Tag Archives: Cybersecurity

CCPA: Everything you need to know about California’s new Privacy law

The law goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2020.

The most sweeping data-privacy law in the country kicks in Jan. 1. The CCPA, short for the California Consumer Privacy Act, gives residents of the Golden State the right to learn what data companies collect about them. It also lets Californians ask companies to delete their data and not to sell it.

The full impact of these new rights isn’t entirely clear because the regulations used to enforce the law are still being finalized. Still, companies inside and outside California are already scrambling to become compliant so that they can continue to do business in the country’s most populous state.

Nearly two years in the making, CCPA has prompted other states to consider their own privacy laws, some of which have already passed. The law is often compared to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, currently the benchmark for online privacy.

Here’s what you need to know about CCPA and how it will affect you.

Is this law a big deal?

Yes. Before it went into effect, companies weren’t legally required to tell you what data they’d collected and you had little say over what they did with it. Now, if you live in California, you’ll be able to ask them to delete it or refrain from selling it.  

What personal data does this cover?

CCPA covers all the stuff you might expect: your name, username, password, phone number and physical address. It also includes information used by companies to track your online behavior, such as IP addresses and device identifiers.

The law also covers information that can be used to characterize you, like race, religion, marital status, sexual orientation and status as a member of the military or veteran. It also covers biometric information like fingerprints or facial recognition data, your browsing history and location information.

Data found in public government documents is excluded, so companies can still learn if you’re married, for example. However, they have to collect that data directly from government records, not from other sources such as your social media accounts.

Can I tell Facebook and Google to get rid of my data now? 

Yes. In fact, some major tech companies, including Facebook and Google, already let you delete some or all of their data about you from their systems.

These tools might not do exactly what you’d expect, though. For example, Facebook has begun rolling out a feature that lets users “disconnect” the data it’s collected about your web browsing, but doesn’t fully delete it. Instead, it disassociates your name and profile from the data, which anonymizes it. Facebook then combines the data with other people’s, allowing it to monitor broader trends. 

CCPA still allows companies to use anonymized data. However, the law sets a high bar for separating your identity from the information, with the aim of stopping someone from re-identifying a person from the data.

What happens if companies don’t follow the law?

Businesses can be fined $2,500 per violation, or $7,500 if the violation is found to be intentional. That could mean big fines if the violations affect large groups of consumers. The California Attorney General is in charge of investigating companies suspected of violating the law.

Critics say companies will be able to get away with breaking the law because the attorney general doesn’t have the resources to catch every violation. Xavier Becera, the AG, has said publicly that his office isn’t equipped to fully enforce the law. He pushed for the passage of an amendment, which failed to pass, that would have let users sue companies directly.

The law gives Californians the right to sue businesses in one specific instance: if their personal information is lost in a data breach caused by a company’s negligence. Legal observers expect this to increase class action lawsuits against companies after they’re hit by hackers.

The law gives Californians the right to sue businesses in one specific instance: if their personal information is lost in a data breach caused by a company’s negligence. Legal observers expect this to increase class action lawsuits against companies after they’re hit by hackers.

Can I still use free services if I ask them not to collect my data?

Yes. The new law says companies can’t turn away users if they opt out of the sale of their data. However, the companies can give you a stripped-down version of their offerings if you go this route.

The point is to prevent companies from charging all users who don’t want their data sold. That would leave users who can’t afford a subscription in the lurch, forcing them to allow the sale of their data so they can use services we’ve all come to rely on to communicate and access information.

If companies want to charge users who opt out of the sale of their data, the law says they have to disclose how much a user’s data is worth.

I don’t live in California. Will this law affect me?

Almost assuredly. While you won’t enjoy the right to opt out of the sale of your data or ask companies to delete it, you’ll learn more about what companies are collecting about you. The law requires for-profit business to describe in their privacy policies and the categories of data they collect about users.

Many companies are likely to extend some of these rights to everyone. That way, they won’t have to fuss with deciding whether the law applies to you, and they won’t risk denying a user their rights under the law by mistake.

