2018

article thumbnail

E-Mail Leaves an Evidence Trail

Schneier on Security

If you're going to commit an illegal act, it's best not to discuss it in e-mail. It's also best to Google tech instructions rather than asking someone else to do it: One new detail from the indictment, however, points to just how unsophisticated Manafort seems to have been. Here's the relevant passage from the indictment. I've bolded the most important bits: Manafort and Gates made numerous false and fraudulent representations to secure the loans.

article thumbnail

Voice Phishing Scams Are Getting More Clever

Krebs on Security

Most of us have been trained to be wary of clicking on links and attachments that arrive in emails unexpected, but it’s easy to forget scam artists are constantly dreaming up innovations that put a new shine on old-fashioned telephone-based phishing scams. Think you’re too smart to fall for one? Think again: Even technology experts are getting taken in by some of the more recent schemes (or very nearly).

Scams 278
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Here's Why Your Static Website Needs HTTPS

Troy Hunt

It was Jan last year that I suggested HTTPS adoption had passed the "tipping point" , that is it had passed the moment of critical mass and as I said at the time, "will very shortly become the norm" Since that time, the percentage of web pages loaded over a secure connection has rocketed from 52% to 71% whilst the proportion of the world's top 1 million websites redirecting people to HTTPS has gone from 20% to about half (projected).

DNS 276
article thumbnail

Here’s how anyone with $20 can hire an IoT botnet to blast out a week-long DDoS attack

The Last Watchdog

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks continue to erupt all across the Internet showing not the faintest hint of leveling off, much less declining, any time soon. Related video: How DDoS attacks leverage the Internet’s DNA. To the contrary, DDoS attacks appear to be scaling up and getting more sophisticated in lock step with digital transformation; DDoS attacks today are larger, more varied and come at the targeted website from so many more vectors than ever before.

DDOS 215
article thumbnail

IDC Analyst Report: The Open Source Blind Spot Putting Businesses at Risk

In a recent study, IDC found that 64% of organizations said they were already using open source in software development with a further 25% planning to in the next year. Most organizations are unaware of just how much open-source code is used and underestimate their dependency on it. As enterprises grow the use of open-source software, they face a new challenge: understanding the scope of open-source software that's being used throughout the organization and the corresponding exposure.

article thumbnail

Strong, streamlined and secure: How to get the most out of centralized key management

Thales Cloud Protection & Licensing

With organizations around the world now deploying ever-increasing amounts of encryption solutions in an effort to ward off cybercrime, businesses are facing a combination of challenges. Whether it’s varying protection levels, differing operational techniques and policies, or juggling multiple keys, managing more than one encryption system can quickly turn into a complex web that demands time, expertise and money to manage effectively.

article thumbnail

Cisco ASA is affacted by a privilege escalation flaw. Patch it now!

Security Affairs

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software is affected by a vulnerability that could be exploited by an attacker to retrieve files or replace software images on a device. . A privilege escalation vulnerability tracked as CVE-2018-15465 affects the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software. The flaw could be exploited by an unauthenticated, remote attacker to perform privileged operations using the web management interface.

Firmware 111

More Trending

article thumbnail

IBM Builds 'SOC on Wheels' to Drive Cybersecurity Training

Dark Reading

A tractor trailer housing a Cyber Tactical Operation Center will travel throughout the US and Europe for incident response training, security support, and education.

Education 102
article thumbnail

Creating a Safe Online Experience At Home

PerezBox Security

As a parent, and a technologist, I struggle with creating a safe online experience at home. I’m constantly playing with different technologies – hardware and software – trying to find. Read More. The post Creating a Safe Online Experience At Home appeared first on PerezBox.

article thumbnail

Top Cybersecurity Companies of 2018

eSecurity Planet

These IT security vendors lead the market through their innovative offerings, range of products and services, customer satisfaction and annual revenue

article thumbnail

GDPR’s First 150 Days Impact on the U.S.

Threatpost

Weighing the impact of GDPR and how the historic legislation has shaped privacy protection measures in the U.S., so far.

Insurance 102
article thumbnail

Beware of Pixels & Trackers on U.S. Healthcare Websites

The healthcare industry has massively adopted web tracking tools, including pixels and trackers. Tracking tools on user-authenticated and unauthenticated web pages can access personal health information (PHI) such as IP addresses, medical record numbers, home and email addresses, appointment dates, or other info provided by users on pages and thus can violate HIPAA Rules that govern the Use of Online Tracking Technologies by HIPAA Covered Entities and Business Associates.

article thumbnail

Security Breaches Don't Affect Stock Price

Schneier on Security

Interesting research: " Long-term market implications of data breaches, not ," by Russell Lange and Eric W. Burger. Abstract : This report assesses the impact disclosure of data breaches has on the total returns and volatility of the affected companies' stock, with a focus on the results relative to the performance of the firms' peer industries, as represented through selected indices rather than the market as a whole.

article thumbnail

U.S. Secret Service Warns ID Thieves are Abusing USPS’s Mail Scanning Service

Krebs on Security

A year ago, KrebsOnSecurity warned that “Informed Delivery,” a new offering from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) that lets residents view scanned images of all incoming mail, was likely to be abused by identity thieves and other fraudsters unless the USPS beefed up security around the program and made it easier for people to opt out. This week, the U.S.

article thumbnail

Mmm. Pi-hole.

