More Hospitals Hit by Growing Wave of Ransomware Attacks
Hospitals in New York and Oregon were targeted on Tuesday by threat actors who crippled systems and forced ambulances with sick patients to be rerouted, in some cases.
Category Archives: COVID-19
How the Pandemic is Reshaping the Bug-Bounty Landscape
Bugcrowd Founder Casey Ellis talks about COVID-19's impact on bug bounty hunters, bug bounty program adoption and more.
Experts Weigh in on E-Commerce Security Amid Snowballing Threats
How a retail sector reeling from COVID-19 can lock down their online systems to prevent fraud during the upcoming holiday shopping spike.
Holiday Shopping Craze, COVID-19 Spur Retail Security Storm
Veracode's Chris Eng discusses the cyber threats facing shoppers who are going online due to the pandemic and the imminent holiday season.
IoT Device Takeovers Surge 100 Percent in 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with an explosion in the number of connected devices, have led to a swelling in IoT infections observed on wireless networks.
COVID-19 Vaccine-Maker Hit with Cyberattack, Data Breach
Dr. Reddy's, the contractor for Russia’s “Sputinik V” COVID-19 vaccine and a major generics producer, has had to close plants and isolate its data centers.
Making a Difference: Global Payments
The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) recently announced the nomination period for the next PCI SSC Board of Advisors. The Board of Advisors represents PCI SSC Participating Organizations worldwide to ensure global industry involvement in the development of PCI Security Standards. As strategic partners, they bring industry, geographical and technical insight to PCI Council plans and projects. In this post, we talk with 2018 - 2020 PCI SSC Board of Advisor Member Stacy Hughes, Chief Information Security Officer, at Global Payments about the role of the PCI SSC Board of Advisors in shaping payment security globally.
Microsoft: Most-Imitated Brand for Phishing Emails
The shift to remote working spurred Microsoft and Amazon to the top of the heap for cybercriminals to use as lures in the third quarter.
Phishing Lures Shift from COVID-19 to Job Opportunities
Fortinet researchers are seeing a pivot in the spear-phishing and phishing lures used by cybercriminals, to entice potential job candidates as businesses open up.
5 things you can do to secure your home office without hiring an expert
You don’t need a degree in cybersecurity or a bottomless budget to do the security basics well – here are five things that will get you on the right track
The post 5 things you can do to secure your home office without hiring an expert appeared first on WeLiveSecurity
Zoom Rolls Out End-to-End Encryption After Setbacks
After backlash over false marketing around its encryption policies, Zoom will finally roll out end-to-end encryption next week.
Securing an Agile and Hybrid Workforce
Guest article by Andrea Babbs, UK General Manager, VIPRE
2020 has forced businesses to revise many of their operations. One significant transition being the shift to a remote working model, for which many were unprepared in terms of equipment, infrastructure and security. As the government now urges people to return to work, we’re already seeing a shift towards a hybrid workforce, with many employees splitting their time between the office and working from home.
As organisations are now reassessing their long-term office strategies, front and centre to that shift needs to be their IT security underpinned by a dependable and flexible cloud infrastructure. Andrea Babbs, UK General Manager, VIPRE, discusses what this new way of working means long-term for an organisation’s IT security infrastructure and how businesses can successfully move from remote working to a secure and agile workforce.
In light of the uncertainty that has plagued most organisations, many are looking to options that can future-proof their business and enable as much continuity as possible in the event of another unforeseen event. The migration of physical servers to the Cloud is therefore a priority, not only to facilitate agile working, but to provide businesses with greater flexibility, scalability and more efficient resources.
COVID-19 accelerated the shift towards Cloud-based services, with more data than ever before now being stored in the Cloud. For those organisations working on Cloud-based applications and drives, the challenges of the daily commute, relocations for jobs and not being able to ‘access the drive’ are in the past for many. Cloud services are moving with the user – every employee can benefit from the same level of security no matter where they are working or which device they are using. However, it’s important to ensure businesses are taking advantage of all the features included in their Cloud subscriptions, and that they’re configured securely for hybrid working.
Cloud-powered email, web and network security will always underline IT security defences, but these are only the first line of defence. Additional layers of security are also required to help the user understand the threat landscape, both external and internal. Particularly when working remotely with limited access to IT support teams, employees must be ready to question, verify the authenticity and interrogate the risk level of potential phishing emails or malicious links.
With increased pressure placed on users to perform their roles faster and achieve greater results than ever before, employees will do what it takes to power through and access the information they need in the easiest and quickest way possible. This is where the cloud has an essential role to play in making this happen, not just for convenience and agility but also to allow users to stay secure – enabling secure access to applications for all devices from any location and the detection and deletion of viruses – before they reach the network.
Email remains the most-used communication tool, even more so when remote working, but it also remains the weakest link in IT security, with 91%of cybercrimes beginning with an email. By implementing innovative tools that prompt employees to double-check emails before they send them, it can help reduce the risk of sharing the wrong information with the wrong individual.
Additional layers of defence such as email checking tools, are removing the barriers which slow the transition to agile working and are helping to secure our new hybrid workforce, regardless of the location they’re working in, or what their job entails.
The risk an individual poses to an organisation can often be the main source of vulnerability in a company’s IT infrastructure. When remote working became essential overnight, businesses faced the challenges of malware spreading from personal devices, employees being distracted and exposing incorrect information and an increase in COVID-related cyber-attacks.
For organisations wanting to evolve into a hybrid work environment, their IT security policies need to reflect the new reality. By re-educating employees about existing products and how to leverage any additional functionality to support their decision making, users can be updated on these cyber risks and understand their responsibilities.
Security awareness training programmes teach users to be alert and more security conscious as part of the overall IT security strategy. In order to fully mitigate IT security risks and for the business to benefit from an educated workforce, both in the short and long term, employees need to change their outdated mindset.
Changing the Approach
The evolution of IT and security over the past 20 years means that working from home is now easily achievable with cloud-based setups, whereas in the not too distant past, it would have been impossible. But the key to a successful and safe agile workforce is to shift the approach of full reliance on IT, to a mindset where everyone is alert, responsible, empowered and educated with regular training, backed up by tools that reinforce a ‘security first’ approach.
IT departments cannot be expected to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals and adapt to new threats on their own. They need their colleagues to work mindfully and responsibly on the front lines of cyber defence, comfortable in the knowledge that everything they do is underpinned by a robust and secure IT security infrastructure, but that the final decision to click the link, send the sensitive information or download the file, lies with them.
As employees prove they can work from home productively, the role of the physical office is no longer necessary. For many companies, it is a sink or swim approach when implementing a hybrid and agile workforce. Introducing and retaining flexibility in operations now will help organisations cope better with any future unprecedented events or crises.
By focusing on getting the basics right and powered by the capabilities of the Cloud, highlighting the importance of layered security and challenging existing mindsets, businesses will be able to shift away from remote workers being the ‘exception,’ to a secure and agile workforce as a whole.
Hackers disguise malware attack as new details on Donald Trump’s COVID-19 illness
The confirmation that US President Donald Trump has been infected by the Coronavirus, and had to spend time this weekend in hospital, has – understandably – made headlines around the world. And there are plenty of people, on both sides of the political divide, who are interested in learning more about his health status. It’s […]… Read More
The post Hackers disguise malware attack as new details on Donald Trump’s COVID-19 illness appeared first on The State of Security.
