by Felicien | Jul 31, 2019 | Education
What Is the Dark Web and How Can You Stay Off It?
Ever heard of the dark web? It’s definitely not a place you want your company’s information to be. Learn everything you need to know about the dark web here.
Most people have heard about the dark web in one form or another. It’s a place where criminal activity happens — from the purchase of illegal drugs to the hiring of assassins.
Of course, there is a legal side to the dark web as well; though, most people don’t know about. In fact, the origin story of the dark web is entirely legitimate and is even linked to the government.
Still, as a business owner or CEO, your relationship with the dark web (should you unfortunately have one) will not likely be good. It’s a bad sign if any of your information is found there. That’s why it’s important to know about what exactly the dark web is: Where it came from, what’s on it, and what you should do to stay as far away from it as possible.
What Is the Dark Web?
The dark web is essentially one “section” of the Internet. Specifically, it’s a section that isn’t included in mainstream search engines like Google. So, when you search a normal search inquiry, such as, “Where’s the best hamburger joint in downtown Pittsburgh?” you don’t get results from the dark web.
Instead, this section includes all sorts of illicit goings-on. Mostly, it’s a marketplace for things you shouldn’t be buying because they’re illegal to sell and/or buy. For instance, you can buy lifelong access to Netflix for a small price (six bucks). You can hire someone to hack into someone else’s computer for you and download their data or track their keystrokes. You can purchase credit card credentials. You can obtain prepaid debit card numbers and security codes.
How Does One Access the Dark Web?
We’ll reiterate again that the dark web is not a place you want to find yourself (or your information). However, for the sake of knowledge, we’ll explain that in order to access the dark web, you must download what’s called the Tor browser.
Tor stands for The Onion Router. This is basically the software that makes the dark web operate in the dark.
Where Did the Dark Web Originate?
The dark web began in the late 1990s as a way for the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to better hide their online communications. At this time, The Onion Router or Tor was brand-new.
Soon after its initial creation in 2004, the dark web’s Tor software was released for public use. Since that time, it has ceased to be solely a government resource and has turned into the “back alley” of the Internet.
How Can the Dark Web Affect Business Owners?
The dark web is a potential danger to all businesses of all sizes and in all industries. In fact, it can be a potential danger to individuals as well. But let’s talk about your business and the dark web.
Basically, it has been found that 60% of the web listings on the dark web could harm a business. That’s because, these listings offer individuals searching the dark web ways to obtain things like the following:
Customer data
Tips for hacking computers
Tips for hacking networks
Malware
Financial data
Phishing advice
Operational data
Intellectual trade secrets
Tutorials for cyber crime
Remote access Trojans (RATs)
Espionage services
Credentials access
How Can You Keep Your Business Safe From the Dark Web?
The best way to keep your business safe from the dark web is to have the proper cybersecurity measures in place. This means hiring a cybersecurity team or a managed service provider (MSP) to handle your company’s cybersecurity. Even if you’re a small business, hiring an MSP to have on retainer is a good idea.
They will make sure that you have firewalls and other detectors of malware in place for adequate security. It’s also essential to back up your data and to make everyone who works for or with your company aware of how to avoid phishing attempts.
Lastly, your cybersecurity team should be monitoring the dark web to make sure that none of your information lands there. This goes for personal information for you and your employees, as well as overall company information. Taking these measures is the only surefire way to ensure that your company does not end up on the wrong end of the dark web.
by Felicien | Jul 31, 2019 | Education
How familiar are you with all of the types of cyber attacks your company can become a victim of?
The list of companies who have faced a cyber attack recently is long and growing longer. Equifax, British Airways, Cathay Pacific to name just a few. In 2018 alone, the Ponemon Institute measured the costs of these data breaches at $3.86 million per incident globally. Recently, a cybersecurity trends discussion for 2019 with Check Point stated that it would be another year of hard-hitting cybersecurity attacks and breaches.
