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Before yesterdaySecurity

'I Don't Care About Cookies' extension sold to Avast

Users of cookie-warning-buster add-on already forking off due to privacy concerns

The lone developer of anti-cookie-warning browser add-on "I Don't Care About Cookies" has sold it to Avast, resulting in both concern – and new forks.…

  • September 21st 2022 at 14:15

Ransomware: The Latest Chapter

By Daniel Clayton, Vice President, Global Security Services and Support, Bitdefender
As ransomware attacks continue to evolve, beyond using security best practices organizations can build resiliency with extended detection and response solutions and fast response times to shut down attacks.

  • September 21st 2022 at 14:00

Over 39,000 Unauthenticated Redis Instances Found Exposed on the Internet

By Ravie Lakshmanan
An unknown attacker targeted tens of thousands of unauthenticated Redis servers exposed on the internet in an attempt to install a cryptocurrency miner. It's not immediately known if all of these hosts were successfully compromised. Nonetheless, it was made possible by means of a "lesser-known technique" designed to trick the servers into writing data to arbitrary files – a case of unauthorized

Crypto Trading Firm Wintermute Loses $160 Million in Hacking Incident

By Ravie Lakshmanan
In what's the latest crypto heist to target the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, hackers have stolen digital assets worth around $160 million from crypto trading firm Wintermute. The hack involved a series of unauthorized transactions that transferred USD Coin, Binance USD, Tether USD, Wrapped ETH, and 66 other cryptocurrencies to the attacker's wallet. The company said that its centralized

Why Zero Trust Should be the Foundation of Your Cybersecurity Ecosystem

By The Hacker News
For cybersecurity professionals, it is a huge challenge to separate the “good guys” from the “villains”. In the past, most cyberattacks could simply be traced to external cybercriminals, cyberterrorists, or rogue nation-states. But not anymore. Threats from within organizations – also known as “insider threats” – are increasing and cybersecurity practitioners are feeling the pain.  Traditional

Shadowy Russian Cell Phone Companies Are Cropping Up in Ukraine

By Matt Burgess
But as Ukrainians retake ground, some of the firms are erasing their online presence.

U.S. Adds 2 More Chinese Telecom Firms to National Security Threat List

By Ravie Lakshmanan
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has added Pacific Network Corp, along with its subsidiary ComNet (USA) LLC, and China Unicom (Americas) Operations Limited, to the list of communications equipment and services that have been deemed a threat to national security. The agency said the companies are subject to the Chinese government's exploitation, influence, and control, and could

WAAP it out for application security

APIs are everywhere, and WAAP can help you protect them

Webinar The latest Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) states that applications are the 'main attack vector,' responsible for over 80 percent of breaches. Hardly welcome news since APIs are in use everywhere and have direct access to data in a way which web applications do not.…

  • September 21st 2022 at 10:11

ChromeLoader, what took you so long? Malvertising irritant now slings ransomware

Doesn't make cents, makes bigger bucks instead ... probably

ChromeLoader – the malware that exploded onto the scene this year by hijacking browsers to redirect users to pages of ads – is apparently evolving into a more significant threat by deploying malicious payloads that go beyond malvertising.…

  • September 21st 2022 at 09:26

Product Review: Stellar Cyber Open XDR Platform

By The Hacker News
Almost every vendor, from email gateway companies to developers of threat intelligence platforms, is positioning themselves as an XDR player. But unfortunately, the noise around XDR makes it harder for buyers to find solutions that might be right for them or, more importantly, avoid ones that don't meet their needs.  Stellar Cyber delivers an Open XDR solution that allows organizations to use

Look who's fallen foul of Europe's data retention rules. France and Germany

'Indiscriminate' preemptive harvesting of personal info a big no-no. What a novel concept

On Tuesday, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued rulings that limit indiscriminate data retention in France and Germany.…

  • September 21st 2022 at 06:32

Record DDoS Attack with 25.3 Billion Requests Abused HTTP/2 Multiplexing

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Cybersecurity company Imperva has disclosed that it mitigated a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack with a total of over 25.3 billion requests on June 27, 2022. The "strong attack," which targeted an unnamed Chinese telecommunications company, is said to have lasted for four hours and peaked at 3.9 million requests per second (RPS). "Attackers used HTTP/2 multiplexing, or combining

