Each week we scour the web to discover the latest developments, news and tips that will help you keep your technology (and your business) safe and secure.
Here are the most interesting articles we’ve found this week that could be helpful to you:
Antivirus software could make your company more vulnerable
You rely on your antivirus software to keep your technology safe from attacks. But what if these very tools can be used to break into your organization? Bad news: they can.
Security researchers are worried that critical vulnerabilities in antivirus products are too easy to find and exploit
When it Comes to Cyberattacks, Half Protected is Half Not Protected
Your credentials are your digital “keys to your kingdom”. Protecting your credentials is one thing. But making sure that your credentials don’t have more rights than are needed on a daily basis is just as important. This article shows why Security Awareness and proper Privileged Account controls will continue to be extremely important in the effort to keep small and medium businesses safe from information security “bad actors”.
According to cyber security experts Verizon and Mandiant, over half — and trending toward 100% — of recent data breaches were due to compromised credentials. These credentials are the digital “keys to the kingdom” and give hackers everything they need to access corporate apps, siphon off sensitive data and damage or destroy critical systems.
The Latest Pawn in the Warranty Fraud Game? Fitbit Users – McAfee
Even your fitness device can be a security threat. Make sure sure that you don’t use the same password that you use for your personal or work email account for other accounts. By gaining access to these less secure accounts your critical accounts can be easily breached.
All that stands between you and a cybercrime is a not-so-strong login. In fact, just this week, the problem of weak passwords played a strong role in the latest hacker ploy: a warranty fraud scheme aimed at Fitbit users.
Data Insecurity: Flawed Technology Or Outdated Business Process?
Business process security is another soft target that can be taken advantage of.
When it comes to protecting critical data, legacy processes are just as vulnerable as legacy software.
At a recent healthcare conference I attended, one insurance company compliance executive admitted that his organization found eight copies of their main patient record database in their enterprise environment
Fake Tech Support Scams Evolve to Include Support, Purchase History
Fake Tech Support scams keep evolving. Each iteration of these scams gets harder and harder to tell from a real call. For SMB’s the telltale sign is that Dell would not call you directly about product support. If there is ever a doubt whether a call like this is legitimate, offer to call them back using the vendor information that you have on file. Or better yet: contact your Managed Service Provider to have them ferret out the situation.
Various other versions of this scam can involve ransomware being installed on victims’ PCs, which can cost the victims quite a bit of money. However, the latest variant involves not random, ill-informed people throwing things against the wall, but rather highly knowledgeable scammers who know highly specific details of each target’s history with the company they’re spoofing. A case in point is a recent rash of calls to Dell customers in which the caller says he is from Dell itself and is able to identify the victim’s PC by model number and provide details of previous warranty and support interactions with the company.
James Veitch: This is what happens when you reply to spam email
Scammer tries to scam innocent guy. Guy messes with scammer. Here’s a funny video about one guy having enough and fighting back. I don’t recommend this but, it’s funny nonetheless.
Suspicious emails: unclaimed insurance bonds, diamond-encrusted safe deposit boxes, close friends marooned in a foreign country. They pop up in our inboxes, and standard procedure is to delete on sight. But what happens when you reply? Follow along as writer and comedian James Veitch narrates a hilarious, weeks-long exchange with a spammer who offered to cut him in on a hot deal.
Cyber Wars: Star Wars of Cyber Crime |
Getting confused with all these technical terms thrown around when talking about cyber crime? Are you more familiar with Star Wars instead? Then this funny Star Wars to Cyber Crime analogy will entertain you!
Life in the Galaxy hasn’t been the same since the emergence of cyberspace. Cyberspace’s impact on life has been colossal. Galaxy citizens now refer to it simply as the Internet – the international network where all species communicate and share their experiences, powers and thoughts.