Finally, the state of California is often at the forefront of new forms of legislation, including plastic bag bans, animal welfare laws and worker protections. Once California passes a law, other states tend to consider following suit. California is the country’s largest market with nearly 40 million residents, and carries a lot of weight. Already, nine other states are considering similar laws, and Maine and Nevada have already passed narrower versions of privacy legislation.

How is this different from that other big privacy law, the GDPR?

GDPR applies to companies with users in the European Union, and it regulates how companies can collect the same kind of personal information as CCPA does. However, the European law puts some stricter controls on how companies must approach collecting user data.
First, GDPR requires companies to get consent to collect data or to have some other valid reason for collecting user information. Secondly, it requires companies to minimize the data collected. CCPA doesn’t require companies to go through these steps to collect personal information, so any limits on data collection will be imposed by individual users who make requests to delete and opt out.

I heard there might be a federal privacy law. Where does that stand?

After the California legislature passed CCPA, several major tech companies told federal lawmakers they would like to see one privacy law that covers the whole country. Legislators have submitted several different laws since then, and the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing on two competing bills in December.

Several aspects of a federal bill are up for debate, including whether consumers should be able to sue companies directly for violations, and how much authority to give regulators who would enforce the law. 

Thank you Laura Hautala for the great breakdown of CCPA.

Top 5 Cyber Attacks You Should be Aware for Your Business

DSA Technologies works with a wide range of businesses, that face many of the same security challenges over and over. Most of these issues are preventable or can at least be mitigated with the right care and awareness. Here’s what the resident expert Michael Reese at DSA Technologies shared with being the most common problems that you should keep an eye out for.

  1. Phishing Schemes
    Phishing is the crime of deceiving people into sharing sensitive information like passwords and credit card numbers. Nearly all successful cyber-attacks begin with a phishing scheme. These attacks are responsible for over $12 billion losses globally! Usually the attack is delivered in the form of an email and will demand that the victim go to a website and take immediate action. If the user clicks the link, they are sent to a fake website that imitates a real website. From here, they are asked to login. The criminal now has your information to cause more damage.
  2. Cloud Cyber Security Threats
    Cloud computing, or the use of an internet source to store information, has grown significantly. Most people assume that cloud storage is safe, but this isn’t necessarily the case. If your provider offers minimal security your sensitive data could be easily accessible to hackers. The amount of security your cloud server offers is usually in the terms and conditions. These can be muddy waters. Don’t be afraid to talk to an expert on how to navigate these threats.
  3. Ransomware/Malware Ransomware
    is like malware in that they are both criminal software used to take control of your computer and/or your information stored. Ransomware attacks are on the rise. Companies like DSA Technologies can help you build your line of defense through software against this type of attack. It’s estimated that an organization will fall victim to ransomware every 14 seconds in 2019. A single attack could leave you out of business for a week or more. Could you afford to be out of business that long?
  4. IoT (Internet of Things) What I call “Internet of Threats”
    IoT devices include internet enabled devices (i.e. iPhones, Amazon Alexa, Printers). There will be more than 20 billion IoT devices by 2020. How are the increasing amounts of data being secured? In most cases it’s not. There are manufacturers who have no security on their IoT devices, meaning anyone can access them. With so many devices being used, businesses should be aware of the security in place on IoT devices. Each device represents a different access point for attacks. With the rise of internet enabled devices the rise of attacks is inevitable. Ensure that your devices for your business are secure to protect sensitive data.
  5. Single Factor Passwords
    Single factor passwords are when you use a username and a passcode to log in. This is traditional and the method most websites maintain. Unfortunately, most passwords can be cracked in a matter of minutes. A second line of defense can help you and your business protect your data. An added defense line is the use of multi-step or two-step authentication passwords. This means that to log into your account, you can enter your password, but then a second step will require you to enter additional information, like a unique code sent to your cell phone. Having at least two steps make hacking your account more difficult in turn making your data less of an appealing target.

    DSA Technologies’ resident Cyber Security Expert, Michael Reese is there to assist businesses tighten their security.
    Visit DSA Technologies to learn more about how they can assist your business.

WiFi Finder app exposes 2 million network passwords!

