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For the first time in I don't know how long, I couldn't do this live. Turns out both cell and wifi in Lapland are, with the benefit of hindsight, exactly what you'd expect from a remote location in the Arctic circle. The rest of the place was pretty amazing though, and a good deal of this week's content has gone to that. Plus, there's the whole "Australia becoming the world's most cyber-secure country" goal which deserves discussion. Oh - and the tweet with that pic I discuss - I'll just leave that one here 😊
Sometimes, life feels like a fairytale. This is now my favourite photo ever ❤️ pic.twitter.com/lspKwVVSly
— Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) December 9, 2022
In December 2021, Google filed a civil lawsuit against two Russian men thought to be responsible for operating Glupteba, one of the Internet’s largest and oldest botnets. The defendants, who initially pursued a strategy of counter suing Google for interfering in their sprawling cybercrime business, later brazenly offered to dismantle the botnet in exchange for payment from Google. The judge in the case was not amused, found for the plaintiff, and ordered the defendants and their U.S. attorney to pay Google’s legal fees.
A slide from a talk given in Sept. 2022 by Google researcher Luca Nagy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gz6_I-wl0E&t=6s
Glupteba is a rootkit that steals passwords and other access credentials, disables security software, and tries to compromise other devices on the victim network — such as Internet routers and media storage servers — for use in relaying spam or other malicious traffic.
Collectively, the tens of thousands of systems infected with Glupteba on any given day feed into a number of major cybercriminal businesses: The botnet’s proprietors sell the credential data they steal, use the botnet to place disruptive ads on the infected computers, and mine cryptocurrencies. Glupteba also rents out infected systems as “proxies,” directing third-party traffic through the infected devices to disguise the origin of the traffic.
In June 2022, KrebsOnSecurity showed how the malware proxy services RSOCKS and AWMProxy were entirely dependent on the Glupteba botnet for fresh proxies, and that the founder of AWMProxy was Dmitry Starovikov — one of the Russian men named in Google’s lawsuit.
Google sued Starovikov and 15 other “John Doe” defendants, alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, trademark and unfair competition law, and unjust enrichment.
In June, Google and the named defendants agreed that the case would proceed as a nonjury action because Google had withdrawn its claim for damages — seeking only injunctive relief to halt the operations of the botnet.
The defendants, who worked for a Russian firm called “Valtron” that was also named in the lawsuit, told Google that they were interested in settling. The defendants said they could potentially help Google by taking the botnet offline.
Another slide from Google researcher Luca Nagy’s September 2022 talk on Glupteba.
But the court expressed frustration that the defendants were unwilling to consent to a permanent injunction, and at the same time were unable to articulate why an injunction forbidding them from engaging in unlawful activities would pose a problem.
“The Defendants insisted that they were not engaged in criminal activity, and that any alleged activity in which they were engaged was legitimate,” U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote wrote. “Nevertheless, the Defendants resisted entry of a permanent injunction, asserting that Google’s use of the preliminary injunction had disrupted their normal business operations.”
While the defendants represented that they had the ability to dismantle the Glupteba botnet, when it came time for discovery — the stage in a lawsuit where both parties can compel the production of documents and other information pertinent to their case — the attorney for the defendants told the court his clients had been fired by Valtron in late 2021, and thus no longer had access to their work laptops or the botnet.
The lawyer for the defendants — New York-based cybercrime defense attorney Igor Litvak — told the court he first learned about his clients’ termination from Valtron on May 20, a fact Judge Cote said she found “troubling” given statements he made to the court after that date representing that his clients still had access to the botnet.
The court ultimately suspended the discovery process against Google, saying there was reason to believe the defendants sought discovery only “to learn whether they could circumvent the steps Google has taken to block the malware.”
On September 6, Litvak emailed Google that his clients were willing to discuss settlement.
“The parties held a call on September 8, at which Litvak explained that the Defendants would be willing to provide Google with the private keys for Bitcoin addresses associated with the Glupteba botnet, and that they would promise not to engage in their alleged criminal activity in the future (without any admission of wrongdoing),” the judge wrote.
