ALERT: AshleyMadison Hack & Phishing Scam

July 21, 2015 by The T By D Team 1 Comment

ALERT: AshleyMadison Hack & Phishing Scam

A few months ago, the Adult Friend Finder (AFF) website was hacked and faced a multitude of phishing scams.

Now, AFF’s biggest competitor, AshleyMadison (AM), is facing the very same problem.

With 37 million registered users, AM’s online cheating site whose slogan is “Life is short. Have an affair”, is one of the most heavily-trafficked websites in America.

Large amounts of data has been stolen from AM, and has been posted online, by hacker(s) that go by the name “The Impact Team”. The data posted online includes sensitive internal data stolen from Avid Life Media (ALM), the Toronto-based firm that owns Ashley Madison as well as related hookup sites Cougar Life, and Established Men.

“The Impact Team” also claims to have completely compromised the AM’s user databases, financial records, and other proprietary information.

Avid Life Media released a statement yesterday reporting:

We have always had the confidentiality of our customers’ information foremost in our minds, and have had stringent security measures in place, including working with leading IT vendors around the world.

At this time, we have been able to secure our sites, and close the unauthorized access points. We are working with law enforcement agencies, which are investigating this criminal act. Any and all parties responsible for this act of cyber-terrorism will be held responsible. Using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), our team has now successfully removed the posts related to this incident as well as all Personally Identifiable Information (PII) about our users published online.

The Problem:

CyberCriminals are going to exploit this in many ways, sending spam, phishing emails, and possibly blackmail emails.

They are going to use social engineering tactics to scare people into clicking on infected links or opening infected attachments.

Any 1 of these 37 million registered users of AM, is now a target for a multitude of social engineering attacks. People that have extramarital affairs can be pressured into clicking on links that threaten to “out” them. Blackmail, spear phishing emails, emails with links to sites claiming to show people if their private data has been leaked, or emails with links claiming can prevent their private information from being leaked.

And you can bet that jilted spouses, divorce attorneys, and private investigators are undoubtedly going to pour over the leaked data.

BEWARE of any emails with threatening messages about AshleyMadison, or the company’s member list, or pictures, or information.

DO NOT click on any links or open any attachments.

You can’t stop CyberCriminals from targeting your company or employees.

But you can be prepared for their arrival, and have full shield up.

Got CyberBugs?

Call 1-204-800-3166

For Cyber-Extermination!

#itthatworks

ALERT: Internet Capacity Warning

July 16, 2015 by The T By D Team Leave a Comment

ALERT: Internet Capacity Warning

This new email scam is possibly fueled by the recent U.S. news that they have run out of IPv4 addresses in the U.S.

This new email scam is making the rounds at both homes and businesses.

An email is currently being received, supposedly from “IT Services Support Department”, which claims that your Internet capacity is at 70%.

In order to rectify the situation, they request you to contact “Help Desk” support, for which they helpfully include a link.

Once you click the link, you are asked to leave your user name and password at the (bogus) “Help Desk” site.

You thoughtfully receive a “Thank You” page once you have completed all steps.

THIS IS A SCAM

They are trying to hijack your email account.

In the past, you may have received notifications from your Internet provider about your email account exceeding its maximum storage limit. However, the name of the service provider is always clearly visible, and they never ask you to click on a link to rectify the issue.

Do not click on links or attachments in emails from unknown or suspicious people.

If you suspect the item may be real, contact the company directly, from a number or email you look up elsewhere.

You can’t stop CyberCriminals from targeting your company or employees.

But you can be prepared for their arrival, and have full shield up.

Got CyberBugs?

Call 1-204-800-3166

For Cyber-Extermination!

#itthatworks

Conquer the Blue Screen of Death

July 14, 2015 by The T By D Team Leave a Comment

Conquer the Blue Screen of Death

Your screen is filled with seemingly incoherent white text against a blue background.

If it happens once, you curse, reboot, hope everything was saved to your hard drive, and cross your fingers it doesn’t happen again. But, if you’re getting the BSoD frequently, you need to listen to the warning…

Because you’ve got a problem that needs fixing…FAST.

