criminal hackers: Hacker for hire a rising Trend
- 05/24/16 11:56 PM
Hackers and wannabe hackers can easily purchase cheap tools of the trade online. The security firm Dell SecureWorks Inc. confirms this in their latest report and adds that underground markets for hackers, including those from Russia, is thriving.
The “Dark Web” is the go-to place for hackers looking for guidance and tools like malware. Yes, you can buy malware. If you don’t want to be the hacker, you can hire a hacker.
There’s any number of reasons why a non-techy person would want to hire a hacker. Maybe that person wants to make money and thus hires a hacker to create a phishing … (14 comments)
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criminal hackers: What are Bug Bounties?
- 11/19/15 09:56 PM
A bug bounty refers to the reward a bad-guy hacker gets upon discovering a vulnerability, weakness or flaw in a company’s system.
This is akin to giving a reward to a burglar for pointing out weaknesses in your home’s security.
But whom better to ask than a burglar, right? Same with a company’s computer systems: The best expert may be the black hat or better, white hat hacker.
An article at bits.blogs.nytimes.com says that Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Dropbox, PayPal and Yahoo are on the roster of companies that are offering hackers bounties for finding “bugs” in their systems.
A “zero day bug” refers to an … (1 comments)
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criminal hackers: Meet the FBI’s most wanted Hackers
- 08/27/15 11:34 PM
Want to earn up to $4.2 million? Then find the hackers on the FBI’s most wanted list. Or at least give the FBI information leading to their arrest and/or conviction. These snakes have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars. Here is the list from the hackernews.com:
Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev (reward: $3 million)
Ironically, one of his aliases is one of the most common (and thus easily cracked) passwords: lucky12345. He’s the brains behind the GameOver Zeus botnet and CryptoLocker Ransomware. Over a million computers were infected with this malware, causing nearly $100 million in losses. Nicolae Popescu (reward: $1 million)
From Romania, … (6 comments)
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criminal hackers: Visual Hacking is High Tech Shoulder Surfing
- 11/25/14 09:01 PM
A visual hacker can infiltrate you—from the outside in. Quite literally, a person (ranging from a snoop to a cyber criminal) can peer over your shoulder while you’re using your computer or mobile (“shoulder surfing” or “visual hacking”), and collect your personal information—whatever you have up on the screen.
This is so easy to observe Go to any airport or café and you’ll see scores of people using their laptops, headset on, head nodding to some beat, totally oblivious that a world exists beyond their little comfy spot.
However, shoulder surfing can also happen from a distance, e.g., a thief … (0 comments)
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criminal hackers: Are All Hackers Bad?
- 09/08/14 11:11 PM
The word hacker has a pretty negative connotation. It brings to mind other words like cybercriminal, thief, and malicious. It’s easy to see why hacker has a bad rep. The news is full of stories about hackers stealing data from large companies and the government. Hackers are the bad guys.
But are they?
Tesla just recently announced they are hiring hackers to find and fix security holes in the Model S car. Google started a league of hackers called “Project Zero” to track down security flaws in their software. Companies like Facebook and others sponsor hack-a-thons, where anyone is invited to try and … (3 comments)
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criminal hackers: How To Stop Criminal Hackers In Their Tracks
- 03/31/14 11:20 PM
Do you offer free WiFi? Put these three safeguards in place to protect your customers and your business.
On a recent trip from Boston to New York on an Acela Express train, I was writing blogs and doing some research using Amtrak’s free wireless Internet. “Free” usually translates to "unsecured," which means a criminal hacker with the right hardware and software could have sniffed out my wireless communications and grabbed my data. That same hacker, depending on my device’s firewall, setup and sharing settings, might also have been able to access my drive and files and even plant a virus … (4 comments)
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criminal hackers: 1.5 Million Americans Have Been Victims of Medical Identity
- 04/16/10 06:46 PM
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
The Smartcard Alliance has released an in-depth report called “Medical Identity Theft in Healthcare.”
