1 Million Medicare Users Notified Of MOVEit Breach After 2nd Investigation

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 10, 2024 by itnerd

Friday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corporation (WPS) said sensitive information belonging to 946,801 Wisconsin residents was breached during last year’s MOVEit cybercriminal campaign.

“Acting on new information,” in May 2024 WPS conducted another investigation with an unnamed cybersecurity company, and they confirmed that before WPS had applied the patch hackers copied files from their system between May 27 and May 31, 2023.

Evan Dornbush, former NSA cybersecurity expert had this to say:

  “The MOVEit breach underscores a stark reality – zero-day vulnerabilities remain a formidable threat even for organizations with robust patch management practices. While timely patching is essential, sole reliance on it can be perilous. Organizations must adopt a defense-in-depth strategy, including advanced network threat detection capabilities, to mitigate risks posed by elusive zero-day vulnerabilities.

  “The rapid exploitation of zero-days such as MOVEit highlights urgent need for coordinated efforts to disrupt the underground market for such exploits. Organizations should consider investing in threat intelligence services to stay informed about emerging threats and proactively adjust their security posture accordingly.”

And I thought that the whole MOVEit thing was over as I assumed that companies and organizations had either moved off the MOVEit platform or have patched all the things. Cleary it isn’t the case. Thus I would not be surprised if there’s more stories like this to come.

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Hyper Launches Three HyperJuice Qi2 Wireless Charging Stands for the New iPhone 16

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 9, 2024 by itnerd

HYPER today announced its latest innovation in wireless charging technology, the HyperJuice Qi2 wireless charging solutions. Designed for tech enthusiasts, Apple® users, iPhone owners, and world travellers, this new lineup features cutting-edge Qi2 technology for two-times faster wireless charging anywhere.

Charge Two-Times Faster with HyperJuice Qi2 Technology

HyperJuice Qi2 wireless charging solutions deliver up to 15W of power, allowing users to charge their Qi2-enabled devices at twice the previous speed of the first generation 7.5W Qi protocol. The Qi2’s magnetic alignment ensures that the charging coils are perfectly aligned, boosting efficiency and minimizing heat generation. This innovative use of magnets not only optimizes energy usage but also protects battery life, keeping users powered and ready. 

HyperJuice Qi2 Wireless Charger Lineup

HyperJuice® Next Qi2 4-in-1 Magnetic Charging Stand
Hyper’s best-selling wireless charger is back with a significant upgrade. This compact and portable stand features a slim, foldable design with multiple viewing angles, ideal for any workspace or journey. 

• Wireless Qi2 iPhone charging up to 15W 
• Wirelessly charge 4 devices simultaneously 
• Portable, slim, and foldable design 
• Made for Apple Watch® 
• Recycled materials 
• Multiple viewing angles 
• 45W power adapter & global travel adapters included 
• Two ways to power: DC or USB-C 
• Charge all Qi-compatible devices, from AirPods® to Android™ phones 

Availability: (October 2024) Sign up to be among the first to purchase 
MSRP: $159.99 

HyperJuice® Qi2 3-in-1 Magnetic Charging Stand
Wirelessly charge up to three devices with this innovative, compact design, ideal for easy packing, desktop, or bedside charging. 

• Wireless Qi2 iPhone charging up to 15W 
• Charge three devices simultaneously 
• Portable, compact design 
• Made for Apple Watch® 
• Multiple viewing angles 
• Charge all Qi-compatible devices, from AirPods to Android phones 

Availability: (October 2024) Sign up to be among the first to purchase 
MSRP: $119.99 

HyperJuice® Qi2 2-in-1 Magnetic Charging Stand
Featuring the latest Qi2 technology, this sleek and portable charging stand includes a kickstand for easy viewing angles anywhere. 

