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To this somewhat hopeful cyber security expert, it appears that Mary Jo White, the new chairwoman of the SEC, is interested in making investors’ online security a priority. Will it make you safer? Not without action. Shortly after being officially confirmed in her new role this week, White held a meeting to establish stricter identity theft prevention measures – an initiative that was started back in 2011. Specifically, the measures encouraged businesses to disclose their security vulnerabilities and any history of prior cyber attacks for the purpose of better informing constituents.
White’s initiative was sparked in part by West Virginia Senator John Rockefeller, who has reached out to her to increase efforts in this area. In a letter to White sent this week, Rockefeller urged the SEC to put stronger regulations in place to help enforce cyber security. His statements of concern requesting “formal guidance from the SEC” hit the nail on the head.
Posted in Cyber Data Security by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Cyber Security, Identity Theft Prevention
What does cyber security training have to do with jokes, you ask? Well, you’re sitting at work when someone sends you an email that promises funny pictures, a joke or a viral video. You go ahead and click, forgetting everything you learned in your company’s cyber awareness sessions …but your company may be tricking you into training.
For many, the negative outcomes of ineffective cyber security remain invisible until they hit close to home. A large number of breaches to security occur not just because of the efforts of hackers, but also because of the naïve practices of employees. Anyone can compromise their workplace’s security unintentionally if they aren’t careful. Fortunately, one company named PhishMe is using this as an opportunity to call us out on our bad habits.
Posted in Cyber Data Security by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Cyber Security, cyber security training
Several major American banks saw hackers take over their websites recently. We’re not talking covert fraud or spying here, but an explicit data security breach disabling official websites. It’s debilitating, it’s devastating-and it’s becoming more prevalent.
American Express and JP Morgan have been the targets of sophisticated strikes that resulted in their websites being disastrously compromised. Even if the effects were only temporary, the fact that hackers were able to accomplish such a significant breach should serve as a major warning to corporations and government officials alike.
A data security breach is always an alarming state of affairs, but this current rash of criminal activity seems to focus more on aggressive tactics than is usually the case. And these data security breaches may be the result of nationally sponsored efforts. According to the New York Times, one group, known as “Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters” seems to have come forward in relation to these attacks. The U.S. isn’t the only one to be the subject of such nasty attention: South Korea lost access to thousands of computers last month, and the European web protection group known as Spamhaus has been the target of an attack of staggering proportions.
Posted in Cyber Data Security by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Cyber Security, data security breach, Online Security
A hack doesn't always target your personal secrets or your bank account. If you're a celebrity, sometimes a rumor does enough damage on its own.
Ever since the naughty bestseller "Fifty Shades of Grey" arrived on the scene, the public has been wondering about the inevitable film adaptation. A recent announcement that former Harry Potter star Emma Watson would be the film's heroine must have come as a shock to many…including Watson herself. Because she hasn't actually been cast.
The news comes courtesy not of an official press release but a data security breach into German studio Constantin films that resulted in the leaking of documents, among them one confirming Watson's involvement. But the studio has denied that this is true, claiming that the compromised information is outdated.
Watson herself took to Twitter to address the incident, saying "Who here actually thinks I would do 50 Shades of Grey as a movie? Like really. For real. In real life." At least she's still got her social media reputation intact.
Posted in Cyber Data Security by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: data security, data security breach, social media reputation
Ignoring fraud training as the foundation of your cyber security strategy is like counting on Google to educate your kids. Technology is a critical tool in the fight, but without well educated users, guided by knowledgeable teachers, the tools are a waste of your money.
Thanks to President Obama’s state-of-the-union plug for increased cyber security, the Chinese hacking of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and the hacking of a prominent celebrities, America is waking up to the tangible value of virtual data. Awareness is definitely the first step, but it is only the tip of the privacy iceberg. Just as in the age before the internet, the only thing keeping employees from selling secrets or participating in fraudulent activity are the human controls that discourage the practice. But it’s all the more hair-raising to think of the amount of digital secrets an employee has access to at any given time. The new tale of a Reuters journalist gone cyber-rogue adds a chilling wrinkle to the perils of protecting the data that keeps corporate profits ticking.
