Spam and phishing in Q3 2021
Quarterly highlights Scamming championship: sports-related fraud This summer and early fall saw some major international sporting events. The delayed Euro 2020 soccer tournament was held in June and July, followed by the equally delayed Tokyo Olympics in August. Q3 2021 also featured several F1 Grand Prix races. There was no way that cybercriminals and profiteers could […] more…Great R packages for data import, wrangling, and visualization
The table below shows my favorite go-to R packages for data import, wrangling, visualization and analysis — plus a few miscellaneous tasks tossed in. The package names in the table are clickable if you want more information. To find out more about a package once you’ve installed it, type help(package = "packagename") in your R […] more…How to Prepare for Your Child’s First Smartphone
If only more things in life came with training wheels; a child’s first smartphone could certainly use some. Like taking off the training wheels and riding out into the neighborhood for the first time, a smartphone opens an entirely new world for children. There are apps, social media, group chats with friends, TikTok stars, and the joy of simply being “in” with their classmates and […] more…Financial Cyberthreats in 2020
2020 was challenging for everyone: companies, regulators, individuals. Due to the limitations imposed by the epidemiological situation, particular categories of users and businesses were increasingly targeted by cybercriminals. While we were adjusting to remote work and the rest of the new conditions, so were scammers. As a result, 2020 was extremely eventful in terms of digital […] more…Game of Threats
Introduction While the way we consume TV content is rapidly changing, the content itself remains in high demand, and users resort to any means available to get at it – including illegal and non-ethical ones like the use of pirated stuff. The world is embracing the idea of paying for entertainment more and more with […] more…What are the Pros and Cons of Snooping on Your Kids Online?
I’ve changed my mind on the snooping question quite a bit since I began writing about family safety over five years ago. I’ve had to. Technology has dramatically changed all of us in that short time. Still, at least once a month a parent asks me, “How much should I really be snooping on my […] more…EyePyramid and a Lesson on the Perils of Attribution
In the past weeks, information-stealing malware EyePyramid made headlines after it was used to steal 87GB of sensitive data from government offices, private companies and public organizations. More than 100 email domains and 18,000 email accounts were targeted, including those of high-profile victims in Italy, the U.S., Japan and Europe. The natural assumption for many […] more…App Store Flooded with Phony Retail Apps to Kick Off Holiday Season
The holiday season has officially kicked off, which means a number of things for many of us: seasonal cheer, quality time with loved ones, and admittedly for many, lots and lots of shopping. And these days, many of holiday retail sales are happening online. Unfortunately, that also means now more than ever, there’s more holiday-related […] more…Can Internet of Things be the New Frontier for Cyber Extortion?
The Internet of Things (IoT)—the network of devices embedded with capabilities to collect and exchange information—has long been attracting the attention of cybercriminals as it continues to gain momentum in terms of its adoption. Gartner has estimated that more than 20.8 billion IoT devices will be in use by 2020; IoT will be leveraged by […] more…Georgia man sentenced to nine years for stolen credit card data
A 28-year-old man was sentenced to more than nine years in prison Wednesday for buying stolen credit and debit card numbers from an underground online marketplace. Cameron Harrison of Augusta, Georgia, pleaded guilty in April to participating in a racketeer-influenced corrupt organization and trafficking in false identification documents. He was also ordered to pay $50.8 […] more…SINOWAL Attempts To Disable Rapport, Aid ZBOT
The year might be coming to a close but we’re still seeing our 2013 predictions come true. We encountered an attack that featured an old malware with new routines. This malware, detected as BKDR_SINOWAL.COP specifically attempts to disable the Rapport software from Trusteer. Figure 1. Code that looks for the Trusteer Rapport module Rapport is software […] more…Twitter Drama and What Parents Need to Know
With more teens flocking to social networks outside of Facebook, it’s more important than ever for parents to understand—and coach their kids—through the rapid-moving, drama-filled environment of Twitter. Twitter has become a hot spot for teens, many of whom view Tweets the same way they view texts. They tweet quickly and often. And, sometimes things […] more…Shady Surfing: Online Ads 182x More Likely than Adult Websites to Infect Your PC
Wait…what! You heard it right: According to a recent security report, Internet users are 182 times more likely to get a virus from clicking on online ads than visiting an adult website. At first glance, this sounds extremely counterintuitive (and it is). In theory, wouldn’t your risk go up when visiting shady sites? Yes and […] more…Observations on the Evolution of Cyber Tactics in 2013
“There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.” – Victor Hugo The world has reached a point of inflection in cybercrime. As cyberspace abounds with cyber privateers, and many nations of the world become havens for these modern-day pirates, it appears that […] more…Facebook Spam Leverages, Abuses Instagram App
The downside of popularity is that cybercriminals tend to abuse it for their own nefarious ends. Case in point, social networking sites have been often used to proliferate malware. Just recently, we spotted a Facebook clickjacking attack that leverages and abuses Instagram to point users to malicious websites. Users encounter this threat by being tagged […] more…
Beware, the Curious Case of iPhone Spyware
The new iPhone spy app launched officially by the Apple Store ought to be turning quite a few heads at this point. The name of the app is enough to stop everyone in their tracks. ‘Stalker’ is now available for download and only costing a meager 99 cents, there is no reason that anyone should not be one. […] more…More information
- Karsten Nohl breaks SIM card encryption – 750 million mobile phones potentially affected
- Latvian mobile operator invites cyber attackers to have a go
- No Surprise—Ransomware On the Rise
- How women are helping to fight cybercrime
- Microsoft SharePoint Server CVE-2018-0916 Remote Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
- California Pizza Kitchen Says Employee Data Stolen in Breach
- Microsoft Internet Explorer CVE-2014-4123 Remote Privilege Escalation Vulnerability
- Start-up Devvio claims its blockchain can handle 8M transactions a second
- Bugs & Bugs: As in, the software kind — and insects
- NAS targeted by brute force ransomware attacks