“In exchange, the Defendants would receive Google’s agreement not to report them to law enforcement, and a payment of $1 million per defendant, plus $110,000 in attorney’s fees,” Judge Cote continued. “The Defendants stated that, although they do not currently have access to the private keys, Valtron would be willing to provide them with the private keys if the case were settled. The Defendants also stated that they believe these keys would help Google shut down the Glupteba botnet.”
Google rejected the defendants’ offer as extortionate, and reported it to law enforcement. Judge Cote also found Litvak was complicit in the defendants’ efforts to mislead the court, and ordered him to join his clients in paying Google’s legal fees.
“It is now clear that the Defendants appeared in this Court not to proceed in good faith to defend against Google’s claims but with the intent to abuse the court system and discovery rules to reap a profit from Google,” Judge Cote wrote.
Litvak has filed a motion to reconsider (PDF), asking the court to vacate the sanctions against him. He said his goal is to get the case back into court.
“The judge was completely wrong to issue sanctions,” Litvak said in an interview with KrebsOnSecurity. “From the beginning of the case, she acted as if she needed to protect Google from something. If the court does not decide to vacate the sanctions, we will have to go to the Second Circuit (Court of Appeals) and get justice there.”
In a statement on the court’s decision, Google said it will have significant ramifications for online crime, and that since its technical and legal attacks on the botnet last year, Google has observed a 78 percent reduction in the number of hosts infected by Glupteba.
“While Glupteba operators have resumed activity on some non-Google platforms and IoT devices, shining a legal spotlight on the group makes it less appealing for other criminal operations to work with them,” reads a blog post from Google’s General Counsel Halimah DeLaine Prado and vice president of engineering Royal Hansen. “And the steps [Google] took last year to disrupt their operations have already had significant impact.”
A report from the Polish computer emergency response team (CERT Orange Polksa) found Glupteba was the biggest malware threat in 2021.
We're in Copenhagen! Scott and family joined us in Oslo for round 2 of wedding celebrations this week before jumping on the ferry to Copenhagen and seeing the sights here. There's lots of cyber things in this week's vid relating to HIBP's birthday, Medibank and financial penalties for breaches, but I'm just going to leave you with one of the most amazing moments of my life captured in pics:
🇳🇴 ❤️ 👰♀️ 🤵 pic.twitter.com/pPY49DArIF
— Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) December 2, 2022
Do yourself a favor: Open a new browser tab and head to your search engine of choice. Type in your full name and home address. Then, see what pops up.
Are the results sparking an ember of unease in the back of your brain? Whether you’re a private person online or you’re comfortable sharing your daily life updates on social media, there are likely to be several personal details about you on sites that shouldn’t have that information. Some of these sites may be data brokerage websites.
Data brokerage sites are legal and are mostly used by annoying advertisers, though cybercriminals may also use them maliciously. The average person has their information for sale on 31 data brokerage sites, and 95% of people have their personal information on sale without their permission.
So how do you scrub the internet of your personal details to keep your identity secure? McAfee Personal Data Cleanup is a service that prevents your personal information from being collected and sold online. Here’s why you should consider taking a few easy steps now to give you peace of mind about the security of your personally identifiable information (PII).
Attack surface is a term usually applied to corporate security, but it’s a great visualization for everyday people going about their personal online errands and entertainment. An attack surface is the number of possible entry points a cybercriminal could weasel their way through to get at your valuable and private information. Entry points include your social media profiles, your online shopping accounts, and data brokerage sites. The fewer entry points you have, the harder it is for cybercriminals to find and exploit them.
While Social Security Numbers (SSNs) are generally revered as the piece of PII to guard most closely, a cybercriminal can still damage your identity with just your name and an address, email address, or phone number. For example, they can request new passwords or multifactor authentication one-time passcodes to break their way into online banking or shopping accounts. Security breaches are happening to huge companies all over the world. All it takes is for your SSN to be leaked in one of them, for a cybercriminal to piece together your digital clone and use it to harm your identity or credit.
