Navigating the Rise of Fake LinkedIn Bots

LinkedIn has undoubtedly become a pivotal platform for professionals, serving as a hub for connections, networking, and business exploration. However, as its popularity soars, so does the prevalence of certain red flags. One growing concern is the surge in fake LinkedIn sales bots, impersonating genuine users to scam unsuspecting individuals. This is just one facet of the various scams on LinkedIn, a platform the FBI recognizes as facing a "significant threat."

 In this blog post, we'll plunge into the realm of fake LinkedIn sales bots, shedding light on their tactics and equipping you with valuable tips. Recognizing and safeguarding against these scams is pivotal for fostering a secure LinkedIn experience.

Identifying Fake LinkedIn Sales Connections. Social media scams often exploit emotions, and who doesn't want to feel special or interesting? Scammers leverage this by reaching out to connect, making the recipient feel wanted. This vulnerability is particularly pronounced among those actively seeking job opportunities or business ventures, often lowering their guard. There's an inherent trust people place in fellow business professionals on LinkedIn, often surpassing that given to Facebook requests.

Distinguishing real requests from the fake ones demands a discerning eye. Here are some tips:

Incomplete Profiles and Generic Photos. Fake LinkedIn sales bots typically boast incomplete profiles with limited or generic information. Their work history and educational background might be vague or entirely absent. Moreover, these bots often employ generic profile pictures, such as stock photos or model images. A profile that appears too perfect or lacks specific details should raise a red flag. Genuine LinkedIn users strive to establish credibility by providing comprehensive information.

Impersonal and Generic Messages. A hallmark of fake sales bots is their impersonal and generic messaging approach. Mass messages lacking personalization, specific references to your profile, or industry-related content should be scrutinized. Legitimate LinkedIn users tailor their messages to individuals, referencing shared connections, recent posts, or industry-specific topics. Exercise caution if you receive a generic message and thoroughly examine the sender's profile before proceeding.

Excessive Promotional Content and Unrealistic Claims. Fake LinkedIn sales bots bombard users with direct messages featuring excessive promotional content and unrealistic claims. Legitimate professionals on LinkedIn focus on building relationships, offering valuable insights and engaging in meaningful discussions. Be wary of connections that solely focus on selling without providing meaningful content or engagement.

Inconsistent or Poor Grammar and Spelling. Pay attention to the grammar and spelling of messages on LinkedIn. Fake LinkedIn sales bots often exhibit inconsistent or poor grammar, serving as a clear sign of their inauthenticity. Legitimate LinkedIn users take pride in their communication skills and maintain a high standard of professionalism. If you encounter messages with numerous grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, investigate further before engaging.

Unusual Connection Requests and Unfamiliar Profiles. Fake LinkedIn sales bots send connection requests indiscriminately, often disregarding relevance or shared professional interests. Exercise caution when accepting requests from unfamiliar profiles, especially if they seem unrelated to your industry or expertise. Review the requesting profile, check mutual connections, and assess the relevance of their content. Legitimate LinkedIn users typically send requests to those with shared interests or professional networks.

Need Training in Online Security? Spotting fake LinkedIn sales bots is crucial for maintaining a safe online experience. As the sophistication of scams rises, navigating what's real and fake becomes more challenging. If you need assistance in personal or team cybersecurity training, our team of friendly experts is here to enhance your scam detection skills. Stay informed, stay vigilant, and protect yourself from potential scams in the ever-evolving landscape of online interactions.

Click to Call or Email us today to schedule a meeting to discuss your cyber security needs.

Uncovering Your Cloud Security Risks

In the dynamic world of cloud computing, understanding and addressing security risks is paramount. Cyclone 365 sheds light on five key risk areas that businesses should be aware of. While we delve into these risks, it's essential to remember that security can be both effective and approachable.

1. Misconfigurations:

Misconfigurations top the list as a prominent risk area. The NSA already warned about this in January 2020, emphasizing the importance of the shared responsibility model. In simple terms, cloud service providers (CSPs) and cloud consumers share the responsibility for securing cloud assets. However, misunderstandings about these responsibilities often lead to misconfigurations, leaving vulnerabilities. Misconfigurations affect 60% of Google Cloud Platform (GCP) usage, 57% of Azure, and 34% of Amazon Web Services (AWS).

