Posts by Dr Irving Hofman
Tales of IT Security
My business is too small to be hacked Many people believe that because they are small they won’t be targeted by hackers or malware. The media headlines are dominated by major corporate data breaches and ransomware attacks. While you can argue that being small makes it unlikely you’ll be specifically targeted, that’s actually not the…
Read MoreTop 5 Security Tips
DNS Protection Antivirus (AV) software is important. Windows has included a built-in basic AV for some time now – Security Essentials. But AV alone is not enough because it’s too far down the food chain. As it’s name implies, DNS Protection works at the Domain Name System (DNS) level. When you access a website, download…
Read MoreSandbox Escape Vulnerability Discovered in Microsoft Windows
A working proof of concept is already available on Github. It affects Windows 10 and Server 2016. Older operating systems may also be affected. This vulnerability allows an attacker to elevate the access level of malicous code from a restricted user role to a full access system account utilising the Advanced Local Procedure Call (ALPC)…
Read MoreDEFCON 1 – Computer Security Is Broken!
There are actually two different flaws in play here. The first has been called “Meltdown”. Meltdown allows programs to access memory belonging to the underlying operating system. This breaks the fundamental isolation that’s supposed to exist between applications and the operating system. This affects all modern Intel processes from the last decade. The second flaw…
Read MoreWhen Cloud Solutions Evaporate Security: Lazy configuration and lack of oversight
A couple of weeks ago we learned about a serious data breach containing the personal details of 50,000 Australian employees. Affected organisations included AMP, Rabobank, UGL, Department of Finance, Australian Electoral Commission and the National Disability Insurance Agency. It takes 20 years to build a reputation and few minutes of cyber-incident to ruin it ― Stephane…
Read MoreMandatory data breach notification laws to take effect by 23 February 20
There are risks and costs to a program of action, but they are far less than the long range cost of comfortable inaction — John F. Kennedy The new mandatory data breach laws require organisations to promptly notify the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) and any potentially affected individuals of an “eligible data…
Read MoreRansomware strikes again – shaken, not stirred!
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former — Albert Einstein Merck Pharmaceuticals is one of the high profile companies affected. It has a market capitalisation of US$179 billion dollars. They can certainly afford to have best-practice IT security systems. Obviously they don’t. Why not? GoldenEye is…
Read MoreLargest Ransomware Attack in History
On 7 March I wrote on our blog: “It appears that 2017 is going to be a year where antivirus software alone isn’t going to offer enough protection and needs to be combined with other systems to provide adequate protection.” My worst fears came to fruition over the past weekend with the largest ever ransomware…
Read MoreMalware without files
DNSMessenger relies on the standard DNS protocol, using it in a way it was never intended to be used. It starts as a Microsoft Word document sent via email and ends in the installation of software that allows a PC to be compromised and remotely controlled. It does all this in memory without ever writing…
Read MoreStop forcing users to change passwords!
Background The notion of regularly changing passwords was introduced in the 1970’s by the United States Department of Defence (DoD). The idea was to make passwords expire before their mainframes could crack the hashes. This then got incorporated into a bunch of compliance regulations including ISO27K2, PCI-DSS, and Hitrust which in turn meant that the…
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