2018

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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.

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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.

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5 Steps to Better Security in Hybrid Clouds

Dark Reading

Following these tips can improve your security visibility and standardize management across hybrid environments.

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Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerability Fixes Have Started, But Don't Solve Everything

WIRED Threat Level

Meltdown and Spectre Fixes Arrive—But Don't Solve Everything.

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How to Avoid Pitfalls In Automation: Keep Humans In the Loop

Speaker: Erroll Amacker

Automation is transforming finance but without strong financial oversight it can introduce more risk than reward. From missed discrepancies to strained vendor relationships, accounts payable automation needs a human touch to deliver lasting value. This session is your playbook to get automation right. We’ll explore how to balance speed with control, boost decision-making through human-machine collaboration, and unlock ROI with fewer errors, stronger fraud prevention, and smoother operations.

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10 Personal Finance Lessons for Technology Professionals

Troy Hunt

Patience. Frugality. Sacrifice. When you boil it down, what do those three things have in common? Those are choices. Money is not peace of mind. Money’s not happiness. Money is, at its essence, that measure of a man’s choices. This is part of the opening monologue of the Ozark series and when I first heard it, I immediately stopped the show and dropped it into this blog post.

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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.

LifeWorks

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30k+ Pentagon Employees Compromised in Data Breach

Adam Levin

The credit card data and travel records of roughly 30,000 employees of the U.S. Defense Department have been compromised in a data breach. The hack was first detected on October 4th, but may have occurred months ago and could have affected more accounts than initially reported. Despite this, the Pentagon has tried to downplay the potentially wider scope of the incident.

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Reflective Practice and Threat Modeling (Threat Model Thursday)

Adam Shostack

Lately, I’ve been asking what takes threat modeling from a practice to a mission. If you’re reading this blog, you may have seen that some people are nearly mad about threat modeling. The ones who say “you’re never done threat modeling.” The ones who’ve made it the center of their work practice. What distinguishes those people from those who keep trying to teach developers about the difference between a hactivist and a script kiddie?

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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.

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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.

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Why Giant Content Libraries Do Nothing for Your Employees’ Cyber Resilience

Many cybersecurity awareness platforms offer massive content libraries, yet they fail to enhance employees’ cyber resilience. Without structured, engaging, and personalized training, employees struggle to retain and apply key cybersecurity principles. Phished.io explains why organizations should focus on interactive, scenario-based learning rather than overwhelming employees with excessive content.

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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.

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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

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White House Staffers Can't Use Personal Smartphones Anymore, and More Security News This Week

WIRED Threat Level

Meltdown and Spectre, dossier drama, and more of the week's top security news.

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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].

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Zero Trust Mandate: The Realities, Requirements and Roadmap

The DHS compliance audit clock is ticking on Zero Trust. Government agencies can no longer ignore or delay their Zero Trust initiatives. During this virtual panel discussion—featuring Kelly Fuller Gordon, Founder and CEO of RisX, Chris Wild, Zero Trust subject matter expert at Zermount, Inc., and Principal of Cybersecurity Practice at Eliassen Group, Trey Gannon—you’ll gain a detailed understanding of the Federal Zero Trust mandate, its requirements, milestones, and deadlines.

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Prevent Data Breaches With Zero-Trust Enterprise Password Management

Keeper Security is transforming cybersecurity for people and organizations around the world. Keeper’s affordable and easy-to-use solutions are built on a foundation of zero-trust and zero-knowledge security to protect every user on every device. Our next-generation privileged access management solution deploys in minutes and seamlessly integrates with any tech stack to prevent breaches, reduce help desk costs and ensure compliance.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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
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Optimizing The Modern Developer Experience with Coder

Many software teams have migrated their testing and production workloads to the cloud, yet development environments often remain tied to outdated local setups, limiting efficiency and growth. This is where Coder comes in. In our 101 Coder webinar, you’ll explore how cloud-based development environments can unlock new levels of productivity. Discover how to transition from local setups to a secure, cloud-powered ecosystem with ease.

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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

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Secret Service Warns of Surge in ATM ‘Wiretapping’ Attacks

Krebs on Security

The U.S. Secret Service is warning financial institutions about a recent uptick in a form of ATM skimming that involves cutting cupcake-sized holes in a cash machine and then using a combination of magnets and medical devices to siphon customer account data directly from the card reader inside the ATM. According to a non-public alert distributed to banks this week and shared with KrebsOnSecurity by a financial industry source, the Secret Service has received multiple reports about a complex form

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Happy 9th Birthday, KrebsOnSecurity!

Krebs on Security

Hard to believe we’ve gone another revolution around the Sun: Today marks the 9th anniversary of KrebsOnSecurity.com! This past year featured some 150 blog posts , but as usual the biggest contribution to this site came from the amazing community of readers here who have generously contributed their knowledge, wit and wisdom in more than 10,000 comments.

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We're Baking Have I Been Pwned into Firefox and 1Password

Troy Hunt

Pretty much every day, I get a reminder from someone about how little people know about their exposure in data breaches. Often, it's after someone has searched Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) and found themselves pwned somewhere or other. Frequently, it's some long-forgotten site they haven't even thought about in years and also frequently, the first people know of these incidents is via HIBP: large @ticketfly data breach. thanks @troyhunt for the excellent @haveibeenpwned service that notifies users o

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The Importance of User Roles and Permissions in Cybersecurity Software

How many people would you trust with your house keys? Chances are, you have a handful of trusted friends and family members who have an emergency copy, but you definitely wouldn’t hand those out too freely. You have stuff that’s worth protecting—and the more people that have access to your belongings, the higher the odds that something will go missing.

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Serial Swatter and Stalker Mir Islam Arrested for Allegedly Dumping Body in River

Krebs on Security

A 22-year-old man convicted of cyberstalking and carrying out numerous bomb threats and swatting attacks — including a 2013 swatting incident at my home — was arrested Sunday morning in the Philippines after allegedly helping his best friend dump the body of a housemate into a local river. Suspects Troy Woody Jr. (left) and Mir Islam, were arrested in Manila this week for allegedly dumping the body of Woody’s girlfriend in a local river.

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Equifax Has Chosen Experian. Wait, What?

Krebs on Security

A year after offering free credit monitoring to all Americans on account of its massive data breach that exposed the personal information of nearly 148 million people, Equifax now says it has chosen to extend the offer by turning to a credit monitoring service offered by a top competitor — Experian. And to do that, it will soon be sharing with Experian contact information that affected consumers gave to Equifax in order to sign up for the service.

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GovPayNow.com Leaks 14M+ Records

Krebs on Security

Government Payment Service Inc. — a company used by thousands of U.S. state and local governments to accept online payments for everything from traffic citations and licensing fees to bail payments and court-ordered fines — has leaked more than 14 million customer records dating back at least six years, including names, addresses, phone numbers and the last four digits of the payer’s credit card.

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Have I Been Pwned is Now Partnering With 1Password

Troy Hunt

The penny first dropped for me just over 7 years ago to the day: The only secure password is the one you can't remember. In an era well before the birth of Have I Been Pwned (HIBP), I was doing a bunch of password analysis on data breaches and wouldn't you know it - people are terrible at creating passwords! Of course, we all know that but it's interesting to look back on that post all these years later and realise that unfortunately, nothing has really changed.

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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.