SBS CyberSecurity - In The Wild 142

In The Wild - CyberSecurity Newsletter Welcome to the 142nd issue of In The Wild, SBS’ weekly CyberSecurity newsletter. The objective of this newsletter is to share threat intelligence, news articles that are relevant, new and updated guidance, and other information you may find helpful. Below, you will find some of the latest-and-greatest news stories, articles, videos, and links from the past week in cybersecurity. Some of the following stories have been shared by consultants, others by the SBS Institute, and others yet simply been found in the far corners of the Internet. We hope you find the following stories relevant, interesting, and – most of all – useful. Enjoy. [Blog] Safe Social Media Usage SBS Educational Resources We, as a society, use the internet, and especially social media, more with each day. We share everything, including travel itineraries, political views, and, sometimes, even what we had for lunch. However, we don’t often think about the consequences of the things we post on the internet. A quick Google search can tell you many cautionary tales around why we shouldn’t share too much information on social media, but that’s not what this blog post is about. This blog post is about being safe when you do overshare online. Read Here »   Avast, NordVPN Breaches Tied to Phantom User Accounts Krebs on Security Antivirus and security giant Avast and virtual private networking (VPN) software provider NordVPN each today disclosed months-long network intrusions that — while otherwise unrelated — shared a common cause: Forgotten or unknown user accounts that granted remote access to internal systems with little more than a password. Read Here »   How to Protect Your Company's Backups from Ransomware Emsisoft Backups are an essential part of any ransomware disaster recovery plan. In the event that an organization is hit with ransomware, it can simply use its backups to recover the system without paying a cent to the bad guys. There’s just one problem: backups are not immune to ransomware. Increasingly advanced ransomware strains contain mechanisms that are designed to seek out and encrypt backups that are stored both locally and in the cloud. And, if a company’s backups get encrypted, it may have no other choice but to pay the ransom. Read Here »   AIG Is the Latest Insurer to Back Away from Cyber Insurance Coverage CPO Magazine There is a growing precedent within the global insurance industry for insurers to back away from their cyber insurance policies, usually in the face of potentially massive losses. The latest insurance company to dispute the legal definition of terms included in its cyber insurance policies is insurance giant AIG, which is disputing a breach of contract lawsuit filed in August. The company says its cyber insurance plans do not cover “criminal acts,” which is the way that it is characterizing a cyber incident involving nearly $6 million in losses at multi-billion-dollar financial technology company SS&C Technologies. Read Here »   Do you know which SBS Institute Certification Programs are coming up? Check out the Certification Calendar and share with your clients. Find Out Here! » NIST to Improve MSP Cybersecurity Guidelines MeriTalk he National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is tackling managed service provider (MSPs) cybersecurity by developing a customizable reference model that MSPs can adapt to fit their program needs. The first draft of the guidance, Improving Cybersecurity of Managed Service Providers, is open for public feedback until Nov. 8. Once the draft is finalized, the leaders of the project at the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) will outline solutions that align with the NIST Cybersecurity framework and industry best practices. Read Here »   Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile to replace SMS with RCS in 2020 The Hacker News Mobile carriers in the United States will finally offer a universal cross-carrier communication standard for the next-generation Rich Communications Service (RCS) messaging service that is meant to replace SMS and has the potential to change the way consumers interact with brands for years to come. All major United States mobile phone carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, have joined forces to launch a new initiative that will replace SMS with RCS mobile messaging standard. Read Here »   Here's How to Stop Your ISP From Spying On You Fast Company The federal government has authorized your internet service provider to spy on you. The right was enshrined by a 2017 act of Congress that canceled anti-spying regulations enacted by the Obama-era Federal Communications Commission. Today, your ISP can log every place you go online and use that data any way it wants, such as building user profiles for its own or other companies’ advertising platforms. Read Here »   5 Questions Interesting People Always Ask in Conversations Inc.com You've been there countless times. You walk into a networking event or social function, and the first extroverted person drops the suspect questions we've all heard ad nauseam: What do you do? Where are you from? Predictable and exhausting. As you run through the scripted answer in your head, you wonder, "Is this is someone I really want to talk to?" The problem is, most of us are guilty of asking those dreaded, superficial questions that lead nowhere beyond the small talk. Read Here » 10 Other Interesting Links From This Week There were too many fantastic reads from this past weeks’ worth of cybersecurity and technology news, so here are a few additional quick-hit links for your reading pleasure:       Krebs on Security: Cachet Financial Reeling from MyPayrollHR Fraud       Krebs on Security: Ransomware Hits B2B Payments Firm Billtrust       Bleeping Computer: Hacker Plants Keylogger Devices on Company Systems Faces 12yr in Jail       Bleeping Computer: How to Get the Windows 10 November 2019 Update Now       naked security: Firefox Privacy Protection makes website trackers visible       ars technica: Man sues AT&T after fraudulent SIM swap led to $1.8M cryptocurrency theft       ZDNet: These 17 iPhone apps have been removed from the Apple App Store for delivering malware       ZDNet: City of Johannesburg held for ransom by hacker gang       BankInfoSecurity: Here's Why 'Raccoon' Infostealer Is Popular With Criminals       threatpost: U.N., UNICEF, Red Cross Under Ongoing Mobile Attack