implement a robust privacy program and obtain regular, independent audits.
On July 27, Cheri Falvey presented as part of a webinar on crumb rubber hosted by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. Read more about this webinar here.
For more information, please contact the professional(s) listed below, or your regular Crowell & Moring contact.
5 Complying with the Made in USA Standard, p.8.
6 Clark v. Citizens of Humanity, LLC, 97 F. Supp. 3d 1199, 1206 (S.D. Cal. 2015) (“The Court concludes that § 17533.7 is not preempted by the FTC regulation because it is not impossible to comply with both laws, nor does § 17533.7 stand as an obstacle to accomplishing the FTC regulation's objectives.”).
7 Prior to the amendments, California’s regulation of MUSA claims was markedly stricter than the FTC’s, forbidding the use of the claim for products that had any amount of content made, manufactured, or produced outside of the United States.
11 California Business and Professions Code § 17533.7(c)(1).
12 Benson v. Kwikset Corp., 152 Cal.App.4th 1245, 1272 (2007) as modified on denial of reh’g (July 26, 2007) (“Thus, one would not violate the statute by making, manufacturing, or producing merchandise solely in the United States even though using raw materials acquired from a foreign source.”).
13 https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2017/07/17/made-america; see also http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-made-in-america-2017-7.
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https://www.crowell.com/NewsEvents/AlertsNewsletters/all/Recent-Happenings-in-Advertising-Product-Risk-Management-October-2017
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https://www.cpantesters.org/distro/P/Password-Policy-Encryption-SHA1.html?oncpan=1&distmat=1&version=0.02&grade=2
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The U.S. Defense Department Thursday unveiled its strategy for defending military computer networks and responding to growing threats in cyberspace.
The Pentagon is moving away from a passive defense of its computer networks to treating cyberspace as an “operational domain,” in which trained military forces defend against attacks.
In a speech at the National Defense University at Fort McNair, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn said the increasing dependence on information technology virtually guarantees future enemies will target the Pentagon’s reliance on computer networks for military operations.
“Our assessment is that cyber attacks will be a significant component of any future conflict, whether it involves major nations, rogue states or terrorist groups,” Lynn said.
Lynn said tools capable of disrupting or destroying critical networks and causing physical damage exist today, making a strategic shift in the ever evolving danger in cyber space. “As a result of this threat, keystrokes originating in one country can impact the other side of the globe in the blink of an eye. In the 21st Century, bits and bytes can be as threatening as bullets and bombs,” Lynn said.
Lynn revealed that earlier this year a foreign intelligence service stole 24,000 computer files from a defense contractor developing systems for the U.S military.
Lynn said a nation state was behind the theft, but declined to identify which country was involved.
In a new pilot program, the Pentagon is sharing classified threat intelligence information with a handful of companies to help them identify and block malicious activity.
The strategy outlined by Lynn is oriented toward defensive rather than offensive measures. “Far from militarizing cyberspace, our strategy of securing networks to deny the benefit of an attack will help dissuade military actors from using cyberspace for hostile purposes,” Lynn said.
Lynn said substantial progress has been made working with private industry and other government agencies to make critical infrastructure more secure.
He said the Pentagon is also working with allies and international partners to build collective cyber defenses. “These active defenses use sensors, software, and signatures to detect and stop malicious code before it affects our operations, thereby denying the benefit of an attack,” Lynn said.
Lynn said it is not clear how much damage digital thievery has done to U.S. economic competitiveness and national security, but he said a recent estimate put cumulative economic losses at over $1 trillion.
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https://www.easternshoremagazine.com/2011/07/cyber-security-us-defense-department.html
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Goofed Ransomware is yet another file encryption virus which is based on the infamous Hidden Tear Open source project that firstly detected in November 2017. The latest investigation discloses that the infection is delivered to users systems via corrupt Microsoft Word documents and it is noted that the malware runs as "hidden-tear.exe" on compromised computers. According to researchers report this ransom virus is able to encrypt you memorable or valuable photos, music, videos, spreadsheets, databases, e-books, pdfs, presentations and official documents. The compromised files have been renamed by adding a new the suffix '.goofed'. It is one of the common work that the encrypted files has been marked with adding a new custom file extension to the encoded files to identify them easily and tell the users about the ransom virus encryption attack. It attached a folder that contain the file that include a ransom note in a text form of "YOU_DONE_GOOFED.txt". The text is send as a threatening message from the attackers to the compromised users. The content of the ransom message says:
System security experts noted that Goofed Ransomware behaves like Ruby Ransomware and Explorer Ransomware but these ransom virus looks different on the basis of shared codes. Unluckily this virus follows secure encryption algorithm and deleted the Shadow Volume Copies of files from system therefore recovery becomes impossible without having a proper decryption software or private key that you have to take from the attackers by paying the ransom amount to unlock your files. The ransom virus might be delivered to your system via infected Ms-Word doc file and when you open it on your system then the malware gets activated. So you need to remove Goofed Ransomware immediately by using a reliable anti-malware. Then run backup to restore the damaged files.
Press and hold down the F8 key during the restart process.
From the boot menu, select Safe Mode with Networking using the arrow keys.
Now your computer will get started in Safe Mode with Networking.
Now type “msconfig” in the Run Box and press Enter.
Open Startup tab and uncheck all entries from unknown manufacturer.
Hope the above process has helped you in removing the Goofed Ransomware virus completely from your computer. If you still have this nasty ransomware left in your PC then you should opt for a malware removal tool. It is the most easy way to remove this harmful computer virus from your computer. Download the Free Goofed Ransomware Scanner on your system and scan your computer. It can easily find and remove this pesky ransomware threat from your PC.
If you have any questions regarding the removal of this virus then you can ask your question from your PC security experts. They will feel happy to solve your problem.
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http://www.removemalwarevirus.com/goofed-ransomware-used-tactics-to-remove-ransomware-from-system
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Just want to say your article is as astounding.
The clearness in your post is simply spectacular and i can assume you're an expert on this subject.
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http://www.softwebpro.co/2017/02/glarysoft-malware-hunter-pro-free-1.html
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The Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) is committed to building robust partnerships within the 5G ecosystem with a range of stakeholders including local industry and start-ups. C-DOT has continued to emphasise the evolution of a coordinated collaborative framework that supports multiple providers and promotes healthy competition amongst key 5G players in an output-driven and target-oriented environment.
Broadband, especially mobile broadband, has become an integral part of life. Its adoption was accelerated through the rapid expansion of 4G services across the country since 2015. Currently, 800 million subscribers have broadband access, compared to 100 million subscribers in 2014. According to a press release, through policy initiatives, the government has been able to give citizens access to mobile banking, online education, and telemedicine, among others.
Dr Rajkumar Upadhyay, Executive Director, C-DOT highlighted the vision of PM GatiShakti as it harnesses the country’s technological potential. This is done by creating an environment for the creation of path-breaking initiatives by local R&D, industry and start-ups. He underscored the importance of achieving synergy among various participants of the technology ecosystem to spur novel innovation and competitive spirit leading to the development of holistic indigenous solutions expeditiously.
He expressed confidence in emerging partnerships between R&D and industry in enabling the proliferation of indigenous 5G across the country and emphasised that effective collaborations would bring Indian products and solutions to the international market.
C-DOT is the premier Research and Development (R&D) centre of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India. C-DOT has overseen the design and development of a host of telecom software applications such as optical, switching and routing, wireless and security. Further to developing an indigenous 4G solution, C-DOT now focuses its attention on 5G.
This month, C-DOT signed an agreement for collaboration in the area of Open RAN-based Radio Network for 5G solution. The collaboration will leverage the complementary strengths of Telecom R&D and private industry to speed the indigenous design, development and deployment of end-to-end 5G solutions that would be mutually beneficial to all stakeholders. Further, the partnership will go a long way to strengthen indigenous Intellectual Property as well as facilitate wider adoption and monetisation of national 5G products and solutions.
Earlier, Union Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that at the current pace, he was confident that the deployment of 5G will begin in at least 20-25 cities and towns by the end of 2022. He revealed that India currently has the lowest price for data across the globe and that the price “is at least 10 times cheaper than what other countries are offering”.
In related developments, OpenGov Asia reported on the upcoming 5G spectrum auctions in July 2022. Digital connectivity has been an important part of the government’s policy initiatives through programmes like Digital India, Startup India and Make in India.
A total of 72097.85 MHz of spectrum with a validity period of 20 years will be put to auction by the end of July this year. The auction will be held for spectrum in various low (600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), mid (3300 MHz), and high (26 GHz) frequency bands.
