December, 2018

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10 Personal Finance Lessons for Technology Professionals

Troy Hunt

Patience. Frugality. Sacrifice. When you boil it down, what do those three things have in common? Those are choices. Money is not peace of mind. Money’s not happiness. Money is, at its essence, that measure of a man’s choices. This is part of the opening monologue of the Ozark series and when I first heard it, I immediately stopped the show and dropped it into this blog post.

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What the Marriott Breach Says About Security

Krebs on Security

We don’t yet know the root cause(s) that forced Marriott this week to disclose a four-year-long breach involving the personal and financial information of 500 million guests of its Starwood hotel properties. But anytime we see such a colossal intrusion go undetected for so long, the ultimate cause is usually a failure to adopt the most important principle in cybersecurity defense that applies to both corporations and consumers: Assume you are compromised.

Passwords 278
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Your Personal Data is Already Stolen

Schneier on Security

In an excellent blog post , Brian Krebs makes clear something I have been saying for a while: Likewise for individuals, it pays to accept two unfortunate and harsh realities: Reality #1: Bad guys already have access to personal data points that you may believe should be secret but which nevertheless aren't, including your credit card information, Social Security number, mother's maiden name, date of birth, address, previous addresses, phone number, and yes ­ even your credit file.

Hacking 273
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Faulty DoD Cybersecurity Leaves U.S. At Risk of Missile Attacks

Adam Levin

The U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) falls short of critical cybersecurity standards, according to an audit issued by the Department of Defense Inspector General. The report issued by the Inspector General’s office details several basic lapses in security protocols at five separate locations, including: A lack of multifactor authentication to access BMDS technical information.

Risk 199
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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.

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Cisco ASA is affacted by a privilege escalation flaw. Patch it now!

Security Affairs

Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software is affected by a vulnerability that could be exploited by an attacker to retrieve files or replace software images on a device. . A privilege escalation vulnerability tracked as CVE-2018-15465 affects the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) software. The flaw could be exploited by an unauthenticated, remote attacker to perform privileged operations using the web management interface.

Firmware 112
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IT Security Lessons from the Marriott Data Breach

eSecurity Planet

500 million people are at risk because of a data breach at Marriott's Starwood hotel chain. What steps can your organization take to limit the risk of suffering the same fate?

More Trending

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Happy 9th Birthday, KrebsOnSecurity!

Krebs on Security

Hard to believe we’ve gone another revolution around the Sun: Today marks the 9th anniversary of KrebsOnSecurity.com! This past year featured some 150 blog posts , but as usual the biggest contribution to this site came from the amazing community of readers here who have generously contributed their knowledge, wit and wisdom in more than 10,000 comments.

Mobile 247
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Bad Consumer Security Advice

Schneier on Security

There are lots of articles about there telling people how to better secure their computers and online accounts. While I agree with some of it, this article contains some particularly bad advice: 1. Never, ever, ever use public (unsecured) Wi-Fi such as the Wi-Fi in a café, hotel or airport. To remain anonymous and secure on the Internet, invest in a Virtual Private Network account, but remember, the bad guys are very smart, so by the time this column runs, they may have figured out a way to hack

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114 Million US Citizens and Companies Found Unprotected Online

Adam Levin

The data of 114 million businesses and individuals has been discovered in an unprotected database. The information exposed included the full name, employer, email, address, phone number and IP address of 56,934,021 individuals, and the revenues and employee counts for up to 25 million business entities. Hackenproof, the Estonian cybersecurity company that found the data trove online, announced their discovery on their blog.

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Hackers defaced Linux.org with DNS hijack

Security Affairs

The Linux.org website was defaced last week via DNS hijack, attackers breached into associated registrar account and changed the DNS settings. Attackers changed the defacement page a few times, they protested against the new Linux kernel developer code of conduct in a regrettable way with racial slurs and the image of an individual showing the anus.

DNS 112
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The Tumultuous IT Landscape Is Making Hiring More Difficult

After a year of sporadic hiring and uncertain investment areas, tech leaders are scrambling to figure out what’s next. This whitepaper reveals how tech leaders are hiring and investing for the future. Download today to learn more!

