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Cybercriminals are often seen as having the upper hand over the “white hat” community. After all, they’re anonymous, can launch attacks from virtually anywhere in the world, and usually have the element of surprise. But there’s one secret weapon the good guys have: Collaboration. That’s why Trend Micro has always prioritized its partnerships with law enforcement, academia, governments and other cybersecurity businesses.
We’re proud to have contributed to yet another successful collaborative operation with INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation (IGCI) in Singapore that’s helped to reduce the number of users infected by cryptomining malware by 78%.
Cryptomining On The Rise
Also known as cryptojacking, these attacks have become an increasingly popular way for cybercriminals to make money.
Why?
Because victims don’t know they’ve been infected. The malware sits on their machine in the background mining for digital currency 24/7/365. Increasingly, hackers have taken to launching sophisticated attacks against enterprise IT systems and cloud servers to increase their mining and earning potential. But many still target home computer systems like routers, as these are often left relatively unprotected. Stitch enough of these devices together in a botnet and they have a ready-made cash cow.
That’s why cryptojacking remained the most detected threat in the first half of 2019 in terms of file-based threat components, according to our data.
Unlike serious data breaches, phishing attacks, ransomware and banking Trojans, cryptojacking doesn’t have major impact on the victim. They don’t lose sensitive personal data, there’s no risk of follow-on identity fraud and they’re not extorted for funds by being locked out of their PC.
However, it’s not without consequences: Cryptomining malware can slow your home network to a crawl while running up serious energy bills. It may even bring your home computers to a premature end. Also, there’s always the risk with any kind of malware infection that hackers may switch tactics and use their footprint on your home machines to launch other attacks in the future.
Enter Operation Goldfish Alpha
That’s why we were keen to offer our assistance to INTERPOL during this year’s Operation Goldfish Alpha. Thanks to our broad global visibility into attack trends and infection rates, we were able to articulate the scale of the cryptojacking threat and key mitigation steps, at a pre-operation meeting with ASEAN law enforcement officers in June.
A few months later, we developed and disseminated a key Cryptojacking Mitigation and Prevention guidance document. It details how a vulnerability in MikroTik routers had exposed countless users in the region to the risk of compromise by cryptomining malware. The document explains how to scan for this flaw using Trend Micro HouseCall for Home Networks, and how HouseCall can be used to detect and delete the Coinhive JavaScript that hackers were using to mine for digital currency on infected PCs.
Spectacular Success
Over the five months of Operation Goldfish Alpha, experts from national Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) and police across 10 countries in the region worked to locate the infected routers, notify the victims and use our guidance document to patch the bugs and kick out the hackers.
Having helped to identify over 20,000 routers in the region that were hacked in this way, we’re delighted to say that by November, the number had reduced by at least 78%.
That’s the value of partnerships between law enforcement and private cybersecurity companies: They combine the power of investigative policing with the detailed subject matter expertise, visibility and resources of industry experts like us. We’ll continue to lend a hand wherever we can to make our connected, digital world a safer place.
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If the past couple of months have taught us anything, it’s that partnerships matter in times of crisis. We’re better, stronger and more resilient when we work together. Specifically, public-private partnerships matter in cybersecurity, which is why Trend Micro is always happy to reach out across industry, academia and law enforcement to offer its expertise.
We are again delighted to be working with long-time partner INTERPOL over the coming weeks on a new awareness campaign to help businesses and remote workers stay safe from a deluge of COVID-19 threats.
The new normal
All over the world, organizations have been forced to rapidly adjust to the new normal: social distancing, government lockdowns and mass remote working. While most have responded superbly to the challenge, there’s no denying that IT security teams and remote access infrastructure are being stretched to the limit. There are understandable concerns that home workers may be more distracted, and therefore likely to click on phishing links, and that their PCs and devices may not be as well protected as corporate equivalents.
At the same time, the bad guys have also reacted quickly to take advantage of the pandemic. Phishing campaigns using COVID as a lure have surged, spoofing health authorities, government departments and corporate senders. BEC attacks try to leverage the fact that home workers may not have colleagues around to check wire transfer requests. And remote infrastructure like RDP endpoints and VPNs are being targeted by ransomware attackers — even healthcare organizations that are simultaneously trying to treat critical patients infected with the virus.
Getting the basics right
That’s why Trend Micro has been pushing out regular updates — not only on the latest scams and threats we’re picking up around the globe, but also with advice on how to secure the newly distributed workforce. Things like improved password security, 2FA for work accounts, automatic software updates, regular back-ups, remote user training, and restricted use of VPNs can all help. We’re also offering six months free use of our flagship Trend Micro Maximum Security product to home workers.
Yet there’s always more to do. Getting the message across as far and wide as possible is where organizations like INTERPOL come in. That’s why we’re delighted to be teaming up with the global policing organization to run a new public awareness campaign throughout May. It builds on highly successful previous recent campaigns we’ve collaborated on, to tackle BEC and crypto-jacking.
This time, we’ll be resharing some key resources on social media to alert users to the range of threats out there, and what businesses and home workers can do to stay safe. And we’ll help to develop infographics and other new messages on how to combat ransomware, online scams, phishing and other threats.
We’re all doing what we can during these difficult days. But if some good can come from a truly terrible event like this, then it’s that we show our strength in the face of adversity. And by following best practices, we can make life much tougher for the cybercriminals looking to profit from tragedy.
The post Teaming up with INTERPOL to combat COVID-19 threats appeared first on .
The cybercrime economy is one of the runaway success stories of the 21st century — at least, for those who participate in it. Estimates claim it could be worth over $1 trillion annually, more than the GDP of many countries. Part of that success is due to its ability to evolve and shift as the threat landscape changes. Trend Micro has been profiling the underground cybercrime community for many years. Over the past five years, we’ve seen a major shift to new platforms, communications channels, products and services, as trust on the dark web erodes and new market demands emerge.
We also expect the current pandemic to create yet another evolution, as cyber-criminals look to take advantage of new ways of working and systemic vulnerabilities.
Shifts in the underground
Our latest report, Shifts in the Cybercriminal Underground Markets, charts the fascinating progress of cybercrime over the past five years, through detailed analysis of forums, marketplaces and dark web sites around the world. It notes that in many product areas, the cost of items has dropped as they become commoditised: so where in 2015 you expected to pay $1000 per months for crypting services, today they may be as little as $20.
In other areas, such as IoT botnets, cyber-propaganda and stolen gaming account credentials, prices are high as new products spark surging demand. Fortnite logins can sell for around $1,000 on average, for example.
The good news is that law enforcement action appears to be working. Trend Micro has long partnered with Interpol, Europol, national crime agencies and local police to provide assistance in investigations. So it’s good to see that these efforts are having an impact. Many dark web forums and marketplaces have been infiltrated and taken down over the past five years, and our researchers note that current users complain of DDoS-ing and log-in issues.
Cybercriminals have been forced to take extreme measures as trust erodes among the community, for example, by using gaming communications service Discord to arrange trades, and e-commerce platform Shoppy.gg to sell items. A new site called DarkNet Trust was even created to tackle this specific challenge: it aims to verify cybercrime vendors’ reputations by analysing their usernames and PGP fingerprints.
What does the future hold?
However, things rarely stay still on the cybercrime underground. Going forward, we expect to see a range of new tools and techniques flood dark web stores and forums. AI will be at the centre of these efforts. Just as it’s being used by Trend Micro and other companies to root out fraud, sophisticated malware and phishing, it could be deployed in bots designed to predict roll patterns on gambling sites. It could also be used in deepfake services developed to help buyers bypass photo ID systems, or launch sextortion campaigns against individuals.
Some emerging trends are less hi-tech but no less damaging. Log-ins for wearable devices could be stolen and used to request replacements under warranty, defrauding the customer and costing the manufacturers dear. In fact, access to devices, systems and accounts is so common today that we’re already seeing it spun out in “as-a-service” cybercrime offerings. Prices for access to Fortune 500 companies can hit as much as $10,000.
Post-pandemic threats
Then there’s COVID-19. We’re already seeing fraudsters targeted government stimulus money with fake applications, sometimes using phished information from legitimate businesses. And healthcare organisations are being targeted with ransomware as they battle to save lives.
Even as the pandemic recedes, remote working practices are likely to stay in many organisations. What does this mean for cybercrime? It means more targeting of VPN vulnerabilities with malware and DDoS services. And it means more opportunities to compromise corporate networks via connected home devices. Think of it like a kind of Reverse BYOD scenario – instead of bringing devices into work to connect, the corporate network is now merged with home networks.
Tackling such challenges will demand a multi-layered strategy predicated around that familiar trio: people, process and technology. It will require more training, better security for home workers, improved patch management and password security, and much more besides. But most of all it will demand continued insight into global cybercriminals and the platforms they inhabit, to anticipate where the next threats are coming from.
Fortunately, this is where Trend Micro’s expert team of researchers come in. We won’t let them out of our sight.
The post How the Cybercriminal Underground Has Changed in 5 Years appeared first on .
It started with one weird tweet. Then another. Quickly, some of the most prominent accounts on Twitter were all sending out the same message;
I am giving back to the community.
All Bitcoin sent to the address below will be sent back double! If you send $1,000, I will send back $2,000. Only doing this for 30 minutes.
[- BITCOIN WALLET ADDRESS -]
Are Apple, Elon Musk, Barrack Obama, Uber, Joe Biden, and a host of others participating in a very transparent bitcoin scheme?
No. Of course, not. The question was whether or not individual accounts were compromised or if something deeper was going on.
User Account Protection
These high profile accounts are prime targets for cybercriminals. They have a broad reach, and even a brief compromise of one of these accounts would significantly increase a hacker’s reputation in the underground.
That is why these accounts leverage the protections made available by Twitter in order to keep their accounts safe.
This means;
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While it’s believed that one or two of these accounts failed to take these measures, it’s highly unlikely that dozens and dozens of them did. So what happened?
Rumours Swirl
As with any public attack, the Twitter-verse (ironically) was abuzz with speculation. That speculation ramped up when Twitter took the reasonable step of preventing any verified account from tweeting for about three hours.
This step helped prevent any additional scam tweets from being published and further raised the profile of this attack.
While some might shy away from raising the profile of an attack, this was a reasonable trade-off to prevent further damage to affected accounts and to help prevent the attack from taking more ground.
This move also provided a hint as to what was going on. If individual accounts were being attacked, it’s unlikely that this type of movement would’ve done much to prevent the attacker from gaining access. However, if the attacker was accessing a backend system, this mitigation would be effective.
Had Twitter itself been hacked?
Occam’s Razor
When imagining attack scenarios, a direct breach of the main service is a scenario that is often examined in-depth, which is also why it is one of the most planned for scenarios.
Twitter — like any company — has challenges with its systems, but they center primarily around content moderation…their backend security is top-notch.
An example of this an incident in 2018. Twitter engineers made a mistake that meant anyone’s password could have been exposed in their internal logs. Just in case, Twitter urged everyone to reset their password.
While possible, it’s unlikely that Twitter’s backend systems were directly breached. There is a much simpler potential explanation: insider access.
Internal Screenshot
Quickly after the attack, some in the security community noticed a screenshot of an internal support tool from Twitter surfacing in underground discussion forums. This rare inside view showed what appeared to be what a Twitter support team member would see.
