Right now, the US Justice Department is trying to compel Apple to help them in break into an Apple device to assist in the investigation into the Pensacola terrorist attack. They [the Justice Department] also want Apple to include backdoors in their products moving forward to make it easier for law enforcement and other government […]
Tag: security
Attackers are leveraging legitimate file sharing sites to increase phishing effectiveness
We are seeing a new variation of phishing attack that’s leveraging a users trust of legitimate file sharing services (Dropbox and Egnyte specifically) to increase the effectiveness of their phishing campaigns. We have included similar techniques in a number of recent phishing engagements for clients and have seen a significant increase in the number of […]
Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night can stop this attack
These days, it’s not hard to find news stories about personal, private and / or sensitive data being leaked or exposed in massive data breaches. An attacker found a way to get from an untrusted network into the POS system (Target, Home Depot). An attacker found a vulnerability in a website and downloaded a treasure […]
How attackers are using Shodan.io and Hydra to spread ransomware for fun and profit
Ransomware is essentially malware that encrypts data and holds the key for ransom. Organizations that find themselves victims of ransomware are required to either pay the ransom (typically several thousands of dollars in the form of cryptocurrency, which can present it’s own challenges) lose their data or restore from backup (if they have one). For […]
The rise of personalized scams further underscores the importance of security awareness training
Does it seem like you’re receiving more really targeted scam telephone calls and emails lately? If so, it’s not your imagination and you’re not alone. As we lead more and more connected lives, posting more and more data to social media sites, organizations that we do business with and having our information traded by and […]
Security researcher finds millions of bank loan documents exposed on unprotected server
According to a TechCrunch article, an independent security researcher found a database exposed to the Internet with no password protection containing millions of banking and financial documents including mortgage and tax documents. The article does an excellent job of detailing the findings and the sources but there are a few important things that we can […]
Data protection for humans. What are the basics (and how can you protect your data with stuff you already have)?
I recently had a conversation about data protection, specifically protecting the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive data. Over the course of that conversation, realized that there is a LOT of confusion on the topic. How do we protect data? When does the data have to be protected? What constitutes protected? Ultimately, we discovered that the […]
The best place to get started on the red team?
The blue team.
The blue team.
One question that I get a lot, whether it’s from students, current or hopeful IT folks or just curious folks who wonder how one gets into this line of work, is “How do / can I get started hacking?” or “How do / can I get started on the red team?”. I’ve heard tons of […]
Pen tests and baby pictures
I had a conversation a few days ago that highlighted an interesting similarity between offensive security and, oddly enough, baby pictures. The conversation was with a photographer who worked extensively with families (family portraits, baby pictures, etc.). The photographer mentioned that they offer a package for parents to get pictures of their babies at newborn, […]
Some lessons learned from the ransomware attack on the City of Atlanta
On 22 March 2018, the public learned of a ransomware attack in the City of Atlanta information systems. The City of Atlanta held a press conference soon after the news broke and multiple news outlets covered the incident. In this article, I don’t want to re-hash the information already presented but rather highlight a few […]