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Top 3 Social Engineering Scams

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Think about hackers breaking into accounts. If you think they need top-notch computer skills, you would be wrong. These days, instead of requiring skills behind a keyboard, hackers generally rely on strategy…specifically a strategy called social engineering. This means that hackers don’t have to be technical, but they DO have to be clever and crafty because they are essentially taking advantage of people and “tricking” them into giving information.

There are four main ways that hackers use social engineering:

  • Phishing – where hackers use email tricks to get account information
  • Vishing – similar to phishing, but through voice over the phone
  • Impersonation – the act of getting information in person
  • Smishing – getting account info through text messages

Phishing accounts for 77 percent of all social engineering incidents, according to Social Engineer, but in vishing attacks, alone, businesses lose, on average, $43,000 per account.

Here are the top scams that all consumers and businesses should know about as we move into 2017:

Scam Using the IRS

Starting from the holiday season stretching through the end of tax season, there are scams involving the IRS. One such scam uses caller ID to change the true number of the caller and replaces it with a number from Washington, D.C., making it look like the number is from the IRS. Usually, the hacker already knows a lot about the victim, as they got information illegally, so it really sounds legit.

In this scam, the hacker tells the victim that they owe a couple of thousands of dollars to the IRS. If the victim falls for it, the hacker explains that due to the tardiness, it must be paid via a money transfer, which is non-traceable and nonrefundable.

BEC or Business Email Compromise Scam

In the business email compromise, or BEC scam, a hacker’s goal is to get into a business email account and get access to any financial data that is stored within. This might be login information, back statements, or verifications of payments or wire transfers.

Sometimes a hacker will access the email by using an email file that contains malware. If an employee opens the file, the malware will infect the computer and the hacker has an open door to come right in.

Another way that hackers use the BEC scan is to access the email of a CEO. In this case, they will impersonate the CEO and tell the financial powers that be that he or she requires a wire transfer to a bank account. This account, of course, belongs to the hacker not the business. When most people get an email from their boss asking them to do something, they do it.

Ransomware

Finally, hackers are also commonly using ransomware to hack their victims. In this case, the hackers are working towards convincing targets to install dangerous software onto their computer. Then, the computer locks out the data and the victim cannot access it…until he or she pays a ransom.

At this point, they are informed that they can get access back when they pay a ransom. This might range from a couple of hundred to several thousands. Usually, the hackers demand payment by bank transfer, credit card, bitcoin, PayPal, or money transfer services. Victims are usually encouraged to go to a certain website or call a certain number Unfortunately, too often, once the victim pays the ransom, the hacker never opens up the system. So now, the hacker has access to the victim’s computer and their credit card or financial information.

The way social engineering works in this scam is varied:

One way is this…imagine you are browsing the internet, and then you get a popup warning that looks quite official, such as from the FBI. It might say something like “Our programs have found child pornography on your computer. You are immediately being reported to the FBI unless you pay a fine.” When you click the popup to pay, the program actually downloads a program called spyware to your computer that will allow the hacker to access your system.

Another way that social engineering works with ransomware is through voice. In this case, you might get a phone call from someone saying they are from Microsoft and the representative tells you that they have scanned your computer and have found files that are malicious. Fortunately, they can remotely access the machine and fix the problem, but you have to install a program to allow this. When you install it, you give them access to everything, including personal and financial information, and they can do what they want with it.

Finally, you might get an email offering a free screen saver or coupon, but when you open it, the software encrypts your drive and takes over your computer.

Robert Siciliano 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.

Oh No, iOS Hacked by NSO

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Recently, says a report at wired.com, it’s been unveiled that the obscure Israel-based NSO Group has been selling spyware delivered to smartphones through vulnerabilities in Apple’s iOS operating system.

“Pegasus” spyware can put a surveillance out on nearly everything including keystrokes, e-mails, video feeds and phone calls. Apple says that the three vulnerabilities with this spyware (“Trident”) have been patched.

In short, NSO Group’s spyware has been reverse engineered for the first time—achieved by the security research firm Lookout, which discovered Pegasus. Also getting credit for the discovery is Citizen Lab.

