The Internet Archive Has Been Pwned Again

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 22, 2024 by itnerd

The Internet Archive has experienced yet another breach, this time involving their Zendesk email support platform with 800+ support tickets, despite warnings about stolen GitLab authentication tokens by threat actors.

“It’s dispiriting to see that even after being made aware of the breach weeks ago, IA has still not done the due diligence of rotating many of the API keys that were exposed in their gitlab secrets,” reads an email from the threat actor.

Since Saturday night, BleepingComputer reported receiving multiple emails from individuals who got replies to old Internet Archive removal requests, alerting them to the breach caused by the organization’s failure to properly rotate their stolen authentication tokens.

Recipient of these emails told BleepingComputer that they had to upload personal identification when requesting a removal of a page from the Wayback Machine.

“Whether you were trying to ask a general question, or requesting the removal of your site from the Wayback Machine your data is now in the hands of some random guy. If not me, it’d be someone else,” the threat actor’s email continues.

Steve Hahn, EVP Sales US, BullWall had this to say:

  “Multiple successive attacks is unfortunately the norm, not the exception. When a threat actor has a successful attack they have typically spent months in the environment undetected. They have worked for long term persistence. Setting up dozens or hundreds of back up accounts and credentials, running scripts to cover their tracks, set up fresh, unprotected VMs, done vulnerability scans, laid second wave traps, such as embedding malicious macros into internal documents that will launch a whole new attack. The latter is quite crafty. We all know we shouldn’t “enable macros” on any file we get from an untrusted source, but when it’s on an internal share and it’s a document you use regularly, you have no hesitancy to hit the “enable macros” button. In terms of how often a company is hit in successive attacks, I’ve seen numbers as high as 78% and that does ring true to my personal observations.”

It’s bad enough that this site got pwned. But to get pwned three times is insane. Hopefully the Internet Archive takes steps to make sure that there is not a fourth time as this is pretty embarrassing.

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New Targus rolling laptop case makes commuting effortless for those carrying a heavy workload

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 22, 2024 by itnerd

Targus today announced the arrival of its new 16” Transit 4-Wheel Rolling Laptop Case designed for commuting professionals and students who regularly carry a heavy workload. This durable, lightweight four-wheel roller simplifies mobile lifestyles by allowing professionals and students on the go to stay organized and productive throughout their day, while keeping their tech and gear protected. 

 According to a May 2024 Gallup survey that analyzed work arrangements and locations among U.S. full-time, remote-capable employees, 53% of respondents work in hybrid environments while 21% work on-site. Additionally, a recent Pew Research Center survey found that three in five American workers do not have jobs that can be carried out remotely. 

The 16” Transit 4-Wheel Rolling Laptop Case (TBR044GL) is a sleek, classic-looking laptop case that is durable, lightweight, and easy to maneuver with its smooth, four-wheel rolling design. It features a large main compartment for garments, files, or books and a secondary compartment with a padded sleeve to store and protect a 15-16” laptop. It has other travel-friendly features, as well, like a top quick-access pocket for small essentials, front pocket with organization panel, and hideaway telescopic handle that stores neatly away. It is perfectly suited for carrying through airport checkpoints and storing onboard a flight with ease and efficiency. Compact and lightweight, this rolling laptop case is 16.25”x8.0”x17.0” (L x W x H) and weighs ~5.31 lbs. while still offering plenty of spacious compartments for tech and personal items. Durable and made to last, this high-quality rolling laptop case is backed by a Limited Lifetime Warranty.

The new 16” Transit 4-Wheel Rolling Laptop case can be purchased now at Targus.com and participating retailers. For additional product details, availability, and pricing, visit Targus.com. 

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Security Breach Exposes Data From UN Women 

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 22, 2024 by itnerd

Recently, cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler discovered an unsecured database revealing 115,000+ records and 228 GB of data tied to the UN Women. This crucial organization aids global efforts to combat gender-based violence and champion women’s rights. 