Critical Remote Hack Flaws Found in Dataprobe's Power Distribution Units

By Ravie Lakshmanan
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Tuesday released an industrial control systems (ICS) advisory warning of seven security flaws in Dataprobe's iBoot-PDU power distribution unit product, mostly used in industrial environments and data centers. "Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could lead to unauthenticated remote code execution on the Dataprobe

USA adds two more Chinese carriers to 'probably a national security threat' list

Pacific Network Corp and China Unicom join the likes of Huawei, Hytera, Hikvision on list of dangerous suppliers

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has added two Chinese companies to its list of communications equipment suppliers rated a threat to national security: Pacific Network Corp, its wholly owned subsidiary ComNet (USA) LLC, and China Unicom (Americas).…

  • September 21st 2022 at 04:58

Microsoft Brings Zero Trust to Hardware in Windows 11

By Karen Spiegelman, Features Editor
A stacked combination of hardware and software protects the next version of Windows against the latest generation of firmware threats.

  • September 21st 2022 at 03:33

Crypto biz Wintermute loses $160m in cyber-heist, tells us not to stress out

The other Tessier-Ashpool AIs are surely disappointed

Cryptocurrency market maker Wintermute says $160 million in digital assets have been stolen from it in a cyber-heist, though it assures customers that everything's fine.…

  • September 20th 2022 at 21:35

ChromeLoader Malware Evolves into Prevalent, More Dangerous Cyber Threat

By Jai Vijayan, Contributing Writer, Dark Reading
Microsoft and VMware are warning that the malware, which first surfaced as a browser-hijacking credential stealer, is now being used to drop ransomware, steal data, and crash systems at enterprises.

  • September 20th 2022 at 20:33

Verisign Q2 2022 Domain Name Industry Brief: 351.5 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Second Quarter of 2022

By Verisign

Today, we released the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief, which shows that the second quarter of 2022 closed with 351.5 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains, an increase of 1.0 million domain name registrations, or 0.3%, compared to the first quarter of 2022.1,2 Domain name registrations have increased by 10.4 million, or 3.0%, year over year.1,2

the second quarter of 2022 closed with 351.5 million domain name registrations across all top-level domains, an increase of 1.0 million domain name registrations, or 0.3%, compared to the first quarter of 2022.

Check out the latest issue of The Domain Name Industry Brief to see domain name stats from the second quarter of 2022, including:
Top 10 Largest TLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names
Top 10 Largest ccTLDs by Number of Reported Domain Names
ngTLDs as Percentage of Total TLDs
Geographical ngTLDs as Percentage of Total Corresponding Geographical TLDs

To see past issues of The Domain Name Industry Brief, please visit verisign.com/dnibarchives.

  1. All figure(s) exclude domain names in the .tk, .cf, .ga, .gq and .ml ccTLDs. Quarterly and year-over-year trends have been calculated relative to historical figures that have also been adjusted to exclude these five ccTLDs. For further information, please see the Editor’s Note contained in Vol. 19, Issue 1 of The Domain Name Industry Brief.
  2. The generic TLD, ngTLD and ccTLD data cited in the brief: (i) includes ccTLD internationalized domain names, (ii) is an estimate as of the time this brief was developed and (iii) is subject to change as more complete data is received. Some numbers in the brief may reflect standard rounding.

The post Verisign Q2 2022 Domain Name Industry Brief: 351.5 Million Domain Name Registrations in the Second Quarter of 2022 appeared first on Verisign Blog.

Meta, Twitter, Apple, Google urged to up encryption game in post-Roe America

Tech giants 'throwing their users to the wolves'

Facebook, Twitter, Google, Apple, and others today faced renewed pressure to protect the privacy of messaging app users seeking healthcare treatment.…

  • September 20th 2022 at 19:19

2-Step Email Attack Uses Powtoon Video to Execute Payload

By Dark Reading Staff, Dark Reading
The attack uses hijacked Egress branding and the legit Powtoon video platform to steal user credentials.

  • September 20th 2022 at 19:14

Beware of Phish: American Airlines, Revolut Data Breaches Expose Customer Info

By Tara Seals, Managing Editor, News, Dark Reading
The airline and the fintech giant both fell to successful phishing attacks against employees.

