Category Archives: Internet Security
Singapore sees uptick in cyber threats in 2Q of 2022 – SecurityBrief Asia
A total of 1,817,635 web threats against Internet users were detected and blocked in Singapore between April to June 2022, according to data obtained through the Kaspersky Security Network, marking a 17.6% increase compared to the first three months of this year.
KSN data is collected from Kaspersky customers here who have installed the companys cybersecurity software on their computers and voluntarily shared information with the firm. In 2Q 2022, 23.1% of users in Singapore were attacked by web-borne threats. This places Singapore in 86th place globally in terms of dangers associated with surfing the internet, with the Republic moving up 23 places from 109th in 1Q 2022.
Web-borne threats, or online threats, are a category of cybersecurity risks that may cause an undesirable event or action via the internet, which usually expose people and computer systems to harm. A broad scope of dangers fit into this category, including well-known threats such as phishing and computer viruses.
While large scale phishing attacks have been averted in Singapore this year, the Police have recently warned of an increase in phishing scams where cybercriminals impersonate banking staff and target victims through phone calls or SMS messages.
Cyber threats occur daily and cybercriminals are getting more sophisticated in their methods, although authorities in Singapore have been proactive in deterring and detecting threats as seen in the formation of the Digital and Intelligence Service that was recently announced," says Yeo Siang Tiong, general manager for Southeast Asia at Kaspersky.
"But countering cyber threats requires a whole-of-society approach so we need to continue to educate individuals and businesses on the importance of good cyber-hygiene habits to reduce the risk of being a victim of a cyber-attack."
In Singapore, the most common methods used by cybercriminals to penetrate systems include exploiting vulnerabilities in browsers and their plugins (drive-by download), and social engineering.
Exploiting vulnerabilities in browsers and their plugins (drive-by download).
Infection in this type of attack takes place when visiting an infected website, without any intervention from the user and without their knowledge. This method is used in the majority of attacks. Among them, file-less malware is most dangerous: its malicious code uses registry or WMI subscriptions for persistence, leaving no single object for static analysis on the disk.
To fight such stealthy threats, Kaspersky products apply Behavior Detection component that benefits from ML-based models and behavior heuristics to detect malicious activity even if the code is unknown. Another key technology, developed by Kaspersky, is Exploit Prevention which reveals and blocks in real time the malware's attempts to benefit from software vulnerabilities.
Social engineering
These attacks require user participation: a user has to download a malicious file to her computer. This happens when cybercriminals make the victim believe she is downloading a legitimate program.
Protection against such attacks requires a security solution capable of detecting threats as they are being downloaded from the Internet. Since many threat actors nowadays obfuscate malicious code to bypass static analysis and emulation, true protection requires more advanced technologies such as proactive ML-based methods and behavior analysis.
The global cyber threat landscape continues to evolve in 2022, and some of the major trends seen in the first half of the year include cybercriminals exploiting the rise in remote work to penetrate corporate networks, rising supply chain attacks and more companies becoming prime targets amid an accelerated shift to the cloud.
For companies observing remote or hybrid work arrangements, Kaspersky experts offer the following tips to help employers and businesses continue to stay on top of any potential IT security issues and remain productive:
For users, here are the top online security tips for to ensure each of us can play our part in cyber-vigilance:
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Singapore sees uptick in cyber threats in 2Q of 2022 - SecurityBrief Asia
Here’s Why ATOM Gained 13% Amid Wider Crypto Slump – The Motley Fool
Image source: Getty Images
The crypto that talks to other cryptos is gaining ground.
Cosmos (ATOM) was one of the few top cryptos in the green this morning, up almost 13% in 24 hours. Its price has increased over 2% in the past week and almost 15% in the past 30 days. In contrast, according to CoinMarketCap, market leaders Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have fallen by almost 10% and 13%, respectively, in the past seven days.
There's no obvious single reason for Cosmos's strong performance in recent days. However, there are a number of contributing factors that have given ATOM some momentum.
Global investment manager, VanEck, published an optimistic analysis of Cosmos and its potential in the coming years. It praised Cosmos's secure cross-chain bridging capabilities, which is a key issue in the crypto industry. Many blockchains operate as individual silos and have difficulty communicating with other networks. Cosmos is one of the interoperability cryptos that addresses this issue.