The exposed data included highly sensitive materials like victim’s accounts, financial summaries, passport scans, staff lists, and funding requests. Some files contained personally identifiable information (PII) and confidential details, posing significant privacy risks for charity workers and beneficiaries. 

You can read the detailed report here: https://www.vpnmentor.com/news/report-unwomen-breach/

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Rogers And Other Canadian Telcos Have Given You A Great Reason To Ditch Using Their Hardware For Their TV Services

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 22, 2024 by itnerd

Rogers isn’t exactly well loved by Canadians. In fact, no Canadian telco really is. But Rogers specifically is in the crosshairs of many Canadians because of price increases that many Rogers customers weren’t specifically told of. A few Rogers customers went public with CBC a few days ago to express their displeasure:

Here’s the core issue. Rogers customers are seeing unexpected increases in TV box rental fees by $7 a month. Something that Rogers is able to do because it’s buried in the fine print of their contract. That in my opinion is fine if it is properly disclosed to customers before they sign on the dotted line. But in many of the cases that have come to light, that hasn’t happened. Thus customers are mad. To be fair, Rogers aren’t the only Canadian telco that does this. I’ve heard of TELUS and Bell doing something similar with their equipment rentals.

My advice is that if you must get TV from a big three telco, don’t rent their TV hardware. Bell has the Fibe TV app on a variety of platforms. TELUS has the TV+ app on the App Store and Play Store. Ditto for Rogers with their Ignite TV app on the App Store and Play Store. None of these options require you to rent hardware from any Canadian telco, and you get the same experience as if you did. Which means that you save money at the end of the day. Though I suspect that if there’s a critical mass of people switching to these options, the big three telcos will find some way to bill you extra for it.

It will be interesting to see what if anything the big three in general, and Rogers specifically does to respond to this backlash from consumers. Because this kind of has the smell of the negative option billing fiasco that Rogers found itself in the middle of many years ago. Government outlawed the practice as a result of that fiasco, and one has to wonder if the same thing will happen here.

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Omni Family Health Pwned In Cyberattack

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 21, 2024 by itnerd

Omni Family Health, a California-based nonprofit healthcare services organization, is notifying 468,344 individuals that their personal information was compromised in a data breach resulting from a cyberattack that occurred earlier this year.

The organization discovered the security breach on August 7, 2024, following claims that information was taken from its systems and leaked on the dark web. Their investigation revealed that the data posted was that of Omni’s current and former patients and employees.

Data exposed may have included:

  • Names
  • Addresses
  • SSNs
  • DOBs 
  • Health insurance details
  • Medical information

The Hunters International ransomware gang claimed to have stolen 2.7 terabytes of data and listed the organization on its Tor leak site, releasing the stolen information on August 23.

Steve Hahn, EVP Sales US, BullWall has this to say

“As we start to wind down 2024 it has become abundantly clear that Healthcare is the primary (successful) target of these Ransomware gangs. This has been far and away their most profitable year targeting these organizations. Causing 10’s of billions of dollars in impact.

“Healthcare has an enormous attack surface, including personal devices and IoT, that give the threat actors nearly unlimited initial compromise points. They also have the most valuable data. The data that Omni Health is claiming was compromised could be used for 100s of nefarious purposes, such as blackmailing patients of high net worth directly, threatening to release damaging health records such as STI or mental health medication that could be ruinous to the careers of family lives of those patients. In other breaches they even released pictures of female breast cancer patients in a state of undress at what had to have been that patients most fragile state. These threat actors are largely Russia based and have shown there is no low they won’t sink to. These Ransomware Gangs are also likely to sell of the information of patients and the medications they take to buyers on the dark web. This would allow people to impersonate patients and refill their medications, particularly ones with high black market worth. The go-to play book here is to offer customers and patients of Ransomed companies “free credit monitoring”. In this case, an utterly worthless olive branch. In nearly every healthcare breach the lawsuits that ensue far eclipse the ransom payment.”

