Violence-as-a-Service: Brickings, Firebombings & Shootings for Hire

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Sun, 04 Sep 2022 14:59:13 +0000

A 21-year-old New Jersey man has been arrested and charged with stalking in connection with a federal investigation into groups of cybercriminals who are settling scores by hiring people to carry out physical attacks on their rivals. Prosecutors say the defendant recently participated in several of these schemes — including firing a handgun into a Pennsylvania home and torching a residence in another part of the state with a Molotov Cocktail.

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How 1-Time Passcodes Became a Corporate Liability

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2022 14:53:39 +0000

Phishers are enjoying remarkable success using text messages to steal remote access credentials and one-time passcodes from employees at some of the world’s largest technology companies and customer support firms. A recent spate of SMS phishing attacks from one cybercriminal group has spawned a flurry of breach disclosures from affected companies, which are all struggling to combat the same lingering security threat: The ability of scammers to interact directly with employees through their mobile devices.

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PayPal Phishing Scam Uses Invoices Sent Via PayPal

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2022 15:27:53 +0000

Scammers are using invoices sent through PayPal.com to trick recipients into calling a number to dispute a pending charge. The missives — which come from Paypal.com and include a link at Paypal.com that displays an invoice for the supposed transaction — state that the user’s account is about to be charged hundreds of dollars. Recipients who call the supplied toll-free number to contest the transaction are soon asked to download software that lets the scammers assume remote control over their computer.

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When Efforts to Contain a Data Breach Backfire

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2022 17:06:00 +0000

Earlier this month, the administrator of the cybercrime forum Breached received a cease-and-desist letter from a cybersecurity firm. The missive alleged that an auction on the site for data stolen from 10 million customers of Mexico’s second-largest bank was fake news and harming the bank’s reputation. The administrator responded to this empty threat by purchasing the stolen banking data and leaking it on the forum for everyone to download.

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Sounding the Alarm on Emergency Alert System Flaws

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2022 15:26:58 +0000

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is urging states and localities to beef up security around proprietary devices that connect to the Emergency Alert System — a national public warning system used to deliver important emergency information, such as severe weather and AMBER alerts. The DHS warning came in advance of a workshop to be held this weekend at the DEFCON security conference in Las Vegas, where a security researcher is slated to demonstrate multiple weaknesses in the nationwide alert system.

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It Might Be Our Data, But It’s Not Our Breach

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2022 17:45:31 +0000

A cybersecurity firm says it has intercepted a large, unique stolen data set containing the names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, Social Security Numbers and dates of birth on nearly 23 million Americans. The firm’s analysis of the data suggests it corresponds to current and former customers of AT&T. The telecommunications giant stopped short of saying the data wasn’t theirs, but it maintains the records do not appear to have come from its systems and may be tied to a previous data incident at another company.

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The Security Pros and Cons of Using Email Aliases

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2022 15:10:59 +0000

One way to tame your email inbox is to get in the habit of using unique email aliases when signing up for new accounts online. Adding a “+” character after the username portion of your email address — followed by a notation specific to the site you’re signing up at — lets you create an infinite number of unique email addresses tied to the same account. Aliases can help users detect breaches and fight spam. But not all websites allow aliases, and they can complicate account recovery. Here’s a look at the pros and cons of adopting a unique alias for each website.

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Microsoft Patch Tuesday, August 2022 Edition

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2022 23:01:10 +0000

Microsoft today released updates to fix a record 141 security vulnerabilities in its Windows operating systems and related software. Once again, Microsoft is patching a zero-day vulnerability in the Microsoft Support Diagnostics Tool (MSDT), a service built into Windows. Redmond also addressed multiple flaws in Exchange Server — including one that was disclosed publicly prior to today — and it is urging organizations that use Exchange for email to update as soon as possible and to enable additional protections.

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Class Action Targets Experian Over Account Security

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2022 01:54:35 +0000

A class action lawsuit has been filed against big-three consumer credit bureau Experian over reports that the company did little to prevent identity thieves from hijacking consumer accounts. The legal filing cites liberally from an investigation KrebsOnSecurity published in July, which found that identity thieves were able to assume control over existing Experian accounts simply by signing up for new accounts using the victim’s personal information and a different email address.

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