VanEck predicts that over 5,000 blockchains will be built on its network before 2030 because of Cosmos's "superior technology." The report says, "The Cosmos Hub's ATOM token is in a premier position to capture a substantial share of the public blockchain market's value, and we expect its price will perform according to this expectation."
The VanEck report drew particular attention to something called "internet security." It essentially allows blockchains built in the Cosmos ecosystem to use the Cosmos Hub to secure themselves. A new blockchain can use the existing ATOM-backed blockchain to validate itself, rather than rely on its own -- less developed -- token and chain. According to the Cosmos roadmap, the first step toward launching internet security is due soon.
Finally, there's speculation on social media that some of the projects from the now-defunct Terra (LUNA) ecosystem will move to Cosmos. Several smart contract cryptos are competing to attract Terra applications. Terra was built using Cosmos technology, adding weight to rumors that some decentralized finance developers will move activities there. However, other blockchains, such as Polygon (MATIC) have launched specific funds to entice former LUNA apps.
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It is a difficult time for the cryptocurrency industry, and there are still clouds on the horizon. An uncertain wider economic climate and strong likelihood of stricter regulation mean prices could continue to struggle in the short term. This is still a relatively new and unregulated industry and there's a lot we don't know about how it will develop.
As an investor, the key question is whether you think Cosmos can perform well in the long term. Interoperability -- the ability for cryptos to talk to one another -- is crucial for cryptocurrencies and the VanEck report is positive. Nonetheless, its analysts do raise some concerns about Cosmos's tokenomics and disputes between key developers. Do your own research, and try to consider how Cosmos compares to similar projects such as Polkadot (DOT) and Avalanche (AVAX).
Before you invest in any crypto, make sure you're on top of your other financial goals. An emergency fund with three to six months of living expenses is much more likely to help you through a potential recession than a risky crypto investment. Only invest money you can afford to lose and make sure crypto makes up a small percentage of your overall investment portfolio. If you do decide to buy, check out our top crypto apps and exchanges for places to buy Cosmos and other digital currencies.
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Here's Why ATOM Gained 13% Amid Wider Crypto Slump - The Motley Fool
360 Total Security Essential – Free download and software reviews …
360 Internet Security 2013 is anti-virus and anti-malware protection software for Windows PCs. The installer is a light 17MB, and though the overall installation time and duration was relatively fast, it's update process took longer than we had expected. Prior to installation, 360 will automatically prompt you to agree to their license and usage terms, something that's normally an opt-out process. And though it's more or less required to move on, those who are more keen on privacy details or interested in the terms of agreement should keep this in mind before they install the software. Still, the opt-out option might appear a bit suspicious, especially for users who are simply trying out the software.
The setup process will then notify you of any potentially conflicting AV programs you have already installed and give you the option of uninstalling them. Again, layering multiple AV programs is generally bad practice, but if used in a corporate environment with preinstalled security software, you might have to take into consideration that 360 IS may not function properly with any neighboring security suites.
360 also gives you the option of installing a Chrome extension, but in an unconventional accepting or cancelling call to action. For the purpose of this review, we chose to opt out of the toolbar and focus on the core 360 IS experience.
Modern AV programs have been following suit after Windows 8's design makeover by incorporating bright, flat UI elements into their programs. 360 is no exception: the interface, menus, and buttons are all bright, clean, and simulates Windows 8's switch-toggle option items.
The upper-right area sports the standard closing and minimizing buttons, as well as a drop-down menu that lives alongside them. In the second row, a giant check mark and a small arrow tab in the center both reveal a pull-down menu with added filtering options, as well as some stats on the number of blocked items. On the plus side, these menu options did seem a bit odd at first, but at least they weren't invasive.
Overall, 360 IS's general interface remained easy to use but also lacks a bit of direction in some areas. There is a decent number of useful tools under the hood, but not a whole lot of obvious signs of the existence of these monitoring features, at least at first glance. It's both good and bad in that for the casual user, the malware scanner is front and center while most other complex tools, options, and features stay out of the way. And though it does reduce the prospect of overwhelming any users with ambiguous tools, those who are more into in-depth monitoring will have to do a bit of minor digging; but overall, things aren't too hard to find despite the minimal guidance.