• Wireless Qi2 iPhone charging up to 15W 
• Charge two devices simultaneously  
• Travel-friendly and compact design  
• Made for Apple Watch 
• Built-in kickstand 
• Charge all Qi-compatible devices, from AirPods to Android phones 

Availability: (October 2024) Sign up to be the first to purchase 
MSRP: $99.99 

Link to Collection Page: https://www.hypershop.com/collections/hyperjuice-qi2-wireless-charging-stands

New iPhone 16 Announcement Sale: 20% Off HyperJuice GaN Chargers and Power Banks for the New iPhone 16 (9/9 – 9/16/2024)

Hyper has the solutions you need to ensure your new iPhone 16 remains charged at lightning-fast speeds while effortlessly connecting to a 4K external monitor for seamless content viewing. Use code IPHONE20 at checkout and get 20% off. 

HyperDrive USB-C to HDMI 4K60Hz Cable (8ft/2.5m)
An all-in-one solution to seamlessly display 4K60Hz video straight from a USB-C device to a HDMI monitor, for enhanced video editing, streaming, gaming, and more. 

HyperJuice Magnetic Wireless Portable Charger
Portable power on-the-go with the HyperJuice Magnetic Wireless Portable Charger, designed for the new Apple iPhone (iPhone 12 and newer models). This innovative power bank features a secure magnetic attachment, allowing for quick and convenient charging, anywhere.  

HyperJuice 245W USB-C Power Bank
The HyperJuice 245W battery pack, with a capacity of 27,000mAh, can charge a 13-inch MacBook Air (M2) up to 1.3 times or an iPhone 15 about 4.5 times. It’s also airline-approved for carry-on baggage. 

HyperJuice Next USB-C GaN Travel Chargers
The HyperJuice USB-C GaN Chargers can power up to 4 devices simultaneously with its three USB-C ports and one USB-A port, allowing you to fast charge your laptop, phone, tablet, or headphones. It has everything you need for global travel, thanks to its compact design and included travel and C8 adapters. 

HyperDrive USB-C to USB-C Cable (6ft / 2M)
The HyperDrive USB-C to USB-C Cable is a high-performance, durable braided cable designed for fast charging and data transfer for the new iPhone 16. 

HyperJuice USB-C and Lightning Hybrid Silicone Cable (1.5m/5ft)
The only cable you need for all your USB-C and Lightning charging demands. Made from premium, soft-touch, tangle-resistant silicone, its unique 2-in-1 design includes both USB-C and Lightning connectors, offering the convenience of two cables in one. 

Link to Collection Page: https://www.hypershop.com/collections/new-iphone-charging-and-connectivity-save-20

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New Slack research reveals 5 types of workers emerging in the AI-driven workplace

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 9, 2024 by itnerd

Slack’s new Workforce Lab research explores what motivates workers to use AI and how they feel about using it at work. Through in-depth interviews and a survey of 5,000 full-time desk workers, the research uncovered five distinct AI personas that employers need to understand as they implement AI and bring workers onboard “The AI Team” — a workplace where humans and AI agents work successfully side-by-side:

  • 🥰 The Maximalist (30%): Maximalists are using AI multiple times a week to improve their work and are shouting from the rooftops about it.
  • 🤫 The Underground (20%): Undergrounds are Maximalists in disguise, using AI often but hesitant to share with their colleagues that they are doing so.
  • 😎 The Rebel (19%): Rebels don’t subscribe to the AI hype. They avoid using AI and consider it unfair when coworkers engage with these tools.
  • 🤩 The Superfan (16%): Superfans are excited and admire the advances made in AI, but aren’t yet making the most use out of it at work.
  • 🧐 The Observer (16%): Observers have yet to integrate AI into their work. They are watching with interest and caution.

Last week Salesforce also announced Career Connect it’s  new internal talent marketplace that helps employees gain new experiences and skills, encourage internal mobility, and retain top talent. The marketplace is powered by AI and helps employees create tailor-made career paths customized to their skills and aspirations. 

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Mujjo Announces Their iPhone 16 Collection

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 9, 2024 by itnerd

It’s time to get ready for the iPhone 16! With the launch event ending as I type this, Mujjo has announced their iPhone 16 Collection.