“WiFi Finder” is a popular hotspot finder app that is used to locate free wifi spots nearby.  Unfortunately, the company utilized a database with minimal security to store information such as the Wi-Fi network name, its exact geolocation, its basic service set identifier (BSSID) and network password. All this data was stored in plain text. While the app developer claims the app only stores passwords for public hotspots, after a review of the data, countless home Wi-Fi networks were also discovered.

The biggest threat to free Wi-Fi security is the ability for the hacker to position himself between you and the connection point. So instead of talking directly with the hotspot, you’re sending your information to the hacker, who then relays it on. While working in this setup, the hacker has access to every piece of information you’re sending out on the Internet: important emails, credit card information and even security credentials to your business network. Once the hacker has that information, he can — at his leisure — access your systems as if he were you.

Utilizing free Wi-Fi in public locations is a major security risk, however, there may come a time when your only option is an unsecured, free, public WiFi hotspot, and your work simply cannot wait. If you must use public Wi-Fi there are a few steps you should take to stay safe (well….as safe as possible….because you shouldn’t use public Wi-Fi).

What to do:

  1.  Use a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
  2. Disable file sharing on your device.
  3. Log out of accounts when you are done.
  4. Only visit sites using HTTPS.
  5. Disable Wi-Fi auto-connect.
  6. Turn off Wi-Fi (and Bluetooth) when not in use.
  7. Access Web sites that do not hold sensitive or personally identifiable information (i.e. don’t do your banking while waiting for your flight).

While not all Wi-Fi is a security risk, without the right protection your personal information could become public information.

Those are NOT your grandchildren! FTC warns of new scam

Grandkid imposters are managing to finagle a skyrocketing amount of money out of people, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warned on Monday.

The FTC says that its Consumer Sentinel Network has noticed a “striking” increase in the median dollar amount that people 70 and older report losing to fraud. When they started to peel back the layers, the Commission found a number of stories that involve people of that age group having mailed “huge” amounts of cash to people who pretended to be their grandchildren.

People from all age groups report having fallen for phoney family and friends: the reported median loss for individuals is about $2,000, which is more than four times the median loss of $462 reported for all fraud types.

But that’s nothing compared with how much money is being bled out of the elderly: those who send cash reported median losses of a whopping $9,000. About one in four of the ripped-off elderly who report that they lost money to a family or friend imposter say that they sent cash: a far higher rate than the 1 in 25 of people who sent cash for all other frauds.

CBS News talked to one man who got scammed in a way that the FTC says is a common ploy.

Slick scripts

It started with a phone call one morning in April, Franc Stratton told the station. The caller pretended to be a public defender from Austin, Texas, who was calling to tell Stratton that his grandson had been in a car wreck, had been driving under the influence, and was now in jail.

Don’t be afraid, the imposter told Stratton: you can bail out your grandson by sending $8,500 in cash via FedEx. It didn’t raise flags for a good reason: Stratton had done exactly that for another family member in the past.

The cherry on top: the “attorney” briefly put Stratton’s “grandson” on the phone. The fake kid sounded injured, so Stratton drove to the bank to get the cash.

Stratton went so far as to go to a local FedEx to overnight the money to an Austin address. But later that night, he said, he and his wife looked at each other and said, Scam!

Fortunately, they came to their senses in time to call FedEx to have the package returned. He got his money back, but Stratton is still frustrated. Of all people, he should know better, he says: he’s retired now, after a career spent working in intelligence, first for the Air Force and later as a cybersecurity programmer.

That’s how slick the scammers are, with their meticulously prepared scripts, and it shows that they know exactly how to put people into a panicked state, where they’re likely to make bad decisions. Stratton said he fell for it “because of the way that they scripted it.”

I’m the last person, I thought, would ever fall for a scam like this.

The FTC says that Americans have lost $41 million in the scam this year: nearly twice as much as the $26 million lost the year before.

Self-defense for grandparents

These scams are growing more sophisticated as fraudsters do their homework, looking you and/or your grandkids up on social media to lace their scripts with personal details that make them all the more convincing.

Grandparents, no matter how savvy you are, you’ve got an Achilles heel: your love for your grandchildren. The fakers know exactly how to milk that for all it’s worth.

