Independent – Page 84 – PossibleThreat Articles

Ransomware at IT Services Provider Synoptek

December 27, 2019 0 Comments Ransomware, revil, Sodinokibi, synoptek

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Sat, 28 Dec 2019 01:49:05 +0000

Synoptek, a California business that provides cloud hosting and IT management services to more than a thousand customer nationwide, suffered a ransomware attack this week that has disrupted operations for many of its clients, according to sources. The company has reportedly paid a ransom demand in a bid to restore operations as quickly as possible. Irvine, Calif.-based Synoptek is a managed service provider that maintains a variety of cloud-based services for more than 1,100 customers across a broad spectrum of industries, including state and local governments, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, media, retail and software. The company employs nearly a thousand employees and brought in more than $100 million in revenue in the past year.

ComputerWorld Independent

How to make the most of Microsoft’s new Compliance Score Console

December 24, 2019 0 Comments Security, Windows

This new Microsoft 365 feature can help you stay in compliance with regulations like GDPR and better protect data.

ComputerWorld Independent

Microsoft blinks: Security Essentials will continue to receive updates after Jan. 14

December 18, 2019 0 Comments Microsoft, Security, Windows

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2019 05:57:00 -0800

Late last week, I talked about a discrepancy in Microsoft’s promised handling of Microsoft Security Essentials as Windows 7 reaches end of support. An internally inconsistent official announcement seemed to say that MSE signature file updates would stop — even for those who have paid for Extended Security Updates.

Which is absurd. Why would Microsoft stop updating its antivirus program even for people who are paying to continue receiving Monthly Rollup patches?

To read this article in full, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

How bad can text security be? One company just showed us.

December 18, 2019 0 Comments Mobile, Security

Credit to Author: Evan Schuman| Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2019 05:46:00 -0800

There is nothing more quintessentially mobile than text messages, the most commonly used communication method today. That’s why it was very unsettling that a security research house found — and the vendor at issue essentially confirmed — that a massive number of text messages were stored in plaintext, with no security at all. In short, the texts from what the security research firm estimated were “hundreds of millions of people” were open to any thief or stalker who wanted to look.

The company involved, an Austin-based business called TrueDialog, would likely be unknown to almost all of those users. TrueDialog is a marketing firm offering SMS products and services to other companies — a lot of companies. That will make it hard for consumers to even know if their texts were victimized. Text message users were able to text back, giving the impression of having two-way conversations with businesses.

To read this article in full, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

How to protect the enterprise from holiday attacks

December 18, 2019 0 Comments Security, Windows

Attackers often take advantage of the holidays to launch attacks. Use these Microsoft settings to deter them.

Independent Krebs Security

Nuclear Bot Author Arrested in Sextortion Case

December 17, 2019 0 Comments augustin inzirillo, leparisien, Ne'er-Do-Well News, nuclear bot, sextortion, tinynuke

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2019 19:09:10 +0000

Last summer, a wave of sextortion emails began flooding inboxes around the world. The spammers behind this scheme claimed they’d hacked your computer and recorded videos of you watching porn, and promised to release the embarrassing footage to all your contacts unless a bitcoin demand was paid. Now, French authorities say they’ve charged two men they believe are responsible for masterminding this scam. One of them is a 21-year-old hacker interviewed by KrebsOnSecurity in 2017 who openly admitted to authoring a banking trojan called “Nuclear Bot.”

Independent Krebs Security

Ransomware Gangs Now Outing Victim Businesses That Don’t Pay Up

December 16, 2019 0 Comments bleepingcomputer, lawrence abrams, maze ransomware, Ransomware, revil, Sodinokibi, The Coming Storm

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2019 02:21:23 +0000

As if the scourge of ransomware wasn’t bad enough already: Several prominent purveyors of ransomware have signaled they plan to start publishing data stolen from victims who refuse to pay up. To make matters worse, one ransomware gang has now created a public Web site identifying recent victim companies that have chosen to rebuild their operations instead of acquiescing to their tormentors.

Independent Krebs Security

Inside ‘Evil Corp,’ a $100M Cybercrime Menace

December 16, 2019 0 Comments A Little Sunshine, aqua, aquamo, bugat, dridex, europol, evgeniy mikhailovich bogachev, evil corp, igor “enki” turashev, jabberzeus, luck12345, maksim v. yukabets, money mules, Ne'er-Do-Well News, slavik, target: small businesses, u.s. justice department, u.s. treasury department, zeus trojan

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2019 14:08:21 +0000

The U.S. Justice Department this month offered a $5 million bounty for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a Russian man indicted for allegedly orchestrating a vast, international cybercrime network that called itself “Evil Corp” and stole roughly $100 million from businesses and consumers. As it happens, for several years KrebsOnSecurity closely monitored the day-to-day communications and activities of the accused and his accomplices. What follows is an insider’s look at the back-end operations of this gang.

ComputerWorld Independent

Will Microsoft stop updating its Security Essentials on Jan. 14? Are you sure?

December 13, 2019 0 Comments Microsoft, Security, Windows

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2019 06:52:00 -0800

You know that businesses will be able to pay for Win7 security patches after Win7 hits end-of-life on Jan. 14. Many of Microsoft’s Extended Security Update program details aren’t clear to me — How does a very small business buy ESU? Why is Microsoft releasing Edge on Win7 the day after it goes end-of-life? Will that new full-screen nag keep coming back? — but there’s one loose end that sits in the middle of my confusion.

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