360 Internet Security does come with a couple of competitive features for not just local and Web-based protection, but also a couple of privacy protection measures like anti-keylogging and unauthorized Webcam hijacking, which isn't common among other security suites. There are some recognizable attributes that allude to some Bitdefender throwback in 360's features, like real-time file protection; and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the real-time scans from the cloud are borrowed from Bitdefender's definitions.
Another interesting tidbit is a built-in monitoring tool that displays a daily performance score of 360 Internet Security's malware and virus detection engines. Though it's more an assessment of assurance rather than a functional tool, 360 Internet Security at least maintains itself as a formidable cloud security service.
Interestingly enough, because 360 IS is built with the Bitdefender SDK, our benchmark scores proved to be relatively similar to when we reviewed Bitdefender: iTunes track encoding took exactly 123 seconds. 360 IS completed the heavy processing load in 349 seconds in our media multitasking benchmark, only five seconds more than Bitdefender AV Free 2013.
360 IS does deserve some credit for presenting harmful results in ways that try not to scare users. Once a potential threat is detected, 360 IS will display some basic info. to identify the malicious file, a brief description of how the malware behaves, where it's located in the system, and whether the malware was detected via the cloud engine or from a local scanner. Though your mileage may vary, a "full scan" at highest speed took about 33 minutes to complete on our test machine. 360 IS will produce a text log after every complete scan with a list of results, similar to other scanners like Malwarebytes.
360 IS performed well as a very capable scanner with a crisp and mostly intuitive interface, and thankfully lacked the many scareware tactics found in other smaller, alternative lightweight virus scanners. Overall, 360 IS's scanner had minimal impact on system performance, and still ranked relatively high on third-party charts. If you're in the market for an antivirus program, then 360 Internet Security's well-rounded protection and friendly useability will make a promising addition to your Windows system.
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360 Total Security Essential - Free download and software reviews ...
Protect yourself online with tips from Amazon and the National Cybersecurity Alliance – About Amazon
You can protect yourself onlinethats the message Amazon and the National Cybersecurity Alliance want to share with millions of consumers through a newly launched cybersecurity awareness campaign. The public service announcement (PSA) campaign, Protect & Connect, stars Prime Video actor Michael B. Jordan and actress-producer Tessa Thompson as internet bodyguards.
As phishing scams and other online cyberattacks become increasingly common, consumers can grow apathetic. In fact, research shows that even as the number of cyberattacks increased, concern around internet security fell between 2019 and 2020. But consumers can take simple steps to help protect themselves and their information onlineno security expertise required.
Empowering people with the knowledge and tools to operate safely online can help them protect their own personal information while combatting cyber threats of all kinds, said Steve Schmidt, Amazons chief security officer. Our goal is to give people simple, concrete steps to take, like enabling multi-factor authentication, that have meaningful security impact despite the complex security threats that exist.
Amazon leveraged the creative power of the Prime Video team to conceptualize the PSA and connect with top talent. They brought the message of personal agency to life with the help of Jordan and Thompson.
The importance of protecting yourself online cant be overstated. With this PSA, we wanted to create a memorable, informative, and actionable piece of content that will inspire our communities to consider their online safety more carefully, said Sarah Hamilton, head of Global Brand Creative and Strategy at Prime Video. Audiences will see celebrated action heroes Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson naturally slip into the role of internet bodyguards, sharing simple ways everyone can be safer online.
In addition to the PSA, the campaign includes a microsite for consumers, protectconnect.com. It includes additional videos for visitors to learn more about multi-factor authentication (MFA) and how to identify and avoid phishing attempts. The site also has interactive content to test consumers knowledge on best practices for keeping safe online.
The Amazon Security team contributed their expertise on the most effective ways for consumers to protect their information online, and Amazons collaboration with the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA) helped ensure that the campaign messages were aligned with best practices for cybersecurity education. The NCA is a nonprofit on a mission to create a more secure, interconnected world through education and awareness efforts that help individuals and organization stay safe online.
Moving the needle on cybersecurity awareness requires a collective approach. Businesses, nonprofits, and governments all have a role to play in helping to up-level preparedness for cyber threats, said Lisa Plaggemier, NCAs executive director. Its particularly exciting for a company like Amazon to get involved in this effort, given the companys exceptional reach and deep understanding of consumer audiences. Were proud to be a part of this campaign and to share it with our constituents as well.