The FTC warns that they’ll pressure you into sending money before you’ve had time to think it through. The Commission offers this advice to keep the shysters from wringing your heart and your wallet:

  • Stop. Breathe. Check it out before you send a dime. Look up your grandkid’s phone number yourself, or call another family member.
  • Don’t overshare. Whatever you share publicly on social media becomes a weapon in the arsenals of scammers. The more personal details they know about you, the more convincing they can sound. It’s one of many reasons to be careful about what you share on social media.
  • Pass the information on to a friend. Even if you haven’t been targeted yourself, you probably know somebody who’s either already gotten a call like this or who will.
  • Report it. The FTC asks us all to please report these scams. US residents can do so online to the FTC. If you’re in the UK, report scams to ActionFraud.

Please report these scams. Doing so helps the authorities nail these imposters before they can victimize others.

Actions for Internal Audit on Cybersecurity, Data Risks

 

Cybersecurity and other data-related issues top the list of risks for heads of audit in 2019; here are key actions audit must take.

The number of cyberattacks continues to increase significantly as threat actors become more sophisticated and diversify their methods. It’s hardly surprisingly, then, that cybersecurity preparedness tops the list of internal audit priorities for 2019.

Other data and IT issues are also on the radar for internal audit, according to the Gartner Audit Plan Hot Spots. Cybersecurity topped the list of 2019’s 12 emerging risks, followed by data governance, third parties and data privacy.

“These risks, or hot spots, are the top-of-mind issues for business leaders who expect heads of internal audit to assess and mitigate them, as well as communicate their impact to organizations and stakeholders,” said Malcolm Murray, VP, Team Manager at Gartner.

What audit can do on cyberpreparedness

The Gartner 2019 Audit Key Risks and Priorities Survey shows that 77% of audit departments definitely plan to cover cybersecurity detection and prevention in audit activities during the next 12-18 months. Only 5% have no such activities planned. And yet, only 53% of audit departments are highly confident in their ability to provide assurance over cybersecurity detection and prevention risks.

Here are some steps audit can take to tackle cybersecurity preparedness:

  • Review device encryption on all devices, including mobile phones and laptops. Assess password strength and the use of multifactor identification.
  • Review access management policies and controls, and set user access and privileges by defined business needs. Swiftly amend access when roles change.
  • Review patch management policies, evaluating the average time from patch release to implementation and the frequency of updates. Make sure patches cover IoT devices.
  • Evaluate employee security training to ensure that the breadth, frequency and content is effective. Don’t forget to build awareness of common security threats such as phishing.
  • Participate in cyber working groups and committees to develop cybersecurity strategy and policies. Help determine how the organization identifies, assesses and mitigates cyberrisk and strengthens current cybersecurity controls.

Data governance

Big data increases the strategic importance of effective mechanisms to collect, use, store and manage organizational data, but many organizations still lack formal data governance frameworks and struggle to establish consistency across the organization. Few scale their programs effectively to meet the growing volume of data. Left unsolved, these governance challenges can lead to operational drag, delayed decision making and unnecessary duplication of efforts.

What audit can do:

  • Review the data assets inventory, which must include, at a minimum, the highest-value data assets of the organization. Assess the extent of both structured and unstructured data assets.
  • Review the classification of data and associated process and policies. Analyze how data will be retained and destroyed, encryption requirements and whether relevant categories of use have been established.
  • Participate in relevant working groups and committees to stay abreast of governance efforts and provide advisory input when frameworks are built.
  • Review data analytics training and talent assessments, identify skill gaps and plan how to fill them. Evaluate the content and availability of existing training.
  • Review the analytics tools inventory across the organization. Determine if IT has an approved vendor list for analytics tools and what efforts are being made to educate the business on the use of approved tools.

Third parties

Efforts to digitalize systems and processes add new, complex dimensions to third-party challenges that have been a perennial concern for organizations. Nearly 70% of chief audit executives reported third-party risk as one of their top concerns, but organizations still struggle to manage this risk. What audit can do:

  • Evaluate scenario analysis for strategic initiatives to analyze potential risks and outcomes associated with interdependent partners in the organization’s business ecosystem. Consider enterprise risk appetite and identify trigger events that would cause the organization to take corrective action.
  • Assess third-party contracts and compliance efforts, ensure contracts adequately stipulate information security, data privacy and nth-party requirements. Ensure there is monitoring of third-party adherence to contracts.
  • Investigate third-party regulatory requirements, assess how effectively senior management communicates regulatory updates across the business and how clearly it articulates requirements for third parties.
  • Evaluate the classification of third-party risk and confirm that the business conducts random checks of third parties to ensure classifications properly account for actual risk levels.