Personal Data Cleanup minimizes your attack surface by removing as much PII as possible that’s floating around the internet, just waiting for someone to buy it.
When you’re aware of how many unauthorized vendors are selling your PII, it could be the wakeup call you need start adopting more cautious online habits. For instance, oversharing on social media leaks a lot of valuable details that a savvy criminal can then use to take educated guesses at your passwords or craft a social engineering plot catered just to you.
The present is as good a time as any to start protecting your identity for the future; however, getting started is often the most difficult step. It can seem overwhelming to reach out to every data brokerage site individually and request they remove your info. Personal Data Cleanup can be your partner not only in beginning the cleanup process but in monitoring your data security to keep your online presence as minimal as possible. The service scans the internet’s riskiest sites and then, before deleting your information from these sites, runs it by you to confirm. Then, it will continually monitor those same sites, as your information will likely reappear every two to four months.
Do not underestimate the tenacity of a cybercriminal. Even for people who have the attitude that their PII is bound to be somewhere online and that it’s no big deal, McAfee Personal Data Cleanup manages three key steps in the data removal process: scanning, removing, and monitoring. So, even if you’re not convinced that data brokerage sites are a threat, the process is too easy to put off any longer!
For those who are concerned about their online privacy, full-service Personal Data Cleanup is included in McAfee+ Ultimate, which is the complete package to let you live your online life in private. McAfee+ Ultimate also includes identity monitoring and identity theft resolution services, unlimited VPN, credit lock, and much more.
In 2021, more than 1.4 million identity theft complaints were filed to the Federal Trade Commission.1 Identity theft can occur to anyone, so take steps today, starting with data brokerage sites, to live a more secure and more private digital life.
1Federal Trade Commission, “New Data Shows FTC Received 2.8 Million Fraud Reports from Consumers in 2021”
The post McAfee Personal Data Cleanup: Your Partner in Living a More Private Online Life appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Finally, after nearly 3 long years, I'm back in Norway! We're here at last, leaving our sunny paradise for a winter wonderland. It's almost surreal given how much has happened in that time, not just the pandemic but returning to Oslo with Charlotte as my Norwegian wife is super cool 😎 Other things this week are not so different, namely people complaining on Twitter (albeit also complaining about Twitter). As I find myself continually caveating, YMMV but it does feel like events are being overly dramatised by some at present. Time will tell, but I think we'll all still be using the platform to complain about things just as effectively in a year from now as we are today 🙂
What color jersey will you be sporting this November and December? The World Cup is on its way to television screens around the world, and scores of fans are dreaming of cheering on their team at stadiums throughout Qatar. Meanwhile, cybercriminals are dreaming of stealing the personally identifiable information (PII) of fans seeking last-minute vacation and ticket deals.
Don’t let the threat of phishers and online scammers dampen your team spirit this World Cup tournament. Here are three common schemes cybercriminals will likely employ and a few tips to help you dribble around their clumsy offense and protect your identity, financial information, and digital privacy.
Phishers will be out in full force attempting to capitalize on World Cup fever. People wrapped up in the excitement may jump on offers that any other time of the year they would treat with skepticism. For example, in years past, fake contests and travel deals inundated email inboxes across the world. Some companies do indeed run legitimate giveaways, and cybercriminals slip in their phishing attempts among them.
If you receive an email or text saying that you’re the winner of a ticket giveaway, think back: Did you even enter a contest? If not, treat any “winner” notification with skepticism. It’s very rare for a company to automatically enter people into a drawing. Usually, companies want you to act – subscribe to a newsletter or engage with a social media post, for example – in exchange for your entry into their contest. Also, beware of emails that urge you to respond within a few hours to “claim your prize.” While it’s true that real contest winners must reply promptly, organized companies will likely give you at least a day if not longer to acknowledge receipt.
Traveling is rarely an inexpensive endeavor. Flights, hotels, rental cars, dining costs, and tourist attraction admission fees add up quickly. In the case of this year’s host country, Qatar, there’s an additional cost for American travelers: visas.
