CDM and Wikipedia)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CONTENTS CYBER WARNINGS Is The NSA Spying and Snooping Really “New” News?...4 Published monthly by Cyber Defense Preventing Your Smartphone From Getting Hacked.......5 Magazine and distributed electronically via opt-in Email, HTML, PDF and Online Flipbook What is FISA? How does this help the NSA Spy on formats. Everyone?...........................................................................9 EDITOR Is It Time to Focus on Counter Surveillance?.................19 PierLuigi Paganini, CEH [email protected] Biggest threat vectors for mobile communications......22 ADVERTISING Top 3 Myths About Antivirus Software..........................25 Jessica Quinn [email protected] Hardware-Assisted Incident Response...........................28 CDTL - LAB REVIEWS Special Guest Winn Schwartau Explains MDSM/BYOD.31 Stevin Victor [email protected] Cyber Intelligence Europe, Brussels, Belgium, 17th – 19th September........................................................................33 KEY WRITERS AND CONTRIBUTORS Why are ERP systems an easy target for cyber-attacks? Pierluigi Paganini Dave Porcello ...........................................................................................34 Phillip Hallam-Baker Christian Mairoll NSA Spying Concerns? Learn Counterveillance.............36 Tim Pierson Dan Ross Edward A. Adams Webcam Spying Through Chrome and Flash.................37 Peter Jenney Paul Paget David Rosen Twenty Critical CSIS Security Controls: Part Two ..........40 Allan Cowen Meisam Eslahi Cyber Warnings Newsflash for June 2013 .....................44 Mike Danseglio David Strom Jeff Bardin US law enforcers suggest a kill switch for mobile and Jake Sailana Apple adapts ..................................................................110 Marcela De Vivo and many more… Top Twenty INFOSEC Open Sources.............................112 Interested in writing for us: [email protected] National Information Security Group Offers FREE CONTACT US: Techtips ..........................................................................113 Cyber Defense Magazine Job Opportunities ..........................................................114 Toll Free: +1-800-518-5248 Fax: +1-702-703-5505 SKYPE: cyber.defense Free Monthly Cyber Warnings Via Email .....................114 Magazine: http://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com Copyright (C) 2013, Cyber Defense Magazine, a division of STEVEN G. SAMUELS LLC 848 N. Rainbow Blvd. #4496, Las Vegas, NV 89107. EIN: 454-18-8465, DUNS# 078358935. All rights reserved worldwide. [email protected] Executive Producer: Gary S. Miliefsky, CISSP® 2 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – June 2013 Edition Copyright © Cyber Defense Magazine, All rights reserved worldwide 3 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – June 2013 Edition Copyright © Cyber Defense Magazine, All rights reserved worldwide Is The NSA Spying and Snooping Really “New” News? The NSA has been spying on everyone and everything it can, for a long time. Allegedly its their job. Now, suddenly it's front page news. As the US government continues to expand, the NSA believes they need to create more programs, deliver more tools - to automate, to store data for forensic purposes and the list goes on. So we go from a tiny spigot of spying into a flood of eavesdropping on everything - all phone calls, all emails, soon all internet searches, all facebook messages, all tweets, all linkedin notes and the list goes on. Will this stop a terrorist attack? No. It's like my friends in police departments tell us - 'people call us for help knowing it could take up to 12 minutes to arrive - we usually show up to clean up the mess' - of course that's why even Joe Biden wants you in America to at least have a shotgun - it's an instant equalizer while you wait 3-12 minutes for help. So the NSA decided to not wait around for someone to test the true Constitutionality of their efforts - they felt it was in the best interests of the citizens if they could spy on all of us, hoping to find that one needle in a haystack...correction, allegedly 50 terrorist needles in a haystack of 330,000,000 Americans in a world of 6,500,000,000 people. I can't tell you if their success stories are real because it's hard for an agency that has highly classified information to share anything with us that's true. Where does that leave us? Not feeling so good about being spied upon. Imagine you have that kind of power - to tap into a data source for everything on everyone...what's out there but a secret tribunal to protect the world? Should the UN get involved? Is that good enough? Many Americans are beginning to question this and size it up against the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th amendments saying that their rights are being trampled in the name of security. Remember, as one of America’s Founding Fathers' said "A society that's willing to give up Liberty for Security shall have Neither." This is the warning cry to all Nations. What’s more interesting, however, is the amount of cyber crime going on through our mobile devices by the same techniques of government eavesdropping. So, we begin this edition of Cyber Warnings with some best practices on using your mobile devices and we wish you a private and enjoyable summer. Pierluigi Paganini Pierluigi Paganini, Editor-in-Chief, [email protected] P.S. Congratulations to Alejandro Grinan – United States as this month’s contest winner! 