The email or letter looks official , and it contains an attention-grabbing message : The state is holding on to your unclaimed property , which may be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars . All you have to do is pay a fee upfront or provide your personal information and the money is yours . But the letters and emails are the work of scammers , not state officials . A growing number of people across the country are receiving Attack.Phishing these messages and some are falling for them , losing thousands of dollars or becoming victims of identity theft in the process . “ These scams are just rampant , ” said David Milby , director of the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators ( NAUPA ) , which represents state unclaimed property programs . “ The email from the public we ’ ve been getting about this has increased tenfold in the past year. ” Some scammers pretend Attack.Phishing they work for NAUPA and have even used its letterhead to make their pitch . Besides costing victims money , consumer advocates say this kind of fraud diminishes public trust in state agencies that handle unclaimed property and makes it harder for them to do their jobs . Unclaimed property is cash or other financial assets considered lost or abandoned when an owner can ’ t be found after a certain period of time . It includes dormant savings accounts and CDs , life insurance payments , death benefits , uncashed utility dividends and the contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes . There is plenty of it . In 2015 , unclaimed property agencies in the U.S. collected $ 7.8 billion and returned $ 3.2 billion to rightful owners , according to NAUPA . At last count in 2013 , states were holding on to $ 43 billion in unclaimed property . The treasurer , comptroller or auditor of each state maintains a list of abandoned property and runs an online database that anyone can search by name for free . Forty states and the District of Columbia also provide that information to a NAUPA-endorsed national website that the public can search . But fraudsters don ’ t bother reviewing or collecting Attack.Databreach that data . They simply contact people at random , using email , letters or phone calls , hoping to snare a victim . The scams play on the idea that people are simply getting back assets they ’ re owed . “ There ’ s an air of legitimacy to them , ” said John Breyault , a vice president at the National Consumers League . “ People think it ’ s their money . ”

A phishing campaign Attack.Phishing is targeting customers of every major UK bank , with cybercriminals posing as Attack.Phishing customer support staff on Twitter in an attempt to steal users ' online banking credentials . Easy to carry out but difficult to defend against , phishing Attack.Phishing is an increasingly popular weapon of choice for hackers . That 's because , with an authentic-looking fake website , they can just sit back and scoop up Attack.Databreach data as victims unwittingly hand over their usernames and passwords . Phishing Attack.Phishing often relies on cybercriminals sending Attack.Phishing tailored emails to potential victims in an effort to lure Attack.Phishing them into giving up credentials or installing malware . However , cybersecurity researchers at Proofpoint have uncovered an Angler phishing campaign Attack.Phishing which , rather than being tailored Attack.Phishing to specific users , takes advantage of how they can often be careless on social media -- specifically Twitter . In this instance , cybercriminals monitor Twitter for users approaching genuine support accounts for banks , and attempt to hijack the conversation with a fake support page . This sort of phishing attack Attack.Phishing is unlikely to provide cybercriminals with the big score they 'd hit if they targeted a corporate network , but it does enable the easy theft of credentials and small amounts of money -- and repeated success could become lucrative , and also provide criminals with access Attack.Databreach to other types of data which can be used to commit fraud . `` In many of the examples we 've seen , the hacker is not just collecting Attack.Databreach banking credentials . They also look for information like ATM Pin , Credit/Debit card numbers , security questions and answers , and even social security numbers . With this information , they can circumvent some security measures , make purchases/withdrawals without online access , or create entirely new bogus accounts using the customer 's information , '' says Celeste Kinswood at Proofpoint . Fortunately , there are some simple things users can do to ensure they do n't become victims of this style of social media phishing attack Attack.Phishing . For starters , a real support account will be verified with a blue tick and wo n't directly ask for login credentials . A quick search for the real account should also demonstrate if the one contacting you is fake . Users may want to see their problems solved quickly , but taking ten seconds to verify who you 're talking to will pay off in the long run .

