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What You Need To Know About OAuth Phishing Attacks

Amnesty International has reported that OAuth Phishing attacks targeted dozens of Egyptian human rights defenders since the beginning of this year. They are warning that these human rights defenders should be vigilant and contact them if they receive any suspicious emails.

“Since January 2019 several human rights defenders and civil society organizations from Egypt started forwarding dozens of suspicious emails to Amnesty International. Through the course of our investigation, we discovered that these emails were attempts to access the email accounts of their targets through a particularly insidious form of phishing known as OAuth Phishing … We estimate the total number of targeted individuals to be in the order of several hundreds.” Amnesty International

What Is OAuth Phishing?

The Egyptian authorities are using a new spear-phishing technique called OAuth phishing. OAuth is an industry-standard protocol used for authorizations. All computer users should beware of OAuth Phishing.

OAuth Phishing is being used to abuse the legitimate authorization feature of online service providers that lets third-party applications gain access to an account. OAuth is the protocol used by many companies, including Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft. It’s used to manage access to user data across these and other platforms.

With access to a user’s email account OAuth can add events or flight times to their calendars. The OAuth Phishing hackers use malicious third-party applications to trick users into giving them access to their accounts.

OAuth Phishing targets OAuth tokens instead of passwords. When a user grants a third-party app the right to access their account, the application uses the OAuth token instead of a password. Egyptian authorities are gaining unauthorized access and use third-party apps to compromise users’ accounts.

How Does OAuth Phishing Work?

The hacker uses phishing emails with fake security warnings from Google to trick victims into clicking on a malicious link. The victim is instructed to click the “Update my security now” button. When they do, they’re sent to a third-party application called “Secure Mail.” This prompts the OAuth process.

But that’s not all. They are then asked to give the “Secure Mail” app access to their Gmail or other accounts. They’re told to click on the “Allow” button. When this happens, the hacker gains access to the victim’s account.

Now the attacker can use a malicious application to:

• Download other messages, attachments and files.
• Search for and read their messages.
• Install filters and forwarding rules.
• Inject macros into Word documents.
• Access users’ contacts.
• Get into OneDrive and search for downloaded files.
• Extract emails by searching for keywords.
• Setup malicious Outlook rules.

Amnesty International warns that these OAuth phishing attacks also target users’ Yahoo, Gmail, Outlook and Hotmail accounts.

How Can You Prevent Your Employees From Being Victimized By OAuth Phishing?

The best way is to be educated. Security Awareness Training is the go-to solution to keep employees informed about security threats and how to avoid them. But, because OAuth phishing can be difficult to detect and the victim authenticates through a legitimate site, people are still being tricked.

OAuth Phishing can be hard to identify. And, even with Security Awareness Training, people are being tricked. They’re trained to look for suspicious website URLs and to use Two-Factor Authentication. But these tactics don’t work to prevent OAuth phishing.

Phishing messages can convince users to click links that deliver malware or reveal their user credentials. Now with new tools, OAuth is being used for this. The account can be accessed until authorization is explicitly revoked. Not even password resets or using 2-factor authentication will work to stop it.

Train and test your users to:

• Spot phishing messages and specifically OAuth phishing messages.
• Know how to submit suspicious email messages if they find them.
• Defend and respond to OAuth attacks.

Along with Security Awareness training, companies must ensure that their IT service companies have set up the technology, policies and remote monitoring and management to detect these OAuth attacks.

What Does OAuth Recommend?

You can visit this page for security guidance. They say that if a suspicious or malicious third-party application is found in the OAuth environment that all permissions should be revoked. Then review remote monitoring logs to learn what was compromised.

They also suggest that you:

• Limit the number of third-party applications that can be accepted.
• Disable any third-party applications that you don’t need.
• Search and monitor all third-party applications that have been approved for use, and check for suspicious activity.
• If you use Microsoft Office 365, be sure to monitor your application permissions in the Cloud App Security.

The Bottom Line

All of your employees should be educated about the dangers of OAuth and other phishing attacks. They should always use best practices and only access applications that they trust.

Also, make sure that you and your IT provider periodically review the list of applications that you use. Revoke access to all applications that you no longer need.

The top concern for CEOs today isn’t competitors or a recession — it’s cybersecurity. See why this is becoming the biggest challenge for an organization’s top executive.

Why Today’s CEOs are Worried About Cybersecurity

A business’s top executive has plenty on their minds: the potential of a major recession, competitors nipping at their heels and a shortage of talent. However, none of these hot topics are the top concern for US CEOs in 2019 — that banner falls to cybersecurity. When there are so many other issues facing organizations, why is cybersecurity the highest business concern for CEOs? Perhaps part of the issue is the continual cycle of mainstream media coverage of the massive breaches such as Equifax in 2017 that affected millions of individuals and can cost billions of dollars to resolve. It could also be the high-profile challenges that Facebook, Yahoo, Under Armour and Marriott have been facing over the past few years. A recent poll of over 1,400 CEOs and senior executives by The Conference Boardpoints to some of the reasons cybersecurity is a top strategic consideration for CEOs in 2019.

