A Little Sunshine – Page 39 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2018 20:58:31 +0000

The four major U.S. wireless carriers today detailed a new initiative that may soon let Web sites eschew passwords and instead authenticate visitors by leveraging data elements unique to each customer’s phone and mobile subscriber account, such as location, customer reputation, and physical attributes of the device. Here’s a look at what’s coming, and the potential security and privacy trade-offs of trusting the carriers to handle online authentication on your behalf.

Independent Krebs

September 5, 2018 admin

Browser Extensions: Are They Worth the Risk?

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2018 22:55:08 +0000

Popular file-sharing site Mega.nz is warning users that cybercriminals hacked its browser extension for Google Chrome so that any usernames and passwords submitted through the browser were copied and forwarded to a rogue server in Ukraine. This attack serves as a fresh reminder that legitimate browser extensions can and periodically do fall into the wrong hands, and that it makes good security sense to limit your exposure to such attacks by getting rid of extensions that are no longer useful or actively maintained by developers.

Independent Krebs

August 25, 2018 admin

Who’s Behind the Screencam Extortion Scam?

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2018 23:35:40 +0000

The sextortion email scam last month that invoked a real password used by each recipient and threatened to release embarrassing Webcam videos almost certainly was not the work of one criminal or even one group of criminals. Rather, it’s likely that additional spammers and scammers piled on with their own versions of the phishing email after noticing that some recipients were actually paying up. The truth is we may never find out who’s responsible, but it’s still fun to follow some promising early leads and see where they take us.

Independent Krebs

August 22, 2018 admin

Alleged SIM Swapper Arrested in California

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2018 16:58:17 +0000

Authorities in Santa Clara, Calif. have arrested and charged a 19-year-old area man on suspicion hijacking mobile phone numbers as part of a scheme to steal large sums of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The arrest is the third known law enforcement action this month targeting “SIM swappers,” individuals who specialize in stealing wireless phone numbers and hijacking online financial and social media accounts tied to those numbers.

Independent Krebs

August 17, 2018 admin

Indian Bank Hit in $13.5M Cyberheist After FBI ATM Cashout Warning

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2018 19:27:10 +0000

On Sunday, Aug. 12, KrebsOnSecurity carried an exclusive: The FBI was warning banks about an imminent “ATM cashout” scheme about to unfold across the globe, thanks to a data breach at an unknown financial institution. On Aug. 14, a bank in India disclosed hackers had broken into its servers, stealing nearly $2 million in fraudulent bank transfers and $11.5 million unauthorized ATM withdrawals from more than two dozen cash machines across multiple countries.

Independent Krebs

August 16, 2018 admin

Hanging Up on Mobile in the Name of Security

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2018 17:01:36 +0000

An entrepreneur and virtual currency investor is suing AT&T for $224 million, claiming the wireless provider was negligent when it failed to prevent thieves from hijacking his mobile account and stealing millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies. Increasingly frequent, high-profile attacks like these are prompting some experts to say the surest way to safeguard one’s online accounts may be to disconnect them from the mobile providers entirely.

Independent Krebs

August 7, 2018 admin

Florida Man Arrested in SIM Swap Conspiracy

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 07 Aug 2018 19:27:23 +0000

Police in Florida have arrested a 25-year-old man accused of being part of a multi-state cyber fraud ring that hijacked mobile phone numbers in online attacks that siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies from victims. On July 18, 2018, Pasco County authorities arrested Ricky Joseph Handschumacher, an employee of the city of Port Richey, Fla, charging him with grand theft and money laundering. Investigators allege Handschumacher was part of a group of at least nine individuals scattered across multiple states who for the past two years have drained bank accounts via an increasingly common scheme involving mobile phone “SIM swaps.”

Independent Krebs

August 2, 2018 admin

The Year Targeted Phishing Went Mainstream

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2018 15:11:45 +0000

A story published here on July 12 about a new sextortion-based phishing scheme that invokes a real password used by each recipient has become the most-read piece on KrebsOnSecurity since this site launched in 2009. And with good reason — sex sells (the second most-read piece here was my 2015 scoop about the Ashley Madison hack). But beneath the lurid allure of both stories lies a more unsettling reality: It has never been easier for scam artists to launch convincing, targeted phishing and extortion scams that are automated on a global scale. And given the sheer volume of hacked and stolen personal data now available online, it seems almost certain we will soon witness many variations on these phishing campaigns that leverage customized data elements to enhance their effectiveness.