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The Pacific Northwest hospitality stalwart is also still operationally crippled by a Dec. 12 ransomware attack.

The websites of the company and the Expresso newspaper, as well as all of its SIC TV channels remained offline Tuesday after the New Year’s weekend attack.

It happens with more regularity than any of us like to see. There’s either a headline in your news feed or an email from a website or service you have an account with—there’s been a data breach. So what do you do when you find out that you and your information may have been caught up in a data breach? While it can feel like things are out of your hands, there are actually several things you can do to protect yourself. 

Let’s start with a look at what kind of information may be at stake and why crooks value that information so much (it’s more reasons than you may think). 

What can get exposed in a data breach?  

The fact is that plenty of our information is out there on the internet, simply because we go about so much of our day online, whether that involves shopping, banking, getting results from our doctors, or simply hopping online to play a game once in a while.  

Naturally, that means the data in any given breach will vary from service to service and platform to platform involved. Certainly, a gaming service will certainly have different information about you than your insurance company. Yet broadly speaking, there’s a broad range of information about you stored in various places, which could include:  

• Username and password 
• E-mail address 
• Phone numbers and home address 
• Contact information of friends and family 
• Date of birth 
• Driver’s license number 
• Credit card and debit card numbers, bank account details 
• Purchase history and account behavior history 
• Patient information (in the case of healthcare breaches) 
• Social Security Number or Tax ID Number 

As to what gets exposed and when you might find out about it, that can vary greatly as well. One industry research report found that 60% of breaches were discovered in just days from the initial attack while others could take months or even longer to detect. Needless to say, the timeline can get rather stretched before word reaches you, which is a good reason to change your passwords regularly should any of them get swept up in a breach. (An outdated password does a hacker no good—more on that in a bit.) 

What do crooks do with this kind of information? 

The answer is plenty. In all, personal information like that listed above has a dollar value to it. In a way, your data and information are a kind of currency because they’re tied to everything from your bank accounts, investments, insurance payments—even tax returns and personal identification like driver’s licenses.  

With this information in hand, a crook can commit several types of identity crime—ranging from fraud to theft. In the case of fraud, that could include running up a bill on one of your credits cards or draining one of your bank accounts. In the case of theft, that could see crooks impersonate you so they can open new accounts or services in your name. Beyond that, they may attempt to claim your tax refund or potentially get ID issued in your name as well. 

Another possibility is that a hacker will simply sell that information on the dark marketplace, perhaps in large clumps or as individual pieces of information that go for a few dollars each. However it gets sold, these dark-market practices allow other fraudsters and thieves to take advantage of your identity for financial or other gains.  

Most breaches are financially motivated, with some researchers saying nearly 90% of breaches are about the money. However, we’ve also seen hackers simply dump stolen information out there for practically anyone to see. The motivations behind them vary, yet could involve anything from damaging the reputation of an organization to cases of revenge.   

Noteworthy examples of data breaches 

A list of big data breaches is a blog article of its own, yet here’s a quick list of some of the largest and most impactful breaches we’ve seen in recent years: 

• Facebook – 2019: Two datasets leaked the records of more than 530 million users, including phone numbers, account names, Facebook IDs, and more. 
• Marriott International (Starwood) – 2018. Leakage of 500,000 guest names, emails, actual mailing addresses, phone numbers, passport numbers, Starwood Preferred Guest account information, date of birth, and information about stays. 
• Equifax – 2017. Approximately 147 million records, including name, address, date of birth, driver’s license numbers, and Social Security Numbers were leaked, as well as credit card information for a further 200,000 victims. 

Needless to say, it’s not just the big companies that get hit. Healthcare facilities have seen their data breached, along with the operations of popular restaurants. Small businesses find themselves in the crosshairs as well, with one report stating that 43% of data leaks target small businesses. Those may come by way of an attack on where those businesses store their records, a disgruntled employee, or by way of a compromised point-of-sale terminal in their store, office, or location. 

In short, when it comes to data breaches, practically any business is a potential target because practically every business is online in some form or fashion. Even if it’s by way of a simple point-of-sale machine. 

What to do if you think your information may have been exposed by a breach 

When a business, service, or organization falls victim to a breach, it doesn’t always mean that you’re automatically a victim too. Your information may not have been caught up in it. However, it’s best to act as if it was. With that, we strongly suggest you take these immediate steps. 

