Category: Cyber Security

  • Toothbrush or threat vector? Turns out it was both for 3 million smart toothbrushes utilized in a recent DDoS attack

    Toothbrush or threat vector? Turns out it was both for 3 million smart toothbrushes utilized in a recent DDoS attack

    When it comes to cyber attacks it seems like anything can be utilized (see Amazon Fire Stick on the recent attack on Rockstar Games) but even our toothbrushes?

    It’s true, while details are still coming out it’s been reported that 3 million malware infected toothbrushes were used to bring down a Swiss company’s website at the cost of millions of Euros.

    No details have emerged yet on either the brand of toothbrush or the specific company that was targeted but we know the toothbrushes were running on Java which is a popular operating system for IoTs (Internet of Things) devices.

    It highlights the point that any device connected to the internet can be used for malicious intent. We’ve all probably heard about threat actors utilizing home security cameras or baby monitors to gain unwanted access to our homes or to just be creeps. Or how about the study on smart fridges that found out they were collecting a lot of your data unknowingly.

    With so many of us having smart devices scattered throughout our homes it’s long overdue that we think about what security needs to be in place to prevent these devices from being a danger to us or others. That includes both the obvious devices like our computers and the less obvious devices like our internet connected home gadgets.

    In a recent study by the SANS Internet Storm Center they tested how long it would take for an unprotected, unpatched PC to become infected with malware when exposed to the internet. Their calculations came back that it would only take 20 minutes on average for that PC to be infected, this is down from 40 minutes back in 2003.

    Even if you consider yourself tech savvy and “careful”, attackers are relentless when it comes to looking for the latest exploits and staying ahead of the curve. It’s the unfortunate truth that they can put more time into their nefarious activities than you as a business owner can dedicate to outsmarting them.

    For them it’s a numbers game and the more nets they cast and the more avenues they look for to gain access the more likely they are to be successful, and even items such as a toothbrush are not safe.

    That is, unless you follow these steps when securing your network and IoT devices.

    On top of these simple steps to secure your network and maintain your devices, you can also work with a provider like Valley Techlogic.

    We utilize best in class tools that prevent cyber attacks from occurring in the first place. Our partners have the resources to stay on top of and mitigate threats (even zero-day attacks) and with ongoing maintenance included in our service plans we can prevent your devices from becoming a threat vector to you or to another business.

    Schedule a meeting with us today to learn more.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.

  • CMMC Changes for 2024 Summarized

    CMMC Changes for 2024 Summarized

    On December 26th 2023 the DoD (Department of Defense) dropped a slightly belated Christmas gift on defense contractors and vendors in the form of big changes to the CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) program.

    Whether the timing of the info dump was intentional or not remains a matter of debate but what’s not up for debate is that these changes are now the law of the land when it comes to reaching your CMMC goals (at least until they’re possibly challenged in court but we wouldn’t hold our breath on that). If you have not started working on them yet this is your sign to get started ASAP.

    The 234-page document covered a variety of updates to the program, including splitting up tier 2 into self-attestation OR requiring contractors and vendors to obtain a third-party audit, but for those actively working on it we’re happy to say the controls themselves remain unchanged.

    The vast majority of contractors (63% as estimated by the DoD) will still fall under CMMC Level 1 but a new change will not allow these contractors to submit a POA&M (Plan of Action and Milestones) to comply with unmet milestones going forward.

    For contractors falling under Level 2 and 3 they can still submit a POA&M but while it previously allowed contractors to set their own timing for completing the actions required the new rules state all POA&M must have a plan for completion within 180 days of the initial assessment.

    This is a huge change and will make it very difficult for contractors who are trying to rush to get their accreditation to comply with existing contracts. There are also new limitations on POA&Ms and some controls don’t allow them to be completed under a POA&M at all.

    DoD contractors and vendors will have to rethink their entire plan for coming into compliance with CMMC this year.

    The good news is that if you do meet all of the new hurdles and pass your assessment you will be in the clear for 3 years.

    For those in the CMMC level 2 category (an estimated 37% of those affected) whether or not you can still self-attest in SPURs (Supplier Performance Risk System) or will need a third-party assessment is dependent entirely on whether the CUI (Controlled Unclassified Information) found in your contract warrants one or the other as determined by the DoD.