If you see package travel deals to the World Cup that seem too good to pass up … pass them up. Fake ads for ultra-cheap flights, hotels, and tickets may appear not only in your email inbox but also on your social media feed. Just because it’s an ad doesn’t mean it comes from a legitimate company. Legitimate travel companies will likely have professional-looking websites with clear graphics and clean website copy. Search for the name of the organization online and see what other people have to say about the company. If no search results appear or the website looks sloppy, proceed with caution or do not approach at all.
Regarding visas, be wary of anyone offering to help you apply for a visa. There are plenty of government-run websites that’ll walk you through the process, which isn’t difficult as long as you leave enough time for processing. Do not send your physical passport to anyone who is not a confirmed government official.
Even fans who’ve given up on watching World Cup matches in person aren’t out of the path of scams. Sites claiming to have crystal clear streams of every game could be malware spreaders in disguise. Malware and ransomware targeting home computers often lurk on sketchy sites. All it takes is a click on one bad link to let a cybercriminal or a virus into your device.
Your safest route to good-quality live game streams is through the official sites of your local broadcasting company or the official World Cup site. You may have to pay a fee, but in the grand scheme of things, that fee could be a lot less expensive than replacing or repairing an infected device.
Here’s an excellent rule to follow with any electronic correspondence: Never send anyone your passwords, routing and account number, passport information, or Social Security Number. A legitimate organization will never ask for your password, and it’s best to communicate any sensitive financial or identifiable information over the phone, not email or text as they can easily fall into the wrong hands. Also, do not wire large sums of money to someone you just met online.
Don’t let scams ruin your enjoyment of this year’s World Cup! With these tips, you should be able to avoid the most common schemes but to boost your confidence in your online presence, consider signing up for McAfee+. Think of McAfee+ as the ultimate goalkeeper who’ll block any cybercriminals looking to score on you. With identity monitoring, credit lock, unlimited VPN and antivirus, and more, you can surf safely and with peace of mind.
The post Watch Out for These 3 World Cup Scams appeared first on McAfee Blog.
It's very strange to have gone 1,051 days without spending more than a few hours apart, but here we are... very temporarily:
Only 15,501km away 😢 And only 4 days until I head back to Oslo 😊 pic.twitter.com/PDn1Syplig
— Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) November 20, 2022
Which means that right now, I'm throwing myself into a gazillion other things to keep me busy including how schools advise parents to manage devices, wrapping gup that HTML signature, asking probing questions about paying ransoms and, unbelievably, fighting off the most ridiculous claim of HIBP having been P'd. That last one especially, FFS, just listen...
Following up on our previous blog, How to Stop the Popups, McAfee Labs saw a sharp decrease in the number of deceptive push notifications reported by McAfee consumers running Microsoft’s Edge browser on Windows.
Such browser-delivered push messages appear as toaster pop-ups in the tray above the system clock and are meant to trick users into taking various actions, such as installing software, purchasing a subscription, or providing personal information.
Upon further investigation, this major drop seems to be associated with a change in the behavior of the Edge browser with two notable improvements over older versions.
First, when users visit websites known to deliver deceptive push notifications, Edge blocks authorization prompts that could trick users into opting-in to receive popups:
Second, when unwanted popups do occur, it is now easier than ever to disable them, on a per-site basis. Users can simply click the three dots (…) on the right of the notification and choose to “Turn off all notifications for” the domain responsible for the popup.
This is a great improvement over the previous experience of having to manually navigate browser settings to achieve the desired result.
Earlier this year, 9TO5Google reported a Chrome code change may be indicative of a similar crack down by Google on nefarious popups.
One can hope Google will follow Microsoft’s example to improve browser security and usability.