Once again I am writing a story on healthcare getting pwned. It should be abundantly clear by now that steps need to be taken by this sector to stop the madness. Because as it stands right now, threat actors are having a field day at our expense.

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Here’s A Refund Scam With An Interesting Twist

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 21, 2024 by itnerd

A few minutes ago, I got a scam email that didn’t get filtered out by the junk mail filter on my email server. I’ll get to that in a minute, but first here’s the email:

Now this looks very convincing. There are some giveaways that this is a scam. If you look at the top of the email you will see this text: “Hello, noreply5@ToddHolmesCo. onmicrosoft. com”. That suggests that it is being mass emailed. On top of that, it appears that it was sent by PayPal Mexico as evidenced by this.

What further confirms this is looking at the headers, this was actually sent by PayPal Mexico. But there’s more. There’s a link that says “Pay now” which to my surprise actually goes to PayPal:

So what this looks like to me is that the threat actors behind this scam are trying to get you in one of two ways. If you aren’t paying attention and you actually pay this, the threat actors win. But if you call them to dispute this, you fall into the “refund scam” trap where the threat actors will weave a story that will prompt you to give access to your computer to the scammers so that they can steal your money. Thus again they win. I have to admit that this is crafty.

To confirm this, I have forwarded the email along with the headers to PayPal for investigation. If they confirm that my observations are accurate, then this is a pretty scary development as it illustrates that scammers are evolving. The other thing that I have done is posted this on a number of scambait forums so that the scambait community can go after these people and disrupt their activities.

More info as it comes.

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ASUS Announces the ExpertBook P5

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 21, 2024 by itnerd

 ASUS today announces that the ExpertBook P5 (P5405), a groundbreaking Copilot+ PC designed to empower modern professionals is now available in Canada, starting October 21st. Available through the ASUS Store, Costco, and select retailers, it comes in four configurations starting at CA$1,299.99.

Powered by up to the latest Intel® Core™ Ultra 7 processor (Series 2) with 47 NPU TOPS, the laptop delivers up to 3X the AI performance boost compared to the previous generation. Featuring ASUS AI ExpertMeet, this AI-driven powerhouse streamlines workflows and enhances collaboration. Its sleek, durable aluminum chassis houses a stunning 2.5K 144 Hz display, delivering exceptional visuals. With a 1.29 kg feather-light design, robust security features, and a focus on sustainability, ExpertBook P5 is the perfect companion for on-the-go professionals seeking peak performance and efficiency.

The future of work

Crafted with meticulous attention to detail, ExpertBook P5 boasts a premium aluminum design that seamlessly blends aesthetics and ergonomics. Despite its lightweight construction, at just 1.29 kg, P5 offers exceptional durability — meeting the exacting US MIL-STD 810H military standard. Its thoughtfully designed workspace, featuring conveniently placed function keys and a spacious mouse area, optimizes productivity and comfort during video conferences and multitasking. Engineered with the ASUS ExpertCool thermal structure, a newly-enhanced cooling design, the ExpertBook P5 ensures consistent, optimal cooling whether the lid is open or closed, guaranteeing peak performance even during extended usage. It is a productivity powerhouse designed to elevate professional performance, empowering users to achieve their full potential.

Forwarding the ASUS commitment to sustainability, ExpertBook P5 also represents a significant advancement in sustainable technology. This intelligent product has significantly enhanced its circularity by 10% to reach 50%, utilizing Circular Transition Indicators (CTI) for performance measurement. By incorporating recycled materials and a modular design, ExpertBook P5 directly addresses the pressing issue of e-waste.

Experience the power of AI in meetings

ASUS ExpertBook P5 benefits from the all-new ASUS AI ExpertMeet, an on-device AI assistant that transforms meetings into productive and engaging experiences, leverages advanced AI capabilities to enhance audio, video, and collaboration features, ensuring seamless communication and capturing every important detail.

