KrebsonSecurity

Forced Password Reset? Check Your Assumptions

August 21, 2019
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Almost weekly now I hear from an indignant reader who suspects a data breach at a Web site they frequent that has just asked the reader to reset their password. Further investigation almost invariably reveals that the password reset demand was not the result of a breach but rather the site’s efforts to identify customers who are reusing passwords from other sites that have already been hacked. But ironically, many…

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Meet Bluetana, the Scourge of Pump Skimmers

August 14, 2019
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“Bluetana,” a new mobile app that looks for Bluetooth-based payment card skimmers hidden inside gas pumps, is helping police and state employees more rapidly and accurately locate compromised fuel stations across the nation, a study released this week suggests. Data collected in the course of the investigation also reveals some fascinating details that may help explain why these pump skimmers are so lucrative and ubiquitous. The new app, now being…

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Patch Tuesday, August 2019 Edition

August 14, 2019
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Most Microsoft Windows (ab)users probably welcome the monthly ritual of applying security updates about as much as they look forward to going to the dentist: It always seems like you were there just yesterday, and you never quite know how it’s all going to turn out. Fortunately, this month’s patch batch from Redmond is mercifully light, at least compared to last month. Okay, maybe a trip to the dentist’s office…

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SEC Investigating Data Leak at First American Financial Corp.

August 12, 2019
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating a security failure on the Web site of real estate title insurance giant First American Financial Corp. that exposed more than 885 million personal and financial records tied to mortgage deals going back to 2003, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. First American Financial Corp. In May, KrebsOnSecurity broke the news that the Web site for Santa Ana, Calif.-based First American [NYSE:FAF] exposed some 885 million…

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iNSYNQ Ransom Attack Began With Phishing Email

August 9, 2019
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A ransomware outbreak that hit QuickBooks cloud hosting firm iNSYNQ in mid-July appears to have started with an email phishing attack that snared an employee working in sales for the company, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. It also looks like the intruders spent roughly ten days rooting around iNSYNQ’s internal network to properly stage things before unleashing the ransomware. iNSYNQ ultimately declined to pay the ransom demand, and it is still working to completely…

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Who Owns Your Wireless Service? Crooks Do.

August 8, 2019
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Incessantly annoying and fraudulent robocalls. Corrupt wireless company employees taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to unlock and hijack mobile phone service. Wireless providers selling real-time customer location data, despite repeated promises to the contrary. A noticeable uptick in SIM-swapping attacks that lead to multi-million dollar cyberheists. If you are somehow under the impression that you — the customer — are in control over the security, privacy and…

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The Risk of Weak Online Banking Passwords

August 5, 2019
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If you bank online and choose weak or re-used passwords, there’s a decent chance your account could be pilfered by cyberthieves — even if your bank offers multi-factor authentication as part of its login process. This story is about how crooks increasingly are abusing third-party financial aggregation services like Mint, Plaid, Yodlee, YNAB and others to surveil and drain consumer accounts online. Crooks are constantly probing bank Web sites for customer…

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What We Can Learn from the Capital One Hack

August 3, 2019
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On Monday, a former Amazon employee was arrested and charged with stealing more than 100 million consumer applications for credit from Capital One. Since then, many have speculated the breach was perhaps the result of a previously unknown “zero-day” flaw, or an “insider” attack in which the accused took advantage of access surreptitiously obtained from her former employer. But new information indicates the methods she deployed have been well understood for years. What…

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No Jail Time for “WannaCry Hero”

July 30, 2019
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Marcus Hutchins, the “accidental hero” who helped arrest the spread of the global WannaCry ransomware outbreak in 2017, will receive no jail time for his admitted role in authoring and selling malware that helped cyberthieves steal online bank account credentials from victims, a federal judge ruled Friday. Marcus Hutchins, just after he was revealed as the security expert who stopped the WannaCry worm. Image: twitter.com/malwaretechblog The British security enthusiast enjoyed…

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The Unsexy Threat to Election Security

July 25, 2019
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Much has been written about the need to further secure our elections, from ensuring the integrity of voting machines to combating fake news. But according to a report quietly issued by a California grand jury this week, more attention needs to be paid to securing social media and email accounts used by election officials at the state and local level. California has a civil grand jury system designed to serve…

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