The post Microsoft’s Edge over Popups (and Google Chrome) appeared first on McAfee Blog.
puppi-car-1200
What a week to pick to be in Canberra. Planned well before things got cyber-crazy in Australia, I spent a few days catching up with folks in our capital and talking to the Australia Federal Police for scam awareness week. That it coincided with the dumping of Medibank customer health records made it an especially interesting time to talk with police, politicians and industry leaders. A bit of a bizarre, whirlwind week if I'm honest, but full of very positive encounters even though it coincided with such a demanding time for many of us in this industry down here.
A nonprofit organization is suing the state of Massachusetts on behalf of thousands of low-income families who were collectively robbed of more than a $1 million in food assistance benefits by card skimming devices secretly installed at cash machines and grocery store checkout lanes across the state. Federal law bars states from replacing these benefits using federal funds, and a recent rash of skimming incidents nationwide has disproportionately affected those receiving food assistance via state-issued prepaid debit cards.
The Massachusetts SNAP benefits card looks more like a library card than a payment card.
On Nov. 4, The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of low-income families whose Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were stolen from their accounts. The SNAP program serves over a million people in Massachusetts, and 41 million people nationally.
“Over the past few months, thieves have stolen over a million SNAP dollars from thousands of Massachusetts families – putting their nutrition and economic stability at risk,” the MLRI said in a statement on the lawsuit. “The criminals attach a skimming device on a POS (point of sale) terminal to capture the household’s account information and PIN. The criminals then use that information to make a fake card and steal the SNAP benefits.”
In announcing the lawsuit, the MRLI linked to a story KrebsOnSecurity published last month that examined how skimming thieves increasingly are targeting SNAP payment card holders nationwide. The story looked at how the vast majority of SNAP benefit cards issued by the states do not include the latest chip technology that makes it more difficult and expensive for thieves to clone them.
The story also highlighted how SNAP cardholders usually have little recourse to recover any stolen funds — even in unlikely cases where the victim has gathered mountains of proof to show state and federal officials that the fraudulent withdrawals were not theirs.
Deborah Harris is a staff attorney at the MLRI. Harris said the goal of the lawsuit is to force Massachusetts to reimburse SNAP skimming victims using state funds, and to convince The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) — which funds the program that states draw from — to change its policies and allow states to replace stolen benefits with federal funds.
“Ultimately we think it’s the USDA that needs to step up and tell states they have a duty to restore the stolen benefits, and that USDA will cover the cost at least until there is better security in place, such as chip cards,” Harris told KrebsOnSecurity.
“The losses we’re talking about are relatively small in the scheme of total SNAP expenditures which are billions,” she said. “But if you are a family that can’t pay for food because you suddenly don’t have money in your account, it’s devastating for the family.”
The USDA has not said it will help states restore the stolen funds. But on Oct. 31, 2022, the agency released guidance (PDF) whose primary instructions were included in an appendix titled, Card Security Options Available to Households. Notably, the USDA did not mention the idea of shifting to chip-based SNAP benefits cards.
The recently issued USDA guidance.
“The guidance generally continues to make households responsible for preventing the theft of their benefits as well as for suffering the loss when benefits are stolen through no fault of the household,” Harris said. “Many of the recommendations are not practical for households who don’t have a smartphone to receive text messages and aren’t able to change their PIN after each transaction and keep track of the new PIN.”
Harris said three of the four recommendations are not currently available in Massachusetts, and they are very likely not currently available in other states. For example, she said, Massachusetts households do not have the option of freezing or locking their cards between transactions. Nor do they receive alerts about transactions. And they most certainly don’t have any way to block out-of-state transactions.
“Perhaps these are options that [card] processors and states could provide, but they are not available now as far as we know,” Harris said. “Most likely they would take time to implement.”
The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) recently published Five Ways State Agencies Can Support EBT Users at Risk of Skimming. CLASP says while it is true states can’t use federal funds to replace benefits unless the loss was due to a “system error,” states could use their own funds.
“Doing so will ensure families don’t have to go without food, gas money, or their rent for the month,” CLASP wrote.
That would help address the symptoms of card skimming, but not a root cause. Hardly anyone is suggesting the obvious, which is to equip SNAP benefit cards with the same security technology afforded to practically everyone else participating in the U.S. banking system.
