Cyber Attacks on U.S Companies in 2016

Not sure what the Trump administration can do about cyber security given the "deep state" he inherited which is loyal to Obama, because this report for 2016 and the 2014 and 2015 and ones before them show the U.S.--government and businesses--really let us down. Voter records, Treasury, Homeland security, DNC, social network sites, banks, etc. Wonder why DNC wouldn't let FBI investigate. . . http://thf-reports.s3.amazonaws.com/2016/IB4636.pdf

 "This Issue Brief [above] is a continuation of a series of papers on cyber attacks against U.S. companies since 20141 and 2015.2 While the means of cyber attacks vary, the pattern of targets has been relatively consistent. Large databases, as well as point-of-sale systems, continue to be targeted for financial gain. Hackers with possible ties to nation-states continue to target infrastructure as well as systems for political insight."

"According to the FBI, about 4000 ransomware attacks happen every day.  In the United States alone, victims lost $209 million to ransomware in the first quarter of 2016.  Even worse is the threat to critical infrastructure, as seen by the malware infections at electrical distribution companies in Ukraine that caused outages to 225,000 customers in late 2015.  Recent reports on the Russian hacks into the Democratic National Committee and subsequent release of emails in a coercive campaign to apparently influence the U.S. Presidential Election bring further national attention to the inadequacy of cyber deterrence.  The U.S. government seems incapable of creating an adequate strategy to alter the behavior of the wide variety of malicious actors seeking to inflict harm or damage through cyberspace."

http://www.heritage.org/cybersecurity/event/strategic-cyber-deterrence-the-active-cyber-defense-option

Cyber security and Obama

Russia, China and North Korea have been cybersnooping for years. Why is Obama drawing a line in the cybersand now? He won't do anything. He just wants to discredit Trump. Podesta's e-mails with the password of "password" were virtually unknown to those who watch the MSM--CBS, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN. How much time did they give to the DNC sabotaging Sanders or giving information to Clinton for the debates or bad mouthing Catholics? 2 minutes? 3 max?

"The administration uses only diplomatic and law enforcement means that have had little or no effect in deterring massive hacker attacks, primarily from China, along with those originating in Russia, Iran, and North Korea. China’s cyber attacks continue unabated, despite an announced agreement last year in which Beijing promised to curb some cyber spying. Vice Adm. James D. Syring, head of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, revealed to Congress in April that Chinese military hackers are relentless, conducting cyber attacks on his agency’s networks “every day.” . . .

 Feckless Obama administration cyber security policies already have produced massive losses of U.S. data to foreign states, including valuable intellectual property from the private sector, and sensitive strategically valuable sensitive data from U.S. government networks."

 Washington Free Beacon, June 1, 2016

Phishing Scams

Have you been getting e-mail from Google reporting you need to download something? Or something from your bank about updating your account? Google doesn’t send those and neither do banks. Ignore them. The messages from the phony Google vary (many domain names), but all tell you that you won’t be able to log in to Google if you don’t comply. Often you can tell right away it is a bogus site, says Dennis at Almost a Newsletter by lightly passing the cursor over the link, but sometimes the crooks are really clever. For more details on the Google, bank, and career sites phishing problem, Dennis suggests Gary Warner’s CyberCrime blog.

I get a lot of e-mail about my debt. Those automatically go in the trash through the filter (I don’t have any debt so I know they are phishing, nor do I have accounts at those banks). Some days I get about 50 messages about "returned, or non-deliverable e-mail." Those are also trashed. Then I’ll get a run of items all in Russian. Trash ‘em. Don’t get caught in the phisher’s net.

After finishing the item at Gary's blog about Google I looked at some other entries and found his a fascinating source. Thank you, Dennis, for the link. Between the porn peddlers and the scammers, the internet has really become a cesspool. I'm beginning to think that those of us who use it for fun or legitimate information are becoming the minority.

I’ve been following Dennis' newsletter for years from back in the 90s when I had a real web site and needed help with code. He’s upbeat, helpful and offers a lot of free tips (but you will want to buy a subscription or his e-books if you do this for a living).