  • September 20th 2022 at 19:00

Cast AI Introduces Cloud Security Insights for Kubernetes

By Nathan Eddy, Contributing Writer, Dark Reading
The release augments the company's Kubernetes management platform with free, user-friendly insight on security postures, along with cost monitoring and observability.

  • September 20th 2022 at 18:20

Spell-Checking in Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge Browsers Leaks Passwords

By Elizabeth Montalbano, Contributor, Dark Reading
It's called "spell-jacking": Both browsers have spell-check features that send data to Microsoft and Google when users fill out forms for websites or Web services.

  • September 20th 2022 at 17:37

Survey Shows CISOs Losing Confidence in Ability to Stop Ransomware Attacks

By Dark Reading Staff, Dark Reading
Despite an 86% surge in budget resources to defend against ransomware, 90% of orgs were impacted by attacks last year, a survey reveals.

  • September 20th 2022 at 17:16

How to Dodge New Ransomware Tactics

By Oliver Rochford, Director of Applied Research, Securonix
The evolving tactics increase the threat of ransomware operators, but there are steps organizations can take to protect themselves.

  • September 20th 2022 at 17:00

No Motivation for Quantum Without Regulatory Push

By Edge Editors, Dark Reading
What's it going to take to prod organizations to implement a post-quantum security plan? Legislative pressure.

  • September 20th 2022 at 16:44

ThreatQuotient Enhances Data-Driven Automation Capabilities With New ThreatQ TDR Orchestrator Features

Focused on bringing ease of use to IT security automation, ThreatQ TDR Orchestrator addresses industry needs for simpler implementation and more efficient operations.
  • September 20th 2022 at 14:52

Invicti Security and ESG Report on How Companies are Shifting for Higher Quality, Secure Application Code

The balance of deploying secure applications vs. time to market continues to be the biggest risk to organizations.
  • September 20th 2022 at 14:34

Byos Releases Free Assessment Tool to Provide Companies With Tailored Network Security Recommendations

Assessment tool instantly generates a detailed report breaking down a company’s current network security maturity and recommended next steps.
  • September 20th 2022 at 14:24

Water Sector Will Benefit From Call for Cyber Hardening of Critical Infrastructure

By Duncan Greatwood, CEO, Xage
A call for federal agency "review and assessment" of cyber-safety plans at water treatment plants should better protect customers and move the industry forward.

  • September 20th 2022 at 14:00

Telegram Has a Serious Doxing Problem

By Peter Guest
The encrypted messaging app is a haven for politically motivated vitriol, but users are increasingly bringing threats to targets’ doorsteps.

Russian Sandworm Hackers Impersonate Ukrainian Telecoms to Distribute Malware

By Ravie Lakshmanan
A threat cluster linked to the Russian nation-state actor tracked as Sandworm has continued its targeting of Ukraine with commodity malware by masquerading as telecom providers, new findings show. Recorded Future said it discovered new infrastructure belonging to UAC-0113 that mimics operators like Datagroup and EuroTransTelecom to deliver payloads such as Colibri loader and Warzone RAT. The

The 4 Lenses of Resilience and What They Mean for Security

By Shailaja Shankar

We’ve been talking a lot about security resilience recently, and for good reason. It’s clear the only way businesses can operate in today’s hybrid world is by taking bold steps to increase visibility, awareness, and integration across their systems. All while maintaining a singular goal of becoming more resilient in the face of evolving threats. But that doesn’t just mean expanding the scope of your security stack. It also means examining the resilience of other pillars of your business, like operations, organizational structure, financial processes, and supply chain functions.

What is Financial Resilience?

If threats do compromise your business, time is of the essence when it comes to detection, response, and recovery. The longer an organization is unable to operate normally, the more at risk it becomes for damaging financial losses. As Diana Kelley, CSO and CISO at Cybrize notes, “it’s not about giving up, it’s about being better prepared.” Financial and security resilience go together, you can’t have one without the other and both are incredibly important for businesses of all sizes.

What is Operational Resilience?

While recovering from an attack is important for maintaining resilience, a key feature of strong operational resilience is a business’s ability to operate through adverse conditions, not just recover well after the fact. Trina Ford, SVP and CISO at AEG, notes the importance of “preparedness so that your business can continue to thrive” while your security team addresses threats.

