<ul><li><keyword id="10387" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="microsoft" source="Orion">Microsoft</keyword> has revealed an investigation of a large-scale phishing-as-a-service operation.</li><li>These service providers enable attacks on users by selling <keyword id="12157582" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="phishing-kits" source="Orion">phishing kits</keyword> to its customers.</li><li>Microsoft recommends some practices to <keyword id="12157580" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="counter-phishing-attacks" source="Orion">counter phishing attacks</keyword>. <br /></li></ul>In a recent revelation, Microsoft unearthed a large-scale phishing-as-a-service operation called BulletProofLink or Anthrax. As per the company, the service provider sells phishing kits, email templates and other services to enable attacks on users via email and brand-impersonating websites. <br /><br />In a <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2021/09/21/catching-the-big-fish-analyzing-a-large-scale-phishing-as-a-service-operation/">blog pos</a>t by Microsoft 365 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/how-to/how-to-use-microsoft-defender-the-antivirus-security-program-on-windows-10/articleshow/86244671.cms">Defender</a> Threat Intelligence Team, the company explains how <keyword id="615076" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="phishing-attacks" source="Orion">phishing attacks</keyword> are enabled by phishing-as-a-service operators, their infrastructure and the economy of such scams. Their customers are scammers and attackers who use these services in either one-off or monthly subscription-based business models<br /><br />Like any service provider, phishing operators who work with interchangeable aliases like Anthrax, BulletProftLink offers its customers ready-to-use phishing kits for single payment. It also offers a host of services like a software-based service provider like template creation, website creation and hosting, and overall organisation of the phishing scam.<br /><br />Many of these service providers offer their customers fully undetectable links that claim to remain viable until the users click on it. The templates that are sold avoid detection while phishing for credentials, such as<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/enterprise/news/how-you-can-login-to-your-microsoft-account-without-a-password-check-here/articleshow/86251793.cms"> login passwords</a>. <br /><br />Microsoft claims that Defender for Office 365 protects its customers from phishing attacks such as those enabled by BulletProofLink.<br /><br /><strong>How to counter phishing attacks:</strong><br /><ul><li>Enable multi factor authentication and blocking sign-in attempts from legacy authentication.</li><li>Use anti-phishing policies to enable mailbox intelligence settings.</li><li>Configure impersonation protection settings for specific messages and sender domains.</li><li>Enable SafeLink in Defender for Office 365 to ensure real-time protection by scanning at the time of delivery and at the time of click.<br /></li></ul><strong>SEE ALSO</strong><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/new-smartphones-launching-in-india-in-coming-days/slidelist/86448401.cms">Realme Narzo 50 to Samsung Galaxy M52 5G — phones launching in India this month</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/you-can-now-record-apps-that-are-spying-on-you-using-ios-15/articleshow/86448183.cms">You can now record apps that are spying on you using iOS 15</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/how-to/how-to-create-more-space-in-google-drive/articleshow/86447706.cms">Here’s how to create more space in Google Drive</a><br />

Microsoft reveals attacks based on phishing-as-a-service operation: Here’s how to stay safe

<ul><li><strong>The report highlights that <keyword id="615076" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Phishing-attacks">phishing attacks</keyword> account for 32% of all breaches and 78% of all cyber-attacks.</strong></li><li><strong>Microsoft, PayPal, DHL, DocuSign and DHL were among the top <keyword id="6359049" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="phishing">phishing</keyword> targets.</strong></li><li><strong>In the phishing kits monitored by it, Akamai found that 60% of all kits were active for 20 days or less.</strong></li></ul>Akamai is back with its State of the Internet / Security (SOTI) report where it highlights the research done by the organization in the last 12 months. In its sixth annual report, Akamai has covered various issues such as DDoS attacks, credential stuffing and phishing.<br /><br />Among the preferred targets for phishing, organizations like Microsoft, PayPal, DHL, DocuSign and LinkedIn were among the top targets. It is worth noting that over 50% of all unique organizations that were impersonated by tracked phishing domains were from the financial services sector as per Akamai’s records.<br /><br /><strong>What is phishing?<br /></strong><br />Phishing is a type of attack that is aimed at collecting usernames, passwords and other personal information of users. It is usually in the form of an email or a message that contains a link or an attachment, pretending to be a trustworthy entity such as a company or a bank. As per Akamai, phishing plays a role in 32% of all breaches and 78% of all cyber-attacks. <br /><br /><b>How to protect yourself from phishing attacks</b><br /><br /> The first thing that you need to do to protect yourself from phishing attacks is learn how to identify phishing attacks. <br /><br /><ul><li>Organizations have their own domain and do not use public domains to send emails to their customers. If you receive a email from a company with a public domain (@gmail.com at the end), avoid clicking on any links or attachments.</li><li>Check the email or message for spelling mistakes, unusual phrases and discrepancies in the domain name.</li><li>If the email contains unnecessary attachments or links, avoid clicking on them.</li><li>Avoid clicking on shortened links, especially on social media.</li><li>Avoid emails from suspicious senders that contain urgent deadlines and ask you to click on a link or visit a website urgently.</li><li>Do not enter personal information in pop-up screens. Companies generally do not use pop-up screens to ask for user information.</li></ul> <br /><strong>Akamai’s report on phishing attacks<br /></strong><br />Akamai, in its report has highlighted that among the phishing kits monitored by it over 262 days, 60% of kits were active for 20 days or less. It also found over 2 billion unique domains that appeared malicious. As per the report, 89% of the domains used for phishing had a lifespan of less than 24 hours and 94% had a lifespan of less than three days. <br /><br />While the measures adopted against phishing attacks have been evolving over the years, the evasive and defensive techniques used by phishing kits have been evolving as well. Akamai’s <a href="https://blogs.akamai.com/sitr/2019/06/catch-me-if-you-can-evasive-and-defensive-techniques-in-phishing.html">report</a> highlights some of the content-based evasion techniques used by phishing kits.<br /><br />The major evasion techniques include CSS font evasion, randomly generated URLs, randomly generated sub-domains and HTTP user-agent filtering.<br />

Microsoft, Dropbox and LinkedIn are the biggest targets for phishing attacks

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e70fb89c485403ca42c9727-2400/phishingemailscreen.jpg" alt="phishingemailscreen" /><ul class="summary-list"><li><p>Cybersecurity researchers are citing a historic high in the number of business email scams exploiting the coronavirus to try to steal information.</p></li><li>The volume of emails is particularly dangerous because it is coupled with convincing counterfeit branding that disguises the ploys as official messaging.</li><li>This phishing epidemic is made possible by kits bought and sold on the dark web that enable untrained criminals to send sophisticated scam emails.</li><li>Cybersecurity companies are using AI to find and weed out scam emails by finding counterfeit branding marks - but users also need to scrutinize emails closely. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>A historic surge in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-remote-workers-wfh-cybersecurity-hackers-2020-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">"phishing" email attacks exploiting the coronavirus</a> are using sophisticated techniques to pump out highly-convincing fakes of legitimate emails. Cybersecurity pros are using AI to weed out the scams in an "arms race" being waged in the business email inboxes of remote workers around the world.</p><p>Researchers at the cybersecurity firm Proofpoint are citing "the greatest collection of attack types united by a single theme that our team has seen in years, if not ever."</p><p>The Silicon Valley cybersecurity company, which focuses on email, social media, and mobile security, says it has observed new highs in the number of phishing attempts - business email scams that try to lure recipients into clicking on attachments and links that allow criminals to steal credentials; specifically, the email addresses and passwords you use to sign into accounts. </p><p>"Criminals have sent waves of emails that have ranged from a dozen to over 200,000 at a time, and the number of campaigns is trending upwards," says Sherrod DeGrippo, the company's senior director of threat research and detection. The company says it is tracking three or four new campaigns a day in English, French, Italian, Japanese, Turkish, and more languages.</p><p>More than 189,000 people <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-virus-everything-we-know-deadly-2019-ncov-wuhan-spread-2020-1">have been infected</a> with coronavirus in the current global outbreak and nearly 7,500 have died. The US has reported 94 deaths. As a result, and unprecedented amount of the global workforce is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-how-to-work-from-home-remote-office-be-productive-2020-3#1-set-yourself-up-for-success-with-the-right-tech-and-work-environment-1">working from home</a>, triggering significant <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-remote-workers-wfh-cybersecurity-hackers-2020-3">cybersecurity issues as employees and their computers are often left undefended by firewalls and other security measures.</a></p><h2>Volume coupled with a new sophistication</h2><p>The number of these attacks is coupled with a new level of sophistication, researchers say. Proofpoint cites "highly-advanced social engineering lures offering coronavirus information."</p><p>Some of these emails are convincingly disguised as branded emails from senders like the worker's employer, Microsoft, or health agencies. </p><p>A crafty tactic to watch for is a real, secure link such as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.cdc.gov/</a> spelled out fully in an email, which actually sends the recipient to a fake site without the "https" prefix. No links in virus emails should be automatically trusted, experts say.</p><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e70fefec48540663a78f406-874/whovirus.png" alt="WHOvirus" /><p>Due to the spike in remote workers, Proofpoint "fears a shift in attacks with lures around cloud storage and fake corporate intranet sites, and attempts to access unsecured home WiFi networks."</p><p>"Employees working from home are at greater risk in some cases because they're no longer behind company-controlled network protections like firewalls," DeGrippo says. "Those who have switched to working from home should pay close attention to the advice and guidance from their information security and IT departments."</p><h2>Crafty disguises cranked out in automated programs</h2><p>Dave Baggett, CEO of the corporate email security firm INKY, says the quality of the branded phishing emails are what sets the latest coronavirus email attacks apart.   </p><p>"They are believable, up-to-date, and responsive to something people are worried about," Baggett says. </p><p>Criminals are selling kits on the dark web that allow untrained scammers to send sophisticated branded emails with links that appear to be from official health agencies, but actually go to replica websites that steal your information, Baggett says. Ordinarily such kits appear periodically on the dark web. In the past two weeks perhaps a dozen different kits like this have appeared, he says. "They are completely automated, and the rapidity of their appearance is striking."  </p><p>Baggett's company fights that automated volume of fake emails with artificial intelligence that has been trained to look for fake brands by checking that fonts and colors are accurate. If they are not, the AI moves those emails to a spam filter, or adds a text alert to the top of the email. When users mark more emails they receive as fake, the AI algorithms continue to learn. </p><p><a href="https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/phishing/page/8/">Microsoft Outlook</a> and <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/06/gmail-is-now-blocking-100-million-more-spam-emails-a-day-thanks-to-tensorflow/">Google's Gmail</a> also use AI to weed out counterfeit emails in their enterprise products. </p><h2>'An arms race' in your inbox</h2><p>If the surge in scams is an irresistible force, the new AI tools are an immovable object. "It's an arms race," Baggett says.   </p><p>Criminals are following the virus to vulnerable communities, according to a report from Recorded Future, a cybersecurity research firm, hitting Italy, Iran, and the US with emails that purport to be from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. One email disguised as a WHO alert is estimated to have reached 10% of Italian businesses. </p><p>As a result, the US Federal Trade Commission <a href="https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/coronavirus-scams-what-ftc-doing">has suggested</a> people visit the known WHO and CDC websites directly rather than clicking on any link in an email that seems to go to those organizations.  </p><p>New research from the San Francisco email security firm Abnormal Security has found that students as well as businesses are being targeted. A new phishing campaign is sending emails that appear to be from universities announcing campus virus news. But links in the emails that spell out a legitimate web address lead instead to a malicious link. </p><h2>Experts give this advice in fighting virus-themed phishing: </h2><ul><li>Do not click on any link in an email about coronavirus unless you are sure you know the sender. </li><li>Do not click on any attachments to emails about the coronavirus unless you double check with a sender you know. </li><li>Go directly to an official website with a secured https web address if you want virus news. Do not click on a link in an email or social media post. </li><li>If you receive a branded message, scrutinize logos, fonts, and language. Do not assume that a branded email is actually from a business or organization. </li><li>If you click on a link or attachment you suspect is malicious, contact your company's IT or security staff.  </li></ul>

Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the coronavirus crisis to steal email passwords from employees, and the cybersecurity industry is in an AI 'arms race' to stop them

By Aditi Khanna <p>London, April 15 () The UK's National Crime Agency on Wednesday warned that scammers are increasingly using the coronavirus pandemic as a "hook" to defraud and urged people to be vigilant against these new forms of crime.</p><p>The warning came as a pharmacist and a surveyor were arrested on suspicion of illegally selling coronavirus testing kits in two recent NCA investigations.</p><p>"COVID-19 is increasingly being used as a hook to commit fraud – and we think these offences are likely to increase during the pandemic," said Graeme Biggar, Director General of the NCA's National Economic Crime Centre.</p><p>"Individuals and businesses need to be fully prepared for criminals trying to turn the pandemic to their advantage by scamming them out of money. Law enforcement, government and the private sector are working together to protect the public and combat these offenders," he said.</p><p>The NCA said as part of the agency's proactive response against criminals trying to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic, it has also shut down a website trying to fool victims into buying suspected non-existent personal protective equipment (PPE) through phishing emails. </p><p>This followed arrests under the UK's Fraud Act 2006 of a pharmacist and surveyor in London who made false and misleading claims about COVID-19 testing kits.</p><p>"Criminals capitalise on fear and anxiety and they will exploit any opportunity, no matter how awful, to line their pockets," said Nikki Holland, NCA Director of Investigations.</p><p>"Illegally selling testing kits completely undermines the nation's collective response to the pandemic and actually endangers lives. Anyone thinking of trying to profit in this way should take note of these arrests and that bringing these offenders to justice and ceasing their activities is a key priority across law enforcement," she said.</p><p>The NCA has found that offenders are targeting people trying to buy medical supplies online and have been sending emails offering fake medical support and scamming people who may be vulnerable or isolated at home. </p><p>Frauds have also been attempted by trying to lure victims with offers that look too good to be true such as high return investments, "healthcare opportunities" or appeals to support bogus charities.</p><p>Tariq Sarwar, Head of Operations for Enforcement at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), said: "The use of products for the diagnosis of coronavirus infection in community settings, such as pharmacies, for home use, is not at present advised by Public Health England.</p>"The safety, performance or quality of the products cannot be guaranteed and this poses a health risk. Always make sure you are buying your medicines from a registered pharmacy or website and your medical devices from reputable retailers."  AK  SCYSCY

Scammers using COVID-19 'hook' to commit fraud in UK

<p>Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Friday. <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/10-things-in-tech&amp;hash=8122c716833601fc1471f79af063b104?nr_email_referer=1&amp;utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=10_things_tech&amp;utm_campaign=Post%20Blast%20sai:%2010%20things%20in%20tech%20you%20need%20to%20know%20today&amp;utm_term=10%20THINGS%20IN%20TECH%20YOU%20NEED%20TO%20KNOW%20-%20ENGAGED%2C%20ACTIVE%2C%20PASSIVE%2C%20DISENGAGED0PASSIVE%2C%20DISENGAGED">Sign up here</a> to get this email in your inbox every morning.</p><p>Have an Amazon Alexa device? Listen to this update by searching "Business Insider" in your flash briefing settings.</p><p>And for the biggest stories in politics, <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/10-things-in-politics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sign up here for 10 Things in Politics You Need to Know Today</a> - launching soon!</p><ol><li><strong>Google fired one of its top AI researchers.</strong> Timnit Gebru, a technical co-lead of Google's ethical-artificial-intelligence team, said she was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/timnit-gebru-ethical-ai-fired-google-2020-12">fired via email</a>, and a source <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-googles-firing-of-a-top-ai-ethicist-timnit-gebru-2020-12">told Business Insider</a> Google had been unhappy with a paper she'd written on the ethical dangers of language models.<br /><br /></li><li><strong>Facebook is changing its "race-blind" hate-speech algorithm.</strong> Facebook's proactive technology won't automatically flag posts declaring, "Men are trash," or "Americans are dumb" anymore, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-worst-hate-speech-anti-black-race-blind-algorithm-zuckerberg-2020-12">Facebook said</a>.<br /><br /></li><li><strong>Facebook will remove COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.</strong> "This is another way that we are applying our policy to remove misinformation about the virus that could lead to imminent physical harm," Kang-Xing Jin, head of Facebook Health, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-will-start-removing-posts-with-false-vaccine-claims-2020-12">said in a blog post</a>.<br /><br /></li><li><strong>The DOJ is suing Facebook for hiring foreign workers.</strong> The DOJ filed a lawsuit against Facebook on Thursday accusing the company of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-doj-suing-facebook-hiring-foreign-workers-h1b-2020-12">reserving over 2,600 high-paying jobs</a> for foreign workers with temporary work visas instead of hiring US residents.<br /><br /></li><li><strong>Hackers have been attacking the COVID-19 "cold chain."</strong> IBM researchers said Thursday they'd detected a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hackers-covid-vaccine-delivery-cold-chain-ibm-2020-12">coordinated global phishing campaign</a> targeting the COVID-19 vaccine refrigerated supply chain.<br /><br /></li><li><strong>Four hundred lawmakers came after Jeff Bezos.</strong> In an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazons-days-of-impunity-over-400-lawmakers-tell-bezos-2020-12">open letter to Bezos</a> 401 lawmakers from 34 countries said Amazon's "days of impunity are over."<br /><br /></li><li><strong>Germany is buying more electric cars than California.</strong> Growth in the country has been fueled by aggressive subsidies of up to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-vehicle-sales-booming-germany-is-good-news-tesla-2020-12">9,000 euros per car</a>.<br /><br /></li><li><strong>The DOJ might let Huawei's CFO go.</strong> The DOJ is in talks with Huawei discussing a potential deal to release CFO Meng Wanzhou if she admits wrongdoing, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-in-talks-with-huawei-finance-chief-meng-wanzhou-about-resolving-criminal-charges-11607038179?mod=djemalertNEWS">Wall Street Journal</a> reports.<br /><br /></li><li><strong>YouTube will make you stop before you comment.</strong> The platform is <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/3/22150197/youtube-comments-posting-hurtful-hate-videos-discrimination-monetization-search?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4">adding a box</a> that will ask users if they're sure they want to leave a comment if it looks like that comment will be offensive.<br /><br /></li><li><strong>Gousto is a pandemic unicorn.</strong> The meal kit delivery startup <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gousto-meal-kits-profit-gross-margins-growth-pandemic-2020-11">says it's expecting it's first profit</a> and has doubled its monthly orders as locked down populations do more home cooking.<br /></li></ol>

