July, 2022

article thumbnail

Facebook Is Now Encrypting Links to Prevent URL Stripping

Schneier on Security

Some sites, including Facebook, add parameters to the web address for tracking purposes. These parameters have no functionality that is relevant to the user, but sites rely on them to track users across pages and properties. Mozilla introduced support for URL stripping in Firefox 102 , which it launched in June 2022. Firefox removes tracking parameters from web addresses automatically, but only in private browsing mode or when the browser’s Tracking Protection feature is set to strict.

article thumbnail

“Cybersecurity For Dummies” Second Edition Now Available

Joseph Steinberg

The second edition of Cybersecurity For Dummies , Joseph Steinberg’s best-selling introductory-level book about cybersecurity, is now available. Like its first-edition counterpart, CyberSecurity For Dummies: Second Edition is written for general audiences, and can help people of all backgrounds stay cyber-secure, regardless of their technical skillsets.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Experian, You Have Some Explaining to Do

Krebs on Security

Twice in the past month KrebsOnSecurity has heard from readers who’ve had their accounts at big-three credit bureau Experian hacked and updated with a new email address that wasn’t theirs. In both cases the readers used password managers to select strong, unique passwords for their Experian accounts. Research suggests identity thieves were able to hijack the accounts simply by signing up for new accounts at Experian using the victim’s personal information and a different email

article thumbnail

Weekly Update 305

Troy Hunt

I broke Yoda's stick! 3D printing woes, and somehow I managed to get through the explanation without reverting to a chorus of My Stick by a Bad Lip Reading (and now you'd got that song stuck in your head). Loads of data breaches this week and whilst "legacy", still managed to demonstrate how bad some practices remain today (hi Shadi.com 👋).

article thumbnail

Why Giant Content Libraries Do Nothing for Your Employees’ Cyber Resilience

Many cybersecurity awareness platforms offer massive content libraries, yet they fail to enhance employees’ cyber resilience. Without structured, engaging, and personalized training, employees struggle to retain and apply key cybersecurity principles. Phished.io explains why organizations should focus on interactive, scenario-based learning rather than overwhelming employees with excessive content.

article thumbnail

Writing the perfect resignation letter

Javvad Malik

Over here in the UK we’ve had dozens of MPs (members of parliament) tender their resignation over the last day or so. While I’m not interested in politics, seeing so many resignation letters did provide me with the template to create the perfect letter. It consists of a few steps. 1. Yellow paper (not the white one peasants write on). 2.

article thumbnail

What Is a Firewall and Do you Need One?

Adam Levin

A firewall is a network security device or program designed to prevent unauthorized and malicious internet traffic from entering a private network or device. It is a digital safety barrier between public and private internet connections, allowing non-threatening traffic in and keeping malicious traffic out, which in theory includes malware and hackers.

Firewall 298

LifeWorks

More Trending

article thumbnail

What Exactly is CyberSecurity?

Joseph Steinberg

CyberSecurity. The word may sound simple enough to easily define; but, in reality, it is not. From a practical standpoint, cybersecurity means quite different things to different people in different situations, a phenomenon that leads not only to extremely varied cybersecurity policies, procedures, and practices, but also to different understandings of the word cybersecurity itself.

article thumbnail

Massive Losses Define Epidemic of ‘Pig Butchering’

Krebs on Security

U.S. state and federal investigators are being inundated with reports from people who’ve lost hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in connection with a complex investment scam known as “ pig butchering ,” wherein people are lured by flirtatious strangers online into investing in cryptocurrency trading platforms that eventually seize any funds when victims try to cash out.

Scams 327
article thumbnail

MVP Award 12

Troy Hunt

11 years now, wow 😲 It's actually 11 and a bit because it was April Fool's Day in 2011 that my first MVP award came through. At the time, I referred to myself as "The Accidental MVP" as I'd no expectation of an award, it just came from me being me. It's the same again today, and the last year has been full of just doing the stuff I love; loads of talks (which, like the one above at AusCERT, are actually starting to happen in front of real live humans again), l

Passwords 311
article thumbnail

Where Next for Quantum Computing and Cybersecurity?