This type of access is dangerous. Very dangerous.
Joseph Cox’s article detailing the hack has a key quote,
“We used a rep that literally done all the work for us.”
Anonymous Source
What remains unclear is whether this is a case of social engineering (tricking a privileged insider into taking action) or a malicious insider (someone internally motivated to attack the system).
The difference is important for other defenders out there.
The investigation is ongoing, and Twitter continues to provide updates via @TwitterSupport;
Our investigation is still ongoing but here’s what we know so far:
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 16, 2020
Social Engineering
Donnie Sullivan from CNN has a fantastic interview with the legendary Rachel Tobac showing how simple social engineering can be and the dangerous impact it can have;
What is “social engineering,” you ask? @RachelTobac showed me. pic.twitter.com/TAw7FB1QPQ
— Donie O'Sullivan (@donie) July 16, 2020
If this attack was conducted through social engineering, the security team at Twitter would need to implement additional processes and controls to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.
Such a situation is what your team also needs to look at. While password resets, account closures, data transfers, and other critical processes are at particular risk of social engineering, financial transactions are atop the cybercriminal’s target list.
BEC—business email compromise—attacks accounted for USD 1.7 billion in losses in 2019 alone.
Adding additional side-channel confirmations, additional steps for verifications, firm and clear approvals and other process steps can help organizations mitigate these types of social engineering attacks.
Malicious Insider
If the attack turns out to be from a malicious insider. Defenders need to take a different approach.
Malicious insiders are both a security problem and human resource one.
From the security perspective, two key principles help mitigate the potential of these attacks;
Making sure that individuals only have the technical access needed to complete their assigned tasks, and only that access is key to limiting this potential attack. Combined with the smart separation of duties (one person to request a change, another to approval it), this significantly reduces the possibility of these attacks causing harm.
The other—and not often spoken of—side of these attacks is the reason behind the malicious intent. Some people are just malicious, and when presented with an opportunity, they will take it.
Other times, it’s an employee that feels neglected, passed over, or is disgruntled in some other way. A strong internal community, regular communication, and a strong HR program can help address these issues before they escalate to the point where aiding a cybercriminal becomes an enticing choice.
Support Risks
Underlying this whole situation is a more challenging issue; the level of access that support has to any given system.
It’s easy to think of a Twitter account as “yours.” It’s not. It’s part of a system run by a company that needs to monitor the health of the system, respond to support issues, and aid law enforcement when legally required.
All of these requirements necessitate a level of access that most don’t think about.
How often are you sharing sensitive information via direct message? Those messages are most likely accessible by support.
What’s to prevent them from accessing any given account or message at any time? We don’t know.
Hopefully, Twitter—and others—have clear guardrails (technical and policy-based) in place to prevent abuse of support access, and they regularly audit them.
It’s a hard balance to strike. User trust is at stake but also the viability of running a service.
Clear, transparent policies and controls are the keys to success here.
Abuse can be internal or external. Support teams typically have privileged access but are also among the lowest paid in the organization. Support—outside of the SRE community—is usually seen as entry-level.
These teams have highly sensitive access, and when things go south, can do a lot of harm. Again, the principles of least privilege, separation of duties, and a strong set of policies can help.
What’s Next?
In the coming days, more details of the attack will surface. In the meantime, the community is still struggling to reconcile the level of access gained and how it was used.
Getting access to some of the world’s most prominent accounts and then conducting a bitcoin scam? Based on the bitcoin transactions, it appears the cybercriminals made off with a little over USD 100,000. Not insignificant, but surely there were other opportunities?
Occam’s razor can help here again. Bitcoin scams and coin miners are the most direct method fo cybercriminals to capitalized on their efforts. Given the high profile nature of the attack, the time before the discovery was always going to be sure. This may have been the “safest” bet for the criminal(s) to profit from this hack.
In the end, it’s a lesson for users of social networks and other services; even if you take all of the reasonable security precautions, you are relying on the service itself to help protect you. That might not always hold true.
It’s a harsh reminder that the very tooling you put in place to run your service may be its biggest risk for service providers and defenders…a risk that’s often overlooked and underestimated.
In the end, Marques Brownlee sums it up succinctly;
Don't send Bitcoin to strangers.
— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) July 15, 2020
What do you think of this entire episode? Let’s talk about it—un-ironically—on Twitter, where I’m @marknca.
The post Twitter Hacked in Bitcoin Scam appeared first on .
Identifying security threats early can be difficult, especially when you’re running multiple security tools across disparate business units and cloud projects. When it comes to protecting cloud-native applications, separating legitimate risks from noise and distractions is often a real challenge.
That’s why forward-thinking organizations look at things a little differently. They want to help their application developers and security operations (SecOps) teams implement unified strategies for optimal protection. This is where a newly expanded partnership from Trend Micro and Snyk can help.
Dependencies create risk
In today’s cloud-native development streams, the insatiable need for faster iterations and time-to-market can impact both downstream and upstream workflows. As a result, code reuse and dependence on third-party libraries has grown, and with it the potential security, compliance and reputational risk organizations are exposing themselves to.
Just how much risk is associated with open source software today? According to Snyk research, vulnerabilities in open source software have increased 2.5x in the past three years. https://info.snyk.io/sooss-report-2020. What’s more, a recent report claimed to have detected a 430% year-on-year increase in attacks targeting open source components, with the end goal of infecting the software supply chain. While open source code is therefore being used to accelerate time-to-market, security teams are often unaware of the scope and impact this can have on their environments.
Managing open source risk
This is why cloud security leader Trend Micro, and Snyk, a specialist in developer-first open source security, have extended their partnership with a new joint solution. It’s designed to help security teams manage the risk of open source vulnerabilities from the moment code is introduced, without interrupting the software delivery process.
This ambitious achievement helps improve security for your operations teams without changing the way your developer teams work. Trend Micro and Snyk are addressing open source risks by simplifying a bottom-up approach to risk mitigation that brings together developer and SecOps teams under one unified solution. It combines state-of-the-art security technology with collaborative features and processes to eliminate the security blind spots that can impact development lifecycles and business outcomes.
Available as part of Trend Micro Cloud One, the new solution being currently co-developed with Snyk will:
This unified solution closes the gap between security teams and developers, providing immediate visibility across modern cloud architectures. Trend Micro and Snyk continue to deliver world class protection that fits the cloud-native development and security requirements of today’s application-focused organizations.
The post Removing Open Source Visibility Challenges for Security Operations Teams appeared first on .
Trend Micro Research has developed a go-to resource for all things related to cybercriminal underground hosting and infrastructure. Today we released the second in this three-part series of reports which detail the what, how, and why of cybercriminal hosting (see the first part here).
As part of this report, we dive into the common life cycle of a compromised server from initial compromise to the different stages of monetization preferred by criminals. It’s also important to note that regardless of whether a company’s server is on-premise or cloud-based, criminals don’t care what kind of server they compromise.
To a criminal, any server that is exposed or vulnerable is fair game.
Cloud vs. On-Premise Servers
Cybercriminals don’t care where servers are located. They can leverage the storage space, computation resources, or steal data no matter what type of server they access. Whatever is most exposed will most likely be abused.
As digital transformation continues and potentially picks up to allow for continued remote working, cloud servers are more likely to be exposed. Many enterprise IT teams, unfortunately, are not arranged to provide the same protection for cloud as on-premise servers.
As a side note, we want to emphasize that this scenario applies only to cloud instances replicating the storage or processing power of an on-premise server. Containers or serverless functions won’t fall victim to this same type of compromise. Additionally, if the attacker compromises the cloud account, as opposed to a single running instance, then there is an entirely different attack life cycle as they can spin up computing resources at will. Although this is possible, however, it is not our focus here.
Attack Red Flags
Many IT and security teams might not look for earlier stages of abuse. Before getting hit by ransomware, however, there are other red flags that could alert teams to the breach.
If a server is compromised and used for cryptocurrency mining (also known as cryptomining), this can be one of the biggest red flags for a security team. The discovery of cryptomining malware running on any server should result in the company taking immediate action and initiating an incident response to lock down that server.
This indicator of compromise (IOC) is significant because while cryptomining malware is often seen as less serious compared to other malware types, it is also used as a monetization tactic that can run in the background while server access is being sold for further malicious activity. For example, access could be sold for use as a server for underground hosting. Meanwhile, the data could be exfiltrated and sold as personally identifiable information (PII) or for industrial espionage, or it could be sold for a targeted ransomware attack. It’s possible to think of the presence of cryptomining malware as the proverbial canary in a coal mine: This is the case, at least, for several access-as-a-service (AaaS) criminals who use this as part of their business model.
Attack Life Cycle
Attacks on compromised servers follow a common path:
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The monetization lifecycle of a compromised server
Often, targeted ransomware is the final stage. In most cases, asset categorization reveals data that is valuable to the business but not necessarily valuable for espionage.
A deep understanding of the servers and network allows criminals behind a targeted ransomware attack to hit the company where it hurts the most. These criminals would know the dataset, where they live, whether there are backups of the data, and more. With such a detailed blueprint of the organization in their hands, cybercriminals can lock down critical systems and demand higher ransom, as we saw in our 2020 midyear security roundup report.
In addition, while a ransomware attack would be the visible urgent issue for the defender to solve in such an incident, the same attack could also indicate that something far more serious has likely already taken place: the theft of company data, which should be factored into the company’s response planning. More importantly, it should be noted that once a company finds an IOC for cryptocurrency, stopping the attacker right then and there could save them considerable time and money in the future.
Ultimately, no matter where a company’s data is stored, hybrid cloud security is critical to preventing this life cycle.
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During COVID-19, people stuck inside have scoured the internet for content to consume – often searching for free entertainment (movies, TV shows, and music) to avoid any extra costs. As these habits increase, so do the potential cyberthreats associated with free internet content – making our fourteenth Most Dangerous Celebrities study more relevant than ever.
To conduct our Most Dangerous Celebrities 2020 study, McAfee researched famous individuals to reveal which celebrities generate the most “dangerous” results – meaning those whose search results bring potentially malicious content to expose fans’ personal information.
Thanks to her recent starring roles, American actress Anna Kendrick has found herself at the top of McAfee’s 2020 Most Dangerous Celebrities list.
The Top Ten Most Dangerous Celebrities
You probably know Anna Kendrick from her popular roles in films like “Twilight,” Pitch Perfect,” and “A Simple Favor.” She also recently starred in the HBO Max series “Love Life,” as well as the 2020 children’s film “Trolls World Tour.” Kendrick is joined in the top ten list by fellow actresses Blake Lively (No. 3), Julia Roberts (No. 8), and Jason Derulo (No. 10). Also included in the top ten list are American singers Mariah Carey (No. 4), Justin Timberlake (No. 5), and Taylor Swift (No. 6). Rounding out the rest of the top ten are American rapper Sean (Diddy) Combs (No. 2), Kate McKinnon (No. 9), and late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel (No. 7).
Lights, Camera, Security
Many consumers don’t realize that simple internet searches of their favorite celebrities could potentially lead to malicious content, as cybercriminals often leverage these popular searches to entice fans to click on dangerous links. This year’s study emphasizes that consumers are increasingly searching for content, especially as they look for new forms of entertainment to stream amidst a global pandemic.
