90 Seconds of Security: Phishing Trends for 2019

Phishing has become the number one attack vector for good reason - it requires a low amount of effort for a very high reward. 

F5 Labs (f5labs.com) released their 2019 Phishing and Fraud Report showing that there's no slowing down in the amount or number of phishing attacks. In fact, we expect phishing to occur year-round, not just around the holidays. Download the full report at: https://www.f5.com/labs/articles/threat-intelligence/2019-phishing-and-fraud-report

Arguing with Things

As more things get connected, we may find ourselves disagreeing with them.

We all argue, especially if you’re passionate about something. Sometimes it’s with our spouse, sometimes with friends or co-workers and sometimes we scold objects that aren’t doing what we want them to do, ‘Ah, come on pen…don’t run out of ink now!!’ As more of these things get connected and are interacting with us, will you find yourself arguing with inanimate objects even more?

The other day I was talking to my wife about Alexa (the Amazon Echo) and suddenly from the other room we hear, ‘I will add that item to the shopping cart.’ We looked at each other and simultaneously said, ‘What was that?’ with the added ‘jinx’ that quickly follows. We walked over to the device and started interrogating it as to what it just added to the cart. ‘I don’t understand the question…I can’t seem to find what you are looking for…I can’t understand what you said,’ were the various responses. These answers would drive a detective to charge it with obstructing justice. This is not a complaint against Echo mind you, we like it. It just couldn’t understand our questions until we asked the right way.

It also seems to have feelings. My daughter told it that it was stupid (for not understanding us) and Echo replied with, ‘That’s not very nice.’ M3S looked at me, looked at Alexa and then apologized to the cylinder. Not sure if she forgave us, but we’re a little more courteous around her now. Over at The Guardian, Rory Carroll experienced the same thing and he writes about how these home robots hear everything and the types of data captured by many of these home services. There are no more boundaries between home and the outside world. 

When I’m in the car and pass the intended route, the GPS keeps telling me to make my first legal U-turn, even though I know where I’m going. On a few occasions I’ve quipped, ‘Stop bossing me around!’ It ignores me and keeps reiterating that I’m going the wrong way. Tossing it in the back seat doesn’t help.

With the holiday season upon us and wish lists getting fulfilled, you may find that in 2016, your quarrels will be with gaming consoles, thermostats, fitness trackers, security cameras, refrigerators and other gadgets instead of humans.

I guess that’s better than making a scene at the dinner table.*

ps

* Except in cases where smart utensils have been deployed.

Related

• Goodbye privacy, hello 'Alexa': Amazon Echo, the home robot who hears it all
• Connecting the Threads
• Wearables Head to Tail
• Our Five Senses on Sensors
• Internet of Food
• The IoT Ready Platform

Technorati Tags: iot,things,sensors,wearables,holiday,argue,silva,digital assistant

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Inside the ALOHA!

Originally posted Nov 25, 2013

I shot this a couple years ago in Hawaii during Thanksgiving week and wanted to express my gratitude to all of you for watching our videos throughout the year. With Honolulu as a backdrop, I share a little Hawaiian history along with why I open my videos with 'ALOHA!'

ps

Technorati Tags: hawaii,hawaiian,ali'i,honolulu,diamond head,maui,history,iolani,oahu,f5,aloha,silva,video

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You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out…

…is probably one of the most memorable lines of any Holiday Classic.  Of course I’m referring to A Christmas Story, where a young Ralphie tries to convince his parents, teachers and Santa that the Red Ryder BB Gun is the perfect present.  I don’t know of there was a warning label on the 1940’s edition box but it is a good reminder from a security perspective that often we, meaning humans, are our own worst enemy when it comes to protecting ourselves.  Every year about 100 or so homes  burn down due to fried turkeys.  A frozen one with ice crystals straight in or the ever famous too much oil that overflows and toasts everything it touches.  Even with the warnings and precautions, humans still take the risk.  Warning: You can get burned badly.

As if the RSA breach wasn’t warning enough about the perils of falling for a phishing scam, we now learn that the South Carolina Department of Revenue breach was also due to an employee, and it only takes one, clicking a malicious email link.  That curiosity lead to over 3.8 million Social Security numbers, 3.3 million bank accounts, thousands of credit cards along with 1.9 million dependant’s information being exposed.  While the single click started it all, 2-factor authentication was not required and the stored info was not encrypted, so there is a lot of human error to go around.  Plus a lot of blame being tossed back and forth – another well used human trait – deflection.  Warning: Someone else may not protect your information.

While working the SharePoint Conference 2012 in Vegas a couple weeks ago, I came across a interesting kiosk where it allows you to take a picture and post online for free to any number of social media sites.  It says ‘Post a picture online for free.’ but there didn’t seem to be a Warning: ‘You are also about to potentially share your sensitive social media credentials or email, which might also be tied to your bank account, into this freestanding machine that you know nothing about.’  I’m sure if that was printed somewhere, betters would think twice about that risk.  If you prefer not to enter social media info, you can always have the image emailed to you (to then share) but that also (obviously) requires you to enter that information.  While logon info might not be stored, email is.  Yet another reason to get a throw away email address.  I’m always amazed at all the ways various companies try to make it so easy for us to offer up our information…and many of us do without considering the risks.  In 2010, there were a number of photo kiosks that were spreading malware.  Warning: They are computers after all and connected to the internet.

Insider threats are also getting a lot of attention these days with some statistics indicating that 33% of malicious or criminal attacks are from insiders.  In August, an insider at Saudi Aramco released a virus that infected about 75% of the employee desktops.  It is considered one of the most destructive computer sabotages inflicted upon a private company.  And within the last 2 days, we’ve learned that the White House issued an Executive Order to all government agencies informing them of new standards and best practices around gathering, analyzing and responding to insider threats.  This could be actual malicious, disgruntled employees, those influenced by a get rich quick scheme from an outsider or just ‘compromised’ employees, like getting a USB from a friend and inserting it into your work computer.  It could even be simple misuse by accident.  In any event, intellectual property or personally identifiable information is typically the target.  Warning: Not everyone is a saint.

The Holidays are still Happy but wear your safety glasses, don’t click questionable links even from friends, don’t enter your logon credentials into a stray kiosk and a third of your staff is a potential threat.  And if you are in NYC for the holidays, a limited run of "Ralphie to the Rescue!" A Christmas Story, The Musical is playing at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre until Dec 30th.

ps

References

• How One Turkey Fryer Turned Into A 40-foot Inferno That Destroyed Two Cars And A Barn
• S.C. tax breach began when employee fell for spear phish
• 5 Stages of a Data Breach
• Thinking about Security from the Inside Out
• Obama issues insider threat guidance for gov't agencies
• National Insider Threat Policy and Minimum Standards for Executive Branch Insider Threat Programs
• Insiders Big Threat to Intellectual Property, Says Verizon DBIR
• Negligent Insiders and Malicious Attacks Continue to Pose Security Threat
• Infographic: Protect Yourself Against Cybercrime
• The Exec-Disconnect on IT Security
• "Ralphie to the Rescue!" A Christmas Story, The Musical Opens On Broadway Nov. 19

Technorati Tags: F5, smartphone, insiders, byod, Pete Silva, security, business, education, technology, a christmas story, threat,mobile device, kiosk, malware, iPhone, web, internet, phishing

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