CEOs Struggling to Find the Right Cybersecurity Leaders

One of the key threats facing today’s CEOs is the ability to adequately resource their cybersecurity teams. This relatively new need is one that is causing a significant shortage in the hiring market, with organizations wrestling with budget requirements for an increasingly-expensive skill set. Unfortunately, the dearth of talent is not just at the executive leadership level, it is also causing IT departments around the country and the world to flounder as they attempt to staff up to meet the growing needs of cybersecurity as well as data compliance requirements. These individuals will be in high demand for the foreseeable future as gaining knowledge about cybersecurity requires time and investment in education. Savvy CEOs and other technology leaders have been growing these skills internally for the last several years, but having a split focus between cybersecurity requirements and their “day job” can quickly cause individuals to fall behind in the ever-changing security landscape.

Keeping Cybersecurity Initiatives in the Limelight

It’s relatively easy for CEOs to keep shorter-term strategies top-of-mind for their executive teams, but there are no quick solutions to enhancing your organization’s cybersecurity. This requires a long-term, focused effort — and resisting the siren songs of short-term gains to ensure that your strategic focus on IT security stays in place. Changes in the economy or in the competitive marketplace may tease CEOs to redirect some of the funds or teams to other parts of the organization, but it’s crucial that top executives stay in tune with the benefits that cybersecurity provides to the organization. In many cases, the changes that need to be made to make your organization more secure will also have payoffs in the efficiency of your operations, too.

Marketplace Perception of a Data Breach

The extremely negative perception and sheer quantity of negative publicity that can come with a data breach are reason enough for CEOs to be overly concerned about the cybersecurity within their organization. It doesn’t take long for smaller, leaner competitors to enter many marketplaces, and these organizations can receive positive publicity if larger organizations are caught up in a breach situation. How the business handles their communication around a massive breach, ransomware or other cybersecurity incidents can be as damaging as the incident itself if the CEO isn’t careful. These situations require a great deal of proactive communication and notification to customers along with the major effort required to evaluate the incident and begin remediation. Without a comprehensive incident response plan in place, the situation becomes that much more difficult for leaders throughout the organization.

Creating a proactive field for cybersecurity does start at the top, which makes it encouraging that CEOs are considering cybersecurity their very top initiative for 2019. As long as this focus on IT security and the value for the business continues strong over the next few years, businesses should be able to prepare adequately to weather this type of storm.

What Is Network Segmentation?

Businesses that offer WiFi to their customers or have sensitive data needs should consider network segmentation as a necessary component of their IT solution.

With network segmentation, your wireless services are separated into different parts, allowing you to better control access and data flow.

Network segmentation splits your wireless services into different segments or subnetworks. By establishing separate networks, you significantly reduce your company’s security risks.

Instead of putting all your corporate and guest traffic on the same WiFi network, segment the activity to keep sensitive data apart from visitors, reduce risk.

Why?

When devices are connected to the same network, by default they can “talk” to other devices on the same network. That increases the potential for devices to listen to network traffic without any rules or monitoring in place.

The risk is lower if all the devices on your network are trusted and managed by your company. However, you could have a problem when less trustworthy devices are connected, such as guest and visitor smartphones, legacy computers and servers, or employee personal devices.

How Does Network Segmentation Work?

Network segments are designed with their own hardware and only allow credentialed users to access the services. Rules are built into network configurations to determine how devices on subnetworks can connect with each other.

Network segmentation limits the impact if there is a system intrusion by containing the threat within a subnetwork.

What Does a Typical Segmented Network Look Like?

For many small- and medium-sized businesses, there is only a need for a simple, two-subnetwork structure. A corporate subnetwork would be used for company-owned and -managed devices, providing access to the internal company subnetwork and, through a firewall, to the internet.

A guest subnetwork would be built to provide access to the internet only, also through a firewall. It keeps those guest devices disconnected from the corporate subnetwork from the start. Employee-owned devices can also be connected to a guest subnetwork.

Your business, whether it’s a medical practice, retail operation, auto dealership or professional services firm, may want visitors and guests to have WiFi access. It’s an appreciated service for those who need connectivity and do not want to use up their allotted data. If that service is the expectation or norm, you want to make sure it’s done carefully.

What Are the Security Benefits of Network Segmentation?