Security companies such as Check Point, a multinational provider of combined hardware and software products for security, is based in Israel. And they are searching for new ways to better secure IT. Their global chief of threat detection, Orli Gan, states that the solution will come from manufacturers, law enforcement and government, not from companies like Check Point. The cybersecurity company predicts that every company will become a victim of a cyber attack in 2019.
Gan stated to Verdict: “You can just choose whatever name you want, any company in the world and they either were, or are, or will be hit by a cyber attack.”
Fastest Growing Crime is Cyber Crime
When comparing cybercrime in 2019 to the popular heist film series Ocean’s 11, Gan stated that cybercrime is far more lucrative and less risky way to make money than a heist. Cyber attacks come in two formats:
Attacks that are to make money
Attacks to make a point (hacktivism)
When the cyber attacks are instigated by nation-states, they are morally ambiguous. It’s hard to know who is the good guy or bad guy.
Cyber Attacks by Nation-States
September 2018 – Check Point discovered an Iranian state-sponsored mobile surveillance operation against Iran’s own citizens called “Domestic Kitten.” Iran claimed that the attack was begun in 2016 and was using decoy content to get people to download mobile apps with embedded spyware. Those apps then collected sensitive information about targeted citizens including Kurdish, Turkish and ISIS supporters.
Lazarus, North Korean cyber hackers, are also politically motivated. In September 2018, a report showed that its worldwide attacks on U.S. and South Korean websites including Sony looked to be funded by the Kim Jong-Un regime.
2016 Election hacking in the U.S. from Russia caused concerns for democracy in several countries.
In October 2018, the UK government reported that Russian military intelligence was the actor behind a string of cyberattacks.
As a result, cybercrime experts advised to strengthen cybersecurity capabilities instead of using political sanctions. Despite warnings, it looks as if Russia will attempt cyberattacks in 2019 and 2020 elections.
Cryptomining Overtaking Ransomware
Routine, day-to-day cyber attacks are designed to earn money for the cyber criminals. This is becoming more used than ransomware which was bigger in 2017. One virus, WannaCry ransomware virus, infected computers in businesses, hospitals and schools in 150 countries.
“We see a quite steady decline in 2018 in the use of ransomware. It’s definitely not gone but it’s slightly more targeted these days towards companies that are more likely to pay significant amounts of money for the data they stand to lose,” Gan reported.
Instead, cryptomining is on the rise into 2019. This malware allows cyber criminals to hijack the victim’s central processing unit (CPU) to mine crypto currency, using up to as much as 65 percent of the CPU’s power. This type of attack was the leading attack in 2018, with 42 percent of global organisations hit between January and September, over double the 20.5 percent hit in the second half of 2017. The opposite of a ransomware attack, cryptomining is a stealth crime as it’s perceived by victims. Criminals like it more than ransomware, because it’s easy to begin, hard to trace, and has a long-term earning potential.
Crypto Currency Monero
The top three most common malwares seen in 2018 were crypto miners mining the Monero currency, says Check Point. Monero is preferred over Bitcoin because unlike the more well-known cryptocurrency, Monero is effectively untraceable and can use typical computer hardware very effectively for mining, while Bitcoin requires custom-made and optimised chips.
The cryptocurrency Monero has privacy features that cloak its transactions. When someone sends you Monero, you can’t tell who sent it. If you send Monero the recipient will not know who it is from. Bitcoin isn’t anonymous; people can trace every Bitcoin block, address and transaction. Bitcoin is not truly anonymous, so people can search for and trace every Bitcoin block, transaction and address.
Phishing in 2019
Phishing, one of the most common online fraud tactics, can easily get ahold of private information including credit card details, usernames, and passwords through email. In the third quarter of 2018, RSA detected 38,196 fraud attacks worldwide including phishing scams. Even with an awareness of phishing, many people still fall for these fraudulent attacks to get personal information. These crimes increase during the holiday season when many people are online shopping, especially Black Friday (Friday after American Thanksgiving) and Cyber Monday (Monday after American Thanksgiving). Without the proper malware attachments, these phishing emails often slip through other cyber defences. In fact, cyber security company Agari found that 54 percent of email phishing attacks use a well-known brand’s name to deceive recipients including Amazon, Microsoft, and Bank of America.