2. External-Facing Vulnerabilities:

Next up are external-facing vulnerabilities. These are weaknesses in cloud assets that are accessible from the public internet, making them prime targets for attackers. For instance, the Log4Shell vulnerability serves as an example. While patches exist for Log4Shell, a concerning 68.44% of detections remain unpatched on external-facing cloud assets.

3. Weaponized Vulnerabilities:

Weaponized vulnerabilities pose the third significant risk. Think of them as handing a key to your cloud to anyone who exploits these vulnerabilities. Log4Shell, mentioned earlier, is an example. It allows attackers to execute code or leak sensitive information, and it's widespread across cloud environments. Unfortunately, remediating Log4Shell vulnerabilities takes an average of about 136.36 days, which is roughly four and a half months.

4. Malware in the Cloud:

The fourth risk is the presence of malware lurking in your cloud. While this doesn't mean it's game over, ignoring it can lead to dire consequences. The primary threats here are cryptomining and malware, which can provide a foothold for attackers or enable lateral movement. Cryptomining, in particular, consumes valuable compute cycles, leading to increased costs. If you find a cryptominer in your cloud, it's crucial to also search for additional malware and address the entry point.

5. Remediation Lag:

Finally, there's the issue of slow vulnerability remediation. Waiting too long to patch vulnerabilities can be detrimental to your security. Log4Shell, with its 136-day remediation timeframe, is a prime example. Quick and effective patching is crucial to reduce vulnerabilities. Automated patching is often more efficient than manual efforts, offering an 8% improvement in the patch rate for non-Windows systems and a two-day reduction in remediation time.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, cloud security is an ongoing challenge, but it's essential to prioritize these risks effectively. Cloud computing is evolving rapidly, and attackers are always on the lookout. Employing automation and artificial intelligence can be central to protecting your cloud assets. Automation is central to cloud security because in the cloud, computing resources are numerous and in constant flux. Stay vigilant, embrace automation, and safeguard your cloud environment. If you want more in-depth information, click to Call or Email us today to schedule a meeting.

Common Password Mistakes Hackers Love

Our brains are pretty amazing when it comes to spotting patterns – like seeing shapes in clouds or recalling whole songs from just a snippet of lyrics. And when we talk about passwords, employees tend to lean towards systems and patterns that feel satisfying and easy to remember.

Even if it means bending the rules of the company's password policy a bit. Hackers are well aware of this tendency and have their own strategies to capitalize on the slip-ups that employees make (thanks to those password policies that give them some leeway).

Despite having all the modern tools and techniques, cracking passwords still boils down to a guessing game. Anything that hints at the structure of a password becomes quite handy for hackers.

So, let's dive into how these hackers make the most out of four of the most common password mishaps that employees tend to make, along with some tips to bolster your password security against these risks.

1. Starting with the Basics

When it comes to creating passwords, folks usually kick off with a simple base word. The issue is that this base word isn't usually random; it often has something to do with the person or the company they're associated with. Then, as time passes or resets happen, they make little tweaks to this base word to get around the default password history and complexity requirements. You know, stuff like capitalizing the first letter and throwing in a special character at the end.

Attackers aren't aiming to crack the toughest codes; they just want the weakest ones. They exploit these basic terms with dictionary attacks. These attacks involve using a list of common weak base terms and their typical modifications to guess passwords or decryption keys. It's all about playing on our tendency to go for the easy and familiar when crafting passwords.

In a 2023 report from millions of compromised passwords, what was the most common base term we found? You guessed it, 'password'. Now, in 2023, you'd think people would be stepping up their game, but the other top base terms were 'admin' and 'welcome.' Social media is a treasure trove for attackers who have their sights set on specific individuals. They can easily figure out birthdays, family names, pet names, and meaningful places.

2. Keeping It Short

Even if a password starts with a weak base term, a hacker might still need to sift through a bunch of possibilities. They resort to brute force tactics, where they rapidly cycle through potential password combinations until they find the right one.

Brute force attacks are a hit when it comes to short passwords, especially those starting with common base terms that feature in dictionary lists – a.k.a. hybrid attacks.

According to recent research, a whopping 88% of passwords used in live attacks on small businesses are 12 characters or less. Some organizations stick to even shorter passwords, like eight characters, in their server settings. And if an employee gets the chance to create a shorter password, they'll probably take it.

