CYBER ATTACK

Computer Security Vulnerabilities to Cyberattacks

Computer Security Vulnerabilities to Cyberattacks. That is because the only way to be 100% safe from a Cyberattack or a hacker trying to get access to your computer is to pull the plug on the Internet. Unfortunately, for many businesses and individuals that just is not an option and will not happen.

It seems no matter how much you try to minimize the vulnerabilities in your computer by using sophisticated software programs that are designed to detect outside attacks to your computer or your company’s computer network and eliminate the possible threat. This requires you to be extremely vigilant about the kinds of things you do on the Internet.

Vulnerability of your computer or business computer network

In order for any vulnerability to become a problem there will be three distinct phases involved; an actual flaw or vulnerability in the system, an attacker would have to have access to the system or computer and the attacker has the ability to exploit the specific vulnerability. With that said, there are things anyone can do to help minimize that likelihood that you or your business could be the victim of a cyberattack.

Short of cutting the Ethernet cord and completely isolating your computer or computer network from accessing the Internet altogether, there many steps that you will need to do in order to protect yourself. This will also require you to be extremely vigilant in order to prevent unauthorized access to your computer.

Identifying what cyber vulnerabilities are that threaten your computer or business network

In order to best deal with vulnerabilities, it is important to first understand what are the most common types of cyber vulnerabilities that exist today. Below are what are considered the most common cyber vulnerabilities that can threaten your computer’s security.

5 Most Common Computer Vulnerabilities

Injection Vulnerabilities

The injection flaw vulnerability is extra dangerous because it leaves company data vulnerable during specific types of operation that occurs at the program code level and it is not usually easy to find until after the software has been put into production and a skilled hacker could easily gain access of the computer network by exploiting this vulnerability.

Buffer Overflows

The Buffer Overflow flaw is one of the most common type of vulnerability and it can be very difficult to detect since it is buried in software code. However, a good hacker will be able to take advantage of the buffer overflow and allow them to gain access to sensitive data before you are even aware of it.

Sensitive Data Exposure

Sensitive Data Exposure flaws can leave a companies data vulnerable when it is being transferred from place to place. Most data at rest (stored on servers) is highly protected, but it when the data is being moved it can be susceptible to compromise if you don’t have the right protection.

Broken Authentication and Session Management

This type of vulnerability involves a flaw that allows the hacker or cyber attacker to impersonate a company employee and gain access to company data for nefarious reasons or to just cause mischief. This type of vulnerability is made more difficult to mitigate due to the large number of these types of system on the market.

Improperly Configured Security

This is where human error often is the culprit and good intentions can lead to even more serious vulnerabilities. Having too much of the wrong type of security software doesn’t make you more secure, it can actually leave you even more vulnerable. Not following sound security practices can also lead to serious company data vulnerabilities.

BREAKING NEWS

Ransom attacks on high profile Instagram accounts

Ransom attacks on high profile Instagram accounts. There has been wave of attacks in which hackers demand bitcoin in order for the Instagram user to get their account back, they threaten to delete the account if the ransom isn’t paid.

There have been several victims of this attack, and they all claim to have received the same message from an attacker named “Pumpam”. The message lets the victim know that the hackers have possession of the account, and to email a particular address in order to start the recovery. It also mentions that the account will be deleted within 3 hours if there is no response.

Victims of the attack found that they could not recover the account through Instagram, as the account’s email address had been changed. This frustration and desperation to get possession of their accounts lead some users to pay the ransom. However, this wasn’t always successful, with some victims claiming that their account was still deleted.

Many of the victims feel let down by Instagram after they didn’t play an active role in helping them gain control of their accounts. Victims felt frustrated dealing with Instagram’s customer support when they only received generic responses to the issue, however this changed when vice’s tech arm Motherboard contacted Instagram about the issue and helped the users get possession back.

At present few details are known about the hacking campaign, including the hacker’s identities and where they are from. We urge Instagram users to be vigilant about their account security, make sure you have a secure password, that you back up your content in the event it is deleted, and don’t click on any nefarious looking links.

Photo by Katka Pavlickova on Unsplash

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BREAKING NEWS

50 Million accounts exposed after Facebook security breach

50 Million accounts exposed after Facebook security breach. Facebook has revealed that almost 50 million of its users accounts were left exposed due to a security flaw. Facebook has more than two billion active monthly users, making security a high priority concern. The security breach has caused Facebook’s shares to drop by 3% on Friday, 28 September.

The breach was discovered this week, and is the latest controversy surrounding Facebook after British company Cambridge Analytica gained access to information of 87 million users, and the controversy surrounding disinformation in elections. However, this breach has been the largest in the company’s 14-year history.

Facebook has said the attackers exploited two bugs in the site’s “View as” feature. The feature, which was designed to give users a clearer view of their presence and more control over their privacy, allows users to check what information other people can see about them. The flaw allowed users to gain “access tokens” which allow access to accounts, through Facebook’s video-uploading program for birthday celebrations. Although it’s not yet known when the attack happened, it seems to occurred after the video-uploading program was introduced. Attacked attempted to harvest user’s personal identifiable information (PII). After the attack was discovered, Facebook forced 90 million users to log out. Facebook has not announced where in the world the 50 million users are.

There have been some major changes in Facebook’s security teams after its Chief Security Officer, Alex Stamos left in August this year for a teaching position at Stanford University. Facebook decided to split the team members so that security employees work within different teams across the company, in order to make security an innate part of Facebook.

Facebook’s data breach was a trending topic on Friday with users posting the breaking story as news outlets released it. User’s found that some of their posts were removed because Facebook’s algorithm saw them as suspicious activity or spam.

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BREAKING NEWS

US Online Retail Company suffered a data breach affecting 6.5 million customers

US Online Retail Company suffered a data breach affecting 6.5 million customers. SHEIN debuted in 2008, and steadily grew to become one of the most acclaimed online women’s fashion stores. Their aim is to provide cutting edge fashion with an affordable price tag. The website primarily caters to women age 16-35, and is US based but ships to over 80 countries.

They recently discovered that their servers had been compromised by hackers in an attack that spanned from June 2018 until 22 August 2018 when the threat was recognised. Once SHEIN were away of the threat, they acted immediately, scanning the servers for weaknesses that were exploited and removed all possible back door entry points to the servers.

SHEIN have been selective with what information they have shared with the public; however we do know that email addresses and encrypted password information was obtained from the attack. We recommend that if you have an account with SHEIN, that you change your password as soon as possible, it is also good practise to use different passwords as often as you can, and make them complex, a password manager can help you keep track of your passwords.

The only promising news about this incident is that SHEIN don’t believe any payment card details were obtained by the hackers. However, SHEIN have enlisted an international forensic cyber security team to conduct a thorough investigation into the breach, and as a result will update users on their data if new information comes to light over the coming months.

If you do believe your payment card information has been compromised, the best thing to do is to contact your bank immediately, they will be able to issue a new card and enact any necessary security measures.

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