10 things in tech you need to know today

<ul><li>There’s been a surge in Coronavirus hits online as people search for more information — and the bad guys know it. </li><li>Coronavirus is the new clickbait with over 100,000 new domain names registered with related keywords.</li><li>Here’s a list of suspicious things to watch out for as you browse online so that your device doesn’t end up infected.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=coronavirus&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Follow the comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and its impact, and other useful resources that can help you in the fight on Business Insider India.</a></li></ul>The Coronavirus pandemic reaches most corners of the world. More people are browsing the net and staying online to pass time. Bad guys aren’t any different. They’re also adapting to the new reality and taking advantage of the situation to launch cyber attacks veiled as innocent information.<br /><br />The true threat of these bad actors has little to do with technology but more to do with how humans are using the internet during the pandemic, according to Ryan Olson who heads Unit 42 of Palo Alto Networks threat intelligence team.<br /><br /><strong>Coronavirus is the new clickbait<br /></strong>Over 100,000 new domains showed up on the internet containing keywords like ‘covid’, ‘virus’ and ‘corona’. Although not all of them are malicious, it’s recommended to treat any new site with a healthy suspicion. <br /><br />Despite many claiming to have testing kits, pandemic related information or a cure — the fact that they didn’t exist until very recently is a good reason to be skeptical, according to Olson.<br /><br />The same applies for mobile applications as well. Most people are looking for information on how Coronavirus will impact their lives and how they can stay safe, on their smartphones. <br /><br />Olson believes the best way to protect yourself is to make sure that whatever new application you install is either for the Google Play Store or the App Store. Avoid third-party sources as much as possible.<br /><br /><strong>Coronavirus in your inbox<br /></strong>The third point of attack is directly in your inbox. Since people are paying more attention to alerts and notifications that read Covid-19, attackers are using the opportunity to send malicious messages with clickbait phishing links. <br /><br />This is not restricted to one particular type of malware or event campaign. It is a diversified net of attacks looking to spread. <br /><br /><strong>Here are some keywords that Unit 42 has identified as threats:<br /></strong><br /><ul><li>CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) UPDATE // BUSINESS</li><li>CONTINUITY PLAN ANNOUNCEMENT STARTING MARCH 2020</li><li>Latest corona-virus updates</li><li>UNICEF COVID-19 TIPS APP</li><li>POEA HEALTH ADVISORY re-2020 Novel Corona Virus</li><li>WARNING! CORONAVIRUS</li></ul><strong>The file attachments to these emails normally include the following names:<br /></strong><br /><ul><li>AWARENESS NOTICE ON CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 DOCUMENT_pdf.exe</li><li>Coronavirus COVID-19 update:xlxs</li><li>CORONA VIRUS1.uue</li><li>CORONA VIRUS AFFECTED CREW AND VESSEL.xlsm</li><li>covid19.ZIP</li></ul>However, neither of these lists is absolute. As time goes, new variants will quickly emerge to replace existing ones. Olson believes that the ones listed will at least continue to for the next few months.<br /><br /><strong>See also:<br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/coranavirus-cases-in-kerala-news-and-updates/articleshow/74775194.cms">Coronavirus cases in Kerala news and updates</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/coranavirus-cases-in-tamil-nadu-news-and-updates/articleshow/74785909.cms">Coronavirus cases in Tamil Nadu news and updates</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/coronavirus-cases-in-haryana-news-and-updates/articleshow/74771116.cms">Coronavirus cases in Haryana news and updates</a><br /><br /></strong><br />

Coronavirus is the new clickbait — Here’s how to keep it from infecting your machines

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a09c4fb35876e8c008b5946-768/08robot-recap-master768 1.jpg" alt="Mr. Robot" data-mce-source="USA Network" /><p class="source"><span>USA Network</span></p><p class="caption">Mr. Robot is a USA show about online security.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Billions of stolen user names and passwords are available on black market forums.</strong></li><li><strong>Using internal Google data, researchers found between 7% and 25% of these stolen passwords would work on a Google search or Gmail account. </strong></li><li><strong>Gmail, Yahoo, and Hotmail users make up 50% of the victims of stolen passwords in the study - even though the passwords were stolen from different services such as MySpace or LinkedIn. </strong></li></ul><hr /><p><br />There are hundreds of millions of usernames and passwords traded on black markets that can be used to access Google accounts, write Google and Berkeley researchers <a href="https://research.google.com/pubs/pub46437.html">in a major new paper</a>. </p><p>The study, <a href="https://research.google.com/pubs/pub46437.html">published over the weekend</a>, uses Google's own, carefully controlled internal "proprietary data" as a case-study to see whether the hacked passwords and other accounts traded on hacker forums and the dark web actually work on real accounts. </p><p>It turns out, the researchers write, that as many as 25% of exposed passwords from data breaches traded on black market forums could be used to take control of a Google account.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a09c57535876e33028b593e-634/screen shot 2017-11-13 at 111606 am.png" alt="Top 20 largest credential leaks" data-mce-source="Google Research" data-mce-caption="These breaches are where most stolen passwords come from." /><p class="source"><span>Google Research</span></p><p class="caption">These breaches are where most stolen passwords come from.</p></div><p></p></div></div>From the report: </p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">"Through a combination of password re-use across thousands of online services and targeted collection, we estimated 7-25% of stolen passwords in our dataset would enable an attacker to log in to a victim's Google account and thus take over their online identity due to transitive trust."</p><p>There are over 1.9 billion usernames and passwords on "black market" forums, write the researchers. </p><p>Basically, what this means, is because lots of people used the same password for their, say, MySpace account and their Google account, then <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/celebrities-hacked-after-reusing-passwords-myspace-linkedin-zuckerberg-drake-jenner-2016-6">when MySpace's database was breached</a>, hackers could simply try all the breached passwords on Google, hoping that some would work. </p><p>MySpace isn't the only big site that's seen its database of usernames and associated password data breached. </p><p>This problem with password reuse has resulted in some of the most high-profile "hacks" in recent years. For example, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the same password - "dadada" - for his Twitter and Pinterest accounts, which were <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/celebrities-hacked-after-reusing-passwords-myspace-linkedin-zuckerberg-drake-jenner-2016-6">briefly taken over in 2016 by hackers</a> calling themselves the OurMine team.</p><p>OurMine, <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/06/meet-ourmine-security-group-hacking-ceos-celebs/">reportedly using stolen passwords</a>, also targeted Google CEO Sundar Pichai, actor Channing Tatum, and Amazon CTO Werner Vogels. </p><h2>Low-tech cyberweapons</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a09c2ac35876e1b008b5925-636/screen shot 2017-11-13 at 110415 am.png" alt="Top Phishing Kits Google" data-mce-source="Google Research" /><p class="source"><span>Google Research</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>The researchers also looked at the specific pieces of malware used for phishing and for secretly recording what a user types.</p><p>Phishing tools are used to include links in fake emails that display websites that look the same as Yahoo, or Hotmail, so an unsuspecting users simply type their passwords into the sketchy site. There are 12.4 million potential victims of these kits, write the researchers. </p><p>There are also thousands of different "keyloggers," which run on a victim's computer and sends information back to an attacker, according to the report. These keyloggers have names like "HawkEye" or "Cyborg Logger." </p><p>It turns out, though there are lots of developers selling and distributing this kind of malware, there really haven't been any updates to how the core technology works in years. </p><p>"Compared to the capabilities of keyloggers and phishing kits dating back to the mid-2000s. we observe a marked lack of pressure on blackhat developers to evolve their core technologies," the researchers write.</p><p>"Phishing kits reported nearly a decade ago still rely on the same PHP skeleton and approach for reporting stolen credentials," it continued. </p><h2>What you can do </h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a09bfe635876e491e8b56c3-821/screen shot 2017-11-13 at 105211 am.png" alt="Most common passwords" data-mce-source="Google Research" /><p class="source"><span>Google Research</span></p><p class="caption">Don't use these passwords.</p></div><p></p></div></div>The researchers say there are a few easy steps companies like Google and users can take to protect themselves.</p><p>The researchers recommend two-factor authentication, which means that when logging in, a user would need a special security key or to type in a code sent through a text message to gain full access to an account.</p><p>The researchers also recommend using a password manager, which creates a new random password for each site - so if one site is breached, then hackers don't have access to your other accounts, especially your email.</p><p>Another easy thing to do is to not use an insecure password, especially one of the most commonly used passwords like "123456" or "abc123," especially if you're one of the Americans who are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-far-more-worried-about-getting-hacked-than-murdered-2017-11">four times more worried</a> about getting hacked than murdered.   </p><p>"For all Google users in our dataset, we re-secure all accounts via a forced password reset in the event their real credentials were exposed," the researchers noted. </p><p>Companies such as Google should consider encouraging its users to follow these practices too, the researchers write. <a href="https://static.googleusercontent.com/media/research.google.com/en//pubs/archive/46437.pdf">The whole report is available from Google</a>.</p>  <p class="tagline">Get the latest Google stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/GOOG-Quote"> here.</a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-letter-i-glitch-how-to-fix-it-autocorrect-2017-11">Some iPhone users can't type the letter 'i' - here's what's going on and how to fix it</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/k3WFujwY-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

There are 1.9 billion stolen passwords and usernames available on the black market, and up to 25% of them will still work on a Google account

