Starting last week, Google Chrome browsers begin flagging every
website that doesn't have "HTTPS" in their URL as "Site Not Secure".
With about 60% of all Internet traffic utilized through Google
Chrome, a change like can affect almost every website on the Internet.
This is the latest in the web’s massive shift from non-secure HTTP to the more secure, encrypted HTTPS protocol. All web servers use one of these two protocols to get web pages from the server to your browser. HTTP has problems that make it vulnerable to eavesdropping and content hijacking. HTTPS fixes most of these problems.
Avoiding this alert and enabling HTTPS is easily done by adding a trusted SSL certificate to your site. To
help small business owners get up to speed, IES is offering some
great pricing on this product along with our years of experience. If you host your site with us, your SSL certificate can be up and running within hours.
Contact us today for assistance.
iesAdvisors.com
781-816-9437
Showing posts with label hackers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hackers. Show all posts
Thursday, August 2, 2018
Thursday, April 5, 2018
PSA: That Facebook quiz may be hackers mining your personal information.
Social media quizzes – especially popular on Facebook – seem innocent
enough. But taking the quiz might mean you are giving away more about
yourself than you originally thought, and may extend to your friends as
well.
These quizzes ask seemingly silly or useless questions, but hackers can use that information to penetrate your social accounts and gain access to your personal information or the information of your friends and family.
Some quizzes are designed to steal your data in an outright scam. Once answered, hackers can easily hijack personal accounts and use them to lure in more victims. The hackers will include links embedded in the quiz that can cause a security breach of your personal accounts.
But the latest news shows that it isn’t just scammers who are interested in your quiz answers. It turns out, your personal information is big business.
Not all social media quizzes are about unprincipled data collection, but the Better Business Bureau cautions users to be careful about what they share online. Profile data, quiz answers, and more can be used to used to steal your money, or let a scammer pretend to be you in order to steal someone else’s money.
These quizzes ask seemingly silly or useless questions, but hackers can use that information to penetrate your social accounts and gain access to your personal information or the information of your friends and family.
Some quizzes are designed to steal your data in an outright scam. Once answered, hackers can easily hijack personal accounts and use them to lure in more victims. The hackers will include links embedded in the quiz that can cause a security breach of your personal accounts.
But the latest news shows that it isn’t just scammers who are interested in your quiz answers. It turns out, your personal information is big business.
Not all social media quizzes are about unprincipled data collection, but the Better Business Bureau cautions users to be careful about what they share online. Profile data, quiz answers, and more can be used to used to steal your money, or let a scammer pretend to be you in order to steal someone else’s money.
Monday, June 1, 2015
The hackers are coming! The hackers are coming!
Hacking: it’s not just for Anonymous and the U.S. government anymore.
Cybercrime is ever-encroaching and can happen to anyone.
Including you and your business. In fact, it’s cost the global economy
more than $400 billion, and it’s increasingly hurting smaller operations.
The problem goes far beyond the leaking of sensitive emails and sexy selfies. Targeted attacks against small businesses nearly doubled in 2013. And of the one in five that experience a cyber attack annually, 60% will close their doors within six months as a result (source: Symantec).
But not you. Protect your business with these three tips:
1. Be password savvy. If your password is
still “Password123,” it’s time to get serious. Create unique codes for
each of your accounts, and make sure they’re at least 8 characters long
(with a few special ones thrown in). Use password managers like LastPass 3.0 or Dashlane 3 to keep track.
2. Encrypt emails and valuable information. If a hacker does breach your system, encryption makes it that much harder to get away with critical data. Voltage, DataMotion, and Proofpoint are industry leaders worth checking out.
3. Back up your data. Copying your key company data onto a cloud based system, such as Dropbox or Carbonite, or a USB hard drive takes minutes, and will save you time and anxiety if your system is ever compromised.
For professional help, call IES today at 781-816-9437. We can have you safe and secure in hours, not days!
For professional help, call IES today at 781-816-9437. We can have you safe and secure in hours, not days!
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Silk Road, a drug & illegal services website, has somehow been reborn a month after being seized by the Feds.