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Fraud Detection & Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Cyber Security, Fraud Expert, Fraud Prevention, Fraud Training, John Sileo
Remember those strikes against Facebook, Apple and Microsoft a few weeks ago? New data has given us a little more info on where these attacks came from.
Even if you think you've locked your private information down, social media exposure is always a risk. We already knew a little bit about the source of the breach that recently compromised Facebook and other major companies. Now we have the name of one of the websites that launched the hack: iPhoneDevSDK.com, a mobile app development site that acted as a "watering hole" for malware. It was only one of many, however, and the source of these attacks is still somewhat murky.
The name of the particular species of malware that infiltrated Macs has also been identified. According to the Security Ledger, it's called Pintsized.A, and it's a Trojan that can disguise itself as an innocuous file while subtly corrupting your device. The attacks were disseminated through the use of a critical security loophole in Java, something that has been a source of criticism for cyber security professionals in the past.
Posted in Cyber Data Security by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Cyber Security, social media exposure, Social Media Privacy
Threats to online security have been coming thick and fast. But a new study shows that CEO's may finally be taking notice. Is that enough?
If there's an upside to the recent rash of hacks and digital subterfuge, it may be that businesses are beginning to see the ugly reality of online privacy exposure. According to the Wall Street Journal, a study by analysts at AIG recently showed that more executives are concerned about breaches than harm to their property. Eighty-five percent of executives polled placed more emphasis on their information and digital reputation than their physical holdings.
Awareness is one thing, but are these executives putting their money where their mouth is?
It appears so. Studies show that there has been a corresponding increase in the amount of money recently spent by retail companies on cyber security measures and experienced anti-fraud experts. It's remarkable what a little bad press (hacking of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Twitter, Evernote) will do to motivate previously complacent companies.
Posted in Cyber Data Security by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Cyber Security, digital reputation, Identity Theft Prevention, online identity
Evernote gets hacked, prompts us to look at the sensitive information we store in the program.
Evernote, the online note-taking service that gives you access to all of your notes on all of your devices through the cloud was hacked this week. In an attempt to keep the cyber hackers from stealing all of our notes, they quickly reset every user’s password. Here’s what you need to know:
- If you use Evernote, you were hacked.
- Your first step should be to visit Evernote.com and attempt to login. This will force a reset of your password.
- Make sure that your password is 13+ characters and contains upper and lower case letters, numbers, symbols and isn’t a word a hacker could find in a dictionary, on your Facebook page or by easily guessing.
Posted in Cyber Data Security, Identity Theft Prevention by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
It's no secret that the U.S. is currently vulnerable to a debilitating online attack. But many top IT security professionals have predicted that something catastrophic is coming – and it could happen in 2013.
"Spear phishing."
It sounds kind of silly – the sort of phrase used to make these dramatic events even more sensational. But it's a real threat, and it skewered our gas pipeline systems repeatedly last year, as infiltrators scoured for information and wreaked all sorts of structural havoc. And that could be just the beginning.
Before the parade of high-profile hacks of the last few weeks, industry experts were already foreseeing a huge cyber security disaster. In January, the conference of the Information Systems Security Association sent a survey to IT gurus asking about the current strength of American online safety. Without specifying exactly which kind of disaster would occur, members of the conference were asked if they thought a major act of cyberterrorism could happen soon. The results were chilling, though unsurprising for anyone who's been paying attention: 79 percent of those surveyed said that a significant attack on our infrastructure will occur this year, and nearly 60 percent believed the government should step up and make more of an effort to keep Americans safe.
Posted in Cyber Data Security by Identity Theft Speaker John Sileo.
Tags: Cyber Security, data security, data security breaches
