Cybersecurity in the News Articles

Description

The purpose of completing this project was to research cybersecurity articles in the news by using the digital literacy skills I've learned to identify possible threats of computers and evaluating my sources from the articles I found.

Americans lost billions in internet scam 

This article contains warnings from the FBI to Americans about the risk of being a victim of "sim swapping". Sim card swap is a phishing scam that consists of frauds gaining control of a person's phone number, contacting your mobile carrier and getting your carrier to activate a sim card already being used by the frauds. This then allows them to control your smartphone by logging into your bank accounts and using secured passwords. The FBI recommends using biometrics to log in to online banking apps and apps that uses your credit card information and not saving any passwords to your device. 

Source Evaluation

• Who published the content? Luke Barr

• Where was it published? ABC News

• When was it published? March 13, 2023

• The truthfulness and integrity of the facts: Obtained by a creditable source and a protected browser

• How is it written and presented? Presented in a written article and a live news clip to warn and inform Americans

• Links and Citations: ABC News. (2023, March 13). Americans lost $10.3 billion to internet scams in 2022, FBI says. https://abcnews.go.com/Business/americans-lost-103-billion-internet-scams-2022-fbi/story?id=97832789 

Oil giant ransomware data breach 

This article is about the data breach of Halliburton a large energy sector service that provides the production and development of oil and gas. A ransomware attack caused a system shutdown that breached its IT infrastructure and the data of its customers that caused a loss of $35 million.  This type of ransomware resulted in a ransom being demanded in exchange for data recovery which the company did not disclose details about. Unfortunately, these companies are targets for ransomware attacks and prevention isn't guaranteed but better privacy systems could possibly be put in place to make it harder for hackers to infiltrate. 

Source Evaluation

• Who published the content? Alicia Hope

• Where was it published? CPO Magazine

• When was it published? November 22, 2024

• The truthfulness and integrity of the facts: A credible source with a protected browser

• How is it written and presented? Written professionally with a lot of numbers to back up facts

• Links and Citations: Hope Alicia. (2024, November 22). Oil Giant Halliburton. https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/oil-giant-halliburton-lost-35-million-due-to-the-august-2024-ransomhub-ransomware-data-breach/ 

My Certificate 

What I Learned

After completing this assignment, I learned that data breaches and phishing are more common than I thought. I also learned how to search for relevant articles and evaluate my sources.