Author: esimantiras

Anatomy of a Phishing Scam…

Posted on by esimantiras

Anatomy of a Phishing Scam As Told Through Scamming the Scammer

 

image - phishing

source: blog.avast.com. |  image:  pixabay.com

to view all images associated with this blog post, go to Avast.com

Here’s a “scam the scammer” SMS conversation to highlight some of the red flags to look out for the next time your “boss” messages you.

Sometimes it feels like scammers are coming at you from every direction these days. They’re on the phone. They’re on SMS. They’re on social media. Sorting the real from the nonsense can feel like a full time job but, for some people, that “job” turns into fun.

That’s what happened recently when a professional woman in New York City decided to play around a little bit with her “boss,” (spoiler: not her boss) who was making odd requests via text. And while “scam the scammer” situations like this one are often hilarious, they’re also a great way to learn about the methodology that scammers use to trick people into giving them money. 

So let’s take a look at the following “scam the scammer” SMS conversation to highlight some of the red flags to look out for the next time your “boss” messages you. 

1. They set up a situation where you can’t talk to them on the phone.

“Josh” makes it clear up front that he can’t talk on the phone. Obviously there are some situations where this is legitimate — like if he was actually Josh and was actually at a conference — but “Cris,” as an employee, would likely know if her boss was out of office. The scammer is hoping that Cris doesn’t know her boss’ schedule.

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Bill Gates predicts this technology will replace smartphones

Posted on by esimantiras

Bill Gates predicts this technology will replace smartphones

 

source: marca.com/en/lifestyle/us-news  |  image: pixabay.com

 

The company Chaotic Moon is developing an innovative electronic tattoo

Software magnate, investor and philanthropist Bill Gates has become a kind of guru of the new realities that humanity is living and now the co-founder of Microsoft has predicted a new type of technology that, among other things, would replace smartphones.

It is not the first time that Gates dares to make predictions, as he showed when he spoke about a new pandemic that will attack humanity, now the author and lecturer has spoken of an electronic tattoo.

What technology will replace smartphones according to Bill Gates?

The billionaire businessman refers to the electronic tattoos developed by the company Chaotic Moon, a biotechnology-based technique that aims to analyze and collect information from the human body through it.

Among the data that this tattoo will store, there is initially talk of medical and sports information, with which it will be possible to prevent and control diseases, as well as improve physical and sports performance by means of vital signs.

How will the electronic tattoo be placed on people?

Although this electronic tattoo is still in the development phase, it is known that it will be applied temporarily on the skin, with small sensors and trackers that send and receive information through a special ink that conducts electricity.

Gates wants electronic tattoos to replace smartphones

However, the initial implementation of electronic tattoos is not enough for Bill Gates, who wants this futuristic device to become the replacement for today’s smartphones.

Gates’ idea, which has already been seen in several Hollywood movies, is that people can use the electronic tattoo developed by Chaotic Moon to call, send messages or look up an address.

Although it is not yet possible to speak of an approximate time for the electronic tattoo to be available, Gates and his team are looking for a way to use it to become the new device with which people carry out many of the things they do through smartphones.

 

North Korean hackers targeting journalists with novel malware

Posted on by esimantiras

North Korean hackers targeting journalists with novel malware

source: bleepingcomputer.com  |  image: pixabay.com

 

North Korean state-sponsored hackers known as APT37 have been discovered targeting journalists specializing in the DPRK with a novel malware strain.

The malware is distributed through a phishing attack first discovered by NK News, an American news site dedicated to covering news and providing research and analysis about North Korea, using intelligence from within the country.

The APT37 hacking group, aka Ricochet Chollima, is believed to be sponsored by the North Korean government, which sees news reporting as a hostile operation, and attempted to use this attack to access highly-sensitive information and potentially identify journalists’ sources.

After NK News discovered the attack, they contacted the malware experts at Stairwell for further assistance, who took over the technical analysis.

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FBI Warns of BlackCat Ransomware That Breached Over 60 Organizations Worldwide

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FBI Warns of BlackCat Ransomware That Breached Over 60 Organizations Worldwide

 

source: thehackernews.com  |  image: pixabay.com

 

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is sounding the alarm on the BlackCat ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS), which it said victimized at least 60 entities worldwide between as of March 2022 since its emergence last November.

Also called ALPHV and Noberus, the ransomware is notable for being the first-ever malware written in the Rust programming language, which is known to be memory safe and offer improved performance.

“Many of the developers and money launderers for BlackCat/ALPHV are linked to DarkSide/BlackMatter, indicating they have extensive networks and experience with ransomware operations,” the FBI said in an advisory published last week.

The disclosure comes weeks after twin reports from Cisco Talos and Kasperksy uncovered links between BlackCat and BlackMatter ransomware families, including the use of a modified version of a data exfiltration tool dubbed Fendr that’s been previously only observed in BlackMatter-related activity.

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Security tool guarantees privacy in surveillance footage

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Security tool guarantees privacy in surveillance footage

 

source: news.mit.edu  |  image: pixabay.com

 
“Privid” could help officials gather secure public health data or enable transportation departments to monitor the density and flow of pedestrians, without learning personal information about people.

Surveillance cameras have an identity problem, fueled by an inherent tension between utility and privacy. As these powerful little devices have cropped up seemingly everywhere, the use of machine learning tools has automated video content analysis at a massive scale — but with increasing mass surveillance, there are currently no legally enforceable rules to limit privacy invasions. 