AI ExpertMeet offers a comprehensive suite of AI-powered features to elevate every meeting experience. AI Meeting Minutes accurately captures and transcribe meetings, generating detailed summaries and identifying key points from multiple speakers. The AI Translated Subtitles feature provides translations, ensuring seamless communication across languages. Additionally, the Watermark function allows video calls to be personalized with customizable business card information and screen watermarks for added security and professionalism. All powered by on-device intelligence, personal data remains secure, allowing users to focus on ideas without privacy concerns – empower teams with the latest AI technology and unlocking the full potential of virtual collaborations.

ASUS ExpertGuardian: the ultimate guardian for confidential data

ASUS ExpertBook P5‘s robust security arsenal safeguards critical data. Engineered with a commercial-grade and NIST SP 800-155-compliant BIOS, it provides a foundational layer of protection against firmware attacks. Coupled with Windows 11 Secured-core PC technologies, the ExpertBook P5 creates a fortified defense against software vulnerabilities. To ensure long-term security, ASUS offers a comprehensive five-year support for BIOS and driver updates, safeguarding the system against emerging threats.

Complementing this robust hardware-based security, ExpertBook P5 includes a complimentary one-year McAfee+ Premium membership. This comprehensive security suite leverages McAfee Smart AI™ for advanced threat detection, including AI-powered deepfake detection to protect against sophisticated social engineering attacks. Additionally, email scam protection provides an extra layer of defense against phishing attempts.

ASUS Business Support

Understanding the critical needs of modern professionals, ASUS Business Support is not merely a warranty — it’s a comprehensive service package that includes on-site repairs, dedicated technical assistance and 24/7 customer support. This robust support framework ensures that every ExpertBook user experiences minimal downtime and receives personalized solutions to their technical issues.

AVAILABILITY & PRICING

The ASUS ExpertBook P5 is available in 4 different configurations starting from October 21st, 2024.

The 4 specifications are available on the ASUS Store, ranging from CA$1,299 to CA$1,799 both for B2B and B2C customers.

The ExpertBook P5 (P5404) with an Intel Core Ultra 5 processor 226V, 512 GB M.2 PCIe® 4.0 2280 SSD, an upgradeable M.2 2230 SSD slot, 16 GB LPDDR5X-8533 RAM and Windows 11 Home is now available starting from CA$1,299 on the ASUS Store and Costco.

An additional version with Windows 11 Pro is available on the ASUS Store and selected retailers for CA$1,399.

The ExpertBook P5 (P5404) with an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor 258V, 1 TB M.2 PCIe® 4.0 2280 SSD, an upgradeable M.2 2230 SSD slot, 32 GB LPDDR5X-8533 RAM and Windows 11 Pro is now available starting from CA$1,799 on the ASUS Store and selected retailers.

An additional version with Windows 11 Home will be available later starting from October 28th on the ASUS Store and selected retailers, starting from CA$1,699.

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How Scammers Are Using Google Ads To Get You To Fall For Their Scams

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 21, 2024 by itnerd

One thing that I always cover when I speak to community groups about avoiding scams is to not trust the results that search engines provide. Simply put, scammers can use a variety of techniques to put themselves ahead of legitimate phones numbers and websites on Google. That in turn makes it far more likely that someone will engage with that ad and fall for a scam because they are leveraging the fact that humans tend to click on the first or second search result when they look for something.

Here’s an example of that that I found on Reddit yesterday:

Now I wasn’t able to replicate this search result with implies that the ad might have been taken down. You’ll note that I said ad in the previous sentence as this is an advertisement that is designed to pop up when certain keywords are used. In this case, “Bell Internet Customer Service”. This isn’t a new technique that scammers use to prey on the unsuspecting. But it is the first time I have seen it in association with a Canadian telco like Bell. Now you’re likely wondering how I know that this is an ad. For starters it says “sponsored” right above the words “5G mobile”. And if you see that word, that isn’t a search result that you can rely upon. Ever.