With a greater emphasis on streaming culture, consumers could potentially be led astray to malicious websites while looking for new shows and movies to watch. However, people must understand that torrent or pirated downloads can lead to an abundance of cyberthreats. If an unsuspecting user clicks on a malicious link while searching for their favorite celebrity film, their device could suddenly become plagued with adware or malware.
Whether you and your family are checking out your new favorite actress in her latest film or streaming a popular singer’s new album, it’s important to ensure that your searches aren’t potentially putting your online security at risk. Follow these tips so you can be a proactive fan while safeguarding your digital life:
Users looking for information on their favorite celebrities should be cautious and only click on links to reliable sources for downloads. The safest thing to do is to wait for official releases instead of visiting third-party websites that could contain malware.
When it comes to dangerous online behavior, using illegal streaming sites could wreak havoc on your device. Many illegal streaming sites are riddled with malware or adware disguised as pirated video files. Do yourself a favor and stream the show from a reputable source.
Safeguard yourself from cybercriminals with a comprehensive security solution like McAfee Total Protection. This can help protect you from malware, phishing attacks, and other threats.
Use a website reputation tool such as McAfee WebAdvisor, which alerts users when they are about to visit a malicious site.
Kids are fans of celebrities too, so ensure that limits are set for your child on their devices and use parental control software to help minimize exposure to potentially malicious or inappropriate websites.
To stay updated on all things McAfee and for more resources on staying secure from home, follow @McAfee_Home on Twitter, listen to our podcast Hackable?, and ‘Like’ us on Facebook.
The post Anna Kendrick Is McAfee’s Most Dangerous Celebrity 2020 appeared first on McAfee Blogs.
During COVID-19, people stuck inside have scoured the internet for content to consume – often searching for free entertainment (movies, TV shows, and music) to avoid any extra costs. As these habits increase, so do the potential cyber threats associated with free internet content – making our fourteenth Most Dangerous Celebrities study more relevant than ever.
To conduct our Most Dangerous Celebrities 2020 study, McAfee researched famous individuals to reveal which celebrities generate the most “dangerous” results – meaning those whose search results bring potentially malicious content to expose fans’ personal information. Owing to his international popularity and fan following that well resonates in India, Cristiano Ronaldo takes the top spot on the India edition of McAfee’s 2020 Most Dangerous Celebrities list.
Ronaldo is popular not only for his football skills, but also for his lifestyle, brand endorsements, yearly earnings, and large social media following, with fans devotedly tracking his every movement. This year, Ronaldo’s transfer to Juventus from Real Madrid for a reported £105M created quite a buzz, grabbing attention from football enthusiasts worldwide. Within the Top 10 list, Ronaldo is closely followed by veteran actress Tabu (No. 2) and leading Bollywood actresses, Taapsee Pannu, (No. 3) Anushka Sharma at (No. 4) and Sonakshi Sinha (No. 5). Also making the top ten is Indian singer Armaan Malik (No. 6), and young and bubbly actor Sara Ali Khan (No. 7). Rounding out the rest of the top ten are Indian actress Kangana Ranaut (No. 8), followed by popular TV soap actress Divyanka Tripathi (No. 9) and lastly, the King of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan (No. 10).
Many consumers don’t realize that simple internet searches of their favorite celebrities could potentially lead to malicious content, as cybercriminals often leverage these popular searches to entice fans to click on dangerous links. This year’s study emphasizes that consumers are increasingly searching for content, especially as they look for new forms of entertainment to stream amidst a global pandemic.
With a greater emphasis on streaming culture, consumers could potentially be led astray to malicious websites while looking for new shows, sports, and movies to watch. For example, Ronaldo is strongly associated with malicious search terms, as fans are constantly seeking news on his personal life, as well as searching for news on his latest deals with football clubs. In addition, users may be streaming live football matches through illegal streaming platforms to avoid subscription fees. If an unsuspecting user clicks on a malicious link while searching for their favorite celebrity related news, their device could suddenly become plagued with adware or malware.
Whether you and your family are checking out your new favorite actress in her latest film or streaming a popular singer’s new album, it’s important to ensure that your searches aren’t potentially putting your online security at risk. Follow these tips so you can be a proactive fan while safeguarding your digital life:
Users looking for information on their favorite celebrities should be cautious and only click on links to reliable sources for downloads. The safest thing to do is to wait for official releases instead of visiting third-party websites that could contain malware.
Refrain from using illegal streaming sites
When it comes to dangerous online behavior, using illegal streaming sites could wreak havoc on your device. Many illegal streaming sites are riddled with malware or adware disguised as pirated video files. Do yourself a favor and stream the show from a reputable source.
Protect your online safety with a cybersecurity solution
Safeguard yourself from cybercriminals with a comprehensive security solution like McAfee Total Protection. This can help protect you from malware, phishing attacks, and other threats.
Use a website reputation tool
Use a website reputation tool such as McAfee WebAdvisor, which alerts users when they are about to visit a malicious site.
Use parental control software
Kids are fans of celebrities too, so ensure that limits are set for your child on their devices and use parental control software to help minimize exposure to potentially malicious or inappropriate websites.
Stay Updated
To stay updated on all things McAfee and for more resources on staying secure from home, follow @McAfee_Home on Twitter, listen to our podcast Hackable?, and ‘Like’ us on Facebook.
The post Cristiano Ronaldo tops McAfee India’s Most Dangerous Celebrity 2020 List appeared first on McAfee Blogs.
2020 has certainly been the year for online entertainment. With many Aussies staying home to stay well, the internet and all its offerings have provided the perfect way for us all to pass time. From free movies and TV shows to the latest celebrity news, many of us have devoured digital content to entertain ourselves. But our love affair with online entertainment certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed by cybercriminals who have ‘pivoted’ in response and cleverly adapted their scams to adjust to our insatiable desire for content.
Cybercriminals are fully aware that we love searching for online entertainment and celebrity news and so devise their plans accordingly. Many create fake websites that promise users free content from a celebrity of the moment to lure unsuspecting Aussies in. But these malicious websites are purpose-built to trick consumers into sharing their personal information in exchange for the promised free content – and this is where many come unstuck!
McAfee, the world’s leading cybersecurity company, has researched which famous names generate the riskiest search results that could potentially trigger consumers to unknowingly install malware on their devices or unwillingly share their private information with cybercriminals.
And in 2020, English singer-songwriter Adele takes out the top honours as her name generates the most harmful links online. Adele is best known for smashing the music charts since 2008 with hit songs including ‘Rolling in the Deep’ and ‘Someone Like You’. In addition to her award-winning music, Adele is also loved for her funny and relatable personality, as seen on her talk show appearances (such as her viral ‘Carpool Karaoke’ segment) and concert footage. Most recently, her weight-loss and fitness journey have received mass media attention, with many trying to get to the bottom of her ‘weight-loss’ secrets.
Trailing Adele as the second most dangerous celebrity is actress and star of the 2020 hit show Stan ‘Love Life’ Anna Kendrick, followed by rapper Drake (no. 3), model and actress Cara Delevingne (no. 4), US TikTok star Charli D’Amelio (no. 5) and singer-songwriter Alicia Keys (no. 6). Rounding out the top ten are ‘Sk8r Boi’ singer Avril Lavigne (No. 7), New Zealand rising music star, Benee (no. 8), songstress Camila Cabello (no. 9), and global superstar, singer and actress Beyonce (no. 10).
Whether it was boredom or the fact that we just love a stickybeak, our love of celebrity news reached new heights this year with our many of us ‘needing’ to stay up to date with the latest gossip from our favourite public figures. Adele’s weight-loss journey (no.1), Drake’s first photos of ‘secret son’ Adonis (no. 4), and Cara Delevingne’s breakup with US actress Ashley Benson (no. 5), all had us Aussie fans flocking to the internet to search for the latest developments on these celebrity stories.
With many of us burning through catalogues of available movies and TV shows amid advice to stay at home, new release titles have definitely been the hottest ticket in town to stay entertained.
Rising to fame following her roles in ‘Twilight’ and musical comedy ‘Pitch Perfect’, Anna Kendrick (no. 2) starred in HBO Max series ‘Love Life’ which was released during the peak of COVID-19 in Australia, as well as the 2020 children’s film ‘Trolls World Tour’. R&B and pop megastar Beyonce (no. 10) starred in the 2019 remake of Disney cult classic ‘The Lion King’ and released a visual album ‘Black Is King’ in 2020.
While live concerts and festivals came to a halt earlier this year, many of us are still seeking music – both old and new – to help us navigate these unprecedented times. In fact, musicians make up 50% of the top 10 most dangerous celebrities – hailing from all genres, backgrounds and generations.
Canadian rapper Drake (No. 2) sparked fan interest by dropping his ‘Dark Lanes Demo Tapes’ album including hit songs ‘Chicago Freestyle’ and ‘Tootsie Slide’ that went massively viral on TikTok. New Zealand singer Benee also came out of the woodwork with viral sensations Supalonely and Glitter topping charts and reaching global popularity on TikTok.
Known for her enormously successful R&B/Soul music in the early 2000s, Alicia Keys (no. 6) released a string of new singles in 2020. Camila Cabello’s ‘Senorita’ duet with Canadian singer and now boyfriend Shawn Mendes, was Spotify’s most streamed song of 2019. The couple continued to attract copious attention as fans followed stories reporting on the lovebirds self-isolating together in Miami earlier this year.
Please don’t feel that getting caught by an ill-intentioned cybercrime is inevitable. If you follow these few simple tips, you can absolutely continue your love of online entertainment and all things celebrity:
If you are looking for new release music, movies or TV shows or even an update on your favourite celebrity then ALWAYS be cautious and only click on links to reliable sources. Avoid ‘dodgy’ looking websites that promise free content – I guarantee these sites will gift you a big dose of malware. The safest thing is to wait for official releases, use only legitimate streaming sites and visit reputable news sites.
Yes, illegal downloads are free but they are usually riddled with malware or adware disguised as mp3 files. Be safe and use only legitimate music streaming platforms – even if it costs a few bucks! Imagine how devastating it would be to lose access to everything on your computer thanks to a nasty piece of malware?
One of the best ways of safeguarding yourself (and your family) from cybercriminals is by investing in an comprehensive cybersecurity solution like McAfee’s Total Protection. This Rolls Royce cybersecurity package will protect you from malware, spyware, ransomware and phishing attacks. An absolute no brainer!
Kids love celebrities too! Parental control software allows you to introduce limits to your kids’ viewing which will help minimise their exposure to potentially malicious or inappropriate websites when they are searching for the latest new on TikTok star Charlie D’Amelio or go to download the latest Benee track.
I don’t know how my family of 6 would have survived this year without online entertainment. We’ve devoured the content from three different streaming services, listened to a record number of hours on Spotify and filled our heads with news courtesy of online news sites. And while things are looking up, it will be a while before life returns to normal. So, please take a little time to educate your family on the importance of ‘thinking before you click’ and the perils of illegal downloading. Let’s not make 2020 any more complicated!!
Stay safe everyone!
Alex x
The post How Searching For Your Favourite Celebrity May Not End Well appeared first on McAfee Blogs.