4 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – June 2013 Edition Copyright © Cyber Defense Magazine, All rights reserved worldwide Preventing Your Smartphone From Getting Hacked As we use our phones to send emails, texts, photos and videos, for banking and for accessing social media accounts, we are transmitting important personal information that can easily be intercepted. This risk has increased in the last few years as people who may be savvy about protecting their laptops or desktops from virus attacks, have left their mobile devices open to attack. From having the phone stolen to malware in apps, your data is vulnerable if you don’t protect your smartphone. Cell phone hacking is on the rise in the United States and will continue to grow—protect your phone and your valuable data with these steps. Image courtesy of posterize / FreeDigitalPhotos.net 1. Lock Your Phone Most phones have a “locked” with password option—use it. One of the simplest things you can do to keep your phone secure, locking your phone makes it difficult (if not impossible) to hack if you lose it or if it’s stolen. Top passwords from 2010. Image courtesy of fixedgear/ flickr.com 5 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – June 2013 Edition Copyright © Cyber Defense Magazine, All rights reserved worldwide 2. Use a Strong Password Here’s where a lot of people fumble as well, even though it’s one of the easiest things to do to protect your phone. The top passwords for 2010 and 2011 were very similar and variations on the word “password” and the first six consecutive numbers. Birthdays, anniversaries, and phone numbers also make terrible passwords—anything you’ve been told not to use for PINs goes for passwords as well. A strong password contains a mix of upper- and lowercase letters, symbols and numbers; it should also be six characters or greater in length. Use phrases or lyrics from a favorite song combined with four digits; instead of spaces, use characters. This will be much easier for you to remember than a random assemblage of letters, numbers and characters. Change up your password on a regular basis; set a reminder to change once a month or every few months. This applies to your home Wi-Fi connection as that can be a point of vulnerability as well. 3. Use a Locator Application These applications allow you to find your smartphone if it’s lost or stolen and lock it remotely. Some of these apps even allow you to remotely take a pic of the their or the surroundings of the phone to help you locate it. Download and install (or enable the app, in the case of an iPhone) these apps to remotely wipe out your data should your mobile device fall into the wrong hands. This will keep all the other passwords, photos, videos and more stored on your phone, safely out of the reach. Regularly back-up your phone’s data to a cloud or your computer so that you don’t completely lose all your information! 4. Download or Buy Malware Protection While there are no "viruses" for mobile phones yet, there are some known "malware" apps developed to steal information off of your phone. Protect your phone from these apps using mobile security apps that check your phone for malware. Androids and jailbroken iPhones are the most vulnerable to malware app attacks, as they are open to download apps from any seller or site—non-jailbroken iPhones can only buy apps from the Apple Store and therefore are less exposed to malware apps. Android and jailbroken iPhone users should exercise caution when downloading applications; only buy from well-known developers and pay attention to unusual pop-up activity when downloading from a site. 5. Be Judicious in Using Apps with Geo-Location 6 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – June 2013 Edition Copyright © Cyber Defense Magazine, All rights reserved worldwide Particularly popular in social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare, GPS software can notify all your “friends” and followers of your exact location if you have geo-location turned on. Hackers have begun to use geo-location details for targeted attacks on social media sites for targeted phishing. 6. 3G is safer than Wi-Fi Using someone else’s Wi-Fi (or your own, if not secure), like in a Starbucks or airport, leaves you open to hackers fishing for data in your phone. Using common sense—and some software or applications created to increase the security of your phone—you can protect your smartphone from enterprising hackers and thieves. About The Author Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer in California, whose writing covers several different industries, including technology, marketing and gaming. She also writes for HostPapa. As a business owner, she uses her phone often to conduct business and therefore is sure to take the necessary precautions to prevent her phone from being hacked.