It also relies heavily upon strong staffing models because people are a critical part of any business’s day-to-day operations. What happens when someone is out sick, or is unable to access the necessary tools to do their job? Operational resilience means having a plan in place to be prepared for these situations.

In this video, CISOs and other security professionals explain what operational resilience means to them and why it’s a necessary component of overall security resilience:

What is Supply Chain Resilience?

If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that supply chains are fragile. But there are ways to prepare for disruption, such as minimizing negative outcomes like production delays, infrastructure weaknesses, and increasingly complex logistics. When it comes to security resilience, supply chains are important because they expand the attack surface to any third party in your network. Oftentimes, this is where businesses have the lowest visibility, making it hard to detect and respond to threats. Supply chain resilience means preparing for these challenges before they cause real damage and having contingency plans in place. 

What is Organizational Resilience?

According to Helen Patton, CISO of the SBG, “security is a risk business”. We couldn’t agree more. In the context of organizational resilience, this means dedicating resources to the areas of the business that are creating the most value and protecting those to minimize the risk of damage from potential threats.

With hybrid work here to stay, the threat landscape is expanding quickly, and security teams are working constantly to stay up to date on the latest attacks. But defending against everything all the time is impossible, so it’s necessary to make informed decisions about how to dedicate resources efficiently. The goal is to maximize flexibility and agility to enable security teams to act confidently when, not if, a threat lands.

Avoiding cyberattacks 100% of the time is impossible, but by ensuring the integrity of each part of your business, you can address threats confidently and emerge stronger. Investing in security resilience will strengthen your business in each of these areas, and help you better prepare for the challenges ahead.

Learn more about how Cisco Secure can help you at any step of the journey.


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Uber Blames LAPSUS$ Hacking Group for Recent Security Breach

By Ravie Lakshmanan
Uber on Monday disclosed more details related to the security incident that happened last week, pinning the attack on a threat actor it believes is affiliated to the notorious LAPSUS$ hacking group. "This group typically uses similar techniques to target technology companies, and in 2022 alone has breached Microsoft, Cisco, Samsung, NVIDIA, and Okta, among others," the San Francisco-based

CrowdStrike Investment Spotlights API Security

By Dark Reading Staff, Dark Reading
The investment in Salt Security underscores the fact that attacks targeting APIs are increasing.

  • September 20th 2022 at 00:00

Steer Clear of the “Pay Yourself Scam” That’s Targeting Online Bank Accounts

By Cagla Ruacan

An old banking scam has a new look. And it’s making the rounds again. 

Recently Bank of America alerted its customers of the “Pay Yourself Scam,” where scammers use phony fraud alerts and trick their victims into giving them access to their online banking accounts. It’s a form of phishing attack, and according to Bank of America it goes something like this: 

  • You receive a text message that looks like a fraud alert from your bank about unusual activity. The text may look something like: “Did you make a purchase of $100.00 at ABC merchant?” 
  • If you respond to the text, you have now engaged the scammer and will receive a call from a number that appears to be from a bank. 
  • They’ll appear to be a representative from a bank and will offer to help stop the alleged fraud by asking you to send money to yourself with an online payment app. 
  • The scammer will ask you for a one-time code you just received from a bank. 
  • If you give them the code, they will use it to enroll their bank account details with an online payment service using your email address or phone number. 
  • The scammer can now receive your money into their account. 

The good news is that you can avoid this attack rather easily. If you receive a text or call about a possible fraud alert, don’t respond. (Scammers can easily “spoof” or fake caller ID information nowadays. So even if it appears that the number looks legitimate, it may not be after all.) Instead, contact your bank directly using the contact information on your debit or credit card. This way, you’ll know you’re speaking with the proper representatives about the matter. 

Other ways you can avoid online banking scams 

Of course, this scam isn’t the only scam making the rounds these days. Whether it’s with some form of phishing attack, stealing passwords on public Wi-Fi, or malware that spies on your keystrokes, scammers use plenty of tricks to crack into online bank accounts. Yet with a few precautions and a sharp eye, you have several ways you can protect yourself. 

