32 Million Twitter Pass for sale Add two-factor NOW

/in /by

The Dark Web, according to LeakedSource, got ahold of 33 million Twitter account details and put them up for sale. Twitter thus locked the accounts for millions of users.

5DTwitter, however, doesn’t believe its servers were directly attacked. So what happened? The bad guys may have created a composite of data from other breached sources. Or, they could have used malware to steal passwords off of devices.

Nevertheless, the end result meant that for many Twitter accounts, there was password exposure—leading to the lockdown of these accounts. The owners of these accounts had to reset their password after being notified of this by e-mail.

Some users who did not receive this e-mail notification will find that their accounts are locked.

An Ounce of Prevention

  • Go through the passwords of all of your vital accounts, and see which ones are unique, long and strong. You’ll likely need to change many passwords, as most people use simple to remember passwords that often contain keyboard sequences and/or words/names that can be found in a dictionary, such as 890Paul. These are easily cracked with a hacker’s software.
  • Who’d ever think that Facebook’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter account could be hacked? It was, indeed, and it’s believed this was possible due to him reusing the username of his LinkedIn account several years ago.
  • So it’s not just passwords that are the problem; it’s usernames. Not only should these be unique, but every single account should have a different username and password. However if a username is an email address, you can’t do much here.
  • Passwords and usernames should be at least eight characters long.
  • Use more than just letters and numbers-use characters if accepted (e.g., #, $, &).
  • So Paul’s new and better password might be: Luap1988($#.
  • Sign up with the account’s two-factor authentication. Not all accounts have this, but Twitter sure does. It makes it impossible for a crook to sign into your account unless he has your cell phone to receive the unique verification code that’s triggered with every login attempt.

Robert Siciliano CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen. See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video.

Facebook CEO Password dadada hacked

/in , , /by

If you’ve heard this once, you need to hear it again—and again: Never use the same password and username for more than one account!

14DIf this got Mark Zuckerberg’s (Facebook’s chief executive).  Twitter account hacked, it can get just about anybody hacked.

A report at nytimes.com says that the OurMine hacking group takes credit for busting into Zuckerberg’s accounts including LinkedIn and Pinterest. It’s possible that this breach was cultivated by a repeated password of Zuckerberg’s.

According to OurMine, Zuckerberg had been using the same password for several accounts. Not only is that asking for trouble, but the password itself is highly crackable: dadada. Don’t laugh. A hacker’s software will find this in minutes.

How to Protect Your Accounts

  • Change any passwords that are used more than once.
  • Change any passwords that contain keyboard sequences, repetitions of letters or numbers (252525 is akin to dadada), or actual words or proper nouns.
  • If the idea of overhauling your passwords is overwhelming, use a password manager (e.g., RoboForm). A password manager will create long, unique passwords that are different for every account, and you won’t have to remember them because the manager will issue you a master password.
  • See which accounts offer two-factor authentication, then sign up. This is a tremendous step towards preventing being hacked. So if an unauthorized person attempts to log into your Twitter or LinkedIn account, this will send a code to your cell phone that needs to be entered before the account is accessible. Unless the hacker has your cell phone, he won’t be getting into your account.
  • Some say every 90 days, or at least twice a year, change all of your passwords. I think that’s a bit much. Different and strong is what matters most.

Visit Have I Been Pwned to see if your e-mail account has been hacked. I did. 6 of my accounts showed up as being part of data dumps of sites that were hacked. Then I checked all 6 accounts, all had different passwords, but I still changed them. One was gmail, but with two factor verification/authentication, I’ve had no issue. Simply type your e-mail address into the field and click “Pwned?” If the result shows bad news, then you must immediately change your password to one that you’ve never had before—and at least eight characters and unique.

Robert Siciliano CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen. See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video.