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Amnesty Report: Twitter Abuse Toward Women Is Rampant

WIRED Threat Level

Frustrated by Twitter's silence on abuse against women, Amnesty International crowdsourced its own data and found that the platform was especially toxic for black women.

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Weekly Update 119

Troy Hunt

I'm home! And it's a nice hot Christmas! And I've got a new car! And that's where the discussion kinda started heading south this week. As I say in the video, the reaction to my tweet about it was actually overwhelmingly positive, but there was this unhealthy undercurrent of negativity which was really disappointing to see. Several other non-related events following that demonstrated similar online aggressiveness and I don't know if it was a case of too much eggnog or simply people having more d

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Serial Swatter and Stalker Mir Islam Arrested for Allegedly Dumping Body in River

Krebs on Security

A 22-year-old man convicted of cyberstalking and carrying out numerous bomb threats and swatting attacks — including a 2013 swatting incident at my home — was arrested Sunday morning in the Philippines after allegedly helping his best friend dump the body of a housemate into a local river. Suspects Troy Woody Jr. (left) and Mir Islam, were arrested in Manila this week for allegedly dumping the body of Woody’s girlfriend in a local river.

Internet 244
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The DoJ's Secret Legal Arguments to Break Cryptography

Schneier on Security

Earlier this year, the US Department of Justice made a series of legal arguments as to why Facebook should be forced to help the government wiretap Facebook Messenger. Those arguments are still sealed. The ACLU is suing to make them public.

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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.

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New York Times Reveals Scope of Mobile Apps’ Location Spying

Adam Levin

A New York Times report about the ways smartphone apps track users and sell their location data (on a far greater scale than most customers realize) has gotten much deserved attention this week. One data sample obtained by the Times showed records of a company updating users’ locations up to 14,000 times a day in 2017. While many users allow location tracking on their mobile apps to enable tailored content such as weather or nearby restaurants, they are often unaware that their travel history an

Mobile 192
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Hackers infect Linux servers with JungleSec Ransomware via IPMI Remote console

Security Affairs

Since November, a new ransomware called JungleSec has been infecting servers through unsecured IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) cards. Security experts at BleepingComputer wrote about a new ransomware called JungleSec that is infecting victims through unsecured IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) cards. The ransomware was first observed early November.

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QR Codes: The future with no security shake up

Thales Cloud Protection & Licensing

( Originally posted on Cards International). To reach its tipping point, cashless payment technology has come on a long way since the first magnetic stripe card almost 50 years ago. The development of chip and PIN addressed concerns over security, before the emergence of contactless catered to consumer demands for greater convenience. Today, a new stage in the evolution of payments is growing in popularity.

Mobile 100
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Pan Am Flight 103: Robert Mueller’s 30-Year Search for Justice

WIRED Threat Level

In December 1988 a bomb downed a Pan Am jet, leaving 270 dead. It was the first mass killing of Americans by terrorists. As the head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, Robert Mueller oversaw the case. And for him, it was personal.

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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.

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A Chief Security Concern for Executive Teams

Krebs on Security

Virtually all companies like to say they take their customers’ privacy and security seriously, make it a top priority, blah blah. But you’d be forgiven if you couldn’t tell this by studying the executive leadership page of each company’s Web site. That’s because very few of the world’s biggest companies list any security executives in their highest ranks.

CSO 239
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Banks Attacked through Malicious Hardware Connected to the Local Network

Schneier on Security

Kaspersky is reporting on a series of bank hacks -- called DarkVishnya -- perpetrated through malicious hardware being surreptitiously installed into the target network: In 2017-2018, Kaspersky Lab specialists were invited to research a series of cybertheft incidents. Each attack had a common springboard: an unknown device directly connected to the company's local network.

Banking 223
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A Short Cybersecurity Writing Course Just for You

Lenny Zeltser

My new writing course for cybersecurity professionals teaches how to write better reports, emails, and other content we regularly create. It captures my experience of writing in the field for over two decades and incorporates insights from other community members. It’s a course I wish I could’ve attended when I needed to improve my own security writing skills.

