CBWY Blog

Taxpayers filing in 2021 are now eligible for one-time use identity protection PIN from the Internal Revenue Service.

We’ve long known that systems and utilities are a target for hackers, but revelations like the one in Florida should give us all pause, as it may just be the start of a deadly escalation in the hacker’s playbook. An unidentified threat actor attempted to poison a Florida city by hacking into its water treatment system, officials announced Monday.

Uninstalled updates to software or firmware are one of the most common ways people are compromised by hackers. Following the discovery of multiple security issues, Apple is urging iPhone, iPad, and iPod users to update to the latest version of its operating system, iOS 14.4. The prod from Apple should not be ignored.

The FBI warned that companies and organizations are increasingly being targeted voice phishing, or “vishing,” attacks. In the January 14 Private Industry Notification (PIN), the FBI warned of an increase in the use of social engineering to target remote workers for access to company networks and data.

Insurance Business America released a whitepaper on the state of cyber insurance seen through the lens of the prevailing cyber threats of 2020, and how insurers, brokers, and their clients can take advantage of the growing cyber market to achieve maximum productivity in 2021. The whitepaper experts included Cyberscout Chief Marketing Officer Jeremy Barnett, Resilience Insurance Executive Vice President and Global Chief Underwriting Officer Emy R. Donavan, CFC Underwriting Executive Vice President Shannon Groeber, and Cowbell Cyber CEO and Founder Jack Kudale.

Businesses face a multitude of cyber risks in this dynamic time, from faulty wire transfers to social engineering, ransomware attacks to system compromises. But keeping up with the latest threats means your security posture and your cyber coverage also need to be up to date.

The threat landscape of cybersecurity changes daily, with hackers and cybersecurity professionals in a perpetual cat-and-mouse chase; hackers discover new ways to infiltrate and exploit their targets, and the cybersecurity industry looks for vulnerabilities, tries to anticipate new threats and responds when cyber security issues arise.

The email systems of several government agencies including the U.S. Departments of Treasury and Commerce were breached and monitored by foreign actors most likely connected to the Russian government, the Trump administration acknowledged December 13, 2020. “Highly sophisticated” threat actors were apparently able to compromise authentication protocols used by Microsoft’s Office suite of applications, including Word, Outlook, and Excel, according to the Washington Post

The holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year for scammers and hackers. Shoppers and philanthropists are both easier targets during the busy holiday season. The Covid-19 pandemic has meant increased virtual visits with loved ones, and of course remote work. The number of people willing to use their personal devices for holiday shopping has also increased as a result of the pandemic.

Pre-Covid online shopping was already expected to continue its increase in 2020, but with more customers avoiding the typical Black Friday crowds, this holiday season is set to break online sales records. A recent survey, commissioned by Cyberscout and conducted online by The Harris Poll among over 2,000 U.S. adults, found that 84 percent of consumers plan to shop online for the holidays this year, with 23 percent of them reporting that they are likely to shop through a social media platform.