Data privacy

Companies today collect an unprecedented amount of personal information, and the costs of managing and protecting that data are rising. Seventy-seven percent of audit departments say data privacy will definitely be covered in audit activities in the next 12–18 months. What audit can do:

  • Review data protection training and ensure that employees at all levels complete the training. Include elements such as how to report a data breach and protocols for data sharing.
  • Assess current level of GDPR compliance and identify compliance gaps. Review data privacy policies to make sure the language is clear and customer consent is clearly stated.
  • Assess data access and storage. Make sure access to sensitive information is role-based and privileges are properly set and monitored.
  • Review data breach response plans. Evaluate how quickly the company identifies a breach and the mechanisms for notifying impacted consumers and regulators.
  • Assess data loss protection and review whether tools scan data at rest and in motion.

Can the police search your phone?

Enterprises work hard to protect company secrets. Here’s why the biggest threat may be law enforcement.

Can the police search your phone?

The answer to that question is getting complicated.

But it’s an important thing to know. The reason is that your phone, and the phones of every employee at your company, almost certainly contain company secrets — or provide access to those secrets.

Phones can provide access to passwords, contact lists, emails, phone call metadata, photos, spreadsheets and other company documents, location histories, photos and much more.

Proprietary data — including information that would enable systematic hacking of company servers for sabotage, industrial espionage and worse — is protected from legal exposure by a complex set of well-understood laws and norms in the United States. But that same data is accessible from company phones.

Can the police simply take that information?  Until recently, most professionals would have said no.

Why? Because business and IT professionals tend to believe that smartphones are covered by the Fourth Amendment’s strictures against “unreasonable searches and seizures,” a protection recently reaffirmed by the Supreme Court. And smartphones are also protected by the Fifth Amendment, many would say, because divulging a passcode is akin to being “compelled” to be a “witness” against yourself.

Unfortunately, these beliefs are wrong.

The trouble with passcodes

Apple last year quietly added a new feature to iPhones designed to protect smartphone data from police searches. When you quickly press the on/off button on an iPhone five times, it turns off Touch ID and Face ID.

The thinking behind the so-called cop button is that, because police can compel you to use biometrics, but not a passcode, to unlock your phone, the feature makes it impossible for the legal system to force you to hand over information.

Unfortunately, this belief has now been undermined.

We learned this week that a Florida man named William John Montanez was jailed for six months after claiming that he forgot the passcodes for his two phones.

Montanez was pulled over for a minor traffic infraction. Police wanted to search his car. He refused. The police brought in dogs, which found some marijuana and a gun. (Montanez said the gun was his mother’s.) During the arrest, his phone got a text that said, “OMG, did they find it,” prompting police to get a warrant to search his phones. That’s when Montanez claimed he didn’t remember the passcodes, and the judge sentenced him to up to six months in jail for civil contempt.

As a precedent, this cascading series of events changes what we thought we knew about the security of the data on our phones. What started as an illegal turn ended up with jail time over the inability or unwillingness to divulge what we thought was a constitutionally protected bit of information.

We’ve also learned a lot recently about the vulnerability of location data on a smartphone.

The solution for individual users who want to keep location and other data private is to simply switch off the feature, such as the Location History feature in Google’s Android operating system. Right?

Not really. It turns out Google has been storing location data even after users turn off Location History.

The fiasco was based on false information that used to exist on Google’s site. Turning off Location History, the site said, meant that “the places you go are no longer stored.” In fact, they were stored, just not in the user-accessible Location History area.

Google corrected the false language, adding, “Some location data may be saved as part of your activity on other services, like Search and Maps.”

Stored data matters.

