Ransomware Uses Secret Email

Emails Pretending To Be Secret Admirers Could Be Ransomware

Nemty Ransomware isn't an especially well-known threat, but it's dangerous and should not be discounted. Recently, researchers have discovered an ongoing spam-email driven campaign that's attempting to spread the ransomware far and wide.

An unknown group of hackers are sending out what appear to be love letters from secret admirers in a broad pattern.

They are probably simply using email addresses purchased in bulk on the Dark Web. The emails use a variety of subject lines like "Letter for You," "Will be our secret," "Can't Forget you," and "I love you." They have no body text and feature nothing more than a wink emoji. That is clearly a bid to entice recipients into responding by clicking on the enclosed attachment to see what all the fuss is about and get to the bottom of the mystery.
Unfortunately, those that do so doom themselves. The attached file is a poisoned Java Script that installs the ransomware, which promptly locks the user's files and then displays a ransom payment demand.

The fact that Nemty isn't widely known works in its favor, as it gives the malware a very low VirusTotal detection rate. That will undoubtedly lead to a higher than usual percentage of infections until an increasing number of antivirus companies add the malware to their definitions. It's a short-term advantage, but one the hackers will surely make full use of until the AV companies catch up.

Nemty's developers have also threatened to create a blog, which will be used to release sensitive information of those who refuse to pay the ransom.

Finally, be aware that Nemty is known for deleting shadow copies as it encrypts files. So if you're not in the habit of making regular backups, if you get hit with this strain, you will have no way of recovering your data. Make sure your employees are aware!

Call SpartanTec, Inc. and let our team of IT experts set in place cybersecurity measures that could protect you and your employees from fraudulent emails, ransomware, and other online threats. 

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/
Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

Tax Information Theft Is On The Rise This Year

It's tax season, and if you're like many people, you make use of one of the numerous e-file platforms offered by TurboTax, TaxAct, and similar companies. Unfortunately, tax season also presents a tremendous opportunity for hackers. So much that the IRS has issued a formal warning to accountants and taxpayers alike, urging them to enable two-factor authentication to minimize the risk of identity theft.

The IRS warning grew out of the fact that over the last few weeks, they received dozens of reports from accountants around the country about data theft.

If you use a third-party, online tax service like the ones we mentioned above, it pays to heed the IRS' warning and enable 2FA on your account. That is, in order to provide better security and minimize the risk that your tax account could be hacked. If it is hacked, it will give hackers access to everything they need to steal your identity and make your life miserable for months, and possibly years to come.

If you have an accountant who handles your taxes for you, then it pays to at least have the conversation and find out what they're doing and how they're filing your taxes for you. You should find out if/when/where e-filing enters into the equation to be sure they're using 2FA as well to better protect your data. If they're not, it's a serious enough issue that it may be worth considering switching to someone who takes security more seriously.

Since 2015, the IRS has been working with Security Summit Partners, which is a cooperative agency that includes state tax agencies, tax preparation firms, software developers, payroll processors and banks. The purpose of the collaboration with the group is to ensure that multi-factor authentication features are widely available to everyone in the tax and tax preparation business.

Unfortunately, availability does not always translate into adoption. Either way, kudos to the IRS for being proactive and doing all they can to help protect taxpayers from opportunists. Long story short: If you're filing your taxes digitally, or someone's doing that for you, make sure 2FA is enabled.

Take the proactive approach when it comes to keeping your business and client information safe and secure from thieves, hackers, scammers, and other types of online threats. Call SpartanTec, Inc. now and let our team of IT experts help you. 

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/
Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

Malware And Viruses On Apple/Mac Systems Are On The Rise

For most of Apple's history, the company has been able to cast itself as a safer alternative to Windows-based computers. Hackers tended to focus the bulk of their efforts on Wintel boxes (Windows processors), rather than Apple machines. That has been changing in recent months. According to research conducted by Malwarebytes, over the past twelve months, there has been a significant upsurge in the number of attacks made against Macs.

To give you a sense of the scope and scale of the increase, in prior years, the average number of detections per Mac clocked in at 4.8, while the number of detections per Windows-based PC was 5.8. In 2019, the average number of detections per Windows-based PC remained unchanged, while the average number of detections per Mac spiked to 11, more than doubling in a single year.

The researchers note, however, that the types of threats Mac users face are very different from the threats presented against Windows-based PCs, and are generally not dangerous. For instance, the most common infections Mac users suffer from are adware programs that display unwanted ads to infected recipients.

