Ten Easy Steps to Getting Hacked

Here is a quick little survey to help you determine how likely you are to be the victim of a cyber-attack or cyber-criminal exploit.  Give yourself a point for each “Yes” answer.

  1. Security is generally a waste of time and money.
  2. I am too small or uninteresting to be a target of a cyber crime.
  3. Passwords are a hassle, so I keep them short and easy to remember.
  4. I like to use the same password ...
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Speaking at 2017 ISSA International Conference

I am honored to be presenting at the 2017 ISSA International Conference, October 9-11 in San Diego, CA. This year’s theme is “Digital Danger Zone.” Please join me for networking, education, and fun.

I will be presenting “Shields Up for WordPress Web Sites and Blogs.”  This presentation covers the threat of website hijacking, what an attacker wants to do with your ...

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Weekend Update

Verizon says data of 6 million customers leaked online

If you are a Verizon customer, you may want to consider updating your user information and account password.

About 6 million Verizon subscribers’ personal data was leaked online thanks to a security lapse from Nice Systems, an Israel-based company that partnered with Verizon to analyze customer service calls. The information stemmed from recorded customer service calls over the past six months.

The leaks included customer names, cell phone numbers and account PINs, which can ...

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Who Is The Real Inventor of Blockchain?

It is widely believed that Satoshi Nakamoto is the inventor of an encryption technique called “blockchain.”  I just read a new book by Sarah Westall titled “FIRST: Meet the Inventor of Blockchain” that credits Dr Kelce Wilson as the true inventor of blockchain, a concept he developed between 2000 and 2001 while serving ...

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Smartphones Need Security Too

When a smartphone is stolen, it is a disaster.  You have just given the keys to your online life, your email, social media accounts, and credit cards you have synced with an app.  If you have the new smart locks on your home or office, you also gave them literal keys, the ability to open those locks.  If you have live camera ...

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Latvian Cyber Crook Extradited for 2010 Star Tribune Malvertising Exploit

Back in February 2010, the Minneapolis StarTribune website was the victim of a malvertising exploit.  Visitors to the Strib website would download malware that caused the computer to become slow and malfunction.  Then a pop-up window would appear that advised the visitor that their computer was infected with malware, and the purchase of a $49.95 anti-malware product would solve the problem.  I remember working on the computers of several clients ...

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Sunday Funnies: The Real Sticky Bandits

When we are reporting about crime in this blog, usually we focus on cyber-crime, but this case was weird enough to warrant inclusion in our Sunday Funnies.

If you are ever saw the “Home Alone” movies, you remember the criminal duo that were the victims of Macaulay Culkins’ cleverly deployed Rube Goldberg security systems. As you may recall, in the second movie they went by the name “The Sticky Bandits.”

The real sticky bandit just got 6 years of prison time, and a ...

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Weekend Update – Recent Cybersecurity Alerts

Not sure if Weekend Update is going to become a regular feature on Saturdays, but you might keep an eye out for a few more of these.  What follows is a copy and paste from alert emails I receive from the FBI, Department of Justice, FTC, and US-CERT.  Also content from other bloggers, such as Sophos Naked Security block, Brian Krebs, Bruce Schneier, WordFence blog, and others that I read ...

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Ransomware is not Dead Yet

Toward the end of last year I made a pair of bold predictions.  The first, that ransomware exploits would start declining, because anti-malware software companies were bringing products online that would prevent the encryption from taking place.  The second, there would be an increase in Business Email Compromise (BEC) exploits, as cyber-criminals turned to new income streams.  I was only half right.

BEC exploits have increased, because the potential returns are ...

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