Information Security Updates

I wrote about ransomware about a year ago. The only things that have changed since then are that the result of becoming infected have gotten far more severe and the number of victims has increased exponentially. Today's variants not only encrypt your data and demand payment to decrypt it, they also steal your data and threaten to expose it to the world if payment is not made. Under that scheme, even if you have proper and sufficient backups to restore your data, making the encryption moot, there is the threat that your data will be published for all to see.

We are not immune from these attacks here in the midwest. Last fall, the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Medicine were breached. Associated costs are many tens of millions of dollars. More recently, and even closer to home, DMACC suffered a ransomware attack early last month that shut their network and classes down for almost two weeks.

Phishing provided the initial foothold for the bad actors behind these and many other similar incidents. Vigilance and skepticism when reading email remains key. Don't fall for the emotions that all phishing actors try to evoke -

• Fear - something bad will happen if you don't click on the link in the message
• Greed - something good will happen if you do click on the link in the message
• Urgency - hurry up and click on the link in the message right now
• Concern/Empathy -
  • I’m stranded in an unfamiliar city
  • I’m falsely accused, in jail, and need bail money
  • I’ve been mugged and am in the hospital

Don't click on links in email messages unless you're certain they are legitimate. Don't open attachments in email messages unless you're certain of the sender's identity and the content of the message makes sense to you. If you have any questions about the message, err on the side of safety and seek help by contacting security@uni.edu.

Mobile devices, such as tablets, smartphones, and smartwatches, have become one of the primary technologies we use in both our personal and professional lives. What makes these devices so powerful are the thousands of apps we can choose from. These apps enable us to be more productive, communicate and share with others, train and educate, or just have more fun. Here are steps you can take to securely use and make the most of today’s mobile apps. Read them at https://www.sans.org/newsletters/ouch/securely-using-mobile-apps/

A W2 tax email scam is circulating in the U.S. using Typeform, a popular software that specializes in online surveys and form building. The campaign is aimed at harvesting victims’ email account credentials, researchers said.

According to Armorblox, the campaign also bypasses native Google Workspace email security filters in the victims it examined.

“The email impersonated an automated file-sharing communication from OneDrive, informing victims that they had received a file,” researchers explained in an analysis on Tuesday. “The email was sent from a Hotmail ID and was titled ‘RE: Home Loan,’ followed by a reference number and the date, making it seem like the email was part of an ongoing conversation to lend it more legitimacy.”

To read the complete article see:

https://threatpost.com/tax-phish-google-workspace-email-security/165376/ 

See also:

https://www.armorblox.com/blog/blox-tales-w2-tax-scam-using-typeform/

What is Identity Theft?  Identity theft happens when a criminal steals information about you and uses that information to commit fraud, such as requesting unemployment benefits, tax refunds, or a new loan or credit card in your name. If you don’t take precautions, you may end up paying for products or services that you didn’t buy and dealing with the stress and financial heartache that follows identity theft.

Read more at https://www.sans.org/security-awareness-training/resources/identity-theft