Prevention – Ransomware Newz

Ransomware, Data Breaches, I.D.Theft & The Future

October 21, 2017 Will Howell-Cornes Prevention

If you thought the Equifax data breach was as bad as digital security got… think again. The Atlanta-based credit report company only leaked the personal information of 143 million accounts – that’s almost one out of every two Americans but Yahoo managed to lose the email addresses, birthdates, telephone numbers and passwords of THREE BILLION subscriber’s details. THAT’S ALMOST HALF THE WORLD! To make matters worse, while Georgia State laws meant Equifax bosses could keep news of the hack quiet for over a month (while they sold company shares) the Yahoo cyber attack occurred in 2013 but wasn’t disclosed until December 2016. Yahoo’s breach isn’t

6 Ways to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft

October 10, 2017 Will Howell-Cornes Prevention

Identity theft is nothing new, from the case of Arnaud du Tilh – a French peasant who was executed for impersonating Martin Guerre in the 16th Century to Frank Abagnale’s exploits as a fake airline pilot in the 1960’s, as documented in Steven Spielberg’s excellent Catch Me If You Can. Until recently, identity theft was only for ultra cocky confidence tricksters like The Talented Mr Ripley, but since the world went digital, everyone is wide open to having their identity stolen by criminals and cybercriminals alike. According to the 2016 Identity Fraud Study, 13.1 million Americans were victims of identity fraud

Trump declares October Cybersecurity Awareness Month, 13 years too late

October 5, 2017 Will Howell-Cornes Prevention

In the past week or so, President Trump has labeled NFL players who take a knee in peaceful protest “sons of bitches” and disrespectful to the flag while colluding with a foreign, enemy government. He has shown disdain for Puerto Ricans and it’s emerged that he has even been called a “moron” by his own Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. But every so often, he gets something right – I mean, even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day, right? Last week, the most unpresidential president ever “proclaimed” in a White House Press Release that October 2017

Fight Ransomware like you’re defending your Castle

September 30, 2017 Will Howell-Cornes Prevention

If you haven’t already noticed, we love our metaphors here at RansomwareNewz HQ and often find the easiest way to explain security and tech issues to laymen is by including easily understandable conversational landmarks – often sports or TV or movie analogies. And, after the authors of the Locky malware peppered their VB script with Game of Thrones references, that got us thinking… Ransomware is, after all, the modern-day equivalent of catapulting a dead, decaying cow into your computer network. BEWARE OF GEEKS BEARING GIFTS Before you go thinking that we’ve lost the plot, the briefest of history lessons – Some

Which industries will Ransomware hackers strike next?

September 24, 2017 Will Howell-Cornes Prevention

They’ve taken hospitals, power plants, oil and gas companies and governmental departments offline… no, we’re not talking about Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s plans for selling off America to the highest bidder (Moscow and Beijing) – we’re talking about Ransomware hackers. In the last couple of years, Ransomware has gone from minor pain in the backside to billion dollar industry. So where are their botnets, spearfishing emails and malware going to strike next? WHICH INDUSTRIES ARE THE MOST ATTACKED? Earlier this year, the NTT Security’s Global Threat Intelligence Report – the most comprehensive report of its kind, based on

Get to know your Hackers! The Psychology of Ransomware

September 23, 2017 Will Howell-Cornes Prevention

Shut your eyes and imagine a hacker. Thanks to TV shows like CSI: Cyber and the above still from Mr Robot, you’ve maybe just drawn a mental picture of an anti-social, hoodie-wearing male between 15 and 30 years of age sitting in his mom’s darkened basement surrounded by monitors and wires, right? Well, you’re half right – because “the most visible breed of computer cracker is an “obsessive middle-class white male, between 12 and 28 years old, with few social skills and a possible history of abuse”. That was the controversial conclusion of Canadian psychologist Marc Rogers in his “Psychology of

RansomwareNewz – The Rocky, Locky Horror Picture Show

September 19, 2017 Will Howell-Cornes Aftermath, Prevention

Welcome to the RansomwareNewz Desk, where we’ll be bringing you all you need to stay up to date and informed about everything ransomy, wary and newsy. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE First, it’s off to Russia via New York and The Late Show, where last week, host Stephen Colbert’s opening monologue contained a piece about hackers. Save for the Hillary Clinton/DNC e-mail leak and one more minor news story which escapes us, it’s the first time (we can think of) that hackers have been given airtime on a major chat show. The news was that Russian cyberspying groups like Energetic Bear

RansomwareNewz Desk – The IRS, FBI & NHS

August 31, 2017 Will Howell-Cornes Prevention

Hello, good evening and welcome to The Ransomware Newzdesk, our new, weekly, two-minute roundup bringing the lowdown on hacking, trojans, malware and all things ransomware from around the world to keep you informed, edu-ma-cated and secure. THE INLAND REVENUE E-MAIL SCAM We begin in the good ‘ole US of A where this week, the IRS issued an urgent warning about a new scheme targeting honest, American taxpayers… so at least President Trump will be safe from attack! A bogus e-mail, featuring both the IRS and FBI’s badges informs recipients they must fill out a questionnaire within ten days. Click the link and

I Use an Apple Mac So I’m Safe From Ransomware, Right? WRONG!

June 20, 2017 ransomwarenewz Prevention

“Hello. It looks like you’re writing a letter!” Said Terry, walking passed Phil’s pristine white space-desk; an obsessively compulsed arrangement of curved, white gadgets and bizarrely, to Terry anyway, no need for cable ties. Terry’s paper clip assistant joke went over Phil’s head. Terry only spoke Windows. Conversely, designer Phil’s world was full of pastel colors and funky shapes and Dr Dre Beats and italics and clouds and Audrey Tautou films and farmers’ markets and sunsets and fades and friends and haircuts and French bicycles with baskets on the front with artisanal baguettes in and ideas he thought too big

My Vacation Videos Are Important But Paying for Ransomware Is Like Funding Terrorism

June 1, 2017 ransomwarenewz Prevention

Hello and welcome! Yes, you’re quite right – it is kind of a long title but, since May 2017’s WannaCry (Wanna Decryptor, .wncry) ransomware attack infected 200,000 computers worldwide, including the UK’s National Health Service and the Russian Interior Ministry, there’s a lot to think about. To pay or not to pay, that is the question… The dilemma whether “to pay or not to pay ” ransomware hackers has become the security network industry geek’s most polarizing question since “backup or archive” or the ending of Lost! Picture the scene… It’s Friday, you sit at your PC, bleary-eyed the morning

Category: Prevention