Phone Account of FTC Chief Technologist hijacked

/in /by

An impostor posed as Lorrie Cranor at a mobile phone store (in Ohio, nowhere near Cranor’s home) and obtained her number. She is the Federal Trade Commission’s chief technologist. Her impostor’s con netted two new iPhones (the priciest models—and the charges went to Cranor) with her number.

11DIn a blog post, Cranor writes: “My phones immediately stopped receiving calls.” She was stiffed with “a large bill and the anxiety and fear of financial injury.”

Cranor was a victim of identity theft. She contacted her mobile carrier after her phone ceased working during use. The company rep said her account had been updated to include the new devices, and that her Android’s SIM cards had been disabled. The company replaced the SIM cards and restored use of her phones.

The company’s fraud department removed the charges but blamed the theft on Cranor.

So how does an impostor pull off this stunt so easily? Stores owned by the mobile carrier are required to ask for a photo ID and last four digits of the customer’s SSN. However, at a third party retailer, this requirement may not be in place. In the Cranor case, the crook used a photo ID of herself but with Cranor’s name—and was not required to reveal the victim’s SSN last four digits.

Cranor’s Actions

  • Changed password of online account
  • Added extra security PIN
  • Reported the theft to identitytheft.gov
  • Placed a fraud alert and got a free credit report
  • Filed a police report

Hijacking a smartphone is becoming more common, with the FTC having received over 2,600 reports just for January this year.

You may not think that this type of fraud ranks as high as other types of fraud, but it all depends on the thief and his—or her—intentions. Though the thief may only want to sell the phones for a little profit, a different kind of crook may want to hijack a phone to commit stalking or espionage. Or  the thief can gain access to the victim’s text messages. If the phone is used for two factor authentication, then a thief would have access to your One Time Passwords (OTP) upon logging into a critical website. There’s all sorts of possibilities.  The most important tip: add an extra security PIN to your account. This way, whether over the phone, web or in person, this “second factor” of authentication will make it harder for a thief to become you.

Robert Siciliano CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen. See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video.

Viruses as Cyberweapons for sale

/in , , /by

It’s all about code—the building blocks of the Internet. Software code is full of unintentional defects. Governments are paying heavy prices to skilled hackers who can unearth these vulnerabilities, says an article at nytimes.com.

6DIn fact, the FBI director, James B. Comey, recommended that the FBI pay hackers a whopping $1.3 million to figure out how to circumvent Apple’s iPhone security.

So driven is this “bug-and-exploit trade market,” that a bug-and-exploit hacking company, Hacking Team, ended up being hacked last summer.

The software companies that create code don’t get to learn what the vulnerabilities are that the richly paid hackers discover. This has been going on for two decades-plus.

Here are some sizzling facts from nytimes.com:

  • Over a hundred governments have reported they have an offensive cyberwar program.
  • Iran boasts being in the No. 3 spot in the world for digital army size (trailing the U.S. and China), though this can’t be confirmed.
  • However, Iranian hackers have demonstrated their skill more than once, and it’s not pretty. For instance, they were responsible for the rash of U.S. bank hacking incidents in 2013.
  • Though Iran’s cyber power lags behind that of the U.S.’s, they’re steadily closing the big gap.
  • Most nations keep details of their cyberwar programs classified.

It has been surmised by many a security expert that WWIII will be largely digital. Imagine how crippling it would be if a nation’s grid was dismantled—affecting major networks across that country—such as healthcare, shipping and banking and other critical infrastructures such as food and water supply.

There’s not a whole ton you can do about this battle. However, you should, at a minimum, prepare your physical life for any digital disasters. Prepare the same way you would if you knew there was a severe storm coming. Store dry foods, water, extra climate appropriate clothing, and cash, preferably lots of small bills. This is just a short list. Seek out numerous resources on ready.gov to learn more.

Robert Siciliano CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen. See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video.

TeamViewer Clients Victims of other Hack Attacks

/in , , , /by

Get an account with TeamViewer, and you will have a software package that enables remote control, online meetings, desktop sharing and other functions between computers.