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e84b4df671de00c964ea3d9-2000/untitled design 58.png" alt="youtube coronavirus dca report" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08E4A_yE9KI">YouTube; Paige Leskin/Business Insider</a></span></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>The FTC has received more than 15,000 coronavirus-related consumer complaints of fraud and scams in 2020, including 7,200 complaints in the first nine days of April.</li><li>Scammers and grifters have increasingly been capitalizing on the pandemic, tapping into people's worries by promoting access to and raising the prices of in-demand health resources, including face masks and hand sanitizers.</li><li>If the number of complaints and monetary losses reported to the FTC continue at the current rate, Americans could lose more than $100 million to coronavirus scams by July.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Americans have lost nearly $12 million this year to scammers and bad actors capitalizing on the coronavirus pandemic, and the numbers show that figure could grow by tens of millions of dollars before the outbreak has been controlled.</p><p>The Federal Trade Commission recorded $7 million in losses to coronavirus-related consumer fraud in the first nine days of April, compared with the $4.8 million <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2020/03/ftc-data-shows-jump-coronavirus-related-complaints-consumers">the agency disclosed</a> for complaints between January 1 and March 31.</p><p>The FTC has fielded more than 15,000 complaints in 2020 from consumers who feel they've been taken advantage of during a time of fear and uncertainty. Nearly half of those complaints - 7,200 - were recorded in the first nine days of April. If the number of coronavirus-related complaints and monetary losses reported to the FTC continue to grow at the current rate, Americans could face more than $100 million in losses to fraud and scams by July.</p><p>Scammers and grifters have increasingly been capitalizing on the pandemic by <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-kicked-3900-sellers-off-its-platform-coronavirus-price-gouging-2020-3">price gouging in-demand products</a>, including hand sanitizer and toilet paper rolls, across e-commerce sites. In March, Amazon <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-says-working-with-state-ags-to-nab-sellers-engaged-in-price-gouging-over-coronavirus-2020-3?r=US&amp;IR=T">removed 530,000 products listed on its site</a> and suspended 2,500 US seller accounts.</p><p>The uptick in scammers exploiting the coronavirus has forced the FTC <a href="https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/features/coronavirus-scams-what-ftc-doing">to issue stark warnings</a> to consumers about trusting online sellers and buying products over the internet. <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2020/03/ftc-chairman-joe-simons-outlines-agencys-approach-safeguarding">The regulator has taken a harsh stance</a> against businesses taking advantage of financial uncertainty and health fears, yet complaints of fraud and scams continue to flourish.</p><p>On YouTube, Facebook, and other social platforms, videos and advertisements <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/youtube-videos-ads-face-masks-coronavirus-vaccines-misinformation-content-moderation-2020-4">touting overpriced face masks</a> and bogus vaccines are easy to find, despite policies enacted banning such profiteering content. Other sellers have peddled home test kits and treatments - despite the fact that a vaccine for COVID-19 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-vaccine-timeline-what-to-watch-leading-research-2020-3">has yet to be officially approved</a>.</p><p>The FTC has also warned against <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2020/04/ftc-fcc-send-joint-letters-voip-service-providers-warning-against">robocalls</a>, phishing emails, and text messages trying to sell people on work-from-home schemes and health insurance, and convince consumers they're reliable sources for legitimate information as people scramble for trustworthy updates.</p><p>The pandemic has also led to the spread of coronavirus misinformation, to the extent the World Health Organization has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/health/coronavirus-misinformation-social-media.html">declared a news "infodemic."</a> Although social platforms are making efforts to cut down on harmful content online, coronavirus misinformation is still spreading faster <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-companies-and-governments-are-fighting-coronavirus-fake-news-2020-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">than tech companies are able to take it down</a>.</p><p>Fact-checking organizations have been tasked with the responsibility of debunking conspiracies, hoaxes, and viral stories that could be a matter of life or death. Snopes, one of the internet's oldest fact-checking sites, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-snopes-misinformation-fact-checking-overwhelmed-deadly-consequences-2020-3">recently told Business Insider</a> its web traffic has spiked, as its team debunked stories about vodka as a <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hand-sanitizer-titos-vodka/?collection-id=241238">homemade replacement for</a> hand sanitizer, <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/costco-bath-tissue-recall/?collection-id=242229">stores issuing recalls</a> for their toilet paper, and <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cattle-vaccine-covid-19/">a cattle vaccine being effective</a> in treating coronavirus patients, to name a few.</p><p>"These are rumors and grifts and scams that are causing real catastrophic consequences for people at risk," Vinny Green, Snopes' chief operating officer, told Business Insider. "It's the deadliest information crisis we might ever possibly have."</p><p class="tagline"><i>Do you have a personal experience with the coronavirus you'd like to share? Or a tip on how your town or community is handling the pandemic? Please email <a href="mailto:covidtips@businessinsider.com">covidtips@businessinsider.com</a> and tell us your story.</i></p><p><i>Get the latest <a href="/coronavirus-business-impact">coronavirus business &amp; economic impact analysis</a> from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is affecting industries.</i></p>            <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-covid-19-social-distancing-looks-from-maxar-satellite-2020-3">How social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic looks from a satellite</a></h3>                    <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/GM59twSl-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;"></iframe>            

Coronavirus scams are growing, with people losing more money in the last 9 days than throughout the rest of the pandemic

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55914a3fdd08950b478b4572-1200-924/flash-lightning-2.jpg?maxX=467&amp;maxY=350" border="0" alt="Flash lightning " width="467" height="350" style="color: #222222; line-height: 22.5px; float: right;"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZYDWM86R&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1440&amp;RH=659#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZYDWM86R&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1440&amp;RH=659&amp;POPUPPN=54&amp;POPUPIID=2C04080EPC8LQ">Reuters Pictures</a></span></p><p class="caption">Adobe Flash flaw appears on cyber blackmarkets</p></img></div><p></p></div></p><p>A critical security hole recently found in Adobe Flash, known as a zero-day vulnerability because it was previously undiscovered, is being exploited by cyber criminals after <a href="https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb15-14.html" target="_blank" title="Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player">Adobe released a rush fix</a>.</p><p><a href="https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2015/06/operation-clandestine-wolf-adobe-flash-zero-day.html" target="_blank" title="Operation Clandestine Wolf - Adobe Flash Zero-Day in APT3 Phishing Campaign">The Adobe Flash plugin vulnerability</a>, known to have been used by the infamous "Clandestine Wolf" hacker group, was originally spotted by researchers at security firm FireEye, who detected a number of phishing messages targeting businesses in the aerospace, defence, construction, technology, and telecoms industries using it last week.</p><p>The attacks leveraged the Flash flaw to steal data from the victim machines and move laterally through company networks.</p><p>While serious, the flaw's scope was originally viewed to be quite limited as it was only one being used by the group "Clandestine Wolf" and <a href="https://helpx.adobe.com/security/products/flash-player/apsb15-14.html" target="_blank" title="Security updates available for Adobe Flash Player">Adobe released a fix</a>.</p><p>Clandestine Wolf, who in the past has been called APT3 and Clandestine Fox, is a hacker group that has targeted numerous government departments and businesses across the world over the last year.</p><p>Since then, the Flash flaw's potential for harm has grown as independent security researcher "MalwareDontNeedCoffee" has seen <a href="http://malware.dontneedcoffee.com/2015/06/cve-2015-3113-flash-up-to-1800160-and.html" target="_blank" title="CVE-2015-3113 (Flash up to 18.0.0.160) and Exploit Kits">various groups begin targeting it using the Magnitude exploit kit</a>.</p><p>"Patched four days ago with Flash 18.0.0.194, the CVE-2015-3113 has been spotted as a zero-day by FireEye, exploited in limited targeted attacks. It's now making its path to Exploit Kits," he wrote in a threat advisory.</p><p>Exploit kits are attack tools commonly traded on underground online black markets that let criminals, who may not have strong computer skills, mount cyber attacks.</p><p>The rapid addition of the Adobe flaw to exploit kits has caused concern within the security community, with many feeling most businesses will not have had time to install the Adobe fix.</p><p>Jérôme Segura, Malwarebytes' senior security researcher, <a href="https://blog.malwarebytes.org/exploits-2/2015/06/recent-flash-player-0-day-exploit-goes-mainstream/">said in a blog post that he expects to see more exploit kits add functionality for the flaw</a> and equally serious Flash bugs to appear in the very near future.</p><p>"We can expect other exploit kits to follow suit very soon and start delivering this latest vulnerability," Segura wrote.</p><p>"Without a doubt, this is the year of Flash zero-days and many are already suggesting to take drastic measures such as completely uninstalling the plugin."</p><p>Flash is commonly viewed as one of the most insecure pieces of software by security professionals and has been targeted by numerous state and criminal hacking groups.</p><p><a href="https://www.fireeye.com/blog/threat-research/2015/04/probable_apt28_useo.html" target="_blank" title="Operation RussianDoll: Adobe &amp; Windows Zero-Day Exploits Likely Leveraged by Russia's APT28 in Highly-Targeted Attack">FireEye uncovered another targeted attack campaign, codenamed "RussianDoll"</a> using Adobe Flash vulnerabilities in a series of targeted attacks in April.</p><p>Prior to it, <a href="http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/trend-micro-discovers-new-adobe-flash-zero-day-exploit-used-in-malvertisements/" title="Trend Micro Discovers New Adobe Flash Zero-Day Exploit Used in Malvertisements">Adobe was forced to patch three zero-day vulnerabilities in January and February</a>, one of which was similarly targeted by the Angler exploit kit.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/scientifically-ways-women-attractive-2015-5">6 scientifically proven features men find attractive in women</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="tiMGo5cTpwCabxNRPKR9Te43E3zYrTMd" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'tiMGo5cTpwCabxNRPKR9Te43E3zYrTMd',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

