Whaling: Phishing for the Big Ones

You may have encountered the term “whaling” when IT people talk about spam email. It’s like phishing, but it directs its bait at really big prey.

Phishing is email designed to trick people by pretending to come from a legitimate source. The sender hopes the victim will open an attachment, click a link, divulge a password, or otherwise do something that will open a security hole which the attacker can exploit. Often it directs the recipient at a website that impersonates a government agency or business. Continue Reading

Ransomware – Extortion One Document At A Time

Since September 2013, when the ransomware plague was unleashed on the internet in the form of CryptoLocker and its copycats, to the time of this post, there are now well over a hundred different strains and the end is not in sight. Ransomware has proven to be a highly successful criminal business model and many aspiring cybercriminals big and small are now trying to muscle into this racket. Continue Reading

Business vs Pleasure in the Workplace

There are many key factors to having a successful environment in the workplace, and being productive is one of the most essential. Not only do you need to make sure your employees are staying on task, but you need to be sure you’re not falling behind as well. When there’s a set amount of goals to accomplish, it’s important to ensure that you and your employees finish the work, and aren’t slacking off. However, this is often easier said than done. With the urge to interact through social media, and our desire to chat with those we work with, remaining productive can be a difficult task. However, when dealing with the conflict of business vs pleasure in the workplace, here are some ways to keep productivity up and play time down. Continue Reading

The Dangers of Cheap RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol)

Consumers and companies are taking advantage of the proliferation of remote desktop protocol (RDP) to access content, save data, proxy web surf, use different programs, computer more information and access partner’s computers. However, there is a real danger in skimping on RDP technology. People that use cheap RDP face a number of risks that can have a large impact on their operations. Continue Reading

What is it? — Social Engineering in Network Security

Think of social engineering as analogous to how the Greeks conquered the walled-city of Troy. Troy to the siege technology of the day, so the Greeks used subterfuge–social engineering, really–and built their hollow Trojan Horse. They packed their giant, hollow-wheeled “gift” with soldiers and conned the citizens of Troy to haul it into the city. Continue Reading