Hi everyone,
I hope you are well today. Below are a few articles and ideas that might be of assistance to you.
Identity Theft
I was talking to a person today whose social media accounts were taken over by an unknown person. Once the attacker had taken over the accounts, they redirected any password reset attempts to their own email address, therefore blocking the rightful owners’ access to their accounts. I don’t know how they gained access, maybe the attacker got the passwords from one of the many data breaches and used them to log in to her account, and then tried a credential-stuffing attack.
The person is now trying to gain access to their Instagram account again, but it’s a very difficult process and takes a long time. In the meantime, this person is able to contact all of their Instagram contacts and can post anything on their behalf. At one point, the hijacked account was posting adverts for a crypto investment scam.
This is not an isolated incident. Cybercriminals do this every day and have hijacked many accounts.
Don’t let this happen to you:
* Make sure you have a strong password on each of your accounts.
* Make sure you enable two-factor authentication were available.
* Change your passwords regularly.
* Never use the same password twice (remember credential stuffing)
* Even better, get a good password manager where you only have to remember one password
* Check any links before you click on them or before you engage with them.
These are the basics and are the same as having a good lock on your front door.
Artificial Intelligence
Following in the vein of how deepfakes are causing a serious threat, here is a mind-blowing video of a person communicating with the philosopher Terrence McKenna who has been dead for many years. The person is talking to an AI version of McKenna, that has all of his speeches, all of his research, all of his books, all of his friend’s knowledge of him. All of this information has been uploaded into the virtual Terrence McKenna. You’ll see in the video that the person is talking to him like he’s sitting across the table, although he’s just speaking to a computer.
This is just one example of the advancements and cybercriminals are already using these types of attacks. When you’re talking to somebody on the phone, make sure you’re talking to the real person.
Are you an expert? Join programs like this and you can make money by finding vulnerabilities in systems.
Scam watch
Google Messages is getting five new security features that will protect its users from text message-based scams. If you’re an Android user I would get this feature, but also remember that the tricksters will try to get around the protections in place so always be aware. Use this new feature as an additional layer of defence.
General Hygiene Tips
If you’re having problems using a virtual private network, if you’re in a part of the world where access is restricted, here is a good and innocent article you can read about five alternatives to using a VPN.
That’s it. Have a great day and let me know if you need anything. You can contact me through the application.
All the best, Max 🙂 🙂