Security is the primary reason to choose network segmentation. The benefits are considerable

• Stronger Security Standards. Segmentation allows you to better protect your most sensitive data. With layers of separation among your segmented networks, you’re putting up additional barriers to all users — whether well-intended or not.
• Slowed Access for Attackers. If there is a breach to one segment of your network, it will be more difficult and take more time for the attacker to reach other parts of your system.
• Minimized Threat from Outside Devices. Outside devices may have been hacked for the sole purpose of accessing corporate networks when connected. Often hackers install programs that lie dormant until connected to a wireless network. If compromised guest devices are contained within a subnetwork, the impact is minimal.
• Better Policy Development. Strong network segmentation means your company can better restrict user access. Using a policy of least privilege lets you limit user access to files and systems to only what’s necessary.
• Limited Damage. Network segmentation lets you reduce any damage inflicted by successful attacks. A breach to a single device within a subnetwork will mean less time and money to repair the damage of a widespread, system-wide assault.
• Improved Performance. An added benefit of having segmented networks are the performance gains. With fewer devices on each subnetwork, local traffic is minimized and broadcast traffic can be isolated and prioritized.

What’s Needed to Start Network Segmentation?

If your internal IT staff does not have experience with network configuration, it’s a smart move to work with a local managed services provider to complete the project. Your business should do the following in preparation for a segmentation project:

• Identify your network and data security needs, including the sensitivity of data you use and the business impact of compromised data and system downtime
• Know where the data you want to keep safe is stored and how they could be separated
• Determine who needs access to information on your network and limit access to only what is necessary by department or role
• Identify those who will be responsible for monitoring and maintaining your network. A managed IT services company can do both remotely with net-generation firewall solutions

Network segmentation is a strategic move to keep data protected and accessible only by those who need it.

Keeping An Eye On The Dark Web?

Do you know about the “Dark Web”? It’s the part of the Internet where your private data – passwords, social security, credit card numbers, etc. – could be for sale right now. Do you know how to check if they are?

 

 

The Internet isn’t all funny videos and social media.

Between phishing, malware, and a seemingly never-ending list of scams, there are a number of serious dangers that are important to be aware of.

But there’s an even a darker corner of the web where few people dare to venture that can have a wide-reaching and severely damaging effect on your business: the Dark Web.

Recently, cyber thieves released a huge list of compromised emails and passwords known as Collection #1. It contains 773 million records, making it one of the largest data breaches to date. If your information has ever been breached, it’s most likely on this new list – and that list is on the Dark Web.

Even the federal government has had a hard time locating those responsible and stopping them. The Department of Homeland Security made their first bust involving criminals selling illegal goods on the Dark Web just last year. The arrests were made after a year-long investigation. Though this is good news, it doesn’t even scratch the surface of all the criminal activities taking place on the Dark Web.

The bottom line is that you can’t wait around for the government or anyone else to protect your business from cyber thieves. You have to be proactive about securing your database. Your personal and business information should not be for sale on the Dark Web, but how can you stop this?

What Is The Dark Web?

The Dark Web is a small part of the much larger “deep web” – the common name for an extensive collection of websites that aren’t accessible through normal Internet browsers. These websites are hidden from the everyday Internet — or Clearnet — users through the use of overlay networks.

They’re built on the framework of networks that already exist, and there are a lot of them. In fact, the Deep Web makes up the majority of the information online. Which, when you consider how vast the corner of the Internet you frequent is, is nothing short of terrifying.

This unseen part of the Internet is a perfect place for less than scrupulous individuals to connect, network, and share tools, tips, and information. And it should go without saying that whatever their up to on these sites is nothing good.

Personal information such as school and medical records, bank statements, and private emails are all part of the immense Deep Web. To gain access to this information, you must be able to access an overlay network using specialized software and passwords. This is a good thing, because it keeps sensitive information safe, and prevents search engines from accessing and indexing it.

Why Is The Dark Web Used To Sell Private Information?

The added security of the Deep Web makes it attractive for those who want their online activities to remain anonymous. Unlike the Deep Web, which prevents outsiders from accessing information, the owners of Dark Websites allow anyone with the right browser to access their sites. One of the most popular of these is The Onion Browser, more commonly known as Tor.

The Dark Web is like “The Wild West” of the Internet. It’s an area beyond the reach of law enforcement, hence the complete lack of regulations or protection. Although not everyone who uses the Dark Web engages in illicit activities — it has a history of being a platform for political dissidents and corporate whistleblowers — many visitors are there for less than upstanding reasons.

Cybercrime costs US businesses billions of dollars each year. The majority of information hackers steal from businesses ends up on the Dark Web for sale to identity thieves and corporate spies.

But, the real danger is that it provides communication and educational training ground for hackers and would-be hackers. Although the competition among different hacking groups is fierce, there’s still a willingness among cyber criminals to share techniques and assist one another.