With technology advances, the BSoD is less common than it used to be.

Microsoft calls these “stop errors”, but everyone else has a more descriptive moniker:

“The Blue Screen of Death”,

or BSoD.

Your computer isn’t trying to test your stress limits. It’s trying to tell you that it needs some TLC. Really.

It’s telling you something is wrong, and you need to pay it some serious attention.

To find clues to what is bugging your computer pal, the trick is to find information about your BSoD. The information you find is usually unrefined and illegible, so you will have to search the internet for a translation.

What to Look For:

You’ll find useful data in that “incoherent white text”. Look below the 1st paragraph, and under “Technical Information” near the bottom of the screen.

You can’t use the Windows’ “Snipping Tool” or “PrtScn” on a BSoD, so you’ll need to write down the information. You can use a camera or smartphone to photograph the screen, however, the photo doesn’t usually present the information as legible. You can also get information after you’ve rebooted.

If you get a “Windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown” message, you hit the jackpot. Click “View problem details” for technical information.

You can also click “Check for solution“, but this usually doesn’t end up being very helpful.

You can also get information after rebooting, via the free and portable program “BlueScreenView“. This lists all your recent BSoDs and offers helpful information.

Once you get the information, use of a search engine (Google or Internet Explorer) can usually help to decipher and diagnose the problem.

If the above doesn’t solve your BSoD problems, you can try the following:

Check the health of your RAM with Memtst86+.
Update your drives with SlimDrivers.
Diagnose your hard drive with HD Tune.

Got Cyber-Bugs?

Call 1-204-800-3166

For Cyber-Extermination!

You can’t stop CyberCriminals from targeting you,

But you can be prepared for their arrival, and have full shields up.

ALERT: Payment by Facebook Friend

July 7, 2015 by The T By D Team Leave a Comment

Facebook recently announced person-to-person (P2P) payments.

This new feature that allows you to “instant-message” money to a friend, using your debit card and your friend’s debit card, which are, of course, connected to both of your bank accounts.

You simply need to attach your debit card to your Facebook messenger to send and receive money.

To Send Money:

Start a message with a friend.
Top the “$” (dollar) icon, and enter the amount you want to send.
Tap “Pay” on the top right, and add your debit card to send money.

To Receive Money:

Open your friend’s conversation.
Click “Tap Add Card” in the message.
Add your debit card to accept money for the 1st time.
You can also create a PIN for additional security.

The money transfer take between 1-3 business days.

Facebook, of course, claims this is all technically secure.

That’s what Apple thought when they introduced “Apply Pay”.

Fantastic Idea! Until CyberCriminals got a hold of it, and started gaming the system, and making tons of cash doing it…

This new Facebook payment option could allow several kinds of scams.

To start with, you have to be alert when you get emails that claim a Facebook friend has sent you money.

Also, when a friend messages you, and their account has been hacked – there is a criminal trying to scam you, while impersonating your friend.

Use Extreme Caution with anything to do with Facebook Payments.

You can’t stop CyberCriminals from targeting your company or employees.

But you can be prepared for their arrival, and have full shield up.

Got CyberBugs?

Call 1-204-800-3166

For Cyber-Extermination!

Shorten Emails To Save Time, and Increase Productivity!

June 22, 2015 by The T By D Team Leave a Comment

How much information is too much? How much is too little? Don’t want to sound long-winded, but need to get your point across?

How many of us add “fluff” (unnecessary information) to our emails?

According to a 2012 study by McKinsey and Company, the average worker spends 28% of their day reading and answering email.

Eliminating extra information from emails can reclaim a large portion of your workday, and increase productivity.

Boulder, Colo. entrepreneur Andreea Ayers discovered the impact of shortened correspondence when she hired a business coach to help her with her marketing company Launch Grow Joy. At first, she was concerned she had chosen the wrong person after she read this postscript at the bottom of an email she received:

“To save your time and mine, I’m limiting all my responses to five sentences or less.”

Ayers said, “I thought to properly respond to my questions, she would need to write more than five sentences.” However, Ayers found that the more she practiced this time-saving method, the more it worked, “We spent less time emailing and more time actually implementing the strategies we were discussing.”

