How to Keep Ransomware at Bay

Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, the bad guys say “hold my beer”. The REvil gang has managed to pull off what appears to be the biggest ransomware infection ever through a clever supply chain attack on a company you’ve never heard of called Kaseya. Kaseya is what we call a Managed Service Provider, or MSP. They manage software and IT functions for lots of small-to-medium sized businesses, so that those companies don’t have to. But this also gives MSP’s a very privileged security position, making it a prime target for bad guys wanting to infect a lot of companies with a single hack. Today I’ll catch you up on this ongoing horror show and give you some tips on how to avoid becoming a ransomware victim yourself. In other news: Kaspersky Password Manager (KPM) was found to have a bad bug making its generated passwords a lot easier to crack; I’ll tell you about how some Brazilian iPhone thieves came up with a clever way to hack your accounts; Google has delayed FLoC and blocking of third-party cookies for at least two years; a Microsoft exec tells the US Congress about how law enforcement and intelligence agencies make thousands of gag-order-restricted demands for data every year; a research group discovers that an old cell phone encryption standard was intentionally weakened to allow easier cracking; Microsoft’s PrintNightmare bug is still not fully patched and the back story is a comedy of errors; and with hurricane season upon us, I’ll point you to some great tips on preparing for power outages. Article Links A popular password manager screwed up, but there’s an easy fix https://mashable.com/article/kaspersky-password-manager-security-bug  Brazilian iPhone thieves demonstrate importance of responsible password practices https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/07/07/brazilian-iphone-thieves-demonstrate-importance-of-responsible-password-practices  Why Google Can’t Bring Itself to Make the Internet Respect Your Privacy https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/why-google-cant-bring-itself-to-make-internet-respect-your-privacy.html  Microsoft exec: Targeting of Americans’ records ‘routine’ https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-technology-business-ed50baf4ffb09ca50cda9b8a262c54ad  Bombshell Report Finds Phone Network Encryption Was Deliberately Weakened https://www.vice.com/en/article/4avnan/bombshell-report-finds-phone-network-encryption-was-deliberately-weakened  PrintNightmare official patch is out – update now? https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2021/07/07/printnightmare-official-patch-is-out-update-now/  Up to 1,500 businesses infected in one of the worst ransomware attacks ever https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/07/up-to-1500-businesses-infected-in-one-of-the-worst-ransomware-attacks-ever/  Further Info Microsoft PrintNightmare patch: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2021-34527  CISA, FBI share guidance for victims of Kaseya ransomware attack https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/cisa-fbi-share-guidance-for-victims-of-kaseya-ransomware-attack/  Ransomware Defense: Top 5 Things to Do Right Now https://threatpost.com/ransomware-defense-top-5-tips/167536/  How to prepare for a power outage: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/how-to-prepare-for-power-outage/  How to safely download software: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/how-to-safely-download-software/  Sign up for the newsletter: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/newsletter/new-newsletter/  Become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/FirewallsDontStopDragons  Would you like me to speak to your group about security and/privacy? http://bit.ly/Firewalls-Speaker Generate secure passphrases! https://d20key.com/#/