It’s this access to the “tools of the trade” and the guidance required to pull off successful hacks, attacks, and scams that makes the Dark Web so dangerous to your business. Anyone with the time and inclination to learn how to steal valuable data from your business can check out an online tutorial or two, pay for some basic hacking software from one of these marketplaces, and set their sights on you.

While they might not be the stories that make national headlines, small and mid-sized businesses are targeted every day by cybercriminals looking to make a fast buck.

How can you protect yourself?

When a news story comes out about a large corporate hack, businesses often scramble to learn how they can better protect their businesses – but that’s the wrong time to start thinking about it.

Don’t wait until a breach occurs – start protecting yourself now. The advice you should follow centers around educating your employees about the dangers of online crime and developing company procedures to prevent it from happening.

The first step is to make sure you (and your staff) use stronger passwords…

Top 4 Password Mistakes To Avoid

Length and Complexity

Keep in mind that the easier it is for you to remember a password, the easier it’ll be for a hacker to figure it out. That’s why short and simple passwords are so common – users worry about forgetting them, so they make them too easy to remember, which presents an easy target for hackers.

Numbers, Case, and Symbols

Another factor in the password’s complexity is whether or not it incorporates numbers, cases, and symbols. While it may be easier to remember a password that’s all lower-case letters, it’s important to mix in numbers, capitals, and symbols in order to increase the complexity.

Personal Information

Many users assume that information specific to them will be more secure – the thinking, for example, is that your birthday is one of a 365 possible options in a calendar year, not to mention your birth year itself. The same methodology applies to your pet’s name, your mother’s maiden name, etc.

However, given the ubiquity of social media, it’s not difficult for hackers to research a target through Facebook, LinkedIn, and other sites to determine when they were born, information about their family, personal interests, etc.

Pattern and Sequences

Like the other common mistakes, many people use patterns as passwords in order to better remember them, but again, that makes the password really easy to guess. “abc123”, or the first row of letters on the keyboard, “qwerty”, etc., are extremely easy for hackers to guess.

Maybe you think your passwords are fine.

It’s certainly possible – but it’s one thing to skim over a list of common password mistakes and assume you’re probably still OK.

Sure, maybe that one password is based on your pet’s name, or maybe that other password doesn’t have any capitals or numbers – what’s the big deal, really?

If you’re so confident, then why not put it to the test?

Click here to test how secure your password is – take a few minutes and try a few.

…

How’d you do?

Probably not as well as you’d hoped, right? The reality is that truly complex passwords can be difficult to come up with, and even more difficult to remember.

Top 3 Tips To Keep Your Data Off The Dark Web

Train staff members on the proper handling of corporate data and procedures to limit data loss, including ways to handle phishing scams.

Besides an initial onboarding training session, all employees should attend refresher courses throughout the year. The vast majority of cybercriminals gain access to a company’s network through mistakes made by employees.

Require the use of strong passwords and two-factor authorization.

It’s advisable that you assign strong passwords to each individual employee to prevent them from using passwords that are easy to guess, as well as implementing two-factor authorization.

Consider investing in hacking insurance and conduct penetration testing.

The cost of cybercrime will exceed 6 billion dollars by 2021. That’s a lot of money. Investing in cyber attack insurance is a good idea for businesses with a great deal of exposure.

Unfortunately, all these tips are meant to be preventative – they’ll increase your security and protect against cybercriminals taking your data in the first place. But what if you’ve already experienced a breach?

Even worse, what if you’ve experienced a data breach, but you don’t even know it? Case in point: it takes most businesses up to 6 months to find out that they’ve experienced a data breach.

What if you’re one of them?

How can you find out if your data is already up for sale?

What About Dark Web Scanning?

There’s only so much you can do on your own – but there are now more direct ways of checking whether your data has been compromised on the Dark Web. Many security vendors now offer cyber-surveillance monitoring solutions that can scan the dark web for your credentials.

One of the most popular of these solutions is Dark Web ID, which is designed to detect compromised credentials that surface on the Dark Web in real-time, offering you a comprehensive level of data theft protection – it’s an enterprise-level service tailored to businesses like yours.

This Dark Web monitoring solution keeps tabs on the shadiest corners of the online world 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – no exceptions.

Features include:

• Security Awareness to keep your staff prepared to spot and stop hackers from harming your business
• Password Manager to help you and your staff maintain complex, hard to crack passwords
• Multifactor Authentication to prevent external parties from accessing your systems with stolen passwords
• Data Leak Prevention to make sure the integrity of your business data
• Vulnerability and Patch Management to make sure no weakness in your cybersecurity is overlooked.

This isn’t a matter of “what you don’t know won’t hurt you”. In fact, it’s the opposite. You can’t afford to ignore the dark web.