  • Ahmed Mansoor, a well-known human rights activist with a history of being targeted by surveillance spyware, sent the security firms the suspicious SMS text messages he had received.
  • Mansoor’s mobile device was running iOS’s latest version when two phishing texts came in with links. He had refused to click them.
  • Instead he sent screenshots to Citizen Lab. The links led to a blank Safari browser page. The analysis then began.
  • The spyware was intended to jailbreak the phone.

Jailbreaking an iPhone means the user can bypass Apple’s plan and customize the experience. However, in the Pegasus case, remote hackers wanted this control.

Citizen Lab and Lookout took their analysis to Apple, who made the patches within 10 days. The recommendation is to regularly download the latest iOS versions to help protect the device from attacks. The latest iOS version will stop Pegasus. However, it’s possible for NSO to infiltrate other phone operating systems like Android with the spyware, says Citizen Lab and Lookout.

NSO Group has no website, and supposedly, earns $75 million a year, with governments as the typical clients, and may have up to 500 employees. It won’t be any surprise if a new and similar threat follows soon, as the NSO Group is quite advanced, with a solid software development organization.

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.

Phishing attacks Two-Factor Authentication

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Hackers bank heavily on tricking people into doing things that they shouldn’t: social engineering. A favorite social engineering ploy is the phishing e-mail.

13DHow a hacker circumvents two-factor authentication:

  • First collects enough information on the victim to pull off the scam, such as obtaining information from their LinkedIn profile.
  • Or sends a preliminary phishing e-mail tricking the recipient into revealing login credentials for an account, such as a bank account.
  • The next phase is to send out a text message appearing to be from the recipient’s bank (or PayPal, Facebook, etc.).
  • This message tells the recipient that their account is about to be locked due to “suspicious” activity detected with it.
  • The hacker requests the victim to send the company (which is really the hacker) the unique 2FA code that gets texted to the accountholder upon a login attempt. The victim is to wait for this code to be sent.
  • Remember, the hacker already has collected enough information (password, username) to make a login attempt. Entering this data then triggers a send of the 2FA code to the victim’s phone.
  • The victim then texts back the code—right into the hacker’s hands. The hacker then uses it to get into the account.
  • The victim made the cardinal mistake of sending back a 2FA code via text, when the only place the victim is supposed to enter this code is the login field of their account when wanting to access it!

So in short, the crook somehow gets your password (easy with brute force software if you have a weak password) and username or retrieved in a data dump of some hacked site. They spoof their text message to you to make it look like it came from the company of your account.

Red flags/scams/behaviors/requests  to look out for:

Pay Attention!

  • You are asked via phone/email/IM etc to send someone the 2FA code that is sent to your mobile (prompted by their login attempt).
  • If you receive the 2FA code, this means someone is trying to gain access to your account. If it’s not you, then who is it?
  • Never send any 2FA code out via text, e-mail or phone voice. Never. Consider any such request to be a scam.

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.

Phishing Protection 101

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Phishing-type e-mails are designed to trick the recipient into either downloading a virus (which then gives the hacker remote control of the computer) or revealing enough information for the thief to open credit cards in the victim’s name, get into their bank account, etc.

13DThere are many ways the crook can trick the victim. Here are telltale signs:

  • The message wants you to “verify” or “confirm” your password, username or other sensitive information.
  • And why must you do this? Because “suspicious activity” has been detected on your account, or, your account “is at risk for being compromised.”
  • Your name may or may not be in the message. Always be suspect.
  • Financial institutions will never ask you to enter your login information in an email and be suspect on a website.
  • Another ploy is the subject line: There’s a sense of urgency, such as, “Your account is about to be suspended.” A business will contact you by phone or snail mail if there’s a problem.
  • Even if the e-mail seems to have come from your boss at work and addresses you by name, and includes a link…realize that a hacker is capable of learning enough about someone from their LinkedIn page and Facebook to then convincingly impersonate someone they know.

Links in E-mails

  • Typically there’s a link (when there’s not, there’s a malicious attachment).
  • Never click links inside e-mails even if the sender seems to be your employer, health plan carrier or other enterprise you’ve done business with.
  • Hover the mouse over the link. If the URL is different than what’s there, assume it’s a scam.
  • Generally, only click links in emails when you have to actually click the link to verify an email address once you have just signed up for a new website.