1. Change your passwords and use two-factor authentication 

Given the possibility that your password may be in the hands of a hacker, change it right away. Strong, unique passwords offer one of your best defenses against hackers. Update them regularly as well. As mentioned above, this can protect you in the event a breach occurs and you don’t find out about it until well after it’s happened. You can spare yourself the upkeep that involves a password manager that can keep on top of it all for you. If your account offers two-factor authentication as part of the login process, make use of it as it adds another layer of security that makes hacking tougher.  

2. Keep an eye on your accounts 

If you spot unusual or unfamiliar charges or transactions in your account, bank, or debit card statements, follow up immediately. That could indicate improper use. In general, banks, credit card companies, and many businesses have countermeasures to deal with fraud, along with customer support teams that can help you file a claim if needed. 

3. Sign up for an identity protection service 

If you haven’t done so already, consider signing up for a service that can monitor dozens of types of personal information and then alert you if any of them are possibly being misused. Identity protection such as ours gives you the added benefit of a professional recovery specialist who can assist with restoring your affairs in the wake of fraud or theft, plus up to $1 million in insurance coverage.  

What if I think I’m the victim of identity theft? 

Our advice is to take a deep breath and get to work. By acting quickly, you can potentially minimize and even prevent any damage that’s done. With that, we have two articles that can help guide the way if you think you’re the victim of identity theft, each featuring a series of straightforward steps you can take to set matters right: 

• Top Signs of Identity Theft 
• How to Report Identity Theft to Social Security 

Again, if you have any concerns. Take action. The first steps take only minutes. Even if the result is that you find out all’s well, you’ll have that assurance and you’ll have it rather quickly. 

The post What to Do If You’re Caught Up in a Data Breach appeared first on McAfee Blogs.

The internet is meant for all to enjoy. And that’s who we’re looking out for—you and everyone who wants to enjoy life online. 

We believe it’s important that someone has your back like that, particularly where some of today’s hacks and attacks can leave people feeling a little uneasy from time to time. You’ve probably seen stories about data breaches at big companies pop up in your news feed. Or perhaps you or someone you know had their debit or credit card number hacked. Problems like these are out there, unfortunate thorns in the side of the internet we’ve come to love. Yet while these issues persist, there’s plenty you can do to avoid them. 

That’s where we have your back—doing all we can to make life online enjoyable for everyone, with protection that helps people finally feel safe and stay that way. 

The reality is that nobody wants to deal with hackers, malware, and other attacks crop up on the internet. And while it’s important to be aware of those things, we’d rather that you didn’t have to worry about them. Protection should come easy. Whether it’s keeping your banking, shopping, and streaming secure, along with your privacy and personal info too, protection should feel simple and tailored to you. That’s what we strive for. 

So as you think about protecting your life online, take a moment to consider what you’re protecting. As you do, you’ll see that it means far more than protecting your computers, phones, and other devices. Ultimately, it’s about protecting you, and all the important things connected to you. You can think of it in three ways … 

1) Protect what’s precious  

What’s among the top things people say they want to protect? Their photos. Not far behind photos are all manner of digital treasures that people like to keep close, which ranges anywhere from music they’ve downloaded to old voicemails of their children, nieces, and nephews that they’ve saved over the years. Without a doubt, we have plenty of things stored on our computers and phones that we simply couldn’t do without. 

Protecting these things means protecting the devices you use to store and access them. Installing comprehensive online protection software like ours is the first step. In addition to award-winning antivirus software and firewall protection to help keep hackers at bay (and away from your photos and other precious files), it goes a step further.  

Our new Online Protection Score shows you just how safe you are and guides you through simple steps that can seal up gaps and improve your protection overall. In all, it’s a personalized and simple way to make sure you’re protected as possible and continually make improvements as they’re needed. It’s a way of getting expert protection without being an expert. 

2) Protect what’s vital 

There’s also the “Important Stuff” in life, like our financial records, tax returns, and all the banking that we do on our phones and computers. And let’s throw shopping into mix because shopping’s important too! You can protect the important things like this, which can help hackers out of your business. 

For starters, you can protect your important files three ways with our online protection by using a combination of the McAfee® File Lock and Shredder features to manage your privacy:  

• McAfee File Lock allows you to create password-protected encrypted drives on your PC that only appear when you’ve unlocked them, perfect for storing sensitive files like tax returns and financial documents.  
• And when you’re looking to dispose of sensitive files, McAfee Shredder securely deletes files so that would-be thieves can’t put the pieces back together. 

You can lock down your privacy even further with a VPN that can shield you automatically from snooping attacks online, whether at home or when using public Wi-Fi. It creates an encrypted connection that works like a private tunnel that hides your IP address and the things you’re doing online from cybercrooks. It’s ideal for keeping your sensitive personal information like your financial data, passwords, and browsing history hidden from both hackers and websites. 