Guy Kawasaki, author of APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur (Nononina Press, 2013), states “Proper email is a balance between politeness and succinctness. Less than five sentences is often abrupt and rude, more than five sentences wastes time.”

Slim Down Email Think about it…how many of your emails could be trimmed of “fluff”, down to 5 sentences?

As managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, Kawasaki’s inbox is often full, but the emails he sends are almost always 5 sentences or less.

Guy shares 4 guidelines to help you get to your point quicker:

1. Your email should answer five simple questions.

When you write an email, it should provide just enough information to answer these 5 questions:

Who are you?
What do you want?
Why are you asking me?
Why should I do what you’re asking?
What is the next step?

Kawasaki states, “This is all an intelligent person needs to know to make a decision.”

2. Cut out excessive details to get a response.

Read your email over. Is there any “fluff”, or unnecessary information you can take out before you send it? People who feel a need to elaborate probably believe their request is on shaky ground in the first place, says Kawasaki. But adding “fluff” won’t get the recipient to take action.

“Long emails are either unread or, if they are read, they are unanswered,” says Kawasaki. “Right now I have 600 read but unanswered emails in my inbox.”

3. Shorter emails help you stay focused.

Limiting yourself to 5 sentences forces you to think concisely, helping you stay focused, and saving you time. Shorter emails also allow the recipient to make a quick decision on what action to take, increasing the likelihood that you’ll receive a reply.

If you want to encourage the recipient to reply in a similar fasion, web designer Mike Davidson created five.sentenc.es, a website that explains the philosophy and includes text you can copy and paste into your email signature.

4. Limit everything…except praise.

Kawasaki states the one exception to the five sentences rule: “When you really don’t want anything from the recipient and you simply want to heap praise and kindness upon her, then you can go on as long as you like!”

Got Cyber-Bugs?

Call 1-204-800-3166

For Cyber-Extermination!

You can’t stop CyberCriminals from targeting you,

But you can be prepared for their arrival, and have full shields up.

ALERT: Resume Ransomware

June 19, 2015 by The T By D Team Leave a Comment

THREAT LEVEL: HIGH

Beware of unsolicited resumes!

This attack uses both infected attachments, and compromised websites to infect your computer!

Unsolicited resumes have been received worldwide. The email contains a zip file the sender claims is a copy of their resume. The zip file contains extremely nasty malware, called the Angler exploit kit (EK), that attacks your computer from several angles at the same time, until it finds a vulnerability.

Sample of an actual received email:

Since the end of May, CyberCriminals have started 2 new ransomware attacks, using both malicious spam and the Angler exploit kit (EK). The attack wave increased significantly since the beginning of June.

Both campaigns are very active as of Friday June 12th.

The path of infection:

How To Prevent Infection:

DO NOT open any attachments that look anything like “my_resume.zip”.
DO NOT visit unknown websites.
Make sure all the applications on your computer are up to date.
You can go to Secunia to download the free Secunia PSI. This scans for old software versions that need to be updated.
Call Technology by Design at 1-204-800-3166 and ask about our Core Security Package.

Got Cyber-Bugs?

Call 1-204-800-3166

For Cyber-Extermination!

Angler Exploit Kit

June 19, 2015 by The T By D Team Leave a Comment

Threat Level: HIGH

This attack could pose a serious security threat.

Description

Malicious toolkits contain various exploits bundled into a single package. Victims, on visiting the website containing the malicious server hosting exploit toolkit, is attacked with several different methods exploiting different vulnerabilities.

What to Do

Take immediate action to stop any damage or prevent further damage from happening.

Got Cyber-Bugs?

Call 1-204-800-3166

For Cyber-Extermination!

Take Back Control of Your Inbox

June 16, 2015 by The T By D Team Leave a Comment

Remember the early days, when you controlled your inbox?

You would receive an email from a newsletter that you actually remembered signing up for, or an occasional email from the handful of friends that had hotmail accounts.

Yes, the inbox world was a calm, peaceful receptacle of messages that were welcomed, even anticipated.

