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For this project, I had to search at least three articles related to information security and give a summary of how the incident breaches information security.
World cup phishing scams spotted a year ahead of the event
Just in between August and October, around 11,000 phishing emails were detected by the researchers of Kaspersky. According to the Kaspersky, the emails invite people to bid on contracts to supply goods and services to the FIFA World Cup which is 1 year ahead. This is a new type of sport-related scam. Invitees were asked to pay commission to take part in the bidding but they gained nothing in return. Users were also asked to provide their personnel information, login credentials and other information. About 625 emails were spotted that contained malicious files and attempted to infect the user's device with files named after World Cup 2021. Kaspersky advices people to be more cautious of such emails, such offers may seem to good to be true and legal companies don't just come out and say "give me your social or login credentials".
Ransomware cybercriminal fall prey to the Europol swoop
A group of ransomware criminals who were responsible for thousands of attacks against large corporations and influential people were targeted by the law enforcement of several countries in Europe known as the Europol. Police seized about $52,000 in cash, some luxury vehicles and some electronic devices. The raid was a result of 2 years of investigation against the ransomware gang. A giant industrial company known as 'Norsk Hydro' which is located in Norway was the victim of the ransomware attacks in 2019, the company didn't give to the demands of the criminals however, they made a loss of about $70 million and were basically crippled. After interrogation of the suspects, it was found that about 1,800 people were victims arounds 71 countries through phishing emails, stolen credentials and brute force attacks. The gang demanded ransom in bitcoin from high profiled people and industries but with the effort of several countries, most of the gang individuals were arrested with a few still on run. The Europol law enforcement consisted the police of France, Netherlands, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Ukraine and Norway.
An Identity Theft Victim's Story
In 2013, about 13.1 million people had their identity stolen. One of the victims, Amy shares her story. Her identity had been stolen foe more than six months and the criminal had access to all her accounts and other information such as maiden name, previous addresses and SSN. Amy had to check her credit history to see how much damage was done but the thief had infiltrated so deep that her information overrode Amy's. It seemed like the thief was trying to get medical attention with Amy's social number and the thief was lax, she was tracked because many packages and mails were mailed to her address. One should not share their social security number easily, make notes of who asked for it and what else they say. Your social can be found where you file taxes, were you work, your school or buy a car.
Citations:
Fowler, B. (2021, November 5). World Cup phishing scams spotted a year ahead of the event. CNET. Retrieved November 11, 2021, from https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/world-cup-phishing-scams-spotted-a-year-ahead-of-the-event/.
Bannister, A. (2021, November 1). Ransomware cybercriminals linked to Norsk Hydro attack fall prey to Europol Swoop. The Daily Swig | Cybersecurity news and views. Retrieved November 11, 2021, from https://portswigger.net/daily-swig/ransomware-cybercriminals-linked-to-norsk-hydro-attack-fall-prey-to-europol-swoop.
Shin, L. (2021, June 29). 'someone had taken over my life': An identity theft victim's story. Forbes. Retrieved November 11, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2014/11/18/someone-had-taken-over-my-life-an-identity-theft-victims-story/?sh=6f894e4f25be.
Lesson learned: I learned that one shouldn't share their social security very easily, should always be cautious of calls from unknown number and verify the other party before any information is shared. People can pretend to be kind, they might win your trust and wait for the chance to take everything from you.
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