FBI announces arrests of 74 involved in a massive phishing scam

Gone are the days when getting tricked merely involved a whoopie cushion or maybe an exploding cigarette. Today the tricks are severe and can include thousands of dollars! Last week, the FBI announced that after a six-month investigation, they had made 74 arrests across seven different countries (including the US) and broke up a significant phishing ring! This Nigerian originating ring targeted mid-sized businesses and tricked these unsuspecting victims into believing they were sending money to business partners! The same type of email phishing scams that stole money from Google and Facebook!

The North Korean Edition of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Security is at the forefront of everyone's mind these days and for an excellent reason. Attacks are genuinely coming from every angle. In fact, the FBI has just released a warning about an infamous operation in which the US government has given the code name, Hidden Cobra. These North Korean government-linked hackers have been using two strains of malware to remotely penetrate global systems with the intent to steal passwords and other sensitive data. The tools they are using to gain access are, the remote access tool (RAT) Joanap RAT and the Server Message Block (SMB) worm Brambul and have potentially been using these tools with the same intent since 2009. Remember the 2014 attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment and the WannaCry malware attack….this was the same group.

What is "Phishing" and how do you stay safe?

Phishing isn't one of these new words the "kids" are changing like changing "Fat" into "Phat" for a whole new meaning! Instead, it is referencing a type of cybercrime. Most all of us have received a "phishing" attempt but you may have not even known what it was! Knowledge is the biggest defense when it comes to phishing. If you know what to watch out for, you'll know what not to click on or respond to and hopefully, you can avoid the misfortune of falling victim to these criminals.