9DBut recently, customers of TeamViewer have reported remote takedowns of their computers that resulted in different forms of monetary theft, such as bank accounts being cleaned out.

The cyber thieves controlled the victims’ computers via their TeamViewer accounts. Customers would witness their mouse arrow suddenly moving beyond their control.

The infiltration, though, did not occur on TeamViewer’s end, insists the company. Instead, the software company called users “careless” because they reused their TeamViewer passwords on other sites like LinkedIn, reports an article at theregister.co.uk. The company has since apologized. Frankly, I agree with TeamViewer. Careless password reuse is one of the main reasons why so much fraud is occurring.

The stream of support tickets from customers prompted TeamViewer to implement two new security checks which will warn customers via e-mail of suspicious login attempts to their TeamViewer account and ask their permission to allow this or not.

Another safeguard newly in place will be that of the company checking the GPS of login attempts, plus requiring a password reset when anybody tries to log in from a new location.

Some customers have been critical that the release of these new security features took too long, since the reports of the hacking began a few weeks prior to the finalization of these new features.

As mentioned, the origin of these hacks is apparently the reuse of TeamViewer passwords on other sites that were then hacked. TeamViewer managed to get ahold of the leaked passwords, and also leaked e-mail addresses, that were all the cyber crooks needed to remotely hijack the computers.

However, some victims reported that they never reused their password and even had two-factor authentication. Further, some victims are placing blame on the company for the breaches.

The company is taking the breach seriously and wants its affected customers to upload their log files. TeamViewer especially wants to hear from customers with two-factor authentication who were compromised.

Robert Siciliano CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen. See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video.

Can Two-Factor Authentication actually fail?

/in , , /by

You’ve probably read many times that two-factor authentication is a superb extra layer of protection against a thief hacking into your accounts, because gaining access requires entering a One Time Passcode (OTP)—sent via text or voice—into a login field. In other words, no phone, no access.

7WBut CAN a hacker get the phone? Ask Deray McKesson, an activist with Black Lives Matter. Hackers got his phone.

Now, this doesn’t mean they busted into his home while he was napping and took his phone. Rather, the thief took control of his mobile account.

The thief rerouted McKesson’s text messages – to a different SIM card that the mobile carrier, Verizon, had issued to the thief. This is how the criminal got the two-factor code. Next thing, the imposter was in McKesson’s Twitter and e-mail accounts.

So though two-factor is a pretty well-padded extra layer of protection, it can be circumvented.

“Someone called Verizon impersonating me,” tweeted McKesson on June 10. The crook got a different SIM this way. The flaw isn’t the two-factor system. In this case it was Verizon, allowing this to happen just too easily.

“Today I learned that it is rather easy for someone to call the provider & change your SIM,” says a subsequent tweet. Though Verizon does require the last four digits of the user’s SSN to get a new SIM card, this isn’t enough to filter out imposters, as we see here. McKesson further tweeted he was “not sure” how the imposter knew those last four digits, but that “they knew it.”

Verizon has since implemented additional safeguards.

So what really happened? How did someone get McKesson’s SSN? Did he reveal it somewhere where he didn’t have to? And then the wrong person saw it? Was he tricked into revealing it through a phishing e-mail?

Nevertheless, here’s what to do:

  • Set up a secondary code on your phone’s account.
  • This is a personal identification number that an imposter would have to reveal before any changes were made to the account—even if he gave out your entire SSN to the mobile company rep.

Robert Siciliano CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen. See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video.

Identity Theft getting even worse

/in /by

In 2015, depending on the kind and type of identity theft we are talking about, identity thieves impacted 1.5 million people or more, says the Javelin Strategy & Research report. That’s more than double than for 2014.

The move from stripe cards to chip cards has motivated crooks to fasten their seatbelts and really take off with an accelerated mode of operation. For them, your Social Security Number is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Thieves will use it to set up new accounts in the victims’ names, then go on spending sprees. This kind of identity theft is called new-account fraud.