So what happens when you go to 5gmobilebell.ca? You go to this website:

In terms of look and feel, this isn’t even in the same star system as Bell’s website. So while it is possible that someone might get fooled and fall for this, I would imagine that their success rate would be pretty low. That’s further reinforced by this:

Clearly these losers used a template to build this website and couldn’t even fill out even the most basic details of the template. But again, that likely won’t stop someone from falling for it and calling the number.

As for calling the number to find out what the scam is, I tried calling but didn’t get an answer. But a few minutes later I got a call back from a US number which was clearly spoofed as Bell which is a Canadian telco would never call you from a US number. I couldn’t be bothered to answer the call as the effort level that was put in by these scammers is pathetically low. So I turned this information over to the scambait community to see if they can have some fun with these losers. Having said that, this could easily have been far more dangerous because they started this scam with the technique of buying ads to ensure that their scam pops up at the top of Google’s search results which is known for being successful at separating people from their money. That means that you need to be aware of this so that you don’t end up being one of those people who are separated from their money by a scammer.

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TELUS Brings Pure Fibre To Ontario And Quebec…. Let’s Dig Into The Weeds

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 20, 2024 by itnerd

For most people in Ontario and Quebec, if you wanted to get an Internet connection that is end to end fibre as opposed to fibre to some box close to your home and coax copper cable the rest of the way, there was only one option. Bell. But that might be changing. In an odd move, and I say that because it wasn’t put out in any press release that I can find, TELUS is apparently expanding their Pure Fibre offering to Ontario and Quebec. If you go to this link and you live in either Ontario or Quebec, you will see this:

Now my first thoughts were as follows:

  • How much does this cost?
  • Are they setting up their own infrastructure or are they using Bell’s infrastructure seeing as TELUS and Bell already share cell towers in various parts of Canada.

Answering the first question likely points towards what the answer might be for the second one. Here’s how much it costs:

So if you bundle Internet with getting access to a number of streaming services, it’s $109/month. But if you bundle up Internet with TELUS Mobility, it’s $10 cheaper. I for one would be interested in what the price is for those who don’t want to bundle anything. The fine print can help you with that.

So the regular price is $130 a month. Honestly that isn’t a good deal. Distributel which is a Bell company will serve up a 1GB connection to your home for just under $70 a month. Now some of you will say that TELUS is offering a 1.5Gbps connection. My response to that is that it doesn’t matter. As I said here, nobody needs more than 500 Mbps into their home as nobody can fully leverage that connection speed.

That brings me to the question of whether TELUS is rolling out its own infrastructure to support their Internet ambitions, or are they leveraging Bell’s infrastructure. I’m thinking that it’s the latter because if TELUS had its own infrastructure, they would price their offering to try and steal customers from Bell. That’s not happening here as their pricing is a bit higher than other companies that resell Bell’s services. For example Teksavvy who have this price for service to my address:

So is TELUS Pure Fibre an option for those who want Internet access via end to end fibre. I suppose it is. But Bell is going to be the cheapest option because they have their own infrastructure. Though you may have to deal with their rather problematic customer service to save some cash for a year or two until they hike the price on you. If you’re a Bell customer, this isn’t a better option if you have had your promo pricing expire and you can find lower prices elsewhere. Distributel as illustrated above is an example of that. What is a real alternative to Bell that gets you fibre is Beanfield as they do have their own infrastructure unlike TELUS. But only if you’re in an area that they serve. I say that because I have seen examples where Bell is hyper aggressive in terms of their pricing if Beanfield is an option for customers.

What this continues to illustrate is that there still is a need to have more players with their own infrastructure to create more competition in the telco landscape. Because while this move into Ontario and Quebec is mildly interesting, it doesn’t move the needle in terms of lower telco prices for Canadians.