    As these rules are still rolling out Level 2 contracts will most likely be required to self-attest to start until the program gains its footing when we’ll start to see more required to take on a third-party assessment. Contractors should be prepared either way as they perform the actions needed to qualify for certification.

    There’s good news for Level 3 contractors in that not much has changed for them, and the program overall is still based on guidance from NIST SP 800-172. New language was added that CMMC Level 3 contractors must maintain a perfect Level 2 score in addition to achieving 20 out of 24 points to meet the qualifications for Level 3. Only a small minority of contractors will need to worry about achieving Level 3 and we have no doubt those that qualify know who they are and were already well prepared for this news.

    The proposed roll out of these changes and CMMC as a whole is under a phased implementation window that will expand across a three-year period. Beginning with the DoD looking at those soliciting new DoD contracts to have a Level 1 or Level 2 self-attested score all the way up to the inclusion of CMMC in all new and existing contracts by year three.

    It should also be noted that those who misrepresent their level of readiness under the CMMC program can face some pretty sharp penalties for doing so.

    To add salt to the wounds the DoD have given themselves a grace period up to 2027 to begin rolling out these changes within their own organization – rules for thee but not for me? Perhaps a little bit.

    These weren’t the only changes to be announced in December, if you would like to see and read the full 234-page document yourself you can find it here.

    Either way the time to get your ducks in a row was several years ago (CMMC 2.0 was released in 2021) but short of inventing a time machine to do so the second best time to start is now.

    Valley Techlogic has worked with clients on readiness for a variety of cybersecurity compliance frameworks including but not limited to CMMC, HIPAA, NIST, CIS and more. If you would like to learn more about how we can help you meet your CMMC goals, reach out today.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.

  • The biggest cyber security breaches of 2023

    The biggest cyber security breaches of 2023

    Now that it’s 2024 we’re reflecting on the biggest events in tech that occurred in 2024, and in today’s article we want to talk about the biggest cyber security breaches that occurred in 2023.

    Before we get into it, let’s talk about the hard numbers.  Across the board, cyber threats are up year over year and 2023 was no exception. Here are 8 eye opening statistics on cyber threats as of writing:

    1. The global average cost of a data breach is $4.45 million and a ransomware attack $5.13 million as of 2023.
    2. The average lifecycle (discovery to remediation) of a data breach is 277 days.
    3. 74% of data breaches still involve a human element in 2023.
    4. 64% of Americans have not checked to see if there data has been lost in a data breach.
    5. Almost half (46%) of all cyberattacks were on US targets.
    6. More than 1 million identities were stolen in 2023.
    7. 30% of those people were a victim of a data breach in 2023.
    8. 54% of office works express feeling “cybersecurity fatigue” in regards to news of data breaches.

    Unfortunately, public apathy towards cybersecurity preventions from ongoing, sustained attacks and the lucrative nature of successful attacks performed on business entities makes for a potent recipe in these attacks only continuing to increase in 2024.

    We want to take a look back at the biggest breaches that occurred in 2023 and also present our solution for preventing an attack of this nature from occurring to your business.

    1. MGM – Occurring in September, the unusual way MGM was breached made headlines because it did not initially involve a computer. Instead, attackers posed as people of importance to the company via a phone call and gained access to their systems, causing a loss of reputation, $100 million in damages, and 5 class action lawsuits to be filed.
    2. ChatGPT – Not even AI is safe when it comes to targeted attacks from hackers, in March of 2023 a bug in their source code exposed the personal information of a 1.2% of their Plus Subscribers including home addresses, full names and email addresses.
    3. MOVEit File Transfer System – The fallout from this breach that occurred in June 2023 extended far beyond the file system management software company itself, including California’s biggest pension fund holders CalPERS and CalSTRS.
    4. RockStar – RockStar is another example like MGM that proved hackers don’t need expensive equipment to breach insecure systems, with this breach being conducted using a cellphone, a hotel room TV and an Amazon FireStick.
    5. The City of Oakland – An entire city was the target of a hack that occurred in February of 2023, the sustained attack which lasted more than a week prompted the city to even declare a state of emergency while systems remained offline. Class actions lawsuits were also filed in the aftermath of the attack in this case.

    These are just five attacks that made major news last year, but there were thousands more that did not make major news. When an attack occurs on a small business many times it leaves the owners with no choice but to close up shop (60% of small businesses that are the victim of a cyber attack close within 6 months).