Additional Telltale Signs

  • Just weird stuff. For example, a person who edits for a living receives an unexpected e-mail explaining there’s an attachment that needs to be proofread; wow, a paying gig!
  • Not so fast. The accompanying letter is very poorly constructed, including misspellings of common words, and includes very irrelevant information, such as “I’m a single mom with three wonderful kids.” Why would THIS be included in a legitimate proofreading job?
  • Yet how did the scammer know you’re an editor? Because the crook’s software somehow found your e-mail on the editing gig site you registered with two years ago.
  • The subject line says you’ve won something, or you’ll lose something.
  • If you go to a website and don’t see your site key (if you registered with one), leave. But you shouldn’t have gone to the website in the first place!
  • Always beware of emails purportedly from FedEx, UPS, Amazon, Ebay or anything in your spam folder.

Embrace the idea of deleting reams of UNREAD e-mails without having opened them. If a subject line has you worried, such as “You owe back taxes” or “Your shipment was lost,” then phone the appropriate personnel to see if this is true.

If you suspect you’ve been scammed:

  • Log into whatever account might be compromised and check messages, contact customer service.
  • Place a fraud alert on your credit if your SSN was exposed.
  • Update your security software; run a full system scan.
  • If you revealed any login information, change that account’s login data.

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

Security Appreciation lacking

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What’s it gonna take for companies to crack down on their cybersecurity? What’s holding them back? Why do we keep hearing about one company data breach after another?

1SWell, there’s just not enough IT talent going around. The irony is that most company higher-ups admit that cybersecurity is very important and can even name specific situations that could compromise security, such as

having multiple vendors vs. only a single vendor; not having quality-level encryption in place; allowing employees to bring their own mobile devices to work and use them there for business; and having employees use cloud services for business.

Many even admit that they lack confidence in preventing a sophisticated malware onslaught and are worried about spear phishing attacks.

So as you can see, the understanding is out there, but then it kind of fizzles after that point: Businesses are not investing enough in beefing up their cybersecurity structure.

Let’s first begin with signs that a computer has been infected with malware:

  • It runs ridiculously slow.
  • Messages being sent from your e-mail—behind your back by some unknown entity.
  • Programs opening and closing on their own.

What can businesses (and people at home or traveling) do to enhance cybersecurity?

  • Regularly back up all data.
  • All devices should have security software and a firewall, and these should be regularly updated.
  • Got an e-mail from your boss or company SEO with instructions to open an attachment or click a link? Check with that person first—by phone—to verify they sent you the attachment or link. Otherwise, this may be a spear phishing attempt: The hacker is posing as someone you normally defer to, to get you to reveal sensitive information.
  • Mandate ongoing security training for employees. Include staged phishing e-mails to see who bites the bait. Find out why they bit and retrain them.
  • Never open e-mails with subject lines telling you an account has been suspended; that you won a prize; inherited money; your shipment failed; you owe the IRS; etc. Scammers use dramatic subject lines to get people to open these e-mails and then click on malicious links or open attachments that download viruses.
  • Install a virtual private network before you use public Wi-Fi.

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

Look out for Shipping E-mail Phishing Scams

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Stop clicking on e-mails about your package delivery! Scam, scam, scam! Look, it’s simple:13D

  • Scammers are also pretending to be from the DHL and FedEx shipping companies, not just UPS.
  • Crooks know that at any given time, thousands and thousands of U.S. people are waiting for a package delivery.
  • So these cyber thieves send out mass e-mails by the millions, knowing that they will reach a lot of people who are expecting a package.
  • The subject line of these e-mails says something about “your delivery” or “your shipment” that lures the recipient into opening the e-mail. Usually, the message is that the delivery has failed, and the recipient is tricked into clicking on an attachment or a link.
  • And that’s when malware gets downloaded to their computer.

This technique is called social engineering: tricking people into doing things they shouldn’t. People are too quick to click. I wonder how many of these clicker-happy people ever even gave their e-mail address to UPS. The last time I sent something via UPS, I don’t even recall being asked for my e-mail address.

But people so freely give out their e-mail address, that when they receive one of these phishing e-mails by crooks, they think it’s legitimate. They believe that the attachment is a new shipping label to print out. They even believe the threat that if they don’t use this new label right away, they’ll be charged a fee. It’s all about hurry, hurry, hurry! People don’t stop and T-H-I-N-K first.

