covid (10)

8837932068?profile=RESIZE_400xCostco Wholesale Corporation is warning American internet users to be wary of more than a dozen digital scams targeting its customer base.   On its website,  HERE the American multinational corporation has published screenshots of 14 "prominent fraudulent emails, texts, and posts" in which cyber-criminals are impersonating Costco  The majority of the traps use financial benefits to lure victims, promising free products, financial reimbursements, exclusive offers, cash-back rewards, and gift card

8640804469?profile=RESIZE_400xAs the 2020 tax preparation season begins in the US, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is warning that it is seeing more signs of cyber criminals spoofing the agency's domains and incorporating its logos and language into phishing campaigns.  Authorities additionally are cautioning other fraud campaigns that spoof US government departments, with some using themes capitalizing on COVID-19 economic relief programs.  A tempting lure to many.

During February 2020, the IRS published a notification t

8601841870?profile=RESIZE_400xActivity Summary - Week Ending 26 February 2021:

  • 600+ US healthcare data breaches in 2020
  • Red Sky Alliance identified 35,139 connections from new unique IP addresses
  • Analysts identified 2,378 new IP addresses participating in various Botnets
  • Bazar Trojan Variant
  • Malware Lingerie for 2021Valentine’s Day !!
  • Silver Sparrow; aren’t Sparrows Brown?
  • Pfizer, COVID Vaccine and Hacking
  • LEON and Nocona Hospitals hit
  • eHealth in Canada – Ryuk Ransomware
  • France to invest 1 billion euros in Cyber Security –

8539955457?profile=RESIZE_400xIn 1972, Alice Cooper sang a popular song: “School’s Out.”  In 2020, school has literally been 'OUT for Covid.'  The global pandemic has shut down many, many global school systems.  This created a system of teaching virtually using a variety of on-line platforms.   That turned the heads of black hat hackers to successively focus on attacking school systems, teachers, parents and students.  Recently, there has been a significant increase in ransomware cyber-attacks on virtual classrooms.  The Cor

8427732881?profile=RESIZE_400xHackers recently posted confidential documents regarding Covid-19 medicines and vaccines on the internet after a data breach late last year at the European Medicines Agency (EMA).   Timelines related to evaluating and approving Covid medicines and vaccines haven’t been affected, the EMA said in a statement on Tuesday. The agency said it remains fully functional and that law enforcement authorities are taking action on the breach. 

It is suspected by cyber threat investigators that these hacks ma

8266337488?profile=RESIZE_400xAs the Covid virus marches on, many are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  Each day brings us a little closer to the approval and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in the US, UK and close in many other countries.  According to the US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex M. Azar II, officials with Operation Warp Speed (OWS) report that 20 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine could be distributed this month.  ”We are planning to be ready when [an emergency-use authorization by

8147302067?profile=RESIZE_400xCofense Intelligence researchers found a new version of the Hentai OniChan ransomware called “King Engine” and is being delivered in a Coronavirus-themed phishing campaign.   The new variant exfiltrates data and demands a massive amount for ransom, which is significantly higher than previously discovered Hentai OniChan campaigns.[1]  This is odd. 

According to researchers, cybercriminals used the Berserker variant of this ransomware previously in their campaign, which did not exfiltrate data and

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Analysts studying CoronaVirus-related phishing and malware threats in malicious emails reveal four major topics abused by hackers: news, medical, financial, and regulatory.  In the first phases of the Corona pandemic, hackers were mostly disguising their malicious emails as general news and medical information with the most common keywords being “update” and “affected.”  When Summer 2020 (June-July) arrived, the dominating attack theme became “financial” and the leading keyword became “payment.

6643007679?profile=RESIZE_400xI have written about Phishing before and I will continue to warn friends and colleagues about phishing and their tactics.  Phishing is the start of almost all serious cyber breaches.  In early 2020, cloud security expert, Wandera, revealed in its Mobile Threat Landscape Report that a new phishing campaign is launched every 20 seconds.  Twenty seconds equates to three additional phishing sites designed to target users in every minute.  However, this number no longer applies during COVID-19 times.

6441370273?profile=RESIZE_400xMany auto dealerships are strongly promoting the safety of customers and employees.  This in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.  That is why the many international dealerships are taking safety protocols seriously.  Shields are up in the reception area, employees are wearing face coverings and social distancing, and disposable seat, wheel and shifter covers have been placed in all vehicles.  In addition, many are establishing vigorous test drive cleaning protocol and hourly and nightly cleaning