Naturally, there are cases of ransomware, keyloggers and banking trojans that target Macs. However, they are relatively less common than similar infections on Windows-based PCs.
If you're a Mac user, don't breathe a sigh of relief just yet though. The Malwarebytes
research team concludes by warning us. They say although the attacks against Macs are currently less destructive than the attacks made against Windows-based PCs, that could change at any moment. There's nothing whatsoever keeping the hackers from swapping out adware in preference for a much more threatening piece of code.

All that to say, whatever type of computer you use day to day, it pays to keep your guard up. Nobody is truly safe.

Keep your devices, systems, and networks from malware, viruses, and other types of online threats. Call SpartanTec, Inc. in Greenville and let our team of IT experts help you.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

Shlayer Malware Continues To Attack Mac Systems

If you're a Mac user, you may have heard of the malware known as Shlayer. It first made headlines in the early part of 2018.

The malware is primarily used to install malicious adware on infected systems that spam an unreasonable number of popups. The popups generate ad revenue for the malware's controllers.

The malicious code recently celebrated its second birthday, and the hackers who developed it have been busy in that time. According to statistics gathered by Kaspersky Lab, Shlayer has found its way onto one in ten Mac systems, making it the most widely spread MacOS malware threat.

Shlayer finds its way onto target machines via a staggering variety of roads. Researchers have uncovered more than 700 poisoned domains that host the code. The code is linked to a wide range of legitimate websites including YouTube and in the footnotes of a variety of Wikipedia articles.

The main method of distribution, however, is via fake Flash Player updates that have infiltrated literally thousands of websites. The malicious code is also often found on websites that illegally stream sporting events and television shows. The illegal websites conveniently often feature ads that inform site visitors that they need to download a Flash update in order to watch the content they're interested in viewing.

One of the security researchers at Kaspersky Lab, Anton Ivanov, had this to say about the matter:

"The macOS platform is a good source of revenue for cybercriminals, who are constantly looking for new ways to deceive users, and actively use social engineering techniques to spread their malware. This case demonstrates that such threats can be found even on legitimate sites."

Indeed. Although the popular perception is that MacOS is much less prone to malware threats, as Shlayer demonstrates, it is by no means immune.

Call SpartanTec, Inc. in Greenville and let our team help you set in place effective cybersecrity measures to protect your systems and networks from malware and other online threats.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

Reasons Why Your Business Needs IT Support

Many people think that IT support is only for big companies. That is not true. There are several benefits to having an on-site IT support for your business regardless of what industry you are in and how big your company is. It can keep your business competitive, help you save money over time, and allow you to streamline your company goals.

Why Every Company Needs IT Support?

Increase ROI and Cut Costs

Hiring an IT support is a wise investment. It helps bring higher ROI and cut back on company costs. With managed IT services, you no longer have to worry about regular expensive repairs and shady software investments. You will never come across fees and unforeseen costs and you are going to pay a flat rate that’s suits your budget. Investing in IT support means going for financial security in an area that’s becoming an expensive component of businesses these days. Although IT spending usually relates to the size of the company, working with an IT company will help maximize your ROI for all the tech costs.

Improve Overall Security

No matter what kind of business you operate, your data is essential. It is crucial to support your company data with a reliable backups system and top rated cybersecurity.

A technology support team will make sure that these are met. With IT services, you will be able to keep sensitive employee, customer, and company data safe against cyberattacks. In case any data will be lost for some reason, your IT support team have set in place a recover system that will retrieve any lost file and make sure that your company’s technological integrity is maintained.

Give Clients The Service They Need

Your customers should receive top quality service. Nothing will compromise a client relationship more than technology that does not meet the standards. With an IT support team, you will make sure that your customers are getting the service that they need and expect seamless wirelessinternet connection, hassle free software use, and more. Having IT assistance also lets you streamline any client communication.

Advance Company Goals Using New Technologies

Your business may already be updated when it comes to tech that’s suited for your company. But, an IT support team can offer much newer, more advanced technologies to the fore that could maximize the potential of your company. You will be spending less of your valuable personal time studying new technologies to apply into your company and much more time working with the ones that’s already been selected for you by an expert, outsourced team.

Use these tech to advance your company goals and find other areas for growth and expansion. Furthermore, you will be able to maintain a competitive area in the market by depending on the technology that’s taking the most successful businesses to the next level.