The traditional model of hacking a bank is n't so different from the old-fashioned method of robbing one . But one enterprising group of hackers targeting a Brazilian bank seems to have taken a more comprehensive and devious approach : One weekend afternoon , they rerouted all of the bank 's online customers to perfectly reconstructed fakes of the bank 's properties , where the marks obediently handed over their account information . Researchers at the security firm Kaspersky on Tuesday described an unprecedented case of wholesale bank fraud , one that essentially hijacked a bank 's entire internet footprint . In practice , that meant the hackers could steal Attack.Databreach login credentials at sites hosted at the bank 's legitimate web addresses . Kaspersky researchers believe the hackers may have even simultaneously redirected all transactions at ATMs or point-of-sale systems to their own servers , collecting Attack.Databreach the credit card details of anyone who used their card that Saturday afternoon . `` Absolutely all of the bank 's online operations were under the attackers ' control for five to six hours , '' says Dmitry Bestuzhev , one of the Kaspersky researchers who analyzed the attack in real time after seeing malware infecting customers from what appeared to be the bank 's fully valid domain . From the hackers ' point of view , as Bestuzhev puts it , the DNS attack meant that `` you become the bank . Kaspersky is n't releasing the name of the bank that was targeted in the DNS redirect attack . But the firm says it 's a major Brazilian financial company with hundreds of branches , operations in the US and the Cayman Islands , 5 million customers , and more than $ 27 billion in assets . And though Kaspersky says it does n't know the full extent of the damage caused by the takeover , it should serve as a warning to banks everywhere to consider how the insecurity of their DNS might enable a nightmarish loss of control of their core digital assets . `` This is a known threat to the internet , '' Bestuzhev says . `` But we ’ ve never seen it exploited in the wild on such a big scale . '' But attacking those records can take down sites or , worse , redirect them to a destination of the hacker 's choosing . In 2013 , for instance , the Syrian Electronic Army hacker group altered the DNS registration of The New York Times to redirect visitors to a page with their logo . More recently , the Mirai botnet attack on the DNS provider Dyn knocked a major chunk of the web offline , including Amazon , Twitter , and Reddit . But the Brazilian bank attackers exploited their victim 's DNS in a more focused and profit-driven way . Kaspersky believes the attackers compromised the bank 's account at Registro.br . That 's the domain registration service of NIC.br , the registrar for sites ending in the Brazilian .br top-level domain , which they say also managed the DNS for the bank . And those sites even had valid HTTPS certificates issued in the name of the bank , so that visitors ' browsers would show a green lock and the bank 's name , just as they would with the real sites . Kaspersky found that the certificates had been issued six months earlier by Let 's Encrypt , the non-profit certificate authority that 's made obtaining an HTTPS certificate easier in the hopes of increasing HTTPS adoption . `` If an entity gained control of DNS , and thus gained effective control over a domain , it may be possible for that entity to get a certificate from us , '' says Let 's Encrypt founder Josh Aas . `` Such issuance would not constitute mis-issuance on our part , because the entity receiving the certificate would have been able to properly demonstrate control over the domain . '' Ultimately , the hijack was so complete that the bank was n't even able to send email . `` They couldn ’ t even communicate with customers to send them an alert , '' Bestuzhev says . `` If your DNS is under the control of cybercriminals , you ’ re basically screwed . '' Aside from mere phishing Attack.Phishing , the spoofed sites also infected victims with a malware download that disguised Attack.Phishing itself as an update to the Trusteer browser security plug-in that the Brazilian bank offered customers . According to Kaspersky 's analysis , the malware harvests Attack.Databreach not just banking logins—from the Brazilian banks as well as eight others—but also email and FTP credentials , as well as contact lists from Outlook and Exchange , all of which went to a command-and-control server hosted in Canada . The Trojan also included a function meant to disable antivirus software ; for infected victims , it may have persisted far beyond the five-hour window when the attack occurred . And the malware included scraps of Portugese language , hinting that the attackers may have themselves been Brazilian . After around five hours , Kaspersky 's researchers believe , the bank regained control of its domains , likely by calling up NIC.br and convincing it to correct the DNS registrations . But just how many of the bank 's millions of customers were caught up in the DNS attack remains a mystery . Kaspersky says the bank has n't shared that information with the security firm , nor has it publicly disclosed the attack . But the firm says it 's possible that the attackers could have harvested Attack.Databreach hundreds of thousands or millions of customers ' account details not only from their phishing scheme and malware but also from redirecting ATM and point-of-sale transactions to infrastructure they controlled . Kaspersky 's Bestuzhev argues that , for banks , the incident should serve as a clear warning to check on the security of their DNS . He notes that half of the top 20 banks ranked by total assets do n't manage their own DNS , instead leaving it in the hands of a potentially hackable third party . And regardless of who controls a bank 's DNS , they can take special precautions to prevent their DNS registrations from being changed without safety checks , like a `` registry lock '' some registrars provide and two-factor authentication that makes it far harder for hackers to alter them . Without those simple precautions , the Brazilian heist shows how quickly a domain switch can undermine practically all other security measures a company might implement .