The PSA campaign is a follow-up to the commitments that Andy Jassy made at last years White House Cyber Summit to help improve the nations cybersecurity by offering Cybersecurity Awareness Training free to individuals and businesses around the world and providing free MFA security keys to eligible Amazon Web Services customers.
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Protect yourself online with tips from Amazon and the National Cybersecurity Alliance - About Amazon
Securing Africa’s cyberspace will be coordinated from Togo – Quartz
A new cybersecurity center in Togo is poised to add into efforts by individual African countries to secure the continents cyberspace.
In November 2021, Kaspersky reported that Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya recorded a combined total of 81 million cyber attacks in three months, signaling how cybercrime is rising in tandem with internet penetration. In the second quarter of this year, phishing scams rose by 438% and 174% in Kenya and Nigeria respectively, from the previous quarter.
Based in the capital city Lom, and set up as a partnership between the government and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Uneca), the African Centre for Coordination and Research in Cybersecurity will monitor, detect, and share cybersecurity intelligence with African governments, policy makers, law enforcement, and security agencies. Cybercrime is estimated to cost Africa $4 billion a year.
The center will also lead internet security research in the continent, in a time when hacking groups are deploying sophisticated deep learning software to penetrate African government websites, banks, hospitals, power companies, and telcos. In July, Liquid Cyber Security, the internet security arm of cloud firm Liquid Intelligence Technologies, launched a cybersecurity fusion center in South Africa.
Togos digital economy and transformation minister Cina Lawson said the collaborations mission is to make cybersecurity a top priority for African nations. We aim to become a significant digital hub in Africa. Our partnership model with the private sector is an innovative approach that we want to showcase to inspire other countries for safer cyberspace on the continent, he added.
Last March, African countries subscribed to the Lom Declaration (pdf) which is implementing a regulatory framework to make cybersecurity a business enabler.
It is important to promote coordinated cybersecurity approaches in Africa, United Nations under-secretary general and Uneca executive secretary, Vera Songwe, said.
Togo already has a National Cybersecurity Agency (ANCy) and a Personal Data Protection Authority (IPDCP), making itself a leader in Africas cyberspace security. It is one of a few nations to have ratified the African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection of 2014.
Once cyber attackers obtain access to corporate web-based and cloudresources using cookies, they use them for further exploitation such as business email compromise, social engineering to gain additional system access, and even modification of data or source code repositories. There have also been hacking on social media platforms targeting money in credit cards.
Over the past year, weve seen attackers increasingly turn to cookie theft to work around the growing adoption of multi-factor authentication. Attackers are turning to new and improved versions of information stealing malware like Raccoon Stealer to simplify the process of obtaining authentication cookies, also known as access tokens, Sean Gallagher, lead threat researcher at Sophos, a UK cybersecurity firm, tells Quartz.
In March 2021, the African Development Bank granted $2 million to the African Cybersecurity Resource Center (ACRC) for Financial Inclusion to tackle cybercrime and strengthen the resilience of digital financial ecosystems.
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Securing Africa's cyberspace will be coordinated from Togo - Quartz
Pinkbike Primer – Everything You Need to Know Ahead of the 2022 DH World Champs – Pinkbike.com
Riders have had a few weeks since the last World Cup round at Mont-Sainte-Anne and there are now only a few days before we will see the newly crowned champions for 2022. Check out all you need to know before racing kicks off below.
The Track
Previous World Champions
What Happened in 2021?
Myriam Nicole had a perfect run in the Elite Women's race to fly into first place by nearly five seconds. Marine Cabirou laid down one of the most impressive performances as she fought through her injury from Les Gets to cross the line in second place. 2020 World Champion, Camille Balanche, didn't match her winning run from the previous year, but she still walked away from Val di Sole with the bronze medal after a great run on the tricky course.
The Elite Men's racing provided plenty of drama as Greg Minnaar secured his fourth World Championships title. Benoit Coulanges came close to taking the top spot, but he settled for the silver medal as he crossed the line 0.227 seconds behind Greg. Troy Brosnan rounded out the top three riders and was the only other person to come within a second of Greg Minnaar's winning time.