I’m pleased to report that I’ve achieved a number of personal bests in 2020 but the one I’m most proud about is my achievement in the highly skilled arena of online shopping. I’ve shopped online like I’m competing in the Olympics: groceries, homewares, clothing – even car parts! And my story is not unique. Living with a pandemic has certainly meant we’ve had to adapt – but when it came to ramping up my online shopping so we could stay home and stay safe – I was super happy to adapt!
And research from McAfee shows that I am not alone. In fact, over 40% of Aussies are buying more online since the onset of COVID-19 according to the 2020 Holiday Season: State of Today’s Digital e-Shopper survey. But this where it gets really interesting as the survey also shows that nearly 1/3 of us (29%) are shopping online 3-5 days a week, and over one in ten consumers (11%) are even shopping online daily!! But with many online retailers offering such snappy delivery, it has just made perfect sense to stay safe and stay home!
With just over a month till Santa visits, it will come as no surprise that many of us are starting to prepare for the Holiday season by purchasing gifts already. Online shopping events such as Click Frenzy or the Black Friday/Cyber Monday events are often very compelling times to buy. But some Aussies have decided they want to get in early to secure gifts for their loved ones in response to warnings from some retailers warning that some items may sell out before Christmas due to COVID-19 related supply chain issues. In fact, McAfee’s research shows that 48% of Aussies will be hitting the digital links to give gifts and cheer this year, despite 49% feeling cyber scams become more prevalent during the holiday season.
McAfee’s research shows very clearly that the bulk of us Aussies are absolutely aware of the risks and scams associated with online shopping but that we still plan to do more shopping online anyway. And with many of us still concerned about our health and staying well, it makes complete sense. However, if there was ever a time to take proactive steps to ensure you are minimizing risks online – it is now!
McAfee’s specialist online threat team (the Advanced Threat Research team) recently found evidence that online cybercrime is on increase this year, with McAfee Labs observing 419 threats per minute between April to June 2020 – an increase of almost 12% over the previous quarter.
And with many consumers gearing up to spend up big online in preparation for the Holiday season, many experts are worried that consumers are NOT taking these threats as seriously as they should. McAfee’s research showed that between April to June 2020, 41% of 18-24 year olds have fallen victim to an online scam and over 50% of the same age group are aware of the risks but have made no change to their online habits.
At the risk of sounding dramatic, I want you to channel your James Bond when you shop online this holiday period. Do your homework, think with your head and NOT your heart and always have your wits about you. Here are my top tips that I urge you to follow to ensure you don’t have any unnecessary drama this Christmas:
Click on random, unsafe links is the best way of falling victim to a phishing scam. Who wants their credit card details stolen? – no one! And Christmas is THE worst time for this to happen! If something looks too good to be true – it probably is. If you aren’t sure – check directly at the source – manually enter the online store address yourself to avoid those potentially nasty links!
This is a no-brainer – where possible, turn this on as it adds another lay of protection to your personal data and accounts. Yes, it will add another 10 seconds to the log-in process but it’s absolutely worth it.
If you have a VPN (or Virtual Private Network) on your laptop, you can use Wi-Fi without any concern – perfect for online purchases on the go! A VPN creates an encrypted tunnel between your device and the router which means anything you share is protected and safe! Check out McAfee’s Safe Connect which includes bank-grade encryption and private browsing services.
Ensuring all your devices are kitted out with comprehensive security software which will protect against viruses, phishing attacks and malicious website is key. Think of it as having a guardian cyber angel on your shoulder. McAfee’s Total Protection software does all that plus it has a password manager, a shredder and encrypted storage – and the Family Pack includes the amazing Safe Family app – which is lifechanging if you have tweens and teens!
So, yes – please make your list and check it twice BUT before you dive in and start spending please take a moment to ask yourself whether you are doing all you can to minimise the risks when online shopping this year. And don’t forget to remind your kids too – they may very well have their eye on a large gift for you too!
Happy Christmas Everyone
Alex xx
The post Christmas Shopping 2020 appeared first on McAfee Blogs.
In November last year, we lost our much-loved family dog. We were all so devasted. Harley was a very handsome black and white Cavoodle who died from a paralysis tick bite after giving us 12 years of love. After lots of tears and weeks of sadness, we have decided it’s time to start our search for another fur baby.
But it seems we are not the only ones in the market for a new puppy. Thanks to COVID and our new very home focussed lives, puppies have been in hot demand since early 2020 and they still are. What better way to deal with lockdown loneliness and a home-based existence than a brand-new ball of fluff!
Over the last few weeks, I’ve spoken to multiple breeders from all around Australia who have over 50 families waiting for a puppy! A Portuguese Water Dog breeder told me yesterday that it would be 2023 before she could offer me a puppy!! So,
And this trend hasn’t gone unnoticed by cybercriminals with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reporting a four-fold increase in puppy scams in 2020!! In fact, a whopping $1.6 million was scammed from unsuspecting Aussies simply looking for a ball of fur to love between January and October 2020.
So, how do you avoid being caught up in a puppy scam and losing money? Here’s what I’m doing to ensure we don’t get swindled while we search for our new puppy:
Cybercriminals rely on us being in a rush and not doing our homework. A quick google search for popular dog breeds such as Cavoodles, Labradors or Dachshunds will yield pages of results, not all of them legit!
Scammers are very talented at making their sites look genuine. They will copy photos of puppies and breeders from legitimate sites and will even use certificates and identification numbers from these legitimate breeders too. Quite often the only detail that differs is the contact telephone number and email address.
Facebook and Instagram ads are also created using these details too making it very hard to identify what is legitimate and what isn’t.
Doing your due diligence is the best way to prevent becoming a victim of a puppy scam. Even if the person on the end of the phone sounds delightful and the pictures are gorgeous, you owe it to yourself – and your bank account – to ensure you are dealing with a legitimate breeder. Here’s what I recommend you do:
If you are not able to pick up your pet in person, requesting photos and even a video call with the breeder and your potential puppy is essential.
Ask the breeder for multiple photos of the pet with specific items – this help you ascertain that the pet is real and not photoshopped. A recent newspaper is a great item to suggest.
However, a video call is probably the best way of giving you total piece of mind. Yes, it maybe crazy and noisy but there’s nothing like seeing something with your own eyes to satisfy yourself that it is real and not photoshopped!
We all have a 6th sense and now is the time to use it:
I can’t imagine our family without pets. They play such an important, cohesive role and we take such joy in sharing photos of our crazy cats and their weird antics on our family group chat.
Next week, we are going to pickup our new puppy. After much debate about breeds, we have chosen a tri coloured beaglier – male of course! The breeder sounds delightful over the phone and the pictures are gorgeous. But just to ensure total piece of mind, I am driving nearly 7 hours to pick up our new fur baby in person. I’ll be sure to share some photos!
Happy pet shopping!
Alex xx
The post Here’s What I’m Doing to Avoid Being Caught Up in A Puppy Scam appeared first on McAfee Blogs.
We’ve all come to a realization that we don’t go anywhere without our phone. It’s a utility that helps us navigate our daily lives: directions, schedules, shopping, discounts, banking, and so on. And as our reliance on our smartphone continues to grow, it’s no wonder that hackers have taken notice. This time, it’s another case of an app gone rogue.
With over 10 million downloads, the Barcode Scanner app provided users with a basic QR code reader and barcode generator, useful for things like making purchases and redeeming discounts. Then, most likely in a recent update, the app began to deliver ad-producing malware onto users’ phones – with the malware being traced back to the Android Barcode Scanner app. While Barcode Scanner was previously benign, it is believed that a hacker injected malicious code into the app before the latest update, pushing malware onto Android devices. Once installed, the malware hijacks your default web browsers and redirects you to random advertisements.
In a typical case of malvertising, or malicious advertising, fraudsters submit infected graphic or text ads to legitimate advertisement networks, which often can’t distinguish harmful ads from trustworthy ones. Under the guise of everyday pop-ups, these malicious ads push fake browser updates, free utilities, or antivirus programs in the hope that unsuspecting users will click. Depending on what kind of programs the malicious ads succeed in downloading, hackers might steal your data, encrypt or delete your information, or hijack your computer functions – as is the case with the Barcode Scanner’s malware.
While Google has taken down the Barcode Scanner from its store, it has not been deleted from infected devices. So, if you have the app on your phone, it’s time to uninstall it from your device manually…ASAP.
We all need to reflect on the state of our digital health, especially as hackers continue to target us through the device we use most – our phones. To help protect your data, family, and friends, check out these security tactics to keep sneaky mobile threats out:
While some malicious apps do make it through the app store screening process, most attack downloads appear to stem from social media, fake ads, and other unofficial app sources. Before downloading an app to your device, do some quick research about the origin and developer.
Reviews and rankings are still a suitable method of determining whether an app is legitimate. However, watch out for assessments that reuse repetitive or straightforward phrases, as this could be a sign of a fraudulent review.
Developers are actively working to identify and address security issues. Frequently update your operating systems and apps so that they have the latest fixes and security protections.
Holistic security solutions across all devices continues to be a strong defensive measure to protect your data and privacy from online threats like malware.
To stay updated on all things McAfee and on top of the latest consumer and mobile security threats, follow @McAfee_Home on Twitter, subscribe to our email, listen to our podcast Hackable?, and ‘Like’ us on Facebook.
The post Millions Affected by Malware Attributed to Android Barcode-Scanning App appeared first on McAfee Blogs.
I’ve had such a busy morning! I’ve hunted down my favourite foundation, bought a puzzle mat, stocked up on special dog food for our naughty new puppy, ordered the groceries, made a few appointments and chatted with several friends. And guess what? I haven’t left my study – or changed out of my pyjamas!! Ssshhh!! Because it’s all happened online…
Of course, some of us embraced the benefits of the online world long before 2020 but the Pandemic forced almost everyone to replace our in-person activities and routines with online ones. New research from McAfee in their 2021 Consumer Security Mindset Report shows that 72% of Aussies made changes in their online activities last year out of convenience which makes complete sense!
But what’s so interesting is that now we have these super handy new online routines in place – we aren’t that keen to give them up! McAfee’s report shows that 76% of Aussies are planning on continuing with online banking, 59% of us want to keep connecting with friends and family online and 55% of us remain totally committed to online shopping! Hear, hear, I say! I am absolutely staying that course too!!
There’s no doubt that there is a lot of upside to managing our lives online but unfortunately there is also a downside – increased risk! The more time spent online, the greater the chance that we will be exposed to potential risks and threats such as phishing attacks, entering details into malicious websites or even becoming a victim of fraud.
McAfee’s research shows that we are aware of the risks of being online. In fact, 66% of us are concerned about the potential dangers of living our lives online with losing control of our financial data top of the list for the majority of us. And almost 2/3 (65%) of us are also worried about having our social media accounts hacked.
But pandemic life has meant that we are now a lot more comfortable with sharing information online. Whether it’s paperless transaction records, text and email notifications, opting to stay logged in or auto-populating forms with our credit card, this level of online sharing does make life so convenient but it can be a risky business! Why, I hear you ask? Because these conveniences usually only work when you share multiple pieces of your contact details. And the more you share, the greater your chance of being hacked or compromised. But the report was very clear – if we can make our online life more seamless then we are only too happy to share our key contact information! Oh dear!!