  • This can go on for months or years before the victim realizes it.
  • Sometimes the victim never finds out.
  • These cases can also slip by the victim’s bank.

A favorite scam is for the thief to create a fake (partially stolen, partially faked) identity morphed from multiple pieces of real—and stolen—data. So we have not only a stolen identity but a fictitious identity—which could be created using your Social Security number and someone else’s home address and name. This is called synthetic ID, and banks see right past it.

Synthetic ID Crimes

  • ID manipulation: The criminal uses a stolen core identity but integrates false pieces of data to avert detection.
  • Quick synthetics: Data pieces from multiple, real victims are compiled into a single identity.

What can banks do?

  • Analyze cellphone account data to see if there’s a predictable pattern of billing details, since many thieves may use a prepaid, discardable VoIP phone.
  • E-mail history is also important to look at; a new e-mail for an old account should be suspicious for fraud.
  • Another red flag is if the e-mail address doesn’t correlate to the mobile device.

What can be done by credit card issuers?

  • Checking a person’s identity needs to be more thorough.
  • For instance, a red flag would be spotting the same address for several different names.
  • Repeat scoring of the applicant’s risk score, one to three days later, to see if there’s a change. A change is a red flag.

What can you do?

No identity theft is OK. But if synthetic identity theft happens you to, meaning some sleaze uses your SSN, but not your name, you may never know about it. And that means it may not actually affect you. But:

  • Check your credit reports at least annually
  • Consider investing in identity theft protection. Identity theft protection monitors your SSN for activity on the dark web and on most new lines of credit.
  • Get a credit freeze. A credit freeze locks down your credit and prevents new account fraud.

The bottom line is that banks and credit card issuers need to employ a multi-layer approach to screening and approving applicants. The more layers, the harder it will be for a fraudster to penetrate. Four layers are significantly better than two layers.

Robert Siciliano CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com, personal security and identity theft expert and speaker is the author of 99 Things You Wish You Knew Before Your Identity Was Stolen. See him knock’em dead in this identity theft prevention video.

Carders cashing out on Magstrip Cards

/in /by

Two thousand credit card payment terminals stand to become infected with malware called Trinity point of sales.

2CTen million credit cards were stolen by hackers, called Fin6, who may end up scoring $400 million. The cards were stolen from retail and hospitality businesses. If each card sells for $21 on secret carder shops, you can see how the hackers will rake in hundreds of millions of dollars.

As you may know, the U.S. is gradually switching over to chip cards. But it will be a while—a very long while—before magnetic strip cards are non-existent in America. Until then, these types of cards remain a favorite target for cyber thieves.

The methods that Fin6 used are technical, but suffice it to say, these hackers are pros. At this point, there has not been any way to stop this hacking group.

This is yet another example of the inherent vulnerability of the magnetic strip card, which, unlike in other industrialized nations, continues to be the main type of credit card in use in the U.S.

Protect yourself:

  • Go to “alerts/notifications” at your bank/cards website and sign up for emails/texts for every charge made.
  • Download your bank/cards mobile app and sign up for emails/texts for every charge made.
  • Check your statements frequently.
  • Federal law protects you from unauthorized charges made with your credit card number but you still have to dispute the charges.
  • In the event the credit card is in a thief’s hands, you’ll be liable, but only for a maximum of $50, provided you report the problem to the credit card company. However, in many cases a “zero liability” policy may kick in.
  • Debit cards fall under a different federal law than credit cards. Regulation E, the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, says after two days, you could be liable for up to $50. After 2 days liability jumps to 500.00. Beyond 60 days, you could be liable for all unauthorized transactions. Otherwise, federal rules are on the bank’s side.
  • Beyond 60 days, there’s likelihood you’ll never see your money again.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to BestIDTheftCompanys.com discussing identity theft prevention.