The FBI recently demanded from Google the data about all people using location services within a 100-acre area in Portland, Maine, as part of an investigation into a series of robberies. The request included the names, addresses, phone numbers, “session” times and duration, log-in IP addresses, email addresses, log files and payment information.

The order also said that Google could not inform users of the FBI’s demand.

Google did not comply with the request. But that didn’t keep the FBI from pushing for it.

In fact, police are evolving their methods, intentions and technologies for searching smartphones.

Police data-harvesting machines

A device called GrayKey, from a company called GrayShift, can unlock any iPhone or iPad.

GrayShift licenses the devices for $15,000 per year and up to 300 phone cracks.

It’s a turnkey system. Each GrayKey has two Lightning cables. Police need only plug in a phone, and eventually the phone’s passcode appears on the phone’s screen, giving full access.

That may be why Apple introduced in the fall a new “USB Restricted Mode” for iPhones. That mode makes it harder for police (or criminals) to crack a phone via the Lightning port.

The mode is activated by default, which is to say that the “switch” in settings for USB Accessories is turned off. With that switch off, the Lightning port won’t connect to anything after an hour of the phone being locked.

Unfortunately for iPhone users, “USB Restricted Mode” is easily defeated with a widely available $39 dongle.

And the U.S. isn’t the only country with police data-harvesting machines.

A world of trouble for smartphone data

Chinese authorities have their own technology for harvesting the data from phones, and that technology is now being deployed by police in the field. Police anywhere in the country can demand that anyone hand over a phone, which is then scanned by a device, the use of which is reportedly spreading across China.

Chinese authorities have both desktop and handheld scanner devices, which automatically extract and process emails, social posts, videos, photos, call histories, text messages and contact lists to aid them in looking for transgressions.

Some reports suggest that the devices, which are made by both Israeli and Chinese companies, are unable to crack newer iPhones but can access nearly every other kind of phone.

Another factor to be considered is that the protections of the U.S. Constitution end at the border — literally at the border.

As I’ve detailed here in the past, U.S. Customs is a “gray area” for Fifth Amendment constitutional protections.

And once abroad, all bets are off. Even in friendly, pro-privacy nations such as Australia.

The Australian government on Tuesday proposed a law called the Assistance and Access Bill 2018. If it becomes law, the act would require people to unlock their phones for police or face up to ten years in prison (the current maximum is two years).

It would empower police to legally bug or hack phones and computers.

The bill would force carriers, as well as companies such as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Facebook, to give police access to the private encrypted data of their customers if technically possible.

Failure to comply would result in fines of up $7.3 million and prison time.

Police would need a warrant to crack, bug or hack a phone.

Police would need a warrant to crack, bug or hack a phone.

The bill may never become law. But Australia is just one of many nations affected by a new political will to end smartphone privacy when it comes to law enforcement.

If you take anything away from this column, please remember this: The landscape for what’s possible in the realm of police searches of smartphones is changing every day.

In general, smartphones are becoming less protected from police searches, not more protected.

That’s why the assumption of every IT department, every enterprise and every business progressional — especially those of us who travel internationally on business — must be that the data on a smartphone is not safe from official scrutiny.

It’s time to rethink company policies, training, procedures and permissions around smartphones.

Ring Security Flaw Lets Unauthorized Parties Control Doorbell App

 

A security flaw founded in Ring’s video doorbell can let others access camera footage even if homeowners have changed their passwords, according to media sources.

This can happen after a Ring device owner gives access to the Ring app to someone else. If it is given to an ex-partner, for example, after the relationship turned sour, the partner may still monitor the activity outside the front door using the camera, and download the video and control the doorbell from the phone as an administrator.

It doesn’t matter how many times Ring device owners have changed the password, the Ring app will never ask users to sign in again after the password is changed.

Ring was notified of the issue in early January and claimed to have removed users who were no longer authorized. However, in the test carried out by media outlet The Information’s staff, these ex-users could still access the app for several hours.

Jamie Siminoff, CEO of Ring, has acknowledged the issue and responded that kicking users off the platform apparently slows down the Ring app.

After the issue was reported, Ring made another statement, suggesting that Ring customers should never share their usernames or passwords. The company recommended that other family members or partners sign in via Ring’s “Shared Users” feature.

