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Steve Ragan

Indianapolis
As seen in: Cisco Blogs, Fast Company, PCWorld, The Daily Dot, Macworld, Computerworld, Computerworld Australia, CIO, InfoWorld, CSO and
Covers:  Anything security and technology related, especially hacks, data breaches, and security research.
Doesn't Cover: "crypto" currency. ICOs or related topics.
Father. Grandpa. Geek. Hacker. Former journalist. Security researcher. CMO @BSidesLV. Member: @CuratedIntel | BOD @CircleCityCon (RIP). | Tweets are my own.
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11 security basics that keep you safe from holiday tech dangers

11 security basics that keep you safe from holiday tech dangers

Macworld — These basic security tips will help protect you during the scam-filled holiday season. As far as theft and fraud are concerned, you face (and willingly accept) a moderate amount of risk when you shop online or out in their local neighborhoods.
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Root SSH Key Compromised in Emergency Alerting Systems | SecurityWeek.Com

Root SSH Key Compromised in Emergency Alerting Systems | SecurityWeek.Com

SecurityWeek — File this one among the stories that fell through the cracks due to the 4th of July holiday in the U.S. According to a July 3 advisory from the Department of Homeland Security’s ICS-CERT, the Root SSH Key for Monroe Electronics emergency alert systems has been compromised.
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Anonymous Claims Attack on IP Surveillance Firm Brickcom, Leaks Customer Data | SecurityWeek.Com

Anonymous Claims Attack on IP Surveillance Firm Brickcom, Leaks Customer Data | SecurityWeek.Com

SecurityWeek — Brickcom Corporation, an IP surveillance company headquartered in Taiwan with offices in Dallas, Texas, has suffered an alleged data breach at the hands of Anonymous supporters, who claim to have leaked a customer database. Brickcom has gained granular notoriety in the surveillance space due to their affordable high-resolution (high mega-pixel) equipment, which is used by corporations and law enforcement.
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What are phishing kits? Web components of phishing attacks explained

What are phishing kits? Web components of phishing attacks explained

CSO Magazine — Phishing is a social attack, directly related to social engineering. Commonly centered around email, criminals use phishing to obtain access or information. Phishing attacks can be basic or customized toward the victim and their organization. A phishing attack with a directed focus is called spear phishing.
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Reddit discloses hack, says SMS intercept allowed attackers to skirt 2FA protections

Reddit discloses hack, says SMS intercept allowed attackers to skirt 2FA protections

CSO Magazine — Reddit, one of the largest websites on the internet, announced on Wednesday that someone was able to compromise staff accounts at their cloud and source code hosting providers, leaving backups, source code, and various logs exposed. As a result, they are notifying some users who maintained accounts on the website prior to 2007, as their accounts were impacted.
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Samsam infected thousands of LabCorp systems via brute force RDP

Samsam infected thousands of LabCorp systems via brute force RDP

CSO Magazine — LabCorp, one of the largest clinical labs in the U.S., said the Samsam ransomware attack that forced their systems offline was contained quickly and didn't result in a data breach. However, in the brief time between detection and mitigation, the ransomware was able to encrypt thousands of systems and several hundred production servers.
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92 million MyHeritage email addresses found on private server

92 million MyHeritage email addresses found on private server

CSO Magazine — On Monday, MyHeritage, an online genealogy platform, announced that more than 90 million of their users had email addresses and hashed passwords compromised, after a researcher discovered a file being hosted on a private server. MyHeritage confirmed that the contents of the file originated from the company.
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North Korean anti-virus uses old Trend Micro components

North Korean anti-virus uses old Trend Micro components

CSO Magazine — Researchers at Checkpoint have published a report showing that North Korea's SiliVaccine, the country's anti-virus product, uses functional elements taken from a ten-year-old copy of Trend Micro's anti-virus. Checkpoint's investigation began when IDG's Martyn Williams shared a sample of the software for analysis. Williams has previously written about the DPRK offering on the North Korea Tech blog.
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Atlanta's recovery highlights the costly mistake of being unprepared

Atlanta's recovery highlights the costly mistake of being unprepared

CSO Magazine — The Samsam attack against the city of Atlanta in March was chaotic and crippling. The ransomware, named for the group responsible for development and deployment, left the city scrambling to deal with critical systems that were forced offline, hampering civil services including utility payments and municipal court appointments.
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SamSam explained: Everything you need to know about this opportunistic group of threat actors

SamSam explained: Everything you need to know about this opportunistic group of threat actors

CSO Magazine — The first version of the SamSam (a.k.a. Samas or SamsamCrypt) ransomware was developed and released in late 2015 by a group of threat actors believed to reside in Eastern Europe. The group itself is mostly a mystery, but the code it developed and the resulting pain from its usage isn't.
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Ransomware, healthcare and incident response: Lessons from the Allscripts attack