Security cameras can do a lot — they’ve become smarter and supremely more competent than their ghosts of grainy pictures past, the ofttimes “hero tool” in crime media. (“See that little blurry blue blob in the right hand corner of that densely populated corner — we got him!”) Now, video surveillance can help health officials measure the fraction of people wearing masks, enable transportation departments to monitor the density and flow of vehicles, bikes, and pedestrians, and provide businesses with a better understanding of shopping behaviors. But why has privacy remained a weak afterthought? 

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Cyber warfare gets real for satellite operators

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Cyber warfare gets real for satellite operators

source: spacenews.com  |  image: pixabay.com

Recent network attacks in Ukraine have been ‘an eye opener for everybody’

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government on March 17 advised satellite operators to put their guard up in the wake of a cyberattack that disrupted internet services in Europe provided by Viasat’s KA-SAT.

“Given the current geopolitical situation, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency requests that all organizations significantly lower their threshold for reporting and sharing indications of malicious cyber activity,” said CISA, an organization within the Department of Homeland Security. 

Following CISA’s advisory, the Satellite Industry Association on March 18 issued a statement of “commitment to cybersecurity best practices” and expressed concern about “evolving attacks by criminals, terrorists, and nation states.”

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DoD IAPM Guide

Posted on by esimantiras

DoD Identity Awareness, Protection, and Management (IAPM) Guide

 

Click the image above to view this amazing guide & resource

 

HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE The Identity Awareness, Protection, and Management (IAPM) Guide is a comprehensive resource to help you protect your privacy and secure your identity data online. The IAPM Guide is divided into chapters detailing key privacy considerations on popular online services, mobile apps, and consumer devices available in the market today. Each section provides you with tools, recommendations, and step-by-step guides to implement settings that maximize your security. The guide is updated periodically. While some of the chapters in the IAPM Guide deal with technical issues, they do not require a technical background to follow. The U.S. Department of Defense creates this guide to provide recommendations for readers to keep their identities private and secure online. Please note the information presented here is subject to change.

A 140-Years-Old Battery Technology Might Change Everything We Know…

Posted on by esimantiras

A 140-Years-Old Battery Technology Might Change Everything We Know About Energy Storage

source: autoevolution.com  |  image: pixabay.com

Li-Ion batteries power everything today, from tiny gadgets to cars and even airplanes. But for all the benefits that Li-Ion batteries bring to the table, there are tons of problems. These range from the costly and difficult to source materials to safety problems and the damage they cause to the environment. Scientists think they found an alternative that could change everything we know about batteries.

The idea comes from a 140-year-old battery technology, known as the metal-air type. The first metal-air batteries were designed in 1878, using atmospheric oxygen as a cathode (electron receiver) and a metal anode (electron giver). The anode can be made out of cheap and abundantly-available metals such as aluminum, zinc, or iron.
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The Birth of Spy Tech: From the ‘Detectifone’ to a Bugged Martini

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The Birth of Spy Tech: From the ‘Detectifone’ to a Bugged Martini

source: wired.com  |  image: pixabay.com

The urge to snoop is as old as time—and by the 1950s, the electronic listening invasion had begun.

 

This is excerpted from The Listeners: A History of Wiretapping in the United States by Brian Hochman published by Harvard University Press.

EAVESDROPPING TECHNOLOGIES OF various sorts have been around for centuries. Prior to the invention of recorded sound, the vast majority of listening devices were extensions of the built environment. Perhaps nodding to the origins of the practice (listening under the eaves of someone else’s home, where rain drops from the roof to the ground), early modern architects designed buildings with structural features that amplified private speech. The Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher devised cone-shaped ventilation ducts for palaces and courts that allowed the curious to overhear conversations. Catherine de’ Medici is said to have installed similar structures in the Louvre to keep tabs on individuals who might have plotted against her. Architectural listening systems weren’t always a product of intentional design. Domes in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and the US Capitol building are inadvertent “whispering galleries” that enable people to hear conversations held on the other side of the room. Archaeologists have discovered acoustical arrangements like these dating back to 3000 BC. Many were used for eavesdropping.

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Could we engineer a vehicle with a nearly limitless power source?

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Could we engineer a vehicle with a nearly limitless power source?

source: interestingengineering.com  |  image: pixabay.com

 

Iron ore company Fortescue had a vision of such a vehicle.

Imagine a mass-transport vehicle with a nearly limitless power source. It would solve almost all transportation-related problems.

But what would it look like and how would it operate? 

First of all, it would need to have a sizeable cargo capacity. Second, it would need to be fast. Lastly, it would need to be highly efficient. That means it would need to be cheap to operate and maintain, otherwise, it would be an impractical option for most.

Iron ore company Fortescue had a vision of such a vehicle in order to significantly cut down the operational cost of their mining business. They imagined a self-charging battery-powered train.

They even came up with an ambitious name for this new vehicle: the Infinity Train. With this, they could ferry iron ore from their mines at a minimal cost.

This Infinity train would run on gravity batteries and Fortescue’s plan is to build railways from their mines to receiving areas below, where the ore can be shipped out to customers.

Can the firm’s vision come true? Will we see a future where infinity vehicles will exist? How will they be engineered and how will they be made to be safe? This video answers all these questions and more.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO AT INTERESTINGENGINEERING.COM