A critical flaw in Adobe's Flash player has appeared on the cyber black market

<p><span><em>Welcome to Digital Health Briefing, a new morning email providing the latest news, data, and insight on how digital technology is disrupting the healthcare ecosystem, produced by BI Intelligence.</em></span></p><p><span><a href="http://e.businessinsider.com/click/11505511.0/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5idXNpbmVzc2luc2lkZXIuY29tL2ludGVsbGlnZW5jZS9kaWdpdGFsLWhlYWx0aC1icmllZmluZw/57d844d117893faf778b549fB025726e1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=http://e.businessinsider.com/click/11505511.0/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5idXNpbmVzc2luc2lkZXIuY29tL2ludGVsbGlnZW5jZS9kaWdpdGFsLWhlYWx0aC1icmllZmluZw/57d844d117893faf778b549fB025726e1&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1514580165932000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHWTLeSFZDvX6Kgc-bd_x2Jo1LQlw"><strong>Sign up and receive Digital Health Briefin<wbr />g free to your inbox.</strong></a></span></p><p><span><em>Have feedback? We'd like to hear from you. Write me at: </em><a href="mailto:aaouad@businessinsider.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>aaouad@businessinsider.<wbr />com</em></a></span></p><hr /><p><strong>THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY TO IMPROVE CARE WITH NEW PARTNERSHIPS:</strong> The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has come to a new license <a href="https://www.asco.org/about-asco/press-center/news-releases/cancerlinq-engages-leading-technology-companies-tempus-and" target="_blank" rel="noopener">agreement</a> with two digital health start-ups, Tempus and Precision Health AI, to give the firms access to ASCO's massive database of patient records, named CancerLinQ, for an undisclosed sum. Under the agreement, Tempus will use its genomic sequencing technology to transform unstructured data from CancerLinQ into actionable information to be used by physicians and clinics. <span>Precision Health AI will focus on using artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to define cancer datasets for precision treatments and to aid in the development of new cancer drugs.</span></p><p><strong>This will be a significant deal for each stakeholder:</strong></p><ul><li><strong>ASCO: </strong>The non-profit organization has been extremely effective in securing data, boasting collaborations with over 100 oncology practices nationwide with access to millions of records. However, the firm has struggled to structure this data into effective datasets due to technical and budget constraints. Through this new deal, ASCO's 40,000 members will get the technical tools to make better use of their data and the organization will receive licensing loyalties to further support growth. </li><li><strong>Tempus: </strong>This deal will propel the Chicago-based start-up towards its goal of becoming the world's largest library of cancer care data. On the CancerLinQ database, there are treatment results for roughly 600,000 patients which Tempus will now have access to<strong><span> - </span></strong>this will help the company touch 25% to 30% of cancer patients next year, according to Tempus co-founder <span>Eric Lefkofsky who was <a href="https://hitechchronicle.com/2017/12/eric-lefkofskys-tempus-teams-up-with-cancerlinq/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cited</a></span> by Hi-Tech Chronicle. </li><li><strong>Precision Health AI: </strong>The firm relies heavily on its machine learning technology for real-time analysis to enable the practice of precision medicine for better cancer patient care. One way to make this technology more accurate is to keep adding data, which <span>drives variance down. Precision Health AI could improve its offerings by leveraging data from the over one million cancer patient records on the CancerLinQ database. </span></li></ul><p><strong>HEALTH SYSTEM OFFERS DIGITAL TOOLS TO ENSURE HEALTHY PREGNANCY: </strong><span style="font-weight: 400;">MedStar Health, a not-for-profit health system in the Maryland and Washington D.C. area, will begin offering pregnant women a kit of digital devices to monitor their pregnancies, according to </span><a href="http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/medstar-health-partners-startup-pilot-prenatal-app"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Healthcare IT News</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. The bundle will include a connected wireless scale, a wireless blood pressure cuff, and an iPhone app to collect and transmit the data as well as offer tips and guidance to the patients. Using these sorts of connected devices can help healthcare providers ensure that their patients are healthy and aren't developing any conditions like </span><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3871181/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">preeclampsia</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, a pregnancy disorder that affects 3%-10% of pregnancies worldwide and can be extremely dangerous to the mother and fetus. It's characterized by the onset of extremely high blood pressure, which most people aren't equipped to diagnose at home, but which MedStar's kit could help detect. The kit could also help to reduce the number of routine visits women need to make to their doctor during a pregnancy by allowing some measurements to be taken remotely - women typically visit the doctor every two weeks starting in the third trimester and even more frequently in the final weeks. Other health systems will likely follow suit in order to help reduce costs and limit the number of office visits patients need to make.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"></span></p><p><strong>DARIOHEALTH PATENTS GLUCOSE MONITOR BATTERY MANAGEMENT: </strong><span style="font-weight: 400;">Israeli digital health company DarioHealth announced that it has been awarded a new patent that will allow it to improve the way its connected blood glucose monitoring system minimizes power use and maintains reliable connections, according to the </span><a href="http://dailytelescope.com/pr/dariohealth-granted-another-u-s-patent-strengthening-its-core-technology/37748"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Daily Telescope</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">. DarioHealth's COO Dror Bacher said that the company is looking to use better battery management techniques to expand compatibility with additional devices. The device is primarily for monitoring blood glucose levels in diabetics. For context, Diabetes affects </span><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/aag/pdf/2016/diabetes-aag.pdf"><span style="font-weight: 400;">29 million</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> people in the US alone as of 2016. DarioHealth is one of many companies developing tech to treat diabetes. For example, </span><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/post/baidu-opens-self-driving-tech-to-other-companies-2017-4"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Alphabet's</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Verily life sciences unit is working with DexCom on creating smaller blood glucose implants, </span><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/post/apples-potential-health-wearable-plans-2017-4"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Apple</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> is reportedly attempting to pioneer noninvasive blood sugar measurement, and startups like </span><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/post/uber-kicks-self-driving-trucking-ambitions-into-high-gear-new-developments-in-uberwaymo-suit-2017-6"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Glooko</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> are raising capital for diabetes management platforms. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><em>Enjoy reading this briefing?  <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/digital-health-briefing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sign up</a> and receive Digital Health Briefing to your inbox.</em></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="BI Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a09b6ba3dbef430008b594d-960/bii health app savings us.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a09b6ba3dbef430008b594d-2342/bii health app savings us.png" alt="bii health app savings US" data-mce-source="BI Intelligence" /></a><p class="source"><span>BI Intelligence</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span><strong>FLAWS IN PATIENT EXPERIENCE DATA COULD BE HAVING MAJOR IMPACT:</strong> George Washington University researchers have found significant flaws in the data being collected to measure the patient experience in emergency departments across the US, <a href="http://www.digitaljournal.com/life/health/errors-found-with-usa-health-data-impact-on-insurance/article/510917" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Digital Journal. Researchers found that a concrete conclusion could not be made from the patient data being provided due to high variability. They concluded that this was likely a result of very low response rates - response rates came in between 3% and 16% - and the tendency for respondents to only score low or high when taking the survey. Unfortunately for providers, this data is an important indicator in the healthcare industry - for example, this data is used to construct value-based pricing models at hospitals, inform government spending, assess provider performance, and to rank hospitals. Given the potential impact this data can have, providers need to call for new methods to generate reliable data. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span></span></span><span><strong>In other news…</strong></span></p><div id="m_6382808973032639957briefing-content"><div><ul><li><p><span>The <strong>Colorado Mental Health Institute</strong> at Pueblo experienced a phishing attack that potentially exposed the health records of 650 patients, <a href="http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/phishing-attack-colorado-mental-health-institute-impacts-650-patients" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Healthcare IT News. The breach was the result of employee error - the employee clicked on an email with fake credentials; the hospital is looking into technical safeguards and new training to ensure such a breach will not happen again. </span></p></li><li><p><strong>Clew Medical</strong><span>, the Israeli start-up, is launching a predictive analytics platform that uses AI to give medical providers an early warning when a patient's condition is at risk of deteriorating, <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2017/12/28/how-apple-can-rebuff-amazons-growing-alexa-threat-in-2018/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to VentureBeat.</span></p></li></ul></div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-delete-recorded-audio-history-google-home-and-amazon-echo-alexa-2017-7">These popular devices keep a recording of everything you ask them - here's how to find it and delete it</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/7je1s0ox-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

DIGITAL HEALTH BRIEFING: ASCO's new partnerships aim to improve oncology care - MedStar Health provides digital tools for prenatal care - DarioHealth awarded new patent to improve its offerings

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54ca2c3c69bedd1e1b42ee49-3406-2555/marissa-mayer-267.jpg" alt="Marissa Mayer" data-mce-source="AP"><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">Advertising</keyword> across Yahoo's biggest websites - Yahoo.com, and its sports, celebrity, finance and games sites - is being exploited by a cybercrime group looking to infect people's computers with malware, according to security company Malwarebytes.<p>Malwarebytes security researchers say Yahoo is victim to the same group that has been involved in a number of large-scale campaigns <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/adobe-flash-zero-day-exploit-kit">that exploit vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash</a>. Recently, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jamie-oliver-website-hacked-again-2015-3">Jamie Oliver's website was victim to attacks by the group</a>, which saw the site riddled with malware. The Angler Exploit Kit (which was used in this latest attack) is dominating the underground malware scene right now, and it has seen its market share grow from a quarter to 83% in the past nine months, <a href="https://blogs.sophos.com/2015/07/21/a-closer-look-at-the-angler-exploit-kit/">according to SophosLabs researcher Fraser Howard</a>.</p><p>Most malvertising attacks make use of exploit kits in an attempt to redirect victims to a website with malware.&#xa0;Often the site infects a computer with ransomware, which locks a user out of their device unless they pay a fee to the hackers in order to regain access.</p><p>Chris Boyd,&#xa0;a malware intelligence analyst at Malwarebytes, told Business Insider that anything from banking trojans to additional advertising fraud software could be used in these attacks. Ad fraud costs advertisers more than&#xa0;$11 billion in wasted spend, <a href="http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/218549/click-fraud-costs-marketers-11b-iab-issues-key-r.html">according to survey findings from Solve Media</a>. For users, it can <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ad-fraud-botnet-video-2014-10">significantly slow down their machines</a> and waste power.</p><p>The campaign on the Yahoo ad tech and e-planning networks began on July 28 and is still active, according to Malwarebytes. The security company says, in a blog post due to be published later on Monday, that it has made Yahoo aware of the issue.</p><p><strong>Here's the scary message Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit users see when they try to click on one of the infected ads:</strong></p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55bf53172acae711008bc49e-1141-846/screen%20shot%202015-08-03%20at%2012.39.31%20pm.png" alt="malwarebytes" data-mce-source="Malwarebytes"><p class="source"><span>Malwarebytes</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p><strong>Here's some of the nasty code Malwarebytes discovered on the Yahoo ad network.</strong></p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55bf53d12acae7b7188bc127-1086-181/screen%20shot%202015-08-03%20at%2012.42.52%20pm.png" alt="malwarebytes" data-mce-source="Malwarebytes"><p class="source"><span>Malwarebytes</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>The code shows that the Yahoo ad network URL leads to Microsoft Azure websites, which have also been affected as part of this attack. Boyd said many of the Azure websites caught up in this attack are likely to have been phished accounts, as opposed to ones set up for the explicit&#xa0;purpose of scamming users. Microsoft Azure websites are aimed at app developers and allow any individual to make a website.</p><p><strong>Here's&#xa0;what Malwarebytes discovered across some Microsoft Azure websites.</strong></p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55bf545f2acae7cc3f8b9df2-1141-565/screen%20shot%202015-08-03%20at%2012.44.20%20pm.png" alt="malwarebytes" data-mce-source="Malwarebytes"><p class="source"><span>Malwarebytes</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>Business Insider has contacted Yahoo and Microsoft for comment and we will update this article once we hear back.</p><p>Combined, Yahoo's websites attract an estimated 6.9 billion visits per month, according to data from SimilarWeb.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55bf576a2acae76e098bafde-1099-349/screen%20shot%202015-08-03%20at%2012.57.28%20pm.png" alt="similarweb" data-mce-source="SimilarWeb"><p class="source"><span>SimilarWeb</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>This means the attack is one of the biggest Malwarebyes says it has ever seen.&#xa0;</p><p class="embed-spacer">Boyd told Business Insider: "While there is no way to know for sure who may have been exposed to the rogue adverts, the sheer numbers thrown at the Yahoo pages could potentially mean high rates of infection. Many Malvertising attacks tend to focus on specific geographical locations depending on ad networks used, but this campaign could have had a huge amount of reach."</p><p class="embed-spacer"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/adobe-flash-zero-day-exploit-kit">In June, security experts called for Adobe Flash users to install a critical security update</a> sooner rather than later to protect themselves from hackers running cyber blackmail scams.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-hilarious-zoolander-2-trailer-2015-8">'Zoolander 2' has an epically funny trailer</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/3fa6999d63a34b9fbcf1cbbb67046fe6"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="9pYWJudjrtiYzpT6r20RTOgNwsXu8thE" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', '9pYWJudjrtiYzpT6r20RTOgNwsXu8thE',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Hackers are using ads on Yahoo's biggest websites to try to infect millions of people's computers with malware