    As IT providers it’s a frustrating topic for us as so much of this is preventable. If more preventions were put in place and it was more difficult for attackers to realize their goals than it would have a cumulative positive effect overall. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Let us help you meet your cybersecurity goals in 2024 by clicking on the image below.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.

  • Leave the World Behind features alleged cyber warfare as the main movie villain, how realistic was it?

    Leave the World Behind features alleged cyber warfare as the main movie villain, how realistic was it?

    The cyber attacks we typically report on are localized or contained to a specific sector or even business entity.

    In Netflix’s new movie “Leave the World Behind” characters are confronted with what looked like a global cyber attack causing mass destruction and chaos, including self-driving cars crashing into each other with no driver present and planes crashing into the ocean into land with GPS absent.

    The movie features an all-star cast and is the first movie we’ve seen take on the apocalypse narrative with a unique technology twist – not to besmirch the Terminator legacy, but killer robots are found fairly frequently in pop culture.

    Originally adapted from Rumaan Alam’s book of the same name, the movie actually takes liberty in specifically calling out the cyber attack in the movie where in the book the nature of what’s going on is left a lot more ambiguous.

    The movie even received feedback from former President Barack Obama to make sure the cyber warfare elements were realistic instead of fantastic which left us with an eerie feeling after viewing the film, because the truth is some of the elements of it could be replicated in real life.

    Venturing into spoiler territory now, at several points in the movie the characters are subjected to an ear-piercing noise that stops them in their tracks. It’s alluded to that these attacks might be “sonic booms” and are the reason one of the characters begins having physical symptoms as a response (odontophobia folks beware). This attack in the movie mirrored an alleged event in Cuba where directed energy waves, in this case microwave instead of sound, caused physical harm to locals.

    In another scene one of the main characters attempts to check her phone for news and is instead confronted with several news articles, seemingly normal messages at first then devolving on red paper are dropped from a drone in the sky on a character driving down an empty road – this is several hours after the characters have been cut off from the outside world by the technology we all rely on for news and information.

    By sheer coincidence these scenes are again mirrored by a real-life news event that happened just this month, where Iran-located hackers took over a water authority in Pennsylvania because their devices were Iran made, screens of these electronics found in the facility displayed a message in red with “YOU HAVE BEEN HACKED” featured prominently.

    It’s unlikely that an attack could take out an entire nation easily, but it is worrying for us as a technology provider when we encounter lackadaisical responses to very serious cyber threats. The whole world does not need to be hacked for a hack to affect your whole world.

    If after watching this new blockbuster you’re thinking it might be time to evaluate your cyber preparedness, Valley Techlogic has you covered.

    If you book a consultation with us this month you will even receive a $100 cash for your time just for hearing us out. Click here or on the image below to get started.

     

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.

  • 5 emerging cyber threats to worry about in 2024

    5 emerging cyber threats to worry about in 2024

    We’re all familiar with the usual suspects when it comes to cyber threats, viruses, trojan horses, phishing attacks, malware and ransomware. We’ve covered these threats in great detail (here’s just a few articles on these topics: 10 scary cybersecurity statistics business owners need to know,  Zero trust or zero effort, how does your businesses security stack measure up?, Can you spot the phishing clues? And 10 tips to avoid falling for a phishing scam). Even if you’re not a technical inclined person you probably have some awareness of how to avoid these threats, such as being careful with suspicious emails and attachments or not downloading files from unknown sources.

    What about emerging cyber security threats? These are threats that are not well known and in fact may use improvements in technology such as AI (artificial intelligence) to their advantage for nefarious gain.

    Bad actors are continuously looking for new ways to subjugate your devices and gain access to your systems and data to exploit it for their own gain, and unfortunately in 2024 we don’t believe things will be any different.

    Knowledge is power, so by being aware of these emerging threats you can learn to avoid them or learn what protections you need to put in place to prevent yourself and your business from becoming a victim.