FBI, CISA warn of spike in vishing attacks
Cybercriminals take aim at teleworkers, setting up malicious duplicates of companies' internal VPN login pages
The post FBI, CISA warn of spike in vishing attacks appeared first on WeLiveSecurity
Countering Cybercrime in the Next Normal
Guest post By Tom Kellermann, Head of Cybersecurity Strategy, VMware Carbon Black
COVID-19 has reshaped the global cyberthreat landscape. While cyberattacks have been on the rise, the surge in frequency and increased threat sophistication is notable. The latest VMware Carbon Black Global Incident Threat Report, Extended Enterprise Under Threat – Global Threat Report series, found cybercriminals have seized the opportunity, taking advantage of the global disruption to conduct nefarious activity.
COVID-19 has Exacerbated pre-existing Cyber Threats
The VMware Carbon Black latest global survey of Incident Response (IR) professionals found that COVID-19 has exacerbated pre-existing cyberthreats. From counter incident response and island hopping to destructive attacks. Remote work then compounds this bringing additional cybersecurity challenges as employees access critical data and applications from their home networks or with personal devices outside of the corporate perimeter. Cybercriminals are also targeting the cloud, which organisations rely on to enable remote work. If you’re a cybercriminal, the pool of people you can trick now is exponentially larger, simply because we are in a global disaster.
As the threat landscape transforms and expands, the underlying methodologies behind the attacks have remained relatively consistent. Attackers have just nuanced their threat strategies. For example, last Christmas, the number one consumer purchase was smart devices, now they’re in homes that have fast become office spaces. Cybercriminals can use those family environments as a launchpad to compromise and conduct attacks on organizations. In other words, attackers are still island hopping – but instead of starting from an organisation’s network and moving along the supply chain, the attack may now originate in home infrastructures.
Next-Generation Cyberattacks require Next-Generation IR
While more than half (53%) of the IR professionals reported encountering or observing an increase in cyberattacks exploiting COVID-19, this isn’t a one-sided battle and there is much security teams can do to fight back.
Next-generation cyberattacks – with adversaries increasingly working to maintain persistence on systems – call for next-generation IR, especially as corporate perimeters across the world breakdown. To this point, here are seven key steps that security teams can take to fight back:
COVID-19 has reshaped the global cyberthreat landscape. While cyberattacks have been on the rise, the surge in frequency and increased threat sophistication is notable. The latest VMware Carbon Black Global Incident Threat Report, Extended Enterprise Under Threat – Global Threat Report series, found cybercriminals have seized the opportunity, taking advantage of the global disruption to conduct nefarious activity.
COVID-19 has Exacerbated pre-existing Cyber Threats
The VMware Carbon Black latest global survey of Incident Response (IR) professionals found that COVID-19 has exacerbated pre-existing cyberthreats. From counter incident response and island hopping to destructive attacks. Remote work then compounds this bringing additional cybersecurity challenges as employees access critical data and applications from their home networks or with personal devices outside of the corporate perimeter. Cybercriminals are also targeting the cloud, which organisations rely on to enable remote work. If you’re a cybercriminal, the pool of people you can trick now is exponentially larger, simply because we are in a global disaster.
As the threat landscape transforms and expands, the underlying methodologies behind the attacks have remained relatively consistent. Attackers have just nuanced their threat strategies. For example, last Christmas, the number one consumer purchase was smart devices, now they’re in homes that have fast become office spaces. Cybercriminals can use those family environments as a launchpad to compromise and conduct attacks on organizations. In other words, attackers are still island hopping – but instead of starting from an organisation’s network and moving along the supply chain, the attack may now originate in home infrastructures.
Next-Generation Cyberattacks require Next-Generation IR
While more than half (53%) of the IR professionals reported encountering or observing an increase in cyberattacks exploiting COVID-19, this isn’t a one-sided battle and there is much security teams can do to fight back.
Next-generation cyberattacks – with adversaries increasingly working to maintain persistence on systems – call for next-generation IR, especially as corporate perimeters across the world breakdown. To this point, here are seven key steps that security teams can take to fight back:
- Gain better visibility into your system’s endpoints: Doing so can empower security teams to be proactive in their IR – rather than merely responding to attacks once they come, they can hunt out prospective threats. This is increasingly important in today’s landscape, with more attackers seeking to linger for long periods on a network and more vulnerable endpoints online via remote access.
- Establish digital distancing practices: People working from home should have two routers, segmenting traffic from work and home devices. They should have a room free of smart devices for holding potentially sensitive conversations. And they should restrict sensitive file sharing across insecure applications, like video conferencing tools.
- Enable real-time updates, policies and configurations across the network: This may include updates to VPNs, audits or fixes to configurations across remote endpoints and other security updates – even when outside the corporate network. It’s important to keep in mind the security architecture when making these changes, otherwise, things get changed without having the proper controls in place to react.
- Enhance collaboration between IT and security teams – and make IT teams more cybersecurity savvy: As noted, 92% of IR professionals agree that a culture of collaboration between IT and security teams will improve enterprise security and response to cyber risks. This is especially true under the added stress of the pandemic. Alignment should also help elevate IT personnel to become experts on their own systems, whether it’s training them to threat hunt on a Windows box or identify anomalous configurations on certain SaaS applications.
- Expand Cyber-Threat Hunting: Threat hunting provides ground truth and context which is essential for defence. Situational awareness is dependent on ground truth which is based in the assumption of breach. One must proactively explore their environment for abnormal activity. The cadence of threat hunting must be increased, and the scope should extend to the information supply chain as well as Senior Executives laptops as they work from home.
- Integrate Security Controls: Integration allows organisations to uniquely see across traditional boundaries/silos providing richer telemetry and allowing for defenders to react seamlessly.
- Remember to communicate: Now more than ever, organizations must motivate IT and SECops to get on the same page and prioritize change management while maintaining clear lines of communication – about new risk factors (application attacks, OS exploitation, smart devices, file-sharing applications, etc.), protocols and security resources.
Securing the COVID-19 ‘New Normal’ of Homeworking
The COVID-19 pandemic has put into motion a scale of remote working never before seen. Our teams are no longer just grouped in different office locations – but working individually from kitchen tables, spare rooms and, for the lucky ones, home offices! It’s therefore inevitable that this level of remote working will reveal security pitfalls for remediation, with improvements that can be carried forward when this period is over.
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| Attackers are taking advantage of heightened anxiety and homeworking |
Tony Pepper, CEO at Egress, provides his insight below, as well as his six tips to improve data security while working from home.
Phishing
It’s sad, but it’s no surprise that phishing attacks have increased due to COVID-19– and businesses need to be prepared. Attackers are taking advantage of an environment of heightened anxiety and disrupted work settings to trick people into making mistakes, and they’re unlikely to stop until at least the main wave of the pandemic has passed.
Research shows that phishing is a major security issue under normal circumstances. Egress’ recent Insider Data Breach survey found that 41% of employees who had accidentally leaked data had done so because of a phishing email. More worryingly due to their level of access to data and systems, senior personnel are typically the most likely group to fall victim to phishing attacks, with 61% of directors saying that they’d caused a breach in this way.
And education and training can only go so far. Of course, we must continue to encourage employees to be vigilant to suspicious emails and to do things like hovering over links before clicking on them. We also need to reduce blame culture and free up employees to report genuine mistakes without fear.