Email inboxes are deluged with emails everyday that are neither welcomed, nor anticipated. The inbox world has become a world of chaos.

As email became widely used, it replaced the face-to-face communication, or even telephone. It turned into the emotionless primary form of communication.

It became a major source of wasted work time. Employees after email

How do you retain control of your inbox? Follow these easy steps:

1. Setting Boundaries

A friend has the following as an auto-responder to all emails in his inbox:

Email Tips:

I check my email every few hours…be patient.

The shorter your message, the quicker I’ll respond.

The 1st time I received this, I felt disrespected and that he was very rude. How does he not have time for my email? Then, I stepped back. I realized: This. Is. Brilliant.

Email boundaries. Do you check email first thing in the morning, at lunch, then at the end of the day? Do you work on emails only from 9 until 11? Do you only check email on Tuesdays and Thursdays? You know what’s best for you, but boundaries are crucial.

2. Don’t Exceed Expectations

Don’t setup false expectations. Certainly, you want to deliver great service and practice quick communication with clients, but when employees answer a routine email Sunday evening, they just made it acceptable for clients to expect all emails to be answered at that time. It also sets up the rest of the employees for that client expectation as well.

Some companies have gone as far as banning email before 6am and after 6pm. This eases the email burden on employees and eliminates the pressure of trying to catch up or get ahead. A German car company, Daimler, has installed software that deletes emails for people while they’re on vacation, or out of the office.

3. Write Better Emails

Are you writing emails that are too long, too short, too wordy, don’t get the point across? What the perfect length for an email?

Guy Kawasaki said, “Less than five sentences is often abrupt and rude, more than five sentences wastes time.” The author and founder of All-Top said, “Proper email is a balance between politeness and succinctness.”

Rethink email writing. Be polite, yet succinct.

4. Let it Go

Stop allowing your email to become the most important thing in your life. Don’t let your inbox dictate your day.

Take back control of your inbox, and get on with your life.

Got Cyber-Bugs?

Call 1-204-800-3166

For Cyber-Extermination!

ALERT: Sleeper Randomware “Locker”

June 3, 2015 by The T By D Team Leave a Comment

A new strain of ransomware has infected computers, over the past few months. The infection is thought to be spread through infected sports websites, or through a compromised MineCraft installer. Based on experts’ opinions, they state that this strain has a large global “installed” base, which means there are one heck of a lot of computers out there all over the world, with this virus installed…

It’s called “Locker”, and sat silently in infected computers, until midnight May 25, 2015.

At that time, it woke from its slumber and reared its ugly head, and wreaked havok in an ugly way.

Bleepingcomputer has a support topic that is 14 pages long, and they received 100s of emails from consultants all over the world. Similar websites with topics related to this new strain are suddenly posted on all the major support boards, AV forums, etc.

Here’s what “Locker” does:

A series of Windows services are used to install Locker on the computer, and encrypt data files.
During the install process, Locker will check if the computer is a virtual machine, and will terminate installation if detected.
Encrypts data files with RSA encryption, and does not change the file extension.
After the encryption, it deletes your c:/shadow volume copies, and displays its ransom interface.
If you backups failed and you are forced to pay the ransom, once the payment is confirmed, the ransomware will download the private key, and automatically decrypt your files.

Locker Payment The files that are encrypted have the following suffix extension: .doc, .docx, .xlsx, .ppt, .wmdb, .ai, .jpg, .psd, .nef, .odf, .raw, .pem, .rtf, .raf, .dbf, .header, .wmdb, .odb, .dbf. Locker does not change the file extension, so users will simply receive error messages from their applications that the file is corrupted.

Once the files are encrypted, a Bitcoin ransom is demanded from victims. Once payment is confirmed, victims are provided with a “private key” in order to retrieve their data.

By Time of Publication:

CyberCriminal has remorse? Or he’s made so much money already, he’s pulling out of this campaign, or he’s gotten cold feet & is afraid of getting caught by law enforement, or damaged by a local cyber mafia. Either way, he claims the release was “a mistake”, and has uploaded a CSV file with a dump of the encryption keys. He states that automatic decryption of all infected computers will start on June 2nd.

