cyber crime: Don’t pick up that USB Drive!
- 05/19/16 11:58 PM
What a very interesting experiment: Researches randomly deposited 297 USB drives (aka USB stick, flash drive, thumb drive) around the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. They wanted to see just how many, and how soon after dropping them off, they’d be collected by people.
Turns out that 48 percent of the drives were taken and inserted into computers. The report at theregister.co.uk says that in some cases, this was done minutes after the drives were left in the public spots.
Picking up a USB drive off the streets and plugging it into your computer is akin to picking up discarded food off a … (3 comments)
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cyber crime: Bitdefender's BOX: All-in-one Cybersecurity from one App
- 03/29/16 12:05 AM
Gee, if your home is connected to lots of different devices, doesn’t it make sense that your cybersecurity integrates all your connected devices? Meet the Bitdefender BOX, a network bulletproofing hardware cybersecurity tool for the home that embraces smart home protection focusing on the Internet of Things with remote device management offering next generation privacy protection.
BOX description:
One complete security solution for connected homes Sets up to a router Is controlled by the user’s mobile device and hence, can be controlled anywhere Everything is protected: not just your computer, but all of your connected devices, like your baby monitor, TV, thermostat, … (8 comments)
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cyber crime: Businesses struggling to keep up with latest wave of malware attacks
- 02/28/16 09:46 PM
Companies have been struggling for years to keep cyber-attacks at bay. Cyberthieves are working faster than ever before to send out their malicious attacks, and it’s become increasingly difficult for companies to keep up.
CNN reports that almost one million malware strains are released every day. In 2014, more than 300 million new types of malicious software were created. In addition to new forms of malware, hackers continue to rely on tried and true bugs because many companies simply haven’t found a fix or haven’t updated their systems to mitigate the threats.
In almost 90% of these cases, the bugs have been around since … (0 comments)
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cyber crime: Scareware Scam almost snags Victim
- 02/24/16 09:56 PM
Cybercriminals know that the best way to get their claws on the next victim is to appeal to their emotions, not logic.
There’s lots of scary things in life, and one is learning that your computer has been infected with a virus. If this happens, you’re now vulnerable to spending money on getting rid of the malware. The tactic of scaring users is called scareware.
A pop up tells you “Warning! Your Computer Has Been Infected with Malware!” The pop-up can be triggered by visiting an infected website or by making a bad click. The pop-up can’t be closed out, or if it … (47 comments)
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cyber crime: Why Are Cyber Hucksters so successful?
- 02/17/16 10:00 PM
Often, hucksters prey on the consumer’s desperation, which is why it’s no surprise that the No. 1 rip-off (at least between 2011 and 2012)) was bogus products promising weight loss.
VICE (vice.com) interviewed psychologist Maria Konnikova about how cyber cons are so successful—even with the most ridiculous sounding bait (Nigerian prince, anyone?).
The bait becomes more attractive when the target is receiving an influx of cyber attention. Sad to say, this trips up a person’s rationale, making them susceptible to the huckster’s plan.
Konnikova is quoted as stating, “Few things throw us off our game as much as so-called cognitive load: how taxed our … (2 comments)
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cyber crime: How to shop securely with a Mobile Phone
- 01/14/16 10:13 PM
“You can buy things with your phone!” No kidding! But imagine what the response would have been had you made this statement in 1984: “Off your meds, eh?”
Purchasing via the smartphone may very well eclipse the popularity of shopping via laptop. And cyber thieves know this. They’re counting on you to slip up.
Never click a link inside an e-mail, even if the subject line is a warning or alert to a fabulous sale. Cyber crooks know that the small screens on mobiles can easily hide tell-tale signs of scam e-mails, people are especially vulnerable to subject lines blaring great deals. If … (3 comments)
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cyber crime: Career Criminal goes down
- 12/10/15 09:50 PM
A sharp nine-year-old girl has a biting message to a 51-year-old man, according to an article on myfoxboston.com:
“You deserve to stay in jail because you break into peoples houses. Stop breaking into peoples houses and do something with your life.”