In addition to confessing that they don’t always take the necessary security precautions, Aussie consumers in McAfee’s report also admitted that they haven’t thought about why hackers might want their data. I don’t know how many people tell me that they don’t need to really bother with a lot of online precautions because they live a pretty boring life and don’t spend that much time online.
But this is a very dangerous way to think. Your online data is like a pot of gold to hackers. Not only can they use it to possibly steal your identity and try to empty your bank accounts but they can also on-sell it for a profit. But the majority of Aussies don’t stop to consider this with the research showing that 64% of Aussies have never considered just how valuable their online data is worth.
Hackers are ALWAYS on the lookout for new ‘up-to-date’ ways to exploit others for money. Don’t forget how quick they were to conjure up scams around COVID in early 2020 – it was just a matter of weeks before Aussies received phishing emails and malicious text messages with the aim of extracting personal information from vulnerable consumers.
But, encouragingly, 85% of Aussies said they would be far more proactive about managing their data if it could be traded as a currency.
The good news is that there are ways to secure your online life and minimise the risk of being hacked. Here are my top tips:
Yes, it might take a minute or 2 more, but using multi-factor authentication is an easy way to add an additional layer of security to protect your personal data and information. Commit to using it wherever it is offered!
If you live your life out & about like I do then you’ll be very tempted to use Wi-Fi. Using public Wi-Fi to conduct transactions, particularly financial ones is a big no-no! It takes keen hackers minimal effort to set up a fraudulent wi-fi service which could easily fool a busy person into connecting. Using a Virtual Private Network (or VPN) like McAfee® Safe Connect, is the best way of ensuring everything you share over Wi-Fi is safe and secure.
Browsing the internet with a tool like the McAfee WebAdvisor is a great way of ensuring dangerous malware is blocked if you click on a malicious link in a phishing email. You’ll have real peace of mind knowing you can manage your online life while someone looks out for you!
With 4 kids, 3 pets, 2 jobs – I know I could never get to the bottom of my ‘to-do’ lists without managing the bulk of it online. I often think I should send the internet an e-card at Christmas!! Of course, I understand why corners are cut and precautions are overlooked when we all feel so stretched for time. But just think about how much more time it would take if you were hacked and had to spend hours on the phone to your bank or if you had to reconfigure all your online accounts and social media platforms!!
So, you know what you need to do! Stay safe online everyone!
The post How 2020 Has Shaped The Way We Live Our Lives appeared first on McAfee Blogs.
Over the last 12 months, technology has featured in our lives in a way I don’t think any of us would have predicted. Whether you were in lockdown, choosing to stay home to stay well or quite simply, out of other option – technology saved the day. It helped us work and learn from home, stay connected with friends and family, entertain ourselves, shop and essentially, live our lives.
For many parents, this was a real ‘aha’ moment. A moment when technology went from being an annoying distraction to incredibly critical to the functioning of our day to day lives. Of course, many of us had always considered technology to be useful to help us order groceries and check Facebook but to experience first-hand that technology meant life could go on during a worldwide pandemic was a real game changer.
Whether it was downloading video calling apps like Zoom or Facetime, setting up a Twitter account to get updates from the Health Department, using Google Doc to work collaboratively or experiencing what online gaming really is via a few sessions on the Xbox, 2020 means many parents had to get up to date, real fast! And you know what – that’s a good thing! I’ve had so many parents remark to me that they know finally understand why their kids are so enamoured with technology. There really is nothing like walking in someone’s shoes to experience their world!
I’m a big believer in parents taking the time to truly understand the world in which their kids exist. For years, I’ve advised parents to download and use the apps and games their kids play so they can understand the attraction and complexity of their kids’ digital life. Well, it may have taken a global pandemic, but I am delighted to report that, anecdotally at this stage, more parents are now embracing their kids’ online world.
When we first become enamoured with something, we often enter the ‘honeymoon’ phase. As a married woman of 28 years, this was many years ago for me!! The honeymoon phase is when everything is wonderful and rosy, and negatives are not always considered. And our relationship with technology can be much the same. And I’ve been there – there’s nothing quite so wonderful as discovering a new app or piece of software and almost being joyous at just how transformational it could be for your life. And this often means we gloss over or even ignore the risks because we are in love!!!
So, as Cybermum, I’m here to cheer you on and pat you on the back for embracing and using new apps and software. Yes, I’m very proud! But I also want to share with you just a few steps that you need to take to ensure you are not taking on any unnecessary risks with your new favourite app. Here are my top tips:
1. Passwords
Every app, online account or piece of software needs it own individual password. Yes, I know that it is a real pain, but it is one of the most important things you will do to protect yourself online. I’m a big fan of password managers that not only generate the most incredibly complex passwords for each of your accounts but remember them for you. McAfee’s password manager, True Key, is a free option which has completely helped me manage my 80 plus collection of passwords!! Very grateful!
2. Software Updates
The main purpose of a software update is to protect the user from security threats. Yes, you may also get some new features and possibly have a glitch or 2 removed but it is all about the user’s safety. So, if you don’t update your software, it’s a little like leaving windows open when you go out. And the longer you leave between updates – the more windows you leave open!
So, automate these updates if you can or schedule them in your diary. Why not earmark the first day of the month to check and see what you need to download to protect yourself? And don’t forget about your operating system on your phone or laptop too!
3. Be Wi-Fi Wary
Dodgy wi-fi is where so many people come unstuck. Regardless of what app or software you are using, anything you share via unsecured wi-fi could be intercepted by a hacker. So, if you find yourself using wi-fi regularly, you might want to consider a Virtual Private Network or VPN. A VPN creates an encrypted tunnel so anything you share via Wi-Fi cannot be intercepted. Genius, really! Check out McAfee’s Safe Connect for peace of mind.
So, please keep going! Keep exploring new ways technology can work for you in our new COVID world. But remember to take a break too. There is no doubt that technology has saved the day and has ensure we can all still function but there must be a balance too. So, walk the dog, play a board game or having a cuppa outside. Remember you manage the technology; it doesn’t manage you!
Till next time
Stay safe online.
Alex xx
To stay updated on all things McAfee and on top of the latest consumer and mobile security threats, follow @McAfee_Home on Twitter, subscribe to our email, listen to our podcast Hackable?, and ‘Like’ us on Facebook.
The post How 2020 Helped Parents Understand Their Kids’ Digital Lives appeared first on McAfee Blogs.
Something you’ll want to know about all those movies, mp3s, eBooks, air miles, and hotel points you’ve accrued over the years: they’re digital assets that can factor into a divorce settlement.
Understandably, several factors determine the distribution of assets in a divorce. However, when it comes to dividing digital assets, divorce settlements and proceedings are charting new territory. The rate of digital innovation and adoption in recent years has filled our phones, tablets, and computers with all manner of digital assets. What’s more, there are also the funds sitting in our payment apps or possibly further monies kept in the form of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Put plainly, the law is catching up with regards to the distribution of these and other digital assets like them.
Yet one thing that the law recognizes is that digital assets can have value and thus can be considered property subject to distribution in a divorce.
In light of this, the following is a checklist of considerations that can help prepare you or someone you know for the distribution of digital assets in a fair and just way.
Nothing offered in this article is legal advice, nor should it be construed as such. For legal advice, you can and should turn to your legal professional for counsel on the best approach for you and the laws in your area.
For starters, let’s get an understanding as to what actually constitutes a digital asset.
Because laws regarding digital assets vary (and continue to evolve), the best answer you can get to this question will come from your legal counsel. However, for purposes of discussion, a digital asset is any text or media in digital form that has value and offers the bearer the right to use it.
To put that in practical terms, let’s look at some real-world examples of what could constitute a digital asset. That list includes, but is not limited to:
However, digital assets can readily expand to further include:
And like any other asset in the case of a divorce, a value will be ascribed to each digital asset and then distributed per the conditions or orders of the settlement.
Arriving at the value of specific digital assets begins with an inventory—listing all the digital assets and accounts you own, just as you would with any other monetary or physical assets like bank accounts, properties, and cars. When you go through this process, chances are you’ll quickly find that you have hundreds if not thousands of dollars of digital assets.
For example, we can look at the research we conducted in 2011 which found that people placed an average value of $37,438 on the digital assets they owned at the time. Now, with the growth of streaming services, digital currency, cloud storage, and more in the past ten years, that figure feels conservative.
Above and beyond preparing for a divorce settlement, taking such an inventory of your digital assets is a wise move. One, it provides you with a clearer vision of the things you own and their worth; two, maintaining such a list gives you a basis for estate planning and determining who you would like to see receive those assets. Likewise, maintain that list on a regular basis and keep it safe. It’s good digital hygiene to do so.
With this inventory, each asset can then have an assessed value ascribed to it. In some instances, a value will easily present itself, such as the cost of a subscription or how much money is sitting in a PayPal account. In other cases, the value will be sentimental, such as the case is with digital photos and videos. Ideally, you and your spouse will simply be able to duplicate and share those photos and videos amicably, yet it is important that you articulate any such agreement to do so. This way, a settlement can call out what is to be shared, how it will be shared, and when.
Not all digital assets are transferrable. Certain digital assets are owned solely in your name. In other words, you may have access to certain digital assets that cannot transfer to someone else because you do not have the rights to do so per your user agreement. This can be the case with things such as digital books, digital music, and digital shows and movies.
In such circumstances, there may be grounds for negotiation and a “limited transfer” in the settlement, where one party exchanges one asset for another rather than splitting it equally. A case in point might be a sizeable eBook library on a device that’s in the name of one spouse. While that library can’t be split or transferred, one spouse may keep the eBook library while another spouse keeps a similarly valued asset or group of assets in return—like say a collection of physical books.
Streaming services will need to be addressed too. Be prepared to either terminate your accounts or simply have them assigned to the person in whose name they are kept. In the case of family accounts, the settlement should determine how that is handled, whether it gets terminated or similarly turned over to one spouse or the other. In all, your settlement will want to specify who takes over what streaming service and when that must occur.
Like dividing up investment accounts where the value of the account can vary daily, digital currencies can present challenges when spouses look to divide the holdings. Cryptocurrency valuation can be quite volatile, thus it can be a challenging asset to settle from a strict dollar standpoint.
What’s more, given the nature of digital currencies, there are instances where an unscrupulous spouse may seek to hide worth in such currency—which is an evolving issue in of itself. This recent article, “Cryptocurrency: What to Know Before and During Divorce,” covers the additional challenges of cryptocurrency in detail, along with an excellent primer on what cryptocurrency is and how it works.
Ultimately, cryptocurrency is indeed an asset, one that your attorney and settlement process will need to address, specifically so that there are no complications later with the transfer or valuation of the awarded currency.
With accounts changing hands, now’s the time to start fresh with a new set of passwords. What’s more, we have a tendency to reuse the same passwords over and over again, which may be known to an ex-spouse and is an inherent security risk in of itself. Change them. Even better, take this opportunity to use a password manager. A password manager can create and securely store strong, unique passwords for you, thus saving you the headache of maintaining dozens of them yourself—not to mention making you far more secure than before.
Again, keep in mind that nothing here is legal advice. Yet, do keep these things in mind when consulting with an attorney. The reality is that we likely have thousands of dollars of what could be considered digital assets. Inventorying them and ascribing a fair market value to them along with your legal professional is the first step in a fair and just settlement.