But this can only go so far. People will always make mistakes. The good news is that advanced technology like contextual machine learning can remediate the targeted attacks, like conversation hijacking, that usually do the most damage to businesses.
Productivity and Security
Even in our tech-savvy world, there are still organisations that don’t have VPN access set up or enough laptops, mobile devices or processes to enable home working. But while IT teams try to quickly sort this situation out, we’re seeing employees finding workarounds, for example by sharing files using FTP sites or sending data to personal devices to work on.
We talk a lot about ‘human layer security’ technologies, which find the right balance between productivity and security. Right now, as well as looking at technologies to help securely move meetings, events and other activities online, businesses should also check that usually easy routine tasks can still be carried out safely – such as sharing large files or sending sensitive data via email. In particular, technologies like contextual machine learning and AI can identify what typically ‘good’ security behaviour looks like for individual users and then prevent abnormal behaviours that put data at risk.
For example, with people working on smaller screens and via mobile devices, it’s more likely they might attach the wrong document to an email or include a wrong recipient. Contextual machine learning can spot when incidents like this are about to happen and correct the user’s behaviour to prevent a breach before it happens.
Human Error
People are the new perimeter when it comes to data security – their decisions and behaviours can put data at risk every day, especially at a time of global heightened anxiety.
We know from our 2020 Insider Data Breach Survey that over half of employees don’t think their organisation has sole ownership over company data – instead believing that it is in-part or entirely owned by the individuals and teams who created it. And we also know that people are more likely to take risks with data they feel belongs to them than data they believe belongs to someone else. When they don’t have access to the right tools and technology to work securely – or they think the tools they do have will slow them down, especially at a time when the need for productivity is at its highest – they’re more likely to cut corners.
Maintaining good security practices is essential – and the good news is there are technologies on the market that can help ensure the right level of security is applied to sensitive data without blocking productivity.
Six Tips to improve Data Security while Working from Home
We can all agree that times are incredibly tough right now. For security professionals looking to mitigate some of the risks, here are six practical tips are taken from the conversations we’re having with other organisations right now:
Phishing
It’s sad, but it’s no surprise that phishing attacks have increased due to COVID-19– and businesses need to be prepared. Attackers are taking advantage of an environment of heightened anxiety and disrupted work settings to trick people into making mistakes, and they’re unlikely to stop until at least the main wave of the pandemic has passed.
Research shows that phishing is a major security issue under normal circumstances. Egress’ recent Insider Data Breach survey found that 41% of employees who had accidentally leaked data had done so because of a phishing email. More worryingly due to their level of access to data and systems, senior personnel are typically the most likely group to fall victim to phishing attacks, with 61% of directors saying that they’d caused a breach in this way.
And education and training can only go so far. Of course, we must continue to encourage employees to be vigilant to suspicious emails and to do things like hovering over links before clicking on them. We also need to reduce blame culture and free up employees to report genuine mistakes without fear.
But this can only go so far. People will always make mistakes. The good news is that advanced technology like contextual machine learning can remediate the targeted attacks, like conversation hijacking, that usually do the most damage to businesses.
Productivity and Security
Even in our tech-savvy world, there are still organisations that don’t have VPN access set up or enough laptops, mobile devices or processes to enable home working. But while IT teams try to quickly sort this situation out, we’re seeing employees finding workarounds, for example by sharing files using FTP sites or sending data to personal devices to work on.
We talk a lot about ‘human layer security’ technologies, which find the right balance between productivity and security. Right now, as well as looking at technologies to help securely move meetings, events and other activities online, businesses should also check that usually easy routine tasks can still be carried out safely – such as sharing large files or sending sensitive data via email. In particular, technologies like contextual machine learning and AI can identify what typically ‘good’ security behaviour looks like for individual users and then prevent abnormal behaviours that put data at risk.
For example, with people working on smaller screens and via mobile devices, it’s more likely they might attach the wrong document to an email or include a wrong recipient. Contextual machine learning can spot when incidents like this are about to happen and correct the user’s behaviour to prevent a breach before it happens.
Human Error
People are the new perimeter when it comes to data security – their decisions and behaviours can put data at risk every day, especially at a time of global heightened anxiety.
We know from our 2020 Insider Data Breach Survey that over half of employees don’t think their organisation has sole ownership over company data – instead believing that it is in-part or entirely owned by the individuals and teams who created it. And we also know that people are more likely to take risks with data they feel belongs to them than data they believe belongs to someone else. When they don’t have access to the right tools and technology to work securely – or they think the tools they do have will slow them down, especially at a time when the need for productivity is at its highest – they’re more likely to cut corners.
Maintaining good security practices is essential – and the good news is there are technologies on the market that can help ensure the right level of security is applied to sensitive data without blocking productivity.
Six Tips to improve Data Security while Working from Home
We can all agree that times are incredibly tough right now. For security professionals looking to mitigate some of the risks, here are six practical tips are taken from the conversations we’re having with other organisations right now:
- Look for security software that doesn’t hamper productivity. It’s generally the aim of the game anyway – but right now, employees are feeling increased pressure to prove their productivity. If you’re finding yourself selecting new solutions, it’s never been more crucial to select technologies that don’t add difficult extra steps for them or anyone they’re working with outside the organisation.
- Choose collaboration/productivity solutions that have security baked into them. The other side to the coin of the point above, really: when choosing any new solution to implement at this time, make sure that security measures are part of a product’s standard design, and not an after-thought.
- Automate security wherever possible. If it’s possible, take decisions out of end users’ hands to ensure the security of sensitive information in line with policy, reducing the risk of someone accidentally or intentionally not using security software.
- Engage employees over security best practices. Phishing is a good example of this. Some inbound risks will evade the filters on your network boundary and end up in users’ mailboxes. Effort to proactively engage employees through e-learning and other educational measures can help them to know what to do with emails they think are suspicious (for example, hovering over links before clicking on them).
- Look to AI and machine learning to help solve advanced risks. Use cases like conversation hijacking, misdirected emails or people attaching the wrong files to documents can now be mitigated by intelligent technology like contextual machine learning, which determines what “good security behaviour” looks like for each individual, and alerts them and administrators to abnormal incidents – effectively stopping breaches before they happen.
- Implement no-fault reporting. People often don’t report security incidents because they’re concerned about the repercussions. Where it’s appropriate to do so, implement no-fault reporting to encourage individuals to report incidents in a timely manner, so you can focus on remediating the problem as quickly as possible.
How to Keep Remote Learning Pod Students Safe Online
The upheaval of 2020 has forced us all to reimagine familiar pathways, and parents are no exception. Cautious about sending their kids back into the classroom, families across the country are banding together to form remote “learning pods.”
Learning pods are small groups of families with like-aged children that agree to educate their kids together. Parents also refer to learning pods as micro-schools, pandemic pods, and bubbles. According to parents, a pod environment will allow students to learn in a structured setting and safely connect with peers, which will also be a boost to their mental health following months of isolation.
According to media reports, each pod’s structure is different and designed to echo the unique distance learning challenges of each family. In some pods, parents will determine the curriculum. In others, a teacher or tutor will. As well, parents have set some pods up so they can take turns teaching and working. Some will have a cost attached to cover teacher fees and materials. Working parents are also creating “nanny share” pods for pre-school aged children.
Social Networking
Facebook is the place to connect for families seeking pod learning options. There are now dozens of private Facebook “pod” groups that enable parents to connect with one another and with teachers who have also opted out of returning to the classroom.