Elite Women1st. Myriam Nicole: 4:06.2432nd. Marine Cabirou: +4.8273rd. Camille Balanche: +6.0994th. Monika Hrastnik: +9.0855th. Tahnee Seagrave: +9.781
Junior Women1st. Izabela Yankova: 4:30.8652nd. Kine Haugom: +10.8443rd. Gracey Hemstreet: +13.2454th. Simonka Kuchynkova: +15.1535th. Delia De Mocogno: +15.512
Junior Men1st. Jackson Goldstone: 3:37.0972nd. Jordan Williams: +1.8123rd. Lachlan Stevens-McNab: +3.5604th. Ethan Craik: +4.8485th. Oisin O Callaghan: +6.218
What Happened at the Last World Cup Round?
Elite Women1st. Vali Hll: 4:56.0122nd. Nina Hoffmann: 4:59.1593rd. Eleonora Farina: 5:00.5224th. Jess Blewitt: 5:11.9085th. Monika Hrastnik: 5:12.210
Elite Men1st. Finn Iles: 4:11.7172nd. Laurie Greenland: 4:11.9553rd. Troy Brosnan: 4:15.2214th. Aaron Gwin: 4:17.5315th. Bernard Kerr: 4:18.100
Junior Women1st. Phoebe Gale: 5:09.2232nd. Izabela Yankova: 5:16.0843rd. Gracey Hemstreet: 5:16.8054th. Valentina Roa Sanchez: 5:27.4665th. Aimi Kenyon: 5:28.439
Junior Men1st. Jackson Goldstone: 4:13.7662nd. Jordan Williams: 4:17.5663rd. Bodhi Kuhn: 4:20.3024th. Lachlan Stevens-McNab: 4:26.4635th. Ryan Pinkerton: 4:26.966
Entry List
Weather Forecast
The weather is mostly looking good for the week of racing in Les Gets. The only worrying part of the current forecast comes from the chance of rain showers and thunderstorms for finals. Let's hope this ends up missing the area and we get the same conditions for every rider.
Wednesday, August 24 - TrainingMostly sunny and warm // 24C // 1% precipitation // wind 7km/h
Thursday, August 25 - Qualifying Partly sunny and warm; a thunderstorm in spots in the afternoon // 25C // 40% precipitation // wind 7km/h
Friday, August 26 - TrainingIntervals of clouds and sunshine with a thunderstorm in the area in the afternoon // 23C // 55% precipitation // wind 7km/h
Saturday, August 27 - FinalsMainly cloudy and warm with a couple of showers and a thunderstorm // 23C // 60% precipitation // wind 9km/h
Weather forecast as of Monday, August 22 from Accuweather.
The Schedule
Tuesday, August 23 13:00-16:00 // On Foot Downhill Course Inspection - Riders and Teams
Wednesday, August 24 09:30-13:30 // Official Downhill Training - Juniors and Elite Women 13:45-17:45 // Official Downhill Training - Elite Men
Thursday, August 25 08:00-09:00 // Official Downhill Training - Juniors and Elite Women 09:00-10:00 // Official Downhill Training - Elite Men 10:30-11:30 // Qualifying - Juniors 11:45-13:30 // Qualifying - Elites
Friday, August 26 09:00-12:00 // Official Downhill Training - Juniors and Elite Women 13:00-16:00 // Official Downhill Training - Elite Men
Saturday, August 27 08:00-09:00 // Official Downhill Training - Juniors and Elite Women 09:30 // Final - Junior Women After // Final - Junior Men Followed by Awards Ceremony for Junior categories 11:15-11:30 // Official Downhill Training - Women Elite qualified for the final 11:30-12:30 // Official Downhill Training - Men Elite qualified for the final 13:15 // Final - Elite Women 14:35 // Final - Elite Men
Note: All times are local and subject to change by the event organizer.
How to Watch
And if you live in one of the lucky countries listed at this link, you can also watch World Champs live on redbull.tv.
And, totally unrelated for the rest of you, we've compiled a Pinkbike article on how to keep your data safe while browsing online, just because we absolutely care about your internet security. You can read our VPN Internet Safety Briefing here.
