June 2020 News & Updates

June 2020 News & Updates

Industry News, Monthly Newsletters, Tech news
Executive Summary Criminals continue to take advantage of remote workers connecting to work resources via home networks with (often) lax security controls. In many cases, these unprotected home networks that are connected via VPN connections back to the office are giving attackers an opportunity to completely bypass the corporate firewall.Based on number of bugs patched, June 2020 marks Microsoft's largest Patch Tuesday to date with 129 (or 130, depending on who you ask) bugs patched, with 115 in March 2020 and 113 in April 2020 pulling a close second and third.Adobe released significant security updates for Flash Player and Framemaker that could allow an attacker remote access to vulnerable systems.Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 are now six months out of support from Microsoft, meaning they are no longer being…
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Another day, another phishing scam (or two)

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Tech news
As more and more people continue to work from home, we are seeing attackers leveraging social engineering tactics like phishing even more frequently, knowing that these teleworkers are typically not behind a corporate firewall that would likely block their malicious payloads. With that in mind, I received two emails today that highlight some of the ways that we can identify phishing and avoid becoming a statistic. Both emails appear to be from very different senders with very different approaches but, ultimately, with the same end game; get me to click on a malicious link. The sample below is a simple based email attempting to capitalize on the users fear that their email is about to go away and, if they don't act fast, they will lose data. Note that the…
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Serious flaw in Microsoft Windows – CISA recommends patch now

Industry News, Tech news
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released a warning that Proof of Concept (PoC) code has been published to exploit a vulnerability in Windows that can be executed remotely, is wormable and can give an unauthenticated attacker full SYSTEM level privileges on unpatched systems.  It is reasonable to assume the PoC code will be weaponozed very quickly if it has not been already. Microsoft released an update on March of 2020 to patch this vulnerability and organizations are encouraged to patch now if they have not already. This vulnerability also underscores the need for organizations to block and log inbound and outbound SMB traffic between their internal network(s) and the Internet. If you do not have a patch management system or would like information on how Cyber Tech…
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Phishing Emails.  What to look for to protect yourself, your team and your organization.

Phishing Emails. What to look for to protect yourself, your team and your organization.

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Tech news
Phishing has long since been a go-to for the bad guys as an easy way to get malware on or access to victim computers. The trick for the bad guy / attacker is to make the email look like something legitimate and trigger some sort of fear response. The trick for the good guy / target is to be able to spot the scam, and that's the point of this quick post. The email below is one that I just received that's trying to get me to click on a link to confirm my email address. Let's take a look. In the email above, the goal of the attacker is to get the target to click the link to 'prove your email account ownership'. The email looks real enough. It…
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Beware, fake ransomware attacks are making the rounds again.

Beware, fake ransomware attacks are making the rounds again.

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Tech news
Don't get me wrong, there are still tons of legitimate ransomware attacks circulating about but the fake ones seem to ebb and flow as well. Below is an email that we received this morning. The domain is one that's legitimately ours but a) it's unused and b) there's no database there. So, it's a complete farce but it's an excellent opportunity to highlight some key things to watch out for to protect yourself. If you get a similar email (these tend to be pretty boilerplate), know that it's likely false. Another popular pretext is that some random attacker has caught you in 'compromising positions' or watching 'illicit material'. The email is regarding an unused domain.Since the domain name is unused, there's no database there for the attackers to have download.The…
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April 2020 News & Updates

CTC NEWS, Monthly Newsletters, Tech news, Uncategorized
Executive Summary COVID-19 Response - The health and safety of our team, our clients and our business partners is of paramount importance to us at Cyber Tech Cafe.  We are still offering on-site service, however, we have a number of clients who have opted for remote support only for a time to minimize the risk of spreading the virus.  We will continue to monitor and heed the recommendations of the CDC and other subject matter experts on this topic and will post any policy changes to our website and social media pages.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by this virus and to those working so diligently to fight it.We are still seeing Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 Servers in use.  It's important to note that…
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Apparent phishing campaign spreading Kryptik trojan

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Monthly Newsletters, Tech news
We are seeing a surge in phishing attacks attempting to spread the Kryptik trojan. Currently, both Fortinet and ESET are successfully identifying and blocking the trojan but the phishing campaign seems to be widespread (we're seeing it in clients nationwide) and indiscriminate (we're seeing it in finance, manufacturing, medical and others). Attackers appear to be trying to leverage the fact that many people are working from home on less protected networks than they normally are. Additional information on Kryptik can be found below.
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Temporary Closure Extended through 3 April.

Temporary Closure Extended through 3 April.

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Tech news
Thank you to all of our customers who have continued to support us through these unusual times and thank you to our team for all of your hard work and dedication. As I noted earlier, the health and well being of our team and our customers is of paramount importance to Kristy and me. At this time, we are extending the temporary office closure as well as the temporary suspension of site visits (excluding medical / health care) and will continue providing remote support via email, telephone and remote assistance. We will review conditions again next Friday and will post updates here and on our Facebook page. We will continue providing remote support to all of our current customers as well as new customers. Remote support includes not only email…
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Bad guys seizing opportunity to attack remote workers

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Tech news
With the surge in people working from home and often no longer having the protection of the corporate firewall or their peers to warn them of mass phishing emails and the like, we are seeing a surge in social based attacks like phishing and phone based tech support scams. Below are some quick things to keep in mind. Have a well communicated process for anything that involves money. One of the types of attacks that we're seeing is the 'money mule' attack, where the attacker tries to leverage an emergency need from an authority figure (CxO, Finance, Owner, etc.) to someone with access to funds to transfer money quickly. Make certain that you have a way to absolutely authenticate a request to transfer funds before doing so. Some examples would…
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Remote Workforce Support

CTC NEWS, Industry News, Tech news
We have seen a surge in the number of people opting to and / or being forced to work remotely in an effort to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. If your company needs to or is having trouble implementing secure remote work capabilities, we have extensive experience in this area and we are happy to help. If you have an existing IT Support / Staff that just needs some recommendation or direction, we're happy to assist. If you don't have an IT Support / Staff or your IT Support / Staff doesn't have the resources or expertise to implement secure remote work solutions, we are also happy to help there too.
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