    Here are five emerging threats that we believe will grow in popularity in 2024:

    1. Supply Chain Attacks: Cyber criminals have learned targeting vulnerable systems that supply the things we need day to day (for example the Colonial Pipeline attack that occurred in 2021) can result in lucrative payouts as the vendor(s) scramble to get things back up and running again. We’re expecting these types of attacks to continue to increase in 2024.bio
    2. Biometric Data Threats: As more biometric data is used to confirm your identity for accessing your accounts or making payments, more regulations need to be put in place to protect that data. Facial recognition and fingerprint scans can often give someone access to your personal devices (such as a cellphone) and those devices can be the keys to the kingdom when it comes to accessing your accounts. Attacks in 2024 may escalate not just to the theft of data but also physical theft in unison on high value targets (think CEOs, Presidents and other C-Suite users).
    3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Manipulation: As more and more people explore using AI in their business or to provide solutions to common problems, there will be more and more bad actors trying to exploit it. We’ll see increased attacks using AI including data manipulation (feeding AI erroneous results so that users are receiving incorrect information) and attacks on systems using AI or powered by AI.
    4. 5G Network Vulnerabilities: As 4G continues to be phased out and 5G becomes more common place we’ll see increased attacks aimed at these networks, especially as more and more businesses in rural locations utilize 5G as a solution to spotty or absent cable or fiber options in their area. As the nature of 5G is aimed at providing a geographically robust internet solution to companies like these it’s important to make sure your security settings are beyond reproach to inhibit attacks on your network from the outside.
    5. Advanced Ransomware & Phishing Attacks: Ransomware and phishing attacks are not new, but they continue to grow more sophisticated as as-a-service models continue to roll out, this allows attackers that may not have a firm grasp of technology or even English to send out widespread attack emails that are indistinguishable from emails you may get from reputable services you use for a relatively small monetary fee. Also, because many of these attacks originate outside the US you may have no recourse if your business is successfully hit by one.

    These are just five emerging threats but there are many threats out there making it all the more crucial you have a cyber security solution behind your business that’s staying ahead of these threats and more.

    The threats mentioned above are crimes of opportunity and it’s very easy to be caught in the wide net that’s being cast by those with ill intentions. Valley Techlogic has been at the forefront of providing all encompassing security solutions to our customers. If you would like to learn more about protection your business from cyber security attacks in 2024 schedule a consultation with our experts today. Also for a limited time when you hear us out, you can also take advantage of our Black Friday offer.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.

  • If you have a computer or server with an Intel Processor, you need to patch for this vulnerability ASAP

    If you have a computer or server with an Intel Processor, you need to patch for this vulnerability ASAP

    Intel just released a fix for a vulnerability that would make certain CPUs in jeopardy of being compromised. The vulnerability would allow an attacker to gain privileged access to machines or trigger a denial-of-service attack.

    You can see the list of affected CPUs here, patching for this vulnerability may need to occur in phases including micro-updates to the BIOs, system OS and drivers. In a statement on their website Intel says malicious exploitation of this code would need execution of an arbitrary code (so it can’t be exploited with no input from the end user). They don’t believe patching for this issue will impact devices in a noticeable way.

    Originally discovered by a Google Security Engineering team and dubbed “Reptar”, a researcher at Google commented on how strange this vulnerability appears to be.

    The vulnerability changes how redundant prefixes, basically small bits of code, are interpreted by the effected CPUs. Normally CPUs ignore redundant prefixes for obvious reasons (the key word being “redundant”) but instead these prefixes triggered expanding errors within the system. The Google team found that when it was left without remediation eventually the affected machines would report processing errors and begin to malfunction.

    Destructive code like this is frightening because it may not just be a loss of data or temporary use of the affected machine, but it may cause the computer or server to fail altogether.

    This Isn’t the first CPU exploit Intel has suffered and they’re not the only ones battling attacks to their hardware, with AMD also announcing news of their own “CacheWarp” vulnerability that allowed attackers to gain root access to Linux Virtual Machines. So, if you thought these types of attacks were limited to Windows, think again. In this case the vulnerability only affects 1st through 3rd generation EPYC processors, the 4th generation is not vulnerable in this case.

    Also, with the AMD vulnerability it’s also important to note that while a patch is available for just the 3rd generation EPYC processor. For 1st and 2nd generation there is no mitigation available. As with Intel it’s not expected that the patch will have any effect on the CPU performance.