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Pinkbike Primer - Everything You Need to Know Ahead of the 2022 DH World Champs - Pinkbike.com
Lake County deputies: Man arrested in connection to shooting at internet gaming business – WESH 2 Orlando
Lake County Sheriff's Office deputies have arrested a man in connection to a shooting at an internet gaming business on Wednesday night.The shooting happened around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday near Umatilla.A worker at the location of the incident, Hot Spot, called 911 upon hearing gunshots that injured a security guard. "We received a call of shots fired from what is known as Hot Spot internet gaming casino. When we responded there, we found that the security guard had been shot," Lt. Fred Jones with the Lake County Sheriffs Office said.The security guard who was injured is still in recovery. "I heard the gunshots and when I came outside. I saw some guys running to a truck and take off," Lynn, a witness said.Lynn, who didn't want to give her full name, told WESH 2 she spoke to someone who was inside of Hot Spot when the shooting happened. "They said it was two people, and as soon as the door opened, the guy put his hand in with the gun because the girl said she tried to swipe the gun down," Lynn said."She said he shot the security guard sitting there, shot the security guard then took off running outside the building, never even made it inside the building," Lynn said.Travontae Harley, 33, was arrested Friday night during a traffic stop on his Nissan Frontier. Detectives are still trying to locate the second suspect. Leading up to Harley's arrest, a phone was found in the area where the suspects took off in a dark-colored truck after the incident. Detectives found pictures of Harley's cards on the phone after obtaining a search warrant, and they were also able to connect the phone's account to Harley's social media names. A Wawa receipt from the day of the Hot Spot shooting was found in Harley's car, and upon checking the surveillance video from the Wawa, detectives saw two men who matched the description of the suspects. The surveillance video was from three hours before the shooting occurred. According to the Lake County Sheriff's Office, Harley is facing charges for robbery with a firearm and attempted murder while engaged in a robbery. Anyone with information should reach out either to the Lake County Sheriff's Office, or Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS.Related video below:
Lake County Sheriff's Office deputies have arrested a man in connection to a shooting at an internet gaming business on Wednesday night.
The shooting happened around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday near Umatilla.
A worker at the location of the incident, Hot Spot, called 911 upon hearing gunshots that injured a security guard.
"We received a call of shots fired from what is known as Hot Spot internet gaming casino. When we responded there, we found that the security guard had been shot," Lt. Fred Jones with the Lake County Sheriffs Office said.
The security guard who was injured is still in recovery.
"I heard the gunshots and when I came outside. I saw some guys running to a truck and take off," Lynn, a witness said.
Lynn, who didn't want to give her full name, told WESH 2 she spoke to someone who was inside of Hot Spot when the shooting happened.
"They said it was two people, and as soon as the door opened, the guy put his hand in with the gun because the girl said she tried to swipe the gun down," Lynn said.
"She said he shot the security guard sitting there, shot the security guard then took off running outside the building, never even made it inside the building," Lynn said.
Travontae Harley, 33, was arrested Friday night during a traffic stop on his Nissan Frontier.
Detectives are still trying to locate the second suspect.
Leading up to Harley's arrest, a phone was found in the area where the suspects took off in a dark-colored truck after the incident.
Detectives found pictures of Harley's cards on the phone after obtaining a search warrant, and they were also able to connect the phone's account to Harley's social media names.
A Wawa receipt from the day of the Hot Spot shooting was found in Harley's car, and upon checking the surveillance video from the Wawa, detectives saw two men who matched the description of the suspects.
The surveillance video was from three hours before the shooting occurred.
According to the Lake County Sheriff's Office, Harley is facing charges for robbery with a firearm and attempted murder while engaged in a robbery.
Anyone with information should reach out either to the Lake County Sheriff's Office, or Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS.
Related video below:
OIG Wants More Progress from CISA on Cyber Threat Information Sharing – HS Today – HSToday
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) says the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) made limited progress improving the overall quality of threat information but has addressed basic information sharing requirements.
OIG recently published the findings of its evaluation of CISAs progress in meeting the Cybersecurity Act of 2015s requirements for 2019 and 2020. The Act requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish a capability and process for Federal entities to receive cyber threat information from non-Federal entities. The Act also requires Inspectors General from the Intelligence Community and appropriate agencies to submit a joint report to Congress every two years on Federal Government actions to share cyber threat information.