This advice was directed to Pedro Gomez, whom police are labeling a career criminal. According to investigators, he attempted to break into over a dozen houses—all within the span of hours.
One of the failed attempts occurred to a house where the nine-year-old was at at the time. Gomez’s floundering break-in attempts occurred in Shrewsbury, Mass. I’m not so sure he’s a true … (0 comments)
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cyber crime: Nineways to shop safely on Cyber Monday
- 11/23/15 09:47 PM
With Cyber Monday, you don’t have to camp outside in the cold overnight so you can be the first person busting through the doors like on Black Friday. But you still may get trampled to a pulpby cyber scammers waiting for their prey.
How can you avoid these predators?
You know that old mantra: If it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Be highly suspicious of outrageously great deals, and also assume that e-mails that link to unbelievable savings are scams. You may think it won’t hurt to just “check it out,” but consider the possibility that simply clicking on … (1 comments)
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cyber crime: State sponsored Attacks big Problem
- 09/29/15 11:24 PM
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, an identity database, was attacked by hackers rather recently, and they hit the jackpot: More than 21 million federal workers are at risk of identity theft for perhaps the rest of their lives, reports an article on forbes.com.
The hackers from overseas now have security clearance documents for these employees that contain some very sensitive personal information. And nobody can take these documents away from the hackers.
That’s the problem with these centralized identity databases. It’s like all the loot is in one location, so that when the thieves strike, they get it all. And as the … (0 comments)
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cyber crime: Trolls: How to deal
- 09/22/15 12:12 AM
Cartoonist Ben Garrison posted something “about the Fed” online, says an article at www.vice.com, and this created a firestorm, leading to his billing as the “most trolled cartoonist in the world.” You see, his other cartoons were altered in an offensive way, fooling people into thinking these alterations were his original creations.
How can Garrison climb out of the hole others dug for him? First identify the type of trolling.The vice.com article describes several forms of trolling:
Hate speech. This targets anyone other than a white straight man who’s not transgender. Cyberbullying. Targets are often known by the cyberbullies, though I’d like … (1 comments)
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cyber crime: Very Bad People for hire online
- 08/28/15 11:46 PM
The Deep Web is not a nice place. Here, people can hire assassins, take ransomware payments, purchase U.S. citizenship without revealing their identity, among other things, says an article on darkreading.com.
This information comes from Trend Micro, which used a tool called the “Deep Web analyzer,” something of a web crawler, that collected URLS that were linked to TOR- and I2P-hidden sites, domains with nonstandard TLDs and Freenet resource identifiers, says darkreading.com.
The Deep Web is that portion of cyberspace that’s not indexed by the search engines. The Dark Web is part of the bigger Deep Web, accessible only via special tools.
A Dark … (3 comments)
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cyber crime: Zeus Malware Gang take-down
- 08/24/15 11:48 PM
Zeus is no longer a god of malware; he’s been taken down by law enforcement agencies spanning six European nations. Five people were recently arrested—believed to have infected tens of thousands of computers across the globe. There have been 60 total arrests pertaining to this cybergang.
They also used malware called SpyEye, and that, along with Zeus, stole money from major banks. This was a clever operation that included ever-changing Trojans, and mule networks.
Another malware that was asphyxiated was the BeeBone botnet, which had taken over 12,000 computers across the world.
We can thank the Joint Investigation Team for these successes. And they … (2 comments)
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cyber crime: UL to launch Cybersecurity Cert
- 08/19/15 11:40 PM
UL in this case stands for Underwriters Laboratories. An article on darkreading.com notes that a UL official, Maarten Bron, says that they are taking part in the U.S. government’s plan to promote security certification standards.
The U.S. government is interested in developing a UL-type program directed at computers and smartphones. This initiative will encourage the private sector and the government to create the standards.
So that’s what we have thus far; this initiative is in its early childhood stage, so there isn’t much more information about it that’s available to the media. UL is looking forward to sharing involvement with the White House’s … (2 comments)
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cyber crime: A look into Cyber Weapons of the Future
- 08/03/15 11:58 PM
Remember the good ‘ol days when you thought of a finger pushing a button that launched a Russian missile that then sped at seven miles per second towards the U.S. to blow it up?
