Passwords have become a cornerstone of the Internet. These strings of letters and numbers allow us to validate access to various communities, online tools, healthcare, banking, and more. As more and more information is stored behind passwords, efforts to steal and crack them have vastly increased. These new cyber threats led to the creation of...

Valentine’s Day isn’t just a day for romance. It’s a time of year when cyber criminals and scammers launch attacks such as phishing, vishing, smishing, and social engineering. Australia has begun issuing warnings to singles, informing them of the “pig butchering” or “romance baiting” scam that’s prominent on Valentine’s Day. It starts with the attacker assuming the identity of an attractive and...

With Valentine’s Day upon us, our thoughts turn to love, compatibility, and cyber security. As Cupid strings his bow this Valentine’s Day, let’s explore how the stars might be influencing your approach to online security. Are you a Leo who roars against cyber threats, or a Pisces swimming through the sea of digital privacy? Remember, while the universe might hold many mysteries, your cyber...

As cyber criminals discover new ways to harvest login credentials, usernames and passwords have become less effective at keeping malicious users at bay. Research shows there are over 15 billion stolen login credentials on the dark web, which criminals routinely use to steal sensitive information from modern organizations. With such a high volume of data breaches and credential theft, the need to...

How much do your employees know about data privacy? Most employees aren’t unaware of how most modern organizations collect and use their personal information. With Data Privacy Week 2024 fast approaching, there’s no better opportunity to learn more about this topic. Data Privacy Week aims to raise awareness about online privacy and educate individuals on protecting their personal information....

More than half of the world population (54%) spends an average of 2 hours and 21 minutes on social media daily. Users’ likes, opinions, geotags, photo uploads, and friend connections are considered personal data. What social media companies do with that information is vitally important. However, users often give those platforms enormous control over their data when they sign user agreements. ...

“On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” Cartoon by Peter Steiner There’s a reason this cartoon gained popularity in 1993 and has now become an iconic representation of how the internet works. The internet provides a way for people to hide their real identities, which can unfortunately lead to dishonest activities. Nowadays, scammers take advantage of this to deceive people who...

With cyber security incidents so prevalent, another result from the EY survey is impossible to ignore. A recent Ernst & Young (EY) report revealed that in the past 12 months, 81% of organizations experienced an average of 25 cybersecurity incidents. Furthermore, 53% of the surveyed cyber leaders concur that in today’s digital environment, a secure perimeter is non-existent. Given this stark...

Detectives look for footprints and fingerprints because they’re instant proof of where someone’s been, what they touched, and where they’re headed. The concept holds online, too. Your digital footprint is a map of where you (and your devices) have been, what you do online, how you behave, and where you’re probably headed next in the cyber sphere. In this article, we explain what digital...

Many employees are celebrating the recent shift to remote and hybrid work. However, some security specialists and compliance experts are not as thrilled. Digitalization, cloud computing, and Software as a Service (SaaS) bring new freedom and flexibility to organizations and workers. At the same time, they send data out into the wild beyond traditional security perimeters. There is a lot of...

New regulations are already keeping IT professionals on their toes in 2023. One monumental change for California residents and businesses is the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA). The legislation came into force on January 1, 2023. Legislators drafted the new rules to empower consumers and close gaps in the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The CPRA gives customers more control over...

Not only are they burning through cash as they pivot toward the metaverse, but their struggles with data privacy are an ongoing issue. In many ways, Facebook/Meta’s data privacy troubles began in 2018, with revelations that a data-marketing firm had illegally collected the personal details of more than 80 million Facebook users. However, despite promises of improvements and changes in corporate...

On November 1st, 2022, Dropbox became the victim of a cyber attack where source code repositories, as well as names and emails of their employees, were unauthorizedly accessed. It is not yet clear how the unauthorized access took place, but Dropbox has said that they are investigating the matter. The company is urging all users to change their passwords as a precautionary measure. This breach...

On September 15, the Hive ransomware group claimed to have launched an attack against Bell Technology Solutions on August 20, 2022. The compromised information contained approximately 1.9 million active email addresses, 1,700 names, and active phone numbers. Bell Technology Solutions is a subsidiary of Bell Canada, a leading communications company and communications provider for over 140 years....

Spoofing refers to an attack where hackers use various ways to disguise their identity so that their victims think they are talking to their coworker, boss, or business. The methods used to achieve this are the typical phishing tropes such as fake websites, links, and social engineering. When spoofing is involved, it’s often more helpful to focus on detecting the facade rather than looking at the...

At the start of April, hackers leaked the data of 533 million Facebook users from 106 countries in an online hacking forum. The leaked data included the private information of Facebook users like full names, phone numbers, email addresses, locations, Facebook IDs, and biographical data. While hackers obtained the information in 2019, there are serious concerns over how cyber criminals could use...

In mid-August, cybercriminals targeted the Canada Revenue Agency with two credential stuffing attacks, obtaining the usernames and passwords of 9,041 GCKey accounts, and 5,500 CRA accounts. The fraudsters then used the stolen login credentials to apply for the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). In response to the attack, a statement released by the Office of the Chief Information Officer...

Know how to identify and prevent a spoofing attack Spoofing attacks are the ultimate form of cybercriminal trickery and deception. Cybercriminals disguise themselves and rely on trust to steal confidential information, install ransomware, and commit other cybercrimes. Spoofing comes down to trust. Cybercriminals hide behind trusted people, domains, URLs, and the technical elements that make up a...