Items tagged with cybersecurity
Last week, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a report according to which cryptocurrency scammers have swindled Americans out of over $1 billion since 2021. Cryptocurrency scams are rampant on social media sites, as well as messaging apps like Telegram. The scams often trade on the names of...
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Wi-Fi capable devices, like smart phones, often automatically send out probe requests in order to detect available Wi-Fi networks in the area. These probe requests include a device identifier known as a MAC address. Nowadays, most phones, as well as some other devices, utilize randomized MAC addresses to increase...
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Much of the discussion surrounding cyberwarfare has centered around Russia and Ukraine, in recent months. While it may have been pushed into the background, however, China’s aggressive cyber activity continues apace, whether it rises to the level of warfare or not. Only a month ago, we covered news that Chinese...
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Yesterday, we reported on a data breach at Shields Health Care Group that resulted in the theft of personal information belong to 2 million Americans. Oftentimes, data stolen in breaches like this end up on online forums or marketplaces where cybercriminals buy and sell these ill-gotten gains. Lately, US law...
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Personal information is also valuable information, as personal data in the wrong hands can empower cybercriminals to commit identity theft and fraud. However, even those who take important steps to secure their personal information can have it exposed when an employer, health care provider, government agency, or other...
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Last week, security researchers published a report showing that the rate at which trojans infect mobile devices has been accelerating over the past few quarters. Trojans are a form of malware disguised as applications that users might want to install. Victims of trojans effectively invite malware onto their devices...
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It’s a new week, and there’s another proof of concept for a phishing technique. Last week, we covered a phishing technique for hijacking WhatsApp accounts, and the week before that we reported on a phishing campaign targeting Intuit QuickBooks users. This new proof of concept leverages an established phishing...
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Earlier this week, we covered a report that claimed mobile device trojans are on the rise. Trojans are a specific kind of malware that infect victims’ devices by pretending to be legitimate and trustworthy applications. Unfortunately, trojans sometimes mange to sneak their way into the Google Play Store and infect...
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The prevalence of ransomware attacks is rising year-over-year at a rapid pace, with 2021 marking a doubling in the number of reported attacks over 2020. As ransomware attacks have become a prominent and lucrative form of cyberattack, a market has developed for cybercriminals to buy and sell ransomware. Some of these...
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WhatsApp, the messaging app owned by Meta that employs the end-to-end encryption Signal Protocol, is massively popular worldwide. The app boasts more than 2 billion users, which is over a fourth of the world's population. Unsurprisingly, given the app’s popularity, scammers and hackers often target WhatsApp and its...
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Research from earlier this year showed that hackers can remotely unlock and start Honda and Acura vehicles by exploiting a vulnerability in the remote keyless system. However, cybercriminals targeting the automotive industry don’t have to steal your car when they can steal something potentially more valuable: your...
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Cybersecurity experts are constantly trying to improve user account security. This task can be a difficult one when users don’t take basic steps to secure their own accounts. A recent report found that the most commonly used passwords among business executives are “123456” and “password.” However, even accounts...
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The past week, Vancouver was the site of the 2022 Pwn2Own contest, a timed test of skills for hackers and cybersecurity experts. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the contest, and 2022's gathering didn't disappoint. 17 contestants attacked 21 targets, including Apple's Safari browser, Windows 11, and even the...
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In what seems to be the year of security breaches and threat actors thieving or or holding data for ransom, defenders, or blue teamers, cannot seem to catch a break. However, just after announcing that it had hit a major component supplier for Boeing and Lockheed Martin, it appears that the Conti ransomware gang as we...
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It’s not hard to see why Apple, Google, and Microsoft are pushing passwordless logins when cybercriminals are able to leverage malware and phishing attacks to steal passwords. However, bad actors don’t need to actually steal them when their victims use simple, easy-to-guess passwords. Unfortunately, those sorts of...
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Earlier this month, we reported on a phishing attack that stole $23.5 million from the US Department of Defense (DoD). Thankfully, the DoD caught the cybercriminals and recovered the money, but this incident highlights the need for strong cybersecurity practices at the DoD and among its contractors. The DoD is a high...
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The beginning of the year saw a flurry of stories about security breaches as the cybercriminal gang known as LAPSUS$ stole data from an alarming number of big name companies in a short period of time. However, while LAPSUS$ is no longer in operation, after the London police arrested all seven members of the group...
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Lately, cybercriminals have been using Telegram to sell malware and other malicious tools as a service. Last month we reported on a Telegram bot that makes automatic phone calls to steal multi-factor authentication (MFA) codes. The Telegram bot gives bad actors an easy-to-use interface for placing scam phone calls and...
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Ransomware attacks are growing rapidly in prevalence. The number of ransomware attacks in 2021 doubled over that of 2020, which already saw a doubling over 2019. Some of the most notable ransomware attacks have struck vital infrastructure and supply chains. However, ransomware attacks aren’t limited to these sectors...
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When you are investigating a crime, one of the most important things to establish is "motive." If you know a crime has been committed, having an understanding of why it happened is a critical step to figuring out who did it.
In the strictest sense, installing software on someone else's computer isn't a crime. It's...
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Microsoft's Windows has plenty of reason to be proud of its status as the desktop operating system of choice for personal computers, but Linux drives a massive portion of the processing that lies beneath the surface of the internet at large. Ultimately, it's to everyone's benefit if security holes are closed, so we...
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Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks can be debilitating, shutting down websites and services for hours or even days on end. Last month, a DDoS attack took down the servers running the popular online multiplayer game Among Us for almost three days. DDoS attacks attempt to overwhelm a system by flooding it with...
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