Patrick DeStefano (tuc50677)

I’m having an issue where it says my account is expired and unable to download VMware, but not having the issue with Windows.

Although, I’m not finding any links to download Windows 7. The only things I’m seeing are for Windows 10.

Thanks Duy! I’ll have to give them a call tomorrow.

I honestly had no idea about VirusTotal until I read this article. It seems like it is an extremely useful product for all of the security community and beyond. I’m actually going to try using it to see how it works over the next few days. To your point about the startups which seem to provide services to those wishing to do harm, I…[Read more]

The scenario you listed is a real risk, like you said, with today’s trigger happy world. News pundits, politicians, and conspiracy theorists with power could really bring the world to it’s knees if any mischaracterization of a specific attack occurs. I’m particularly worried of consequences if something like this would happen to the US and it…[Read more]

This is very very dangerous. If any enemy plotters were to get ahold of this info and be able to put two and two together, it would essentially be like handing over the blueprints to our military installations, safe-houses, and even if you look deeper, you might even be able to track movement on ships and/or submarines to get a layout. For…[Read more]

Nevermind everyone, I think I figured it out.

Wow, I’m going to have to check these out and look more into what PowerShell is capable of. I’m more of a beginner with PowerShell and after several software installation issues, I didn’t have enough time or focusing capability after a long day at work to really dig deep into all that PowerShell can do.

I feel like with removing these it can…[Read more]

I found it really interesting, well actually surprised, that these ATMs were still running Windows XP. Microsoft released this OS in 2001, roughly 17 years ago! They stopped supporting updates for it in 2014, so these machines hadn’t had any security updates or patches in at least 4 years. That’s really a scary thought considering that these…[Read more]

I’m going to assume that it was just lack of knowledge that led these ATM owners/operators to believe that keeping an old ATM without updating the software was perfectly fine. It honestly terrifies me considering that our financial institutions and devices should be one of the most secure things out there but these devices hadn’t had software…[Read more]

It’s inevitable that sensitive information will get breached at some point in time, It’s up to us, as consumers, to demand that companies are held responsible for any negligence and to ask our governing bodies to enact logical and effective regulation and standards to promote heightened security measures against cyber attacks. Like you mentioned…[Read more]

It’s really frustrating when this kind of thing happens as a customer perspective. I know if I was a client of Newtek’s, I would expect transparency for things like this breach. Even if they didn’t know what was going on or how to fix it, I would appreciate an email or message stating that there is an incident and that they are looking into it.…[Read more]

Here is the link to the SANS portion: https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/February+2018+Microsoft+and+Adobe+Patch+Tuesday/23341/

I too, like how they list the update out. Its quite concerning that these are such serious security flaws/bugs which are getting patched. It’s really making me rethink whether I want Auto-update on for my…[Read more]

It’s really one of those “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situations for businesses today. On one hand, if you have a minor security breach and are transparent about it, it’s quite possible that the media will pick it up and over-hype it and that will cause reputational harm that you were hacked, even if you fixed it and were transparent…[Read more]

Hi Frederic,

I’m in complete agreement with your assessment. While automation is becoming more and more popular to increase efficiency and reliability for executing processes for companies to do good, it also has the same perks for those who wish to do harm. There’s no way a fraudster or hacker can take over millions of devices like the…[Read more]

Satwika,

I agree with everything you mentioned. One of the biggest vulnerabilities I’m seeing in society today is that there is literally half of the population from a generation that didn’t have anywhere near the amount of technology we have today when they were growing up. This is leading to a large amount of the population being…[Read more]

This vulnerability with pacemakers really got me thinking. What other types of technology has been developed and is still in production today which doesn’t have the ability to have updates pushed and may have antiquated security vulnerabilities present? I’m sure there are tons of iot devices which were developed throughout the years before…[Read more]

I completely agree Mark,

Change is always going to cause some friction and growing pains. Even in the workplace, I’m sure we all know of times when processes keep changing and we all get frustrated (because of course, we just mastered the old process). The key here is proper and effective communication. Everyone wants to be in control of…[Read more]

I agree! With all the older technology out there which was introduced before security became as big of a concern as it is today (and some that is still being put into production), its imperative to educate companies developing theses products as well as the users on the proper ways of protecting the devices. Firewalls, password updates,…[Read more]

Brock,

I like the approach you took with making the financial case for cyber security enhancements. The more knowledgable cyber criminals are becoming, the more reason for companies to invest in proper security controls to protect their assets as well as their clients/customers. That 20% revenue loss is a scary number for any company. With…[Read more]