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ETERNALSILENCE – 270K+ devices vulnerable to UPnProxy Botnet build using NSA hacking tools

Security Affairs

Over 270,000 connected devices run vulnerable implementations of UPnP, threat actors are attempting to recruit them in a multi-purpose botnet. In April, Akamai reported that threat actors compromised 65,000 home routers by exploiting vulnerabilities in Universal Plug’N’Play (UPnP) , experts tracked the botnet as UPnProxy. Now the company provided an update to its initial analysis revealing a disconcerting scenario, UPnProxy is still up and running.

Hacking 111
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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.

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Retail in 2019 needs security precautions

Thales Cloud Protection & Licensing

As the retail industry follows suit with today’s digital transformation, customer expectations are at an all-time high. Retailers are looking to address these demands with interconnected experiences to give customers more personalized and immediate experiences both in-stores and online. But do these connected experiences actually live up to the hype?

Retail 100
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Foreign Trolls Are Targeting Veterans on Facebook

WIRED Threat Level

Opinion: The VA needs to take preventative measures to protect vets—and more broadly, our democracy—from digital manipulation and fraud.

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Spammed Bomb Threat Hoax Demands Bitcoin

Krebs on Security

A new email extortion scam is making the rounds, threatening that someone has planted bombs within the recipient’s building that will be detonated unless a hefty bitcoin ransom is paid by the end of the business day. Sources at multiple U.S. based financial institutions reported receiving the threats, which included the subject line, “I advise you not to call the police.” The email reads: My man carried a bomb (Hexogen) into the building where your company is located.

Scams 231
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Drone Denial-of-Service Attack against Gatwick Airport

Schneier on Security

Someone is flying a drone over Gatwick Airport in order to disrupt service: Chris Woodroofe, Gatwick's chief operating officer, said on Thursday afternoon there had been another drone sighting which meant it was impossible to say when the airport would reopen. He told BBC News: "There are 110,000 passengers due to fly today, and the vast majority of those will see cancellations and disruption.

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Software Composition Analysis: The New Armor for Your Cybersecurity

Speaker: Blackberry, OSS Consultants, & Revenera

Software is complex, which makes threats to the software supply chain more real every day. 64% of organizations have been impacted by a software supply chain attack and 60% of data breaches are due to unpatched software vulnerabilities. In the U.S. alone, cyber losses totaled $10.3 billion in 2022. All of these stats beg the question, “Do you know what’s in your software?

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10 Top Container and Kubernetes Security Vendors

eSecurity Planet

Containers can get applications running quickly, but that convenience comes with a number of security concerns. Here are the container security vendors that can help.

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NASA data breach – The agency notifies employees of a security intrusion

Security Affairs

U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) notifies employees of a data breach that exposed social security numbers and other personal information. According to the data breach notification, hackers have breached at least one of the agency’s servers, the security breach impacted both past and present employees. . Website SpaceRef published a data breach notification note sent by the NASA to its employees, the Agency informed them of an ongoing investigation due to an intrusion int

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The bleak picture of two-factor authentication adoption in the wild

Elie

This post looks at two-factor authentication adoption in the wild, highlights the disparity of support between the various categories of websites, and illuminates how fragmented the two factor ecosystem is in terms of standard adoption. Performing a longitudinal analysis highlights that the adoption rate of 2FA (two-factor authentication) has been mostly stagnant over the last five years, despite the ever increasing number of accounts hijacked due to the. reuse of passwords found in data breache

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Higher Education: 15 Books to Help Cybersecurity Pros Be Better

Dark Reading

Constant learning is a requirement for cybersecurity professionals. Here are 15 books recommended by professionals to continue a professional's education.

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The Cloud Development Environment Adoption Report

Cloud Development Environments (CDEs) are changing how software teams work by moving development to the cloud. Our Cloud Development Environment Adoption Report gathers insights from 223 developers and business leaders, uncovering key trends in CDE adoption. With 66% of large organizations already using CDEs, these platforms are quickly becoming essential to modern development practices.