CISA created an Automated Indicator Sharing (AIS) capability in 2016 to enable the real-time exchange of unclassified cyber threat information and defensive measures to participants of the AIS community. According to OIG, in 2019 and 2020 CISA continued to leverage its AIS capability to share cyber threat information between the Federal Government and the private sector. During that time, CISA reportedly increased the number of Federal participants by more than 15 percent and increased the number of non-Federal participants by 13 percent. CISA asserted it increased the overall number of cyber threat indicators it shared and received by more than 162 percent, but it could not validate this number.
OIG determined that the quality of information shared with AIS participants was not always adequate to identify and mitigate cyber threats.
Cyber threat information must contain enough contextual information to help decision makers take necessary and appropriate actions. Examples of contextual information may include Internet Protocol addresses, domain names, hash files, uniform resource locators, or anomalies in the network traffic. Real-time access to the right information is critical for mitigating risks. For example, recent sharing of cyber threat indicators, including malware information, related to the 2021 SolarWinds Orion supply chain compromise led CISA and the Department of Defense Cyber National Mission Force to analyze these malware variants and trace their origins to prevent future cyber incidents.
However, according to the Federal and private sector entities the watchdog interviewed, most of the cyber threat indicators did not contain enough contextual information to help decision makers take action.
Stakeholders also stated that the cyber threat indicators contained false positives, which could mislead entities into believing threats were malicious, resulting in unnecessary upgrades or security protocols. Federal agency officials also noted that some participants had shared unconfirmed malware cyber threat indicator information, or low confidence threat information, that resulted in false positive alerting within security tools. Additionally, private sector feedback identified concerns with AIS customers experiencing false positives from the AIS Public Feed that were later identified as known good indicators. CISA responded to this by improving the AIS allow list to ensure that these types of known good indicators are not distributed via AIS to stakeholders. Federal stakeholders can filter out some of these lower confidence indicators while others may not have the expertise or intermediate tools to further refine relevant cyber threat indicators and defensive measures.
OIG has attributed the shortcomings to limited AIS functionality, inadequate staffing, and external factors challenges it previously reported on in its Cybersecurity Act evaluation for 2017 and 2018.
Following this most recent evaluation, OIG made four recommendations to CISA: improve information quality by increasing participants sharing of cyber information, complete AIS upgrades, conduct additional training and outreach, and hire the staff needed to improve the AIS programs operational effectiveness.
DHS concurred and reminded OIG that since the watchdogs fieldwork CISAs Cybersecurity Division launched its next generation version of AIS, AIS 2.0, which created the capability to apply a CISA opinion score to cyber threat indicators. This score provides an assessment of whether the information can be corroborated with other sources available to the entity submitting the opinion to AIS. AIS 2.0 addresses some of the weaknesses found in OIGs evaluation. In addition, DHS told OIG that during the past 18 months, CISAs Cybersecurity Division has added additional contractual resources to better support its efforts and is also assessing a longer-term approach to allocate resources to fully support the cyber risk mission area.
Read the full report at OIG
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OIG Wants More Progress from CISA on Cyber Threat Information Sharing - HS Today - HSToday
Coffee Talk: Getting Started with Zero Trust – Redmondmag.com
Coffee Talk: Getting Started with Zero Trust
Date: Thursday, September 15 at 11am PT / 2pm ET
Join us live to qualify to receive a $5 Starbucks gift card!*
We need to talk. Those are difficult words to see in a text message or hear on voice mail. But we need to have a chat about Zero Trust and try and decern what it all means for the security team, for your organization and ultimately for the business strategy. Like most things in cyber security the sudden realization that one small team trying to secure an organization of more than a 1000+ is futile. It needs a commitment from nearly every department, management and executive support. The reality is Zero Trust is a long journey with a destination which may never be completely arrived at. The story of Zero trust is born out of frustration with traditional IT approaches built on the insecurities of the Internet. Ian Thornton-Trump CD, CISO for Cyjax UK Ltd. has been presenting on Zero Trust for the last two years and will share his observations, frustrations and what he believes are the key ways your organization can move the ball forward. For some organizations with large technical debut and legacy equipment the journey may even be nearly impossible to start and require creative problem solving. This is an open Q & A format so bring the questions and we will find the answers.
