WyzGuys Tech Talk

A quick Saturday digest of cybersecurity news articles from other sources.

Talk Like A Pirate Day Coming on September 19

We will start with the good stuff for a change.  Talk Like A Pirate Day is my second favorite unofficial Holiday.  Check out the official website.  Check out the cool pirate swag and order yourself a pirate hoodie or tee shirt.

Arrrgh!

BlueBorne Bluetooth Critical Security Flaw

You might just want to turn Bluetooth connectivity off until there is a patch, unless you need it for hands-free driving.

Nearly half of all Americans’ extremely private data exposed in massive criminal Equifax breach

by Ethan Baron
Personal information of about 143 million Americans has been accessed by criminals in a stunning data breach at credit-reporting firm Equifax, the company said Sept. 7.

“The information accessed primarily includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers,” Equifax said in a press release.

“In addition, credit card numbers for approximately 209,000 U.S. consumers, and certain dispute documents with personal identifying information for approximately 182,000 U.S. consumers, were accessed.”

Data compromised in Equifax breach? This chatbot wants to help

Automatically file a small claims law suit for $15,000 against Equifax.

Potential Phishing Scams Related to Equifax Data Breach

09/14/2017 11:07 AM EDT  Original release date: September 14, 2017

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released an alert on scams related to the Equifax data breach. FTC warns consumers to be wary of calls or emails purporting to be from Equifax agents. Legitimate Equifax representatives will not contact consumers to ask for verification of their information.

US-CERT encourages consumers to report fraudulent calls and emails to the FTC Complaint Assistant and to refer to the FTC Alert and US-CERT Tips on Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks and Preventing and Responding to Identity Theft for more information.

Equifax purges high execs, including security chief

And one more Equifax article by Bruce Schneier

FDA recalls close to half-a-million pacemakers over hacking fears

engadget.com

Security concerns over connected health devices are again in the spotlight.

Abbot and St Jude Pacemakers Get a Security Update (Finally!)

Abbott (formerly St. Jude Medical) fixed the software side of the security vulnerabilities in January. Now, on Monday, it got to the vulnerabilities in the devices themselves.

Medical Systems Hacks Are Scary, but Medical Device Hacks Could Be Even Worse

David Nickelson on LinkedIn

On Friday September 1, a major cyber attack hit health systems around the world. In Britain, where the attack affected hospital IT systems,…

So You Want A Free Network Vulnerability Scanner?

Learn about OpenVAS, Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer, Flexera, and Metasploit Framework.

Alan Turing’s documents uncovered

A collection of letters from Alan Turing, one of the founding fathers of modern computing and a brilliant cryptanalyst, has been uncovered in an old filing cabinet at the University of Manchester – and reveal that the mathematician, who moved to the university after the second world war – was not a fan of the United States.

Turing, who had led the codebreaking efforts at Bletchley Park that was credited with helping shorten the war, became deputy head of the university’s computing lab in 1948, and it was one of his modern-day successors at the university, Professor Jim Miles, who found the letters. He explains: “I was astonished such a thing had remained hidden out of sight for so long. No one who now works in the school or at the university knew they even existed.”

The cache of correspondence includes Turing’s notes on artificial intelligence for a BBC programme, and correspondence about invitations to lecture in the US, which Turing turned down flat, saying: “I would not like the journey, and I detest America.”

The collection is available to researchers at the university’s library. Said Miles: “It really was an exciting find and it is a mystery as to why they had been filed away.”