CyberCriminal states, “I am the author of the Locker ransomware and I’m very sorry about that has happened. It was never my intention to release this. I uploaded the database to mega.co.nz containing “bitcoin address, public key, private key” as CSV. This is a dump of the complete database and most of the keys weren’t even used. All distribution of new keys has been stopped.”

This seems very fishy. If you build code like this, you know exactly what you are doing (and the fact that it was a ‘sleeper’ shows months-long careful planning). If he was really remorseful, he’d refund everyone’s money (which hasn’t happened). So far, it’s not clear if current infection vectors (infected websites/ads etc) have been turned off yet.

We can assume that this CyberCriminal wanna-be, is exactly that. He’s a talented coder that sees all these other ransomware viruses/malware being very lucrative, and wants some of that money action. However, he’s not yet experienced, because a “mix-up” like this would not happen with a professional CyberCrime gang.

If you have infected computers, there is a chance you can find the decryption key in this database:

https://mega.co.nz/#!W85whbSb!kAb-5VS1Gf20zYziUOgMOaYWDsI87o4QHJBqJiOW6Z4

This file does not seem to be malicious, based on a brief virustotal analysis. It does contain a large quantity of RSA keys and Bitcoin addresses. OPEN AT YOUR OWN RISK, until further analyses are completed.

TbyD will keep you posted, as more information is released.

Got Cyber-Bugs?

Call 1-204-800-3166

For Cyber-Extermination!

June 2015 TechTips

June 3, 2015 by The T By D Team Leave a Comment

FBI Spying on U.S. Cities!

JUNE 2015

TECHTIPS NEWSLETTER

Technology news, information and interesting stories. Published monthly for Geeks and non-Geeks!

FBI spying on U.S. cities!
Technology hacked your mealtime? Fight back with this!
Google’s April 1st practical joke!
A new pizza delivery…cooked right on your counter!
Original ‘War of the Worlds’ illustrations up for auction!
A new extreme sports camera won’t have you looking like a geek with a camera on your head!
Lego creates Minecraft competitor!
Love weighs a ton…45 tons to be exact!
URGENT computer security warning!

You don’t want to miss this issue!

Get your newsletter HERE!

Comments? Let me know what you think at marketing@tbyd.ca

Keep Up-To-Date on the Latest Threats To Your Computer Network!

Regular weekly ALERTS on the latest security threats to your computer network

Check out the ALERTS here.

Do you have a question for our Resident Geek? Email it to: geek@tbyd.ca!

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An Urgent Security Warning for Businesses Running

Windows XP, Office 2003, and

Microsoft Windows Server 2003!

Windows XP and Office 2003 are no longer supported by the manufacturer.

Server 2003 will no longer be supported by the manufacturer after April 2015.

If your business or organization is currently running Windows XP, Office 2003, Microsoft Server 2003, or Exchange 2003 on any computers or servers in your office, you need to know about a dangerous security threat that must be addressed NOW!

PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO READ THIS IMPORTANT SECURITY ANNOUNCEMENT!

As your local Microsoft Partner, we are reaching out to all local businesses that use any of these programs to alert you to this serious security risk and inform you about what you need to do NOW to protect your company or organization!

WINDOWS XP AND OFFICE 2003

REPLACEMENTS MUST BE MADE NOW

WINDOWS SERVER 2003 AND EXCHANGE 2003

REPLACEMENTS MUST BE MADE BY JULY 14, 2015

Microsoft has officially announced that it retired all support for Windows XP and Office 2003 April 2014, and on the Server 2003 operating system on July 14, 2015.

This means any business still running any of these programs will be completely exposed to serious hacker attacks, aimed at taking control of your network, stealing data, crashing your system, and inflicting a host of other business-crippling problems you do NOT want to deal with.

This is such a serious threat that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued an official warning to all companies still running these programs, because firewalls and antivirus software will NOT be sufficient to completely protect your business from malicious attacks or data-exfiltration. Running some of these programs will also put many organizations out of compliance.

CALL

1-204-800-3166

for a FREE ASSESSMENT

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