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5044c6a769beddb76700000f-400-300/computerlow.jpg" border="0" alt="Computer Digital Hacker" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hackny/7033121879/sizes/c/in/photostream/">hackNY via Flickr</a></p></div><p></p></div></div>CHINESE <keyword id="11094" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hackers">hackers</keyword> may get all the notoriety, but their cyber-security exploits against American targets are chickenfeed compared with the damage done by organised crime. This past week, a large metropolitan utility in the United States announced it had suffered a massive "distributed denial of service" (DDoS) attack, knocking out its automated online- and telephone-payment systems and forcing 155,000 customers to pay their bills in person over the ensuing 48 hours.</p>
<p>At its peak, the utility's back-end computers that run its customer database were flooded with 5.7m spurious packets of data a second, bringing all legitimate transactions to a standstill. On the second day of the attack, the utility called in Prolexic Technologies. Based in Florida, Prolexic maintains "scrubbing centres" around America, Europe and Asia to suck up such malevolent deluges. The attack on the utility was identified as originating within the United States.<br /> <br /> Make no mistake, the attackers were not pranksters bent on causing mischief. Nor was the attack a simple "smash and grab" aimed at stealing a few passwords. The kind of perpetrators involved were hardened criminals who use rented "botnets" to extort money from their victims, or to steal intellectual property, industrial secrets and marketing plans for sale to rivals at home and abroad.<br /> <br /> This is big business now organised crime has access to automated exploit-kits and cloud-based software services that are every bit as sophisticated as (some say even more so than) those used by Fortune 500 companies. No longer do criminals need their own tame programmers. They can rent all the crimeware services they need to infiltrate a target's computer network invisibly, and remain undetected for months or years while siphoning off secrets for sale.<br /> <br /> How many firms pay the ransom or buy the phony "remedial solutions" to get their businesses back up and running is anyone's guess. Various figures circulate for the cost of doing business with cyber-criminals. Symantec, a large security-software provider famous for its Norton Antivirus products, estimates that global cyber-crime costs victims $110 billion a year in remediation and lost business as well as ransom payments.<br /> <br /> That is probably a reasonable guess (other security-software firms put the figure far higher). Shawn Henry, a former assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, told Congress recently about how one company had all its data on a ten-year, $1 billion research programme copied by hackers in a single night.<br /> <br /> While it may make headlines, fears that attacks by the People's Liberation Army and other Chinese hackers could wreak havoc on America's critical infrastructure-especially, its oil and gas pipelines, electricity and water supplies, wireless networks, air-traffic control systems, even its missile defences-are overblown. The Chinese have far too much at stake to risk such provocation.<br /> <br /> What <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>'s cyber-crooks are focused on plain and simple is theft. They are out to steal all the industrial secrets they can from America's high-tech firms-especially those with advanced "fracking" technology for extracting natural gas and tight oil from shales and rocks deep underground. By all accounts, the authorities in Beijing are concerned that an energy-independent America could shift the global balance of power in a significant way.<br /> <br /> In a sense, though, the victims of such attacks have only themselves to blame. Many organisations have a false sense of security, complacency even, as a result of having invested heavily in security tools in the past. Yet "non-agile" defences like passwords, firewalls and antivirus software, as well as intrusion-detection and prevention systems have become less than effective now attackers have started using encryption and other tricks to evade them, notes Deloitte &amp; Touche, a management consultancy.<br /> <br /> Most websites keep usernames and passwords in master files that are "hashed" with software which encrypts both the username and the password together, so no one can see the plain-text version of either. When someone attempts to log in, the website automatically encrypts both the username and password entered. It then determines whether the hash matches the one stored in the site's user database. If not, a well-designed site will freeze the account after a limited number of unsuccessful attempts to gain access.<br /> <br /> That is why most cyber-criminals go "spear-phishing" instead. This involves targeting a low-level individual in an organisation using an e-mail scam that fools the hapless individual into visiting a tainted website. Once there, a malicious tag (called an "iframe") in the HTML code responsible for the page's appearance is injected into the visitor's browser. The inserted malware can be a virus, a Trojan or, most likely, a key-logger. This watches for the user's log on and password, and reports the keystrokes back to the attackers. It is then only a short step to stealing secrets from the victim's employer.<br /> <br /> Having gained access to the target network, attackers usually run the standard application for accessing databases known as SQL (Structured Query Language). A query is sent to the database masquerading as an innocent request for information, but is really a malicious command designed to reveal confidential data, such as credit-card names and numbers. Literally millions of databases that reside behind websites have been compromised by SQL-injection.<br /> <br /> But that is only the half of it. Over the past five years, web attackers have combined forces with botnet operators, who rent their armies of zombie computers to shady organisations responsible for spam, fraud and other nefarious activities. As Mary Landesman, a noted cyber-crime writer, has observed, organised crime has embraced the cloud with a vengeance, and begun delivering "malware as a service" through these powerful distributed networks of infected computers.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, two particularly nasty pieces of crimeware have emerged from the hacking underworld. One is an exploit kit known as Blackhole, which invisibly redirects someone visiting a legitimate website to a compromised site where malware can be loaded. Meanwhile, the victim never knows his browser has left the legitimate site. Cyber-criminals can rent access to Blackhole software by the day or lease a Blackhole server for periods of three months to a year at a time. Today, it accounts for about a third of all detected threats, says Sophos, a data-security firm based in Britain.<br /> <br /> The other piece of crimeware to be aware of is a rootkit called ZeroAccess. Like all rootkits, ZeroAccess is capable of hiding its presence from all normal methods of detection, while maintaining privileged access to a computer's inner workings. Because it is effectively invisible to security software, cyber-criminals use it for secretly installing other malware, including Blackhole. With its invisibility cloak, ZeroAccess lets attackers exploit a compromised network for months or even years on end.<br /> <br /> There is no doubt that cyber-crime is on the increase. One reason is simply that the internet was conceived without any form of security in mind. Another is that social media like Facebook and Twitter have made it insanely easy to gather information about a person or a business-and thereby build persuasive scams that exploit human weaknesses to penetrate a network's outer perimeter.<br /> <br /> What is to be done? In a recent blog, Tyler Durden of Kaspersky Lab, a computer-security company with headquarters in Moscow and branches around the world, says that essentially it is a matter of impressing people, at a personal level, about the seriousness of the threat. "It's not about IPs, firewalls, ports and protocols any more... Building secure perimeters and adding corporate policies and certificates is great, but [such things] are starting to become useless."<br /> <br /> The trouble is people use their own devices-smartphones, tablets and laptops-for corporate as well as private tasks. They also use their social-media accounts and cloud services like Dropbox to send and receive important data. As far as company policies are concerned, the computer-security situation is out of control. Today is a paradise for attackers, says Mr Durden.<br /> <br /> The good news is that the threat of cyber-crime is being seen increasingly as a business opportunity. There are more venture start-ups in data security today than at any time in recent decades. Meanwhile, governments have begun to take the problem seriously.<br /> <br /> As Mr Durden notes, everyone at the recent RSA 2013, the computer-security world's annual shindig, was talking about Barack Obama's executive order-"in a good way". In his state-of-the-union address last month, the president decreed that America's cyber-defences should be strengthened by the increasing of information sharing, and the development of standards to protect the country's national security, its jobs and its people's privacy. The security industry waits to learn how these fine words translate into action. So, presumably, do the cyber-criminals.</p>
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<p><img class="nc_pixel" src="http://pixel.newscred.com/px.gif?key=YXJ0aWNsZT04ZjBkOGQwZTQ3MjgyNTU3NjE2MWYzNTQ1NzMxODlmNCZvd25lcj1kM2Y2MjMzYjQ4YzhmNmE1ZWQ2NzhjMzU2NDBkZmQxNCZub25jZT0wYzczMjc5MS0wMjM5LTQ3N2EtOWZmZi04OTkyNjdmMzhhMWEmcHVibGlzaGVyPThjMDBmYmVlNjFkNWJjZjBjNjA5MmQ4YjkyZWJiY2Ex" border="0" alt="" width="1" height="1" /></p>

