What the Hack? Podcast
What the Hack? Podcast
What the Hack? Podcast
What the Hack? Podcast

Data Security

The latest on data breaches and cybersecurity and data security by Adam K Levin.

SolarWinds
When SolarWinds was compromised it set the stage for the infiltration by Russian-backed hackers of Fortune 500 companies and several branches of the U.S. government. It gave Russia a bird's eye view of sensitive information, and signaled the failure of cybersecurity not as an industry, but as a concept as it is currently imagined. If you're lumping the recent SolarWinds...
Holiday scam
The holidays are the most wonderful time of the year, especially for scammers. Consumers are typically spending more, doing it quickly and not paying as much attention to who they’re buying it from because of the rush. With the COVID-19 pandemic, many shoppers will make the bulk of their purchases online, which means this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday...
black friday scams
The holiday season is the most wonderful time of the year for scammers. And like everything else in 2020, these next few weeks promise to be a disaster. With this in mind, all eyes should be on Black Friday. According to Adobe Analytics’ recent holiday forecast, online sales are projected to surge 33% year over year to a record $189...
Healthcare facilities
Healthcare facilities are under an increased threat of cyberattack, according to the FBI. In a joint cybersecurity advisory with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the FBI warned of an “increased and imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers.” While there are currently several strains of malware actively targeting healthcare...
RDP Login
Network access to over 7,000 organizations in the U.S., Canada, and Australia is allegedly available for auction on Russian hacking forums. An unidentified hacker is advertising an archive of remote desktop protocol (RDP) credentials to several thousand organizations with bids starting at 25 bitcoins (roughly $390,000).  “I sell everything at once, without samples, convenient access via rdp to each network,” states...
Maze Ransomware
The infamous Maze ransomware gang has announced they will cease operations, effective immediately.  On November 1, the hacking group behind several high profile ransomware attacks in 2020 issued a rambling press release, riddled with spelling errors, on the dark web announcing, “it is officially closed.” “All the links to out project, using of our brand, our work methods should be...
phishing
A phishing campaign is targeting employees with phony email reminders for cybersecurity and phishing awareness training.  In a clever spin on more widely known phishing methods, hackers are sending emails pretending to be from KnowBe4, a company specializing in training employees to recognize phishing scams.  Source: Cofense.com The emails prompt their targets to click links to complete “required” training sessions,  which redirect...
human resources
Maintaining workplace safety can seem like a rare form of torture--videos and quizzes and talks and such. For most of us, it's a necessary chore. But despite the looks among employees with each new H.R. training session, the work that happens in those conference rooms at least in theory translates to profits. The inoculation process of onboarding a new hire is profoundly important to...
Credit union phishing attempt
A phishing campaign targeting credit unions and other financial institutions recently found its way into the email inboxes of anti-money laundering officers. Credit unions and banks are both required by the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) to report potential money laundering operations and to dedicate at least two staff members to ensure compliance. The phishing emails seemed to specifically target the...
Fitbit Global Spying
In this episode of “Stupid Things Organizations Do with Connected Devices,” we take a look at the U.S. Defense Department, which gave 2,500 Fitbit personal trackers to military personnel in 2013 to fight obesity. Fast-forward to 2018, and The Global Heat Map published by Strava Labs. According to the Washington Post report, the project “uses satellite information to map the...