Troy Hunt

I have a love-hate relationship with ad blockers. On the one hand, I despise the obnoxious ads that are forced down our throats at what seems like every turn. On the other hand, I appreciate the need for publishers to earn a living so that I can consume their hard-earned work for free. Somewhere in the middle is a responsible approach, for example the sponsorship banner you see at the top of this blog.

DNS 274
article thumbnail

Technical Writing Tips for IT Professionals

Lenny Zeltser

This cheat sheet offers guidelines for IT professionals seeking to improve technical writing skills. To print it, use the one-page PDF version; you can also customize the Word version of the document. General Recommendations. Determine your write-up’s objectives and audience. Keep the write-up as short and simple as possible to achieve the objectives.

article thumbnail

Software Composition Analysis: The New Armor for Your Cybersecurity

Speaker: Blackberry, OSS Consultants, & Revenera

Software is complex, which makes threats to the software supply chain more real every day. 64% of organizations have been impacted by a software supply chain attack and 60% of data breaches are due to unpatched software vulnerabilities. In the U.S. alone, cyber losses totaled $10.3 billion in 2022. All of these stats beg the question, “Do you know what’s in your software?

article thumbnail

Securing Data in the Digital Transformation Era

Thales Cloud Protection & Licensing

Data breaches are the new normal. According to our 2018 Global Data Threat Report , 67% of enterprises have been breached, with that percentage rate growing every year. Regardless of the security measures and efforts put in place, organizations need to act as if a successful cyberattack is not a question of “if” but “when.”. As organizations continue to embrace digital transformation, greater amounts of sensitive data is created, stored and transferred in digital form putting more data at risk.

article thumbnail

Google Services down due to BGP leak, traffic hijacked through Russia, China, and Nigeria

Security Affairs

Google services were partially inaccessible on Monday due to a BGP leak that caused traffic redirection through Russia, China, and Nigeria. A BGP leak caused unavailability of Google service on Monday, the traffic was redirected through Russia, China, and Nigeria. At the time it is not clear if the incident was the result of an error or a cyber attack on the BGP protocol.

Internet 111
article thumbnail

Meet Antifa's Secret Weapon Against Far-Right Extremists

WIRED Threat Level

Megan Squire doesn’t consider herself to be antifa and pushes digital activism instead, passing along information to those who might put it to real-world use—who might weaponize it.

111
111
article thumbnail

12 Free, Ready-to-Use Security Tools

Dark Reading

There's no excuse for not knowing your exposure. These free tools can help you analyze what your company is up against and point ways to developing a more thorough security program.

97
article thumbnail

From Complexity to Clarity: Strategies for Effective Compliance and Security Measures

Speaker: Erika R. Bales, Esq.

When we talk about “compliance and security," most companies want to ensure that steps are being taken to protect what they value most – people, data, real or personal property, intellectual property, digital assets, or any other number of other things - and it’s more important than ever that safeguards are in place. Let’s step back and focus on the idea that no matter how complicated the compliance and security regime, it should be able to be distilled down to a checklist.

article thumbnail

New Malware Hijacks Cryptocurrency Mining

Schneier on Security

This is a clever attack. After gaining control of the coin-mining software, the malware replaces the wallet address the computer owner uses to collect newly minted currency with an address controlled by the attacker. From then on, the attacker receives all coins generated, and owners are none the wiser unless they take time to manually inspect their software configuration.

article thumbnail

Cabinet of Secret Documents from Australia

Schneier on Security

This story of leaked Australian government secrets is unlike any other I've heard: It begins at a second-hand shop in Canberra, where ex-government furniture is sold off cheaply. The deals can be even cheaper when the items in question are two heavy filing cabinets to which no-one can find the keys. They were purchased for small change and sat unopened for some months until the locks were attacked with a drill.

article thumbnail

Internet Security Threats at the Olympics

Schneier on Security

There are a lot : The cybersecurity company McAfee recently uncovered a cyber operation, dubbed Operation GoldDragon, attacking South Korean organizations related to the Winter Olympics. McAfee believes the attack came from a nation state that speaks Korean, although it has no definitive proof that this is a North Korean operation. The victim organizations include ice hockey teams, ski suppliers, ski resorts, tourist organizations in Pyeongchang, and departments organizing the Pyeongchang Olympi