 

More Time Managing and Less Time Worrying

Nobody wants to deal with the hassle of dealing with computerproblems. You can avoid all that by investing in a reliable IT support. Let the experts handle any IT problems that come up so you could concentrate on important internal work like employee management and strategy building.

Call SpartanTec, Inc. if you are looking for a company that provides top notch IT support services.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

The Basics Of IT Support

Information Technology or IT involves everything that has something to do with computer based information technology. IT support is sometimes referred to as technical support. It is also a service offered by an IT company to businesses or individuals that need it.

Generally speaking, IT support solves specific issues a company or a person may be encountering, instead of providing any training, courses, or qualifications. However, you could study this at college in case you are really interested.

There are a lot of ways for you to find IT support and to be more specific, various kinds of support. Listed below are more information to give you a better understanding of IT support, who it is for and how to get it.

It Support: Who Is It For?

Generally, when someone purchases a laptop or a computer, a guarantee is provided which provides the individual free IT support Greenville for a specific duration. But, even when there’s no guarantee is given, there are different firms that provide personal IT support for all those who requires it for a specific fee.

Firms also require IT support to make sure that their systems will continue to work efficiently and without any glitches. Firms that depend heavily on IT tend to have a certain IT support team that work constantly, ready with backup plans just in case something wrong happens.

How To Get IT Support?

There are three types of IT support – Managed IT services, Block Hours, as well as Time and Material.

Time and material is just like what its name suggests. Clients will pay for the materials needed and prearranged date for the duration it requires the technician to deal with it. This is exactly how the majority of IT support firms operate.

Block Hours are for businesses that are willing to pay discounted fees for a number of hours, which they could utilize at their discretion, over a specific duration like for a month or year.

Managed IT services are used by companies that negotiate a price for certain requirements like round the clock IT support for their clients or perhaps a visit from an IT expert in case a problem can’t be fixed remotely.

Conclusion:

The information provided above offers you a brief look into what IT support is. With so much professional assistance on offer, you will find it easy to find an IT professional who can fix your problem. This means you will no longer be stuck, having no clue what you need to do.

Call SpartanTec, Inc. if you need the help of professionals for IT support. 

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

Top Security Predictions For 2020

The WatchGuard Threat Lab has provided a list of cyberattacks that will be prevalent during the year of 2020. Tips are also given to help avoid these threats. Although the threats coming at you this year won’t be any less complicated, intense, or difficult to deal with, this year will be the time of simplified security.

Ransomware Eyes The Cloud

 Ransomware is an industry that’s worth billions. Although the overall volume is down, targeted ransomware against the vertical industries is increasing. This year, targeted ransomware will try to infect file stores, virtual environments, S3 buckets, and other consolidated cloud assets.

If you have cloud security whether virtual or cloud UTM, you should use advanced malware protection to identify any evasive malware. You should also think about new security models that will let you execute security controls such as advanced malware protection. You should also harden your workload.

GDPR Will Be In The United States

General Data Protection Regulation was implemented two years ago. GDPR protects the data and privacy rights of citizens on the European Union. As of today, only a few places outside the European Union have implemented a similar law. However, the United States may finally have law that could match the one that EU has this year.

There is no security tip for this particular prediction, but that does not mean there’s nothing you can do about it. Get in touch with your local congressperson. Tell them what you think about the regulations that could help protect your privacy.

Voter Registration Systems Will Be At Risk

There will be an external threat targeting state and local voter databases during the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential elections. The goal of these threat actors is to trigger voting havoc and start voter fraud alerts at this time.

There’s also no specific tip for this particular prediction. However, there are some tips to make sure that voters are prepared in case this prediction comes true. Check the status of your voter registration before the election. You should also check for updates regarding hacking incidents about the voter registration database. Make sure that you get in touch your local state voter authority in case you are worried. Don’t forget to print the result that you’ve successfully registered as a voter and bring your ID once Election Day comes even if it is not needed.

25% Of Overall Breaches Take Place Outside The Perimeter

Working remotely can help improve productivity and lessen stress. However, it also comes with a lot of security risks. About 25% of all the network compromises as well as data breaches will have something to do with off-network assets.

Stay diligent in applying off network protection for your staff just like for perimeter protection. Any device that is brought out of the office should have a full suite of computer security services including a DNS filtering, advanced malware protection, local firewall, multifactor authentication, and more.

