Category Archives: Blog

Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Survey Shows Identity Theft Is Common For Americans

How big of a problem do you imagine identity theft to be?  What percentage of Americans do you think have been impacted by it? If you’re like most people, whatever number you selected probably underestimated its impact.  In a recent survey conducted by nCipher, it was discovered that nearly 29 percent (17.6 percent) of respondents admitted that their identities had been stolen.

As a percentage, that may not seem like all that much, although it’s certainly disturbing.  When you consider that the United States is home to some 330 million people, taking 17.6 percent of that yields the depressingly large number of 58,080,000.

Compare that figure to the 2017 estimate of 16.7 million instances of identity theft, and the rampant growth of this type of crime suddenly comes into striking and dismaying focus. If that wasn’t bad enough, a further 16.5 percent of survey respondents said that they had no idea whether they’d had their identity stolen or not.

It’s certainly not fair to conclude that all of the people in this group have had their identities stolen and simply aren’t aware of it.  The simple fact that such a large group of people seem to have little to no awareness of their digital footprint and who might have access to it is beyond disturbing.

The two biggest takeaways from the survey are these:

One: Identity theft is a rapidly growing crime that impacts tens of millions of Americans and it’s growing more common by the day.

Two: A shocking percentage of people have almost no awareness about how secure their digital footprint is, which means they have no real understanding of how to protect themselves from identity theft.

Given the rapid growth in this type of crime, it’s fair to say that sooner or later, most of the people in the second statistic will wind up as part of the first.  Make sure you’re not in either group!

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Creator Of Popular Kids App Fined For Privacy Violations

The Federal Trade Commission just issued an enormous fine to a Chinese app developer for illegally collecting the personal data of the children who used it.

The company was handed a staggering $5.7 million fine when the FTC filed a complaint alleging that the video-sharing app was in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

Their mistake was that the app did not require parental consent from users under the age of 13 before collecting personal information. As with many apps of this type, this one (called Tik Tok) collected vast amounts of information. This included user names, email addresses, first and last names, phone numbers, profile pictures, user-entered biographical information, location data, and more.

In addition to the obvious COPPA violations, the app’s development team came under fire when it was discovered that much of each user’s account information remained visible to the general public, even if the user opted to make their profile private.

Worst of all, in the FTC filing, it was noted that adults had made numerous attempts to contact children via the app. It also stated that until the company released an update in 2016, there was a feature in place that allowed a user to view all other signed-in users within a fifty-mile radius of their location.

The general state of app security and permissions is quite poor, but even given the relatively low standards in today’s market, the Tik Tok app sets new lows on several different fronts.  The hefty fine levied by the FTC was not only wholly justified, but it is hoped, will serve as a warning shot across the bow of app developers to start cleaning up their collective acts a bit, especially when marketing apps to children.

John Fokker, the head of Cyber Investigations at McAfee applauded the ruling, but also cautioned:

“…the responsibility also lies with parents to ensure their children are only signing up for services they’re old enough and wise enough to use.”

Wise words indeed, and kudos to the FTC.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

2018 Was The Record Breaking Year For Data Breaches

We knew fairly early in the year that 2018 was on track to beat 2017 and set a new record for the number of data breaches in the year.

Afterall, 2017 had shattered 2016’s record the year before.  Now that the final numbers are in though, we can see just how big an increase we’ve seen in the number of data breaches from one year to the next.

The numbers aren’t pretty.  With 12,449 reported data breaches in 2018, we’ve seen a staggering 424 percent increase year over year. 2019 is already shaping up to be another record-breaking year.  All that to say, our problems with hackers and data security are getting worse, and there’s no end in sight.

As with last year, the United States leads the pack in terms of the total number of records exposed by data breaches. Although in terms of raw numbers, the US’s total was fairly modest. It’s simply that all of the year’s biggest breaches occurred here.

