Extortion scams capitalize on compromised credentials, sensitive data, and technical vulnerabilities
Cyber thieves seeking sensitive data on high net-worth individuals will pay an average of $360,000 per year to target executives, lawyers, doctors, and other prominent figures, researchers discovered. The money comes through extortion
The Digital Shadows Photon Research Team today published "A Tale of Epic Extortions," a deep dive into the ways cybercriminals prey on individuals' online exposure. Extortionists take advantage of compromised credentials, sensitive data (documents, intellectual property), and technical vulnerabilities on Internet-facing applications to convince their victims to pay up.
Extortion has a human element
"The extortion landscape is broader and more diverse than any of us thought before we started," says Rafael Amado, senior strategy and research analyst with Digital Shadows.
Oftentimes, he continues, the technical ... Read More
European-level GPDR becomes California law in CCPA
Governor Brown signed into law California Assembly Bill 375, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) in June, 2018. The law is new in the United States. It applies European-level compliance obligations akin to the now infamous General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The CCPA law takes effect on January 1, 2020.
What CCPA means for organizations doing business in California
CCPA includes new disclosure requirements, consumer rights, training obligations, and potential penalties for noncompliance, among other things.
Below are some of the key provisions:
Right to Transparency – Similar to the GDPR, the law creates a right to transparency regarding personal information. The law defines personal information very broadly, also like the EU definition, to include information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could ... Read More
You can’t have privacy without security
California clearly agrees and may test the applicability of Larry Page's advice with new legislation signed by California Governor Brown in September, 2018.
Internet of Things legislation takes effect 1/1/2020
With the ink barely dry on the infamous California Consumer Privacy Act (the CCPA)—a first-of-its-kind data privacy bill in the United States—Brown signed a new Internet of Things cybersecurity bill into law, SB 327. Perhaps not so coincidentally, both laws will take effect on January 1, 2020, marking a substantial compliance deadline for technology companies big and small.
SB 327 will require that a manufacturer of a “connected device” equip the device with a defined minimum amount of security. “Connected device” is defined quite broadly and as written encompasses “any device, or other physical ... Read More
Oath fined $4.95 Million for violating Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”)
In December, 2018, the New York State Attorney General announced a $4.95 million settlement with Oath Inc., the result of an investigation into Oath's violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”).
The NYAG found that Oath’s ad exchanges transferred persistent identifiers and geolocation from website users to DSP bidders in its automated auction process. While that may be fine for websites directed to grown-up audiences, COPPA includes persistent identifiers and geolocation in its definition of “personal information.” And under the law, companies must obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting or using children’s personal information.
But instead of seeking verifiable parental consent, Oath treated all websites (and therefore all user information) the same, despite knowledge that some ... Read More
I have previously written on Multi Factor Authentication. Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) is a more secure login solution than merely Single Factor Authentication. Single Factor challenges your access based on one trait, usually a password. Multi Factor challenges for at least two traits, including:
What you know. This could be a password.
What you have. This could include your phone with an authentication app, or the ability to receive PINs via text.
What you are. This could include a retinal or fingerprint scan. Yes. Retinas (the back of the eyeball) are as unique as fingerprints.
I am advocating you adopt Twilio Authy as your primary Multi Factor Authentication solution. although Google Authenticator is a big name, here’s a summary of why you should adopt Authy…
The UP ... Read More
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. CAMERON PARK, CA (November 12, 2020) – Cyber Safety Net today announced How Hacks Happen and how to protect yourself was awarded the Nonfiction Authors Association's Gold Award.
"The Nonfiction Authors Association sets the bar extremely high," says author Mark Anthony Germanos. "To have How Hacks Happen be reviewed by other authors and receive the Gold Award is truly an honor. I am glad the reviewers, and reading public as a whole, are finding How Hacks Happen valuable. The content helps keep you safe online." Some sample reviews are as follows:
In How Hacks Happen, Mark Anthony Germanos uses two author personas to explain and illustrate the hazards to our online information: the cybersecurity expert trying to help us and the black-hat hacker exploiting our ... Read More
COVID-19 private health information will no longer be private
A recent update on both iPhones and Droid phones allows our phones to publish our COVID-19 private health information (PII). Some of us may not even know this is happening. Here’s how to find out if your phone is.
On an iPhone, choose Settings > Privacy > Health and you get a screen with COVID-19 Exposure Logging near the top.
COVID-19 Exposure Logging is currently off. “Why the worry Mark,” you may ask. The worry is because I did not intentionally add this functionality. It appeared one day. I do not have an app to transmit data yet. However, I am nervous that a future iOS update will include a surprise app that will transmit this information and worse, ... Read More
Google tracks you (but you can purge what they know)
Two days ago, I wrote about how Google tracks you. Please see https://wp.me/paAiP4-wh for a refresher.
Go to the Google Dashboard at https://myaccount.google.com/dashboard. Let’s just download this data. Click the Download your data link, which takes you to https://takeout.google.com. Scroll through this list of services Google thinks you use. Google checks all by default. At the bottom, click the Next step button.
I am choosing to export this data once, save the data as a .ZIP file and span my data across multiple .ZIP files when the files are larger than 2 GB. Click the Create export button.
Google reports “This process can take a long time (possibly hours or days) to complete. You'll receive an email when your ... Read More
Google tracks your activity
They've been tracking you since you first created that free Drive, Gmail or YouTube account. You can review the data Google tracks and download it. Google also lets you delete some data.
Google tracks via Gmail
Take a deep breath and visit https://myaccount.google.com/dashboard. Login if prompted.
Let’s start with the Gmail link. Google indexes Gmail contents and uses that to help determine which ads will be most interesting to us. Let’s see just how much data Google tracks.
Click the Gmail button.
Click GO TO GMAIL.
Click All Mail (on the left).
Peruse your entire mailbox.
Google reports 4,789 messages in my Gmail account. Although Google reports 4,789 messages, I see only 224 messages in my Inbox, 10 in Trash and 487 in Sent. The rest ... Read More
Predators and thieves see what you post online
Sometimes people aren't as street smart as they choose to believe. They share personal information online and then act surprised when they become victims of a crime.
I am changing my friends’ names here
Ann took a picture of an envelope and posted it on Facebook. This envelope had her name, address, city, state and zip. She also told Facebook she was leaving town for 10 days to visit a friend in Hawaii. Two weeks later, she told Facebook her home was burglarized. I told her she presented valuable information online to a potential thief. "Ah yes, I think you're right, Mark," she replied.
Jen posted her address and pictures of her home on Facebook. She also told Facebook she was ... Read More
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