By now, you must have heard about the Equifax breach that may have affected up to 143 million records of user people's information. At this point, I don't think they can confirm exactly how many records were actually compromised, leading to going with the larger of the numbers just to be safe. While many are quick to jump to conclusions and attempt to Monday morning quarterback what they did or didn't do to get breached, I like to focus on what we can learn for our own organizations. There are a … [Read more...] about Equifax Take-aways
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Blue Cross Mails USB sticks – Take-Aways
You have information you want to share with your customers, but how do you do it securely? How often have you heard not to click links sent via email? You shouldn't plug in random USB drives to your computer. From a marketing perspective, how do you get large amounts of information, such as videos and specific information, out to your customers? In a report by Fierce Healthcare … [Read more...] about Blue Cross Mails USB sticks – Take-Aways
MySpace Account Takeover – Take-aways
Have you ever forgotten your password, or lost access to your accounts? I know I have. The process of getting your access back can range from very easy to quite difficult. In one case, I had an account that required that a pin code be physically mailed to me in 7-10 days. Of course, this was a financial account that required extra protections. I came across this article (https://www.wired.com/story/myspace-security-account-takeover/) that identified that MySpace's process for regaining access … [Read more...] about MySpace Account Takeover – Take-aways
Using the AWS disruption to your advantage
By now you have heard of the amazon issues that plagued many websites a few days ago. I want to talk about one key part of the issue that often gets overlooked. If you read through their message describing their service disruption (https://aws.amazon.com/message/41926/) you will notice a section where they discuss some changes to the tools they use to manage their systems. So let's take a step back for a moment. Amazon attributed the service disruption to basically a simple mistake … [Read more...] about Using the AWS disruption to your advantage
Gmail will block JavaScript file attachments
According to a recent announcement, Gmail will start blocking .js file attachments starting February 13, 2017. Blocking specific attachment types isn't something that is new to Gmail. They already block attaching file attachments that are .exe, .msc, and .bat types. The recent move to add javascript files is most likely related to the recent malware/ransomware campaigns that have started using JavaScript files instead of Microsoft Office files. There was an article posted back in April … [Read more...] about Gmail will block JavaScript file attachments
Secure Notification Updates in FireFox and Chrome
There has been a steady increase in the number of applications that have switched to using HTTPS instead of HTTP for communication. Even sites that have no sensitive information or authentication mechanisms. Using HTTPS provides authentication and a secure channel to transmit data between client and server. The authentication verifies that you are communicating with the organization you thought you were. This secure transmission is meant to stop other parties from being able to read or … [Read more...] about Secure Notification Updates in FireFox and Chrome