For a period of about 18 months, Ransomware dominated the news related to information security. Companies of all sizes and verticals were under attack by cybercriminals that were looking to make a quick buck, or a lot of bucks in some cases. Then, all of the sudden, Ransomware sort of went quiet and we didn’t hear about it as much. There are numerous possible reasons for ransomware going quiet for some time. One popular thought is that these cybercriminals were further developing their malware code to become more effective. The introduction of Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) has further complicated ransomware as cybercriminals buy “older” versions of this malware, “improve” upon it, and then blast it out to everyone. Ransomware is like a game of cat and mouse; cybercriminals create a version that is effective for a short amount of time, the information security world catches on and figures out how to either decrypt the ransomware and unlock the files and our anti-malware systems/email gateways/anti-virus programs identify the malware and mitigate the chances of it getting through to our systems.
Think about how much we use Bluetooth daily. Whether we are connecting our smartphones to a wireless speaker, to our car to make handsfree calls or to our Apple Watch, we use Bluetooth on a very frequent basis. In the world of Information Security, the more you use something and the more you integrate thr technology into your day to day routines, cybercriminals focus on ways to “hack” that technology so they can do what they do best: steal your information or compromise your information in some way.
With just under 3 months left to go in the year, contractors and subcontractors that provide products and/or services to the Federal Government are scrambling to meet its end of year deadline or risk losing the ability to work on government contracts.
It is a shame that in the wake of a significant disaster we need to discuss the need for people to be alert of scammers and cyber criminals who are trying to use a tragedy to make money. But here we are and while the people of the great state of Texas deal with a tragedy, the good people of this world who want to donate money and resources need to be on alert! Reports indicate that numerous phishing scams are popping up and targeting people across the country.
It has come to our attention that cyber criminals have begun exploiting a vulnerability within Microsoft PowerPoint’s Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) interface to evade antivirus detection in an attempt to silently install malware applications on Windows based computer systems.