In this way, device owners have control over who has access and can immediately remove users if they want.

“Our team is taking additional steps to further improve the password change experience,” said Ring in a statement.

Ring was acquired by Amazon for US$1 billion at the beginning of this year. Amazon operates in-home delivery service, the Amazon Key, relying on security devices at the front door such as smart doorbells, door locks and security cameras.

Any security flaws like the one found in Ring will make it difficult for the e-commerce giant to convince people that it’s safe for Amazon’s delivery people to enter their houses when nobody’s home.

Please make sure to secure all of your IoT devices as we know most of them are wide open to attacks.

IoT World

Honored to be speaking at IoT World May 14-17, 2018
Santa Clara Convention Center.
@MrMichaelReese #IOTWORLD #Cybersecurity

 

Cybersecurity for Executives


Looking forward to another local speaking event here in Sacramento:

By invitation only, DSA Technologies is hosting FBI expert Kurt Pipal and licensed Computer Forensics Investigator Michael Reese to discuss the current state of Cybercrime in the Northern California & Sacramento Area. Executives who are responsible for the public perception for their organizations should attend.
This event will feature several security topics frequently seen in the news today, including:
• Financial Fraud
• Intellectual Property Threats
• Ransomware
• Identity Theft
• Phishing/Social Engineering scams
• Attacks on Critical Infrastructure
Where: Morton’s Steakhouse
621 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, CA 95814
When: April 19th @ 11:30AM
Event Partners: FBI, Palo Alto Networks

https://info.dsatechnologies.com/cybersecurity-executives?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-87pG_MltR6-NVDUCbEqHXmas6WEnVdPihwf6CQZKXnI7oZBdlSlwOQD-on1JuQWymhLINfPsaZYxcDFufz1yiaEKOklqJGsr8ZnhofQ5pdK4P60aQ&_
hsmi=61681952&utm_content=61681952&utm_source=hs_email&hsCtaTracking=00e12be2-db07-4fe5-8ea2-5a7a5ab18189%7C9cb78923-d767-46b3-bc62-b8a4d0c88fa6

 

Happy New Year 2018: 10 Steps to Improve Cybersecurity

Just a few (10) recommendations to think about in the new year.

  1. Patch the operating system on all PCs and Servers. Windows security updates should be applied and Windows Update should be set to download automatically and install manually. [Preventative]
  2. Update Microsoft Office with all available updates. Set Windows Update to also update any other Microsoft products. [Preventative]
  3. Update all web browsers. Preferred browser would be 64 bit Google Chrome Enterprise as it is fairly secure by default and includes its own sand-boxed Flash player and PDF viewer. [Preventative]
  4. Update Adobe Flash to most current version or remove if using Chrome as advised above. Update Adobe Reader to most current version or remove if using Google Chrome. [Preventative]
  5. Remove Java. If you must run Java, update to most current version but seriously consider removing Java. [Preventative]
  6. Raise the level of User Access Control (UAC) to the highest level – requiring Admin account to install or modify the system. [Preventative]
  7. Users must not be Local Admin on their PC. [Preventative]
  8. Enable Windows firewall on all PCs and servers. Only enable ports and applications both inbound and outbound as required (block inbound by default minimum). [Preventative]
  9. Implement a backup solution for all user data. Restore must be tested periodically. Ideally, versioning or offline snapshots should be enabled to protect against ransomware. [Preventative]
  10. All mobile devices should be updated to latest version of OS and device pass codes must be set (at least 6 digits). [Preventative]

Bonus Items

  1. Install antivirus / anti-malware software on PCs and servers. Any IPS / IDS functionality would be good to apply. Solution should be set to update signatures automatically. [Preventative / Detective]
  2. Bitlocker or other hard drive encryption should be enabled and enforced via GPO.[Preventative]
  3. Application whitelisting using AppLocker with trusted publishers or hashes of known good applications. [Preventative]
  4. Install SYSMON on all PCs and Servers. Configure for logging process creation, command line execution parameters, process creation, optionally network events. [Detective]
  5. Turn on Windows Event logging for critical events see SANS Detecting Security Incidents Windows Event Logs. [Detective]

Have a great New Year and be safe and cyber aware !!