The government announced that, in a first, there will be no mandatory requirement to make upfront payments by bidders. Payments for the spectrum can be made in 20 equal annual instalments to be paid in advance at the beginning of each year. This is expected to significantly ease cash flow requirements and lower the cost of doing business in this sector.
To meet the backhaul demand, the government has decided to provisionally allot two carriers of 250 MHz each in E-band to telecom service providers. The government also decided to double the number of traditional Microwave backhaul carriers in the existing frequency bands of 13, 15, 18, and 21 GHz bands.
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https://www.techregister.co.uk/unisa-develops-tool-to-boost-cyber-security-opengov-asia/
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IKARUS Software GmbH” existed several years before IKARUS anti.virus (formerly IKARUS virus.utilities), the first and best-selling product that made the company internationally known.
The first main pillar was the development of customized software for small and medium-sized companies. Yes, they were still doing that back then, even though it was not profitable! Programming was done in compiled BASIC and COBOL on PCs under MS-DOS 2.11.
The second mainstay were standard products. IKARUS had a design tool for COBOL developers in its program that was recommended by Microsoft. For a while, we conducted negotiations with Microsoft about the product, but then Microsoft stomped its own COBOL team and bought a COBOL compiler for which such a tool already existed. A pity…
The first computer virus in the Wild
TIM should bring the breakthrough. It stood for Time Is Money” and was an appointment management program that was always active in the background and could read and display the appointments of a packed week in less than a second, even from floppy disks. TIM was written in macro assembler, had over 30,000 lines of code and was elegant and fast. Unfortunately, the sales partners in Europe and North America were not – their financial difficulties lead to license failures in almost seven figures. This was a very difficult situation for IKARUS, because TIM sold well.
One day, in the fall of 1987, IKARUS received a diskette from a TIM user. Something, he wrote, broke. Upon close analysis, it turned out that a computer virus had infected the disk. This was something new for us that we had never seen before “in the wild.
From hobby to product
By chance, however, IKARUS was well prepared. In 1984, company founder Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, together with Joachim Schneider, had responded to an article in Scientific American” that described how two programs in a software environment fight each other. They thought of worldwide competitions (“Core Wars”), and even a programming language was presented. The central survival strategy of the combat programs was to copy themselves often to reproduce themselves just like later computer viruses. In their spare time, Mayer-Schönberger and Schneider developed a software for Core Wars, with which combat programs could be written and compiled to conduct competitions. Thus, they became the European Coordinators of the International Core Wars Society.
Thanks to “Core Wars”, IKARUS was familiar with the basic concepts when the first computer virus was analyzed in 1987. The virus was quickly removed from the customer’s disk. An idea was born: How about using this knowledge and developing a software package that would allow users to scan their floppy disks for viruses, remove detected viruses and protect against new infections by (still) unknown viruses? Viktor Mayer-Schönberger wrote a concept that outlined these three tasks in more detail and gave the package a name: virus utilities. In June 1988, the first beta version was finished, followed by the release in autumn 1988: The first IKARUS security product was born. Many more were to follow.
IKARUS mobile.management in the cloud
IKARUS mobile.management is presented and integrated into the newly designed IKARUS cloud.security interface.
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https://ikarusantivirus.com/about-company.php
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StartPage. DGU is a Trojan, which although seemingly inoffensive, can actually carry out attacks and intrusions.
In the local network: it generates a large amount of network activity and consumes bandwidth.
It reduces the security level of the computer: it changes system permissions, decreasing the security level.
It uses stealth techniques to avoid being detected by the user:
It uses techniques included in its code to hide itself while it is active.
It deletes the original file from which it was run once it is installed on the computer.
StartPage. DGU uses the following propagation or distribution methods:
Exploiting vulnerabilities with the intervention of the user: exploiting vulnerabilities in file formats or applications. To exploit them successfully it needs the intervention of the user: opening files, viewing malicious web pages, reading emails, etc.
Via Internet, exploiting remote vulnerabilities: attacking random IP addresses, in which it tries to insert a copy of itself by exploiting one or more vulnerabilities.
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https://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/about-malware/encyclopedia/overview.aspx?idvirus=219933
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Gamania. LU is a Trojan, which although seemingly inoffensive, can actually carry out attacks and intrusions: screenlogging, stealing personal data, etc.
Gamania. LU does not spread automatically using its own means. It needs an attacking user's intervention in order to reach the affected computer. The means of transmission used include, among others, floppy disks, CD-ROMs, email messages with attached files, Internet downloads, FTP, IRC channels, peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks, etc.
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https://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/security-info/about-malware/encyclopedia/overview.aspx?idvirus=214488
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Received: 18 April 2007 – Published in Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss.: 25 May 2007 Revised: 30 August 2007 – Accepted: 10 December 2007 – Published: 29 January 2008
Abstract. The main objective of the study presented in this paper was to develop an evaluation scheme which is suit- able for spatially explicit groundwater vulnerability assess- ment according to the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Study area was the Hase river catchment, an area of about 3 000 km2 in north-west Germany which is dominated by livestock farming, in particular pig and poultry production. For the Hase river catchment, the first inventory of the WFD led to the conclusion that 98% of the catchment area is “un- clear/unlikely” to reach a good groundwater status due to dif- fuse nitrogen emissions from agriculture.
The groundwater vulnerability assessment was embedded in the PartizipA project (“Participative modelling, Actor and Ecosystem Analysis in Regions with Intensive Agriculture”, www.partizipa.net), within which a so-called actors’ plat- form was established in the study area. The objective of the participatory process was to investigate the effects of the WFD on agriculture as well as to discuss groundwater pro- tection measures which are suitable for an integration in the programme of measures.
The study was conducted according to the vulnerability as- sessment concept of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, considering sensitivity, exposure and adaptive ca- pacity. Sensitivity was computed using the DRASTIC index of natural groundwater pollution potential. Exposure (for a reference scenario) was computed using the STOFFBILANZ nutrient model. Several regional studies were analysed to evaluate the adaptive capacity. From these studies it was con- cluded that the adaptive capacity in the Hase river catchment is very low due to the economic importance of the agricul- tural sector which will be significantly affected by ground- water protection measures. As a consequence, the adaptive capacity was not considered any more in the vulnerability assessment.
Fig. 1. Overview map of the Hase river catchment.
WFD requires under Article 14 public information and con- sultation throughout the implementation process. The pro- gramme of measures of the WFD currently is under devel- opment; it requires to identify areas at risk more specifically than in the Article 5 report. In the Article 5 report, whole sub-catchments of the study area were assigned the rating “unlikely to reach a good groundwater status”; there was no spatial differentiation within them. Thus, the main objective of the study was to develop an evaluation scheme which is suitable for spatially explicit groundwater vulnerability as- sessment according to the WFD. Furthermore, by model ap- plication in the project’s participatory process, the demand of the WFD for stakeholder integration should be met.
Study area is the Hase river catchment in Northern Ger- many, which is a sub-catchment of the river Ems and cov- ers an area of 3112 km2 (Fig. 1). Around 1 100 000 people live in the five administrative districts covered by the catch- ment, resulting in a mean population density of 135 inhab- itants per square kilometre (NLS, 2001). Agriculture is the most important economic sector, nearly 50% of the persons employed work directly in the agricultural sector (3%) or in markets related to agriculture (46%) (NLS, 2003b). 81% of the catchment area is utilised as field and grassland. Agricul- ture in the catchment is dominated by livestock farming, in particular pig and poultry production. Mean animal numbers per farm are 628 pigs and 20 795 chickens (NLS, 2003a). In contrast, mean farm area is low, only 5% of the farms manage more than 100 hectares (NLS, 2003b).
The county district of Vechta, most parts of which are lo- cated in the study area, has the highest chicken density of the world; 13 million chickens are kept there (Blasberg, 2006). Furthermore, parts of the study area have the highest pig density in Germany (NLS, 2003a; Statistical Offices of the Länder and the Federal Statistical Office, 2006). The mean value of livestock density in the region is 2.1 livestock units per hectare, which is significantly higher than the German average of 0.9 livestock units per hectare. The maximum value in the study area is 3.9 livestock units per hectare (NLS, 2003a). Nitrogen emissions from intensive livestock farm- ing have been a major point of discussion in the region for many years, both in research (Gerlach, 1990; Forschungszen- trum J̈ulich, 1991; Raderschall, 1995; Berlekamp et al., 2000; Klohn et al., 2001; Klohn et al., 2003) and among the public (Streck et al., 2001; K̈uster, 2005; Busse, 2006; Ro- hwetter, 2006b; Rohwetter, 2006a). For the study area, the Article 5 report led to the conclusion that 98% of the catch- ment area is “unclear/unlikely” to reach a good groundwa- ter status due to diffuse nitrogen emissions from agriculture (NLWKN, 2005). The main source of agricultural nitrogen emissions is organic nitrogen from livestock. Groundwater pollution is a particular severe problem due to long residence times of groundwater prevalent in many regions. The im- provement of its quality is a process that can take up to sev- eral decades. Berding et al. (1999) calculated for the study area that the reduction of the nitrate concentration in ground- water from a mean value of 60 mg/l to a value of 25 mg/l
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 12, 111–122, 2008 www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/12/111/2008/
K. Berkhoff: Groundwater assessment in the water framework directive 113 will take almost 50 years, assuming a reduced nitrate input of 10 mg/l per year. In addition, at least in Lower Saxony where the study area is located, groundwater is a main source of drinking water. Thus, a good groundwater status is a value of high priority in the region.