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Why I Am Leaving Bell…. Again

Posted in Commentary with tags on October 19, 2024 by itnerd

If you’re a long time reader of this blog, you’ll know that I started out having Bell DSL Internet and home phone a very long time ago. And because of a rather negative experience when my phone went out of service, I dumped Bell for Teksavvy. This was in 2009. And only because Rogers took the entire country offline a couple of years ago did I return to Bell. And this was despite the fact that a previous attempt to return to Bell went off the rails. Though the process to do that was not exactly the best customer experience possible, and it as also full of attempts to upsell me. But at the end I got Bell Fibe installed and it worked well for our needs. Though that’s when I also confirmed that Bell’s customer service wasn’t that great at times. Other times it was brilliant.

So that brings me to today where I am dumping Bell for a second time. And it’s due to price. Now when I signed up for Bell, I was paying the following when I first signed up for Bell:

  • 1.5 Gbps down/940 Mbps up Internet service for $49.95 a month for 24 months. After that the price goes up to 84.95 a month.
  • A home phone package with North American calling and services like call waiting and caller ID for $56.56 a month.
  • TV, which I didn’t want but they slipped in for $10 a month to facilitate a bunch of discounts.

The bottom line is that I started out paying $116.51 a month with Bell including taxes. But fast forward to today and I am paying $192.10. That’s because of Bell’s seemingly random price increases and the expiration of various promotional credits added over $75 a month to my bill. That’s a non-starter in today’s economy. And asking Bell for a better deal is also a non-starter because like a lot of Canadian telcos these days, they won’t try to keep you as a customer. Instead, they would rather let you go to another telco and try to win you back. I spoke about this here, but in short Canadian telcos don’t care about retaining customers. They only care about making as much money as they possibly can before those customers leave for another telco. Then trying to win you back so that it looks like you’re a new customer. Knowing that, I am forced to switch providers if I want to lower my telco costs.

Enter Distributel. They’re owned by Bell and use Bell’s infrastructure. But they for the most part don’t behave like Bell. And according to Reddit, they also seem to have decent customer service unlike Bell. But most importantly, they don’t cost nearly as much as Bell. So after looking at their website and giving them a call, I walked away with this:

  • Internet: 1 Gbps down / 750 Mbps up – $69.95 a month. A WiFi pod is included for free.
  • Home Phone: Free local calling and 500 minutes of North American Calling – $25 a month with the first month free.
  • They are waving my install and shipping fees (to ship their hardware to me).
  • They will work with Bell to cancel my Bell service. Which isn’t surprising as it’s technically the same company.

So with taxes my monthly bill should be just over $100 a month. Compared to what Bell is charging me, that’s a no brainer. Now I should point a couple of things out:

  • Distributel appears to use YAK for their telephone service. Which makes this a VoIP type system. That means that if the Internet is out or the power is out, I have no home phone. Which is fine as that is the situation that I have with Bell right now. And I mitigate some of that by having a UPS as described here.
  • Some of you will say that I am giving up speed on my Internet connection because I’m dropping from 1.5 Gbps down/940 Mbps up. The fact is that I am unlikely to notice a difference because of what I argue here. In short, nobody really needs anything over 500 Mbps up or down because you are highly unlikely to ever fully max out a 500Mbps connection, never mind anything faster.

I was on the phone with Distributel for about half an hour or so, and they had also committed to porting my home phone number, sending me their hardware, and booking a service appointment for the 25th of October in the afternoon subject to confirmation. During this time, I never felt pressured to get services that I didn’t need, and the rep explained everything to me in detail and answered any question that I had. This is the exact opposite experience that I had with Bell when I moved to them from Rogers. It’s shocking to believe that Distributel is owned by Bell.

So what happens now? Well I will wait for confirmation of my service appointment, and I will document how that appointment goes. I don’t expect it to be long as I already have Bell Fibe in my condo. And since they use Bell’s infrastructure, it shouldn’t hard to make the switch. The other thing that I expect is a phone call from Bell with a “winback” offer. For now I will ignore that as I want to give Distributel a fair shot as so far things seem positive with them.

As I said, I will be updating you on how the install goes along with anything else technical and non-technical that I encounter. Stay tuned for that.

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