Month: September 2014

The Hungry Nude Games

September 10, 2014 — Leave a comment

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Nothing will be the same. We know. We will never be safe. We fear. Yet, there is always something good, which can be found more or less in something bad. It is a sad thing that we needed some nice looking nude bodies to raise our awareness about the ugly truth about IT security.

Do not you just love one of the most famous NSA sayings. It goes something like this. If you do not have nothing to hide, there is nothing to fear about. When we apply this one to our iCloud trouble we get something like this. If you do not take nude photos, you do not have to worry about the unwanted exposure.

Or, do not be a celebrity and make nude photos as much as you like. Our dear celebrities can invest some of their money in top security solutions. Of all people they can certainly afford it. Some cyber bodyguards will be more than welcomed in this situation. We live in the digital world. Right?

Yes, we already have an idea. Celebrity IT Security at your services. Protecting your nakedness with our top cyber watchdogs. We can even make a movie. Hollywood cyber detectives. For us it is funny. For our celebrities it is definitely tragic. Enjoy while it lasts. The photos. You got that one right. Right?

HealthCare Hack Was Fair?

September 9, 2014 — Leave a comment

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Here come our Uncle Sam and he says to us, I have a bad and a good news. Which one you want to hear the first? The bad news is that someone hacked into the HealthCare website. The good news is that no serious or obvious damage has been done. At least what we know or speculate about.

Seriously? Are we supposed to buy this? How in the first place you can hack one of the most important government sites in the country? Maybe, this was an action of some teenage or newbie hacker, who was eager to get some recognition and respect among his or her friends. Some other option?

Russian or Chinese state supported teams were practicing a little bit. Let us stop here, or else. We will get hurt even without the real damage. Or, as a comforting thing we can sing a song, how fragile we are. Now, when we are done with signing let us do some thinking. What can we do about this one?

First things first, the IT security should be among our top priorities. We mean real priorities, not only priorities on our list of wishes. Otherwise, who knows what is next. We may wake up in some other country in cyber terms one fine day. We sure hope that the lesson is being learned properly.

Hackers Do Care About The Healthcare

September 7, 2014 — Leave a comment

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Malware is a disease, call a doctor. Under some other circumstances this could have been a nice slogan for some IT security service provider. However, we are eager to discuss something else with you. Why, all of a sudden, the hackers have become so healthcare systems focused?

Maybe, they understand that the health comes first and business second? No, it is not a time for jokes. Yes, it can be that simple. The hackers are.educated fools with the money on their minds. They want to get the most in exchange for their invested money, time and efforts. Very rational indeed.

Now, we can understand their logic and motives with this one. The healthcare data centers are the endless seas of opportunities for hackers. Each healthcare system is an El Dorado of personal data. Just imagine what you can do in the black data market with millions and millions of personal data?

In order to avoid serious medical conditions of healthcare users, who can really get ill when they found out about hacking of their personal data, something needs to be done for real. These systems require serious and efficient IT security therapies for a long and healthy life of all of us. Cheers.

Small Business – Big Trouble

September 7, 2014 — Leave a comment

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Why would anyone attack our website? We are a small company. Hackers go after large and important business subjects. How many times have you heard an argumentation like this from a small business owner? Unfortunately, too much and too often. Oh dear, these words can get you into trouble.

For hackers there is no such thing as a target too small to attack. Who knows what is in their minds and what kind of a scheme they have prepared for your computer or website? You do not have to spend more money than it is your business worth in the first place for the IT security measures and solutions.

However, you would be surprised how a symbolic investment in this field can have a tremendous influence on your cyber security situation. If you do not want to make a voluntary investment for the IT security purposes, then you must pay to someone to clean up your malware caused mess.

As simple as that. And yet, we keep forgetting or avoiding to apply this simple rule. Until eventually it is too late to talk about prevention, and you are left with no other option than to consider the expensive cyber treatment. Small business needs small IT security in order to avoid big troubles. Remember this one.

The NSAnet

September 6, 2014 — Leave a comment

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DO you work in some of the government agencies such as the DEA or the FBI? Do you know what is the ICREACH? OK. Time for some explaining. This is one more of the Snowden’s lessons about the NSA. The ICREACH stands for the Intelligence Community Reach. What in the world is that?

Well, let us put it in this way. This is the NSA Internet, or to be even more precise a specific form of a social networks for secret agents. As soon as you access this network you get an immediate overview of literally billions and billions of extremely sensitive data. How convenient it is indeed. Impressed?