And here’s another big help. A password manager. You likely have dozens of passwords, plus a few more that you’ve probably forgotten about. You can protect your passwords and the accounts associated with them with a password manager that creates and securely stores a strong, unique password for each of your accounts. Plus, you can use it to update those passwords on the regular. Few things make it tougher for hackers than strong, unique passwords that get changed often. In a time of data breaches and account theft, a password manager is a great call. 

3) Protect yourself (and your people) 

While it’s important to focus on protecting things like laptops, phones, photos, files, and data, you’re ultimately protecting something far greater You. Your privacy, your personal information, your accounts, all the things that taken together make you—you. The thing is that our lives are more fluid and mobile than ever before. One moment we’re banking on our laptop, the next we’re splitting the cost of dinner with a payment on our phone. The constant here is you. You’re at the center of all this activity regardless of the device you’re using. The same goes for your family and the people you care about.  

That’s why we protect people, not just their devices.  

McAfee Identity Protection Service monitors the dark web for your personal info such as emails and associated passwords, up to 60 different types of critical info. If we detect that your data was stolen, you’ll get immediate alerts on the devices of your choice and guidance on how to secure your info quickly and effectively. In all, you can keep tabs on your identity any time you’re connected to the internet, and if an issue crops up you can click, solve, and carry on. ​ ​ 

Extended identity protection offers up the extra comfort of knowing that you have licensed recovery pros on the case if identity theft does happen to you. This includes monitoring and restoration services, along with identity theft insurance for lawyer fees, travel expenses, lost wages, and more. 

Protection that runs deep 

While that’s just a few of the ways McAfee has your back, we hope it gives you a good sense of what online protection should do—how it should protect you and all the things connected to you. And on today’s internet, that’s quite a bit. There’s so much to experience online today, and we believe you should enjoy all of it, freely and with the confidence that comes from knowing you’re safe. 

The post The Internet is for Everyone to Enjoy—We’re Helping See to It appeared first on McAfee Blogs.

We have discovered a squid — (Oegopsida, Magnapinnidae, Magnapinna sp.) — that lives at 6,000 meters deep.

:They’re really weird,” says Vecchione. “They drift along with their arms spread out and these really long, skinny, spaghetti-like extensions dangling down underneath them.” Microscopic suckers on those filaments enable the squid to capture their prey.

But the squid that Jamieson and Vecchione saw in the footage captured 6,212 meters below the ocean’s surface is a small one. They estimate that its mantle measured 10 centimeters long — ­about a third the size of the largest-known magnapinnid. And the characteristically long extensions observed on other magnapinnids were nowhere to be seen in the video. That could mean, says Vecchione, that this bigfin squid was a juvenile.

Research paper.

As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.

Read my blog posting guidelines here.

This development suprises no one who has been paying attention:

Researchers now believe AirTags, which are equipped with Bluetooth technology, could be revealing a more widespread problem of tech-enabled tracking. They emit a digital signal that can be detected by devices running Apple’s mobile operating system. Those devices then report where an AirTag has last been seen. Unlike similar tracking products from competitors such as Tile, Apple added features to prevent abuse, including notifications like the one Ms. Estrada received and automatic beeping. (Tile plans to release a feature to prevent the tracking of people next year, a spokeswoman for that company said.)

[…]

A person who doesn’t own an iPhone might have a harder time detecting an unwanted AirTag. AirTags aren’t compatible with Android smartphones. Earlier this month, Apple released an Android app that can scan for AirTags — but you have to be vigilant enough to download it and proactively use it.

Apple declined to say if it was working with Google on technology that would allow Android phones to automatically detect its trackers.

People who said they have been tracked have called Apple’s safeguards insufficient. Ms. Estrada said she was notified four hours after her phone first noticed the rogue gadget. Others said it took days before they were made aware of an unknown AirTag. According to Apple, the timing of the alerts can vary depending on the iPhone’s operating system and location settings.

We deconstructed a copyright phish so you don’t have to. Be warned: the crooks are getting better at these scams…

Expect many more zero-day exploits in 2022, and cyberattacks using them being launched at a significantly higher rate, warns Aamir Lakhani, researcher at FortiGuard Labs.

Researchers from CrowdStrike disrupted an attempt by the threat group to steal industrial intelligence and military secrets from an academic institution.

Jason Kent, hacker-in-residence at Cequence Security, discusses sneaky shopping bot tactics (i.e., domain parking) seen in a mass campaign, and what retail security teams can do about them.