Tag Archive for: guarding

Keep your holiday season merry by guarding against cybercriminals

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malware

Sarah Reingewirtz / The Orange County Register via AP

U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announces in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023 the multinational take down operation of Qakbot malware. In their latest disruption of global cybercrime, the FBI and partners in Europe infiltrated and seized control of a major malware network that was used for more than 15 years to commit a gamut of online crimes including crippling ransomware attacks.

We hate to be the bearers of stressful or anxiety-inducing news, but there are now less than 10 days remaining in the pre-Christmas holiday shopping season. Moreover, according to the U.S. Postal Service, today is the final day to postmark greetings cards and other first-class mail in order to have it received by Dec. 25.

Now that we’ve sent you scurrying to your favorite local storefront or online shopping site, we thought it appropriate to provide a few best practices to avoid falling prey to scammers, hackers, thieves, porch pirates and other Grinches looking to take away the joy of giving this holiday season.

  • If you do your shopping online, AAA recommends taking a few basic precautions before providing your financial information to a website. Avoid using public Wi-Fi at airports or cafes that can be easily monitored by cybercriminals looking to steal your credit card number or passwords.
  • Confirm that the address (or URL) of the website you’re using is secure and begins with “https” instead of “http.” The “s” stands for secure. Often, secure websites will display a padlock in the corner of the screen next to the URL. If you don’t see the padlock, you might reconsider entering your information on the site.
  • If you see spelling errors, strange language choices or images on the website that don’t quite make sense, you should find a different company from which to purchase. This can all be signs of a “pharming” scam in which you are automatically redirected, without your consent, from a legitimate website to a copycat website designed to steal your financial information.
  • Secure your most important online accounts with strong passwords and two-factor authorization that will keep…

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Guarding Patient Trust: Healthcare’s Battle Against Ransomware Threats

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The global healthcare industry has more to worry about than just treating patients. The ever-growing risk of ransomware is a major threat currently facing the entire sector, compromising confidential patient data, and disrupting the crucial services it provides.

“With ransomware accounting for 54% of all cybersecurity threats in the healthcare industry, the chances of a successful breach are higher than ever,” explains Andrew Hollister, Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), LogRhythm. “A recent example of how threat actors are targeting the industry can be seen in the attack on Barts Health NHS Trust. The Trust, which runs five London-based hospitals and serves more than 2.5m patients, was breached by the ALPHV ransomware gang. This resulted in it compromising 70 terabytes of sensitive data, including National Insurance numbers, financial data, and insurance agreements.”

Healthcare security teams are faced with a challenging, but vital role. There is a growing need for comprehensive detection and response solutions within healthcare to overcome the threats posed by ransomware attacks. 

Here, Hollister tells us more. 

 

Healthcare under attack

The healthcare industry is a top target for hackers due to the vast amount of people that rely on its services on a global scale. Threat actors can hold healthcare service providers at ransom for large pay-outs leaving them with little other option than to give in to their demands. 

“The introduction of more connected Internet of Things (IoT) medical devices plays a part in advancing the patient experience, but also broadens the attack surface for cybercriminals. With access to hospital IT systems, threat actors can easily steal a huge range of important personal data from patients and employees alike,” Hollister explains. “Further to this, the challenges caused by the expanding threat landscape are amplified by tight budgetary constraints within the public sector. Funding limitations leave many healthcare institutions in the difficult position of having to juggle their investment priorities between cybersecurity and direct healthcare provisions.”

The level of data that some criminals can access has the…

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Mobile Guarding by Securitas Delivers | Patrols & Alarm Response | Securitas Security Services USA

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How a security ninja cracked the password guarding his most valued assets

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JasonBechtel

Jeremiah Grossman is widely considered to be one of the world’s most talented ethical hackers, but even his ninja-like prowess wasn’t enough to recover a forgotten password used to encrypt sensitive work documents contained on his MacBook Pro.

After fiddling with a freely available password cracking program, the CTO of Whitehat Security soon realized that its plodding speed—about one password guess per second—meant it would likely take him decades of tries before he arrived at the right one. That’s when he called in the big guns, namely Solar Designer and other principals behind the free John the Ripper password cracker as well as Jeremi Gosney, a password security expert at Stricture Consulting Group. (Ars has chronicled Gosney’s cracking prowess in articles here and here.)

“Collectively, these guys are amongst the world’s foremost experts in password cracking,” Grossman wrote in a blog post describing the odyssey unlocking the crucial files. “If they can’t help, no one can. No joking around, they immediately dove right in.”

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