Internet 234
article thumbnail

Credit Freezes are Free: Let the Ice Age Begin

Krebs on Security

It is now free in every U.S. state to freeze and unfreeze your credit file and that of your dependents, a process that blocks identity thieves and others from looking at private details in your consumer credit history. If you’ve been holding out because you’re not particularly worried about ID theft, here’s another reason to reconsider: The credit bureaus profit from selling copies of your file to others, so freezing your file also lets you deny these dinosaurs a valuable reven

article thumbnail

Successful Change Management with Enterprise Risk Management

Speaker: William Hord, Vice President of ERM Services

A well-defined change management process is critical to minimizing the impact that change has on your organization. Leveraging the data that your ERM program already contains is an effective way to help create and manage the overall change management process within your organization. Your ERM program generally assesses and maintains detailed information related to strategy, operations, and the remediation plans needed to mitigate the impact on the organization.

article thumbnail

What the Marriott Breach Says About Security

Krebs on Security

We don’t yet know the root cause(s) that forced Marriott this week to disclose a four-year-long breach involving the personal and financial information of 500 million guests of its Starwood hotel properties. But anytime we see such a colossal intrusion go undetected for so long, the ultimate cause is usually a failure to adopt the most important principle in cybersecurity defense that applies to both corporations and consumers: Assume you are compromised.

Passwords 274
article thumbnail

Half of all Phishing Sites Now Have the Padlock

Krebs on Security

Maybe you were once advised to “look for the padlock” as a means of telling legitimate e-commerce sites from phishing or malware traps. Unfortunately, this has never been more useless advice. New research indicates that half of all phishing scams are now hosted on Web sites whose Internet address includes the padlock and begins with “[link].

Phishing 273
article thumbnail

Facebook Is Using Your Two-Factor Authentication Phone Number to Target Advertising

Schneier on Security

From Kashmir Hill : Facebook is not content to use the contact information you willingly put into your Facebook profile for advertising. It is also using contact information you handed over for security purposes and contact information you didn't hand over at all, but that was collected from other people's contact books, a hidden layer of details Facebook has about you that I've come to call "shadow contact information.

article thumbnail

Information Attacks against Democracies

Schneier on Security

Democracy is an information system. That's the starting place of our new paper: " Common-Knowledge Attacks on Democracy." In it, we look at democracy through the lens of information security, trying to understand the current waves of Internet disinformation attacks. Specifically, we wanted to explain why the same disinformation campaigns that act as a stabilizing influence in Russia are destabilizing in the United States.

article thumbnail

Cover Your SaaS: How to Overcome Security Challenges and Risks For Your Organization

Speaker: Ronald Eddings, Cybersecurity Expert and Podcaster

So, you’ve accomplished an organization-wide SaaS adoption. It started slow, and now just a few team members might be responsible for running Salesforce, Slack, and a few others applications that boost productivity, but it’s all finished. Or is it? Through all the benefits offered by SaaS applications, it’s still a necessity to onboard providers as quickly as possible.

article thumbnail

How to Shop Online Like a Security Pro

Krebs on Security

‘Tis the season when even those who know a thing or two about Internet scams tend to let down their guard in the face of an eye-popping discount or the stress of last-minute holiday shopping. So here’s a quick refresher course on how to make it through the next few weeks without getting snookered online. Adopting a shopping strategy of simply buying from the online merchant with the lowest advertised prices can be a bit like playing Russian Roulette with your wallet, for the simple r

Scams 268
article thumbnail

Your Personal Data is Already Stolen

Schneier on Security

In an excellent blog post , Brian Krebs makes clear something I have been saying for a while: Likewise for individuals, it pays to accept two unfortunate and harsh realities: Reality #1: Bad guys already have access to personal data points that you may believe should be secret but which nevertheless aren't, including your credit card information, Social Security number, mother's maiden name, date of birth, address, previous addresses, phone number, and yes ­ even your credit file.

Hacking 266
article thumbnail

The Effectiveness of Publicly Shaming Bad Security

Troy Hunt

Here's how it normally plays out: It all begins when a company pops up online and makes some sort of ludicrous statement related to their security posture, often as part of a discussion on a public social media platform such as Twitter. Shortly thereafter, the masses descend on said organisation and express their outrage at the stated position. Where it gets interesting (and this is the whole point of the post), is when another group of folks pop up and accuse the outraged group of doing a bit o

Media 260
article thumbnail

USPS Site Exposed Data on 60 Million Users

Krebs on Security

U.S. Postal Service just fixed a security weakness that allowed anyone who has an account at usps.com to view account details for some 60 million other users, and in some cases to modify account details on their behalf. Image: USPS.com. KrebsOnSecurity was contacted last week by a researcher who discovered the problem, but who asked to remain anonymous.

article thumbnail

How Preparation and Strategy Can Be Used to Fight and Defeat Any Ransomware Attack

Speaker: Karl Camilleri, Cloud Services Product Manager at phoenixNAP

Did you know that 2021 was a record-breaking year for ransomware? The days of a “once in a while” attack against businesses and organizations are over. Cyberthreats have become a serious issue. With 495.1 million attacks, the threat marked a 148% increase compared to 2020 and was the most expensive year on record! As a result, data protection needs to be a concern for most banks, businesses, and information technology specialists.