The paper proceeds as follows. In Sect. 2, the Par- tizipA project is described. In Sect. 3, the methodolog- ical approach of vulnerability assessment is outlined. Its Sect. 3.2 contains the groundwater vulnerability evaluation scheme, while in Sect. 3.3 the applied models (DRASTIC and STOFFBILANZ) are described. Sect. 3.4 includes the model results. Adaptive capacity is integrated in Sect. 3.5. The overall groundwater vulnerability in the study area is presented in Sect. 3.6. Finally, Sect. 4 is dedicated to model application
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https://fdocuments.us/document/spatially-explicit-groundwater-vulnerability-assessment-to-112-k-berkhoff.html
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Let’s face it, you have at least one employee who uses the same password for their work account and their Facebook profile.
And that password is tragically “123456.”
Source
Now get this: 64% of financial services have thousands of sensitive files open to every employee.
All it takes is for a cybercriminal to get (or guess) the password to any one of your employees’ accounts, and you could lose sensitive information and your clients’ trust.
Not to mention the potential lawsuits and other expenses.
It’s worth highlighting the difference between intentional and unintentional employee behavior causing security risks.
We’re not pointing fingers and saying your employees are definitely up to something.
It happens. But most data breaches in professional services are caused by:
And these are real cybersecurity risks for small businesses as much as, if not more than for big companies – because the big guys can afford all the tools to defend themselves, and hackers know it.
That’s why 43% of cyber attacks target small businesses.
Security threats didn’t use to be so personal, but 82% of breaches in 2022 involve A human element – clever traps like phishing scams take advantage of human errors instead of going straight to your company door.
The lines between personal and professional have never been more blurry with employees accessing work from personal devices, some of which are shared between household members – and open to attacks.
Unaddressed, your IT security depends on your employees’ security hygiene, circumstances, education, and goodwill.
It’s what it entails if poorly managed, i.e., insecure WiFi, shared accounts, and unencrypted emails.
For example, maybe Linda is aware of malware threats, never falls for phishing attempts, and knows better than to use a single password for everything.
But she shares an account with her husband, Larry. And Larry’s not the type to think twice about security – he’d give his information away for a coupon or some coins to spend in a game.
So now your sensitive data is at the mercy of whoever takes advantage of Larry.
Remote work is, by default, less under your control.
You don’t see your employees, and more importantly, you don’t have much say in their environment, and often the equipment and software they use.
Falling for phishing emails, etc.
Infiltrated employee email was the source of a data leak for a large medical nonprofit, People Inc., in 2019.
Shopify’s shares were impaired by 1% over the following week.
Goes to show how easily company data can be misused and what a massive impact that can have on the public perception of the company.
This is one of the more unpredictable insider threats.
Still, there are things you can do to mitigate the risk, and it’s worth stating that micromanagement is not the answer.
The key is probably closer to good hiring processes, solid security policies, and yes, employee cybersecurity training.
Use of personal devices, or multiple devices
We’re not only talking about remote work.
Bring your own device (BYOD) is a trend that makes employees more productive in the office and helps companies save money.
But the use of personal devices brings its own safety risks.
For example, an employee could be using the notes app on their mobile device to keep track of different passwords, giving access to company records to anyone who finds it.
Or they could download a file with a virus to their device and spread it the next time they log into work.
Never leaving your laptop unattended or in a room others can access, etc.
Your employees are probably not doing all of the above.
Maybe they’re looking at it as just a piece of hardware they can replace, so it’s on you to initiate the talk and make sure they are taking precautions for data protection.
Because you don’t know who is using the account when, it’s hard to say if there’s unusual activity on it.
New device? Could just be a colleague.
Dropbox, Google Drive, and other cloud solutions are very useful for storage.
They’re usually well-protected, too, but not always from the users’ endpoint.
Your employees could be copying your files to their own storage, accidentally leaving them publicly accessible, or sharing them with people without your knowledge or permission.
Again, they’re probably not malicious insiders – they just don’t know it’s a big deal.
It’s not enough to invest in security programs.
But for it to work, you need to teach your employees the benefits of using them – so they see them as useful tools, rather than some annoying, time-consuming process being forced on them by management.
Don’t get mad at them for not knowing something you never taught them.
So, how do you approach the topic?
First, by acknowledging that it starts at the top.
Yes, your employees are the biggest threat to data security. And yes, they need to do their part.
But it’s your responsibility to bring up cybersecurity, stress its importance, and provide the tools and education they need to do better.
You need to help them understand their role in all that and how to keep you safe.
People are much more likely to take you seriously if they understand why it’s important and exactly what could happen if they aren’t careful.
Most employees won’t intentionally break the rules – as long as they know they even exist, and why it makes good sense to follow them.
Then when you’re done talking… no you aren’t.
Employees want consistent, continuous education that directly helps them in their role. 80% of them believe regular courses are more important than formal workplace training.
In other words, they don’t want a singular lecture they’ll never revisit or information they don’t think they need.
That’s why employee cybersecurity training needs to become routine.
That and the simple fact that you’ll need to refresh their education as you iterate your security solutions and practices.
Train employees on security from home before letting them work from home
It’s best not to assume anything goes without saying.
People have varying knowledge and experience on the topic of security, but you need everyone to meet a certain standard to keep you safe – a single careless employee is all it takes for a breach.
You can’t afford to leave it up to chance. Here’s what you should cover:
60% of employees use the same passwords for personal and work accounts, and 67% of people use the same password for everything.
This is a huge risk for security threats as 61% of breaches happen due to compromised credentials.
It’s definitely worth explaining the benefits to employees. Just don’t go about it like some websites do:
“No, that’s a weak password. You need to add a number. Now it’s too short. Include at least one line from “Purple Rain” and donate your blood before proceeding…”
You have to start somewhere. But with some due diligence and an expert in your corner, you can develop a bulletproof process to keep you protected.
And then you’ll tweak it…forever.
Yeah, it doesn’t sound too appealing.
But technological innovation comes with smarter, sneakier cybersecurity threats, which means you need to keep up with the best practices to keep them at bay.
Stay on the pulse no matter what.
But especially if you’re in a sensitive spot like shifting to a remote work environment – as we established, old systems won’t be enough.
We mentioned unsafe third-party storage earlier, and it’s a real risk to your safety.
But the need for storage remains.
Get expert help and figure out your website maintenance together.
Regular reports, a good security program like Sucuri (we use it, by the way), and swift reactions to red flags will do the job, and that’s something an expert can easily advise you on so you can sleep peacefully.
The benefits of cybersecurity employee training are indisputable: you know everyone’s on the same page about security and the risk gets minimized.
Security awareness training is the foundation of your company’s information security. Just remember that you have to keep iterating it.
If you mentioned security to employees two years ago and one of them makes a mistake, that’s not a good enough reason to suspect malintent.
When you get that sorted, you can leave the more technical part to security teams with expert know-how in keeping your system secure.
A good package like State Creative’s website maintenance and security support can be highly effective at protecting your website, especially when combined with the right internal training and awareness programs.
Reach out if you’d like help, or keep learning about improving your website security here.
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https://www.statecreative.com/your-employees-are-the-biggest-threat-to-data-security/
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Microsoft’s Edge browser, the default in Windows 10, blocked a higher percentage of phishing and socially-engineered malware (SEM) attacks than Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox, a Texas security testing firm said Friday.
According to NSS Labs of Austin, Tex., Edge automatically blocked 92% of all in-browser credential phishing attempts and stymied 100% of all SEM attacks. The latter encompassed a wide range of attacks, but their common characteristic was that they tried to trick users into downloading malicious code. The tactics that SEM attackers deploy include links from social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, and bogus in-browser notifications of computer infections or other problems.