A malvertising campaign is targeting iOS devices with a VPN that does n't hide the fact it collects Attack.Databreach large quantities of users ' information . It also employs the aggressive tactic of playing a high-pitch beeping . To help address Vulnerability-related.PatchVulnerability the `` issues '' the site provides a link to a program called `` My Mobile Secure . '' `` We have detected that your Mobile Safari is ( 45.4 % ) DAMAGED by BROWSER TROJAN VIRUSES picked up while surfing recent corrupted sites . When someone clicks `` Remove Virus , '' their device presents an installation prompt for a VPN called `` My Mobile Secure . '' My Mobile Secure is linked by users ' emails to MobileXpression , a market firm which seeks to study web behavior by collecting Attack.Databreach users ' information . If the intent is to use a VPN to anonymize your online activities , this does almost the opposite . '' It 's reasonable to expect nothing more from a malvertising campaign . With that said , users should take great care to not click on suspicious ads and should consider installing an ad-blocker in their web browsers . They should also consider downloading a VPN , but they should make sure to research VPN providers and their privacy policies carefully before they choose a solution .

RawPOS continues to evolve , and has recently been equipped with the capability to steal Attack.Databreach data contained in the victims ’ driver ’ s license ’ s 2-dimensional barcode . “ Although the use of this barcode is less common than credit card swipes , it is not unheard of . Some people might experience getting their driver ’ s license barcode scanned in places like pharmacies , retail shops , bars , casinos and others establishments that require it , ” Trend Micro researchers explained . “ Traditionally , PoS threats Attack.Databreach look for credit card mag stripe data and use other components such as keyloggers and backdoors to get Attack.Databreach other valuable information . RawPOS attempts to gather Attack.Databreach both in one go , cleverly modifying the regex string to capture Attack.Databreach the needed data. ” This particular variant is geared towards collecting Attack.Databreach data from driver ’ s licenses issued in the US . Thus , along with payment card data , criminals also get Attack.Databreach information such as the victims ’ full name , date of birth , full address , gender , height , hair and eye color . This additional info could definitely help criminals impersonate the card holder in many identity theft scenarios , as well as while effecting fraudulent card-not-present transactions . RawPOS is one of the oldest known Point-of-Sale RAM scraper malware families . It ’ s first incarnation was spotted all the way back in 2009 . According to the researchers , it is mainly used by threat actors that focus on targeting businesses operating in the hospitality industry .