Register now!
About the presenters:
Ian Thornton-Trump, CISO, Cyjax
Ian Thornton-Trump, CISO, at Cyjax. Ian is an ITIL certified IT professional with 25 years of experience in IT security and information technology. From 1989 to 1992, Ian served with the Canadian Forces (CF), Military Intelligence Branch; in 2002, he joined the CF Military Police Reserves and retired as a Public Affairs Officer in 2013. After a year with the RCMP as a Criminal Intelligence Analyst, Ian worked as a cyber-security analyst/consultant for multi-national insurance, banking and regional health care. Today, as Chief Information Security Officer forCyjax Ltd., Ian has deep experience with the threats facing small, medium and enterprise businesses. His research and experience have made him a sought-after cyber security consultant specializing in cyber threat intelligence programs for small, medium and enterprise organizations. In his spare time, he teaches cyber security and IT business courses for CompTIA as part of their global faculty and is the lead architect for CyberTitan, Canada's efforts to encourage the next generation of cyber professionals.
Moderated by:John K. Waters, Editor at Large, Redmondmag.com
Date: 09/15/2022
Time: 11:00amPT
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Coffee Talk: Getting Started with Zero Trust - Redmondmag.com
Scareware: One of the scariest cybersecurity attacks in 2022 – Komando
Spam is unavoidable: It clutters your phone call history and chokes your email inbox. Like spam, scareware is another annoyance that seems to go hand-in-hand with internet access. Its why you should never click pop-ups that say your system is at risk.
Most cybersecurity experts say scareware has been around since 1990 when programmer Patrick Evans designed a program called NightMare to attack computers. A creepy image of a bloody skull took over victims screens and an echoing shriek assaulted the ears.
The aptly-named NightMare set a disturbing precedent. Cybercriminals have since used scareware to wrestle millions of dollars from unsuspecting victims. In this article, youll learn how to prevent falling victim to scareware.
Picture this: Youre surfing the web, minding your own business. Then a random pop-up says your computer has a virus. It looks legitimate, with a technical design similar to that of Apple or another trustworthy brand.
Since it looks like it came from a reliable source, you fall for the pop-ups claims. You immediately feel stressed out. After all, your whole system could be in danger.
Privacy, security, the latest trends and the info you need to live your best digital life.
Most scareware pop-ups urge you to click it or else.
For example, theyll say to click here to remove the viruses. Since you dont want your device infected with malware, you might do what the pop-up asks. Unfortunately, clicking on the link will download viruses onto your device.
Thats right: You didnt have any viruses on your phone or computer. The pop-up was lying. Cybercriminals manipulated your emotions so they could scare you into action.
Famous scareware attacks came in many different forms. You can encounter these nasty scams on your phone, tablet or computer. This is why you need antivirus protection on all your devices. Heres how to set up cybersecurity programs on your iPhone or Android.
Here are some scareware attack examples you may have heard of:
As you can tell, scareware social engineering schemes are incredibly dangerous. They can steal a ton of money. Now that you know some scareware history, lets move on to the more critical part. How to prevent it.
Not sure how to spot a scareware scam? First, ask yourself if the pop-up is hard to close. Scammers make it difficult for you to shut down the box, so even if you hit X or close, it might not disappear immediately.
You might also see icons you cant click on. Thats because scareware designers will spoof icons from reputable companies. Theyre mooching off those companies good reputations to trick you into thinking they work together.
So if you cant click through to the sites, take that as a red flag. Of course, the best way to protect yourself from scareware is to protect your device with robust and up-to-date antivirus software. Kim recommends our sponsor, TotalAV.
TotalAVs industry-leading security suite is easy to use and offers the best protection in the business. In fact, its received the renowned VB100 award for detecting more than 99% of malware samples over the last three years.
Not only do you get continuous protection from the latest threats, but its AI-driven Web Shield browser extension blocks dangerous websites automatically, and its Junk Cleaner can help you quickly clear out your old files.
Right now, get an annual plan of TotalAV Internet Security for only $19 at ProtectWithKim.com. Thats over 85% off the regular price.
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Scareware: One of the scariest cybersecurity attacks in 2022 - Komando