Edge bested Chrome and Firefox by decisive margins. For instance, Chrome blocked 74% of all phishing attacks, and 88% of SEM attacks. Meanwhile, Firefox came in third in both tests, stopping just 61% of the phishing attacks and 70% of all SEM attempts.
The results were not surprising to anyone who has followed NSS’s tests over the years: The firm has regularly awarded Microsoft browsers, notably the venerable Internet Explorer (IE), the top spots in its malware-blocking evaluations.
NSS’s assessments were of various cloud-based services that the browser makers called upon, not the applications themselves. The services are reputational at root. They crawl the Internet, and as they do, they assign sites to white- or blacklists depending on whether the content is judged malicious or suspicious. Alternately, the services crank out a numerical score. The browsers then request data from the services as they are directed to specific URLs, and – based on the response – block the browser from reaching the intended destination, warn the user that the site may be shady, or let the browser display the site as its owner intended.
NSS has almost always given Microsoft’s services, a combination of the SmartScreen URL scanner/filter and the Application Reputation service, the highest scores. Google’s rival service, dubbed “Safe Browsing,” has ranked second, sometimes a very distant second. Both Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox rely on the Safe Browsing API (application programing interface), but historically, Mozilla’s implementation has performed poorly compared to Google’s. No shock: Google created the API.
Edge also took top prize in blocking attacks from the get-go. In NSS’s SEM attack testing, for example, the Microsoft browser stopped nearly every attempt from the first moments a new attack was detected. Chrome and Firefox, on the other hand, halted 75% and 54% of the brand-new attacks, respectively. Over a week’s time, Chrome and Firefox improved their blocking scores, although neither reached Edge’s impressive 99.8%.
But test scores like these have not helped Edge grow its share of the browser market, or kept its IE ancestor from a disastrous decline in the last two years. During September, Edge was run on just 5% of all personal computers; of those powered by Windows 10, the only OS Edge supports, the browser ran on only 17% of that PC subset. Since mid-2015, when Windows 10 and Edge launched, the latter’s share of the former has continually dropped.
In fact, September’s ranking was Edge’s lowest ever. Meanwhile, Chrome’s September user share of all personal computers was 60%, according to analytics company Net Applications; Firefox’s stood at 13%.
NSS also measured the anti-phishing prowess of Chrome OS and Windows 10 S, which are based, in turn, on Chrome and Edge, and found, “No significant differences were observed between the Edge browser running on Windows 10 or Windows 10 S and between the Chrome browser running on Windows 10 and Chrome [OS].”
The testing firm’s results were obtained by continuous monitoring of Windows 10 personal computers running Edge, Chrome or Firefox between Aug. 23 and Sept. 12.
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https://www.lagmen.net/nss-labs-says-windows-10s-default-browser-better-blocking-phishing-socially-engineered-malware-attacks-google-chrome-mozilla-firefox/
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In 2017, ransomware evolved suddenly into a crisis for enterprises around the world, leading Kaspersky Lab to name the threat the "key topic" of the year, according to a new report.
Ransomware continues to plague businesses: In 2017, 26% of ransomware targets were business users--up from 23% in 2016. This increase is due in large part to three major, sophisticated attacks: WannaCry in May, ExPetr in June, and BadRabbit in October.
"The headline attacks of 2017 are an extreme example of the growing criminal interest in corporate targets. We spotted this trend in 2016, it has accelerated throughout 2017 and shows no signs of slowing down," Fedor Sinitsyn, senior malware analyst at Kaspersky Lab, said in a press release. "Business victims are remarkably vulnerable, can be charged a higher ransom than individuals, and are often willing to pay up in order to keep the business operating. New business-focused infection vectors, such as through remote desktop systems, are not surprisingly also on the rise."
Some 65% of businesses hit by ransomware in 2017 said they lost access to a significant amount of data, or even all of their data, the report found. And sometimes paying the ransom did not make a difference: One in six of the businesses that paid never recovered their data.
Overall, about 950,000 unique users were hit with ransomware in 2017--down from about 1.5 million in 2016. This large discrepancy is primarily due to better detection methodology, rather than a decrease in attacks, the report noted.
There was also a decline in new families of ransomware, with 38 families found in 2017, down from 62 in 2016. However, this also corresponded to an increase in modifications to existing ransomware with more than 96,000 new modifications detected in 2016, compared to 54,000 in 2016.
Ransomware attacks will continue into 2018, Sinitsyn wrote in a Tuesday blog post. Kaspersky Lab predicts that we will see a rise in cryptocurrency mining or targeted attacks for the purpose of installing miners, which can result in more money for criminals over time.
"One thing's for sure, ransomware won't just disappear - neither as a direct threat, nor as a disguise for deeper attacks," Sinitsyn wrote.
For tips on how to avoid ransomware attacks, click here.
Want to use this data in your next business presentation? Feel free to copy and paste these top takeaways into your next slideshow.
However, this drop is primarily due to better detection methodology, rather than a decrease in attacks. -Kaspersky Lab, 2017
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https://www.techrepublic.com/article/report-26-of-ransomware-attacks-target-business-users/
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Simply put: this was a banner year for mega data breaches; according to Gemalto’s Breach Level Index, over 900 data breaches occurred during the first half of 2017, which compromised 1.9 billion records. More data was stolen in the first six months of 2017 than the entirety of 2016. Unfortunately, the massive exfiltration of data is a critical symptom of weak machine identity protection.
In the aftermath of major security incidents, experts often wonder how cybercriminals were able to exfiltrate large amounts of data while remaining undetected. Compromised machine identities allow attackers to use encrypted tunnels where traffic is only sporadically inspected - an approach that permits them to evade security controls. In fact, a recent study from A10 Networks found that 41 percent of cyberattacks use encryption to evade detection.
“Organizations increasingly rely on encrypted communication between rapidly changing networks of machines that are used for a wide range of critical-business functions,” said Nick Hunter, senior technical manager for Venafi. “To secure encrypted communications between machines, it’s vital that we protect each machine’s unique identity with at least the same rigor and precision we use to protect the online identities of humans. Unfortunately, most organizations don’t have the technology or intelligence necessary to do this, and because the number of machines on enterprise networks is exploding, this problem is rapidly getting worse.”
To highlight the role that compromised machine identities played in the data breaches revealed in 2017, we examined security incidents where large amounts of data were extracted without detection. Due to the massive scope and duration of these breaches, it’s likely machine identities played a pivotal role in these breaches.
Uber Data Breach Impacts Over 50 Million Users and Drivers – According to Bloomberg the orchestrators of the attackaccessed a private coding site used by Uber engineers, and then used login credentials to access data from an Amazon Web Services account used by the ride-sharing company. Unfortunately, cyber attackers often abuse access to cloud services, such as Amazon AWS, to fly under the radar of other security controls.
The Shadow Brokers Crack the NSA – Although the initial breach took place in 2016, the results of this incident were felt throughout 2017. For example, a data dump released in May revealed 300 megabytes of “cyber weapons" that allegedly originated from the NSA. In a distressing admission, Michael Morell, a former deputy and acting director of the CIA, said the NSA doesn’t know what else the leakers may have accessed, and, most concerning, whether the group is still actively stealing information. A key symptom of compromised machine identities is the inability to determine malicious activity inside encrypted tunnels.
North Korea Steals War Plans from South Korean Ministry of Defense – According to South Korean Ministry of Defense department officials, nation state actors exfiltrated 235 gigabytes of information. The data may have included military documents and war plans, but roughly 80 percent of the stolen information had yet to be identified. Inability to decrypt and inspect encrypted traffic can allow attackers to exfiltrate large amounts of data while undetected.
The Yahoo Breach Expands to 3 Billion Users – After the first reports of a breach at Yahoo!, Venafi Labs discovered that Yahoo! appeared to have weak machine identity protection across many of its external web properties. Weak cryptographic security can allow attackers to steal intellectual property, elevate privileged access, eavesdrop on confidential communications and retain backdoor access to networks for extended periods of time.
“Effective machine identity protection requires complete visibility and continuous assessment of all identities across the extended enterprise,” concluded Hunter. “Only comprehensive intelligence can drive the automated, coordinated actions that are necessary to proactively remediate machine identity weaknesses. Until more organizations have these capabilities, we will continue to see massive breaches, even among large organizations with major investments in security. The only way organizations can stem the rising tide of data loss is to automate machine identity protection.”