Lohrman on Security

We’ve been hearing about upcoming breakthroughs with quantum computing technology for several years, so what’s the latest from around the world?

article thumbnail

Zero Trust Mandate: The Realities, Requirements and Roadmap

The DHS compliance audit clock is ticking on Zero Trust. Government agencies can no longer ignore or delay their Zero Trust initiatives. During this virtual panel discussion—featuring Kelly Fuller Gordon, Founder and CEO of RisX, Chris Wild, Zero Trust subject matter expert at Zermount, Inc., and Principal of Cybersecurity Practice at Eliassen Group, Trey Gannon—you’ll gain a detailed understanding of the Federal Zero Trust mandate, its requirements, milestones, and deadlines.

article thumbnail

GUEST ESSAY: Rising cyber risks make business intelligence gathering more vital than ever

The Last Watchdog

Gathering intelligence has always been a key tool for organisational decision making – understanding the external operating environment is the ‘101’ for business. How can you grasp the challenges and opportunities for your company without a deep understanding of all the contributing factors that make the company tick? Related: We’re in the golden age of cyber espionage.

article thumbnail

New UFEI Rootkit

Schneier on Security

Kaspersky is reporting on a new UFEI rootkit that survives reinstalling the operating system and replacing the hard drive. From an article : The firmware compromises the UEFI, the low-level and highly opaque chain of firmware required to boot up nearly every modern computer. As the software that bridges a PC’s device firmware with its operating system, the UEFI—short for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface—is an OS in its own right.

Firmware 336
article thumbnail

Why Businesses Must Address Risks of Quantum Computing NOW Rather Than Wait Until Problems Arrive

Joseph Steinberg

There is little doubt that quantum computing will ultimately undermine the security of most of today’s encryption systems , and, thereby, render vulnerable to exposure nearly every piece of data that is presently protected through the use of encryption. What remains uncertain, however, is when the day of so-called “quantum supremacy” will arrive. As such, many organizations have hesitated to start preparing for the quantum era – after all, they reason, there are enough fires to fight now, and li

Risk 338
article thumbnail

911 Proxy Service Implodes After Disclosing Breach

Krebs on Security

The 911 service as it existed until July 28, 2022. 911[.]re, a proxy service that since 2015 has sold access to hundreds of thousands of Microsoft Windows computers daily, announced this week that it is shutting down in the wake of a data breach that destroyed key components of its business operations. The abrupt closure comes ten days after KrebsOnSecurity published an in-depth look at 911 and its connections to shady pay-per-install affiliate programs that secretly bundled 911’s proxy so

article thumbnail

Prevent Data Breaches With Zero-Trust Enterprise Password Management

Keeper Security is transforming cybersecurity for people and organizations around the world. Keeper’s affordable and easy-to-use solutions are built on a foundation of zero-trust and zero-knowledge security to protect every user on every device. Our next-generation privileged access management solution deploys in minutes and seamlessly integrates with any tech stack to prevent breaches, reduce help desk costs and ensure compliance.

article thumbnail

If You're Not Paying for the Product, You Are. Possibly Just Consuming Goodwill for Free

Troy Hunt

How many times have you heard the old adage about how nothing in life is free: If you're not paying for the product, you are the product Facebook. LinkedIn. TikTok. But this isn't an internet age thing, the origins go back way further, originally being used to describe TV viewers being served ads. Sure, TV was "free" in that you don't pay to watch it (screwy UK TV licenses aside), but running a television network ain't cheap so it was (and still is) supported by adver

article thumbnail

Cyber Attacks Against Critical Infrastructure Quietly Increase

Lohrman on Security

Despite the lack of major headline-grabbing cyber attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure so far in 2022, our global cyber battles continue to increase.

article thumbnail

GUEST ESSAY: Advanced tools, tactics required to defend latest attack variant — ‘DeepSea phishing’

The Last Watchdog

Phishing itself is not a new or a particularly complicated threat. But the emergence of advanced phishing techniques – “DeepSea Phishing” – poses an entirely new challenge for enterprises. Related: Deploying human sensors. Phishing comes with a simple premise – lure someone to interact with a malicious link, file, or credentials-input, disguised as a legitimate email or website.