Cybersecurity Skills Gap Grows

This year, the cybersecurity skill gap widens by 15%. Schools and cybersecurity trade firms aren’t producing enough qualified candidates who could fill the demand for new IT personnel.

Although the required cybersecurity workforce will not appear right away, there options to help you make and manage a good cyber defence. A short term solution is to concentrate on solutions that offer layered security in a certain solution. You can also work with managed IT services provider or perhaps a managed security services provider where you could outsource your security requirements.

Call SpartanTec, Inc. if you need the help of IT professionals to strengthen your company's cybersecurity.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

New Hacking Method Looks Like A Locked Computer

Scammers have breathed new life into an old scam.

For years, the old 'Law Enforcement Lock' trick has been used to cheat unsuspecting victims of their hard-earned money. The new wrinkle works like this:

Scammers will redirect users using the Chrome web browser to sites that host a full-screen image of a Windows 10 desktop with a notice that appears to come from local law enforcement agencies. This pages informs the user that their computer has been locked for some unspecified illegal activity.

The groups running this sort of scam make sure to display a legitimate government URL in order to make it look more convincing. Victims of this scam are informed that they can unlock their computer again by paying the fine via credit card, right then and there.

Of course, the computer actually isn't locked at all. However, this scam has taken in a surprising percentage of users who aren't paying close attention.

A typical lock screen from the scammers will bear a message that closely follows this script:

"Your browser has been locked due to viewing and dissemination of materials forbidden by law of (country name), namely pornography with pedophilia, rape and zoophilia. In order to unlocking you should (amount and currency type) fine with Visa or MasterCard. Your browser will be unlocked automatically after the fine payment.

Attention! In case of non-payment of the fine, or your attempts to unlock the device independently, case materials will be transferred to (name of local law enforcement agency) for the institution of criminal proceedings against you due to commitment of a crime."

As you can see from the grammatical errors in the script, this is by no means an official announcement, but it looks real enough that it sends people into a panic, causing them to enter credit card information without thinking.

Naturally, this information is harvested and resold on the Dark Web, putting money in the scammers' pockets. Make sure your employees are aware of it, and stay vigilant.

Call SpartanTec, Inc. in Greenville if you want to make sure that your computers and your networks are safe from hackers and scammers. 

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

A Guide To Managed IT Services

In order to boost your operations while cutting back on your expenses, several organizations these days would rather outsource the daily management and implementation of their technological resources. IT can drain your time and money. As we all know, time is an extremely precious commodity especially in today’s business environment, which is extremely competitive these days. It’s not surprising for most executives who handles IT in their respective companies to look for a qualified IT services partner to deal with their IT management needs.

Whether your business needs a complete managed IT support package or only a few services, SpartanTec, Inc. offers a range of options to take IT off your hands.

Managed ITServices include:

•       24/7 remote management
•       24/7 live help desk
•       Reporting
•       Asset management
•       Incident and alert prioritization
•       Cloud services
•       Hosting services
•       Nightly notification, management, backup monitoring
•       CTO services

Most people think about offshoring whenever outsourcing is mentioned. With SpartanTec,Inc. in Greenville, you can rest easy knowing that the support you’ll get comes locally. Using our systems of prioritizations, alerts, and various help desk options, you’ll feel like your IT is being managed in-house even though it’s actually being outsourced.

Our House or Your House

We maintain, manage, and support your whole IT infrastructure, whether the equipment is within your office or hosted by SpartanTec, Inc. Our team could also provide a hybrid approach, which means a few of your servers or equipment in our data centers while managing some of the equipment in your location.

One Service For All

We know that every business is unique. It has its own set of resources and needs. Our team will help you regardless of how many IT services you require. This may include database, backup and disaster recovery, collaboration and communication, network infrastructure, servers, compliance and security, storage, and servers.

Schedule a systems assessment for free with SpartanTec, Inc. in Greenville and our team will provide you the most suitable path to take to make your IT life more dependable, simpler, and secure.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

Phishing Emails Are Becoming Even Harder To Identify

According to data collected by Microsoft, phishing emails accounted for 0.62 percent of all inbox receipts in September 2019.

That's up from 0.31 percent just one year prior to that. The increase is alarming of course, but at first glance, these look like fairly harmless numbers.

Unfortunately, last year, phishing emails targeting business owners (BEC, or Business Email Compromise) cost companies around the world more than a billion dollars last year.  That fact makes the year over year increase terrifying.