While parents may structure pods differently, each will need to adopt standard digital security practices to protect students and teachers who may share online resources. If pod learning is in your family’s future, here are a few safeguards to discuss before the pod-based school year begins.
To keep the family discussion about online safety fun, here are 6 Flashcard Tips from MBot to print out and discuss with your kids.
Digital Safety & Learning Pods
Be on the lookout for malware. Malware attempts, since COVID, continue to rise. Pod learners may use email, web-based collaboration tools, and outside home networks more, which can expose them to malware risks. Advise kids never to click unsolicited links contained in emails, texts, direct messages, or pop-up screens. Even if they know the sender, coach them to scrutinize the email or text. To help protect your child’s devices against malware, phishing attacks, and other threats while pod learning, consider updating your security solutions across all devices.
Use strong passwords. Back-to-school is a great time to review what makes a strong password. Opt for two-factor authentication to add another layer of protection between you and a potential attacker.
Consider a VPN. Your home network may be safe, but you can’t assume other families follow the same protocols. Cover your bases with a VPN. A virtual private network (VPN) is a private network your child can log onto safely from any location.
Filter and track digital activity. One digital safeguard schools usually have that a home environment may not, are firewalls. Schools erect firewalls to keep kids from accessing social networks and gaming sites during school hours. For this reason, families opting for pod learning might consider parental controls. Parental controls allow families to filter or block web content, log daily web activity, set time limits, and track location.
Learning pods are still taking shape at the grassroots level, and there are still a lot of unknowns. Still, one thing is clear: Remote education options also carry an inherent responsibility to keep students safe and secure while learning online.
(Download some fun, free content for kids. Here are 6 online safety flashcard tips from MBot. Just print out and discuss with your kids).
The post How to Keep Remote Learning Pod Students Safe Online appeared first on McAfee Blogs.
Ways to Strengthen Your Family’s Digital and Mental Wellbeing
There’s a lot that feels out of control right now. City and school re-openings are in limbo, and life for many still feels upended. But one thing we can control is our efforts to safeguard our family’s digital and mental health.
Both adults and kids use television, tablets, and smartphones more these days for both school and entertainment. According to a study by Axios, children’s screen time during the pandemic is surging by as much 50 to 60 percent putting screen time for children 12 and younger at nearly five hours or more per day. Another study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research indicates people’s mental health has worsened during the Coronavirus.
Priority: Family Wellbeing
It’s clear this season has impacted all ages in myriad ways and put the spotlight on the importance of digital and mental health. Here are some resources and tips to help strengthen both.
Keep structure in-tact. Experts agree that establishing a daily structure is the best way to keep family life as healthy as possible right now. Scheduling set times for learning, chores, exercise, mealtimes, screen time, and connecting with peers in online hangouts, is essential. Safe Online: Establishing structure may be easier with software that also helps limit screen time, monitor activity, and filter apps and websites.
Clarify the news. Kids pick up on everything, both true and untrue. They often collect bits and pieces of “news” from TV, overhearing adults, or fragments of stories from peers, all of which can increase anxiety. Safe Online: Parents can help ease the fear caused by misinformation by (age-appropriately) updating children with facts on current events and helping them understand the context of what they see online or on television.
Encourage connection. Social distancing does not mean social isolation. If your child seems lonely or isolated, help pull them back into the mix. If they can’t meet in a safe, socially-distanced setting with friends face-to-face, allow extra time on Messenger Rooms or Zoom to group chat with peers or relatives. Safe Online: Keep kids safe by using privacy settings in video apps and always supervise young children.
Keep device use in check. Yes, we’re all on devices more, but that doesn’t greenlight a device-free for all. Balance (pandemic or not) is always the aim of managing digital and mental health. Consider putting away devices during mealtime, before bedtime, and even challenge each other to go phone and screen-free one full day a week. Safe Online: Check your phone usage stats on your devices daily or use software to track it for you.
Get moving. Squeezing in even 15-30 minutes of exercise a day alters our biochemical and hormonal balance and reduces mood swings, fatigue, anxiety, and feelings of hopelessness. Safe Online: If you use mobile fitness apps, maximize your privacy settings, read app terms to understand how the app tracks your health data.
Parent self-care. “You can’t pour from an empty cup,” is a simple but powerful sentiment these days. Unplugging, turning off the news, and resting or meditating can turn a stressful day around. Safe Online: Minimize scrolling mindlessly online or engaging in online conflict. Modeling balanced digital habits is self-care and is a powerful way to help your child do the same.
Family Resources Online
Consider online resources. To meet the demand of families at home, most insurance plans now offer online counseling. Also, surprisingly, Instagram is becoming a mental health hub. As worry continues around finances, job loss, health, and the impact of isolation, meeting with a counselor or therapist 1-1 online may be an easy, useful solution. To get started, do a hashtag search for #FamilyCounseling #Marriage #Counselling #Therapy #Stress #Anxiety or a profile search with the same keywords. Safe Online: Vet online counselors and therapists to make sure they are licensed and not part of an online scam.
MHA resources. Mental Health America has compiled an impressive range of resources and information for people in need of services such as domestic and child abuse, drug and alcohol issues, financial issues, suicide, depression, and LGBTQ issues. The site houses endless blogs and on-demand webinars specific to Coronavirus and family mental health issues.
As this season of uncertainty continues, it’s important to remember you are not alone. Everyone is feeling all the feelings, and no one has things like structure and balance mastered. But, we’re all getting wiser each day simply by committing to protecting the things that matter most.
The post Ways to Strengthen Your Family’s Digital and Mental Wellbeing appeared first on McAfee Blogs.
Returning to the Workplace and the Ongoing Threat of Phishing Attacks
Guest post by Richard Hahn, Consulting Manager, Sungard Availability Services
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), approximately 14.2 million people (44% of the total number of working adults) have worked from home during the coronavirus pandemic. To put these figures into perspective, this number stood at around 1.7 million in 2019, representing just 5% of the total working population.
While these statistics are unsurprising, it’s clear that the paradigm of working from home every day was sudden and significant. Few businesses can claim to have anticipated such a scenario, nor to have had the business continuity planning capabilities to contend with its consequences. For example, one of the biggest cybersecurity trends to have emerged in recent weeks is a surge in phishing attacks targeting remote workers.
As will be described in this article, phishing thrives on isolation, uncertainty and periods of change, which have all been common characteristics of the working world recently. Accordingly, Google has reported a 350% cent increase in phishing attacks from January to March of this year.
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), approximately 14.2 million people (44% of the total number of working adults) have worked from home during the coronavirus pandemic. To put these figures into perspective, this number stood at around 1.7 million in 2019, representing just 5% of the total working population.
While these statistics are unsurprising, it’s clear that the paradigm of working from home every day was sudden and significant. Few businesses can claim to have anticipated such a scenario, nor to have had the business continuity planning capabilities to contend with its consequences. For example, one of the biggest cybersecurity trends to have emerged in recent weeks is a surge in phishing attacks targeting remote workers.
As will be described in this article, phishing thrives on isolation, uncertainty and periods of change, which have all been common characteristics of the working world recently. Accordingly, Google has reported a 350% cent increase in phishing attacks from January to March of this year.