    Both companies have been very quick to patch these aggressive vulnerabilities and attacks like these highlight the need to make sure regular patching is a primary component of any tech service plan. Below are 5 key components we recommend when it comes to proactive technology support

    Proactive care is often a tough sell, with many business owners not feeling the need to spend the money on proactive tech care as these things “won’t happen to them”. It’s important to note that many attacks that occur are widespread and have no specific target in mind. If you have unpatched equipment in your office, you may be a sitting duck to any widespread attack issued to a vendor you use or because you bought a certain kind of hardware that ended up having a vulnerability. These attacks are ones of convenience not of malice as is often misconstrued.

    Even if it can be recovered from, why take the chance? Having a partner like Valley Techlogic to make sure vulnerabilities like the ones in this article are patched as soon as a fix is available means you will never be part of the eye-opening statistic about businesses who suffer a major breach. If you’re not aware, 60% of businesses close after a cyberattack. Don’t let that be you, reach out for a free consultation with us today.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.

  • In the aftermath of the MGM cyberattack, five class action lawsuits have already been filed

    In the aftermath of the MGM cyberattack, five class action lawsuits have already been filed

    MGM Resorts are a staple on the Las Vegas strip, operating more than two dozen hotels and casinos around the world with nine of them being found in Las Vegas itself. You may have heard of the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, and the Luxor? These are all MGM properties that host millions of visitors each year.

    Now some of those same visitors are wondering if the chain gambled with their private data. It was reported on September 11th that MGM was facing some kind of “cybersecurity issue” that trickled down to their facilities, with customers facing problems using the digital keys to their hotel rooms to slot machines not functioning as intended.

    Guests were left spending hours waiting to check in as the hotels shifted away from digital entry back to manual keys to get guests into the rooms they’d already paid for. It reportedly took 10 days for things to resume normal operations with some problems still occurring here or there.

    It’s now being reported that the cause of this hack was a persuasive phone call made by one of the members of a hacker group called “Scattered Spider” which has since claimed ownership of this attack. In a strange turn of events this group does not prioritize technology-based attacks such as malware or phishing but instead mostly engages in “Vishing”.

    “Vishing” or voice phishing is when someone calls you pretending to be someone else, they usually are purporting to be from a company you might do business with financially – such as your credit card company or banking institution.

    With number spoofing this type of attack can be very effective, and as the MGM attack shows even a massive organization is not necessarily immune from an attack if the bad actors is using the right attack vector for the job. That’s why it’s important to have several safeguards in place when it comes to protecting your systems and data.

    It’s alleged that a member of the Scattered Spider group found an MGM employee’s information on LinkedIn and was able to convince a member of their help desk to give them all the access they needed to perform the attack. Someone close to the group has said the original plan was to hack their slot machines but when that plan failed, they moved to plan B which was holding MGM’s data hostage for a payment in Crypto.

    Even though they’re now back to normal operations, MGM is not out of the woods yet. Five class action lawsuits have been filed with customers claiming the chain risked their personal identifiable information (PII) by falling for this attack. Two were filed against MGM directly, and three against their partner company Caesars Entertainment. We have talked about the legal ramifications. of cyber attacks before and it’s something companies should definitely be aware of, the insult of being hacked may not end just with the loss of data or systems being damaged – there may be legal consequences as well.

    Over 90% of successful attacks have a human element to them, with this most recent attack on MGM included in that figure. Cyber security training can go a long way in preventing cyber threats to your business, but vishing may still catch you or your employees off guard. You may be wondering how someone on the phone could possibly be so convincing that you give them access to your systems or financial accounts. We made a chart on the top 8 steps you need to take to guard against a vishing(voice phishing or)’ smishing (text message phishing) attack on your business.

    Of course, as we mentioned the best defense against cyber attacks in general is a layered approach, that way if one wall is breached an attacker would still have to get through several more to do any damage to your business. That’s where a partnership with Valley Techlogic comes in – we take a layered approach to protecting your backups, protecting your systems, and protecting you and your employees from bad actors. Learn more today through a consultation.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.

  • Threat actors attack on cloud company leads to customers data being wiped completely

    Threat actors attack on cloud company leads to customers data being wiped completely

    Last week a Danish cloud provider called CloudNordic suffered a cyber attack that led to them losing all of their customers data in one fell swoop.

    The hackers who gained access to CloudNordic’s system immediately issued a financial demand that the company was unable and unwilling to meet and led to all of their data being encrypted by the hackers. The company said that no evidence of being hacked was left behind other than the encrypted data.