The Feds may have taken down Silk Road, the online black market that's been coined the "Amazon of illegal drugs," but a little over a month later, it's re-emerged.
Not long after the bust, select users on the site received an email from a former active Silk Road user asking the community to help rebuild. The authenticity of the new forums was endorsed by former Silk Road user "Libertas."
Some users who wanted to be a part of the rebuilding gained access to "the Vendor Roundtable," a forum that outlined the details behind the launch of the new Silk Road. The administrator also called on users to volunteer for a "communication specialist" position in charge of organizing operations. "You will be assigned work to perform based on what needs to be done," read an email reviewed by CNNMoney.
Silk Road 2.0 emerged Wednesday alongside a number of other sites offering similar services.
The new Silk Road, like the original, offers everything from prescription medication to heroin.
"Silk Road is back up," a Twitter user who appears to be the owner of the new site tweeted. "Deja vu anyone? #weriseagain." The new Silk Road owner also took on the pseudonym of former leader Ross Ulbricht, Dread Pirate Roberts.
According to a former Silk Road user, the site was rebuilt by most of the major players who were heavily involved in day-to-day operations of the former site.
"Silk Road was something that had popularity that made it easy for people to continue down that path. As long as you can convince the bulk of the biggest buyers and sellers to move over to the new platform, it doesn't matter what it's called."
Before the original Silk Road was seized by the Feds, it had become one of the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplaces on the Internet, according to FBI Special Agent Christopher Tarbell.
But it certainly wasn't the only one. Other sites, including BlackMarket Reloaded and the Sheep Marketplace, have also been looking to attract sellers and buyers.
"Later on, newer versions that have improved in some way will pop up and regain the trust," another former Silk Road user told CNNMoney.
A priority for the reborn Silk Road is information security. The people rebuilding it are baking security measures into the site's code.
Not long after the bust, select users on the site received an email from a former active Silk Road user asking the community to help rebuild. The authenticity of the new forums was endorsed by former Silk Road user "Libertas."
Some users who wanted to be a part of the rebuilding gained access to "the Vendor Roundtable," a forum that outlined the details behind the launch of the new Silk Road. The administrator also called on users to volunteer for a "communication specialist" position in charge of organizing operations. "You will be assigned work to perform based on what needs to be done," read an email reviewed by CNNMoney.
Silk Road 2.0 emerged Wednesday alongside a number of other sites offering similar services.
The new Silk Road, like the original, offers everything from prescription medication to heroin.
"Silk Road is back up," a Twitter user who appears to be the owner of the new site tweeted. "Deja vu anyone? #weriseagain." The new Silk Road owner also took on the pseudonym of former leader Ross Ulbricht, Dread Pirate Roberts.
According to a former Silk Road user, the site was rebuilt by most of the major players who were heavily involved in day-to-day operations of the former site.
"Silk Road was something that had popularity that made it easy for people to continue down that path. As long as you can convince the bulk of the biggest buyers and sellers to move over to the new platform, it doesn't matter what it's called."
Before the original Silk Road was seized by the Feds, it had become one of the most sophisticated and extensive criminal marketplaces on the Internet, according to FBI Special Agent Christopher Tarbell.
But it certainly wasn't the only one. Other sites, including BlackMarket Reloaded and the Sheep Marketplace, have also been looking to attract sellers and buyers.
"Later on, newer versions that have improved in some way will pop up and regain the trust," another former Silk Road user told CNNMoney.
A priority for the reborn Silk Road is information security. The people rebuilding it are baking security measures into the site's code.
Source: CNN Money
Thursday, October 3, 2013
You can buy anything online. Apparently that includes drugs, assassins, and firearms...
According to the sealed complaint
filed by the FBI, federal agents arrested Ross William Ulbricht on
Tuesday afternoon, charging him with narcotics trafficking, computer
hacking and money laundering.
The FBI also seized the Silk Road website, replacing its homepage with a banner noting as much.
Since its 2011 inception, Silk Road has been the go-to black market for all sorts of illegal products and services. Its draw? The online marketplace offered an easy way to find goods and services -- and transact the money in secret. The site had 957,079 registered users, according to the FBI.