Full Leather Cases – You’ve got to feel it to believe it.

  • Premium European leather: luxe and long-lasting
  • Machined-metal buttons for optimal responsiveness
  • Machined-metal camera bump for enhanced protection
  • MagSafe compatible
  • And in two stunning new colours: Livid Green and Green Smoke

Shield Cases – Just in case your phone meets the pavement.

  • Drop protection rated to 5 metres (15 feet), thanks to Mujjo’s ImpactCore internal bumper designed specifically for Mujjo.  
  • Crafted from premium European leather tanned in the Netherlands, this case combines elegance with durability. 
  • Crafted in a more sustainable way from DriTan, a water-free leather tanning process.

MaizCases – What goes around…their most planet-friendly phone case.

Even better, 98% of the water used in its production is recovered, making this case good to the planet and your phone.

Crafted from Italian bio-leather, made from a blend of corn, cereals, and recycled polyester, this case is both stylish and eco-friendly.

Lined with luxurious Japanese microfiber that feels as smooth as satin. New enhanced machine-metal buttons offer a responsive touch.

Explore the entire iPhone 16 collection here.

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Ads On Twitter Show Up Besides Racist Content…. Why Are We Shocked By This??

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 9, 2024 by itnerd

Twitter is a cesspool of hate among other negative things. Therefore we should not be shocked by the fact that CBS News is reporting that ads on Twitter are showing up next to hateful content:

The World Bank has ceased all paid advertising on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, which was formerly Twitter, after a CBS News investigation found promoted advertisements from the organization showing up under a racist post from an account that prolifically posts pro-Nazi and white nationalist content. 

CBS News found a verified X account with more than 115,000 followers that had posted a racist image alongside a post praising Europe’s colonization of Africa. CBS News is not publicly identifying the accounts spreading racist content on X. 

A promoted advertisement for the World Bank showed up in the comments section below the post. 

“The World Bank Group had already reduced its paid marketing on X while working with the platform to implement the strongest safety protocols X offers for our content,” a spokesperson for the World Bank told CBS News on Friday, adding: “This latest incident is entirely unacceptable, and we are immediately ceasing all paid marketing on X.”

And:

On at least five occasions, promoted advertisements for the backpack company Nordace showed up under white nationalist or pro-Nazi posts on X. This included an advertisement for a Nordace backpack under a post from another verified account with 161,000 followers. 

The thread shared by the account included pro-Nazi posts that said “antisemites will save the world,” and “Weimar problems require Weimar solutions” with the “Weimar problems” phrase painted in the colors of the LGBTQ rainbow flag. The Weimar Republic was a name used for Germany before Hitler rose to power with the Nazi regime. 

On its website, Canadian-owned Nordace describes its core values as including, “Respect People” and “leave a positive impact.”

A Nordace representative replied to an earlier CBS News query about its ads on Sept. 2, saying the company had halted paid advertising on X “until we have absolute certainty that such occurrences won’t happen again.” Nordace said the posts highlighted by CBS News were “counter to everything we stand for, including our core value of ‘respect people.'”

It’s stuff like this that makes advertisers run in the other direction from advertising on Twitter. Elon Musk who is in the process of killing Twitter really has no clue. And it’s stuff like this that will ultimately kill Twitter as Elon clearly has no interest in making Twitter a place where advertisers want to spend their advertising dollars with. That and the fact that he told advertisers to “go f**k themselves.”

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So How Do Scammers Get Their Phone Numbers At The Top Of Google Search Results?

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 9, 2024 by itnerd

This is going to answer a question that I get a lot when I help people who were the victims of scams, or from people who read my posts about scams. Which is how it’s possible to get a fake tech support number or a fake customer service number to the top of Google’s search results. But before I give you the how part, let me give you some background first.

