Grassroots Security: Cybersecurity for Everyone

The US Government released cybersecurity principles for space systems and the Autralian Government released guidelines on IoT devices.
Created: September 5, 2020
References:

• https://grassrootsecurity.com/2020/09/05/governments-released-cybersecurity-principles-on-space-systems-and-iot/
• https://cybersecuritymonth.eu/
• https://owasp.org/
• https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2020SPD5.mem_.pdf
• https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/reports-and-pubs/files/code-of-practice.pdf

Last week and the beginning of this week, New Zealand's stock exchange was hit by Distributed Denial of Service attacks which impacted its service.
Created: September 1, 2020
References:

• https://grassrootsecurity.com/2020/09/01/new-zealand-stock-exchange-hit-by-distributed-denial-of-service/
• https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/122611626/stockmarket-website-crashes-but-trading-continues-without-a-blip-nzx-says
• https://blogs.akamai.com/sitr/2020/08/ransom-demands-return-new-ddos-extortion-threats-from-old-actors-targeting-finance-and-retail.html
• https://www.ncsc.govt.nz/newsroom/general-security-advisory-ongoing-campaign-of-dos-attacks-affecting-new-zealand-entities/

Hear how an employee at Tesla and the FBI prevented a ransomware hack at the Gigafactory in Nevada.
Created: August 29, 2020
Reference:

• https://grassrootsecurity.com/2020/08/29/tesla-and-fbi-prevents-a-ransomware-hack-at-the-gigafactory/
• https://electrek.co/2020/08/27/tesla-fbi-prevent-ransomware-hack-gigafactory-nevada/
• https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1308766/download

Looking into the recent data incident with Experian Africa where a fraudster was successful in impersonating a legitimate customer.
Created: August 24, 2020
References:

• https://grassrootsecurity.com/2020/08/23/fraudster-tricks-experian-africa-causing-a-data-security-incident/
• https://www.reuters.com/article/safrica-experian-idUSL8N2FL548

Microsoft's recent security blog entry talked about the acceleration of a number of digital transformation brought about by the pandemic.  We talk about two of these: Digital Empathy and Zero Trust.
Created: August 21, 2020
Reference:

• https://grassrootsecurity.com/2020/08/21/dealing-with-digital-empathy-and-zero-trust-in-the-pandemic/
• https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2020/08/19/microsoft-shows-pandemic-accelerating-transformation-cyber-security/

Information on Invoice Redirection: What is it? Why does it occur?  And what can you do about it?
Created: August 19, 2020
References:

• https://grassrootsecurity.com/2020/08/17/redirecting-invoices-is-an-example-of-a-business-email-compromise-bec/
• https://www.garda.ie/en/about-us/our-departments/office-of-corporate-communications/press-releases/2020/august/gnecb-advice-on-invoice-redirect-fraud.html
• https://www.ic3.gov/media/2019/190910.aspx

Bank of Ireland has responded and made a U-turn on their policy.  The latest version of TLS 1.3 is also now being blocked in China.
Created: August 14, 2020
References:

• https://grassrootsecurity.com/?p=592
• https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/bank-of-ireland-does-u-turn-after-refusal-to-reimburse-smishing-victims-1.4326502
• https://gfw.report/blog/gfw_esni_blocking/en/

Attacks using fake text messages from banks like Bank of Ireland surfaced recently on LiveLine with Joe Duffy. I also provide some tips to protect yourself when you do receive these text messages.
Created: August 10, 2020
Reference:

• https://grassrootsecurity.com/2020/08/10/rising-cases-of-fake-bank-text-messages/
• https://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/share/radio1/11222276

Charges have been made to three individuals relating to the Twitter hack and also developing news on the Canon Ransomware.  Tips are included in the discussion.
Created: August 8, 2020
References:

• https://grassrootsecurity.com/2020/08/02/three-individuals-charged-for-alleged-roles-in-twitter-hack/
• https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/three-individuals-charged-alleged-roles-twitter-hack
• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/canon-confirms-ransomware-attack-in-internal-memo

Recent update on the Garmin Ransomware and more privacy tips including Privacy Badger.
Created: July 31, 2020
References:

• (https://privacybadger.org/)
• (https://news.sky.com/story/garmin-obtains-decryption-key-after-ransomware-attack-12036761)