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If You have registered to access and use the Venafi Cloud for DevOps Service, You must use SSL/TLS certificates issued to you at no charge through the Service for development and testing purposes only, and You are strictly prohibited from using such SSL/TLS certificates in a production environment or in any production capacity. If you are registered with a public Certification Authority (“CA”) supported by the Service and have valid credentials issued by such CA with which you can subscribe to such CA’s SSL/TLS certificates on a fee bearing basis for use in production environments, You may request such certificates through the applicable interface present in the Service by using such credentials. In such instance, the fee bearing certificate(s) will be issued to You by the CA and any access to or use of such certificates by You will be subject to the terms and conditions set out by the CA. No fees will be paid to or processed by Venafi in this case. The use of DigiCert issued certificates shall be subject to the Certificate Services Agreement published by DigiCert at https://www.digicert.com/docs/agreements/Certificate-Services-Agreement.pdf, which terms are hereby incorporated by reference.
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This Agreement is binding on You as well as Your employees, employers, contractors and agents, and on any permitted successors and assignees. Except if otherwise superseded in writing by a separately executed agreement, this Agreement is the entire agreement between You and Venafi with regard to the License granted hereunder, and You agree that Venafi will not have any liability for any statement or representation made by it, its agents or anyone else (whether innocently or negligently) upon which You relied in entering into this Agreement, unless such statement or representation was made fraudulently. This Agreement supersedes any other understandings or agreements, including, but not limited to, advertising, with respect to the Service. If any provision of this Agreement is deemed invalid or unenforceable by any country or government agency having jurisdiction, that particular provision will be deemed modified to the extent necessary to make the provision valid and enforceable and the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect. Should such modification be impractical or denied, You and Venafi shall thereafter each have the right to terminate this Agreement on immediate notice.
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Assignment. This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties’ respective successors and permitted assigns. You shall not assign this Agreement or any of Your rights or obligations hereunder without the prior written consent of Venafi and any such attempted assignment shall be void.
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https://www.venafi.com/blog/major-data-breaches-2017-did-machine-identities-play-factor
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Austria said Friday that it was investigating a report that an Austrian company developed spyware targeting law firms, banks and consultancies in at least three countries.
Microsoft's security team earlier this week said it found that a malware called Subzero -- developed by Vienna-based company DSIRF -- was deployed in 2021 and 2022.
"Observed victims to date include law firms, banks and strategic consultancies in countries such as Austria, the United Kingdom and Panama," it wrote in a blog entry on Wednesday.
Austria's interior ministry said it had not received reports of any incidents.
"Of course, (intelligence agency) DSN checks the allegations. So far, there is no proof of the use of spy software from the company mentioned," it said in a statement.
[ READ: Calls Mount for US Gov Clampdown on Mercenary Spyware Merchants ]
Austria's Kurier newspaper cited DSIRF as saying that Subzero had not been misused and "was developed exclusively for use by authorities in EU states" and was not commercially available.
DSIRF did not immediately return a request for comment from AFP.
Austria's interior ministry said it knew of the company but "has not had any business relationships" with it.
Last year several media outlets reported that governments around the world, including in the EU, had used Pegasus spyware made by Israel's NSO Group to spy on opponents.
Budapest and Warsaw responded that the use of Pegasus was for legitimate national security reasons.
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https://www.securityweek.com/austria-probes-claim-spyware-targeted-law-firms-banks
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It’s important to invest in the best antivirus to your device if you would like to protect your computer from web attacks. Cyber threats have grown to be more sophisticated each day, and even a straightforward download right from an unsecured website can skimp on your product. While most Glass windows operating systems currently have inbuilt security solutions, they’re not always good enough. A good antivirus security software can defend your data and login credentials from on the net threats, and it can help you limit which websites you visit.
The best ant-virus for House windows offers good protection and features for any reasonable cost. Some of these will include a bundled VPN, disk defrag, VPN, Wi-Fi network encoding, and a virtual computer keyboard. Some antiviruses also include a built-in speed optimizer, which can help you speed up your system.
Bitdefender offers several features that are necessary for protecting your laptop or computer against viruses and infections. It also comes with a advanced anti-phishing tool and free malware scanner. This antivirus may be set up in diagnosing your system yourself or perhaps set a schedule to automatically diagnostic your PC meant for malicious program. It’s easy and fast to install in support of uses 15MB of your https://highappllc.com/how-to-get-free-v-bucks-in-fortnite/ hard drive.
Malwarebytes is a light in weight security package that offers terrific malware safety. It also comes with a decent VPN and a refund if you’re unhappy with its performance. It’s appropriate for most popular operating systems, but sadly, it doesn’t support macOS. Thankfully, MacKeeper is one of the few antiviruses specifically designed pertaining to Mac users. It offers great malware safeguards, a host of security features, and an user-friendly macOS application.
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics 11 months This GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. cookielawinfo-checbox-functional 11 months The GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy 11 months The the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
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https://alutray-systems.de/greatest-antivirus-meant-for-windows
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Url: http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/97765
Url: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuapr2017-3236618.html
Url: https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:2787
Url: https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:2886
Url: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-3600
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https://www.whitesourcesoftware.com/vulnerability-database/CVE-2017-3600
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The key to robust banking security is an educated customer - and the simpler the processes, the more secure the framework for mass adoption, says Pervez Goiporia, vice president, IDM development, at Oracle India.
In an exclusive interview with Information Security Media Group, Goiporia discusses the security aspects of the Modi government's proposed financial inclusion initiative - The "Jan Dhan Yojana," or people's wealth scheme - which aims at bringing 75 million unbanked households into the banking system by 2015.
"The biggest gap is going to be the lack of familiarity with the technology and processes - both for banks and the end customer," he says, arguing that so far banks have only had to deal with the educated, urban/semi-urban clientele as far as mobile and other digital channels are concerned. Rolling such services out to the masses is going to be a different game, and the complexity of securing these platforms today may well confuse users - creating a vector for social engineering attacks.
The emerging role of data analytics.
Goiporia leads the development of IDM products at Oracle's India Development Centre in Bangalore. He has been with Oracle since 2006. Goiporia's 25-year career has led him through various roles in consulting and architecture at companies such as IBM and EDS.
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https://www.bankinfosecurity.asia/interviews/financial-inclusion-security-challenge-i-2461
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1. Check your download folder, or search your computer for the Malwarebytes setting file, Mbsetup. exe.
2. Open the settings file by double-clicking it. Windows will then ask if you can make changes to your device. Click “Yes,” and then select your language.
3. When the Setup Wizard opens, click “Agree and Continue” to start installing Malwarebytes, or click “Advanced Options” to select a different installation location.
4. When the installation is complete, click “Finish ” to close the Setup wizard.
5. Completed Malwarebytes must be launched automatically.
Fast and simple way to download free software Latest versions. “Malwarebytes Free Windows Download” Software essentials for Windows, macOS and Android. This Site is updated every day with dozens of apps covering everything from productivity and communication, to security and gaming. Free Download safely while discovering alternative software you can try.
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All informations about programs or games on this amazing site have been within open sources on the Internet. So All programs and games not hosted on our site. When visitor click Button [Download] “Malwarebytes Free” will downloading directly from official sources(owners sites). Admin is strongly against the piracy we do not support any manifestation of piracy. If you were to think that app/game you have the copyrights is listed on our website and you want to eliminate it, please contact us. We’re DMCA-compliant and gladly to utilize you. Please find the DMCA / Removal Request below. You might send a message to support If you need support, please email us at Contact Site. We make an effort to respond to all support
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https://www.filehippo-filehippo.com/malwarebytes/
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Details have emerged of a new high risk vulnerability discovered in Apple’s Safari web browser.
The exploit could allow a malicious user to execute arbitrary code on a remote system and is rated highly critical by Secunia.
“The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the handling of parent windows and can result in a function call using an invalid pointer. This can be exploited to execute arbitrary code when a user e.g. visits a specially crafted web page and closes opened pop-up windows” says the Secunia security advisory.
The vulnerability affects both Mac OS X and Windows versions of the browser. Apple is yet to release an update to close the flaw.
Tom: Deactivate this in Firefox: - Type in "about:config" - Confirm the warning message - Search for [...]
Fred: Hi guys, For those interrested, I found another way to solve the problem (on my system at least, [...]
Alex: Yes I know, I've been a bit slow lately with the updates. Too much other work on. I've posted abo [...]
Cordless: Version of Chrome 7.0.517.41 released recently. [...]
Raman: @maxolasersquad - Thanks a lot. That worked like a charm on my netbook. [...]
Bec: 3.6.10 is even worse, it crashes almost constantly, I've reverted to IE [...]
Shaun: That version also seems to be breaking the ability of a fair few people's ability to use the bookmar [...]