Use comprehensive online protection software 

Online protection software today goes far beyond antivirus. It can protect your privacy, identity, and your online accounts as well. McAfee+ Ultimate provides our most comprehensive coverage with features that monitor the dark web and sketchy data broker sites for your personal information, identity theft and ransomware protection, and identity restoration services should the unexpected happen—all along with our award-winning antivirus protection. In all, it protects you, not just your devices. Together, it offers your strongest line of defense in the face of hackers, scammers, and thieves. 

Scrutinize any messages claiming to be your bank 

Legitimate banks will never pressure, harass, or cajole you into action. If you get a message that strikes an aggressive tone, assume it’s fraudulent. Other things legitimate banks will never do include:  

  • Banks or other financial institutions don’t call for your PIN or checking account number. Never provide this over the phone. Call your bank directly using the phone number on your debit or credit card or bank statement if you want to confirm.  
  • Your bank has no reason to email you for account information it already has. If you receive an email asking you to click a link or provide account information, assume it’s fraudulent. Don’t click any links and mark the email as spam.  
  • If a message appears to be from your bank asking you to sign in or enter your PIN, it’s a scam. Banks never ask customers for this information by text.  
  • A common theme in phishing emails is the urgent call to action. Cybercriminals want to scare you into acting immediately without thinking. The email says there was suspicious activity on your account, and you should log in immediately to avoid having it frozen or closed. No legitimate business would close a customer’s account without giving reasonable notice. Contact your bank through your normal channels to check your balance and account activity if you aren’t sure.  
  • Misspelled words and grammatical errors are another red flag. Major corporations have professional editors to make sure the content is correct.  

Use your bank’s official website or app 

Earlier, I mentioned contacting your bank directly to ensure you’re speaking to a proper representative. Another way you can go directly to the source is to use your bank’s website or app to check up on your accounts. Once again, don’t click any links in a text or email. Just go to your bank’s website or app to check your account. You can make sure you have your bank’s official app by visiting the Google Play or Apple’s App Store and looking at the information section to ensure that it was indeed developed by your bank—not a copycat. 

Use strong, passwords and a password manager to stay on top of them all 

Strong and unique passwords for each of your online accounts can help keep hackers at bay. With data breaches occurring so often, updating them regularly is important too. Yet with all the accounts we keep, that can mean a lot of work. However, a password manager can create those passwords for you and safely store them as well. Comprehensive security software will include one. 

Use two-factor authentication on your accounts  

Two-factor authentication is an extra layer of defense on top of your username and password. It adds in the use of a special one-time-use code to access your account, usually sent to you via email or to your phone by text or a phone call. In all, it combines something you know, like your password, with something you have, like your smartphone. Together, that makes it tougher for a crook to hack your account. If any of your accounts support two-factor authentication, the few extra seconds it takes to set up is more than worth the big boost in protection you’ll get.  

Don’t access your online banking account via public Wi-Fi 

When you log onto public Wi-Fi, potentially anyone can see your internet activity—and that includes things like entering your username and password. For that reason, only log into your bank account with public Wi-Fi if you’re using a virtual private network (VPN).  McAfee Secure VPN protects your privacy by turning on automatically for unsecured networks. Your data is encrypted so it can’t be read by prying eyes. The VPN also keeps your online activity and physical location private and secure from advertisers.  

Check your bank statements regularly 

Keeping an eye on your bills and statements as they come in can help you spot unusual activity on your accounts. A credit monitoring service can do that one better by keeping daily tabs on changes to your credit report. While you can do this manually, there are limitations. First, it involves logging into each bureau and doing some digging of your own. Second, there are limitations as to how many free credit reports you can pull each year. A service does that for you and without impacting your credit score. 

Depending on your location and plan, McAfee’s credit monitoring allows you to look after your credit score and the accounts within it to see fluctuations and help you identify unusual activity, all in one place, checking daily for signs of identity theft. 

Prevention and vigilance are your best defense from online banking scams  

When a fraud notification pops up on your phone, you can almost feel your stomach drop. Hackers and scammers play off that fear. They use it to get you to act—and to act quickly. Taking a moment to scrutinize these messages and following up directly with your bank can help you steer clear of their tricks. Likewise, putting up a strong defense with comprehensive online protection software can make you safer still. In the meantime, keep your eyes open for this “Pay Yourself Scam” and other scams like it. It’s certainly not the first of its kind, and it won’t be the last. 