The reason BEC campaigns are so successful and so expensive for businesses is that the scammers tend to impersonate CEOs and other high-ranking corporate officials.  When you get an email that by all outward appearances comes from your boss, and it's marked urgent, you tend to respond right away.  That's exactly what the scammers are counting on.

Even worse, scammers have gotten increasingly good at crafting their emails.  It has reached the point that even IT professionals have been taken in by them in some cases. They've been unable to spot the subtle differences between a scammer's email impersonating a CEO and an email from the CEO himself.  If an IT professional gets taken in, what hope is there for a busy HR employee or someone from the accounting office who doesn't face those types of threats on a daily basis?

Given the rapid increase in the number of well-crafted phishing emails, this is a serious, legitimate concern. Unfortunately, bolstered by their own success, you can bet the scammers will be even more prolific.

If there's a silver lining here it is this:  Microsoft reports that taking the simple step of enabling two-factor authentication across the board is an effective countermeasure.  Phishing attacks tend to be automated, and 2FA blocks 99.9 percent of automated attacks. If you're not currently using it everywhere, you're putting yourself at unnecessary risk.

Call SpartanTec, Inc. in Greenville for expert assistance in making sure that your network is protected against phishing emails. 

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

Benefits Of Outsourcing Cybersecurity

Among the most important services that firms benefit from is the protection as well as the monitoring of servers and networks by cybersecurity firms. If a company chooses to outsource any work, they will have the chance to get the best work quality from other industry professionals. If it comes to outsourcing cybersecurity, there must be no hesitation.

Reasons To Outsource Cybersecurity

Cost Efficiency

You may believe that outsourcing work would cost you more than looking for a way to doing it in house, when it involves protecting crucial information within your network of devices, the way to go is to outsource it to a cybersecurity firm. In case you are thinking of building your very own SOC in house, you must know that it could be very costly. Rather than hiring a team of security analysts, training them, having to go through the turnover, and even with the installation of different security solutions, you could turn to a dependable cybersecurity company for a few thousand dollars every month.

The Work Of Professionals

Not only is depending on the service of a cybersecurity firm cost efficient it is also much more effective once it comes to reading as well as creating IT security solutions. A few companies depend on software to safeguard their information, however, that is not enough because you should have a group of human analysists who work alongside the software. Cyberthreats are always evolving and security analysts are equipped with deep knowledge to fight off such attacks. .They are always reading complex reports, looking for problems and finding the right solutions. In case that doesn’t sound all that difficult, just consider the fact that individuals can now earn their college degrees in cybersecurity.

Instant Analysis and Real Time Monitoring

With the work of real security analysts and top rated software that you receive from a cybersecurity company, you will have the chance to detect possible network breaches as soon as they take place rather than days, weeks, or even months later on.

Advanced Monitoring

You also have to know what the different software can do of you and your company when managed correctly. There are software that let you customize your security defence to search for specific threats that are very common in the line of work that you are in. With regular updates in the services, devices, computers, as well as other electronics, you could have a team of professionals manage your SOC and prepare you network for newer threats. They will also be able to determine possible issues and threats once they become dangerous.

Time Efficiency

Just like with other service that you outsource, if you get rid of one task or line of work, you just free up time so you can be able to focus on more crucial matters. The company that you work with is most probably not a cybersecurity company and most likely have other things the need to worry about.

Outsourcing your cybersecurity will make sure that you adhere to the compliance guidelines and receive the protection you require. These five benefits will make a huge difference for your company.

In case you are looking for a dependable cybersecurity company, look to us at SpartanTec, Inc. in Greenville. We can offer you all the benefits that are listed on this post.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

New T-Mobile Data Breach Compromised Customer Info

Recently the US branch of the global telecom company T-Mobile disclosed a security breach that impacted a small percentage of its customer base.

Specifically, the security breach revealed certain information belonging to a small number of the company's prepaid cellphone users.

The exposed data included customer names, billing addresses, account numbers, rate plans, plan features and user phone numbers. The company stressed that no payment card information or passwords were compromised.

T-Mobile has contacted and has begun working with law enforcement agencies to further investigate the matter. If you were among the impacted users, you should have already received an SMS today from the company.  If you haven't received a notification and you're concerned that you may have been impacted, you can get a definitive answer from T-Mobile by contacting them at privacy@t-mobile.com.