Or, stressed? So, the next time you want to experience the full scale privacy breach, use the NSA’s ICREACH. Nevertheless, the things are a little bit serious in this matter. Therefore, we will leave poems for some other occasion. If other agencies can access the NSA forbidden data kingdom, how about hackers?

Although, the NSA has locked the door and made the key copies for the limited number of users, who can guarantee us that there is no skilled locksmith with dishonest intentions on his mind. Someone, for example, who is listening this story first hand from the most famous whistleblower in history. You know who is that, don’t you?

California Kill Switch Bill

September 4, 2014 — Leave a comment

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It has been cooking for quite some time. Now, it is time for us to see some actual working in this matter. California is the first state with the kill switch bill in force. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to know what is this bill all about, do you? You cannot have the absolute anti-theft guarantee.

However, you can make all smartphone thefts absolutely pointless. With this feature you can log into your web account and kill your stolen smartphone literally. Its interior will become a melted and useless material in a matter of seconds. How can you be sure with this one?

Well, for what is worth, this is supposed to be a default feature for all smartphones bought in California. Although, some elements which can survive the kill-switch can still be used for spare parts, the damage for the thieves has already been done. It is simply not worth all the risk and trouble.

On the other side, we sure hope that the feature itself is protected enough. The last thing we need is some hacker killer, who decides how many smartphones to eliminate with a simple push of a kill switch button. Let us hope that we have not created the ultimate weapon against the smartphones.

Heartbleed’s Heartrate

September 3, 2014 — Leave a comment

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Here are some extremely disturbing Heartbleed related statistics. Nowadays, the Heartbleed hackers attack 3,47 times per second. So what, one may see? Well, the trouble with the Heartbleed curve is that this menace has become an inevitable race against the time, with the very poor odds in your favor.

Although, the time gaps and discretely opened doors are left open and undefended for a very short time period, this is more than enough for the highly skilled hackers. Before you are able to come up with the life saving update or patch, you can rest assured that your heart has already bled.

And, there is not much you can do about this one. You are doomed to race against the single second of time you have to identify and eliminate a certain security flaw. Now, you see the whole picture. Now, you realize why it is hard to deal with the Heartbleed security threat adequately.

After this amusing, but a little useless lecture, you can ask yourself what can we really do about it? Maybe, the smartest and easiest solution would be to make one of the former heartbleeders to bleed for us, for a change. Otherwise, it is highly unlikely that we win the one second race. For now.

Who Will Guard The Guardians?

September 2, 2014 — Leave a comment

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Here is the story. Here is the trouble. One of the top ranking US government officials in charge of the cyber security is arrested. OK. Can you leave with that? Can you accept this fact? As soon as you hear the very reason, you will definitely make up your mind about this one, that is for sure.

This cyber guardian faces some very serious criminal charges directly associated with the most recent case of child pornography. When you hear something like this, it simply leaves an extremely bitter taste in your mouth. It comes without saying that he was using his skills for something unspeakable.

So, what are we supposed to do? To whom can we really believe? Is it necessary to thoroughly scan all IT security experts at key decision making positions? We are heart broken, at least to say. And, we know what to ask. This case has to serve as an example. All circumstances are to be included.

This guy has to get an extra penalty. One regular for the crime itself, and something in addition, because he was supposed to protect us, and not abuse his position in the unthinkable way. We need IT guardians of impeccable professional and personal ethic. There is no other way to ensure top protection.

Russian Cyber Mafia

September 1, 2014 — Leave a comment

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Although,  this post’s title may sound similar to the Swedish House Mafia, you can rest assured it has nothing to do with music. As a matter of fact, while someone’s fingers were playing the digital music of destruction, the other side was at the very edge of its tears and complete desperation.

So, let us see who are the main characters of our story. On the one side, we have the top Russian hackers. On the other side, we have the very symbol of the corporate America. This is how you end up with a breaking news: JP Morgan was hacked by the Russian hackers. Oh, this one sound terrible.

You know how it goes in the aftermath of this and similar events, don’t you? If a dinosaur such as JP Morgan cannot be safe, what about the IT security of the rest of us the mortals? At least JP Morgan can afford the top class IT protection. They have invented the money as we know it today.

How about a little spending for justified IT causes? The Russian IT school, including its hacker’s department has one hell of a reputation. However, not even they are almighty with the proper IT security measures. Unless something is done with this one, their next address can easily be the White House.