The post Steer Clear of the “Pay Yourself Scam” That’s Targeting Online Bank Accounts appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Uber explains how it was pwned this month, points finger at Lapsus$ gang

From annoying MFA alerts to 'several internal systems' infiltrated

Uber, four days after suffering a substantial cybersecurity breach, has admitted its attacker accessed "several internal systems" including the corporation's G Suite account, and downloaded internal Slack messages and a tool used by its finance department to manage "some" invoices.…

  • September 19th 2022 at 22:54

Uber: Lapsus$ Targeted External Contractor With MFA Bombing Attack

By Jai Vijayan, Contributing Writer, Dark Reading
The ride-sharing giant says a member of the notorious Lapsus$ hacking group started the attack by compromising an external contractor's credentials, as researchers parse the incident for takeaways.

  • September 19th 2022 at 21:24

Rockstar Games Confirms 'Grand Theft Auto 6' Breach

By Robert Lemos, Contributing Writer, Dark Reading
The Take-Two Interactive subsidiary acknowledges an attack on its systems, where an attacker downloaded "early development footage for the next Grand Theft Auto" and other assets.

  • September 19th 2022 at 21:01

Been hit by LockerGoga ransomware? A free fix is now out

Software nasty used to cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, cops say

If you've been hit by the LockerGoga ransomware, an international law enforcement effort has publicly released a tool to fix the problem.…

  • September 19th 2022 at 20:07

LastPass source code breach – incident response report released

By Paul Ducklin
Wondering how you'd handle a data breach report if the worst happened to you? Here's a useful example.

What You Do Now To Protect Your Child From Cyberbullying

By Alex Merton-McCann

I can’t tell you how many times over my 25 years of parenting that I’ve just wanted to wrap my boys in cotton wool and protect them from all the tricky stuff that life can throw our way. But unfortunately, that’s never been an option. Whether it’s been friendship issues in the playground, dramas on a messaging app or dealing with broken hearts, it can be really hard watching your kids experience hardship. 

Get Ahead Of The Problem! 

But one thing I have learnt from years of mothering is that if you spend some time getting ahead of a potentially challenging situation then you’ve got a much better chance of minimising it. Or better still preventing it – and this absolutely applies to cyberbullying. 

Is Cyberbullying A Big Problem for Aussie Kids? 

In early 2022, McAfee interviewed over 15,000 parents and 12,000 children worldwide with the goal of finding out how families both connect and protect themselves online. And what they found was astounding: Aussie kids reported the 2nd highest rate of cyberbullying (24%) out of the 10 countries surveyed. American children reported the highest rate. The average for all countries was 17%. Check out my post here with all the details.  

So, to dig deeper into this issue of cyberbullying, McAfee commissioned additional research in August this year to better understand what cyberbullying looks like, where it happens and who the perpetrators are. And the biggest takeaways for Aussie kids: 

  • Name calling is the most common form of cyberbullying 
  • Most cyberbullying happens on social media 
  • Aussie kids have the highest rate of cyberbullying on Snapchat 
  • 56% of Aussie kids know the perpetrator 

You can check out my post here with all the details.  

How To Avoid Your Kids Becoming a Statistic 

So, if you need to grab a cuppa and digest all this, I don’t blame you! It’s a lot. But, as mentioned before, I honestly believe that if we get ahead of the challenges, we have a greater chance of minimising the fall out. So, without further ado – here is my advice on what you can do NOW to minimise the chance of your kids being involved in cyberbullying – either as the victim or the perpetrator. 

1. Talk About Online Respect and Kindness As Soon As They Start Using Devices 

As soon as your kids move on from just watching movies and playing games on their devices, you need to talk about the importance of ‘being nice’ online. A more natural way around this is to extend your parenting advice to include the online world too. For example:  

  • ‘Remember how important it is to be kind to everyone when you are in the playground at kindy – as well as when you are online.’  
  • ‘Always say please and thank you – to your friends in-person and online too.’ 

And don’t forget the importance of role-modelling this too! 

2. Check Your Family Communication Culture 

One of the best things you can do is to create a family culture where honest and genuine two-way communication is a feature of family life. If your kids know they can confide in you, that nothing is off-limits and that you won’t overreact – then they are more likely to open-up about a problem before it becomes overwhelming and ‘unsolvable’. 