Roman: "The implementation will be slightly different to Chromes..." This should be "The implementation [...]
Tiago Sá: Maybe IE9 will be like Chrome: when you have too many tabs open, it just breaks. [...]
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https://www.browser-watch.com/2010/05/11/high-risk-safari-vulnerability-published/
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Url: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-2422
Url: http://source.android.com/security/bulletin/2016-04-02.html
Url: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/apps/CertInstaller/+/70dde9870e9450e10418a32206ac1bb30f036b2c
Url: https://www.whitesourcesoftware.com/vulnerability-database/CVE-2016-2422
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https://www.whitesourcesoftware.com/vulnerability-database/CVE-2016-2422
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This release was created for you, eager to use Avast antivirus full and with without limitations. Our intentions are not to harm Avast software company but to give the possibility to those who can not pay for any piece of software out there. This should be your intention too, as a user, to fully evaluate Avast antivirus without restrictions and then decide.
If you are keeping the software and want to use it longer than its trial time, we strongly encourage you purchasing the license key from Avast official website. Our releases are to prove that we can! Nothing can stop us, we keep fighting for freedom despite all the difficulties we face each day.
Last but not less important is your own contribution to our cause. You should consider to submit your own serial numbers or share other files with the community just as someone else helped you with Avast antivirus serial number. Sharing is caring and that is the only way to keep our scene, our community alive.
Web-master, index our site and show results with our quality serials on your site. Here is the list with our pages to index.
Dear user, submit your own serials and store them online in our database so you can access them when you need. Submit now!
Learn how to successfully use our website by watching our flash video tutorial. Click here to watch it now.
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https://www.smartserials.com/serials/Avast_antivirus_33156.htm
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> Doctors are crucial to hospitals' marketing and social media strategies but organizations across the country struggle to get their physicians to use social media. Although industry experts often point to doctors' busy schedules as the reason behind their reluctance to join their hospitals' social media campaigns, Russell Faust, M.D., told MedCity News he surveyed physicians last year and found fear of the unknown, HIPAA violations and developing a negative reputation also fare actors. Article > Researchers in England have found that patient assessments of quality of care do not correlate closely with clinical measures of quality. The researchers used both clinical performance and patient experience data to analyze 7,759 physician practices. While they did find statistically significant positive correlations between patient assessments and clinical performance assessments, the association was weak. Article
And Finally... Tough love was a little too tough for this floppy-eared guy. Article
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https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/it/chime-announces-new-board-members-kaiser-informs-patients-about-data-breach
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I ran stinger, CWS shredder, Trojan Hunter, Spy Doctor(it's bit of an old version though) and I have Avast antivirus which found : Win32:Kuang2 : 3 entries and 1 entry for: Win32:NGVCK-E and I moved to the chest for the time being.
Today I was online and the PC just went kind of crazy, lots of programs startd up and the screen flashed from one thing to another I had no control of the cursor and other functions and turned off and rebooted from my hard drive.
E:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://D:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\Office10\EXCEL.EXE/3000
Hi, I hate to say this, but your HJT version is out of date. Please download and scan with the newest version (1.99.1).
Download hijackThis (1.99.1) . Extract it to its own folder. Then run it and select. Do system scan and save log. Post the contents of the log that pops up.
E:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe
O8 background Suite\TAB\02.05.0001.1119\en-us\msntabres.dll/229?41b776f050c1426783ef222cefe285a7
O8 foreground Suite\TAB\02.05.0001.1119\en-us\msntabres.dll/230?41b776f050c1426783ef222cefe285a7
D:\Documents and Settings\Alan. Kala\Local Settings\Temp\Cookies\alan.kala@centrport[1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Centrport Settings\Temp\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Adjuggler Settings\Temp\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Myaffiliateprogram Settings\Temp\Cookies\alan.kala@questionmarket[1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Questionmarket Settings\Temp\Cookies\alan.kala@adrevolver[1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Adrevolver Settings\Temp\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Addynamix Settings\Temp\Cookies\alan.kala@bluestreak[1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Bluestreak Settings\Temp\Cookies\alan.kala@2o7[1].txt -> TrackingCookie.2o7 Settings\Temp\Cookies\alan.kala@tribalfusion[1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Tribalfusion Settings\Temp\Cookies\alan.kala@burstnet[2].txt -> TrackingCookie. Burstnet Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][2].txt -> TrackingCookie. Adjuggler Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Esomniture Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][2].txt -> TrackingCookie. Esomniture Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\alan.kala@com[1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Com Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Esomniture Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\alan.kala@clickbank[1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Clickbank Settings\Alan.Kala\Cookies\[email protected][2].txt -> TrackingCookie. Yieldmanager Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\alan.kala@tacoda[1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Tacoda Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Masterstats Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][2].txt -> TrackingCookie. Specificclick Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Euroclick Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\alan.kala@ivwbox[1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Ivwbox Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\alan.kala@clickbank[2].txt -> TrackingCookie. Clickbank Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\alan.kala@estat[1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Estat Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Pointroll Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][3].txt -> TrackingCookie. Euroclick Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Bridgetrack Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\alan.kala@tacoda[2].txt -> TrackingCookie. Tacoda Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Adjuggler Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\alan.kala@questionmarket[1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Questionmarket Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][3].txt -> TrackingCookie. Yieldmanager Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\alan.kala@pro-market[1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Pro-market Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Esomniture Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][2].txt -> TrackingCookie. Onestat Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\alan.kala@tacoda[3].txt -> TrackingCookie. Tacoda Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][1].txt -> TrackingCookie. Yieldmanager Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][2].txt -> TrackingCookie. Falkag Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][3].txt -> TrackingCookie. Adjuggler Settings\Alan. Kala\Cookies\[email protected][3].txt -> TrackingCookie. Falkag : Cleaned with backup
E:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe
E:\ZIPPED\security suite\ewidoctrl.exe
E:\ZIPPED\security suite\ewidoguard.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Web Scanner - Unknown owner - E:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe" /service (file missing)
O23 - Service: ewido security suite control - ewido networks - E:\ZIPPED\security suite\ewidoctrl.exe
O23 - Service: ewido security suite guard - ewido networks - E:\ZIPPED\security suite\ewidoguard.exe
E:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
E:\ZIPPED\security suite\ewidoctrl.exe
E:\ZIPPED\security suite\ewidoguard.exe
D:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
D:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\msnmsgr.exe
Everything seems to be fine now. I think....... : rolleyes:
Thanks so much for your time and great service....you rock !
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Google results redirect using go.google.com - 13 replies desperate request for assistance. logs inside. - 7 replies
Red X on C: and POS.file night mare - 5 replies
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https://www.daniweb.com/hardware-and-software/information-security/threads/42253/pc-acting-very-weird
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${(obj[i].desc).length > 90 ? (obj[i].desc).substring(0, 90) + '...') : (obj[i].desc)} ` } li += `See more technologies ` $('.show_techstack_onchange').append(li); runTechVoteScript(); } if (window.mixpanelEnabled) { mixpanel.track('Click_Company_Page', { 'company_id': urlMetaInfo[0], 'company_name': urlMetaInfo[1], 'action': 'on_click', 'section': section, 'element': 'dropdown', 'value': selectedVal }); } function CopyToClipboard(value, showNotification, notificationText) { var $temp = $("); $("body").append($temp); $temp.val(value).select(); document.execCommand("copy"); $temp.remove(); if (typeof showNotification = 'undefined') { showNotification = true; } if (typeof notificationText = 'undefined') { notificationText = "Copied to clipboard"; } var notificationTag = $("div.copy-notification"); if (showNotification & notificationTag.length = 0) { notificationTag = $("
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https://6sense.com:443/company/counterpane-internet-security/5c3b000ed55ae49f1b75f584
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Balancing the use of personal data required by Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID) as part of its transparency regime with the personal data protection rules set out in General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a tough task – tell us everything, but keep it secret – that many financial institutions are struggling with. How can they store personal data for five or seven years as required by MiFID II when GDPR states that data should be kept for no longer than necessary? And how can they respond to data subjects’ requests to exercise the right to be forgotten under GDPR when the transparency requirements of MiFID II allow no such thing?
The webinar will consider the conflicts around personal data that result from MiFID II and GDPR requirements, and detail how they can be reconciled to meet the needs of both regulations while avoiding the exorbitant fines of non-compliance with GDPR.
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https://a-teaminsight.com/webinars/balancing-regulatory-transparency-with-data-protection/?brand=ati
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We do not recommend that you skip doing a risk assessment or Data Privacy Impact Assessment (DPIA/PIA) when you’re required to do so by a regulation or if you have the resources to do so. Privacy risk assessments act as a great warning system to detect privacy issues, minimize risk, and avoid costly mistakes in terms of privacy compliance. There is also strong evidence based on enforcement practice that suggests that by doing risk assessments, your organization shows its commitment to compliance.