There are several reasons most state-issued SNAP benefit cards do not include chips. For starters, nobody says they have to. Also, it’s a fair bit more expensive to produce chip cards versus plain old magnetic stripe cards, and many state assistance programs are chronically under-funded. Finally, there is no vocal (or at least well-heeled) constituency advocating for change.
A copy of the class action complaint filed by the MLRI is available here.
Authored by: Christy Crimmins and Oliver Devane
Football (or Soccer as we call it in the U.S.) is the most popular sport in the world, with over 3.5 billion fans across the globe. On November 20th, the men’s World Cup kicks off (pun intended) in Qatar. This event, a tournament played by 32 national teams every four years, determines the sport’s world champion. It will also be one of the most-watched sporting events of at least the last four years (since the previous World Cup).
An event with this level of popularity and interest also attracts fraudsters and cyber criminals looking to capitalize on fans’ excitement. Here’s how to spot these scams and stay penalty-free during this year’s tournament.
Phishing is a tool that cybercriminals have used for years now. Most of us are familiar with the telltale signs—misspelled words, poor grammar, and a sender email whose email address makes no sense or whose phone number is unknown. But excitement and anticipation can cloud our judgment. What football fan wouldn’t be tempted to win a free trip to see their home team participate in the ultimate tournament? Cybercriminals are betting that this excitement will cloud fans’ judgment, leading them to click on nefarious links that ultimately download malware or steal personal information.
It’s important to realize that these messages can come via a variety of channels, including email, text messages, (also known as smishing) and other messaging channels like WhatsApp and Telegram. No matter what the source is, it’s essential to remain vigilant and pause to think before clicking links or giving out personal or banking information.
For more information on phishing and how to spot a phisher, see McAfee’s “What is Phishing?” blog.
According to ActionFraud, the UK’s national reporting center for fraud and cybercrime, thousands of people were victims of ticket fraud in 2019—and that’s just in the UK. Ticket fraud is when someone advertises tickets for sale, usually through a website or message board, collects the payment and then disappears, without the buyer ever receiving the ticket.
The World Cup is a prime (and lucrative) target for this type of scam, with fans willing to pay thousands of dollars to see their teams compete. Chances are most people have their tickets firmly in hand (or digital wallet) by now, but if you’re planning to try a last-minute trip, beware of this scam and make sure that you’re using a legitimate, reputable ticket broker. To be perfectly safe, stick with well-known ticket brokers and those who offer consumer protection. Also beware of sites that don’t accept debit or credit cards and only accept payment in the form of bitcoin or wire transfers such as the one on the fake ticket site below:
The red box on the right image shows that the ticket site accepts payment via Bitcoin.
Other red flags to look out for are websites that ask you to contact them to make payment and the only contact information is via WhatsApp.
Let’s be realistic—most of us are going to have to settle for watching the World Cup from the comfort of our own home, or the pub down the street. If you’re watching the tournament online, be sure that you’re using a legitimate streaming service. A quick Google of “FIFA World Cup 2022 Official Streaming” along with your country should get you the information you need to safely watch the event through official channels. The FIFA site itself is also a good source of information.
Illegal streaming sites usually contain deceptive ads and malware which can cause harm to your device.
In countries or regions where sports betting is legal, the 2022 World Cup is expected to drive an increase in activity. There’s no shortage of things to bet on, from a simple win/loss to the exact minute a goal will be scored by a particular player. Everything is subject to wager.
As with our previous examples, this increase in legitimate gambling brings with it an increase in deceptive activity. Online betting scams often start when users are directed to or search for gambling site and end up on a fraudulent one. After placing their bets and winning, users realize that while they may have “won” money, they are unable to withdraw it and are even sometimes asked to deposit even more money to make winnings available, and even then, they still won’t be. By the end of this process, the bettor has lost all their initial money (and then some, potentially) as well as any personal information they shared on the site.
