Tag: Brian Krebs

Phone Phish

Voice Phishing Scams Are Getting More Clever by Brian Krebs (krebsonsecurity.com)

Fraudsters can use a variety of open-source and free tools to fake or “spoof” the number displayed as the caller ID, lending legitimacy to phone phishing schemes. Often, just sprinkling in a little foreknowledge of the target’s personal details — SSNs, dates of birth, addresses and other information that can be purchased for a nominal fee from any one of several underground sites that sell such data — adds enough detail to the call to make it seem legitimate.

Vishing is getting more sophisticated.

Voice Phishing Scams Are Getting More Clever by Brian Krebs (krebsonsecurity.com)

Fraudsters can use a variety of open-source and free tools to fake or “spoof” the number displayed as the caller ID, lending legitimacy to phone phishing schemes. Often, just sprinkling in a little foreknowledge of the target’s personal details — SSNs, dates of birth, addresses and other information that can be purchased for a nominal fee from any one of several underground sites that sell such data — adds enough detail to the call to make it seem legitimate.

I’ve also seen some very convincing email phishing in the last few weeks with spoofed email headers. It’s made it challenging for my email spam filter to weed out the fakes. I think the best I can do at this point is to never trust these phone calls or email even if it seems to be coming from legitimate sources. It is best to visit the website of the bank or call the numbers on the back of the card. The risk are too high.

Sunday Paper

Pastor Drew Downs writing about criticism of people protesting about police abuse.

Imagine if a big chunk of the American public responded to the long-term, systemic problem of clergy sex abuse in the Catholic Church with excuses. Saying that priests were justified; they felt threatened or had a rational reason to break the law and destroy another person’s life. Imagine if we argued that we shouldn’t make such a big deal out of the abuse because it makes it harder for priests to do their jobs. #priestlivesmatter. Pastor Drew Downs

Jan Dawson on Apple's decision to remove the 3.5 mm headphone jack. I think he's making the argument that the headphone jack wasn't "good enough" for Apple.

I believe there’s something about products which have strong personal associations — such as smartphones, cars, clothing, and other luxury goods — which makes them stubbornly resistant to low-end disruption. Our use of these products says something about us and using cheaper imitators may not convey the message we want. The job to be done of smartphones and other similar products, then, goes beyond their obvious functions and is another reason why “good enough” isn’t good enough for at least some buyers who can afford to be more discriminating. This continues to be one of many fascinating aspects of the smartphone market which separate it from the rest of the consumer electronics industry and continue to make it such an interesting one to follow. Jan Dawson - Founder and Chief Analyst at Jackdaw

A colleague and I were just discussing this via SMS.

… the fundamental problem with digital ID&V if it is time-consuming and challenging then it significantly detracts from the very convenience digital commerce is supposed to bring. Infosec Island

Are Cable’s Wireless Ambitions Viable? I don't know.

The question is, do Comcast and Charter have a chance in an already competitive and saturated wireless market? Well-respected equity research analysts at New Street Research have looked at this in depth and concluded cable could capture some 10% or more of the wireless market. I see some important hurdles and am a little less optimistic.MARK LOWENSTEIN

Powerful. Please click the link to read more.

Why was it treason when the Dixie Chicks didn’t like George W. Bush, but you can laugh at caricatures of our Commander in Chief, depicted in overalls, eating watermelon in the Oval Office while the First Lady, a woman of infinite class and enviable arms, stands by in a dotted headscarf, like she stepped right off a bottle of syrup, and call it freedom of speech?So, Which Is It? – It's Fine.

What’s the most loving thing you can do?

Each time I’m about to act, the best thing I can do is ask that question: What’s the most loving thing you can do in this situation? I might not always remember, but when I do, it is always a helpful question.Leo Babauta

Brian Krebs on Internet censorship.

… events of the past week have convinced me that one of the fastest-growing censorship threats on the Internet today comes not from nation-states, but from super-empowered individuals who have been quietly building extremely potent cyber weapons with transnational reach.Brian Krebs

Brian Krebs reporting on the Target data breach

A First Look at the Target Intrusion, Malware — Krebs on Security by Brian Krebs

The source close to the Target investigation said that at the time this POS malware was installed in Target’s environment (sometime prior to Nov. 27, 2013), none of the 40-plus commercial antivirus tools used to scan malware at virustotal.com flagged the POS malware (or any related hacking tools that were used in the intrusion) as malicious. “They were customized to avoid detection and for use in specific environments,” the source said.

That source and one other involved in the investigation who also asked not to be named said the POS malware appears to be nearly identical to a piece of code sold on cybercrime forums called BlackPOS, a relatively crude but effective crimeware product. BlackPOS is a specialized piece of malware designed to be installed on POS devices and record all data from credit and debit cards swiped through the infected system.

According the author of BlackPOS — an individual who uses a variety of nicknames, including “Antikiller” — the POS malware is roughly 207 kilobytes in size and is designed to bypass firewall software. The barebones “budget version” of the crimeware costs $1,800, while a more feature-rich “full version” — including options for encrypting stolen data, for example — runs $2,300.