This has been a fairly good year for Telecoms in general.  Other than Sprint's data breach earlier in the year, this is only the second data breach in 2019 involving a major Telecom company.

As breaches go, this one is quite minor, and odds are quite small that you have been impacted by it.  Again though, if it's something you're worried about, the company has made it easy to get peace of mind.  Overall, T-Mobile's handling of the incident has been better than average. In the weeks ahead as the investigation draws to a close, if there are new details to be learned, the company will no doubt disclose them when and as they are able.

With 2019 rapidly drawing to a close, it seems unlikely that we'll see a spate of Telecomm data breaches. 2019 is likely to be remembered as a year where the Telecomm companies dodged a bullet. Overall, the total number of data breaches continues to surge higher, a trend which is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Protect your company from data breaches by setting up safety and protective measures with the help of professional IT experts. Call SpartanTec, Inc. in Greenville now. 

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

Hackers Are Imitating Government Agencies To Spread Malware

Researchers at Proofpoint have found evidence of a new threat actor who has been sending out convincing looking emails.

They are claiming to come from several government agencies.

These include the Italian Revenue Agency, the German Federal Ministry of Finance, and the United States Postal Service.

This is all part of a malicious campaign designed to infect targeted recipients with a variety of malware.

The bulletin Proofpoint released on matter reads, in part, as follows:

"Between October 16 and November 12, 2019, Proofpoint researchers observed the actor sending malicious email messages to organizations in Germany, Italy, and the United States, targeting no particular vertical but with recipients that were heavily weighted towards business and IT services, manufacturing, and healthcare.

These spoofs are notable for using convincing stolen branding and lookalike domains of European taxation agencies and other public-facing entities such as Internet service providers.  Most recently, the actor has attacked US organizations spoofing the United States Postal Service.  The increasing sophistication of these lures mirrors improved social engineering and a focus on effectiveness over quantity appearing in many campaigns globally across the email threat landscape."

In the US, emails claiming to be from the post office come with an attached Word Document called "USPS_Delivery.doc."  If a recipient clicks on the document to open it, they'll receive a message that the file has been encrypted for additional security and in order to view it, they'll be required to "enable content."

Naturally, clicking on the "enable content" button does nothing of the sort.  Instead, it installs whatever malware the senders have associated with the email in question.
The identity of the threat actor is not known at this time, but this is a serious issue that you should immediately alert all employees about in order to minimize the risk to your company.

Call SpartanTec, Inc. in Greenville and let our team set up the most suitable internet security protocols for your company to make sure that your network is protected from online threats.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

Cybercriminals Are Taking Aim At Your Business… Is Your Network Protected?

Cybercriminals love to test your defenses. They love to see how far they can get into the networks of businesses all over the globe. Cybercriminals really love going after small businesses because they can all too often sneak onto a network, copy data and move on. Through the use of ransomware, they can hold your data hostage and refuse to cooperate until you pay them some amount of dollars – and if you don’t pay up, they threaten to delete all your data.

But protecting yourself is not as hard as you might think. While cybercriminals and hackers are an everyday threat to businesses, you can take steps to significantly reduce that threat and take that target off your back.

The first thing you need to do is understand why cybercriminals target small businesses and what makes your particular business vulnerable. There are many things small businesses do and don’t do that open them to attack and data theft. These may include not having enough (or any) security in place or not training employees on security protocols.
Realistically speaking, the biggest threat to your business does, in fact, come from your own employees. This doesn’t mean they are intentionally harming your business or leaving your network exposed to outside threats. It means they don’t have the proper training and knowledge to protect your business from a cyberthreat.

For instance, your team needs to be trained to use strong passwords, and those passwords must be changed periodically (every three months is a good rule of thumb). A lot of people push back on strong, complicated passwords or use the same password for everything, but this is just asking for trouble and should not be allowed at your company.
Once strong passwords are in place, enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on everything you possibly can, from network access to every account you and your employees use. This is an additional layer of security on top of standard password protection. This feature is generally tied to a mobile number or secondary e-mail, or it may be in the form of a PIN. For example, when 2FA is enabled, after you’ve put in your password, you will be prompted for your PIN for the associated account.

Another thing you must do to get that target off your back is to get anti-malware software installed. Every workstation or device should have some form of this protection. Not sure what to use? This is when working with a dedicated IT company can come in handy. They can help you get the right software that will meet your specific needs without slowing you down. They will install software that is compatible with your PCs and other networked equipment. Plus, they will make sure anti-malware software is working and is regularly updated.