How Can an Organisation Protect Itself?
If you own or work for a company looking to protect itself, there isn’t a single approach that will guarantee success.
“You have to understand the complexity of the problem, you have to address the different angles in different capacities, and you always have to have multiple advisories and engines that combined can give you that accuracy that you require from a product that you’re actually going to use. Accuracy is number one in order to be practical because when you’re not, the reality is that people in the organisation will start getting angry – ‘I needed that email but it was blocked by your security system,” according to Gan.
Can We Win the War Against Cyber Crime?
In summary, With the rapid development of technology, that question is difficult to answer. Check Point is skeptical that cyber security can eradicate cyber crime. Gan states that the solution should be a three-part defence that involves government regulation, law enforcement, and manufacturers. We must regulate manufacturers of electronic devices to require them to use operators that comply with security requirements. And law enforcement has to hunt down and punish cyber criminals.
Melvin Felicien,
A seasoned engineer, who focuses on security, effeciency and ensuring that technology is being used effectively within its defined scope
by Felicien | Jul 31, 2019 | Education
Check Your IoT: URGENT/11 Zero-Day Vulnerabilities Impacting 2 Billion Devices
It was only a matter of time before connected devices become a target. The current vulnerability allows remote attackers to gain full control over IoT devices.
Security professionals have known that connected devices are a risk, but the latest news around the URGENT/11 vulnerabilities may surprise even the most hardened security professional. Over 2 billion connected devices are thought to be vulnerable, including a range of printers, VOIP phones, routers, medical equipment, firewalls, elevators and industrial controls. Any connected device that is running the VxWorks operating system created by Wind River has the potential to be affected, allowing users to remotely gain control over the device.
URGENT/11 Vulnerabilities
Dubbed “URGENT/11”, these security risks include six critical vulnerabilities connected with VxWorks 6.5 or higher that includes the IPnet stack. There are a few versions of the OS that may not be affected, according to security research firm Armis, such as their VxWorks Cert Edition and VxWorks 653. Whether devices are within the network perimeter or on the edge, they can still be leveraged for remote access directly into networks. The vast range of manufacturers of the devices at risk means the level of security at the device level is likely to vary dramatically between product types. Fortunately, Wind River Systems provided critical patches during a recent July 19 release, but that may not be enough to reduce the risk for organizations utilizing these connected devices.
What is VxWorks?
“VxWorks is the most widely used operating system you may never have heard of,” said Ben Seri, vice president of research at Armis. “A wide variety of industries rely on VxWorks to run their critical devices in their daily operations—from healthcare to manufacturing and even security businesses”. As an RTOS, or real-time operating system, VxWorks has generally been considered to be a stable solution for IoT and other interconnected devices with only 13 vulnerabilities reported in over 32 years of operation for the platform. Since it is only older versions of the RTOS that are vulnerable to attack, it’s thought that newer devices should be relatively safe and many affected devices are already reaching end-of-life. These devices are generally ones where chipsets only need to manage a few basic pieces of information, such as input/output operations, where little data processing is required.
How to Protect Your Business
While officials at VxWorks and Armis note that there are no indications that the URGENT/11 vulnerabilities have been exploited, the extreme disruption that could be caused within an organization is reason enough to warrant a proactive effort to protect your organization. Here are the recommended steps from Wind River security professionals and engineers:
Apply the recent patch immediately
Deploy specific firewall signatures/rules that will help mitigate the danger if patches cannot be applied immediately
You can view the full URGENT/11 whitepaper with a breakdown of the vulnerabilities and suggestions for remediation online. Experts note that the level of disruption could be significant, perhaps even rivaling the EternalBlue 2017 vulnerability or the WannaCry ransomware attack. In each of these instances, it was challenging for many small businesses to determine the best steps to move forward and protect their organization.