At the same time, conducting general privacy risk assessments typically requires a lot of time, resources, and experience. Not every organization has this luxury, despite the benefits a privacy risk assessment brings. In a previous life, we recall these privacy risk assessments taking months to complete. For some organizations that don’t have a mature privacy program, it may be easier to allow their privacy team to focus on compliance efforts to build privacy controls versus assessing them.
However, we found a solution that can address your needs if you need to conduct privacy assessments and you lack resources. Every organization these days needs to do data inventory. Inventory is kind of like an assessment; in other words, it’s a process where you review your assets and data life cycle. When you conduct a data inventory—which is the perfect time to interview your stakeholders, review your documentation, and document your assets, data life cycle, applicable controls, and all the other information required for that inventory—it’s also the perfect time to conduct a mini privacy assessment.
Since you’re already using your and your stakeholders’ time and attention, why not kill two birds with one stone? Utilize the data inventory process to conduct both a data inventory and high-level risk assessment. We recommend this approach because we’ve seen it work very well in practice. We’ve done it with clients, and the following results transpired:
The business side appreciates the respect they receive since they have a business to run.
The compliance team is happy because they feel much more informed about the privacy risks they need to address.
The executive team is pleased because they know the company is doing what it needs to do to drive the organization forward.
More importantly, you continue delivering value to your customers, which is the whole point of your business.
To summarize, privacy risk assessments play a critical compliance and business role in any organization. Don’t skip them, and find a smart way of doing them. There are many ways you can do this effectively, especially if you still haven’t done your data inventory. You’re long overdue for both so that you can understand not only what data you have to protect, but also where you have gaps and risks to address. Lastly, don’t forget that risk assessments will be required under California (CPRA) and Virginia law. Why wait? Start now.
If you have questions about risk assessment or data privacy and protection, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to help you.
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https://securityboulevard.com/2021/04/privacy-risk-assessments-yay-or-nay/
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In response to a rising number of ransomware attacks on healthcare systems, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) has issued new ransomware guidance on the HIPAA obligations of healthcare organizations and business associates. The Fact Sheet provides guidance for covered entities on how to determine whether a ransomware incident is a reportable HIPAA breach, as well as the steps these entities should take to minimize the introduction of malware. We have summarized the guidance below.
Ransomware, a type of malicious software, is used to encrypt a user’s data. The hacker using the ransomware will typically make a demand to the user to pay a ransom in order to decrypt the information. However, the hacker may also destroy or transfer the information to another system. According to a recent interagency report cited in the guidance, there have been, on average, 4,000 daily ransomware attacks since early 2016 (which is a 300% increase over the 1,000 daily attacks reported in 2015).
OCR notes that the HIPAA Security Rule requires covered entities and business associates to take steps that can reduce the likelihood of a ransomware attack. For example, entities must conduct a risk analysis to identify threats and vulnerabilities to electronic protected health information (ePHI) and put in place procedures to guard against malicious software. Additionally, system users should be trained to recognize and report malicious software. Though an entity may not be alerted to a ransomware attack until after the ransom demand is made, users who recognize indicators of an attack can activate a security incident response plan more quickly.
The HIPAA Security Rule also requires covered entities and business associates to implement policies and procedures to respond and recover from a ransomware attack. Since ransomware can encrypt and delete data, the guidance advises maintaining frequent backups of records and periodically testing to ensure that the backup records are readable. Some ransomware can disrupt online backups, so OCR recommends maintaining backups offline and unavailable from other networks.
This guidance clarifies that ransomware on a covered entity’s computer systems is a security incident under the HIPAA Security Rule. A security incident is “the attempted or successful unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction of information or interference with system operations in an information system,” and it triggers an entity’s response and reporting procedures. Entities must have “reasonable and appropriate” procedures and reporting processes in place to respond to security incidents. Initially, an entity needs to determine the scope of the incident, where it originated, whether the incident is ongoing, and how the incident occurred. Ultimately, a key part of the incident analysis is assessing whether or not there was a breach of PHI.
According to OCR, “whether or not the presence of ransomware would be a breach under the HIPAA Rules is a fact-specific determination.” When PHI is encrypted through a ransomware attack, an unauthorized party has taken possession or control of the information, causing an unpermitted “disclosure.” Notably, OCR states that a ransomware incident creates a presumption that a breach has occurred, meaning that an entity must comply with the applicable breach notification provisions (“notification to affected individuals without unreasonable delay, to the Secretary of HHS, and to the media (for breaches affecting over 500 individuals) in accordance with HIPAA breach notification requirements”).
An entity may be able to demonstrate that there is a “low probability that the PHI has been compromised,” and a breach notification would not be required. To do so, the entity must conduct a risk assessment involving at least the following four factors:
The extent to which the risk to the PHI has been mitigated.
Entities can consider additional factors in this analysis. For example, if there is a high risk of unavailability or of a risk to the integrity of the data, that may weigh more heavily towards a compromise of the PHI. Again, OCR emphasizes that a robust contingency plan is key to mitigating risk to PHI (the fourth factor in the risk assessment). Without data backup and restoration, an entity may not be able to verify that the risk has been mitigated. When conducting the risk analysis, the entity must do so in good faith, engage in a thorough assessment, reach conclusions that are reasonable given the circumstances, and maintain supporting documentation sufficient to meet the burden of proof on those conclusions.
Overall, this guidance emphasizes best practices to minimize the risk and damage associated with a ransomware attack. Healthcare systems must also have the appropriate security incident procedures in place before an incident occurs; following a robust plan can help mitigate the ultimate risk of compromising PHI. HHS has identified ransomware as “one of the biggest current threats to health information privacy,” and with the release of the new guidance, the government has set clear expectations for the safeguards covered entities and business associates must implement.
To review the entire document and formatting for this alert (e.g., footnotes), please access the original below:
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https://www.agg.com/news-insights/publications/ocr-issues-new-guidance-on-ransomware-and-hipaa-07-19-2016/
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(TheRegister) The Republic of Korea took two steps into the future by announcing that it will initiate large-scale adoption of communications protected by quantum encryption.
The quantum tests will build on demos conducted in 2020, but this time South Korea’s government hopes to involve multiple industries and to educate them on the benefits of the tech and how to adopt it.
The aim of the tests is creating an ecosystem of players that eventually translates into wide adoption of quantum crypto for everyday communications among businesses, and a thriving industry.
Another factor in play is that the US President Biden and South Korean President Moon met at a summit last weekend and among the joint initiatives agreed on was developing “a future-oriented partnership by leading innovation” on quantum tech, plus AI, 5G and 6G, open-RAN, and clean energy tech.”
South Korea’s announcement of its new quantum initiative mentions its desire to collaborate with its ally.
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https://www.insidequantumtechnology.com/news-archive/south-korea-plans-large-scale-quantum-cryptography-adoption/?noamp=mobile
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Before we dive into cybersecurity protections, let’s talk about the Titanic for a moment (bear with us). Built in 1909, the British passenger liner was a modern marvel: complete with four-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engines, 16 water-tight compartments, a rudder weighing in at 100 tons, and even ceilings made of granulated cork (to combat condensation). But for all its bells and whistles, the Titanic had a major shortcoming: it did not carry enough lifeboats to ferry all of its occupants to safety.
In short, it was unthinkable at the time for a ship of the Titanic’s ingenuity to sink.
Just like no ship is impervious to the perils of sea, no business is immune to the rising number of cyberattacks nationwide. In fact, because hacker motives are largely financial (about 83% of all breaches in 2019 were for financial gain), small and medium-sized businesses are becoming a growing target.
4. Training awareness for your employees
Let’s get started with an important question.
No matter how many preventative measures are in place, it’s important to realize that the risk of a cyberattack still exists, that a compromise will still happen, and having a plan in place is imperative.
And while not every company has the ability or resources to hire a MSSP (Managed Security Service Provider), a vCISO (Virtual Chief Information Security Officer), or to perform a risk assessment in your environment, there are a few basic hygiene methods that we recommend implementing in every network and workplace.
1. Firewall
A firewall functions kind of like those water-tight containers on the Titanic. It’s a security system that filters traffic coming into your network from the Internet, Cloud, and Dark Web. Essentially it acts as a first-line-of-defense barrier between a trusted network and an untrusted network. The term comes from the concept of physical walls preventing the spread of fire until emergency services can arrive and extinguish it.