The post Digital Divorce: Who Gets the Airline Miles and Music Files? appeared first on McAfee Blogs.
It’s easy to imagine where we would be without women in technology.
We’d be poorer for it.
With Mother’s Day upon us, I couldn’t help but think once more about the stark employment figures I shared in my International Women’s Day blog just a few weeks ago. Millions of women have involuntarily left the workforce at a much higher rate than men during the pandemic—with roughly one third of women in the U.S. aged 25-44 citing that childcare was the reason for that unemployment.
Reflecting on this further, I thought about the women in technology who’ve left their positions during this past year. It’s a loss of talent and capability that’s set back decades of advances by trailblazing women who not only shine in their field yet also do so in male-dominated realms of study, research, and employment.
So as we look ahead to recovery, we should also look back. By celebrating just a few of the women in technology who shaped our world today, women who truly are “mothers of invention,” perhaps we can remember just how vital women are in our field—and how we should double down on our efforts to welcome them back.
Imagine a time when the term “software engineering” wasn’t recognized, even though it was crucial to us landing on the moon.
Such were the days when Margaret Hamilton began her work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a job to support her family while her husband went to law school at Harvard. This was in 1959 and would introduce her to Edward Lorenz, the father of chaos theory, and put her on the path to help humanity set its first footsteps on the moon.
It was her work and her code that developed a software-driven system that warned astronauts of in-flight emergencies, an advance she credits her young daughter for inspiring, as recounted in this interview:
Often in the evening or at weekends I would bring my young daughter, Lauren, into work with me. One day, she was with me when I was doing a simulation of a mission to the moon. She liked to imitate me – playing astronaut. She started hitting keys and all of a sudden, the simulation started. Then she pressed other keys and the simulation crashed … I thought: my God – this could inadvertently happen in a real mission.
I suggested a program change to prevent a prelaunch program being selected during flight. But the higher-ups at MIT and NASA said the astronauts were too well trained to make such a mistake. Midcourse on the very next mission, Apollo 8, one of the astronauts on board accidentally did exactly what Lauren had done. The Lauren bug! It created much havoc and required the mission to be reconfigured. After that, they let me put the program change in, all right.
When you search online, you have this woman to thank.
A true pioneer, Karen Spärck Jones worked at Cambridge, during which time she developed the algorithm for deriving a statistic known as “term frequency–inverse document frequency” (TFIDF). In lay terms, TFIDF determines how important a word is relative to the document or collection of terms in which it is found. Sound familiar? It should, as her work forms the basis of practically every search engine today.
Spärck Jones remained outspoken with regards to what she referred to as “professionalism” in technology. This had two layers: the first being the technical efficacy of a solution, the second being the rationale for even doing it in the first place. In her words,
“[T]o be a proper professional you need to think about the context and motivation and justifications of what you’re doing … You don’t need a fundamental philosophical discussion every time you put finger to keyboard, but as computing is spreading so far into people’s lives you need to think about these things.”
Her vision for computing and her hands-on work led to development of COBOL, a programming language still in use today. Driving that vision was the belief that human language could be used as the basis for a programming language, making it more accessible, particularly for business use. The result was the FLOW-MATIC programming language, which was later developed into COBOL, a language that is estimated to be used in 95% of ATM card swipes.
During her time as a naval officer, she helped transform centralized Defense Department systems into smaller, distributed networks akin to the internet we now know and use. At her retirement near the age of 80, she went to work in the private sector where she held the role of full-time senior consultant until her passing at age 85. This 1983 profile of her, aired when she was 76, is certainly worth a watch.
Quite plainly, Perlman’s work paved the way for the routing protocols that underpin the modern internet.
Prior to Perlman’s work, as networks grew and accordingly became more complex, data would often flow into loops that prevented them from reaching their intended destination. Enter her creation of the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP), which can handle large clouds of computers and network devices. While its since evolved, the concept of an adaptive network remains squarely in place.
Another advance of hers was introducing computer programming to young children aged 3 to 5 back in the 1970s. While working at MIT’s LOGO Lab, she created TORTIS (Toddler’s Own Recursive Turtle Interpreter System), which used buttons from programming and allowed for experimentation with a robotic turtle that would follow a toddler’s commands. In the abstract for her paper that documented the work, she emphasized what she felt was a vital point, “Most important of all, it should teach that learning is fun.”
These women have led and inspired, and likewise it’s on all of us in technology to build on the advances they made possible through both our work and the workplace cultures we foster—particularly as we begin our recovery from this pandemic.
One of the many reasons I’m proud to be a part of McAfee is our Women in Security (WISE) community. It’s truly a forward-thinking program, which we introduced to enrich and support women in the tech sector through mentorship programs and professional development conferences. It’s one of the several, tangible ways we actively strive for a vibrant and diverse culture at McAfee.
Another powerful voice for women in tech is AnitaB.org, which supports women in technical fields, as well as the organizations that employ them and the academic institutions training the next generation. A full roster of programs help women grow, learn, and develop their highest potential.
And for looking forward yet further, there’s Girls Who Code, which is building the next generation of female engineers and technologists. Their data shows why this is so vital. They found that 66 percent of girls aged six to 12 show interest in computing, but that drops to 32 percent for girls aged 13 to 17, and then plummets to only 4 percent for college freshmen. Accordingly, they support several programs for school-aged girls from third grade up through senior year of high school, help educators and communities launch clubs, and advocate for women in their field through their work in public policy and research.
And that’s just for starters. For an overview of yet more organizations where you can get involved, check out this list of 16 organizations for women in tech—all of which help us realize a better world with women in technology.
The post The Mothers of Invention: Women Who Blazed the Trail in Technology appeared first on McAfee Blogs.
When it comes to crime, what do people worry about most? Having their car stolen? A break-in while they’re not at home? Good answers, but not the top answer by a long shot. In this U.S.-based survey, hacker-related crime weighed in at 72%, with a home burglary at 35% and auto theft at 34%, indicating that people’s concerns about cybercrime are very much front and center.
The good news is that plenty of cybercrime can be prevented, or at least made less likely, provided you protect yourself online, much in the same way you take steps to protect your car or home. And that’s the focus of this year’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month. With the theme of “Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart,” it reminds us of how we can take charge of our own safety—the ways we can look out for ourselves and others as we enjoy our time online.
Throughout October, we’re participating in Cybersecurity Month here on our blogs and across our social media channels, posting a host of ways that you can help keep cybercrooks away from your digital doorstep. Each week, we’ll tackle a different aspect of online protection:
Maybe it comes as no surprise to hear it, yet one recent study shows the average person spends nearly eight hours a day online. With that, we’re taking this week to focus on the family, how they spend their time online and how they can be safer when they do.
Whether they come by email, text, or DM, phishing attacks account for the most common types of reported cybercrime, according to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center. This week, we’ll show you how you can indeed fight the phish!
This sentiment sums up the best of the internet in so many ways. Getting out there, discovering, catching up with friends online. Our focus this week is helping you enjoy it all without any of the bad apples out there spoiling your fun.
We wrap it up with a look at some of the top priorities so everyone in the family can #BeCyberSmart—online banking, app scams, privacy, identity theft, and more—along with plenty of straightforward tips that can help you stay safer.
We hope our posts throughout Cybersecurity Awareness Month help you get a little sharper and feel a little safer so you can enjoy your time online, free from hassles or headaches. Look for more from us throughout October!
The post Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Taking Charge of Your Safety Online appeared first on McAfee Blog.
There’s a person behind every cybercrime. That’s easy to lose sight of. After all, cybercrime can feel a little anonymous, like a computer is doing the attacking instead of a person. Yet people are indeed behind these attacks, and over the years they’ve been getting organized—where cybercriminals structure and run their operations in ways that darkly mirror the workings of a real business.
Funny, the notion of hackers running an illegal business just like a regular business. But there you go. What works, apparently works. So, let’s take a closer look at how organized crime goes about its business—and get a little more insight into how we can protect ourselves in the process.
A classic notion of the cybercriminal is that of a lone hacker, donning a hoodie in a dimly lit room and chipping away at the networks and devices of a business or household. That does happen, such as in the case of the former engineer accused of. Yet increasingly, attacks are orchestrated efforts.
More and more of today’s cybercrime is a distributed, international affair that relies on several bad actors to see it through. This takes the form of organized crime groups with ringleaders located in one country and developers in others, further supported by operations, marketing, finance, and call center teams in yet other locations—just like a legitimate business, strange as it seems.
What does that look like in real life? Consider a practical example: an identity theft ring sets up a series of phony websites to hijack personal information. There’s a lot of work that goes into putting up those websites, so let’s start there and see who could be involved. From there, we can work our way up the chain of cybercrime organizations. For starters:
And that’s just for starters. There’s plenty of activity that follows once victims share their personal info on that phony site, spanning yet more business roles:
Stepping back and looking at this example, you can see how there are several distinct skillsets at play here. While small groups of hackers could pull off something similar, the most effective of these scams will have a relatively large staff in place to ensure it runs effectively. This is just one broad example, yet it does serve to remind us that sophisticated cybercrime can have a sophisticated organization behind it.
Other examples include tech support scams that run their own call support centers, corporate ransomware attacks where scammers hijack the company’s social media accounts and shame them into paying. There are yet more examples of bogus call centers, like the ones that will walk individual victims through the process of paying off a ransomware attack with cryptocurrency. Once again, quite an operation.
Back to the lone hacker in a hoodie for a moment. They’re still out there. In fact, many of them are enabled by larger cybercrime organizations. This can happen in several ways:
It’s a marketplace out there, where our data acts as a kind of currency that’s traded and sold by operators large and small.
So yes, there’s a person behind every cybercrime. And then there’s you. Along with all things you can do to stop them.
Earlier this year, I shared how McAfee now solely focuses on people. Organized cybercrime is just one of the many reasons why. While different devices may come and go in our lives, our data always follows us—the very things cybercriminals are after. It’s people who need protection. By protecting you, your identity, and your privacy, along with your devices, we protect you from threats like these, whether they stem from a small-time crook or an organized crime gang. Even lone hackers in hoodies.
To me, the solution looks something like this: you’re out there enjoying the internet without having to look over your shoulder. You’re just safe. And living your life.
So as cybercrime becomes more sophisticated, we’re becoming yet more sophisticated at McAfee. And it’s you entirely with you in mind. Online protection should come naturally and give you the confidence to go about your day—protection that is personalized, intelligent, and easier to use so that it adapts based on what you’re doing and what you need at any given moment. That’s our aim. Ease. Freedom. Particularly in a time when criminals are trying their hardest to make you their business as you go about yours.
The post Organized Cybercrime: The Big Business Behind Hacks and Attacks appeared first on McAfee Blog.
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Quick mental math challenge: How many Apple Watches can you buy with $118 billion dollars? If you guessed around 296 million watches congrats, you’re smarter than the writer of this blog! We had to use a calculator. The point is that’s the predicted size of the US wearable market by 2028 according to a recent report. That means for as much wearable tech as we have in our lives already, even more, is on the way.
If you own a piece of wearable tech it’s easy to understand why it’s so popular. After all, it can track our fitness, provide contextual help in daily life, and, in the case of hearing aids, even do cool things like sync with Bluetooth. As VR and AR gains a foothold who knows what other incredible tech might be headed our way by 2028? However wearable tech also comes with certain risks. The most prominent: cybercriminals potentially gaining access to your data.