3. Understand Your Child’s World 

Parents who have a comprehensive understanding of their child’s life will be better able to detect when things aren’t going well. Knowing who your kid’s friends are, who they ‘sit with’ at lunchtime, their favourite music and their boyfriend or girlfriend needs to be a big priority. I also encourage parents to establish relationships with teachers or mentors at school so they can keep their ‘ear to the ground’. When a child’s behaviour and interests change, it can often mean that all isn’t well and that some detective work is required! 

4. Ensure Your Kids Understand What Bullying Is 

Cyberbullying can have a variety of definitions which can often cause confusion. In McAfee’s research, they used the definition by StopBullying.Gov: 

Cyberbullying is bullying that takes place over digital devices like cell phones, computers, and tablets. Cyberbullying can occur through SMS, Text, and apps, or online in social media, forums, or gaming where people can view, participate in, or share content. Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, or sharing negative, harmful, false, or mean content about someone else. It can include sharing personal or private information about someone else causing embarrassment or humiliation. Some cyberbullying crosses the line into unlawful or criminal behaviour.  

McAfee’s definition was then expanded to include specific acts of cyberbullying, such as: 

  • flaming – online arguments that can include personal attacks 
  • outing – disclosing someone’s sexual orientation without their consent  
  • trolling – intentionally trying to instigate a conflict through antagonistic messages 
  • doxing – publishing private or identifying information without someone’s consent  

Along with other acts, including:  

  • name calling  
  • spreading false rumours  
  • sending explicit images or messages  
  • cyberstalking, harassment, and physical threats  
  • exclusion from group chats and conversation 

Now, I appreciate that reading your children several minutes of definitions may not be very helpful. So, instead, keep it simple and amend the above to make it age appropriate for your kids. You may choose to say that it is when someone is being mean online, if your kids are very young. But if you have tweens in the house then I think more details would be important. The goal here is for them to understand at what point they shouldn’t accept bad behaviour online.  

5. Give Them An Action Plan For When They Experience Bad Behaviour Online  

As soon as your kids are actively engaged with others online, they need to have an action plan in case things go awry – probably around 6-7 years of age. In fact, I consider this to be a golden time in parenting – a time when your kids are receptive to your advice and often keen to please. So, this is when you need to help them establish good practices and habits that will hold them in good stead. This is what I would instil: 

  • If someone makes you feel upset when you are online, you need to tell a trusted adult 
  • Save a copy of the interaction, perhaps take a screenshot. Ensure they know how to do this. 
  • Block the sender or delete them from your contacts. 
  • Report the behaviour to the school, the police or the eSafety Commissioner’s Office, if necessary 

Now, of course not all bad behaviour online will be defined as cyberbullying – remember we all see the world through different lenses. However, what’s important here is that your kids ask for help when they experience something that makes them feel uncomfortable. And while we all hope that it is unlikely that you will need to escalate any interactions to the police or the eSafety Commissioner, knowing what the course of action is in case things get out of hand is essential.  

6. Make Empathy A Priority  

There is so much research on the connection between the lack of empathy and bullying behaviours. In her book Unselfie, Parenting expert Michelle Borba explains that we are in the midst of an ‘empathy crisis’ which is contributing to bullying behaviour. She believes teens today are far less empathetic than they were 30 years ago. Teaching your kids to ‘walk in someone’s else’s shoes’, consider how others feel and have a focus on compassion will go a long way to developing an empathetic lens. You can read more about helping develop empathy in your child here.  

There is no doubt that cyberbullying is one of the biggest parenting challenges of our generation and, unfortunately, it isn’t going to disappear anytime soon. So, get ahead of the problem – teach your kids about kindness from a young age, create an open family communication culture, make empathy a priority in your family and give them an action plan in case things get tricky online. But most importantly, always listen to your gut. If you think things aren’t right with your kids – if they don’t want to go to school, seem emotional after using their devices or their behaviour suddenly changes, then do some digging. My gut has never let me down!     

Take care 

Alex  

The post What You Do Now To Protect Your Child From Cyberbullying appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Cyberattackers Make Waves in Hotel Swimming Pool Controls

By Dark Reading Staff, Dark Reading
Pool controllers exposed to the Internet with default passwords let threat actors tweak pool pH levels, and potentially more.

  • September 19th 2022 at 18:12
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