Often when I investigate and remediate scams, the victim hasn’t had the scammer call them. It’s the other way around. For example, I was recently called in to remediate this scam where a couple had an issue with their printer. And they used Google to get a tech support number. The problem was that the number that they got from Google was a fake tech support company. And it would have ended really badly had they not got suspicious and disconnected the call. But by that point, the scammer had connected to their computer and had a look around it.

The reason why this sort of scam works is because people want to call a phone number to get help with something. That’s because they may be of a certain generation who are more comfortable talking to a person than using a chat bot for example. Or they feel that they will get better service from a real human being. Scammers know this and use this to their advantage. Since Google is the number one search engine out there, and they know that Google sells ads where if you pay them enough, they will post their ad high up on their search results. For example, here’s what you get on Google if you type in “Facebook customer service”.

Every phone number that you see here is fake and if you call any of these numbers, you’ll get connected to a scammer. The scammer who placed this ad is betting on the fact that you are so desperate for help that your guard will be down, and as a result you will fall into their trap by calling the number.

So, how do you avoid falling into their trap? Here’s some random thoughts:

  • If you’re looking the phone number of a telco or a utility company, check your bills from said company for a phone number.
  • If you have a smartphone, install the company’s app on your phone. They will often have the phone number that you’re looking for in there. Or better yet, they may have a button that will directly connect you to the company in question via the app.

And most of all, never rely on search results from Google or any other search engine.

Google has promised for years that they will crack down of this. And to their credit, they have made efforts to make this problem go away. But this is still a problem which means that they still have a lot of work to do to keep users safe. Until that day comes, it’s up to you to keep yourself safe by keeping your wits about you.

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PC Optimum Terms And Conditions Changes Are A #Fail

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 9, 2024 by itnerd

If you are a member of the PC Optimum points program which is run by Loblaw, you likely recently got an email that looks in part like this:

The way this email reads, Loblaw is altering things so that account takeovers, and the resultant financial costs of said takeovers, is lessened. In their favour. While most of this email seems fine “ish”. Here’s the part of the email that bothers me:

So if you live in Quebec, you have to be informed that your PC Optimum account has been pwned. But they don’t have to inform you if you live anywhere else in Canada?

Am I the only one who looks at this and says that this is suspect at best?

The problem with this is that you might not notice that you have been pwned until it’s way too late. Unless you’re in Quebec where I am guessing that there is a legal requirement for the company to let you know that you’ve been pwned. That to me is problematic as Loblaw should do the right thing and let anyone who has been pwned know that they’ve been pwned and not just the people where they are legally forced to do so.

I pointed this out to my wife as we’ve been shopping substantially less at Loblaw and associated stores such as Shopper’s Drug Mart over the last few months due to their high prices when compared to their competition. But we still had around 250,000 points in our PC Optimum account which is the equivalent of $250 CDN. That changed this weekend where we redeemed most of those points for groceries, personal health items, and the like. Taking our points total down to just over 19,000 and we’ll eventually figure out how to spend that. But I can say that we’re stocked up in a number of areas from food to health and beauty for not a whole lot of cash outlay to do so. Why have we done this? This news really rubs us the wrong way, and combined with their high prices, we’re done with Loblaw and the PC Optimum program.

If this course of action sounds familiar, we did something similar with Petro Canada when they got pwned last year. And I have maybe been to a Petro Canada station twice since then. My wife and I are big believers that companies who do stupid things should not get your hard earned money. But it’s not just the cash that we’re depriving Loblaw of. We’re also depriving them of the data on our shopping habits that I know is equally as valuable. Because when you sign up for one of these programs, the company behind it is gathering data on you so that they can do anything from mine it to better sell things to you, of to sell this data to third parties. And I am pretty sure that if enough people say that enough is enough and pull out of this program, Loblaw would likely rethink their actions because it’s the data on your shopping habits that they really want.

This is slated to go into effect on Halloween. Let’s see if Loblaw gives consumers a treat by changing course on this, or they are going to go ahead and roll out this trick that really isn’t a good one.