The weakest link in the wearables space is your mobile phone, not the actual wearable device itself. That’s because wearables tend to link to your mobile device over a short-range wireless spectrum known as “Bluetooth.” This spectrum is used to send and receive data between your wearable device and your mobile. That makes your mobile a prime target for hackers.
Most commonly, hackers gain access to the data on your mobile through malware-laden apps. These apps are oftentimes designed to look like popular apps, but with enough differences that they don’t flag copyright suspicion.
Hackers can use these malicious apps to do a variety of things from making phone calls without your permission, sending and receiving texts, and extracting personal information—all potentially without your knowledge. They can also, with the help of your wearable, track your location through GPS and record any health issues you’ve entered into your wearable. The point is: once they have permissions to your mobile device, they have a lot of control and a lot of resources.
The hacker can then use this data to conduct varying forms of fraud. Need a special prescription from your doctor that happens to sell well on the black market? Well, so does the hacker. Going out for a jog in the morning? Good information for a burglar to know. These personal details just scratch the surface of information available for the taking on your mobile devices.
These types of threats aren’t limited to wearables, however. The Internet of Things—the phenomenon of devices connected to the Internet for analysis and optimization—encompasses all sorts of other electronic devices such as washing machines and refrigerators that can put your data at risk as well. But these life-changing devices can be secured through education and industry standards. Two things we’re working on day and night.
Of course, securing the weakest link in your wearables environment, your phone will go a long way towards keeping your data safe. But what happens when your computer, where you store backups of your smartphone, is compromised too? We’ve got you covered with McAfee LiveSafe service, our comprehensive security solution that provides protection for your entire online life.
The post The Wearable Future Is Hackable. Here’s What You Need To Know appeared first on McAfee Blog.
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It’s the month of top seeds, big upsets, and Cinderella runs by the underdogs. With March Madness basketball cranking up, a fair share of online betting will sure to follow—along with online betting scams.
Since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2018, individual states can determine their own laws for sports betting. Soon after, states leaped at the opportunity to legalize it in some form or other. Today, 30 states and the District of Columbia have “live and legal” sports betting, meaning that people can bet on single-game sports through a retail or online sportsbook or combination of the two in their state.
If you’re a sports fan, this news has probably been hard to miss. Or at least the outcome of it all has been hard to miss. Commercials and signage in and around games promote several major online betting platforms. Ads have naturally made their way online too, complete with all kinds of promo offers to encourage people to get in on the action. However, that’s also opened the door for scammers who’re looking to take advantage of people looking to make a bet online, according to the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Often through shady or outright phony betting sites.
Let’s take a look at the online sports betting landscape, some of the scams that are cropping up, and some things you can do to make a safer bet this March or any time.
Among the 30 states that have “live and legal” sports betting, 19 offer online betting, a number that will likely grow given various state legislation that’s either been introduced or will be introduced soon.
If you’re curious about what’s available in your state, this interactive map shows the status of sports betting on a state-by-state level. Further, clicking on an individual state on the map will give you yet more specifics, such as the names of retail sportsbooks and online betting services that are legal in the state. For anyone looking to place a bet, this is a good place to start. This is further helpful for people who’re looking to get into online sports betting for the first time and is the sort of homework that the BBB advises people to do before placing a sports bet online. In their words, you can consider these sportsbooks to be “white-labeled” by your state’s gaming commission.
However, the BBB stresses that people should be aware that the terms and conditions associated with online sports betting will vary from service to service, as will the promotions that they offer. The BBB accordingly advises people to closely read these terms, conditions and offers. For one, “Gambling companies can restrict a user’s activity,” meaning that they can freeze accounts and the funds associated with them based on their terms and conditions. Also, the BBB cautions people about those promo offers that are often heavily advertised, “[L]ike any sales pitch, these can be deceptive. Be sure to read the fine print carefully.”
Where do scammers enter the mix? The BBB points to the rise of consumer complaints around bogus betting sites:
“You place a bet, and, at first, everything seems normal. But as soon as you try to cash out your winnings, you find you can’t withdraw a cent. Scammers will make up various excuses. For example, they may claim technical issues or insist on additional identity verification. In other cases, they may require you to deposit even more money before you can withdraw your winnings. Whatever you do, you’ll never be able to get your money off the site. And any personal information you shared is now in the hands of scam artists.”
If there’s a good reason you should stick to the “white labeled” sites that are approved by your state’s gaming commission, this is it. Take a pass on any online ads that promote betting sites, particularly if they roll out big and almost too-good-to-be-true offers. These may lead you to shady or bogus sites. Instead, visit the ones that are approved in your state by typing in their address directly into your browser.
In addition to what we mentioned above, there are several other things you can do to make your betting safer.
In addition to choosing a state-approved option, check out the organization’s BBB listing at BBB.org. Here you can get a snapshot of customer ratings, complaints registered against the organization, and the organization’s response to the complaints, along with its BBB rating, if it has one. Doing a little reading here can be enlightening, giving you a sense of what issues arise and how the organization has historically addressed them. For example, you may see a common complaint and how it’s commonly resolved. You may also see where the organization has simply chosen not to respond, all of which can shape your decision whether to bet with them or not.
Credit cards are a good way to go. One reason why is the Fair Credit Billing Act, which offers protection against fraudulent charges on credit cards by giving you the right to dispute charges over $50 for goods and services that were never delivered or otherwise billed incorrectly. Your credit card companies may have their own policies that improve upon the Fair Credit Billing Act as well. Debit cards don’t get the same protection under the Act.
Comprehensive online protection software will defend you against the latest virus, malware, spyware, and ransomware attacks plus further protect your privacy and identity. In addition to this, it can also provide strong password protection by generating and automatically storing complex passwords to keep your credentials safer from hackers and crooks who may try to force their way into your accounts. And, specific to betting sites, online protection can help prevent you from clicking links to known or suspected malicious sites.
With online betting cropping up in more and more states for more and more people, awareness of how it works and how scammers have set up their presence within it becomes increasingly important. Research is key, such as knowing who the state-approved sportsbooks and services are, what types of betting are allowed, and where. By sticking to these white-label offerings and reading the fine print in terms, conditions, and promo offers, people can make online betting safer and more enjoyable.
Editor’s Note:
If gambling is a problem for you or someone you know, you can seek assistance from a qualified service or professional. Several states have their own helplines, and nationally you can reach out to resources like http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ or https://www.ncpgambling.org/help-treatment/.
The post How to Protect Yourself from March Madness Scams appeared first on McAfee Blog.
The recent WannaCry ransomware attack that infected more than 250,000 computers worldwide was a good reminder to everyone about staying vigilant when it comes to internet safety.
After all, many of us stay connected most of the time, whether it’s on our laptops or mobile devices, giving cybercriminals a wide range of opportunities to go after our personal and financial information, as well as our privacy.
The good news is that safeguarding your internet security, and preventing an attack like WannaCry, can be as simple as keeping your software up-to-date, and taking other preventative measures. The key is knowing which threats to look out for, and when you are taking potential risks.
Let’s start by talking about our mobile devices. Although many of us have been taught to look out for viruses and other threats on our computers, we don’t always realize that our mobile devices are just as vulnerable as our desktops.
The truth is dangerous links and downloads can be easily accessed using mobile browsers and email. And, our devices can open us up to new threats like malicious apps or text messages, designed to steal your information.
And if you think you’re protected from many online threats because you are an Apple user, think again. McAfee Labs found in its latest Quarterly Threat Report that malware exploiting the Mac operating system has grown exponentially.
Another instance where we often don’t realize we’re at risk is when we use technology while travelling or away from home. Connecting to public Wi-Fi networks can be dangerous because many of these networks do not take the necessary steps to protect your data from being accessed by cybercrooks. It’s just as risky to use public or shared computers since the bad guys will sometimes infect them with malware or spyware designed to steal your information.
Our heavy use of social media is another area where we face new threats. Although these sites are made for sharing, we tend to share too much of our private information, opening us up to identity theft, or even harassment. That’s why we need to safely guard information such as our home address, employer, phone number, and email. It’s also wise to change your social media privacy settings to “friends only.” When we open our networks up to people who we don’t know in real life, we also open the door to potential scammers.
These scammers love to distribute phishing attacks on social media and via email and text. Their goal is to trick you into revealing personal or financial information. Take, for instance, the recent “Google Docs” attack, in which scammers sent out fake emails that appeared to come from a trusted source, asking recipients to click on a link to open a Google document, with the hopes of gaining access to their email login and contact information.
Account login information is highly valuable to scammers, since it can potentially allow them to login into or guess your banking passwords, and other crucial financial or identity information. This is a good reason to opt for the highest security settings on all your accounts, such as multi-factor authentication. This security measure asks you to provide an additional piece of information other than your password to verify your identity, such as entering a unique code that is sent to your mobile phone.
There are a lot of threats that we all need to be aware of, but by taking basic precautions and staying vigilant about what you share online you will be much better protected from cybercrime.
Tips to keep you safe:
Looking for more mobile security tips and trends? Be sure to follow @McAfee Home on Twitter, and like us on Facebook.
The post Smart Tips for Staying Safer Online appeared first on McAfee Blog.
ESET researchers spot an updated version of the malware loader used in the Industroyer2 and CaddyWiper attacks
The post Sandworm uses a new version of ArguePatch to attack targets in Ukraine appeared first on WeLiveSecurity
Listen to Aryeh Goretsky, Martin Smolár, and Jean-Ian Boutin discuss what UEFI threats are capable of and what the ESPecter bootkit tells us about their evolution
The post ESET Research Podcast: UEFI in crosshairs of ESPecter bootkit appeared first on WeLiveSecurity
When contemplating a career change within a different industry, it can be challenging to know where to start. As the world continues to change, many people are wondering how to transition into cybersecurity without experience. Business leaders at Cisco Secure and Duo Security who changed careers, along with recruiting professionals, provided insights for prospective candidates curious about the cybersecurity and tech industries. Learn their top 10 tips for getting a job in cybersecurity.
If passion, innovation, kindness and growth are on your list, Cisco Secure is worth checking out. When Kelly Davenport, manager of the Global Knowledge and Communities team, first connected with folks at Duo, she was “amazed at how nice and excited everyone seemed. I almost thought it seemed too good to be true. But then, when I started working here I realized everyone here really is that nice and smart and good at what they do. I was waiting for that to change, but it’s for real.”
Cisco Secure Talent Acquisition Lead Jeff Edwards shares, “Our senior level folks want fulfilling work. The work we’re doing and products we’re putting out are exciting, new and cutting edge. This is the stuff that’s going to change how we work in the future.”
For those looking to get into cybersecurity with no experience, Edwards suggests, “Pay attention to the jobs posted on cybersecurity career pages and the skills they’re asking for. That lets you know how long a process your career change may take. If you’re switching careers into tech it’s all out there to be able to discern, “Hey, where do I need to focus my efforts to put me in contention for these roles?”’
Cisco Women in Cybersecurity recently hosted a virtual session, Career Journeys Are Not Always a Straight Road – Your Journey Is Your Story, featuring CX Cloud Compliance Leader Deborah Sparma.