Like other scams, users should be wary of sites that look hastily put together or are riddled with errors. Your best bet (yes, again, pun intended) is to look for an established online service that is approved by your government or region’s gaming commission. Finally, reading the fine print on incentives or bonuses is always a good idea. If something sounds too good to be true, it’s best to double-check.
For more on how you can bet online safely, and for details on how legalized online betting works in the U.S., check out our blog on the topic.
Using a free public Wi-Fi connection is risky. User data on these networks is unprotected, which makes it vulnerable to cyber criminals. Whether you’re traveling to Qatar for a match or watching the them with friends at your favorite pub, if you’re connecting to a public Wi-Fi connection, make sure you use a trusted VPN connection.
For more information on scams, visit our scam education page. Hopefully, with these tips, you’ll be able to enjoy and participate in some of the World Cup festivities, after all, fun is the goal!
The post Don’t Get Caught Offsides with These World Cup Scams appeared first on McAfee Blog.
I feel like life is finally complete: I have beaches, sunshine and fast internet! (Yes, and of course an amazing wife, but that goes without saying 😊) For the folks asking via various channels, the speed is not exactly symmetrical at 1000/400 and I'm honestly not sure why that's the case here in Australia. I also had to shell out quite a bit extra to go from 50 up to a "business" plan of 400 up, but with the volumes of data I ship around it'll make a pretty big difference to the way I work over time. Also this week, much more on the work we're doing with HIBP from pricing the annual plans to a proper support system via Zendesk. I'm really hoping that by next week's update we'll have shipped the new rate limits too, stay tuned for that but for now, here's number 320:
Geez we've been getting hammered down here: Optus, MyDeal, Vinomofo, Medibank and now Australian Clinical Labs. It's crazy how much press interest there's been down here and whilst I think some of it is a bit hyperbolic, bringing the issue to the forefront and ensuring it's being discussed is certainly a good thing. Anyway, let's see what happens between now and next week's video, at this rate there'll be at least one more major Aussie breach to talk about!
Aussie breachapalooza! That what it feels like this week between Optus (ok, it was weeks ago but it's still in the news), Vinomofo, My Deal and the mother of all of them (at least as far as media interest goes), Medibank. That last one totally smashed my week out with unprecedented press enquiries, so is it any wonder I totally missed the Microsoft one? I read through that last one live in this week's video and as you'll hear, a breach of any kind is never a good look but what stands out for me about this one isn't the breach itself, rather the marketing effort SOCRadar has made around it. As I say in the video, it just feels... icky. See if you agree.
I decided to do something a bit different this week and mostly just answer questions from my talk at GOTO Copenhagen last week. I wasn't actually in Denmark this time, but a heap of really good questions came through and as I started reading them, I thought "this would actually make for a really good weekly update". So here we are, and those questions then spurned on a whole heap more from the live audience too so this week's video became one large Q&A. I hope you enjoy this one, let me know if I should do more of these in the future.
Geez it's nice to be home 😊 It's nice to live in a home that makes you feel that way when returning from a place as beautiful as Bali 😊 This week's video is dominated by the whole discussion around this tweet:
I love that part of the Microsoft Security Score for Identity in Azure improves your score if you *don't* enforce password rotation, what a sign of the times! Who out there still works somewhere that forces rotation (because "reasons")? pic.twitter.com/a2yQQvNRpa
— Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) October 6, 2022
I love this for the way it throws traditional logic out the window, logic we all knew sucked and I suspect the massive engagement the tweet drove is due to precisely that: Microsoft giving us all a good reason to whinge about a sucky practice that still prevails so broadly. So... I hope you enjoy listening to just how bad enforced password rotation sucks 😊
How's this weeks video for a view?! It's a stunning location here in Bali and it's just been the absolute most perfect spot for a honeymoon, especially after weeks of guests and celebrations. But whoever hacked and ransom'd Optus didn't care about me taking time out and I've done more media in the last week than I have in a long time. I don't mind, it's a fascinating story the way this has unfolded and that's where most of the time in this week's video has gone, I hope you enjoy my analysis of what has become a pretty crazy story back home in Australia.
FreshRSS 