    This hack also effected their sister company, AzeroCloud, and both companies released identical statements on the ongoing issues they’re facing after this event, you can see the statement below translated to English from Danish.

    In an effort to start over the company has establish a new name and new servers and have offered to restore their clients to servers with the same name as they had previously, though they’ve also included instructions for customers who want to move their domains to new hosts.

    CloudNordic suspects the attack occurred while they were moving data centers, exposing them to already infected systems. As they were mid-migration it allowed the attackers access to their systems and even their own backups.

    CloudNordic states “”The attackers succeeded in encrypting all servers’ disks, as well as on the primary and secondary backup system, whereby all machines crashed and we lost access to all data,”.

    They’ve stated while the data was scrambled during the attack, they don’t believe the attackers copied customers data as is typical with ransomware attacks, so it’s unlikely individual customers will be targeted to be ransomed back their data.

    No known ransomware group has so far taken credit for this attack. The company CloudNordic and their sister company AzeroCloud have both said they plan to try to rebuild from here without access to their previous data.

    At Valley Techlogic, backups are an important puzzle piece when it comes to maintaining the security of your business. For many businesses, a cyber event where all of your data is lost would be difficult to impossible to recover from. Many businesses that suffer attacks like these end up going out of business.

    That’s why we created our triple layer backup plan, TechVault.

    With TechVault you not only have an onsite copy of your data, there’s also a cloud backup and what we call an archival backup.

    This archival backup is what makes this program we’ve created special, as it’s write once read many. Basically, the data can be copied back to you as many times as needed but once it’s on there, it cannot be deleted.

    This, in addition to the 24/7 monitoring we provide as well as firewall, antivirus and other protections means your data is virtually bullet proof.

    If you would like to learn more about what makes Valley Techlogic a cyber security leader in the Central Valley, schedule a consultation with us today.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.

  • Discord.io data breach sees 760,000 users information stolen and an end to the service

    Discord.io data breach sees 760,000 users information stolen and an end to the service

    If you’re not familiar with Discord, it’s a chat service that first opened to the public in 2015 and quickly grew in popularity having a base of 3 million users just one year later in 2016. Now in 2023 there are over 150 million users, and the platform has been valued at $7 billion.

    Discord filled a niche that had been previously left vacant since chat services like AOL and MSN were discontinued. In the early 2000’s to 2010’s forum-based communication rose in popularity and left many chat rooms empty.

    Now as trends have changed, chat has seen a resurgence in popularity with Discord acting as a vector for many special interest groups to gather and discuss their hobbies, or for consumers to follow live updates about a product they’re interested in and even speak directly with its creators and get an inside look into the development process. No matter what your interest is, gaming, home improvement, DIY, art, music – there’s probably a Discord channel dedicated to it.

    Discord.io was a third-party website that allowed users to find and share chat channels, we’re unfortunately saying was because after the breach they announced their services would be closed for the “foreseeable future”.

    On the website it says “”We are still investigating the breach, but we believe that the breach was caused by a vulnerability in our website’s code, which allowed an attacker to gain access to our database. The attacker then proceeded to download the entire database, and put it up for sale on a [third] party site,”. They’ve also listed the information that was released in the breach which included users encrypted passwords, their email and username, and even billing and payment information if they partook in a premium membership through the site.

    While they’re not directly associated with Discord, this breach will still have an effect on Discord itself not just because this service has been discontinued but because of the overlapping data Discord and a Discord-centric third party application will have.

    The unfortunate rub of it is when you utilize third party vendors for the products and services you use you’re sharing the same information with them as you are with everyone else, and a breach through an outside vendor can effect you as much as a breach to your business directly.

    That’s why it’s important to vet your vendors and have protections in place to limit the effects a data breach can have. Protections can include:

    1. If the breach involves financial data that could be used for identity theft, consider freezing your credit. This will limit the damage someone can do with your identifying information. If you’re not ready or aren’t able to freeze your credit, then we suggest credit monitoring at the very least (often provided for free by banking and credit card companies).
    2. Don’t use the same password from one account to another. As we mentioned, password data was leaked in the Discord.io breach. While it’s encrypted data which is a good protection, many of these passwords will be cracked, and the people who purchased this information will try the password on users other accounts such as their email. If you use a different password for all of your accounts in unison with a password manager then a password leaked in a breach will only effect one account, greatly limiting the damage that can be done.
    3. Similarly to above, to protect your accounts from intrusion you SHOULD be using MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication). We recently posted another article outlining the benefits of MFA, but in a nutshell if a hacker has gotten enough information about you from data breaches they may be able to utilize it to gain access to your accounts – even WITHOUT a password. MFA will stop most hackers in their tracks.