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| Education is the First Line of Defence against Phishing Attacks |
Now that organisations are beginning to transition back to former work settings, social distancing will mean that change and uncertainty will continue to be a significant factor. During this time, it is imperative that all workers are aware not only of how phishing attacks work, but also the impact that it can have on an organisation’s reputation, it’s the bottom line, and, crucially, the continuity of the business overall. Here are some key pieces of advice for staying secure under these circumstances.
1. Phishing Attacks are Socially Engineered
The anatomy of an effective phishing attack is rooted more in social engineering than technology. Phishing messages try to trick individuals into taking an action, such as clicking on a link or providing personal information, by offering scenarios of financial gains or ramifications, or the potential of work disruption or playing into a personal panic.
However, phishing messages typically have tell-tale signs that can – and should – give users pause. Attempts to obfuscate the sender, poor spelling and grammar, and malicious attachments are a few of the classic signs that the message is not genuine.
Phishing attack messages that have the highest response rates are often related to time-bound events, such as open enrolment periods or satisfaction surveys. Some other common phishing message themes include unpaid invoices, confirming personal information and problems with logins.
Before acting, think about what is being asked. For example, phishing attacks may take advantage of the fact that many workers are currently anticipating updates from their employers about returning to the workplace. The email may ask users to log in to a new system designed to allocate socially distant spaces within the workspace upon their return. This tactic exploits the user’s often unconscious confirmation bias, not only impersonating their employer but also taking advantage of their expectations around returning to work and acknowledgement of social distancing.
At the same time, bad actors will constantly be on the lookout for opportunities to take advantage of the chaos. By paying attention to the signs, looking out for pretexting and emphasising regular training, companies can better fend off future phishing attacks.
Investing time and resources into regularly training and educating staff on information security awareness and current cyber threats is critical in building resilience in the ‘new normal’ of the post-COVID-19 working world. A crippling cyberattack is always just around the corner, but by establishing plans and capabilities that reduce risk and prevent data loss, leakage or offline systems from disrupting business continuity, the chances of survival rise exponentially.
1. Phishing Attacks are Socially Engineered
The anatomy of an effective phishing attack is rooted more in social engineering than technology. Phishing messages try to trick individuals into taking an action, such as clicking on a link or providing personal information, by offering scenarios of financial gains or ramifications, or the potential of work disruption or playing into a personal panic.
However, phishing messages typically have tell-tale signs that can – and should – give users pause. Attempts to obfuscate the sender, poor spelling and grammar, and malicious attachments are a few of the classic signs that the message is not genuine.
Phishing attack messages that have the highest response rates are often related to time-bound events, such as open enrolment periods or satisfaction surveys. Some other common phishing message themes include unpaid invoices, confirming personal information and problems with logins.
Before acting, think about what is being asked. For example, phishing attacks may take advantage of the fact that many workers are currently anticipating updates from their employers about returning to the workplace. The email may ask users to log in to a new system designed to allocate socially distant spaces within the workspace upon their return. This tactic exploits the user’s often unconscious confirmation bias, not only impersonating their employer but also taking advantage of their expectations around returning to work and acknowledgement of social distancing.
If unsure whether it might be a malicious message, encourage staff to ask a colleague or the IT team to analyse the message (including the full Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) information).
2. Attackers Use a Diverse Portfolio of Tactics
Attackers often attempt to impersonate a known person or entity to obtain private information or to carry out an action. This is also known as pretexting and is commonly executed by crafting a fraudulent email or text message to execute an action that is not part of the standard process.
One example is calling the service desk and pretending to be a valid user to get a password reset. Another ruse attackers frequently take advantage of is an out-of-band wire transfer or an invoice payment for a critical vendor. Small companies have traditionally been the targets, but larger companies are increasingly being targeted.
Organisations must understand that pretexting is considered fraud and is often not covered by cyber insurance policies. Therefore, it’s critical that organisations design effective business processes with oversight so there are no single points of approval or execution, and stick to them. While it may be tempting to bypass processes, such as accounts payable or IT procurement, businesses can’t afford to let their guard down – especially when large numbers of workers are logging on remotely as is the case for so many today.
3. Education is the First Line of Defence
Phishing is often discussed within the cybersecurity space, but the conversations typically don’t involve intent and rigour.
The common compliance measure usually involves in-person or virtual annual training, along with some other method of education, such as hanging posters around the workplace. This approach pre-dates highly connected computing environments and doesn’t address the urgency needed for the current threat landscape or pattern of working experienced by so many in 2020.
Organisations must conduct security awareness education with the same decisiveness and gravity that other industries do with safety training. For example, it’s not uncommon for drivers in the commercial trucking and transport sector to take monthly training modules, or for managers to participate in quarterly safety meetings.
Planning for the New Normal
2. Attackers Use a Diverse Portfolio of Tactics
Attackers often attempt to impersonate a known person or entity to obtain private information or to carry out an action. This is also known as pretexting and is commonly executed by crafting a fraudulent email or text message to execute an action that is not part of the standard process.
One example is calling the service desk and pretending to be a valid user to get a password reset. Another ruse attackers frequently take advantage of is an out-of-band wire transfer or an invoice payment for a critical vendor. Small companies have traditionally been the targets, but larger companies are increasingly being targeted.
Organisations must understand that pretexting is considered fraud and is often not covered by cyber insurance policies. Therefore, it’s critical that organisations design effective business processes with oversight so there are no single points of approval or execution, and stick to them. While it may be tempting to bypass processes, such as accounts payable or IT procurement, businesses can’t afford to let their guard down – especially when large numbers of workers are logging on remotely as is the case for so many today.
3. Education is the First Line of Defence
Phishing is often discussed within the cybersecurity space, but the conversations typically don’t involve intent and rigour.
The common compliance measure usually involves in-person or virtual annual training, along with some other method of education, such as hanging posters around the workplace. This approach pre-dates highly connected computing environments and doesn’t address the urgency needed for the current threat landscape or pattern of working experienced by so many in 2020.
Organisations must conduct security awareness education with the same decisiveness and gravity that other industries do with safety training. For example, it’s not uncommon for drivers in the commercial trucking and transport sector to take monthly training modules, or for managers to participate in quarterly safety meetings.
Planning for the New Normal
The main priority for organisations moving forward is to be more proactive about implementing, practising and testing cyber hygiene from the ground up. There’s much more in the way of fundamental change on the horizon which opens organisations up to a diverse and complex threat landscape.
At the same time, bad actors will constantly be on the lookout for opportunities to take advantage of the chaos. By paying attention to the signs, looking out for pretexting and emphasising regular training, companies can better fend off future phishing attacks.
Investing time and resources into regularly training and educating staff on information security awareness and current cyber threats is critical in building resilience in the ‘new normal’ of the post-COVID-19 working world. A crippling cyberattack is always just around the corner, but by establishing plans and capabilities that reduce risk and prevent data loss, leakage or offline systems from disrupting business continuity, the chances of survival rise exponentially.
Mind the Gaps! The Requisite Mindset to Stay Ahead of Cybersecurity Threats
Guest Post by Matt Cable, VP Solutions Architects & MD Europe, Certes Networks
At the end of 2019, it was reported that the number of unfilled global IT security positions had reached over four million professionals, up from almost three million at the same time the previous year. This included 561,000 in North America and a staggering 2.6 million in APAC. The cybersecurity industry clearly has some gaps to fill.