Phishing 277
article thumbnail

San Francisco Police Want Real-Time Access to Private Surveillance Cameras

Schneier on Security

Surely no one could have predicted this : The new proposal—championed by Mayor London Breed after November’s wild weekend of orchestrated burglaries and theft in the San Francisco Bay Area—would authorize the police department to use non-city-owned security cameras and camera networks to live monitor “significant events with public safety concerns” and ongoing felony or misdemeanor violations.

article thumbnail

Optimizing The Modern Developer Experience with Coder

Many software teams have migrated their testing and production workloads to the cloud, yet development environments often remain tied to outdated local setups, limiting efficiency and growth. This is where Coder comes in. In our 101 Coder webinar, you’ll explore how cloud-based development environments can unlock new levels of productivity. Discover how to transition from local setups to a secure, cloud-powered ecosystem with ease.

article thumbnail

Will iPhone’s New “Lockdown Mode” Create Dangerous Overconfidence In Apple’s CyberSecurity Capabilities?

Joseph Steinberg

Apple last week announced new security features specifically intended to offer “specialized additional protection to users who may be at risk of highly targeted cyberattacks from private companies developing state-sponsored mercenary spyware.”. In its announcement, the maker of iPhones, iPads, and Macs stated that its new “Lockdown Mode” represents a “groundbreaking security capability;” Lockdown Mode, which is available to users of a range of devices running Apple’s latest OS beta releases, is

article thumbnail

A Retrospective on the 2015 Ashley Madison Breach

Krebs on Security

It’s been seven years since the online cheating site AshleyMadison.com was hacked and highly sensitive data about its users posted online. The leak led to the public shaming and extortion of many Ashley Madison users, and to at least two suicides. To date, little is publicly known about the perpetrators or the true motivation for the attack. But a recent review of Ashley Madison mentions across Russian cybercrime forums and far-right websites in the months leading up to the hack revealed s

article thumbnail

Welcoming the Polish Government to Have I Been Pwned

Troy Hunt

Continuing the rollout of Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) to national governments around the world, today I'm very happy to welcome Poland to the service! The Polish CSIRT GOV is now the 34th onboard the service and has free and open access to APIs allowing them to query their government domains. Seeing the ongoing uptake of governments using HIBP to do useful things in the wake of data breaches is enormously fulfilling and I look forward to welcoming many more national CSIRTs in the future.

article thumbnail

How Can I Get a Job in Cybersecurity?

Lohrman on Security

The questions I am most often asked, both online and in person at conferences and other events, surround how people can break into the cybersecurity field for the first time.

article thumbnail

The Importance of User Roles and Permissions in Cybersecurity Software

How many people would you trust with your house keys? Chances are, you have a handful of trusted friends and family members who have an emergency copy, but you definitely wouldn’t hand those out too freely. You have stuff that’s worth protecting—and the more people that have access to your belongings, the higher the odds that something will go missing.

article thumbnail

GUEST ESSAY: The post-pandemic challenges of securely managing employee endpoints

The Last Watchdog

The pandemic-driven remote working brought about unforeseen challenges that the pre-pandemic corporate world would have never imagined. From transitioning to a work-from-home as a ‘perk’ to a ‘necessity’, the organizations had to realign their operations and do it fast, to keep the ships afloat. Related: Deploying human sensors. Now that the dust seems to have settled on the novelty of remote working, there’s no doubt that remote working- whether organizations like it or not is here to say