But a few well-placed special characters can transform a vulnerable password into a fortress against both dictionary and brute force attacks. Another trick to encourage longer passwords is length-based aging, where beefier passwords get a longer life before they expire.

3. Dancing on the Keyboard

When we talk about predictable passwords, our minds usually jump to common base words, short lengths, and lack of complexity. But don't overlook passwords that mimic the layout of a keyboard – they're just as foreseeable.

Take P)o9I*u7Y^ for instance. It might seem like a complex password, meeting the demands of many organizations' password rules. But if you look closely, all those characters are cozy neighbors on the keyboard, creating an easy-to-remember 'keyboard walk' for the user.

In a recent security report consisting of over 800 million compromised passwords, the most popular keyboard walk patterns were revealed. Just the 'qwerty' pattern alone popped up over a million times, proving how rampant these keyboard walks are.

Even though these patterns aren't actual words, hackers can still use them in dictionary attacks.

As always, attackers are ready to pounce on the predictability of employees. They know that 'lazy fingers' often take shortcuts on the keyboard when crafting passwords, so they toss these common keyboard walks into their list of likely passwords for dictionary attacks.

4. Playing the Repeat Game

Even strong passwords can go sour, especially if they get recycled across different apps and devices. Imagine an organization using a password manager that requires employees to only remember one super strong password.

But what if that password gets reused for Netflix, Facebook, and who knows what else? Those passwords could easily end up compromised through phishing attacks or other data breaches. Cracked passwords end up on the Internet for all to see.

According to Google, a whopping 65% of people reuse passwords. This explains why cybercriminals go to great lengths to swipe credential info and sell it online – because a stolen password from one site might be a golden ticket elsewhere.

So, how can organizations tackle these risks and keep employees from tripping up on passwords?

It's a four-pronged attack. First, you need a solid password policy to ensure that employees' passwords are robust from the get-go, which thwarts dictionary and brute force attacks that target common base terms, short passwords, and keyboard walk patterns. Second, ensure there are no work passwords being reused on other services like streaming movie sites, social media, or email accounts. Third, make sure everyone's rocking multi-factor authentication. Forth, implement a secure password vault for employees to use so they don't have to resort to using simple or predictable passwords.

Letting your web browser save your logins and passwords is NOT safe.

Click to Call or Email us today to schedule a meeting to discuss your cyber security needs.

Cloud Account Takeover: A Friendly Guide to Enhancing Your Security

Hey there, fellow business enthusiasts! We know you're all about making things work seamlessly and efficiently. But you've probably heard that cloud account takeover is causing a bit of a stir lately, and we're here to help shed some light on the matter.

Imagine all the tasks your amazing company tackles daily, involving usernames and passwords for various systems and cloud apps. It's like a digital treasure hunt, right? Well, guess what? Hackers have been crashing this party, trying to swipe those precious login credentials. Their ultimate goal? Sneaking into your business data, launching ninja-style attacks, and even sending some crafty insider phishing emails.

Now, before you dive into panic mode, let's take a closer look. Between 2019 and 2021, there was a whopping 307% rise in something called account takeover (ATO). Yeah, it sounds intense, but stay with us.

"But wait," you might be thinking, "doesn't multi-factor authentication (MFA) save the day?" You're right! Many in-the-know organizations and individuals have been using MFA as their trusty sidekick. It's like having an extra layer of security, ensuring only the rightful owner gets the golden key to their cloud accounts. MFA has been like a superhero cape, safeguarding accounts for quite some time.

However, here's the plot twist – hackers have been cooking up some sneaky plans to bypass our trusty MFA hero. One of their devious tactics is known as "push-bombing." Don't worry; we're here to help you navigate this twisty maze.

Picture this: you've got MFA enabled, and you're all set to conquer the digital realm. You enter your login credentials, and the system sends you a request to complete your login. Usually, this request pops up as a friendly "push" message. It could be a text, a device notification, or a nifty app alert. All good vibes so far, right?

But here's where the twist comes in. Hackers, armed with your login credentials (which they might've gotten through sneaky tactics like phishing or data breaches), play a game of multiple login attempts. This barrage of login requests sends you a series of push notifications in quick succession. Now, we get it – receiving unexpected messages might raise an eyebrow. But with the constant push notifications, you might accidentally give the thumbs-up to the wrong crowd.