Don’t mess with this Pint Sized Woman

/in /by

April Marchessault got attacked just after midnight inside her bathroom. At 5-1, she wasn’t intimidated by the 5-7, 200 pound man. Edgardo Montes, 47, got his clock thoroughly cleaned.

1SDHe was charged with breaking and entering and intent to rape, plus other charges. It all began when April took out the trash, reports eagletribune.com. She left the back door open. What are the odds that this formerly convicted rapist just happened to be out there? Well, it happened. Never leave doors unlocked!

She went into the bathroom to clean the sink. Edgardo crept up from behind and wrapped his arms around her chest so hard she couldn’t turn around. But when he tried to force her face into the sink, she kind of hulked out.

April turned around and pushed him back, but somehow he struck her in the jaw. She pushed him again and pulled his shirt off (which was already partially pulled up to conceal his face). He headed for the back door but April got there first, pushing him out. Then she started beating him, making him fall down some steps.

“I ran down the stairs and I kept hitting him in the face and head with my fist,” says the Massachusetts woman. “I was stomping on his knee.” She “kept hitting him” as he was trying to get up. April then began hitting him in the head repeatedly with a trash can.

Edgardo was so beaten he couldn’t get up, and by then, April’s father stood guard over him while waiting for the police. Amazingly, April’s three young sons slept through everything.

Points of Interest

  • April has no martial arts training; what enabled her was anger and wit.
  • Martial arts training, however, can reprogram a woman’s way of thinking so that if she’s ever assaulted, she could maintain her wits and think tactically rather than in a panicked state.
  • Never leave your doors unlocked even for a moment, especially at night. It takes just seconds to lock the door right behind you after you re-enter your home!

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist to BestHomeSecurityCompanys.com discussing burglar proofing your home on Fox Boston. Disclosures

Hacking Humans is Painfully Easy

/in /by

Hackers can take over someone’s life in a matter of hours. Just ask Patsy Walsh.

11DThough she is not a tech savvy person, the grandmother of six did have a Facebook account, and that was all the hackers needed to take over her life. By using methods such as click baiting, the act of convincing someone to click on a fake link, and then gathering information, the hackers were able to use this info to get into other accounts, and eventually hacked things such as her power of attorney form, Social Security information and learned how to open her garage door and her home.

How did they do this? Mrs. Walsh used the same password for all accounts and did not use recommended security measures.

Fortunately, Mrs. Walsh’s life wasn’t ruined. Instead, this hacking was set up by the New York Times and a private company made up of “ethical hackers”, yes there is such a thing, to show just how easy it is to gain access to someone’s digital life.

Computers Are Gold Mines of Important Information

When the team of ethical hackers gained access to Mrs. Walsh’s computer, they found a number of malicious programs running in the background. Examples include InstallBrain, a program that will download programs on demand, and programs such as SlimCleaner, SearchProtect and FunWebProducts, which can spy on Internet searches, change home pages and gather information through click baiting. More than likely she downloaded some lame tool bar that added all this bloatware. Keep in mind, Mrs. Walsh was only visiting sites such as Google and Facebook, sites that most of us visit several times a day.

Stopping the Hackers in Their Tracks

We can all learn lessons from Mrs. Walsh’s experience. Here are some things that she could have done to avoid this from occurring, and things you should do to remain safe:

  • Use a password manager to keep track of long or complicated passwords, and use a different password for every account.
  • Use a two-step authentication service, one that asks for a second password when an unrecognizable machine attempts to access an account.
  • Use automatic updates for services such as browser updates or operating system updates.
  • Wipe the computer clean if necessary, then start employing these new practices.
  • Stop downloading stupid useless tool bars that are often delivery methods for crappy software.
  • Pay attention to what you are downloading and why. Even when you are updating software, look for any checked boxes that install bloatware.

Robert Siciliano is an identity theft expert to TheBestCompanys.com discussing  identity theft prevention.