Malware specialized in infecting Point of Sale ( PoS ) software has gained the ability to search and steal Attack.Databreach driver 's license information , according to a report published by US cyber-security firm Trend Micro . The collection Attack.Databreach of driver 's license information surprised researchers , who have n't spotted such behavior in a PoS malware family until now . Even more surprising was that this new data collection system Attack.Databreach was spotted in an ancient PoS malware family , and not in one of the newer players . The name of this malware is RawPOS , a malware family that appeared way back in 2008 . Typically , financial malware lives a few years , then it fizzles out and dies , as security firms learn to detect and stop it . In spite of its old age , RawPOS stuck around , and its operators continued to update and deploy it in attacks over the years . Like all other POS malware families , RawPOS is built to target and infect computers that run PoS software . On these PCs , the malware lies in hiding and keeps an eye on the data flowing through the computer 's RAM . Using a simple regex string pattern , RawPOS scrapes the RAM until it finds data that fits the pattern . This pattern is specifically designed to detect payment card data , such as card numbers . Across the years , the different RawPOS versions have featured different versions of this regex string pattern . In total , security researchers have observed five different RawPOS patterns ( versions ) . Earlier this year , Trend Micro discovered the sixth , which featured an expanded regex filter . Besides keeping an eye on credit card data , this expanded filter scraped the infected computer 's RAM for the term `` driver 's license '' and `` ANSI 636 . '' While not directly evident for most , ANSI 636 is a barcode format used for the 2D barcode found on US drivers ' licenses . Pharmacies , retail shops , bars , casinos and others establishments usually scan a customer 's driver 's license as authorization before making particular transactions , such as when buying drugs and alcohol . This data , just like payment card data , is handled and collected by some PoS software solutions , so it makes sense seeing this new regex string pattern inside RawPOS . Researchers believe crooks behind this malware are gathering Attack.Databreach this information to create more complete victim profiles , in order to aid various fraud operations , such as identity theft . Even if they do n't use the stolen data themselves , the breadth of data encoded in a driver 's license barcode is valuable enough to sell on underground markets . Taking into account the copycat nature of the malware scene , this new trick of collecting Attack.Databreach driver 's license information will most likely spread to other PoS malware families .

As users have become more attached to their mobile devices , they want everything on those devices . There ’ s an app for just about any facet of one ’ s personal and professional life , from booking travel and managing projects , to buying groceries and binge-watching the latest Netflix series . The iOS and Android apps for Netflix are enormously popular , effectively turning a mobile device into a television with which users can stream full movies and TV programs anytime , anywhere . But the apps , with their many millions of users , have captured the attention of the bad actors , too , who are exploiting the popularity of Netflix to spread malware . Recently , the ThreatLabZ research team came across a fake Netflix app , which turned out to be a new variant of SpyNote RAT ( Remote Access Trojan ) . Please note that our research is not about the legitimate Netflix app on Google Play . The spyware in this analysis was portraying itself as Attack.Phishing the Netflix app . Once installed , it displayed Attack.Phishing the icon found in the actual Netflix app on Google Play . This is a common trick Attack.Phishing played by malware developers , making the user think the app may have been removed . But , behind the scenes , the malware has not been removed ; instead it starts preparing its onslaught of attacks . It does so using the Services , Broadcast Receivers , and Activities components of the Android platform . Services can perform long-running operations in the background and does not need a user interface . Broadcast Receivers are Android components that can register themselves for particular events . Activities are key building blocks , central to an app ’ s navigation , for example . The SpyNote RAT registers a service called AutoStartup and a broadcast receiver named BootComplete . MainActivity registers BootComplete with a boot event , so that whenever the device is booted , BootComplete gets triggered . BootComplete starts the AutoStartup service and the AutoStartup service makes sure that MainActivity is always running . What follows are some of the features exhibited by SpyNote RAT . Command execution can create havoc for victim if the malware developer decides to execute commands in the victim ’ s device . Leveraging this feature , the malware developer can root the device using a range of vulnerabilities , well-known or zero-day . SpyNote RAT was able to take screen captures and , using the device ’ s microphone , listen to audio conversations . This capability was confirmed when the Android permission , called android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO , was being requested along with code found in the app . They tend to target any antivirus protections on the device and uninstall them , which increases the possibility of their malware persisting on the device . SpyNote RAT was designed to function only over Wi-Fi , which is the preferable mode for Android malware to send files to C & C . - There were two interesting sub-classes found inside Main Activity : Receiver and Sender . Receiver was involved in receiving commands from the Server and the main functionality of Sender was to send all the data collected to the C & C over Wi-Fi . - SpyNote RAT was also collecting Attack.Databreach the device ’ s location to identify the exact location of the victim . The SpyNote Remote Access Trojan ( RAT ) builder is gaining popularity in the hacking community , so we decided to study its pervasiveness . What we found were several other fake apps developed using the SpyNote builder , which should come as a warning to Android users . Furthermore , we found that in just the first two weeks of 2017 , there have been more than 120 such spyware variants already built using the same SpyNote Trojan builder as SpyNote RAT and roaming in the wild . A complete list of sample hashes is available here . The days when one needed in-depth coding knowledge to develop malware are long gone . Nowadays , script kiddies can build a piece of malware that can create real havoc . Moreover , there are many toolkits like the SpyNote Trojan builder that enable users to build malware with ease and few clicks . In particular , avoid side-loading apps from third-party app stores and avoid the temptation to play games that are not yet available on Android . Yes , we are talking about SuperMarioRun , which was recently launched by Nintendo only for iOS users . Recent blogs by the Zscaler research team explain how some variants of Android malware are exploiting Attack.Phishing the popularity of this game and tricking Attack.Phishing Android users into downloading a fake version . You should also avoid the temptation to play games from sources other than legitimate app stores ; such games are not safe and may bring harm to your reputation and your bank account . Zscaler users are protected from such attacks with multiple levels of security . Zscaler security is so comprehensive , you can forget about it