Mobile 258
article thumbnail

Ubiquitous Surveillance by ICE

Schneier on Security

Report by Georgetown’s Center on Privacy and Technology published a comprehensive report on the surprising amount of mass surveillance conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Our two-year investigation, including hundreds of Freedom of Information Act requests and a comprehensive review of ICE’s contracting and procurement records, reveals that ICE now operates as a domestic surveillance agency.

article thumbnail

Disneyland’s Facebook & Instagram Accounts Defaced With Vulgar Racist Content – But We Can Laugh At The Attacker’s Claim Of Being A “Super Hacker”

Joseph Steinberg

A mischievous hacker, or group of hackers, took over Disneyland’s official Instagram and Facebook accounts earlier today, and, apparently, defaced them both with a series of profane and racist posts. Walt Disney Company has confirmed the breach, which appears to have occurred around 7 AM US Eastern time. The entertainment giant stated that it responded to the incident with zeal: “We worked quickly to remove the reprehensible content, secure our accounts, and our security teams are conducting an

article thumbnail

Microsoft Patch Tuesday, July 2022 Edition

Krebs on Security

Microsoft today released updates to fix at least 86 security vulnerabilities in its Windows operating systems and other software, including a weakness in all supported versions of Windows that Microsoft warns is actively being exploited. The software giant also has made a controversial decision to put the brakes on a plan to block macros in Office documents downloaded from the Internet.

Internet 267
article thumbnail

IDC Analyst Report: The Open Source Blind Spot Putting Businesses at Risk

In a recent study, IDC found that 64% of organizations said they were already using open source in software development with a further 25% planning to in the next year. Most organizations are unaware of just how much open-source code is used and underestimate their dependency on it. As enterprises grow the use of open-source software, they face a new challenge: understanding the scope of open-source software that's being used throughout the organization and the corresponding exposure.

article thumbnail

Weekly Update 306

Troy Hunt

I didn't intend for a bunch of this week's vid to be COVID related, but between the breach of an anti-vaxxer website and the (unrelated) social comments directed at our state premier following some pretty simple advice, well, it just kinda turned out that way. But there's more on other breaches too, in particular the alleged Paytm one and the actual Customer.io one.

article thumbnail

New Business Email Compromise Schemes Add Vendor Deception

Lohrman on Security

Like other forms of cyber crime, business email compromise is growing and evolving. Here’s what you need to know.

252
252
article thumbnail

Google Cybersecurity Action Team Threat Horizons Report #3 Is Out!

Anton on Security

This is my completely informal, uncertified, unreviewed and otherwise completely unofficial blog inspired by my reading of our third Threat Horizons Report ( full version ) that we just released ( the official blog for #1 report , my unofficial blog for #2 ). My favorite quotes from the report follow below: “Another common tactic that continues to be observed is when bad actors actively impersonate legitimate sounding organizations (especially in journalism or education) with the objective of in

article thumbnail

Critical Vulnerabilities in GPS Trackers

Schneier on Security

This is a dangerous vulnerability: An assessment from security firm BitSight found six vulnerabilities in the Micodus MV720 , a GPS tracker that sells for about $20 and is widely available. The researchers who performed the assessment believe the same critical vulnerabilities are present in other Micodus tracker models. The China-based manufacturer says 1.5 million of its tracking devices are deployed across 420,000 customers.

article thumbnail

Beware of Pixels & Trackers on U.S. Healthcare Websites

The healthcare industry has massively adopted web tracking tools, including pixels and trackers. Tracking tools on user-authenticated and unauthenticated web pages can access personal health information (PHI) such as IP addresses, medical record numbers, home and email addresses, appointment dates, or other info provided by users on pages and thus can violate HIPAA Rules that govern the Use of Online Tracking Technologies by HIPAA Covered Entities and Business Associates.