23. Cover up your Webcam!
Why you might want to cover up your webcam with a sticker
UPDATE to last week's Headlines:
92% of Exchange servers worldwide have been patched (82k originally, now only 30k vulnerable)
92% of Exchange servers worldwide have been patched (82k originally, now only 30k vulnerable)
This Week's Security Tip:
Here’s a disturbing, but very real, tactic for hackers: spying on you via your device’s camera. Some simply watch you for fun. Others attempt to catch incriminating photos and then blackmail you by threatening to release the photos or video (which they have) to all your Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections or e-mail address book (which they also have) unless you pay a ransom. If you pay, they can come back and ask for MORE because they now know you care AND that you’ll pay. If you don’t pay, they will release that picture of you doing, um, well…
Here’s a disturbing, but very real, tactic for hackers: spying on you via your device’s camera. Some simply watch you for fun. Others attempt to catch incriminating photos and then blackmail you by threatening to release the photos or video (which they have) to all your Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections or e-mail address book (which they also have) unless you pay a ransom. If you pay, they can come back and ask for MORE because they now know you care AND that you’ll pay. If you don’t pay, they will release that picture of you doing, um, well…
As always, follow the various security strategies we’ve been sending you via these tips. As a backup, you can buy stickers that cover your camera with a slider so you can uncover it when you want to actually use it to take a picture or join a web meeting. These are really inexpensive and can be found on Amazon for under $10. Search for “webcam cover slider.”
Today's Headlines:
- 533million Facebook user data, including phone numbers, leaked the data, which was allegedly obtained by exploiting a vulnerability Facebook advises they rectified in August 2019
- Fortinet VPNs are being exploited by new CRING ransomware, Fortigate firewalls, though patch exists made back in August of 2019. So many went unpatched, Fortinet has warned customers 4 times since, the latest this month. They have had at least one report every day so far this year.
- CISA released tool, dubbed Aviary, to analyze Azure and O365 post-compromise activity.
- Windows 10 1909 reaches end of service next month
Your computer will still work, but it could become more vulnerable to security risks and viruses because you won’t receive new security updates or other quality updates
Call to Action: We talk a lot about stupid (nothing bad ever happens to me; head in the sand; too busy; I’ll do it later). So what’s smart? Taking this seriously TODAY. Book a 10-minute Discovery Call right now. I’ll ask some key questions and give you a quick score. If you’re doing everything right, you can sleep better at night. If there’s room for improvement, we’ll discuss options. NO PRESSURE, NO STRINGS. JUST BOOK THE CALL!
www.mastercomputing.com/discovery
www.mastercomputing.com/discovery