Organized Crime Hackers Are The True Threat To American Infrastructure

<p><div class="image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/5044c6a769beddb76700000f-400-300/computerlow.jpg" border="0" alt="Computer Digital Hacker" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hackny/7033121879/sizes/c/in/photostream/">hackNY via Flickr</a></p></div></div></div>CHINESE <keyword id="11094" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hackers">hackers</keyword> may get all the notoriety, but their cyber-security exploits against American targets are chickenfeed compared with the damage done by organised crime. This past week, a large metropolitan utility in the United States announced it had suffered a massive “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attack, knocking out its automated online- and telephone-payment systems and forcing 155,000 customers to pay their bills in person over the ensuing 48 hours.</p>
<p>At its peak, the utility’s back-end computers that run its customer database were flooded with 5.7m spurious packets of data a second, bringing all legitimate transactions to a standstill. On the second day of the attack, the utility called in Prolexic Technologies. Based in Florida, Prolexic maintains “scrubbing centres” around America, Europe and Asia to suck up such malevolent deluges. The attack on the utility was identified as originating within the United States.<br /> <br /> Make no mistake, the attackers were not pranksters bent on causing mischief. Nor was the attack a simple “smash and grab” aimed at stealing a few passwords. The kind of perpetrators involved were hardened criminals who use rented “botnets” to extort money from their victims, or to steal intellectual property, industrial secrets and marketing plans for sale to rivals at home and abroad.<br /> <br /> This is big business now organised crime has access to automated exploit-kits and cloud-based software services that are every bit as sophisticated as (some say even more so than) those used by Fortune 500 companies. No longer do criminals need their own tame programmers. They can rent all the crimeware services they need to infiltrate a target’s computer network invisibly, and remain undetected for months or years while siphoning off secrets for sale.<br /> <br /> How many firms pay the ransom or buy the phony “remedial solutions” to get their businesses back up and running is anyone’s guess. Various figures circulate for the cost of doing business with cyber-criminals. Symantec, a large security-software provider famous for its Norton Antivirus products, estimates that global cyber-crime costs victims $110 billion a year in remediation and lost business as well as ransom payments.<br /> <br /> That is probably a reasonable guess (other security-software firms put the figure far higher). Shawn Henry, a former assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, told Congress recently about how one company had all its data on a ten-year, $1 billion research programme copied by hackers in a single night.<br /> <br /> While it may make headlines, fears that attacks by the People’s Liberation Army and other Chinese hackers could wreak havoc on America’s critical infrastructure—especially, its oil and gas pipelines, electricity and water supplies, wireless networks, air-traffic control systems, even its missile defences—are overblown. The Chinese have far too much at stake to risk such provocation.<br /> <br /> What <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>’s cyber-crooks are focused on plain and simple is theft. They are out to steal all the industrial secrets they can from America’s high-tech firms—especially those with advanced “fracking” technology for extracting natural gas and tight oil from shales and rocks deep underground. By all accounts, the authorities in Beijing are concerned that an energy-independent America could shift the global balance of power in a significant way.<br /> <br /> In a sense, though, the victims of such attacks have only themselves to blame. Many organisations have a false sense of security, complacency even, as a result of having invested heavily in security tools in the past. Yet “non-agile” defences like passwords, firewalls and antivirus software, as well as intrusion-detection and prevention systems have become less than effective now attackers have started using encryption and other tricks to evade them, notes Deloitte &amp; Touche, a management consultancy.<br /> <br /> Most websites keep usernames and passwords in master files that are “hashed” with software which encrypts both the username and the password together, so no one can see the plain-text version of either. When someone attempts to log in, the website automatically encrypts both the username and password entered. It then determines whether the hash matches the one stored in the site’s user database. If not, a well-designed site will freeze the account after a limited number of unsuccessful attempts to gain access.<br /> <br /> That is why most cyber-criminals go “spear-phishing” instead. This involves targeting a low-level individual in an organisation using an e-mail scam that fools the hapless individual into visiting a tainted website. Once there, a malicious tag (called an “iframe”) in the HTML code responsible for the page’s appearance is injected into the visitor’s browser. The inserted malware can be a virus, a Trojan or, most likely, a key-logger. This watches for the user’s log on and password, and reports the keystrokes back to the attackers. It is then only a short step to stealing secrets from the victim’s employer.<br /> <br /> Having gained access to the target network, attackers usually run the standard application for accessing databases known as SQL (Structured Query Language). A query is sent to the database masquerading as an innocent request for information, but is really a malicious command designed to reveal confidential data, such as credit-card names and numbers. Literally millions of databases that reside behind websites have been compromised by SQL-injection.<br /> <br /> But that is only the half of it. Over the past five years, web attackers have combined forces with botnet operators, who rent their armies of zombie computers to shady organisations responsible for spam, fraud and other nefarious activities. As Mary Landesman, a noted cyber-crime writer, has observed, organised crime has embraced the cloud with a vengeance, and begun delivering “malware as a service” through these powerful distributed networks of infected computers.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, two particularly nasty pieces of crimeware have emerged from the hacking underworld. One is an exploit kit known as Blackhole, which invisibly redirects someone visiting a legitimate website to a compromised site where malware can be loaded. Meanwhile, the victim never knows his browser has left the legitimate site. Cyber-criminals can rent access to Blackhole software by the day or lease a Blackhole server for periods of three months to a year at a time. Today, it accounts for about a third of all detected threats, says Sophos, a data-security firm based in Britain.<br /> <br /> The other piece of crimeware to be aware of is a rootkit called ZeroAccess. Like all rootkits, ZeroAccess is capable of hiding its presence from all normal methods of detection, while maintaining privileged access to a computer’s inner workings. Because it is effectively invisible to security software, cyber-criminals use it for secretly installing other malware, including Blackhole. With its invisibility cloak, ZeroAccess lets attackers exploit a compromised network for months or even years on end.<br /> <br /> There is no doubt that cyber-crime is on the increase. One reason is simply that the internet was conceived without any form of security in mind. Another is that social media like Facebook and Twitter have made it insanely easy to gather information about a person or a business—and thereby build persuasive scams that exploit human weaknesses to penetrate a network’s outer perimeter.<br /> <br /> What is to be done? In a recent blog, Tyler Durden of Kaspersky Lab, a computer-security company with headquarters in Moscow and branches around the world, says that essentially it is a matter of impressing people, at a personal level, about the seriousness of the threat. “It’s not about IPs, firewalls, ports and protocols any more... Building secure perimeters and adding corporate policies and certificates is great, but [such things] are starting to become useless.”<br /> <br /> The trouble is people use their own devices—smartphones, tablets and laptops—for corporate as well as private tasks. They also use their social-media accounts and cloud services like Dropbox to send and receive important data. As far as company policies are concerned, the computer-security situation is out of control. Today is a paradise for attackers, says Mr Durden.<br /> <br /> The good news is that the threat of cyber-crime is being seen increasingly as a business opportunity. There are more venture start-ups in data security today than at any time in recent decades. Meanwhile, governments have begun to take the problem seriously.<br /> <br /> As Mr Durden notes, everyone at the recent RSA 2013, the computer-security world's annual shindig, was talking about Barack Obama’s executive order—"in a good way". In his state-of-the-union address last month, the president decreed that America’s cyber-defences should be strengthened by the increasing of information sharing, and the development of standards to protect the country’s national security, its jobs and its people’s privacy. The security industry waits to learn how these fine words translate into action. So, presumably, do the cyber-criminals.</p>
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<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5763a773dd0895146b8b4c99-933/1379892761308689767.jpg" alt="oceans 11 bank" data-mce-source="Warner Bros. Pictures" /><p class="source"><span>Warner Bros. Pictures</span></p><p class="caption">The twenty-first century heist.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Tom was trying to hack a bank.</p><p>Based in Copenhagen, he targeted a Nordic financial institution. Assisted by a team of hackers, he began by casing the joint: Working out who works for the bank, what they do, and where the bank's mainframe is located. By going after its employees, Tom's team managed to obtain passwords and logins, and almost everything required to gain access.</p><p>But there was a catch: "[The bank] had secured the mainframe so you could only access the mainframe from one building physically," Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at security company F-Secure told Business Insider.</p><p>Tom managed to get initial access to the building by going to a formal event there under false pretenses. "And then as they were being escorted out of the building he asked to be taken to the toilet, and just stays there. Doesn't come out for 45 minutes." When he finally emerged, the host escorting him had vanished.</p><p>"So then he's in his suit with his laptop, walking around this building in plain sight," Hypponen said. "But nobody cares because he seems to know what he's doing, walking with purpose," talking to people. He "sits down in an empty cubicle, takes out his laptop, connects the cable - he's in the right building - gains access to the mainframe."</p><p>Tom didn't do any damage, or attempt to move any funds. That's because he was a penetration-tester employed by F-Secure. The Nordic bank had contracted the security company to test its systems - and, <em>mission accomplished</em>, they had been found lacking</p><p>But then Tom didn't leave.</p><p>"He's getting hungry," said Hypponen. "He's like 'I can do better!' He's pinged the mainframe, it pings back in two milliseconds." The hacker set himself a new goal: "I'm going to find this mainframe, and <em>take a selfie</em> with the mainframe."</p><p>"So he's guessing it's in the basement, because that's where it's most likely to be - and he's in floor four, so he needs to get down several floors. Which is hard, because you don't have a pass, so how do you do that? You chat with people. He's walking the corridor with someone who is obviously going that way ... 'Hey, how you doing, haven't seen you in ages' ... talking with someone as he is going through the doors. Don't try to hide, put yourself out in the open, because no-one expects you to do that if you're an outsider.</p><p>"So he gets down two or three floors ... getting closer, when bad luck happens. He's walking the corridor, and at the other end of the corridor is the host from two hours ago, same guy. Tom is trying to walk away, but too late - he sees him, he's caught. The guy comes over: 'Hold on, how are you here, you can't possibly be here, I left you in the toilet three hours ago!' And Tom is like 'yeah, I'm lost!' 'Okay, this a security breach, I have to escort you out.'"