Krebs

IndependentKrebs

Why Phone Numbers Stink As Identity Proof

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2019 23:25:06 +0000

Phone numbers stink for security and authentication. They stink because most of us have so much invested in these digits that they’ve become de facto identities. At the same time, when you lose control over a phone number — maybe it’s hijacked by fraudsters, you got separated or divorced, or you were way late on your phone bill payments — whoever inherits that number can then be you in a lot of places online.

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IndependentKrebs

Ad Network Sizmek Probes Account Breach

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2019 20:56:39 +0000

Online advertising firm Sizmek Inc. [NASDAQ: SZMK] says it is investigating a security incident in which a hacker was reselling access to a user account with the ability to modify ads and analytics for a number of big-name advertisers. In a recent posting to a Russian-language cybercrime forum, an individual who’s been known to sell access to hacked online accounts kicked off an auction for “the admin panel of a big American ad platform.” “You can add new users to the ad system, edit existing ones and ad offers,” the seller wrote. The starting bid was $800.

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IndependentKrebs

Patch Tuesday, March 2019 Edition

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2019 04:55:28 +0000

Microsoft on Tuesday pushed out software updates to fix more than five dozen security vulnerabilities in its Windows operating systems, Internet Explorer, Edge, Office and Sharepoint. If you (ab)use Microsoft products, it’s time once again to start thinking about getting your patches on. Malware or bad guys can remotely exploit roughly one-quarter of the flaws fixed in today’s patch batch without any help from users.

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IndependentKrebs

Insert Skimmer + Camera Cover PIN Stealer

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Mon, 11 Mar 2019 03:41:54 +0000

Very often the most clever component of your typical ATM skimming attack is the hidden pinhole camera used to record customers entering their PINs. These little video bandits can be hidden 100 different ways, but they’re frequently disguised as ATM security features — such as an extra PIN pad privacy cover, or an all-in-one skimmer over the green flashing card acceptance slot at the ATM. And sometimes, the scammers just hijack the security camera built into the ATM itself.

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IndependentKrebs

MyEquifax.com Bypasses Credit Freeze PIN

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Fri, 08 Mar 2019 16:12:38 +0000

Most people who have frozen their credit files with Equifax have been issued a numeric Personal Identification Number (PIN) which is supposed to be required before a freeze can be lifted or thawed. Unfortunately, if you don’t already have an account at the credit bureau’s new myEquifax portal, it may be simple for identity thieves to lift an existing credit freeze at Equifax and bypass the PIN armed with little more than your, name, Social Security number and birthday.

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IndependentKrebs

Hackers Sell Access to Bait-and-Switch Empire

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Mon, 04 Mar 2019 22:11:33 +0000

Cybercriminals are auctioning off access to customer information stolen from an online data broker behind a dizzying array of bait-and-switch Web sites that sell access to a vast range of data on U.S. consumers, including DMV and arrest records, genealogy reports, phone number lookups and people searches. In an ironic twist, the marketing empire that owns the hacked online properties appears to be run by a Canadian man who’s been sued for fraud by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft and Oprah Winfrey, to name a few.

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IndependentKrebs

Booter Boss Interviewed in 2014 Pleads Guilty

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2019 15:14:05 +0000

A 20-year-old Illinois man has pleaded guilty to running multiple DDoS-for-hire services that launched millions of attacks over several years. The plea deal comes almost exactly five years after KrebsOnSecurity interviewed both the admitted felon and his father and urged the latter to take a more active interest in his son’s online activities.

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