Tag: phishing

Operation Lonely Guy: Iranians Use Cute Girl Profile to Cultivate, Compromise Targets in Middle East

Hackers working on behalf of the government of Iran are using alluring social media profiles featuring a young, English photographer to entice and then compromise the systems of high value targets in the oil and gas industry, according to a report by Dell Secureworks. In a report released on Thursday, Secureworks’ Counter Threat Unit (CTU) said that it observed an extensive phishing campaign beginning in January and February 2017 that used a polished social media profile of a young, English woman using the name “Mia Ash” to conduct highly targeted spear-phishing and social engineering attacks against employees of Middle Eastern and North Africa firms in industries like telecommunications, government, defense, oil and financial services.  The attacks are the work of an advanced persistent threat group dubbed COBALT GYPSY or “Oil Rig” that has been linked to other sophisticated attacks. The attacks, which spread across platforms including LinkedIn and Facebook, as […]

What’s a Good Password? NIST says One that hasn’t been stolen

In-brief: what’s a good password? According to new guidelines from NIST: one that hasn’t already been stolen by hackers.

Google Docs Scam Highlights Phishing’s Low, Low Bar

In-brief: There were a thousand reasons not to click on that Google Docs link…but thousands of people did anyway. Why?

man at computer

You Don’t Know Hack: Public Struggles with Cyber Security Concepts

In-brief: U.S. adults may be able to identify a strong password when they see one, but on many questions of how to identify and protect themselves from online threats, they are worryingly ignorant, according to a new survey by The Pew Center.

Surveillance Technology Vendor Cellebrite Has Customer Data Stolen

In-brief: Cellebrite, an Israeli firm that sells mobile phone forensic tools, was the victim of a hack that stole information on customers – many of them law enforcement agencies and governments.