Little did we know back then what would one day be a way for the Superpowers to war on each other: cyber technology!
A new book is out called Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War, written by Peter W. Singer and August Cole. WWIII certainly won’t be wrought with speeding missiles and hand-to-hand combat in the trenches—at least not the bulk of it.
An article on vice.com … (4 comments)
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cyber crime: A Quarter of all Underage Kids Will Meet with Complete Strangers
- 06/12/15 10:52 PM
According to a new Intel Security study, more than 2,000 American parents and kids ages 8-16 were surveyed to unveil some interesting things.
79% of the juvenile respondents learned online safety from their parents. 35% of them said they’ve been a cyberbully. 27% of them said they have met, or would meet, a person in real life who they initially met online. Technology is often blamed for all of this. But what drives these behaviors is the same force that drives the schoolyard bully to trip the bookworm and steal his lunch, or the lonely girl to get into a stranger’s … (5 comments)
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cyber crime: 3 More Ways Criminals use influence to steal
- 05/22/15 11:40 PM
Criminals use six basic principles to influence and steal. In the first post we discussed:
Reciprocation: Do something nice for a person and they will feel obligated to return the favor. Social Proof: This is the “It’s okay if everyone else does it” approach. Commitment and Consistency: Get someone to verbally or in writing commit to something, and this will increase the chances they’ll follow through. Robert Cialdini is a psychologist who studied influence for nearly 30 years, condensing his findings into six principles. In this post we will discuss 3 more principles of influences that tie it all together and … (5 comments)
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cyber crime: Cyberbullying: Its Uniqueness & Prevention
- 05/17/15 11:31 PM
Unfortunately, cyberbullying is prevalent, and a growing threat in today’s always-connected world. Cyberbullying refers to bullying done via computers, or similar technologies, such as cell phones. This kind of bullying usually includes mean or threatening comments, or public posts through texts, emails, voice mails, social media posts, all intended to embarrass the victim.
Cyberbullying can happen to both adults and kids, but since it’s so common among youths, it’s good to know how to help your children deal with the problem.
One important idea to keep in mind is that unlike the kind of face-to-face bullying that many of us witnessed in school … (4 comments)
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cyber crime: How Employers or Parents Spy
- 05/11/15 11:59 PM
Disgruntled employees act out in lots of ways. A guy I knew who hated his boss “played” on his work computer all day. The computer was strictly for constructing company graphics. But he installed all kinds of games and wasted lots of time. His boss never knew he blew off half the day.
Company computers are obviously company owned, making it legally possible for your boss to spy on you. Employers can also figure out whom you’re speaking to on your company owned or sanctioned phone and for how long—with phone monitoring software—They can also see contacts, emails, texts, media and more. … (2 comments)
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cyber crime: 3 Ways We are Tricked into Cyber Attacks
- 05/03/15 11:16 PM
So just how are hackers able to penetrate all these huge businesses? Look no further than employee behavior—not an inside job, but innocent employees being tricked by the hacker.
A recent survey commissioned by Intel Security reveals that five of the top seven reasons that a company gets hacked are due to employee actions.
One of the things that make it easy to trick employees into giving up critical information is the information employees share on social media about their company.
People just freely post things and tweet all day long about company matters or other details that can be used by a hacker to compromise … (3 comments)
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cyber crime: Protect Yourself from Online Fraud
- 04/28/15 11:57 PM
Yes, it’s possible: preventing fraudsters from getting you via online trickery and other stealthy actions. Yes, it’s possible to be thinking one step ahead of cyber criminals. Let’s begin with e-mails—the conduit through which so many cyber crimes like ID theft occur.
Imagine snail-mailing vital information like your SSN, bank account number, a duplicate of your driver’s license and your credit card number. At some point in the delivery process, someone opens the letter and see the contents. Electronic messages are not entirely private. Recognize this risk before sending knowing that in transmission there is a chance your information can be … (2 comments)
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What a very interesting experiment: Researches randomly deposited 297 USB drives (aka USB stick, flash drive, thumb drive) around the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. They wanted to see just how many, and how soon after dropping them off, they’d be collected by people.
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