</p><p>At this point, Tom decides there's no reason keeping up the pretense. He explains to the host that he works for a security consulting company, and he's doing an audit of the bank. "The host goes 'ohhhh, I see. You have a good day!" and goes away, and leaves him there. That's it!</p><p>"Then he gets down one more floor, actually finds the mainframe, and takes the selfie."</p><p>He stole employee passwords, got in, got access to the bank's systems - even got caught! - and still managed to get away again.</p><p>Hypponen concludes: "People are a weak link, because there's no patch. There's nothing you can do to fix that."</p><h2>Bank hacking for dummies ...</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5763a773dd0895146b8b4c9a-2400/rtr3fl6f.jpg" alt="Committee members for the initiative " data-mce-source="REUTERS/Ruben Sprich" data-mce-caption="Committee members for the initiative &amp;quotCHF 2,500 monthly for everyone&quot; (Grundeinkommen) open rolls of five cent coins in the old vault of the former Schweizerische Volksbank in Basel October 1, 2013." data-link="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI6QA8MP&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1440&amp;RH=718&amp;RW=1440&amp;RH=718#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI6QA8MP&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1440&amp;RH=718&amp;POPUPPN=29&amp;POPUPIID=2C0408TDT5SDH" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI6QA8MP&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1440&amp;RH=718&amp;RW=1440&amp;RH=718#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0FCI6QA8MP&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1440&amp;RH=718&amp;POPUPPN=29&amp;POPUPIID=2C0408TDT5SDH">REUTERS/Ruben Sprich</a></span></p><p class="caption">The profits from hacking a financial institution can be astronomical.</p></div><p></p></div></div>There has been a flood of news about hacks targeting financial insitutions recently. <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/05/insane-81m-bangladesh-bank-heist-heres-know/">The national bank of Bangladesh was hit in a highly sophisticated attack</a>, with the attackers taking off with $81 million (£58 million) - and attempting to steal as much as $1 billion (£710 million).</p><p>The group has also attacked banks in Ecuador, Vietnam, and the Philippines, <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/26/technology/swift-bank-hack-philippines-lazarus/">according to investigators</a>.</p><p>Hackers are getting more ambitious, spending longer on attacks, and demonstrating greater sophistication, experts told Business Insider - and the rewards they're reaping are larger than ever.</p><p>So how <em>do</em> you hack a bank?</p><p>For starters, you need to scope the organisation out. Like Tom and his team did, you need to research employees, and work out who you are going to target. This is because you're likely to rely on human error for your initial penetration - using a phishing scam to steal an employee's password, dropping a USB stick with malware on, etc. - rather than exploiting a vulnerability in the bank's outwards-facing systems.</p><p>"It's very hard to guarantee a company will have forgotten to patch a system, or they'll have a coding error in their website application, or they'll have some other vulnerability you can exploit from the outside," says L<keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">uk</keyword>e Hull, UK &amp; Ireland director for Mandiant, a FireEye-owned security firm that is one of those investigating the Bangladesh bank hack.</p><p>"It's a lot easier to trust in the fact someone in that organisation is going to click a link in an email, or they're going to fall for a scam of some kind, and that's going to give you that first level of access."</p><h2>The attacker's resources will determine the nature of the attack.</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5763a773dd0895146b8b4c9b-1400/5153972000_8dda0ef350_o.jpg" alt="star nosed mole" data-mce-source="gordonramsaysubmissions/Flickr (CC)" data-link="https://www.flickr.com/photos/54397539@N06/5153972000/" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/54397539@N06/5153972000/">gordonramsaysubmissions/Flickr (CC)</a></span></p><p class="caption">When you're trying to steal tens of millions of dollars, a mole might be worthwhile.</p></div><p></p></div></div>How the employees are compromised will be dependent on the determination and sophistication of the attacker. You can buy off-the-shelf "exploit kits" for infecting employees with malware for around £1,000 ($1,400) that can - potentially - get you in, while at the higher end attacks will be far more targeted and considered.</p><p>Another option for getting in is hiring someone on the inside, if the stakes are high enough. "If you're stealing hundreds of millions of dollars, you can afford to have a mole inside the organisation planted there," said Mikko Hypponen. "That's going to pay itself back a thousandfold."</p><p>Once in, some level of technical skill will be required to move through the network undetected - with some attackers demonstrating remarkable finesse. In the case of the Bangladesh hack, the bank had a security feature that printed out every transaction on paper. "They knew the data on computers can be falsified, but if it's on paper it cannot be changed," explained Hypponen. "And they actually bypassed that," hacking the printers themselves to hide the fraudulent transactions.</p><p>Attackers are willing to spend months on attacks in pursuit of their goals, with operations acting much like traditional businesses. Jobs are sometimes advertised in advance, with clearly defined roles, Luke Hull explains. In addition to technical jobs, you've got human resources-type support roles, as well as "people behind the scenes who can handle the business end" - understanding how the bank functions, mapping out its corporate structure as the infiltrators move through it.</p><p>Successful attackers will ultimately end up with valid user accounts and an intimate knowledge of how the bank operates. At that point, what you do next depends on what your motivations are.</p><h2>Hackers target banks for cash - or intelligence.</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56335a80dd089521398b4574-2400/gettyimages-151221005.jpg" alt="binoculars races men watching spying" data-mce-source="Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Spectators watch the action through binoculars at Goodwood racecourse on September 04, 2012 in Chichester, England" /><p class="source"><span>Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">It's not just organised crime syndicates targeting banks - intelligence-hungry governments are also at it.</p></div><p></p></div></div>For many hacks, the end game will be turning a profit. This means, when infiltrating a bank, the goal is to gain access to its money-transfer systems to steal funds.</p><p>The attacker will attempt to send cash to an account elsewhere that they control; in the recent bank hacks, this has been via the SWIFT network, an international messaging system between banks.</p><p>The funds, once successfully exfiltrated, will be laundered - while the hacker attempts to cover their tracks to give them maximum time for the getaway, as the Bangladeshi hackers did with the printer hack.</p><p>But that's not the only reason you might want to hack a bank. Some other attacks - largely carried out by government-backed hackers - have a different aim: intelligence-gathering. Across all industries, around 45% of the attacks Mandiant detects will be nation state attacks, Hull said.</p><p>"If a nation state were to attack the bank I'm sure they'd be much more interested in things like where is the bank moving the money ... if they had their own central bank, how does it match up ... all this kind of stuff is information collection, and all this kind of stuff requires a very low footprint and very longterm access. So they're probably not going to be moving money."</p><p>In other words, if you're hacking a bank for intel, then you're not going to risk setting off alarm bells by trying to steal funds. Your end game is to sit there quietly, watching.</p><p>And this is what makes one theory about the culprits behind the Bangladesh hack so unusual.</p><h2>"This would have been the first in history"</h2><p>Code discovered in the hack has been seen before - in the devastating 2014 hack of Sony Pictures, and used against South Korean banks and media companies. In both cases, North Korean hackers have been blamed.</p><p>If North Korea is behind the bank hacks, it would be a world-first. If true, "it's a financial attack, they're trying to fix their budget," Hypponen says. "And this makes it even more unique, because we have seen thousands of nation state attacks over the last 15 years. Every single one of them - every single one - has been either espionage or sabotage. They're either stealing information, or doing stuff like Stuxnet. This would have been the first in history which is a nation state doing offensive cyber attacks to steal money."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-10/bangladesh-bank-heist-probe-said-to-find-three-groups-of-hackers"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5763a773dd0895146b8b4c9c-2279/140513-mong-north-korea-kim-jong-un_c3dd77721033c29f0a42fb85ca5ef332.jpg" alt="Kim Jong-un computer" data-mce-source="NKnews" /><p class="source"><span>NKnews</span></p><p class="caption">North Korea is one of the suspects behind the Bangladesh hack, in what could be a first-of-its-kind attack.</p></a></div><p></p></div></div>Bloomberg reports that that investigators have also found evidence of state-sponsored Pakistani hackers in Bangladesh's central bank - and it may be a <em>third</em>, as-yet unidentified organisation that was responsible for the actual theft of funds. (If correct, this would mean while North Koreans may have also breached the bank, they were presumably only there for intelligence-gathering purposes.)</p><p>Who is this third group? An unpublished report from Booz Allen Hamilton "makes the case this is Filipino-Chinese businessmen collecting money to overthrow the government of the Philippines," Mikko Hypponen told Business Insider. "The technical evidence doesn't really support all that so far as I can see, but it's perfectly possible."</p><p>The Booz Allen Hamilton report has not been released publicly, and the organisation did not respond to Business Insider's request for a copy of the report.</p><p>Whoever's behind the recent string attacks - it's likely that there are more to come. "I'm certain there are other cases, which either the banks don't know about themselves or which just haven't been made public," Hypponen said. "These attacks have targeted more banks than just these four."</p><p>And the majority of attacks against financial institutions by other groups of attacks are likely going unnoticed says Mandiant's Luke Hull. "I'd be surprised if the majority of attacks were recognised. A lot of attacks, unless you catch them right at the start, they ... move further away from malware. You start to use actual user accounts as if they were in the office, start to use their home working solutions, and eventually you use their actual accounts to move money or something. At that point it becomes more of an antifraud exercise than a technical redesign exercise."</p><h2>This is a "wakeup" call, experts say.</h2><p>The attacks on central banks mark a break from tradition.</p><p>"We have seen banks targeted by online criminals for 15 years," F-Secure's Mikko Hypponen said. "But most of the attacks - practically all of the attacks - against banks have not been against banks' own central systems. It's about the banks' <em>customers'</em> systems."</p><p>Why? "Because banks are very good at securing their own systems. They put a lot of money in there. It's kind of hard to break - it's doable, but it's very hard. As opposed to breaking a bank's customer's systems ... trivial. Of course you can't steal as much from them, but if you have a thousand victims, and you steal a thousand euros from each, that's a million euros."</p><p>Industries tend to be targeted in a cyclical basis. Businesses in one sector get hit hard, they upgrade their systems to a point where its no longer profitable for hackers to target them, and so the attackers move onto something else. "They pick an industry, beat it up, and get out before the money is spent on security," Hull said.</p><p>Hypponen said: "We saw a great wakeup call in the industrial control sector six years ago with Stuxnet ... the car industry woke up last year."</p><p>After banking, who will be next to wake up?</p><p>"I don't know, but I guess we'll find out."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/switzerland-gotthard-base-longest-train-tunnel-deepest-tech-world-2016-5">Switzerland spent $12 billion to build the world's longest and deepest train tunnel </a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="ZmbzhzMzE6R2FSJ7NMR7ButL9XnY_-VL" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'ZmbzhzMzE6R2FSJ7NMR7ButL9XnY_-VL',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

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