Information Technology Security

By Sophie Webster, Tech Times On Tuesday, July 12, Engadget reported that several restaurant owners have been blackmailed for weeks by online scammers.  The owners revealed that they had been targeted by scammers who intentionally posted negative reviews of their restaurants on Google and then demanded digital gift cards as the price for removing the reviews.  Scammers Target Restaurant Users According to The New York Times, the owners of restaurants in cities including Chicago, New York, and San Francisco revealed that their businesses had been deluged with negative, one-star reviews on Google Maps, Google Reviews, and other Google platforms.  The reviews are posted by scammers who email the restaurant owners and pledge to remove the negative, one-star rating in exchange for a $75 Google Play gift card, according to Engadget.  If the restaurant owner does not comply with the demand, the scammers will post more negative reviews.  In an email sent to the re...

The US Federal Communications Commission says a man posing as a fake broadband service promised victims discounts on internet services and devices. By Jacqui Vanliew,  Wired An Ohio man created a fake broadband provider in order to scam low-income consumers who thought they were getting government-funded discounts on internet service and devices, according to the Federal Communications Commission. In a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture released July 1, the FCC proposed a fine of $220,210 against alleged scammer Kyle Traxler. Traxler created an entity called Cleo Communications that sought authorization to be a provider in the FCC's Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) program, which provided $50 monthly discounts on internet service and other discounts for devices. "Cleo apparently existed for the sole purpose of taking financial advantage of customers under the disguise of being a legitimate EBB Program provider," the FCC notice said. "Cleo Communications has...

By  Krebs On Security Check out this handmade sign posted to the front door of a shuttered Jimmy John’s sandwich chain shop in Missouri last week. See if you can tell from the store owner’s message what happened. If you guessed that someone in the Jimmy John’s store might have fallen victim to a Business Email Compromise (BEC) or “CEO fraud” scheme — wherein the scammers impersonate company executives to steal money — you’d be in good company. In fact, that was my initial assumption when a reader in Missouri shared this photo after being turned away from his favorite local sub shop. But a conversation with the store’s owner Steve Saladin brought home the truth that some of the best solutions to fighting fraud are even more low-tech than BEC scams. Visit any random fast-casual dining establishment and there’s a good chance you’ll see a sign somewhere from the management telling customers their next meal is free if they don’t receive a receipt with their food. While it may not be obv...

By Sophie Webster, Tech Times In 2002, telecommunication companies like MCI and AT&T offered free calls to the hearing impaired via internet web pages. The deaf customers will type their messages into dialog boxes similar to online chat rooms. A relay operator will then read the text, place the call, and they will verbalize the text. The entire system, called IP Relay, is created to assist deaf customers and help them communicate and make important phone calls. Unfortunately, scammers found a way to abuse that system and use it to cheat American business owners.

By Bill Toulas,  Bleeping Computer Shields Health Care Group (Shields) suffered a data breach that exposed the data of approximately 2,000,000 people in the United States after hackers breached their network and stole data. Shields is a Massachusetts-based medical services provider specializing in MRI and PET/CT diagnostic imaging, radiation oncology, and ambulatory surgical services. According to a data breach notification published on the company's site, Shield became aware of the cyberattack on March 28, 2022, and hired cybersecurity specialists to determine the scope of the incident. The examination of log files showed that the hackers had access to Shields’ systems from March 7, 2022, to March 21, 2022, allowing them to potentially access data containing the following patient information: Full name Social Security number Date of birth Home address Provider information Diagnosis Billing information Insurance number and information Medical record number Patient ID Other medical ...

By Ionut Ilascu, Bleeping Computer Cybercriminals are offering to sell for thousands of U.S. dollars network access credentials for higher education institutions based in the United States. This type of advertisement is present on both publicly available cybercriminal online forums as well as marketplaces on the dark web.

By Bill Toulas,  Bleeping Computer The Spanish police have announced the arrest of 13 people and the launch of investigations on another seven for their participation in a phishing ring that stole online bank credentials. The threat actors used phishing lures to trick their victims into believing they received an alert from their bank and proceeded to steal their account credentials. Having access to banking accounts, the adversaries used their victims' money to make online purchases, direct transfers to "money mule" accounts, or request personal loans. The police say the threat actors stole at least 443,600 Euros ($466,000). from approximately 146 victims as part of these phishing attacks. "The operation, carried out in several phases between January 2019 and April of this year, has ended with the arrest of 13 people -and another 7 investigated but not detained- in A Coruña, Córdoba (5), Huelva, Madrid (2), Málaga, Murcia, Palma de Mallorca and Terrassa (Barcelona)....

By Kate Gibson, CBS If you get a text message that looks to be from yourself, don't click on it. That's the sage advice of experts and of Verizon, which has received numerous complaints about customers getting spam text messages that seem to come from their own phone numbers.  Verizon's community forum includes a thread published on Sunday that details a recent increase in "spoof" texts informing recipients that they've paid their March bill and can get a free gift by clicking a link.  "We can't block ourselves... what's the solution Verizon?" asked one customer of the wireless giant. Another who reported getting the same message said the "link goes to a Russian State-Operated Live TV broadcast." I’ve seen a significant increase in spam texts, including spoofed messages, that appear to come from my own mobile number. @VerizonSupport @Verizon can’t your network determine if a message from its own accounts is legitimate? This seems...