Akönis, LLC

04/09/2024

The human element is key to a good cyber defense system, but cyber awareness programs do not always get the results you need. Awareness does not equal behavior. If it did, we would all drive the speed limit and never eat junk food.

"...a majority of cyber regulations, frameworks, and compliance standards such as HIPAA, GDPR, SOX, and PCI-DSS, don’t place much emphasis on social engineering. Technical controls such as firewalls, encryption, and backup and recovery get a lot of attention, but social engineering receives scant mention. Security teams are no different either, investing billions into cybersecurity technology every year, but neglecting to address social engineering, the major culprit behind successful cyber break-ins."

The industry needs to focus on the root cause of the vast majority breaches: human error.

04/06/2024

Are you planning a vacation or business trip? If so, it's important to be aware of the risks that come with traveling. Cybercriminals are always looking for ways to steal your personal information, especially when you're away from home.

Public Wi-Fi networks in airports, hotels, and cafes can be particularly dangerous. Hackers use these networks to intercept data transmitted between devices and servers. They may even create fake hotspots that look legitimate but are designed to steal your information.

The last thing anyone wants is for their travel experience to be ruined by cybercrime or theft.

04/02/2024

What does water treatment have to do with cybersecurity?

Water treatment facilities use programmable logic controllers (PLCs) to purify drinking water. "The PLCs control the filtering and disinfection of water to ensure it’s free of contaminants before it flows into homes and businesses. Because potable water is essential for life, any vulnerability in this pivotal component could be disastrous.

Hackers recently developed an exploitation package allowing them to gain control of the PLC and manipulate the percentage of chemicals introduced into the disinfection process—raising or lowering them to unsafe levels."

Rising cyberattacks on U.S. critical infrastructure pose a significant threat. Basic cybersecurity hygiene and proactive measures are vital for resilience against these attacks.

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Security experts are reporting an alarming rise in cyberattacks on U.S. critical infrastructure. Converged efforts by OT and IT teams might make operators more resilient to these assaults.

03/23/2024

"If you ever get on your computer and a pop up appears with a link saying the device has a virus on it and to call a specific number, then do not click on it. If you do, you may have just put a virus on your computer."
https://www.klfy.com/community/eye-on-scams/eye-on-scams-what-are-ransomware-scams-and-how-do-i-spot-one/

IT professional Ryan Delcambre has dealt with viruses and scams for over 20 years. He said this type of fraudulent activity has been common and is catching more and more victims.

01/12/2023

We need more of this.

Two members of the United States Congress have presented a bill to boost research into cyber security in the country’s energy sector, and to create an Energy Cybersecurity University Leadership Program.

06/30/2022

https://www.zdnet.com/article/fbi-warning-crooks-are-are-using-deepfakes-to-apply-for-remote-tech-jobs/

Scammers are using deepfakes to apply for remote technology roles that provide access to corporate IT networks.

05/15/2022

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/21/1050815/hackers-target-critical-infrastructure-pwn2own/?utm_source=engagement&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WKLYSUN&utm_content=05.15.22.eng_subs&mc_cid=b56c2056bc&mc_eid=0adca099d7

Two Dutch researchers have won a major hacking championship by hitting the software that runs the world’s power grids, gas pipelines, and more. It was their easiest challenge yet.

02/17/2022

Cybercriminals long have targeted Microsoft’s ubiquitous document-creation and sharing suite – the legacy Office and its cloud-based version, Office 365 – with attacks against individual apps in the suite such as PowerPoint as well as business email compromise and other scams.

Now Microsoft Teams – a business communication and collaboration suite – is emerging as an increasingly popular attack surface for cybercriminals, Fuchs said.

Threat actors are infiltrating the increasingly popular collaboration app to attach malicious files to chat threads that drop system-hijacking malware.

01/22/2022

"Microsoft is warning that its security intelligence service is seeing a phishing campaign currently targeting hundreds of organisations."

Machine learning picks up on suspicious OAuth use by app.

10/29/2021

QR codes have less chance of being picked up by cybersecurity defences than links or attachments -- and cyber criminals are trying to exploit them.

10/08/2021

Good news for cybersecurity.

Microsoft plans to disable a legacy feature known as Excel 4.0 macros, also XLM macros, for all Microsoft 365 users by the end of the year, according to an email the company has sent customers this week, also seen by The Record.