At least part of what’s driving the phenomenon of the steadily increasing number of breaches is the fact that there are a staggering number of user login credentials for sale and re-sale on the Dark Web.  These are purchased for modest sums and used by hacking groups all over the world to try their hand at breaking into various networks.

Unfortunately, given the sorry state of password security, it’s often months before a hacked account sees its password changed. That gives nefarious elements plenty of time and loads of opportunities to inflict whatever damage they will, and they’re only too happy to comply.

With the grim statistics above firmly in mind, it’s time to make data security at your firm your top priority.  Based on the numbers, it’s not a question of whether you’ll be hacked.  It’s only a matter of when.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Thunderbolt Vulnerability Could Allow Hackers Access

A new vulnerability was revealed to the world at the 2019 NDSS security conference. It’s a grim one with the potential to impact FreeBSD, Linux, Windows and Mac systems worldwide.

Dubbed ‘Thunderclap,’ the flaw can be exploited to impact the way that Thunderbolt-based peripherals connect and interact with a target system.

If you’re not familiar with Thunderbolt, it’s a hardware interface jointly designed by Intel and Apple that allows users to connect peripherals like chargers, keyboards, video projectors (and the like) to computers.  The interface was originally available only in the Apple ecosystem, but subsequent generations of Thunderbolt expanded its reach.  These days, Thunderbolt has hooks in every major OS in use today.

At a high level, Thunderclap is nothing more than a union of various security flaws found in the interface.  The main flaw stems from the fact that OS’s tend to implicitly trust any newly connected device, granting it access to all system memory.  A hacker attacking a system using this exploit can even bypass a system’s IOMMU (Input-Output Memory Management Unit), which is specifically designed to counter such threats.

Research conducted jointly at the University of Cambridge, SRI International, and Rice University discovered Thunderclap in late 2016. They have been quietly sounding the alarm since.  Unfortunately, the companies that design and sell operating systems have been slow to act, in a classic case of passing the buck.  The most common reason for failing to act is that the OS vendors say the responsibility lies on the peripheral side and vice versa.

The issue is finally getting the attention it deserves, but to date, none of the OS development companies have published a timeframe for when they’ll be issuing a patch to cover the security flaw.  Until that happens, the best thing you can do is to disable Thunderbolt ports via your system’s BIOS.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Social Media Is Big Business For Criminals

The rise of Social Media has been a game changer for businesses around the world, creating opportunities for customer engagement that were previously unimaginable.  Unfortunately, business owners aren’t the only ones reaping the benefits of Social Media.  The hackers of the world are in on the game too, and for them, Social Media represents a giant piggy bank that they’ve only begun tapping into.

Even now in the early stages of cybercriminal attacks on Social Media, the payoffs have been enormous. Social media attacks have been netting them a staggering $3.25 billion dollars a year.  As shocking as that figure might be, it’s important to remember that cybercrime on Social Media is a relatively new phenomenon.  Between 2013 and now, the number of cybercrime incidents involving social media has quadrupled.

The attacks take many forms, but one way or another, they come down to abusing the trust that is so essential for a functioning Social Media ecosystem.

Some attackers set up scam pages hawking illegal pharmaceuticals. Others gravitate toward cryptomining malware, while others still ply the Social Media waters intent on committing digital currency fraud or feigning a romantic connection to get money and personal information from their victims. Even if you’re one of the rare companies that doesn’t have a significant Social Media presence yet, that doesn’t mean you’re safe from harm.

Gregory Webb, the CEO of Bromium, recently spoke on the topic, outlining a danger that many business owners are simply unaware of.

“Social Media platforms have become near ubiquitous, and most corporate employees access Social Media sites at work, which exposes significant risk of attack to businesses, local governments as well as individuals.  Hackers are using social media as a Trojan horse, targeting employees to gain a convenient backdoor to the enterprise’s high value assets.”

In light of this, it’s probably well past time to sit down with your employees and make sure they’re aware of the risks they’re exposing you to when they access Social Media accounts at work.

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