WyzGuys Tech Talk

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

Police Warn of New ‘Line-Trapping Technology’ Being Used to Scam People Over the Phone

From CyberHeist News

A new piece of sophisticated technology is being used by fraudsters to scam unsuspecting people over the phone. Police said a woman in the York Region received a call earlier this month and was told by the scammers she had been a victim of identity theft.

Police said the woman was directed to call police and confirm the information. The victim called authorities and believed she had spoken to an officer. Through the investigation it was revealed that the suspects used new line-trapping technology to remain connected to her phone line when she tried to call police.

The technology used by the scammers reconnected her phone line to them instead of the authorities. Police said the woman lost a quantity of cash and the suspects obtained her personal information.

What Can Be Done About It

Police are reminding citizens to be cautious with any calls or e-mails seeking personal information. “If a situation feels suspicious, trust your instincts,” police said in a news release on Thursday.

“If you wish to confirm a call you receive do so on a delayed timeline. Evidence suggests that the line-trapping technology being utilized has a time limit of several minutes.” Police said to call on another line if you are suspicious of being hacked.

Firefox gets tough on tracking tricks that sneakily sap your privacy

I have become a fan of Firefox for their tough stance on security and privacy.  Firefox is getting ready to turn on its automatic anti-snooping tools to stop web ‘fingerprinting” tricks.

HPE warns of impending SSD disk doom

The company has revealed that many of its SSDs are set to permanently fail by default after 32,768 hours of operation.

Caller Poses as CISA Rep in Extortion Scam

1Original release date: November 29, 2019

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is aware of a phone scam where a caller pretends to be a CISA representative. The scammer claims to have knowledge of the potential victim’s questionable behavior and attempts to extort money.

If you receive a threatening call from someone claiming to be a CISA representative, CISA recommends the following actions:

• Do not respond or try to contact the caller.
• Do not pay the caller.
• Contact your local FBI field office to file a report.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee publishes plan to save the web from ‘digital dystopia’

Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee has proposed a ‘Contract for the Web’ to rescue it from a headlong plunge into a moral abyss.

Russia to ban sale of devices that don’t come with “Russian software”

Here’s a perfect example of what Sir Tim is worried about.

The Russian Government’s campaign to control how its citizens use the internet seems to be gathering steam.

Earlier this month, the country passed a controversial new ‘sovereign internet’ law that requires the country’s ISPs to set up deep packet inspection of all internet traffic and ready themselves for the imposition of a separate Domain Name System (DNS) under Government control.

Last week the country’s Parliament passed what might turn out to be an even more significant order – from July 2020 all computing devices sold in Russia will be required to come pre-loaded with what is loosely described as “Russian software”.

Hacker gets 4 years in jail for NeverQuest banking malware

The NeverQuest Trojan has been used by cybermuggers to try to weasel millions of dollars out of victims’ bank accounts.

Google plans to take Android back to ‘mainline’ Linux kernel

Android could be returning to its roots.

Iran’s APT33 sharpens focus on industrial control systems

Iran’s elite hacking group is upping its game, according to new evidence delivered at a cybersecurity conference this week.