Cloud Storage vs. On-Site Data Housing: Factors for Healthcare Organizations to Consider

Internet technology has opened the way for data storage to be far less cumbersome for modern healthcare organizations. After all, handling all the incoming data in a modern practice is not all that easy. Many organizations have jumped on board and went after a cloud-hosting solution, but is it really necessary if you have room for on-site data storage in your facility? Here are a few factors to consider before making the final decision on cloud storage versus on-site data housing for your healthcare organization.

Compliance is a core concern for many healthcare organizations with cloud-hosted data storage.

Cloud-hosted data is great; it is convenient and does not require investments in expensive hardware. However, in a field where strict adherence to privacy regulations is a top concern, off-site data storage can be something that’s a bit off-putting for some healthcare companies. You lose a certain level of control over the data when it is stored off-site with a cloud-hosting provider. The digital records are not on-site at the facility, so you have to have full trust in the host for the sensitive data, and sometimes that sense of trust is hard to foster to provide you with full confidence.

Of course, on-site data housing comes with its own compliance concerns as well. Proper security measures have to be in place for the data itself, the systems you used to house that data, and the physical location of the data center. The primary difference here is that if you choose to go with an on-site data storage solution, you will know what levels of protection you have specifically because you had a hand in implementing those safeguards. With cloud-hosted data storage for healthcare, you are at the mercy of the provider.

Setting up your own data center can be a lot of work and money.

One of the pitfalls of keeping data on-site is the fact that it can involve a lot of effort and quite an investment. There are several factors to consider before this kind of implement takes place. You will have to look at:

• What type of computing hardware your organization is going to need.
• If your organization has the electrical infrastructure to offer full reliability and avoid problems with outages.
• How you will implement a cooling system to keep the data center cool due to high levels of heat generation in the space.
• What type of security you will also implement to keep the physical location secure from outsiders.
• If you are capable of utilizing the right operating systems and software to coincide with the on-site data servers.

The bottom line is, you have to consider if building your own on-site data storage in healthcare is worth it or if it would be best to go with the more modern solution. There can be numerous costs involved and a great deal of planning. Some organizations are more equipped to handle these changes than others. For the most part, small and midsize operations simply won’t have the time or funding in most situations.

Don’t forget that hybrid data hosting is also an option.

If you’re not equipped financially to handle a full investment in an on-site data storage system but prefer to keep some legacy applications private in your own data storage systems, you do have the option to go hybrid. According to Forbes, this setup is quickly becoming one of the most popular in healthcare. In general terms, a hybrid model allows you some on-site data storage and some off-site cloud-hosted storage as well. These models are being used quite frequently in smaller operations because they make good sense, allow the operator that sense of control they want, and are financially appealing.

There’s really no one-size-fits-all data storage solution for all healthcare organizations. The important thing to do is to consider all of the pros and cons of each setup and take into consideration the resources and space you have available before settling on a particular data storage solution.

Phishing is one of the most commonly-used cyberattacks in Australia. Statistics from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner show that phishing accounts for 39 percent of all breaches reported. Therefore, it’s important to be aware of how to protect yourself at home and at work from phishing.

How does phishing work?

The victim receives an email that is simple in format and generally personalised and potentially from a known sender. It may look like an official email from a known organisation or company, and it invites the victim to click on an embedded link. Wording varies, but it may say, “click to learn more” or “click to see the image.” After clicking, the victim is redirected to a webpage and asked to enter their user name and password or for other personal information. Once the personal information is filled in the attacker then sends emails to everyone in the victim’s address book and the cycle repeats.

It’s a spam email issue?

It is and it isn’t. While having spam email issued from your own email account is annoying and a problem, the larger issue is that the victim has given the attacker their user name and password. With an email and password, the attacker can easily hack into anything the victim uses that email and password for. Most people repeat email and password data for multiple accounts. In the world of cloud storage, this can be several accounts including email, CRM, file storage, banking, and proprietary applications.

Will changing the password mitigate further damage?

Changing your password is a start. Depending on what each account holds, it may be appropriate to cancel or disable the account and set up a new one. However, an aggressive attacker can get into a lot of personal and/or sensitive information from the original login information. Changing just one email password may not be enough. You may need to change all of your work and personal passwords.

How can I know if changing the password has solved the problem?

Look for history of logging in and out of accounts. Once you change the password, there should be incidents of logging failure (from the attacker). However, there is some lag time, because your login information may access more than one sub-account or cloud account synchronised to the main account.

Once the password is changed, am I clear?

No. Depending on what has been accessed, the breach may fall under the Privacy Act and Data Breach Notification. If you’re at work, discuss your breach with the IT department immediately, so they can take the appropriate action. Within an organisation, it’s possible that you aren’t the only person affected, and other people may have fallen for the same trap. Everyone who received the same email should delete it completely without clicking on it. Communicate with anyone who is involved and determine whether this needs to be reported to the Commissioner.