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Trump Media Stock Is Likely To Crash On September 20th

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 8, 2024 by itnerd

When Trump Media, which is the company that owns floundering social media network Truth Social, Donald Trump received 115 million shares. But he couldn’t sell those shares in whole or in part for six months. That’s called a lock up period. And that lock up period expires in about three weeks. Roughly September 20th. Selling all of that stock in whole or in part could help with Trump’s mountain of legal bills, fines, and campaign costs. But there’s a problem with that if he decided to do that:

Trump owns 59% of TMTG, and any sale could tank the stock unless done in small batches.

News flash. The stock is already tanking as per this:

This is worse than the last time I checked in on this rapidly falling stock. And this is highlighted by this factoid:

TMTG has now lost 80% of its value since hitting its all-time high of $79.38 on March 26, the stock’s first day of trading under the DJT ticker. That valued Trump’s personal stake at nearly $9.11 billion at the time.

His stake is down to about $2 billion as I type this. That’s a horrible drop in value if you’re Trump. And it could get worse:

Without a fast-growing user base — and with the company likely struggling to post a profit for the foreseeable future — there’s plenty of reason Trump Media stock could continue to see new lows. There’s simply not much of a business to invest in today, and this is a stock whose free fall could be far from over.

So this is a business that can’t attract users (Truth social maybe has 5 million users), and isn’t making money. That’s not a good news story at all. And highlights the fact that Trump isn’t the great businessman that he thinks he is. So you should circle the 20th on your calendar. Because it is likely that this meme stock will crash and burn on that date.

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Bluesky Hits A Record 9 Million Users

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 8, 2024 by itnerd

Elon Musk, you have a problem. Bluesky has been emerging as a challenger to the dumpster fire known as Twitter. For example, millions of people signed up when Elon pissed off Brazil. And I do mean millions. But what will freak out Elon is this:

At this pace, Bluesky will be a serious challenger to Twitter from those who are looking for an alternative to the dumpster fire that is Twitter. And if advertisers start to show up on the platform, Elon will need to change his underwear. I’m calling it now.

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Critical Vulnerability In OFBiz Software Allows Arbitrary Code Execution

Posted in Commentary with tags on September 7, 2024 by itnerd

There is news that there is a critical security vulnerability in OFBiz (Open For Business) software. OFBiz is a suite of business applications for CRM and ERP, and also functions as a Java-based web framework. The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2024-45195 with a CVSS score of 7.5, affects all versions of the software before 18.12.16.

According to Rapid7 security researcher Ryan Emmons, the flaw allows an attacker without valid credentials to exploit missing view authorization checks in a Apache based web application, enabling them to execute arbitrary code on the server. 

Stephen Gates, Principal Security SME, Horizon3.ai had this to say:

  “The series of interrelated vulnerabilities, reportedly bypassing previous patches, likely has users frustrated. Patching is time-consuming and most often leads to a short outage, which in many cases is unacceptable for those who must maintain 5-nines or better.

  “This endless cycle of applying a patch, then a new vulnerability is discovered, then yet another round of patching is likely contributing to organizations waiting to patch, which ultimately increases the likelihood of exploitation and subsequent breaches.

  “What’s urgently needed is an entirely new class of solution for organizations that can’t immediately apply patches.”

Evan Dornbush, a former NSA cybersecurity expert offers additional comments:

  “Rapid7’s research here is impressive and commendable. While the OFBiz team had previously released a series of patches to address symptoms, Ryan Emmons’ creativity appears to tackle the root cause, effectively closing the gap in software critical to business operations.

  “It’s encouraging to see how the ingenuity of the research community drives meaningful improvements in software security. This work highlights the criticality of fostering a vibrant research community that can continue to contribute to the improvement of the ecosystem. By leveraging the collective mindshare of researchers, vendors and system owners can more effectively identify and mitigate emerging threats.”

This is one of those times where if you use this software, you should install patches to address this ASAP. Because it’s safe to assume that threat actors will be exploiting this vulnerability now that this is out there.

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