Partnering with an IT services firm helps ensure that your business is alert to this type of critical attack vector. Staying vigilant for vulnerabilities and quickly applying patches may mean the difference between a few hours of work patching devices or servers and months of remediation as you attempt to recover from a major attack.
by Felicien | Jul 30, 2019 | Education
Organization Shouldn’t Be Complicated
Out of all of Microsoft’s Office programs, Excel is one of the most universally used. What started out as a fairly basic spreadsheet program has evolved into a must-have business tool. However, the more you use Excel, the more data your workbooks will accumulate.
Keeping these workbooks organized and easy to navigate can be a challenge. We can help with that. Check out our short Excel: Tips and Techniques for Managing Workbooks training video, available to you free and on-demand.
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Watch at your leisure, and say goodbye to your Excel frustrations.
by Felicien | Jul 30, 2019 | Education
Capital One Data Breach Affects More Than 100 Million Customers and Small Businesses in The U.S. & 6 Million in Canada
On July 29, 2019, Capital One reported that their customers’ confidential information was compromised. This includes the Social Security and bank account numbers of more than 100 million people and small businesses in the U.S., along with 6 million in Canada.
The McLean, Virginia-based bank discovered the vulnerability in its system July 19 and immediately sought help from law enforcement to catch the perpetrator. They waited until July 29 to inform customers.
How Did The Hacker Get Into Capital One’s System?
According to court documents in the Capital One case, the hacker obtained this information by finding a misconfigured firewall on Capital One’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud server.
Amazon said that AWS wasn’t compromised in any way. They say that the hacker gained access through a misconfiguration on the cloud server’s application, not through a vulnerability in its infrastructure.
Capital One says that they immediately fixed the configuration vulnerability that the individual exploited and promptly began working with federal law enforcement.
Who Breached Capital One’s Data?
Paige A. Thompson, a former software engineer in Seattle, is accused of stealing data from Capital One credit card applications.
Thompson was a systems engineer and an employee at Amazon Web Services from 2015 to 2016. In a statement, Amazon said that she left the company three years before the hack took place.
The FBI arrested Thompson on Monday, July 29 for the theft, which occurred between March 12 and July 17. Thompson made her initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Seattle and has been detained pending an August 1 hearing. Computer fraud and abuse are punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
What Information Was Compromised?
Thompson stole information including credit scores and balances plus the Social Security numbers of about 140,000 customers and 80,000 linked bank account numbers of their secured credit card customers. For Capital One’s Canadian credit card customers, approximately 1 million Social Insurance Numbers were compromised.
The largest category of information obtained was that of consumers and small businesses when they applied for one of Capital One’s credit card products from 2005 through early 2019.
Capital One said, some of this information included names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth and self-reported income.
Other data obtained included credit scores, limits, balances and transaction data from a total of 23 days during 2016, 2017 and 2018.
This is one of the top 10 largest data breaches ever, according to USA TODAY research.
What Is Capital One Saying About The Breach?
They will offer free credit monitoring services to those affected. Capital One said it was “unlikely that the information was used for fraud or disseminated by this individual” but committed to investigating the hack fully.
They’ve set up a consumer website about the breach at www.capitalone.com/facts2019 that you should refer to if you’re worried that your information was compromised.
Capital One expects that this hack will cost them approximately $100 million to $150 million in 2019.
What Should Capital One Customers Do?
If you’re a Capital One customer, you should check your account online. You should also freeze your credit through each of the three main credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion.
It’s important to remain vigilant. Businesses should sign up for Dark Web Scanning to detect whether your confidential business information is there for cybercriminals to use.
Prevention is always the best remedy. Ask your IT provider to ensure your that your firewall is properly configured and to continuously remotely monitor your network for intrusions.