While identity theft is a global issue that garners much media attention, most do not realize that medical identity theft is a serious and growing threat. Many authorities consider medical identity theft one of the fastest growing crimes in America. With the digital age of healthcare upon us, the risks are expected to increase as electronic medical records become more prevalent and the exchange of this data over expanding networks becomes more pervasive. Heightened concern over personal data security and privacy … (0 comments)
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criminal hackers: Self-revelation Can Help Assemble a Social Security Number
- 04/07/10 05:36 AM
I am not done nor will I ever be done sounding that alarm, ringing that bell and informing you about how ridiculous social media is. I was asked in a radio interview today what it will take to get people to recognize they are sharing too much data. In a word, tragedy. When a home is broken into, they install a home security alarm. When someone is mugged, they take a self defense course. When planes fly into buildings, we get frisked. Being smart is understanding risk and being proactive.
Most people are smart enough to NOT give out … (0 comments)
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criminal hackers: Is That Portable Device a Data Hazard?
- 04/04/10 03:40 PM
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
According to a survey of London and New York City taxi companies last year revealed that more than 12,500 devices, such as laptops, iPods and memory sticks, are forgotten in taxis every six months. Portable devices that may have troves of sensitive data.
Recent reports of identity data including names, addresses, Social Security numbers on 3.3 million people with student loans was the largest-ever breach of such information and could affect as many as 5% of all federal student-loan borrowed. A company spokesperson said the stolen information was on a portable media device. “It was simple, … (1 comments)
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criminal hackers: National Identity Card Focuses on US Workers & Immigrants
- 03/25/10 09:51 AM
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
The Wall Street Journal reports under the potentially controversial plan still taking shape in the Senate, all legal U.S. workers, including citizens and immigrants, would be issued an ID card with embedded information, such as fingerprints, to tie the card to the worker.
There are too many forms of identification floating around right now that lack standards and overall security. The Social Security card is currently our national identification card that’s not supposed to be used for identification. From a NY Times article from 1998 it states: WASHINGTON— FOR many years, Social Security cards carried an … (0 comments)
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criminal hackers: How to Spend More Money on Home Security
- 03/24/10 08:04 PM
Lets face it, if you had it you’d spend it, and what better way than on your families security! In today’s high tech connected world a networked and remotely monitored home security system is the way to go.
Keyless Access: Door locks that require a pincode make it easier to access without fumbling for keys. Many keyless locks are smart and can be set to allow contractors limited one time PIN access.
Remote Control Alarms: For a few extra bucks you can add remote controls to an alarm system that allow you to activate or deactivate from the driveway or … (1 comments)
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criminal hackers: Is a Protection Dog Right for You?
- 03/18/10 06:18 PM
As mentioned in a previous post I’m a big believer in furry beasts as a layer of protection. My 60lb German shepherd last fall is now a 75lb GSD due to a lazy winter and a busy Daddy who hasn’t taken her out enough.
“Lola” the furriest of all beasts is all bark, love and very territorial. When anyone walks within 100 yards of the property she’s barking. If the door bell rings or someone knocks on the door forget it. All mayhem breaks out. If I or anyone enters through a door and she is even a little surprised … (1 comments)
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criminal hackers: She Said WHAT? On Facebook?
- 03/18/10 01:28 AM
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
I don’t know about you, but high school was a nightmare for me. I spent a lot of my time in the assistant principal’s office for fighting. My taste for GQ style clothing along with slicked back greasy hair made me a target. My forked tongue didn’t help me any either. Not much has changed.
In Melrose, Massachusetts a woman was run down by a pack of teenagers in a car because of a dispute that started amongst high school kids on Facebook. If there was Facebook when I was in high school I would … (3 comments)
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criminal hackers: Pay-at-the-Pump Skimming Using Bluetooth
- 03/10/10 05:11 AM
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
Skimming data off of debit and credit cards has been happening at ATMs, gas pumps and electronic funds transfer point of sale terminals for quite some time.