But it’s not just the number of open positions that presents an issue. Research also shows that nearly half of firms are unable to carry out the basic tasks outlined in the UK government’s Cyber Essentials scheme, such as setting up firewalls, storing data and removing malware. Although this figure has improved since 2018, it is still far too high and is a growing concern.
To compound matters, the disruption of COVID-19 this year has triggered a larger volume of attack vectors, with more employees working from home without sufficient security protocols and cyber attackers willingly using this to their advantage.
Evidentially, ensuring cybersecurity employees and teams have the right skills to keep both their organisations and their data safe, is essential. However, as Matt Cable, VP Solutions Architects & MD Europe, Certes Networks explains, as well as ensuring they have access to the right skills, organisations should also embrace a mindset of continuously identifying - and closing - gaps in their cybersecurity posture to ensure the organisation is as secure as it can be.
Infrastructure security versus infrastructure connectivity
There is a big misconception within cybersecurity teams that all members of the team can mitigate any cyber threat that comes their way. However, in practice, this often isn’t the case. There is repeatedly a lack of clarity between infrastructure security and infrastructure connectivity, with organisations assuming that because a member of the team is skilled in one area, they will automatically be skilled in the other.
What organisations are currently missing is a person, or team, within the company whose sole responsibility is looking at the security posture; not just at a high level, but also taking a deep dive into the infrastructure and identifying gaps, pain points and vulnerabilities. By assessing whether teams are truly focusing their efforts in the right places, tangible, outcomes-driven changes can really be made and organisations can then work towards understanding if they currently do possess the right skills to address the challenges.
This task should be a group effort: the entire IT and security team should be encouraged to look at the current situation and really analyse how secure the organisation truly is. Where is the majority of the team’s time being devoted? How could certain aspects of cybersecurity be better understood? Is the current team able to carry out penetration testing or patch management? Or, as an alternative to hiring a new member of the team, the CISO could consider sourcing a security partner who can provide these services, recognising that the skill sets cannot be developed within the organisation itself, and instead utilising external expertise.
It’s not what you know, it’s what you don’t know
The pace of change in cybersecurity means that organisations must accept they will not always be positioned to combat every single attack. Whilst on one day an organisation might consider its network to be secure, a new ransomware attack or the introduction of a new man-in-the-middle threat could quickly highlight a previously unknown vulnerability. Quite often, an organisation will not have known that it had vulnerabilities until it was too late.
By understanding that there will always be a new gap to fill and continuously assessing if the team has the right skills - either in-house or outsourced - to combat it, organisations can become much better prepared. If a CISO simply accepts the current secure state of its security posture as static and untouchable, the organisation will open itself up as a target of many forms of new attack vectors. Instead, accepting that cybersecurity is constantly changing and therefore questioning and testing each component of the security architecture on a regular basis means that security teams - with the help of security partners - will never be caught off guard.
Maintaining the right cybersecurity posture requires not just the right skills, but a mindset of constant innovation and assessment. Now, more than ever, organisations need to stay vigilant and identify the gaps that could cause devastating repercussions if left unfilled.
At the end of 2019, it was reported that the number of unfilled global IT security positions had reached over four million professionals, up from almost three million at the same time the previous year. This included 561,000 in North America and a staggering 2.6 million in APAC. The cybersecurity industry clearly has some gaps to fill.
But it’s not just the number of open positions that presents an issue. Research also shows that nearly half of firms are unable to carry out the basic tasks outlined in the UK government’s Cyber Essentials scheme, such as setting up firewalls, storing data and removing malware. Although this figure has improved since 2018, it is still far too high and is a growing concern.
To compound matters, the disruption of COVID-19 this year has triggered a larger volume of attack vectors, with more employees working from home without sufficient security protocols and cyber attackers willingly using this to their advantage.
Evidentially, ensuring cybersecurity employees and teams have the right skills to keep both their organisations and their data safe, is essential. However, as Matt Cable, VP Solutions Architects & MD Europe, Certes Networks explains, as well as ensuring they have access to the right skills, organisations should also embrace a mindset of continuously identifying - and closing - gaps in their cybersecurity posture to ensure the organisation is as secure as it can be.
Infrastructure security versus infrastructure connectivity
There is a big misconception within cybersecurity teams that all members of the team can mitigate any cyber threat that comes their way. However, in practice, this often isn’t the case. There is repeatedly a lack of clarity between infrastructure security and infrastructure connectivity, with organisations assuming that because a member of the team is skilled in one area, they will automatically be skilled in the other.
What organisations are currently missing is a person, or team, within the company whose sole responsibility is looking at the security posture; not just at a high level, but also taking a deep dive into the infrastructure and identifying gaps, pain points and vulnerabilities. By assessing whether teams are truly focusing their efforts in the right places, tangible, outcomes-driven changes can really be made and organisations can then work towards understanding if they currently do possess the right skills to address the challenges.
This task should be a group effort: the entire IT and security team should be encouraged to look at the current situation and really analyse how secure the organisation truly is. Where is the majority of the team’s time being devoted? How could certain aspects of cybersecurity be better understood? Is the current team able to carry out penetration testing or patch management? Or, as an alternative to hiring a new member of the team, the CISO could consider sourcing a security partner who can provide these services, recognising that the skill sets cannot be developed within the organisation itself, and instead utilising external expertise.
It’s not what you know, it’s what you don’t know
The pace of change in cybersecurity means that organisations must accept they will not always be positioned to combat every single attack. Whilst on one day an organisation might consider its network to be secure, a new ransomware attack or the introduction of a new man-in-the-middle threat could quickly highlight a previously unknown vulnerability. Quite often, an organisation will not have known that it had vulnerabilities until it was too late.
By understanding that there will always be a new gap to fill and continuously assessing if the team has the right skills - either in-house or outsourced - to combat it, organisations can become much better prepared. If a CISO simply accepts the current secure state of its security posture as static and untouchable, the organisation will open itself up as a target of many forms of new attack vectors. Instead, accepting that cybersecurity is constantly changing and therefore questioning and testing each component of the security architecture on a regular basis means that security teams - with the help of security partners - will never be caught off guard.
Maintaining the right cybersecurity posture requires not just the right skills, but a mindset of constant innovation and assessment. Now, more than ever, organisations need to stay vigilant and identify the gaps that could cause devastating repercussions if left unfilled.
How to Embed a Positive Security Culture in the COVID-19 Remote Working ‘New Normal’
Guest Post by the information security experts at Security Risk Management Ltd
If promoting a positive company-wide security culture had been a challenge before the Covid-19 pandemic, that challenge has just become a whole lot more difficult. That is because the widespread move to remote working has added another layer of vulnerability. It is not simply a question of sharing office systems across a range of settings and the fact that some are using home computers (frequently shared with personal accounts); instead, it is that individuals are now one step removed from the reach of those responsible for in-house information security, usually the Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs), and the organisation’s security protocols.
This fact has not been wasted on ever-opportunistic hackers
This fact has not been wasted on ever-opportunistic hackers
Email phishing attacks target individuals, often persuading them to check or type passwords on malicious domains that appear to be legitimate. Researchers have found a 600 per cent increase in the number of phishing emails worldwide this year, frequently using Coronavirus-related themes to target individuals and businesses. These are not always easy to spot, including email headings like ‘revised vacation and sick time policy’ or ‘important message from HR’. It is easy to see how a lone worker could fall into the trap.