All accounts are secure and communications sent. What next?

Once the fire has been put out, there still may be lingering security issues to strengthen or counter. These can be talking to IT to double-check everything, blocking email addresses, or improving the filters. Then you’ll have to investigate the compromise to see if it is an “eligible data breach” according to the NDB scheme.

You will have to ask some hard questions such as what information has been sent and received via email, stored in the cloud, or accessible via their login. Ask if that data were to be made public knowledge, what would the consequences be? Is there any kind of financial or personally identifiable information (PII) available? Will anyone come to harm (physical, financial, reputational, or emotional) as a result? In Australia, you have 30 days to conduct an investigation to determine whether it is an eligible data breach. If you’re certified for the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have 72 hours to decide. Check with your legal department for further instructions.

Anything else?

For better results in the future, it’s helpful to repeat training with all employees yearly on how to identify phishing and what to do in the case of a cyberattack.

As the business world continues to evolve, digital transformation becomes even more important for every company, regardless of the industry. However, successfully moving into the digital arena and remaining on top requires companies to make the right choices when it comes to their money and their time.

Below are some tips to help your company achieve ongoing digital success.

1. Create a designated budget for digital projects.

In order to become a digital success, monetary investment is always required. Carve out a section of your budget that will be dedicated to digital projects only. In general, your digital expenses should represent at least five percent of your annual expenses. However, depending on your situation, you may decide to scale this amount up or down.

2. Involve your employees.

Investing money in digital projects alone is not enough to guarantee your success. You must also involve your employees in these endeavors. Every employee on your staff should be aware of your goals with regard to digital projects, and some of your employees should be working exclusively in roles related to digital.

3. Stay on top of emerging technologies.

The digital world is always changing, with new technologies on the horizon every day. To be successful digitally, your company needs to be aware of the new technologies as they emerge so you can incorporate them into your operations when appropriate.

4. Consider digital when looking for new talent.

Bringing your current employees onboard with your digital projects can be helpful, but it isn’t enough to ensure lasting success in this arena. As digital continues to become more widespread, hiring employees who are comfortable with technology becomes even more important for every company. When looking for new talent to add to your team, make digital skills a priority.

5. Make use of data.

To improve customer experiences digitally, your company needs to invest in and utilize data. Data allows you to customize every customer’s interactions with your company so he or she can have the highest level of satisfaction possible. Data also allows you to gain valuable insights about every aspect of your business’ operations so you can identify strengths and weaknesses.

6. Seek professional assistance.

Bringing digital to your company successfully can be a challenge, especially if you aren’t an expert in this field and/or if you have many other responsibilities. If you aren’t sure how to incorporate digital into your daily operations, consider hiring a consultant or even a full-time digital team to help you make the most of your investments and your efforts.

These are just a few of the strategies you can use to make your company a digital success. Keep in mind that success rarely comes overnight, so ongoing effort will likely be required before you will see the results you desire.

Intel Humiliated by Losing CPU Market Share to Eager AMD

Intel’s continued problems with delivering CPUs are expected to go on throughout the fall and potentially 2020. Intel’s CEO Bob Swan told shareholders during their second-quarter conference call that the delays in processor deliveries would continue until September.

The fallout benefits AMD, which increased its market share from 9.8 percent in 2018 to 18 percent by the end of June 2019.

Why is Intel having trouble shipping CPUs on time?

The culprit is Ice Lake, Intel’s high volume 10nm processor. The chipmaker announced Ice Lake at CES 2019, but the processor hasn’t been forthcoming in the volumes Intel promised. The 10nm project has slowed Intel’s other chip line production. Lower-end processors have especially suffered, leading to supply chain problems for manufacturers, retailers, and customers.

What are Intel’s problems with the 10nm CPU?

The current problems continue Intel’s struggles with 10nm chips which date back to 2013. Intel’s initial goal for 10nm CPUs was 2015. Year by year, Intel has pushed back the deadline for 10nm CPUs. Intel’s second-quarter conference call gave late 2019 as the deadline — but the real date is more likely to be 2020 for most people who want to buy PCs with the new CPU.

The bottom-line culprit is engineering choices. Intel’s 10nm design selections have consistently held mass production back on its 10nm CPU project. As problems continued, Intel responded by refining its 14nm CPU performance and production process. TSMC and Samsung have 10nm CPUs, but their performance is equivalent to Intel’s 14nm CPUs.

What is so good about increasingly tiny CPUs?

Intel and its competitors, including AMD, are continuing R & D on smaller and smaller gate-size processors. Smaller gate sizes allow more CPU cores, or they enable a smaller die for the same performance as a larger CPU.

Smaller CPUs also use less power and generate less heat, a must for mobile devices and laptops. With desktop PCs, heat and power consumption aren’t as important, so processor performance can be improved in other ways.

