#MIDDLEBURY
By JUSTIN GOLDEN
Those of us of a certain age remember a television commercial in the hazy past where the announcer would intone, “It’s 10 p.m. Do you know where your children are?” While this question has been parodied countless times since its inception in 1967, it bears repeating in view of the almost daily news of another computer hack, ransomware demand, or report that penetration of a government or corporate network has been discovered.
October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, and it bears repeating to you, your colleagues and employees to be careful using the Internet and exchanging confidential customer and personal information online.
The BBC reported this week that “malware-infected USB sticks were posted to Australian homes.” Hopefully, your first reaction to finding a USB stick in your mailbox would be like your reaction in the movie theater when you see the protagonist in a darkened home with background noise sounding sinister as they reach to open the door to the basement in a long-abandoned home. You are saying to yourself, “Don’t do it,” but you know they will.
People took the unmarked USB sticks that were left in their mailboxes and plugged them into their computers! This triggered fraudulent media-streaming service offers and other malware. Cyber security experts have called the technology critically flawed. Any USB device could be used to infect a computer without the user’s knowledge.
Another variant of this scheme is receiving a spoof email from a supposedly recognizable organization telling you that you need to do something. The Statesman Journal in Oregon reported a financial planner there received an email from “FedEx” about a missed delivery. He clicked on the attached invoice and afterwards found himself having all his documents, databases and important personal files encrypted. He was given three days to pay 0.49885 bitcoins (crypto currency valued at $303) to get back access to his information.
The cyber threat landscape is continually evolving. And you and the businesses you interact with on a daily basis are not always prepared to address the latest threats. Steve King, COO, CTO of Netswitch Technology Management, advises, “The takeaway from an end-user (customer) perspective is that although many organizations maintain your personal information within databases, nearly 80 percent admit that they’re incapable of detecting unauthorized data access.”
Be careful when you are dealing with companies online. Remember, don’t open that door to the basement in that darkened house.
Golden Technology Services, Inc. helps clients improve their cybersecurity. Contact us at 972-679-9738 or info@gtscloud.com.