What can be done about this? First off, don’t freely give out your e-mail. That way, if you get an e-mail from a company that you just, by chance, happen to be doing business with, you’ll know it’s a fraud—because you never gave your e-mail to that company in the first place.

Next, share this information with your family and friends. They’ll probably all deny that they’re capable of falling for this scam, but I’m sure that when the unwise ones are alone, they’ll give it some hard thought.

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

Protect Yourself from Phishing

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Everyone has received very obvious “phishing” e-mails: Messages in your in-box that have outrageous subject lines like “Your Account Will Be Suspended,” or, “You Won!”

13DWhile some phishing attacks are obvious, others look harmless, such as those in a person’s workplace in-box, seemingly from their company’s higher-ups.

Researchers point out that an e-mail may appear to come from the company’s HR department, for example. E-mails with an “urgent email password change request” had a 28% click rate, Wombat security reported.

Phishing victims act too quickly.

In the workplace, instead of phoning or texting the HR department about this password reset, or walking over to the HR department (a little exercise never hurts), they quickly click.

So one way, then, to protect yourself from phishing attacks is to stop acting so fast! Take a few breaths. Think. Walk your duff over to the alleged sender of the e-mail for verification it’s legit.

Wombat’s survey reveals that 42% of respondents reported malware infections, thanks to hasty clicking. However, employees were more careful when the e-mail concerned gift card offers and social media.

The report also reveals:

  • 67% were spear phished last year (spear phishing is a targeted phishing attack).
  • E-mails with an employee’s first name had a 19% higher click rate.
  • The industry most duped was telecommunications, with a 24% click rate.
  • Other frequently duped industries were law, consulting and accounting (23%).
  • Government was at 17%.

So as you see, employees continue to be easy game for crooks goin’ phishin.’

And attacks are increased when employees use outdated plug-ins: Adobe PDF, Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight and Java.

The survey also reveals how people guard themselves from phishing attacks:

  • 99% use e-mail spam filters.
  • 56% use outbound proxy protection.
  • 50% rely on advanced malware analysis.
  • 24% use URL wrapping.

These above approaches will not prevent all phishing e-mails from getting into your in-box. Companies must still rigorously train employees in how to spot phishing attacks, and this training should include staged attacks.

Protect Yourself

  • Assume that phishing e-mails will sometimes use your company’s template to make it look like it came from corporate.
  • Assume that the hacker somehow figured out your first, even last name, and that being addressed by your full name doesn’t rule out a phishing attack.
  • Get rid of the outdated plug-ins.

Phishing attacks are also prevalent outside the workplace, and users must be just as vigilant when on their personal devices.

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

How to recycle Old Devices

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When it comes to tossing into the rubbish your old computer device, out of sight means out of mind, right? Well yeah, maybe to the user. But let’s tack something onto that well-known mantra: Out of site, out of mind, into criminal’s hands.

7WYour discarded smartphone, laptop or what-have-you contains a goldmine for thieves—because the device’s memory card and hard drive contain valuable information about you.

Maybe your Social Security number is in there somewhere, along with credit card information, checking account numbers, passwords…the whole kit and caboodle. And thieves know how to extract this sensitive data.

Even if you sell your device, don’t assume that the information stored on it will get wiped. The buyer may use it for fraudulent purposes, or, he may resell to a fraudster.

Only 25 states have e-waste recycling laws. And only some e-waste recyclers protect customer data. And this gets cut down further when you consider that the device goes to a recycling plant at all vs. a trash can. Thieves pan for gold in dumpsters, seeking out that discarded device.

Few people, including those who are very aware of phishing scams and other online tricks by hackers, actually realize the gravity of discarding or reselling devices without wiping them of their data. The delete key and in some cases the “factory reset” setting is worthless.

To verify this widespread lack of insight, I collected 30 used devices like smartphones, laptops and desktops, getting them off of Craigslist and eBay. They came with assurance they were cleared of the previous user’s data.

I then gave them to a friend who’s skilled in data forensics, and he uncovered a boatload of personal data from the previous users of 17 of these devices. It was enough data to create identity theft. I’m talking Social Security numbers, passwords, usernames, home addresses, the works. People don’t know what “clear data” really means.

The delete button makes a file disappear and go into the recycle bin, where you can delete it again. Out of sight, out of mind…but not out of existence.