When criminals plant skimming devices, they have to physically attach a skimming device that fits over the face of the ATM’s card slot. Then they install a small camera that shoots video of your pinpad which extracts user PIN codes. The camera is often housed inside of a brochure holder or little box that may have a mirror glued to its face. The mirror is made to … (2 comments)
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criminal hackers: The $6.75 Million Dollar Laptop
- 02/22/10 12:34 AM
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
Dan Yost Chief Technology Officer of MyLaptopGPS brought attention to the Ponemon Institute, with sponsorship from PGP, has released their “Fifth Annual U.S. Cost of Data Breach Study.” As usual, the report is a treasure trove of great data (just like most people’s laptops are).
The average cost per breached data record rose $2 in 2009, to $204. That’s actually not too bad. The average cost of a breach was $6.75 million, compared to $6.65 million in 2008.
PC World has a good article to summarize, and thanks to lyger at DataLossDB for the pointer.
Not … (1 comments)
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criminal hackers: Is Chip and PIN the Future?
- 02/21/10 06:06 AM
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
Chip and PIN is the name of a government-backed initiative in the United Kingdom to implement the EMV standard for secure payments.
There have been rumblings from Europe over the past year about American based credit cards that solely rely on the magnetic strip not being accepted in the future due to security issues. Australia recently stated they were getting rid of all magnetic strip based cards and going Chip and PIN within the next few years.
Meanwhile ZDNet reports “Researchers at Cambridge University have found a fundamental flaw in the EMV — Europay, MasterCard, Visa … (1 comments)
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criminal hackers: The State of Information Security Sucks
- 02/20/10 04:21 AM
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
The sheer volume of potential targets coupled with the vast amounts of money to be made has captured the attention of the global criminal hacking community.
Enterprise networks are becoming hardened and they are still vulnerable. Some are being penetrated directly while others are accessed through 3rd parities such as their clients or end users. Unprotected networks are being sniffed out and data breaches continue.
The organizations that track these breaches are bored, frustrated, hate the industry and offer no good news. Innovation isn’t happening fast enough and new laws and regulations aren’t effective in solving … (1 comments)
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criminal hackers: Fostering Awareness & Improving Security Education
- 02/17/10 02:19 PM
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
Financial institutions have the most to lose and the most to gain by improving security education of their clients and employees.
A while back I appeared on a local TV show talking about phishing. Amazingly, still, not everyone knows what phishing is. A good friend saw the show and was shocked by what she learned….about her bank.
She received a phishing email and didn’t know what it was. The email asked her to update her account. It was confusing so she called her bank. She spent 20 minutes on the phone with a bank rep discussing … (1 comments)
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criminal hackers: Diploma Mills Facilitate Identity Theft
- 02/17/10 08:53 AM
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
Diploma mills were born along with elearning institutions who are actually legitimate and accredited bodies. Degrees and diplomas issued by diploma mills are frequently used for fraudulent purposes, such as obtaining employment, promotions, raises, or bonuses on false pretenses. They can also be used as a form of fake ID when posing as someone else to gain employment, impersonation of a licensed professional or used to assist as a breeder document leading to “real” fake ID’s.
A fake diploma is an effective social engineering tool used to gain access to your corporate networks.
From Wikipedia “A … (0 comments)
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criminal hackers: mCrimes Morph Into mBotnets
- 02/16/10 12:03 PM
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Expert
Botnets are robot networks of computers connected to the Internet that sit in our homes and offices. A botnet is generally banks of multiple PC’s from the 10’s to 10,000’s to millions. There are no hard numbers on botnets but last figure I saw was somewhere between 3-5 million. Another stat is 25 percent of all US based PC’s are on a botnet. That’s just insane. Botnets PC’s are called Zombies. Zombies all generally share a virus in common that allows for a remote control component. The criminal hacker controls the zombies on the botnet via … (1 comments)
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Hackers and wannabe hackers can easily purchase cheap tools of the trade online. The security firm Dell SecureWorks Inc. confirms this in their latest report and adds that underground markets for hackers, including those from Russia, is thriving.
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