How have Intel’s supply problems affected its business?

Intel’s stock has increased 6% since January 2019 according to Fortune, but rival AMD’s stock has gone up 83%. Nvidia’s stock has risen 25% since January.

The supply problems are mirrored by leadership problems at “Chipzilla.” Intel’s former CEO Brian Krzanich resigned in June 2018 when a relationship with a former employee was disclosed. Krzanich’s replacement Bob Swan is credited with improving company morale and redirecting the floundering 10nm CPU team.

Has AMD taken advantage of Intel’s delays?

AMD is gaining market share with scaled-up production of 12nm circuits. The Santa Clara-based chipmaker is gaining market share from Intel with its Ryzen 14nm and 12nm CPUs. It has announced 7nm Ryzen and Rome CPUs. AMD’s year-to-year market share in desktop computers grew from 12.2% in the first quarter of 2018 to 17.1% by the first quarter of 2019. In notebooks, AMD’s share grew from 8% to 13.1 %.

AMD also expects the number of Ryzen CPU notebooks to grow significantly in 2019, with desktop units growing by 30% and notebooks by 50%. Lenovo, the world’s #2 PC manufacturer, will be using Ryzen 7 Pro 3700U chips in its upcoming ThinkPads.

Which Intel and AMD news should industry pros and investors watch in upcoming quarters?

Intel has delayed shipments of all of its CPUs, not just the promised 10nm Ice Lake and variant chips. Rivals AMD and Nvidia have taken advantage of ongoing delays to ink new deals with major companies including Lenovo.

Investors and industry pros should keep an eye on CPU market shares for the rest of 2019 and into 2020. This will indicate if the agile upstarts are going to continue to take on “Chipzilla” and change the landscape of computing power in 2020 and beyond.

We’re only halfway into 2019, yet data protection specialists and IT analysts have already seen an unfortunate spike in criminal activity across industries.

Thus far, here are the biggest cybersecurity crises of the year.

2019’s Top Cybersecurity Stories

#1 – Supply chain attacks

Unique to 2019 is a growing trend of supply chain attacks.

Supply chain attacks are also called third-party attacks. That’s because they are attacks that don’t directly target you and your company, but that still affect you. This occurs by a hacker targeting a third party that your company works with, thus, in the end, indirectly affecting your company.

For example, if your company contracts with another company to provide your stores with POC (point of sale) units, the company providing your POCs could be hacked in a way that ends up affecting your company.

This trend began in 2017 with NotPetya, a piece of malware that spread when Russian cybercriminals hacked how auto-updates were implemented within an accounting application based in the Ukraine. Since, similar attacks have hit several companies, from Asus and CCleaner (a computer cleanup program), to Visual Studio (an application from Microsoft).

#2 – Breach of the American Medical Collection Agency

The American Medical Collection Agency was hacked over a long period of time from August 2018 through March 2019. During this time, it is estimated that 20 million patients had their data stolen.

Information that was compromised included complete names and dates of birth, addresses and phone numbers, balances due for medical expenses, healthcare provider information, and dates of medical services rendered. Although Social Security numbers and insurance ID numbers were not known to be compromised in the attack, the fact that personal information was lost from so many customers is truly troubling.

#3 – Attacks from Iranian hackers

Iran has certainly been in the news recently for reasons other than cyberattacks. When Trump pulled the United States out of the Iranian nuclear agreement, escalations between the two countries escalated quickly. Although many citizens may not realize it, these attacks are happening both in the physical world and the cyber world.

Trump recently aborted a military strike to Iran after Iran attempted to shoot down a U.S. drone. However, he did approve a cyberattack against the control launch systems of Iran’s missile and rocket program. Since, Iran has fought back in a similar manner and perpetuated the cyber quarrel.

#4 – Breach of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Surveillance Contractor

After the breach of a surveillance contractor for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, hackers were able to obtain license plate information and traveler photos for approximately 100,000 people.

Many travelers going across U.S. borders in May were routinely photographed by Perceptics, a Tennessee-based surveillance contractor. Unknown hackers stole this information and later posted it on the dark web.

#5 – First American’s Data Exposure

First American is a title insurance and real estate firm that had personal and financial data from 885 million customers exposed for anyone who wanted a look-see.

This was not a security breach or a hack, but an internal error — and a terrible one at that. Anyone who visited the First American website during the exposure could have stolen detailed financial and personal information from the hundreds of millions of customers that First American had data on. It would have only taken some simple navigation around the site. Information that was available included Social Security numbers, mortgage documents, tax documents, bank account numbers, driver’s license images, and more.

Still, it is not known whether anything was indeed compromised or stolen.