The sharp rise in this type of attack reflects what hackers already know: that the human element of an organisation’s security is the weakest link. Of course, best practice network security relies on a number of elements but perhaps the hardest to establish is a positive security culture. CISOs have, however, struggled with this, even before the Covid-19 pandemic changed business practices. A survey of CISOs by ClubCISO reported that 49 per cent felt that organisational culture was already a block to them achieving their security objectives.
In a world where remote working has become the ‘new normal’, effectively engaging individuals is more important than ever. Understanding protocols and providing easy-to-understand training and awareness are crucial for every single user of a network system and this needs to be prioritised in the current climate. But it is equally important that employees feel able to report suspicious activity quickly and in full without fearing blame or repercussions. Without this element of positive security culture, the security policy could fail because employees will be reluctant to highlight suspicious activity, with potentially devastating consequences.
Effective Information Security Management
In the traditional setup, the CISO or ISM would be responsible for network security. Based on an office, they manage the protocols and policies for everything from regulatory and legal compliance to staff training and breach notification. Yet, with little time for preparation, many will be challenged, perhaps lacking the immediate knowledge or experience of how to translate these to the complexities of employees working from home offices.
This is not necessarily bad news but presents an opportunity for positive change. Now we are becoming used to the fact that employees no longer need to be office-based, we can take a step back and ask if the CISO actually needs to be resident within the bricks and mortar of an organisation? Would an outsourced (or virtual) CISO model not be equally well suited – if not better suited - to the ‘new normal’ of remote working?
Virtual CISOs are highly skilled professional teams, drawing on a wealth of experience, working with organisations to meet all the requirements of the CISO function. Individually assigned team members work remotely with an organisation, overseeing network security at all levels; from board-level engagement and compliance to effectively embedding a company-wide positive security culture.
It is also worth noting that they can be used for as much or as little as required, simply advising the resident CISO on strategy or developing and implementing the whole policy. Yet this best-practice alternative does not cost the earth. In fact, it is likely to cost significantly less than the traditional model, while delivering a service which is ideally suited to remote working.
The sharp rise in this type of attack reflects what hackers already know: that the human element of an organisation’s security is the weakest link. Of course, best practice network security relies on a number of elements but perhaps the hardest to establish is a positive security culture. CISOs have, however, struggled with this, even before the Covid-19 pandemic changed business practices. A survey of CISOs by ClubCISO reported that 49 per cent felt that organisational culture was already a block to them achieving their security objectives.
In a world where remote working has become the ‘new normal’, effectively engaging individuals is more important than ever. Understanding protocols and providing easy-to-understand training and awareness are crucial for every single user of a network system and this needs to be prioritised in the current climate. But it is equally important that employees feel able to report suspicious activity quickly and in full without fearing blame or repercussions. Without this element of positive security culture, the security policy could fail because employees will be reluctant to highlight suspicious activity, with potentially devastating consequences.
Effective Information Security Management
In the traditional setup, the CISO or ISM would be responsible for network security. Based on an office, they manage the protocols and policies for everything from regulatory and legal compliance to staff training and breach notification. Yet, with little time for preparation, many will be challenged, perhaps lacking the immediate knowledge or experience of how to translate these to the complexities of employees working from home offices.
This is not necessarily bad news but presents an opportunity for positive change. Now we are becoming used to the fact that employees no longer need to be office-based, we can take a step back and ask if the CISO actually needs to be resident within the bricks and mortar of an organisation? Would an outsourced (or virtual) CISO model not be equally well suited – if not better suited - to the ‘new normal’ of remote working?
Virtual CISOs are highly skilled professional teams, drawing on a wealth of experience, working with organisations to meet all the requirements of the CISO function. Individually assigned team members work remotely with an organisation, overseeing network security at all levels; from board-level engagement and compliance to effectively embedding a company-wide positive security culture.
It is also worth noting that they can be used for as much or as little as required, simply advising the resident CISO on strategy or developing and implementing the whole policy. Yet this best-practice alternative does not cost the earth. In fact, it is likely to cost significantly less than the traditional model, while delivering a service which is ideally suited to remote working.
How to Keep Your Video Conferencing Meetings Secure
Guest Post by By Tom Kellermann (Head Cybersecurity Strategist, VMware Carbon Black)
The sudden and dramatic shift to a mobile workforce has thrust video conferencing into the global spotlight and evolved video conferencing vendors from enterprise communication tools to critical infrastructure.
During any major (and rapid) technology adoption, cyberattackers habitually follow the masses in hopes of launching an attack that could lead to a pay day or give them a competitive advantage. This has not been lost on global organisations’ security and IT teams, who are quickly working to make sure their employees’ privacy and data remains secure.
Here are some high-level tips to help keep video conferencing secure.
Update the Application
Video conferencing providers are regularly deploying software updates to ensure that security holes are mitigated. Take advantage of their diligence and update the app prior to using it every time.
Lock meetings down and set a strong password
Make sure that only invited attendees can join a meeting. Using full sentences with special characters included, rather than just words or numbers, can be helpful. Make sure you are not sharing the password widely, especially in public places and never on social media. Waiting room features are critical for privacy as the meeting host can serve as a final triage to make sure only invited participants are attending. Within the meeting, the host can restrict sharing privileges, leading to smoother meetings and ensuring that uninvited guests are not nefariously sharing materials.
Discussing sensitive information
If sensitive material must be discussed, ensure that the meeting name does not suggest it is a top-secret meeting, which would make it a more attractive target for potential eavesdroppers. Using code words to depict business topics is recommended during the cyber crime wave we are experiencing.
Restrict the sharing of sensitive files to approved file-share technologies, not as part of the meeting itself
Using an employee sharing site that only employees have access to (and has multi-factor authentication in place) is a great way to make sure sensitive files touch the right eyes only. This should be mandated as this is a huge Achilles heel.
Use a VPN to protect network traffic while using the platform
With so many employees working remotely, using a virtual private network (VPN) can help better secure internet connections and keep private information private via encryption. Public WiFi can be a gamble as it only takes one malicious actor to cause damage. Do not use public WiFi, especially in airports or train stations. Cyber criminals lurk in those locations.
If you can, utilise two networks on your home WiFi router, one for business and the other for personal use.
Make sure that your work computer is only connected to a unique network in your home. All other personal devices – including your family’s – should not be using the same network. The networks and routers in your home should be updated regularly and, again, should use a complex password. Additionally, you should be the only system administrator on your network and all devices that connect to it.
All of us have a role to play in mitigating the cyber crime wave. Please remember these best practices the next time you connect. Stay safe online
Also related - How Safe are Video Messaging Apps such as Zoom?
The sudden and dramatic shift to a mobile workforce has thrust video conferencing into the global spotlight and evolved video conferencing vendors from enterprise communication tools to critical infrastructure.
During any major (and rapid) technology adoption, cyberattackers habitually follow the masses in hopes of launching an attack that could lead to a pay day or give them a competitive advantage. This has not been lost on global organisations’ security and IT teams, who are quickly working to make sure their employees’ privacy and data remains secure.
Here are some high-level tips to help keep video conferencing secure.
Update the Application
Video conferencing providers are regularly deploying software updates to ensure that security holes are mitigated. Take advantage of their diligence and update the app prior to using it every time.
Lock meetings down and set a strong password
Make sure that only invited attendees can join a meeting. Using full sentences with special characters included, rather than just words or numbers, can be helpful. Make sure you are not sharing the password widely, especially in public places and never on social media. Waiting room features are critical for privacy as the meeting host can serve as a final triage to make sure only invited participants are attending. Within the meeting, the host can restrict sharing privileges, leading to smoother meetings and ensuring that uninvited guests are not nefariously sharing materials.
