Beware of this new domain name and SEO registration scam

Orange County, CA - I want to thank Alvaka network engineer Alex Estevez for bringing the e-mail below to my attention. One of his clients got this bogus message from GoDaddy. The scams on the internet know no ends for creativity and treachery.

This message looks so authentic and it can be so easy to go ahead and pay for a scam renewal and give up your domain login credentials too. Once you give up those credentials the thief(s) can potentially sell your domain name. For many businesses that would be devastating even if it only lasted a short time while the theft gets corrected. On top of the charge on your card they could potentially sell your credit card information as well.

Alex said, “What made me suspicious was the fact that the email came from a company called “Intranetregistrarnetwork.com” which just sounded bogus to me.“ That site is now shutdown, but count on another one to pop-up soon.

Here is what the e-mail looked like. As you can see it looks quite legitimate. It does not contain the spelling errors and poor grammar associated with so many e-mail scams....

Beware of this new domain name and SEO registration scam2024-04-21T19:41:30-07:00

Cracking your passwords just got faster and easier than ever, here’s how….

Orange County, CA – I just read about a new product announcement, New version of L0phtCrack makes cracking Windows passwords easier than ever. At Alvaka we used to do a hacking demo during a lunch and learn. Rex Frank would usually do the demo by doing a SQL Injection attack and bumping out to the command prompt. From there he would download the SAM (Security Access Manager) file and then use L0phtCrack to decode a password right in front of the eyes of everyone. Nearly everyone was shocked beyond compare. Of course that approach is now a bit dated, but it showed our guests just how vulnerable unpatched and inadequately secured systems can be. From the start of the demo to the revelation of an account password would only take five o

Cracking your passwords just got faster and easier than ever, here’s how….2024-04-21T19:41:48-07:00

Is password length more important than complexity? A guideline for password creation policy.

Orange County, CA - I just read a summary of research on secure passwords vs. weak ones that get hacked. If you are looking to create your own secret password or if you are a network administrator looking to enforce secure password policy then read on. These results are from a study on 10 million passwords that have been breached in recent years.

In summary, if you want a weak password, then use:

  • Words
  • Names
  • Verbs
  • Colors
  • Animals
  • Fruits
  • “Love” phrases
  • Superheroes
  • And days of the week
  • Leet speak, the act of using informal language or code in which standard letters are often replaced by numerals or special characters such as “n00b” or “gue55able”
  • Most importantly, don’t use patterns on your keyboard or phone dialer pad. Those are at the very top of the list of quickly decoded passwords....
Is password length more important than complexity? A guideline for password creation policy.2024-04-21T19:42:03-07:00

Don’t go on a phishing trip!

Kevin McDonald guest writes a blog for Dave Berkus' Berkonomics TUESDAY, June 21st, 2016 Don’t go on a phishing trip! By Kevin McDonald Phishing, a play on the word “fishing,” is a dangerous form of executive or CEO email fraud, [...]

Don’t go on a phishing trip!2021-10-05T01:08:40-07:00

LinkedIn data breach, if you are a user take two minutes to read this

If you use LinkedIn take two minutes to read their posting Notice of Data Breach You may have heard reports recently about a security issue involving LinkedIn. We would like to make sure you have the facts about what happened, [...]

LinkedIn data breach, if you are a user take two minutes to read this2017-06-27T15:55:10-07:00

Ransomware and Phishing Awareness Training for your end-users

If you don’t treat network security as important, don’t expect your users to treat security as important. Irvine, CA - Ransomware and phishing threats are the most prevalent cyber-risk problem facing your organization today. Securing your system is a layered [...]

Ransomware and Phishing Awareness Training for your end-users2019-09-08T21:59:01-07:00

CryptXXX is ransomware that also steals your passwords and your Bitcoins

Most of my recent blogs are about ransomware. That is because ransomware is the most prevalent cyber threat today facing individuals, small and large businesses, governments and not-for-profits. No one is safe from this scourge.

Today I must tell you about a new one. Like Jigsaw, this new one called CryptXXX, is a game changer. Jigsaw was different from prior strains in that it immediately starts to delete your files just to show you that it means business. CryptXXX is different in that it introduces two new problems other than encrypting all your files and then demanding payment. Up until now ransomware has not actually breached your system and exfiltrated data. Sure you had a security incident, but it was not identified as a breach in the classic sense. Now with CryptXXX not only is your data held hostage, but now the culprits steal two new things from you. CryptXXX steals login names and passwords which puts all your systems, local and in the cloud, and any websites you frequent at risk. CryptXXX also steals your Bitcoins if you have any. The stealing of the Bitcoins is a particular insult because....

CryptXXX is ransomware that also steals your passwords and your Bitcoins2024-04-21T19:40:11-07:00

Be Ransomware Aware

Educate your users - Don’t let them be tricked into downloading malware

 Everyone should follow this advice:

  1. Be very cautious when opening an attachment or clicking a link in an email, instant message, or post on social networks (like Facebook)—even if you know the sender. If you are suspicious, call to ask the sender if they sent it.  If not, delete it.
  2. The attack can look like it is from an official sources like banks, UPS, FedEx, USPS, eFax, etc. This has been the most common attack method to date.
  3. If an e-mail gets blocked and quarantined by your spam filter...
Be Ransomware Aware2016-02-29T22:28:51-08:00

New Virulent, Wide-Spread and Expensive Ransomware Outbreak Coming to You Soon

Orange County, CA - We have seen a surge in ransomware attacks in the past week.  While only two Alvaka clients have gotten hit, they are a tale of different system administration acumen. 

1.  A multi-state firm got hit with the latest breed of ransomware on Friday.  Where an otherwise non-event for the most part went wrong was that a key user insisted on having elevated administrative rights for their IT infrastructure.  Instead of using a regular user account, with very limited user rights for day-to-day activities, this more powerful account, when struck by the ransomware, infected all the important file shares of the firm, including the branch location file stores.  Fortunately they had good backups, but because of poor folder naming conventions and structures it took the guys in our Alvaka Networks’ Network Operations Center about 28 hours straight to get all the user permissions back in order for client to get back to work.  The lack of least-permissions as used by this client goes in direct opposition to what we recommend at Alvaka.  Least-permissions is the practice of using accounts that grant the user to only the locations on the network for which they have a business need to access.

2.  In another example, that struck today, a $200m manufacturer/distributor got hit by the same ransomware.  This time it was a Jr executive.  He saw some problems with his system, but did not report the problem not knowing what it was and went home.  The problem was detected after he left, but the outcome was very different than the prior scenario.  Why?  Because this user only...

New Virulent, Wide-Spread and Expensive Ransomware Outbreak Coming to You Soon2024-03-14T00:20:41-07:00