Sparma shared, “No matter where you are and have a new goal to break into, see what can transfer. Who knew that theater could transfer to working in a tech company? Who knew that working as a vet tech could lead me into corporate America? The variety of expertise has taught me that there is always room to grow and skills that can be transferred from one role to the next no matter how disparate they may be. For example, my experience in theater has made me a better speaker and presenter.”
Davenport, who was a journalist and librarian before making the switch to health care IT and then Duo, advises, “Figure out the core skills that you have and what job titles and words are used in other industries. Talk about the things you already know how to do, because every industry has its own jargon and that can feel like a barrier until you figure out how to translate it.” Cisco provides a list of common job titles and the experience and certifications needed for key cybersecurity roles.
She continues, “I had no idea what customer enablement was before I joined Duo. I did not know that was a job, and no one would’ve told me that. But it turns out that being a librarian, knowing how to organize things, having worked with the public, being a journalist who can write and create accurate, complex information on a deadline, and then understanding the technology of making something user centered and how people want to consume that information in different formats in different points in time, based on their needs, all of those were things that I knew and had experience in. And so, it was just discovering the opportunities that were already out there but were called something different than I knew about.”
Davenport’s advice for those wanting to enter cybersecurity: “A lot of professions want that super specialist, and we definitely have people who are those people, but I’ve seen Duo hire people from a lot of different backgrounds, and the additional perspective that they come in with and the fresh ideas is what keeps us innovative and what makes it a really fun and interesting place to work.”
She elaborates: “From a journalism background, the level of responsibility that you have as a journalist to be fair and accurate, and the ethics that you learn that are integral to that profession, were super helpful and important coming into any kind of customer-facing role where you’re used to being accountable. You have really high standards for yourself, and that translates into being able to hold those high standards for what customers expect, too.”
For journalists in particular, she says, “I would just like to give a shout out to folks in journalism who are wondering, maybe their career path is taking them in a different direction. (…) you have so many valuable skills that, if you are interested in a career in tech, there’s a lot of opportunities because of some of those things like I talked about earlier. The experience of working on deadline, that accountability and responsibility that you take and the ethics of what you do, those all translate. And so, those are all totally portable to a new context.”
Edwards states, “Start researching all the top cybersecurity companies and what products they offer and then take it another level down: What programs and software are they using? Are there different classes I need to take or certifications I need to get?”
Cisco offers top-notch cybersecurity training and security certifications. Also available are Cisco Certified CyberOps training videos and connection with those learning new cybersecurity skills through the Security Certifications Community and CyberOps Certifications Community.
Sparma highlights, “I believe a lot in teams. We all have skill sets that can complement each other no matter where we are in our career. I know I don’t know it all. I lean on the teams and people around me.”
Davenport reports, “Your experiences are going to give you a fresh perspective that’s actually really valued by the people who maybe came from that industry. Having that diversity of experiences and viewpoints is really celebrated more so here than pretty much any other place I’ve worked. My advice would be to trust that you can learn a totally new industry, and that the experiences that you’re coming with are really valuable.”
Duo Security Lead Recruiter Shannon Curran affirms, “We’ve spoken with many candidates who don’t come from the cybersecurity space.” She says that telling that story in your resume and throughout the application, interview and hiring process allows recruiters to understand why you’d be a match and that kindness goes a long way.
When starting at Duo Security, Davenport shares, “I came in pretty fresh. I knew that I was going to be doing this intensive onboarding program. We have technical trainers who we work with, so that we’re customer-ready. And so, I knew coming in that I would have a lot of support. I felt like, ‘Okay, I’m embracing the unknown and I’m going to learn a bunch of new things, but I’m going to have this great team that’s going to help me learn, is going to teach me.’ And that worked out pretty well.”
“Trust that you can learn, trust that the experiences you’re coming in with are valuable and are going to give you a fresh perspective, and that you will have the support to learn and grow, even if you’re changing industries.” —Manager of Duo Global Knowledge and Communities team Kelly Davenport
A culture of learning helps. Sparma says, “I’m always learning. Cisco especially has all the trainings out there that we can take. Invest in yourself, in learning, and don’t be afraid to ask.”
Davenport took this approach: “Because I’m a writer, I would go to our classes where we’re learning about the product. And then I would write my own summary in my own words, to describe what I was learning. I’d run that by my teacher and say, ‘Okay, am I on the right track?’ And that really helped me metabolize what I was learning and get that feedback in a way that worked for me as a learner.”
Maintaining a strong network can ease the career change process in terms of learning about the cybersecurity industry from people working in it and in terms of referrals. Marketing Specialist Julie Kramer says, “Try to find a networking partner in the company and ask for references for networking purposes. For example, if I have a friend who knows me that works at Cisco and they’re like, ‘Hey, do you mind referring me?’ I’d be happy to give them a referral.”
Sparma said, “Working in technology wasn’t even an option I considered when I started college…I broke into a new career but I had my background working in hospitals, working at the insurance company…someone knew me, knew my personality, helped me get that role… At Cisco, I had applied at other roles where I had a one-to-one fit. This one stretches me, but I could bring a lot to the table at the same time and still grow. That’s what energizes me.”
You never know how your network may come in handy throughout your career. In 2012, Edwards’ very first manager called him with one question: “Hey, do you want to come work at Cisco?”
Sparma’s first mentor “shepherded me. She took me under her wing, supported my wish to go back to school, encouraged me to get certification in something I didn’t know existed. I didn’t know what a mentor was at first, and it didn’t dawn on me until after I’d moved on in my career and traveled around the world that I realized I got there because of my first mentor. What does get difficult is everyday meetings, deliverables, timeframes — sometimes you just have to make it a point to make sure that you invest in yourself and keep that promise to yourself and keep your mentoring relationships going. I’ve had different mentors at Cisco and you can have multiple mentors along the way.” Employee Resource Organizations are another great place to find those mentors or mentor others.
“Find a mentor for support, guidance, knowledge, and motivation. Then pay it forward and mentor others. You can always bring something to the table.” —CX Cloud Compliance Leader Deborah Sparma
Sparma continues, “One of the first things they asked me to do when I started at Cisco was find a mentor. Cisco also allows people to shadow colleagues to learn what they do, network, and for knowledge transfer. We all can benefit from each other.”
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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently revised its policy on charging violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), a 1986 law that remains the primary statute by which federal prosecutors pursue cybercrime cases. The new guidelines state that prosecutors should avoid charging security researchers who operate in “good faith” when finding and reporting vulnerabilities. But legal experts continue to advise researchers to proceed with caution, noting the new guidelines can’t be used as a defense in court, nor are they any kind of shield against civil prosecution.
In a statement about the changes, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said the DOJ “has never been interested in prosecuting good-faith computer security research as a crime,” and that the new guidelines “promote cybersecurity by providing clarity for good-faith security researchers who root out vulnerabilities for the common good.”
What constitutes “good faith security research?” The DOJ’s new policy (PDF) borrows language from a Library of Congress rulemaking (PDF) on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a similarly controversial law that criminalizes production and dissemination of technologies or services designed to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works. According to the government, good faith security research means:
“…accessing a computer solely for purposes of good-faith testing, investigation, and/or correction of a security flaw or vulnerability, where such activity is carried out in a manner designed to avoid any harm to individuals or the public, and where the information derived from the activity is used primarily to promote the security or safety of the class of devices, machines, or online services to which the accessed computer belongs, or those who use such devices, machines, or online services.”
“Security research not conducted in good faith — for example, for the purpose of discovering security holes in devices, machines, or services in order to extort the owners of such devices, machines, or services — might be called ‘research,’ but is not in good faith.”
The new DOJ policy comes in response to a Supreme Court ruling last year in Van Buren v. United States (PDF), a case involving a former police sergeant in Florida who was convicted of CFAA violations after a friend paid him to use police resources to look up information on a private citizen.
But in an opinion authored by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court held that the CFAA does not apply to a person who obtains electronic information that they are otherwise authorized to access and then misuses that information.
Orin Kerr, a law professor at University of California, Berkeley, said the DOJ’s updated policy was expected given the Supreme Court ruling in the Van Buren case. Kerr noted that while the new policy says one measure of “good faith” involves researchers taking steps to prevent harm to third parties, what exactly those steps might constitute is another matter.
“The DOJ is making clear they’re not going to prosecute good faith security researchers, but be really careful before you rely on that,” Kerr said. “First, because you could still get sued [civilly, by the party to whom the vulnerability is being reported], but also the line as to what is legitimate security research and what isn’t is still murky.”
Kerr said the new policy also gives CFAA defendants no additional cause for action.
“A lawyer for the defendant can make the pitch that something is good faith security research, but it’s not enforceable,” Kerr said. “Meaning, if the DOJ does bring a CFAA charge, the defendant can’t move to dismiss it on the grounds that it’s good faith security research.”
Kerr added that he can’t think of a CFAA case where this policy would have made a substantive difference.
“I don’t think the DOJ is giving up much, but there’s a lot of hacking that could be covered under good faith security research that they’re saying they won’t prosecute, and it will be interesting to see what happens there,” he said.
The new policy also clarifies other types of potential CFAA violations that are not to be charged. Most of these include violations of a technology provider’s terms of service, and here the DOJ says “violating an access restriction contained in a term of service are not themselves sufficient to warrant federal criminal charges.” Some examples include:
-Embellishing an online dating profile contrary to the terms of service of the dating website;
-Creating fictional accounts on hiring, housing, or rental websites;
-Using a pseudonym on a social networking site that prohibits them;
-Checking sports scores or paying bills at work.
Kerr’s warning about the dangers that security researchers face from civil prosecution is well-founded. KrebsOnSecurity regularly hears from security researchers seeking advice on how to handle reporting a security vulnerability or data exposure. In most of these cases, the researcher isn’t worried that the government is going to come after them: It’s that they’re going to get sued by the company responsible for the security vulnerability or data leak.
Often these conversations center around the researcher’s desire to weigh the rewards of gaining recognition for their discoveries with the risk of being targeted with costly civil lawsuits. And almost just as often, the source of the researcher’s unease is that they recognize they might have taken their discovery just a tad too far.
Here’s a common example: A researcher finds a vulnerability in a website that allows them to individually retrieve every customer record in a database. But instead of simply polling a few records that could be used as a proof-of-concept and shared with the vulnerable website, the researcher decides to download every single file on the server.
Not infrequently, there is also concern because at some point the researcher suspected that their automated activities might have actually caused stability or uptime issues with certain services they were testing. Here, the researcher is usually concerned about approaching the vulnerable website or vendor because they worry their activities may already have been identified internally as some sort of external cyberattack.
What do I take away from these conversations? Some of the most trusted and feared security researchers in the industry today gained that esteem not by constantly taking things to extremes and skirting the law, but rather by publicly exercising restraint in the use of their powers and knowledge — and by being effective at communicating their findings in a way that maximizes the help and minimizes the potential harm.
If you believe you’ve discovered a security vulnerability or data exposure, try to consider first how you might defend your actions to the vulnerable website or vendor before embarking on any automated or semi-automated activity that the organization might reasonably misconstrue as a cyberattack. In other words, try as best you can to minimize the potential harm to the vulnerable site or vendor in question, and don’t go further than you need to prove your point.
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