Security Breach Archives - Mike Foster, CEH, CISA, CISSP

Mike Foster's IT Security & Best Practices Blog

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A Huge Data Leak Exposed Your Personal Information

The most massive data leak that’s ever happened includes neatly bundled information for more than 1 billion people. Keep in mind that the estimated population of the United States is only 330 million. If you use email, you are probably exposed.

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773 Million Passwords Exposed – Were You Exposed?

Today Troy Hunt announced that a collection of 773 million usernames and passwords were released. This release of passwords, dubbed Collection #1, contains usernames and passwords

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Watch for Threatening Email Messages that Contain Your Actual Passwords

You may receive a threatening email message that shows you your actual username and password. The attacker may demand you pay them 2900, or some other significant amount. They threaten horrible things if you do not pay.

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Protecting and Restricting iPads, iPhones, and Android Devices

Because many families, and business professionals, received new tablets for the holidays, it is important to consider security. Families, as well as businesses, may choose to restrict permissions on devices. Here’s how:

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About Half of All Breaches are Caused by a Contractor or Service Provider

In our experience of auditing after breaches have happened, about half were caused by a service provider working for the company that gets breached.

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Your Software, such as CCleaner, May Have Backdoors

Can you trust programs you download? Millions of users, including outsourced computer firms, use a program called CCleaner on their own and on customers’ computers. CCleaner just announced that some of its software was compromised and has been stealing data from users’ computers.

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What You Need to Do to Protect Yourself after the Equifax Breach

You may be one of the 143 million people affected by the Equifax hacking breach that was announced yesterday. Data stolen may include contact information, dates of birth, driver’s license information, and Social Security numbers. Attackers can make money selling the information to people who could steal your identity and take out loans in your […]

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Fix A Computer in Minutes and It Works Almost Every Time

I was stranded in the Portland airport last night because of a mechanical failure on the first flight. You’ve had similar situations for sure. What would your travel experience be like if the airlines could immediately reset a plane to be brand new if it breaks?

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Patching – 10 Steps to Seal the Holes in Your Armor

You’ve likely heard of the massive ransomware attack that has taken down so many organizations, including hospitals, around the world. The ransomware appears to have exploited a bug for which Microsoft released a fix a little over a month ago. Follow these 10 steps to help protect your organization from this, and from future attacks:

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The Google Scam Shows How, If someone You Know Gets Hacked, it can Make You Look Bad Too.

The Google scam: If anyone receives an email that contains a link to Google Doc, do not click on the link. Even if the email appears to be from someone they know and trust. Google did not get hacked, but someone else who has your email address in their contact list probably did. Anyone who […]

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