Tag Archive for: fraud

City of Palm Coast Urges Residents to Use Caution Online During International Fraud Awareness Week

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The City of Palm Coast is encouraging residents to safeguard their personal information and remain vigilant against potential fraud while shopping online this holiday season, particularly during International Fraud Awareness Week. 

The City of Palm Coast Information Technology Department takes internet security seriously, as demonstrated in October when the department proudly collaborated with Cyber Florida to host an essential cybersecurity training event. This event brought together counties and municipalities, fostering a community of resilience against cyberattacks.

“The internet plays a crucial role in our daily lives, and it’s vital that we understand the associated risks,” said Doug Akins, Director of Information Technology. “As systems and processes continue to evolve, so do the tactics of online scammers. We at the City of Palm Coast are committed to empowering our community with the knowledge and tools to stay safe online during International Fraud Awareness Week and year-round.”

Throughout International Fraud Awareness Week, residents of Palm Coast can expect to see informative videos from members of the Information and Technology City staff, offering valuable tips on how to protect themselves online. These expert insights are especially relevant as we approach the busy holiday shopping season when cyberattacks and fraud attempts tend to rise.

Stay tuned for these helpful videos and join us in taking a stand against fraud and practicing internet security. Together, we can build a safer and more resilient community.

Stay informed with the latest news and information from the City of Palm Coast by following us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. You can sign up for weekly updates by visiting www.palmcoastgov.com/government/city-manager/week-in-review.

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Chinese smart TV boxes infected with malware in PEACHPIT ad fraud campaign • The Register

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Infosec in brief Bot defense software vendor Human Security last week detailed an attack that “sold off-brand mobile and Connected TV (CTV) devices on popular online retailers and resale sites … preloaded with a known malware called Triada.”

Human named the campaign to infect and distribute the Android devices BADBOX. The infected devices were sold for under $50. Human’s researchers found over 200 models with pre-installed malware, and when it went shopping for seven particular devices found that 80 percent of units were infected with BADBOX.

Analysis of infected devices yielded intel on an ad fraud module Human’s researchers named PEACHPIT. At its peak, PEACHPIT ran on a botnet spanning 121,000 devices a day on Android. The attackers also created malicious iOS apps, which ran on 159,000 Apple devices a day at the peak of the PEACHPIT campaign.

Those infected devices delivered over four billion ads a day – all invisible to users.

Human Security’s technical report [PDF] on BADBOX and PEACHPIT describes the campaign: “A Chinese manufacturer (possibly many manufacturers) builds a wide variety of Android-based devices, including phones, tablets, and CTV boxes.

“At some point between the manufacturing of these products and their delivery to resellers, physical retail stores and e-commerce warehouses, a firmware backdoor … gets installed and the product boxes are sealed in plastic, priming these devices for fraud on arrival at their destination.”

Human Security worked with Apple and Google to disrupt PEACHPIT, but warned BADBOX devices remain plentiful.

“Anyone can accidentally buy a BADBOX device online without ever knowing it was fake, plug it in, and unknowingly open this backdoor malware,” wrote Human Security’s Rosemary Cipriano. “This malware can be used to steal PII, run hidden bots, create residential proxy exit peers, steal cookies and one-time passwords, and more unique fraud schemes.”

– Simon Sharwood

It’s been four months since mass exploitation of vulnerabilities in Progress Software’s MOVEit file transfer software was publicly announced, and only a little more recent that the Clop ransomware gang added Sony to its list of victims.

In early…

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Cyber ​​Security Gaps Expose Latin Americans to Online Fraud | Technology | Cyber ​​Attacks | Investments | Cryptocurrencies | Scams |

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Realizing she was out, Gabriella Batalha didn’t think much of it Instagram, It wasn’t until the next day that she discovered her account was full of ads Investments Inside Cryptocurrencies High performance.

The 27-year-old lawyer from Rio de Janeiro had to pay 200 reais (about US$40) to restore his account. “consultant” He says he found a guy on YouTube who might be a scammer. “It took me two days to recover my account and I was very stressed”He explained.

Patalha was not the only one. Online scams on the rise in Brazil 65% Last year, there were more than 200,000, according to data from the Brazilian Public Security Yearbook published last month.

Also Read: Application Loans: Three Precautions to Avoid Scams and Extortion

Across Latin America, online fraud and cyberattacks are “at an all-time high,” said cybersecurity firm Tenable, posing an urgent problem for the well-connected region.

Recent advances in technology inclusion in Latin America have created new opportunities for fraud, experts say, as the epidemic spurs a trend toward mobile banking and shopping using payment systems like Brazil’s most popular PIX.

The region is increasingly online. In 2022, the 77.9% Compared to Latin America and the Caribbean, people used the Internet 74.8% Above the previous year and world rate 66.3%According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

According to a report by Internet security company Kaspersky, half of Latin American Internet users spend an average of six hours a day on social networks.

“Growing dependence on new technologies has made it easier for cybercriminals to attack more often”said Kerry-Ann Barrett, cybersecurity expert at the Organization of American States (OAS).

Threats are becoming more complex and costly, costing the region billions a year, Barrett noted.

In Peru, a gang defrauded a construction company of more than $62,000 by posing as a bank on a fake website, the attorney general’s office said.

In Mexico, fraudsters have targeted unsuspecting victims with fake job offers via text messages, prompting victims to share sensitive personal data, according to local press reports.

“Latin America is a priority target…

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