On top of this, you want to have an active firewall in place. Every business should have its network protected by a firewall; like antimalware software, firewall security comes with a number of different settings, and you can customize it to fit the needs of your network. Firewalls help keep attackers and malicious software off your network. When paired with a good anti-malware software, your layers of security are multiplied. The more layers, the better protected you are.

Finally, with all of this in place, your employees need to know what it all means. Keep your team up-to-date on your business’s security protocols. This includes items like your password policy, malware protection policy and proper e-mail and web-surfing etiquette.

The bad guys are never going to stop attacking, but you have the power to protect your business from those attacks. Call SpartanTec, Inc. now and let our team help you with your cybersecurity needs.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

Employees Targeted By Hackers Posing As HR Department

Just when you think scammers couldn't get any lower, they find new ways to prove you wrong.  Recently, a new phishing scam has been spotted in the wild, this one baiting potential victims with the possibility of pay raises.

The scammers structured their email so that they appeared to come from the Human Resources department of their victims' companies.

They asked the recipient of their phishing email to open an Excel spreadsheet bearing the name "salary-increase-sheet-November-2019.xls."  A shortcut to the remotely hosted spreadsheet was naturally provided.

The body of the email explained that "The Years Wage increase will start in November 2019 and will be paid out for the first time in December, with recalculation as of November."  Needless to say, this tends to catch most people's attention.  After all, who doesn't want a raise, right?

If a recipient clicked on the link, he or she would then be asked to provide Office 365 login credentials in order to see the file.  Of course, the file contains dummy data and has nothing to do with getting a raise; it's simply a useful hook to get an unwitting user to hand over their credentials.

The scammers not only constructed a convincing looking email, but the Office 365 login screen looks exactly like a legitimate login screen. This goes far in explaining the campaign's unusually high success rate.

The researchers who have been following the issue urge Office 365 users to enable multi-factor authentication via Office 365 or a third-party solution. They also encourage business owners to enroll their staff in phishing awareness training programs designed to help employees spot and report phishing attempts more easily.

Be on high alert for this one.  So far it has proved to be a highly effective campaign. Always stay alert.

Let SpartanTec, Inc. in Greenville help you by setting up the appropriate cyber security measures to protect your computers and network. 

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

Importance Of Backup and Recovery Plans

In the past, backup was made to deal with prolonged outages, equipment failure, occasional virus, and natural disasters. What would it cost your business if you go to work one day and all the computers have been encrypted? Or the server that is responsible for your order processing system is down for five days and the hackers are demanding 50k to get it back up and running once again? 

What do you think your customers will feel if they can’t get in touch with you for a week? As a business owner, when you look at your company, it’s crucial to consider technology not only as your revenue enabler but also as a risk. Breaches, IP theft, and cyberattacks are not just geek issues. They are can easily become your worst nightmares. Small business comprise 58% of malware attack victims and cyber attacks cost a small medium businesses a whopping $22 million on average. Disaster recovery and business continuity is taking on a whole new meaning in the world of ransomware.

Although the cloud offers wonderful opportunities for cloudbased applications, offsite backups, and more, the cloud cannot solve everything. Most companies are not even aware that Microsoft does nto backup their calendars or mailboxes.

These days, MSPs will take the principles behind SOC II and cybersecurity framework into account as he works with you and your business to come up with a straightforward, practical, and real backup as well as disaster recovery plans for not just the conventional physical threats of outages and availability, but the new world of cloud scale and cyber security. The results of a well made and tested business continuity plan takes into account the inevitability of non technical workaround, breach, as well as independent software solutions that will make sure that you are among the 40% that makes it beyond the inevitable.

Training and Compliance

Although there’s some level of mystery linked to the word hacker, hacking a system isn’t rocket science. It can even be done by just an email. The shift from conventional to modern msp involves not only securing systems but also training and teaching end users. Any business’ weakest link is its people. It doesn’t matter how good your email and spam filtering solutions are or your perimeter systems, the threats will continue to evolve and people are going to be the main target to override your security system. Technology service providers and managed IT services could help test, validate, and train your employees so that they understand the risks involved and make sure that the integrity of your safeguards are maintained.

MSPs will provide dark web monitoring as well as automate testing for easily compromised and weak passwords. Credential sharing and phishing will be tested at random and staff trained, scored, and counselled not by the human resource department but by the IT department.