Discussing sensitive information
If sensitive material must be discussed, ensure that the meeting name does not suggest it is a top-secret meeting, which would make it a more attractive target for potential eavesdroppers. Using code words to depict business topics is recommended during the cyber crime wave we are experiencing.
Restrict the sharing of sensitive files to approved file-share technologies, not as part of the meeting itself
Using an employee sharing site that only employees have access to (and has multi-factor authentication in place) is a great way to make sure sensitive files touch the right eyes only. This should be mandated as this is a huge Achilles heel.
Use a VPN to protect network traffic while using the platform
With so many employees working remotely, using a virtual private network (VPN) can help better secure internet connections and keep private information private via encryption. Public WiFi can be a gamble as it only takes one malicious actor to cause damage. Do not use public WiFi, especially in airports or train stations. Cyber criminals lurk in those locations.
If you can, utilise two networks on your home WiFi router, one for business and the other for personal use.
Make sure that your work computer is only connected to a unique network in your home. All other personal devices – including your family’s – should not be using the same network. The networks and routers in your home should be updated regularly and, again, should use a complex password. Additionally, you should be the only system administrator on your network and all devices that connect to it.
All of us have a role to play in mitigating the cyber crime wave. Please remember these best practices the next time you connect. Stay safe online
Also related - How Safe are Video Messaging Apps such as Zoom?
How Safe are Video Messaging Apps such as Zoom?
I was privileged to be part of The Telegraph Coronavirus Podcast today, where I was asked about the security of video messaging apps.
'How safe are video messaging apps such as Zoom, and what should users bear in mind when using them?'
My reply...
Bharat Mistry, Principal Security Strategist at Trend Micro on Zoom advises “Although not alone in being targeted, Zoom has been the subject of some of the highest-profile incidents so far this year. Fortunately, there are things you can do to keep your business safe.
It’s all about taking advantage of unsecure settings in the app, (and possibly using brute-force tools to crack meeting IDs). With access to a meeting, hackers could harvest highly sensitive and/or market-critical corporate information, or even spread malware via a file transfer feature.
Hackers know users are looking en masse for ways to communicate during government lockdowns. By creating legitimate-looking Zoom links and websites, they could steal financial details, spread malware or harvest Zoom ID numbers, allowing them to infiltrate virtual meetings. One vendor discovered 2,000 new domains had been registered in March alone, over two-thirds of the total for the year so far.
Risk mitigation:
Video messaging apps are an essential communication tool for at home and within businesses, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown period. They are generally safe to use but there are a few security risks which users should be aware of.
Our increased use of video messaging apps has not gone unnoticed by cybercriminals, who are seeking to exploit the increase of use by sending phishing emails, social media scam messages and even scam text messages, with fake invitations to video messaging app meetings.
Typically, these scam messages will entice you into either opening a malicious attachment or click a web link which directs to a malicious website. The ultimate aim of these cyberattacks is to deliver malicious software, such as ransomware which locks your PC and demands a ransom payment to unlock, scam a payment, or steal your personal information which can be resold to other cybercriminals on the dark web.
So, never open an attachment or click on any links within any unexpected or suspicious emails, social media messages and text messages.
The next piece of advice is to ensure your video messaging app is always kept up-to-date. Luckily most modern smartphones and computer operating systems will automatically update your apps, but it is always worth double-checking and not to suppress any app updates from occurring, as often the app updates are fixing security flaws.
And finally, on home computers and laptops, when not using video messaging apps, either cover your webcam with a piece of tape or face your webcam towards a wall or ceiling, just in case your computer is covertly compromised and a malicious actor gains access to your computer's webcam.
Additional
One tip I didn't have time to say on the podcast, is always ensure your video chats are set to private, using a strong password to prevent ZoomBombing. Recent reportshave shown a series of “Zoombombing” incidents lately, where unwanted guests have joined in on open calls.
Our increased use of video messaging apps has not gone unnoticed by cybercriminals, who are seeking to exploit the increase of use by sending phishing emails, social media scam messages and even scam text messages, with fake invitations to video messaging app meetings.
Typically, these scam messages will entice you into either opening a malicious attachment or click a web link which directs to a malicious website. The ultimate aim of these cyberattacks is to deliver malicious software, such as ransomware which locks your PC and demands a ransom payment to unlock, scam a payment, or steal your personal information which can be resold to other cybercriminals on the dark web.
So, never open an attachment or click on any links within any unexpected or suspicious emails, social media messages and text messages.
The next piece of advice is to ensure your video messaging app is always kept up-to-date. Luckily most modern smartphones and computer operating systems will automatically update your apps, but it is always worth double-checking and not to suppress any app updates from occurring, as often the app updates are fixing security flaws.
And finally, on home computers and laptops, when not using video messaging apps, either cover your webcam with a piece of tape or face your webcam towards a wall or ceiling, just in case your computer is covertly compromised and a malicious actor gains access to your computer's webcam.
Additional
One tip I didn't have time to say on the podcast, is always ensure your video chats are set to private, using a strong password to prevent ZoomBombing. Recent reportshave shown a series of “Zoombombing” incidents lately, where unwanted guests have joined in on open calls.
Bharat Mistry, Principal Security Strategist at Trend Micro on Zoom advises “Although not alone in being targeted, Zoom has been the subject of some of the highest-profile incidents so far this year. Fortunately, there are things you can do to keep your business safe.
It’s all about taking advantage of unsecure settings in the app, (and possibly using brute-force tools to crack meeting IDs). With access to a meeting, hackers could harvest highly sensitive and/or market-critical corporate information, or even spread malware via a file transfer feature.
Hackers know users are looking en masse for ways to communicate during government lockdowns. By creating legitimate-looking Zoom links and websites, they could steal financial details, spread malware or harvest Zoom ID numbers, allowing them to infiltrate virtual meetings. One vendor discovered 2,000 new domains had been registered in March alone, over two-thirds of the total for the year so far.
Risk mitigation:
The good news is that there are several things you can do to mitigate the security risks associated with Zoom. The most basic are:
- Ensure Zoom is always on the latest software version
- Build awareness of Zoom phishing scams into user training programmes. Users should only download the Zoom client from a trusted site and check for anything suspicious in the meeting URL when joining a meeting
- Ensure all home workers have anti-malware including phishing detection installed from a reputable vendor
Organisational preparedness:
Next, it’s important to revisit those administrative settings in the app, to reduce the opportunities for hackers and Zoombombers. Fortunately, automatically generated passwords are now switched on by default, and the use of personal meeting IDs are switched off, meaning Zoom will create a random, one-off ID for each meeting. These setting should be kept as is. But organisations can do more, including:
- Ensure you also generate a meeting ID automatically for recurring meetings
- Set screen-sharing to “host only” to prevent uninvited guests from sharing disruptive content
- Don’t share any meeting IDs online
- Disable “file transfers” to mitigate risk of malware
- Make sure that only authenticated users can join meetings
- Lock the meeting once it’s started to prevent anyone new joining
- Use waiting room feature, so the host can only allow attendees from a pre-assigned register
- Play a sound when someone enters or leaves the room
- Allow host to put attendees on hold, temporarily removing them from a meeting if necessary”