#6 – Ransomware attacks on local governments

Ransomware attacks have long been a problem in the cybersphere. But recently, they’ve been taken to a whole new level.

Instead of targeting individuals or attempting to target huge enterprises, hackers specializing in ransomware are now aiming their attention at local governments and municipalities, such as the city of Baltimore in Maryland, three cities in Florida, Atlanta in Georgia, and many others around the nation.

Ransomware is a type of malicious software or malware that locks down data and/or computer systems from the owners. Once this occurs, the hackers who installed the malware demand a monetary sum (usually in bitcoin) in order for the owners to regain system and data access.

Often, cybersecurity specialists are unable to locate the perpetrators or unlock the ransomed systems or data. In these situations, many target cities have reluctantly decided to pay the ransom. In Riviera Beach, Florida, for example, the city voted to pay a whopping $500,000 in ransom in order to regain access to their computer systems.

Phishing scams — and, increasingly, spear-phishing scams — are the number one way that cyber hackers gain access to closed computer systems, steal information and money, and corrupt data.

Let’s take a look at what phishing and spear-phishing scams really are, how you can spot them, and how to help your organization avoid their highly detrimental consequences.

Phishing and spear-phishing: What’s the difference?

Both phishing and spear-phishing are forms of email-based cyberattacks.

Essentially, both terms refer to email-based attacks that attempt to gain personal or sensitive information using deceptive or disguised emails appearing to be from legitimate sources.

Phishing is the broad term for these attacks. Spear phishing only differs in that these email attacks are specifically targeted at an individual. This may mean that the email includes the individual’s actual name, address, and/or phone number. Or, the email may reference other personal information, such as the individual’s workplace, work position, alma mater, or where they bank.

Here are some examples of spear-phishing emails you may have seen before:

• An email appearing to be from your actual bank: “Dear YOUR NAME, Your debit card may have been compromised. Click here to login to your account and check your statement.”
• An email appearing to be from a store where you frequently shop online: “Your recent order from XXX STORE has been dispatched. Go here to track your shipment.”

Notice that each example includes a place where you should click. This is by design. Often, simply opening a phishing email will not result in any issues; however, clicking on a link inside the email can actually be enough to cause the bulk of the issues (sometimes, major issues). A police department employee in Florida recently opened a phishing email link that led to ransomware being installed on the city’s computer system. In the end, the ransomware cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars.

How can clicking on a simple link end in such disaster?

The answer is malware.

Malware is a shortened term for malicious software. This software can be automatically downloaded to your computer and/or entire computer system and network by a “trap door.” These trap doors are disguised as links, attachments, login fields, or downloads, which are embedded within phishing emails.

If hackers can get a spear-phishing target to click on their “trap door,” they can use that gateway to install malware onto your system. And once this happens, your entire network and data are at risk.

How Can You Spot a Phishing Email?

Phishing emails often have specific features, which should raise red flags right away:

• The message is unusual (comes at an odd time, is from someone you don’t know, is in a bizarre tone, makes a bizarre or out-of-the-blue request).
• The message makes you panic (e.g., “Your money has been stolen!”).
• The message is threatening (e.g., “If you don’t click here now, you risk losing your job.”).
• It’s written poorly, as if by a non-English speaker.
• The email includes personal information … but not very much.
• The sender’s email address or the web address they want you to navigate doesn’t look right.

What Should You Do if You Think You’ve Received a Spear Phishing Email?

If you think you or someone else in your company has received a phishing email, do nothing at first. Remember that clicking on links, downloading attachments, and opening files or pictures are all the things that hackers want you to do, which is exactly why you should never do them if you are suspicious of an email.

On the other hand, some emails may be clearly legitimate. It’s important to know the difference.

For example, if you speak to Ross from accounting in person by the water cooler, and he tells you he’ll be sending over an invoice you need to sign in the next 10 minutes, if you get an email with an invoice attachment from Ross in the next 10 minutes, the email’s probably okay.

If you get an email from Ross out of the blue on a Saturday? And you didn’t expect it? And it’s not in the tone that Ross usually uses?

This is when you shouldn’t do anything. Instead, check the legitimacy of the email. Do this either in-person or over the phone. For example, call Ross or wait until Monday to speak with him personally. Double-check that he sent the email. If it turns out the email cannot be accounted for, contact your company’s IT security department immediately.

Train Your Employees to Spot Phishing and Spear Phishing Emails

Understanding and following these guidelines as a CEO or manager is important, but remember that spear-phishing emails can target your employees as well.

For this reason, ensure that all of your employees know and understand:

• What phishing and spear-phishing emails are
• How to spot these emails
• What you should never do with a suspicious email (click, download, or login via the email’s prompt)
• What to do if they suspect they’ve received a phishing email

By following these guidelines, you can keep your business safe from phishing scams and the subsequent ramifications.