    Even with protecting yourself, it’s still a good idea to try to limit the funnel of information about you or your business that can unknowingly end up on the web through third party breaches. Here are 5 additional ways to protect your data:

    Want to learn more about how to recover from a data breach, boost your cyber security readiness, or gain additional insight in the kinds of questions you should be asking your vendors about your data? Valley Techlogic can cover all these topics and more. Schedule a consultation with us today.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.

  • BEC Scams are becoming increasingly more common, and the payouts more lucrative

    BEC Scams are becoming increasingly more common, and the payouts more lucrative

    BEC or Business Email Compromise is a type of phishing scam where the target of the scam receives an email purporting to be someone they know, like a vendor they work with or a colleague. These scams are so common place that the Federal Bureau of Investigation even has a guide to protecting yourself from them.

    We’ve even written before on how to spot a typical BEC email and a few ways to combat it, but we would like to circle back to this topic now as we creep into what is typically a very busy time for most business owners – the fourth quarter.

    You may or may not be surprised to learn that BEC attacks rose in the fourth quarter last year and we’re not anticipating 2023 to be any different. 2022 even saw a rise in the ever popular “as-a-service” variant of attacks which means would be bad actors could enact their attacks with little actual effort on their part.

    The technical know-how required for these attacks is also low, with some of them being as simple as just a variant on your normal phishing scheme but with the end goal being a direct payout rather than the user’s credentials or private information.

    CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) even reported on Russian state sponsored bad actors specifically targeting defense contractors using Microsoft 365 with their BEC schemes. Imitating Microsoft support is not a new scam, and like always you should be wary about any support person reaching out to you directly asking for your credentials, but the single-minded focus of this particular scam put government agencies like CISA and the FBI on red alert.

    When we say these scams are becoming more lucrative, we definitely mean it, with it being estimated BEC victims lost 2.74 billion dollars in 2022 which was $300 million more than 2021. Like with most cyber attacks we anticipate they’ll continue to rise.

    So how do you protect yourself from a Business Email Compromise scam in 2023?

    1. Don’t overshare online. BEC is a social engineering scam, so the less information that’s readily available about you on the internet the less able a scammer is to pretend to be someone you know.
    2. Forward emails instead of replying to them. As with normal phishing these scams are perpetrated over email. Forwarding emails forces you to type out the email address (thereby guaranteeing it goes to the right person). BEC attacks usually involve spoofing an email address or simply choosing a domain that’s similar to one you may be use to corresponding but having a slight misspelling or rewording.
    3. In the same vein, check the sender’s email address before responding at all. You may be able to simply block the scammer when you discover they’re trying to imitate someone else by verifying the email address is incorrect.
    4. Secure your own domain against domain spoofing. Many times, the attack is coming from “inside the house”. A very common BEC scam involves one of your employees receiving an email that looks like it’s from you or someone high up in your organization, except it’s not. Registering the domains you use for email will help protect against this very common variety of this scam.
    5. Again, in the same vein as our last tip, use a domain that you’ve registered instead of a free email service. It might be tempting to keep using the Gmail address you’ve always used to avoid paying for a domain and email services, but it greatly increases your risk of a BEC attack being successful. Using a free email service allows attackers to create a new email with your name to then tell those you know you just “got a new email”. It would be very difficult to prove this is false without talking to you directly.

    Many of the defense strategies against a BEC attack involve employee training.  Attackers may not target you directly as the business owner when it’s easier to get to you (and your business) through a weaker link – often employees who don’t have the strategies available to avoid these kinds of scams.

    Luckily, Valley Techlogic provides security training as part of our service packages. Below is a list of some of the training topics we cover for our clients:

    Cyber security training is quick and is one of the easiest and most effective ways to have an overall safer environment for your business. Learn more about Cyber Security Training through Valley Techlogic as well as other the other cyber security services we offer today through a quick consultation.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.