Welcome to 2017! 
Here is to hoping this year will be a fun and prosperous one. I for one am going in to this year with a positive attitude and a smile!
I’ll be doing some speaking this month
I have a webinar on Thursday the 12th at 2pm Eastern, and will be speaking at BSides San Diego on both the 13th and 14th. If you want to hear my melodious voice or meet me in person, I cordially invite you to join me.
Ransomware is targeting HR departments
So, fake job apps are being sent to HR departments in an effort to infect them with ransomware. This is the GoldenEye strain (a Petya variant) that is looking for 1.3 Bitcoins. This appears to come with 2 attachments, a clean .PDF and an Excel file with the payload. If you have trouble, this variant is offering tech support. Isn’t that nice.
Adobe is releasing a Vishing scammers best friend
This is basically being called Photoshop for audio. If you can provide it with about 20 minutes of that persons voice, it can recreate it exactly. That’s bad news for vishing schemes and anything that uses voice recognition for authentication.
Ransomware for good, not evil?
Not sure what to think about this deal. The ransomware unlocks your files for free if you learn a bit about avoiding ransomware in the future. I guess they are thinking they are doing the world a favor, but keep in mind, if you fall under HIPAA, according to the HHS, any infection by ransomware (or any malware) is an incident, and if it affects >500 records, it’s also a breach by default. You can argue out of it, proving the files were already encrypted for example, but nobody needs that kind of trouble.
DFS updated the New York Cyber regulation
Among other things, DFS changed the wording so that they have 72 hours after DETERMINING a breach to notify DFS, as opposed to 72 hours after the incident happened. Given that we usually don’t know that quickly, it was an impossible rule. There are other changes as well, so check it out.
LG helped unbrick the TV
Really, it was pretty simple, but hey, it was nice of them to do it. Maybe the family will be a little more careful what they download in the future.
Watch Facebook for a lot of fake death stories
I’ve seen a metric ton of them flying around. Norman Schwarzkopf and Bob Denver were at least two of them that have been dead for years. Check sources before sharing folks, please?
Microsoft reports that Cerber has been busy
It seems that Cerber attacks have been on the rise over the holidays. Remember to check links before you click on them. Security Awareness Training is still the best defense against this sort of attack, and it’s not expensive. Train your users, PLEASE!
Topps, makers of trading cards, lost a bunch of CC info
Lost data includes names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, credit or debit card numbers, card expiration dates and card verification numbers. There is no reason they should be storing CVVs. I’m hoping there is a fine in order for this.
Erich Kron is the Security Awareness Advocate at KnowBe4, and has over 20 years’ experience in the medical, aerospace manufacturing and defense fields. He is the former security manager for the US Army 2nd Regional Cyber Center-Western Hemisphere.