Support From The Cost Center To The Differentiator

Some things will never change, computers fail to boot, printers are going to jam, files will inadvertently disappear, and some power point presentation doesn’t display correctly. You and your business always needs support. A good IT department is results driven and customer focused. Support will not just be about tech geeks fixing issues, it will be about getting the problem fixed as soon as possible on your terms.

Call SpartanTec Inc. in Greenville if you want to know more about business continuity planning, IT consulting, or managed IT services.

Learn more about managed services by clicking on the links below:

https://www.spartantec.com/2019/10/31/what-you-need-to-know-about-managed-it-services/
https://spartantecfayetteville.blogspot.com/2019/11/why-should-businesses-get-managed_1.html
https://spartanteccolumbia.blogspot.com/2019/11/a-look-at-msps-today.html

https://spartan-tec.blogspot.com/2019/11/putting-together-effective-it-strategy.html

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC 29601
(864) 326-5914
https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

Browser Update Warnings May Actually Be Malicious Hackers

Researchers at FireEye have recently unearthed a particularly nasty new campaign that is both multi-faceted and dangerous.

At the heart of the attack are hacked websites which display seemingly innocuous popup message informing the site visitor that their browser is out of date.

It will helpfully provide a one-touch solution to the non-existent problem via a button that promises to download the latest version of the browser in question.

Naturally, it does no such thing.  Instead, it uses a series of JavaScripts to gather information about the target computer and send the details back to the command and control server.

The server then responds to the findings reported by the initial script by uploading the initial payload.  This varies based on the details gleaned, but generally includes some type of banking trojan malware and a backdoor such as Dridex, NetSupport Manager RAT, or similar.  If the initial scan reveals that the target computer is part of a corporate network, then an additional payload is also injected onto the target machine, but we'll get to that in a moment.

The first part of the payload will busily ferret out login credentials and other sensitive information, exfiltrating any files of value back to the command and control server.

Only when this operation has been completed and if the computer is part of a corporate network will the second stage we referenced earlier trigger, which is a strain of ransomware, normally BitPaymer or DoppelPaymer. The ransomware spreads through the network as far as it is able, encrypting files network wide.

These two ransomware strains are known for their hefty ransom demands, which often run into the hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars.

This multi-stage approach is dreadfully effective.  It not only allows the hackers to squeeze a wide range of sensitive data from infected systems, but then, locks them down hard and demands a hefty payment.  Be sure your staff is aware.  This one's about as dangerous as they come.

Nowadays, whether you own a startup or established company, you need to be cautious, aware, and proactive when it comes to online security. Let SpartanTec Inc. in Greenville help you secure your computers and networks against various types of online threats. 

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC  29601
(864) 326-5914

https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer

NASA Suffers Data Breach With Device Connected To Network

Not even NASA is immune to hacking.  Recently, the American space agency announced that they traced a breach back to April of 2018.

That was when a group described as an APT (Advanced, Persistent Threat) breached the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's network via a 'Raspberry-Pi' device that was improperly connected to the network.

The hackers made off with more than 500MB worth of data in 23 files. Two of the files contained sensitive information relating to international Traffic in Arms Regulations relating to the Mars Science Laboratory mission.

According to investigators, the reason the hackers were able to burrow so deeply into the agency's networks from a third-party device was that the agency did not have their network properly segmented.  Once the hackers gained access, they could go pretty much anywhere they wanted.

"We also found that security problem log tickets, created in the TISB when a potential or actual IT system security vulnerability is identified, were not resolved for extended periods of time - sometimes longer than 18 days."  The investigators from the OIG said.

Late last year, the US Department of Justice charged a pair of Chinese nationals for hacking cloud providers, the US Navy, and NASA.  The DOJ's filings identified the pair as part of one of the Chinese government's elite hacking corps known as APT10.

Given that, it is entirely possible that APT10 was behind the Raspberry Pi incident.  They certainly have the skills, means and motive. Especially given Chinese interest in US technology in general and their recent big push for space exploration.
Clearly, NASA has some work to do to shore up their security, and the hope is that now that these events have come to light, the agency will take decisive steps to do just that.  Good luck, NASA.

SpartanTec, Inc.
Greenville, SC  29601
(864) 326-5914

https://spartantec-greenville.business.site/

Cities Served
Greenville, Spartansburg, Mauldin, East Park, Overbrook, West Greenville, Greer