What to Do

  • If you want to resell, then wipe the data off the hard drive—and make sure you know how to do this right. There are a few ways of accomplishing this:

Search the name of your device and terms such as “factory reset”, “completely wipe data”, reinstall operating system” etc and look for various device specific tutorials and in some cases 3rd party software to accomplish this.

  • If you want to junk it, then you must physically destroy it. Remove the drive, thate are numerous online tutorials here too. Get some safety glasses, put a hammer to it or find an industrial shredder.
  • Or send it to a reputable recycling service for purging.

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

Phishing works and here’s why

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A phishing e-mail is sent by a cyberthief to trick its recipient into revealing sensitive information so that the crook could steal money from the recipient or gain access to a business’s classified information. One way to lure an employee is for the crook to make the e-mail appear like it was sent by the company’s CEO. Often, phishing e-mails have urgent subject lines like “Your Chase Bank Balance Is Negative.”

PSHIn its 2015 Data Breach Report, Verizon reported that 23 percent of employees open their phishing e-mails. Eleven percent go further by clicking on something they shouldn’t.

Why do so many employees (and mainstream users) fail to recognize a phishing e-mail? Strong security awareness training at companies is lacking. Perhaps the company simply tosses a few hardcopy instructions to employees. Perching them before videos isn’t enough, either.

Security awareness training needs to also include staged phishing attacks to see which employees grab the bait and why they did so. With a simulated phishing attack approach, employees will have a much better chance of retaining anything they’ve learned. It’s like teaching a kid to hit a homerun; they won’t learn much if all they do is read instructions and watch videos. They need to swing at balls coming at them.

The return on investment from staged phishing attacks will more than offset the cost of this extra training. Living the experience has proven to be a far more effective teacher than merely reading about it or listening to a lecture. As straightforward as this sounds, this approach is not the rule in companies; it’s the exception.

Even rarer is when phishing simulation is ongoing rather than just an annual or semiannual course. But just because it’s rare doesn’t mean it’s not that effective. Companies tend to cut corners any way they can, and foregoing the phishing simulations is often at the top of the list of investments to nickel-and-dime.

If you want to see how gullible your employees (or family and friends) are to phishing e-mails, which again, are geared towards tricking the recipients to click on a malicious link or attachment, pay a visit to Phish.io.

Here you can register, and this free service will send phishing e-mails to your specified recipients. However, these are harmless tests and will not lead to anything negative—other than to reveal who can be duped.

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

Beware of Apple ID Phishing Scams

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You may have been scammed after you responded to an e-mail that appears it came from Apple. When hackers send e-mails that appear to come from a legitimate company like Apple (or Google, Microsoft, PayPal, etc.), with the objective of tricking the recipient into typing in passwords, usernames, credit card information and other sensitive data, this is called phishing.

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-online-risks-sign-road-banner-image34668294Many phishing scams are in circulation, including the Apple one. Hackers know that tons of people have Apple accounts. So if they robotically send 10,000 phishing e-mails to random e-mail addresses, they know that they’ll reach a lot of Apple account holders. And in any given group of people, there will always be those who fall for the scam. Not me, though. Recently I received the following scam e-mail:

Your Apple ID was used to buy a iOS App “TomTom Canada” from the App Store on a computer or device that had not previously been associated with your Apple ID.

Order total: $ CAD 44.99
If you initiated this download, you can disregard this email. It was only sent to alert you in case you did not initiate the download yourself.

 If you have not authorize this charge, Click here to login as soon as possible to cancel the payment!

When the payment will be canceled you will get a full refund.
Sincerely,
Apple Support
apple.com/support

A tip-off that this is fraudulent is the typos: “used to buy a iOS App…” (Hopefully you can spot the typo right away.) Another typo: “If you have not authorize this charge…”

 

A legitimate e-mail from a reputable company will not have typos or mistakes in English usage. And it’s unlikely it will have exclamation points, especially after words like “payment.” This e-mail really reeks of rotten phish.

Another red flag is that when you hover over the link, you get an unintelligible URL, or one that’s simple not Apple.com

Forward Apple phishing links including their headers to reportphishing@apple.com.

Unfortunately, many people are ruled by shot-gun emotional reactions and promptly click links inside e-mails. Once they’re taken to a phony website, most are already sucked in too deep to recognize they’re about to be scammed.

Additional Information for Apple Account Holders

You can quickly change your password at Apple ID.

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