The site was operated on an anonymous network known as Tor, making activity on Silk Road virtually untraceable. The only money accepted on Silk Road was the digital currency bitcoin, adding an additional layer of anonymity to buyers and sellers.
Over the past two and a half years, the FBI said the site generated revenue worth more than 9.5 million bitcoins -- valued at $1.3 billion.
The FBI said Ulbricht's net worth was essentially his value in Silk Road's commissions, which totaled more than 600,000 bitcoins ($85 million).
Silk Road wasn't restricted to illegal drugs. The FBI says it was also used to trade firearms, hire assassins and employ hackers.
The FBI also seized the Silk Road website, replacing its homepage with a banner noting as much.
Since its 2011 inception, Silk Road has been the go-to black market for all sorts of illegal products and services. Its draw? The online marketplace offered an easy way to find goods and services -- and transact the money in secret. The site had 957,079 registered users, according to the FBI.
The site was operated on an anonymous network known as Tor, making activity on Silk Road virtually untraceable. The only money accepted on Silk Road was the digital currency bitcoin, adding an additional layer of anonymity to buyers and sellers.
Over the past two and a half years, the FBI said the site generated revenue worth more than 9.5 million bitcoins -- valued at $1.3 billion.
The FBI said Ulbricht's net worth was essentially his value in Silk Road's commissions, which totaled more than 600,000 bitcoins ($85 million).
Silk Road wasn't restricted to illegal drugs. The FBI says it was also used to trade firearms, hire assassins and employ hackers.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
The federal government has been asked to stay away from Defcon hacker event this year!
The federal government is persona non grata at this year's Defcon.
For the first time in the 21-year-history of the famed hacker's convention, government employees are being asked to stay away, albeit in a polite fashion.
Def Con founder Jeff Moss, aka The Dark Tangent, posted the following plea on the event's Web site late Wednesday:
"The community is digesting things that the Feds have had a decade to understand and come to terms with," Moss said. "A little bit of time and distance can be a healthy thing, especially when emotions are running high."
But Def Con won't be hiring a bunch of bouncers to throw out the Feds.
"We are not going on a witch hunt or checking IDs and kicking people out," Moss added.
Def Con has always been geared toward hackers, researchers, and other security devotees. But employees from the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, and other government branches have been welcome and have attended for many years.
General Keith Alexander, the head of National Security Agency, even gave a keynote speech at last year's event. Alexander was asked at the time whether the government was snooping on its citizens and denied that the NSA was gathering information on all Americans.
Source: CNET
For the first time in the 21-year-history of the famed hacker's convention, government employees are being asked to stay away, albeit in a polite fashion.
Def Con founder Jeff Moss, aka The Dark Tangent, posted the following plea on the event's Web site late Wednesday:
Feds, we need some time apart.Moss, who also advises the Department of Homeland Security on security issues, told Reuters he believes the Defcon community needs some time to digest the recent leaks about U.S. surveillance programs.
For over two decades DEF CON has been an open nexus of hacker culture, a place where seasoned pros, hackers, academics, and feds can meet, share ideas and party on neutral territory. Our community operates in the spirit of openness, verified trust, and mutual respect.
When it comes to sharing and socializing with feds, recent revelations have made many in the community uncomfortable about this relationship. Therefore, I think it would be best for everyone involved if the feds call a "time-out" and not attend DEF CON this year.
This will give everybody time to think about how we got here, and what comes next.
The Dark Tangent
"The community is digesting things that the Feds have had a decade to understand and come to terms with," Moss said. "A little bit of time and distance can be a healthy thing, especially when emotions are running high."
But Def Con won't be hiring a bunch of bouncers to throw out the Feds.
"We are not going on a witch hunt or checking IDs and kicking people out," Moss added.
Def Con has always been geared toward hackers, researchers, and other security devotees. But employees from the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, and other government branches have been welcome and have attended for many years.
General Keith Alexander, the head of National Security Agency, even gave a keynote speech at last year's event. Alexander was asked at the time whether the government was snooping on its citizens and denied that the NSA was gathering information on all Americans.
Source: CNET
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