So, what's this push-bombing all about? It's like a virtual magic trick, aiming to:

• Puzzle you with unexpected notifications

• Tire you out with constant alerts

• Tricky your brain into approving the hacker's request

Sounds intense, right? But fret not! We've got some friendly tricks up our sleeves to help you out.

Level Up Your Defenses:

1. Educate Your Amazing Team: Knowledge is your shield. By letting your team in on the push-bombing secret, they'll be ready to tackle any digital curveballs. Teach them what push-bombing is and how to handle unexpected MFA notifications. Plus, give them a direct line to report these incidents so your tech wizards can work their magic.

2. Tame App Overload: Juggling 36 cloud-based services a day? That's quite the circus act! Consider trimming down your app collection by using unified platforms like Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. One login, many tools – it's like a virtual Swiss Army knife.

3. Supercharge Your MFA: Up your MFA game with phishing-resistant solutions. These come with a unique device passkey or a physical security key for an extra layer of defense. No push notifications here, just a fortress of digital protection.

4. Power Up Passwords: The age-old wisdom of strong passwords holds true. Mix up uppercase and lowercase letters, sprinkle in some numbers and symbols, and avoid using your personal info as ingredients. Store your passwords safely and resist the urge to recycle them.

5. Master Identity Management: Unify your logins with a single sign-on solution. It's like having a VIP pass to your digital kingdom. You can even set up customized security policies that guard your realm against unwanted visitors from afar.

Phew! You made it to the end of our friendly guide. Remember, it's all about staying one step ahead of those pesky hackers. Multi-factor authentication is cool, but it's even cooler when you team it up with these friendly tricks. Need a hand boosting your digital fortress? Click to Call or Email us today to schedule a meeting to discuss your cyber security needs.

How is AI Augmenting Phishing Email Attacks?

As technology evolves, there's a growing concern among IT and security leaders about how artificial intelligence (AI) might impact cybersecurity. And guess what? They have every right to be cautious! AI is making life easier for cyber criminals, making it tricky for our awesome CISOs and cybersecurity experts to protect us.

You know what cyber criminals are doing now? They're using AI to make phishing emails and social engineering attacks super convincing. In the past, spotting phishing emails was a bit easier because of sloppy writing by hackers who didn't know certain languages well. Grammar mistakes, weird vocabulary, and bad spelling gave them away. But AI is changing the game. Now, even folks with no language skills can create slick phishing emails that look totally legit, leading to more people falling into their traps.

But fret not! We've got some fantastic ways to strengthen our cybersecurity programs in this AI-driven era. Let's check them out:

1. Team AI vs. Cyber AI: We can fight AI with AI! Yep, it's possible! By using tools and services that leverage AI, we can better defend against those sneaky AI-assisted attacks. It's all about staying up-to-date with the latest tech and getting skilled people on board or retraining our awesome existing staff to use these AI goodies. Machine learning algorithms, anomaly detection, and real-time monitoring are like our secret weapons, helping us spot and respond to security threats like superheroes.

2. Keeping Everyone in the Know: Hey, we all need a little schooling sometimes, right? Especially when it comes to new tech like AI! Let's make sure everyone, from the top brass to our fabulous employees, knows the ins and outs of AI's potential dark side. We'll teach them how to spot those crafty AI-generated phishing emails and other tricks used by cybercriminals. Oh, and remember, learning is a never-ending journey, as threats are always changing.

3. Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: It's all about working together! Our amazing CISOs will lead the charge, with support from the rest of the C-suite. We'll build a powerful security framework to handle those intelligence-powered threats. This framework will guide us in using AI wisely, even when dealing with third-party entities. By doing this, we'll reduce risks and keep our data safe and sound.

So, let's stand tall, embrace AI's power, and protect ourselves like the cybersecurity champions we are! With the right tools, knowledge, and teamwork, we'll stay one step ahead of those cyber baddies. Together, we've got this!

Worried about AI threats? Talk to the experts! We were the first in the area to leverage it for every day use in security, so we know our stuff. Click to Call or Email us today to schedule a meeting to discuss your cyber security needs.