Posts Categorized: Cybercrime

Four Simple Steps to Create an Information Security Program

By Hanna Pickering | SE Virtual CIO Many people think of an Information Security Program (ISP) as a collection of policy documents that state how an organization and its people will behave in order to comply with applicable regulations (such as HIPAA, GLBA, and FINRA). However, it’s no longer just about proper documentation, it also encompasses… Read more »

help desk respresentative

Email: To Trust, or Not to Trust?

By Kyla Morse | SE Help Desk Has anyone at your organization ever received an e-mail that was not what they thought it would be?  Maybe it was a message from a vendor looking to verify sensitive account information; a message from a tax preparer sending completed tax returns, but in the month of August; or… Read more »

Another Cybercrime Network Disrupted

The last big takedown of a cybercrime network was in 2013 when Microsoft, the FBI, Europol and others collaborated to shut down the Sirefe or Zero Access Botnet which had infected over 2 million PCs. Recently, Microsoft, Kaspersky, Interpol and others disrupted a global malware attack affecting more than 770,000 PC’s in 190 countries. The… Read more »

phishing

Phishing Tactics that Work

In 2013, the SANS Institute reported that 95% of all successful attacks begin with a spear phishing email.  Two recent and well publicized attacks, the Anthem breach and the Carbanak Bank robbery, can be traced back to spear phishing emails.  While your organization may not be a large enterprise like these, you can be used… Read more »

307 new network security threats per minute

Practical Tips That Improve Network Security

In their November 2014 Threat Report, McAfee reported detecting over 307 new threats every minute in the third quarter of this year.  The purpose of this article is not to explain the rapid growth in threats, other than to state that it’s clear that cybercrime has become an organized industry, but to describe additional measures… Read more »

SE Alert: WinShock Zero-Day Vulnerability

On Tuesday, November 11, 2014, Microsoft announced a recently discovered vulnerability in all versions of the Windows operating system at the same time they released an update to fix this. The IBM researcher who discovered it reports that “The bug can be used by an attacker for drive-by attacks to reliably run code remotely and… Read more »

CryptoWall Preventative Steps

CryptoWall continues to infect and plague both companies and consumers.  At this point it is estimated that tens of thousands of machines have been infected and that the perpetrators of CryptoWall have sent millions of emails. While anti-virus software can block some variants of CryptoWall the speed with which criminals are releasing new variants makes… Read more »

SE Alert: Ransomware, aka Cryptolocker and now CryptoWall, and the evolving threat.

We have recently seen a significant rise in systems that have become infected with CryptoWall.  We urge you to exercise extra caution in your web browsing and similar caution as you review and process your email. What is CryptoWall? CryptoWall, the successor to the now defunct CryptoLocker, is categorized as a Trojan horse virus.  It,… Read more »

SE Alert: “POODLE” SSLv3 Vulnerability

On Tuesday October 14, 2014 a vulnerability in the SSLv3 encryption protocol, commonly referred to as POODLE (Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption), was discovered, see NIST CVE-2014-3566.  What this means is that there is the possibility of a cyber criminal getting access to data you are transmitting between your web browser and the website… Read more »

SE Speaking at 2014 ANCOR Technology Summit & Showcase

SE will be exhibiting and presenting at The American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR) Technology Summit & Showcase in Denver, Colorado.   Our presentation will cover the current threat landscape and why security technology should be apart of your HIPAA compliance strategy. CyberSecurity: What are The Risks and Why Should You Care? Friday, October… Read more »