When set up correctly, firewalls inspect “packets” of data that come and go, and then determine whether those packets match known threats or malicious patterns (such as Malware, Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, spam, etc.)
Properly-installed firewalls block hundreds of malicious threats every day, and we believe they are a critical component to all cyberattack preventative measures. Cost, the number of computers in your network, VPN access, and whether you need a software, hardware, or cloud firewall are all things to consider when making your decision.
Before you have a firewall in place, make sure to back up all of your files to a computer or hard drive that is not connected to any network—this prevents the spread of malware and viruses to vital system files.
2. Password Manager
Every single externally-exposed login application should have multi-factor authentication and a strong password program. Whether it’s a website, a blog, an inbox, or a social media app: these are all open back doors to your business.
According to a Keeper and Ponemon Institute report, 70% of SMBs report that their employees’ passwords have been stolen or lost in 2019. 54% have no visibility into employee password practices, and 63% of SMBs experienced a breach caused by a negligent employee or contractor.
Password managers like LastPass, 1Password, or iCloud Keychain are examples of apps that remember things for you, so you don’t have to. There are many options available for every budget. By creating strong, unique passwords for every service you use, password managers encrypt all of your data behind one “master” password for ease of use.
While maybe intimidating to use at first, a good password manager will make remembering login details less frustrating for you, and will ultimately reduce your risk of compromised information.
3. Update, Update, Update
Part of vulnerability management is making sure external systems and endpoints are always patched to the latest and greatest. Because technology is always evolving, cybercriminals are continually motivated to find new ways to breach networks.
Sometimes those “Update Now!” notifications on your phone or computer can be annoying, but keeping your infrastructure security current is key to staying two steps ahead. Make sure to regularly update any outdated software and hardware and stay current on any antivirus rules. You can even set up automatic updates on some devices, so you don’t forget.
4. Training Awareness
Most people do the right thing most of the time… but they also have to know what the “right” thing is. This can include not clicking on random links in the inbox, not replying to an email with sensitive information, and calling to confirm in case a coworker asks for specific information.
Educate employees about the many ways they can avoid making your business vulnerable to attack. Steps they can take include:
An attacker sent phishing emails to employees. One of the users opened the email, thought it was legitimate, and entered their username and password credentials. Since most people synchronize their computer password with their email password at work, the attacker was able to use the login details to access the VPN network. Once inside, the attacker conducted reconnaissance, figuring out “who’s who” in the organization and proceeded to send emails to targeted individuals from the compromised email account.
The attacker was inside the organization dwelling for several months and gained access to administrative accounts. They deciphered the timing of invoices and expected payments and obtained the company’s bank wiring details.
The attackers wired approximately $300,000 from the company’s bank account into their personal account. Additionally, they sent a number of pending invoices with updated false payment information, so the money would come to them when payment was made. If that wasn’t enough, the attackers also set off a ransomware attack, encrypting all of the company’s computer assets.
What Blue Team Alpha Did
There was a lot of cleanup work that needed to be done because of this attack, but our team dug in and devoted more than 300 man hours to get the job done. The company had 300 workstations, all of which needed to be reloaded due to the ransomware attack. We arrived on site and set up camp in a large conference room. We set up an imaging service to create copies of all of the computers. Fortunately, the company had encrypted backups and a SAN (Storage Area Network) snapshot, which truly saved them from irreparable damage.
We used the backups to start restoring services. Our team’s expertise and the additional hardware we brought in to help with remediation enabled us to get their business back up and running within three days. All of the workstations were reimaged within five days. Unfortunately, there was one site they did not have quality backups for. They did end up having to pay the ransom for this data. We were, however, able to help negotiate the amount down from roughly $850,000 to approximately $600,000. In these situations, companies are often powerless, as these ransomware attacks originate from non-extradition countries, leaving no options for recourse.
Lessons Learned
Regular, encrypted, and “air gapped” backups are a critical component for cybersecurity. Air gapping is the act of disconnecting the backup device from the network, so it can’t be compromised if the entire network is attacked. Failure to take these types of proactive measures can cost you dearly if an attack occurs. Employees should be educated on phishing attacks, and companies should make sure login credentials are not duplicated across email and network access.
We encourage you to read more of our case studies here—but this is a good example of how establishing some basic cybersecurity hygiene can help businesses prepare for these types of breaches.
Is your business secure?
Nowadays, the entire hacking/breaching process can be scripted for a threat actor. That is, individuals can scan the internet for vulnerable companies, and then scripts will automatically run to pinpoint vulnerabilities and lead an attack. Call centers are even set up to catch unsuspecting users and gain access to sensitive information.
If you want to put policies in place to keep your business secure, be proactive and contact Blue Team Alpha today. Our team of specialists will be able to determine which Red Team Services or all-inclusive defense subscription is right for you.
We’ll make sure you have enough life boats.
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https://blueteamalpha.com/top-4-cybersecurity-protections-for-small-businesses-on-a-budget/
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Opt-in to Cyber Safety. Multiple layers of protection for your devices, online privacy and more.
If cybercrime was a country, it would be the world’s third-largest in terms of GDP, just after the US and China. This year, the total cost to the global economy is predicted to top $6 trillion (£4 trillion).
Turbocharging this fast growing crime economy is a method of hacking and extortion known as ransomware.
You may have come across ransomware in the news when large companies are held virtual hostage, leading to headlines like: ‘Gas stations from Florida to Virginia closed as US national pipeline hacked’ or ‘Cyber attack shuts down 20% of all US beef production’.
But the reality is these attacks are happening multiple times a week, to companies and persons large and small – and they’re not going away any time soon.
It’s the type of target, too, that has raised the alarm for many politicians and government officials.
Critical businesses, like hospitals and energy infrastructure, are ripe pickings for cybercriminals that have only a ransom payment in mind.
‘Their intention is to make as much money as possible,’ says Zeki Turedi, chief technical officer for Europe for cyber protection firm CrowdStrike.
‘The types of organisations they’re going to be targeting are the organisations where it’s very critical for them to keep operating, and they’re likely to pay the ransom to keep their businesses up and running.’
But it’s not just big business that’s in the cybercriminals’ crosshairs – for hackers that trade in private and confidential data, there’s not much that’s off limits when it comes to chasing a ransom.
Colonial Pipeline, whose refineries are picture above, was the target of a vast ransomware attack that disrupted oil supplies in the US for days (Picture: Getty) ‘The attackers don’t care,’ says Kevin Breen of Immersive Labs, a cybersecurity company that helps firms prepare for ransomware attacks.
‘We’ve seen them go after medical records, we’ve seen them go get patient files, and threaten to release this all in an effort to try and harass an organisation into paying.’
Though ransomware hits have become more frequent in recent years, it was the pandemic and the switch to homeworking that galvanized attacks.
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https://spinsafe.com/rise-of-ransomware-a-multibillion-pound-industry-where-no-one-is-safe/
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It doesn’t matter if you’ve beefed up your home computer, or if your mobile phone is left vulnerable. Like most security systems, you’re only as safe as your weakest link – in this case, it’s your phone.
Certain mobile cyber security threats, such as malware, can be detected and removed easily with the right programs. Malware is one of the most common cyber mobile threats because it aims to steal your data and damage your devices. You could lose your identity and banking info if you aren’t careful.
Spyware hits much closer to home than a remote user somewhere gathering your information. Spyware is what the name suggests, software installed on your mobile that invades your privacy. It could be from a random hacker looking to spy, but it’s much more personal than that.
Spyware is a common resource for spouses, parents, and employers to keep track of your comings and goings.
Compromised Wi-Fi Security and Data Leakage
Free Wi-Fi sounds great, especially if it saves your data. Many public spaces offer free Wi-Fi, such as your local coffee shop or department store. However, did you know that free Wi-Fi is most likely unsecured? This means that whatever you do when you’re connected to the free Wi-Fi can be easily hacked.
Is there a way around this? Yes, there is. We would advise users to only use free Wi-Fi for general browsing. Do not access personal banks, input credit card info, and other high-security data during this time.
Other than Wi-Fi compromising private data, users are also susceptible to data leakage via websites and mobile apps. No one reads permissions when clicking “allow,” but we advise people to do so. Giving broad permissions puts data at risk.
These aren’t apps downloaded from illegal sites, but many of them can be from the official Google Play or Apple App Store. If given broad permissions, these apps can steal data and allow it to be mined by corporations and sometimes hackers and cybercriminals. With ever-growing threats, having modern cyber threats and security solutions is essential to counter cyber attacks.
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https://www.mobileappdaily.com/most-common-mobile-cyber-security-threats
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