ITACS 5211: Introduction to Ethical Hacking

Wade Mackay

Uncategorized

Phishing Threat Continues To Loom Large

by 2 Comments

Although medium and large-sized organizations has taken proactive measures to train their employees on how to detect and protect themselves against phishing and spear-phishing scams, the article points out that they are still vulnerable.  It reports that 41% of organizations survey have lost sensitive information on employee’s computers, and 24% have lost sensitive data from corporate network.  It points out that the best way to mitigate phishing attacks is through employee training.  It also provided a really good example of how social media can be used for reconnaissance to craft a sophisticated spear phishing attack against a victim.

The main points of this article is to ensure that your employees are trained and aware of phishing attacks, make yourself a harder target by reducing your digital footprint, or be careful of what you post online.

Article: http://www.darkreading.com/partner-perspectives/malwarebytes/phishing-threat-continues-to-loom-large/a/d-id/1327370?

MySQL – 2 New Exploits Released

by 1 Comment

Click for Article

Two new security vulnerabilities have been found in MySql, an opensource database management system.   MySQL is extremely popular and is listed as the #2 world’s most popular database.

One of the flaws allows a hacker to execute code to elevate their user status to a database system user.   This elevation could allow the hacker to gain complete access to all databases on the hacked server. The second flaw allows a hacker to escalate their user privileges to root user.

Patches for these exploits are already available, and users of MySQL are urged to apply them immediately.

Information is King!   And gaining access to information gives anyone the keys to the castle.  So much information is stored in databases about us, it’s scary.   Popular database flaws like this are scary.   It adds one more tool in a hackers toolbox to gain access to our information.   The recent breaches of online accounts and credit card information just goes to reinforce the fact that hackers will always target this valuable information!

 

 

 

 

ProjectSauron

by Leave a Comment

A couple of months ago, Symantec and Kaspersky Labs discovered a malware called ProjectSauron or Strider.   It was capable of harvesting passwords of entire networks since 2011.  It had separate modules designed to perform specific functions like stealing documents or recording keystrokes.  It is also highly selective in its target, currently only infecting 36 computers across 7 organizations in 4 different countries (Belgium, Sweden, Russia, and China).  ProjectSauron has been, until recently, undetected by some of the most advanced IDS/IPS systems available.

Symantec and Kaspersky is acknowledging that this may be state-sponsored malware, used for specific targets to gather military intelligence, because of the complexity of the technology used which may have caused millions of dollars to develop.

You can read more here: https://www.rt.com/news/355165-sauron-malware-cyber-espionage/

Shareholders sue companies for lying about breaches

by 1 Comment

This is an interesting twist on disclosing breaches. This can become an interesting conflict for an organization that may need to contain a breach for various reasons while also having an obligation to its shareholders to share the conditions of the organization. This article mentions the most reason case of the pending merger of Verizon and Yahoo. Since Yahoo had just recently disclosed that it had suffered a massive breach it may have a huge financial impact on Yahoo which Verizon did not account for when making an offer.

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherskroupa/2016/10/27/exposing-litigation-the-hidden-risks-of-cyber-breach/#7930f77c1988

LinkedIn Could Soon Be Blocked in Russia

by 3 Comments

Vladimir Putin’s government is threatening to shut down business networking site LinkedIn. The threat stems from a recent law in Russia that requires all companies doing business in the country to store their data locally, something that LinkedIn does not do.The decision is driven by the fear about data privacy in the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations about NSA snooping.

http://fortune.com/2016/10/26/linkedin-russia/