Ransomware, healthcare and incident response: Lessons from the Allscripts attack

CSO Magazine — On January 18, 2018, at around 2:00 a.m. EST, the security operations center (SOC) at electronic health record (EHR) and practice management software provider Allscripts detected abnormal activity. Four hours later, at 6:00 a.m. EST, the SOC started their investigation and determined the abnormal activity was in fact a full-blown ransomware incident due to SamSam, a family of ransomware that is known to target healthcare organizations.
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SamSam ransomware attacks have earned nearly $850,000

SamSam ransomware attacks have earned nearly $850,000

CSO Magazine — First emerging in late 2015, the group believed to be responsible for the SamSam ransomware family has targeted small and large businesses, healthcare, governments and education. Over time, the ransom prices set by this group have changed some, but they've remained consistent when it comes to general affordability, which is why many victims have paid.
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Allscripts recovering from ransomware attack that has kept key tools offline

Allscripts recovering from ransomware attack that has kept key tools offline

CSO Magazine — Allscripts, the billion-dollar electronic health record (EHR) company headquartered in Chicago, IL said they were still working to recover from a ransomware attack that left several applications offline after data centers in Raleigh and Charlotte, NC were infected on Thursday.
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OnePlus says up to 40,000 customers affected by credit card breach

OnePlus says up to 40,000 customers affected by credit card breach

CSO Magazine — OnePlus, the company behind a popular line of Android devices, said on Friday that up to 40,000 customers might be at risk after a malicious script compromised payment card data during the checkout process. Word of the data breach followed numerous reports from customers related to fraudulent charges, which led the company to suspend credit card payments.
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Spectre and Meltdown: What you need to know going forward

Spectre and Meltdown: What you need to know going forward

CSO Magazine — As you've likely heard by now, there are some problems with Intel, AMD, and ARM processors. Called Meltdown and Spectre, the discovered attack possibilities are rather severe, as they impact pretty much every technical device on the network or in your house (PCs, laptops, tablets, phones, etc.).
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Apple's High Sierra allows root with no password, there's a workaround to help

Apple's High Sierra allows root with no password, there's a workaround to help

CSO Magazine — Earlier this afternoon on Twitter, a developer posted a screenshot and reported it was possible to obtain root access on Apple's High Sierra without a password. Several users recreated this issue on their own systems, including a staffer here at IDG. However, as problematic as this issue is, the workaround is rather easy.
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Why you should fear phishing more than data breaches

Why you should fear phishing more than data breaches

CSO Magazine — For some people, Google controls most of their identity online, and losing access to that critical account could be devastating. A recent study from Google and UC Berkeley examined the various ways accounts are compromised, and determined that phishing attacks - not data breaches - pose the most risk to users when it comes to lost access.
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Office 365 Phishing attacks create a sustained insider nightmare for IT

Office 365 Phishing attacks create a sustained insider nightmare for IT

CSO Magazine — Earlier this month, Salted Hash deconstructed a Phishing email that had bypassed company filters and made into the general inbox. The email focused on an outdated subdivision, and was easily spotted as a scam. However, we've since learned the message itself could be part of a larger campaign that has been targeting Office 365 customers since at least June.
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How to recover from a ransomware attack

How to recover from a ransomware attack

CSO Magazine — It's one of the most dreaded malware experiences you can have: Your computer freezes on a screen message that demands money or all your data will be destroyed. Ransomware is a serious problem, but it is possible to recover from it.
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Republican data analytics firm exposes voting records on 198 million Americans

Republican data analytics firm exposes voting records on 198 million Americans

CSO Magazine — Researcher Chris Vickery has discovered nearly 200 million voter records in an unsecured Amazon S3 bucket maintained by Deep Root Analytics (DRA), a big data analytics firm that helps advertisers identify audiences for political ads. The data was discovered on June 12, and secured two days later after Vickery reported the incident to federal regulators.
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Database configuration issues expose 191 million voter records

Database configuration issues expose 191 million voter records

CSO Magazine — A misconfigured database has led to the disclosure of 191 million voter records. The database, discovered by researcher Chris Vickery, doesn't seem to have an owner; it's just sitting in the public - waiting to be discovered by anyone who happens to be looking.
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18 million targeted voter records exposed by database error

18 million targeted voter records exposed by database error

CSO Magazine — A second database containing voter records has been exposed due to a configuration error. While the first held records that some dismissed inconsequential because the data was public record - ignoring the privacy and security risks associated with such a collection (not to mention various state laws), this second database holds additional data that falls outside such definitions.
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IRS issues new tax scam warnings, FSA tool suspended due to security concerns

IRS issues new tax scam warnings, FSA tool suspended due to security concerns

CSO Magazine — The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a new warning to businesses, taxpayers, and tax prep professionals about Phishing scams targeting the sensitive information they work with on a daily basis. Soon after, the IRS and the US Department of Education suspended a tool that helps people obtain financial aid for college.
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More than 120,000 affected by W-2 Phishing scams this tax season

More than 120,000 affected by W-2 Phishing scams this tax season

CSO Magazine — Tax season doesn't officially end in the United States until April 18. At last count, 110 organizations have reported successful Phishing attacks targeting W-2 records, placing more than 120,000 taxpayers at risk for identity fraud. Many of those working for the victimized firms have had a stressful time dealing with the fallout.
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