WyzGuys Tech Talk

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

How to Sanitize Electronics During COVID-19 Pandemic

Usually when I am talking about sanitizing a computer, I am talking about irreversibly deleting all the personal data.  If you work on a computer, especially a SHARED COMPUTER, the keyboard and mouse needs to be sanitized periodically.  A keyboard can have more germs than a toilet seat, and is cleaned much less frequently (like never?!)  Can’t just use soap and water, since that is BAD for electronics.  Here’s how to clean your keyboard and mouse in under five minutes.  From CNET.

And what about your other electronics.  Like a remote control, headphones/earbuds, gaming controllers, and even your fitness trackers.  Here”s an article from PC Magazine that covers how to clean and sanitize your personal electronics.

Switch to Signal for encrypted messaging

Bob says:  I use Signal for text messaging, and you should too.  Here’s why.  Formerly preferred diplomatic app WhatsApp apparently isn’t up to snuff.

Brave beats other browsers in privacy study

I have written about Brave before.  Users looking for a privacy-focused browser might want to consider Brave first, according to a study published in February.

NSA Blew $100 Million On Phone Records Over Five Years, Generated Exactly One Usable Lead

from the try-not-to-ask-what-your-country-can-do-for-you-because-as-you-can-see… dept

The telephone metadata program the NSA finally put out to pasture in 2019 was apparently well past its expiration date. Since the initial Snowden leak in 2013, critics have argued the program needed to die since it was obviously the sort of general warrant rummaging (only without the warrant!) the founding fathers headed off with the Fourth Amendment. The program wasn’t remade/remodeled… (full story)

Ryuk Ransomware Destroys Police Evidence, Freeing Accused Criminals

This week, the Stuart County, Florida police department revealed that falling for a spearphishing attack via email eventually forced it to set several suspects free. In 2019, the Ryuk strain of ransomware hit Florida cities and businesses extremely hard. Some called Florida the ransomware state after two cities collectively paid more than a million dollars in ransom to get their data back. Hackers also hit the City of Stuart with Ryuk last year, but city leaders refused to pay the $300,000 Bitcoin demand. Though the attack was months ago, it took a new investigation this week by WPTV in West Palm Beach to reveal the impact on… Read more

U.S. Air Force Decision Could Help Close Cybersecurity Talent Gap

Imagine if the only thing separating you from your dream career was a test. The only catch? The test is extremely difficult. And if you fail it once, your dream goes down the drain. That used to be the reality for those in the U.S. Air Force taking the CompTIA Security+ exam. But a new decision could impact the talent gap for good, giving students a second chance at obtaining their cybersecurity certification… Read more

U.S. DoD picks CompTIA’s cloud certification for personnel

TechRepublic
CompTIA’s Cloud+ certification has been approved by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) for inclusion in its Cyber Workforce Management Program. The DoD Cyberspace Workforce Strategy (DCWS) provides guidance to transform the cyberspace workforce of both military (active/reserve) and civilian personnel. CompTIA Cloud+, which validates the expertise needed to maintain and optimize cloud infrastructure services, was approved by the DoD as a baseline certification in three workforce categories.  READ MORE

Mozilla Enables Encrypted DNS to Block ISP Snooping

The makers of Firefox say: “At the creation of the internet, these kinds of threats to people’s privacy and security were known, but not being exploited yet. Today, we know that unencrypted DNS is not only vulnerable to spying but is being exploited, and so we are helping the internet to make the shift to more secure alternatives. We do this by performing DNS lookups in an encrypted HTTPS connection. This helps hide your browsing history from attackers on the network, helps prevent data collection by third parties on the network that ties your computer to websites you visit.”

[HEADS-UP] Famous ‘Shark’ Got Hooked and Lost 400K in an Embarrassing Email Phishing Scam

“Shark Tank” star Barbara Corcoran is missing nearly 400,000 Wednesday morning after her office was victimized by email scammers who used a tiny typo to gain the upper hand.

The scam started last week when an email chain was forwarded to Barbara’s bookkeeper, a woman named Christine. Folks on Barbara’s team tell us the email appeared to have been sent from Barbara’s executive assistant, Emily … and it informed Christine she had the green light to pay 388,700 dollars to a company called FFH Concept GmbH in Germany.  The problem is that email didn’t really come from Emily.  (more)