Privacy advocates say tech companies are becoming more brazen about collecting Attack.Databreach users ' location data and personal information . February 6 , 2017 —For just a few days last month , a photo filter app called Meitu , which turns selfies into pearl-skinned , doe-eyed Anime characters , enthralled the social media world . But Meitu faded as quickly as it rose to internet fame after cybersecurity researchers exposed what was really behind the app . Meitu ’ s application program interfaces ( API ) revealed code that collected Attack.Databreach a bevy of personal data that goes far beyond what typical photo apps gather . It amassed Attack.Databreach users ' precise locations , call information , carrier information , and Wi-Fi connections . The company explained that it collected all that data to `` optimize app performance '' and better engage users . As smartphones become ubiquitous , app makers are becoming more brazen about collecting Attack.Databreach personal data , say experts and privacy advocates . And while iPhones and Android devices have limited privacy settings , most consumers remain in the dark about what companies are collecting Attack.Databreach and how they are using that information . `` There 's been erosion of privacy over the past few years . '' In 2015 , he cowrote a study that found a dozen or so popular Android apps – from companies such as the Weather Channel and Groupon – collecting Attack.Databreach location data about every three minutes .

Privacy advocates say tech companies are becoming more brazen about collecting Attack.Databreach users ' location data and personal information . February 6 , 2017 —For just a few days last month , a photo filter app called Meitu , which turns selfies into pearl-skinned , doe-eyed Anime characters , enthralled the social media world . But Meitu faded as quickly as it rose to internet fame after cybersecurity researchers exposed what was really behind the app . Meitu ’ s application program interfaces ( API ) revealed code that collected Attack.Databreach a bevy of personal data that goes far beyond what typical photo apps gather . It amassed Attack.Databreach users ' precise locations , call information , carrier information , and Wi-Fi connections . The company explained that it collected all that data to `` optimize app performance '' and better engage users . As smartphones become ubiquitous , app makers are becoming more brazen about collecting Attack.Databreach personal data , say experts and privacy advocates . And while iPhones and Android devices have limited privacy settings , most consumers remain in the dark about what companies are collecting Attack.Databreach and how they are using that information . `` There 's been erosion of privacy over the past few years . '' In 2015 , he cowrote a study that found a dozen or so popular Android apps – from companies such as the Weather Channel and Groupon – collecting Attack.Databreach location data about every three minutes .

Privacy advocates say tech companies are becoming more brazen about collecting Attack.Databreach users ' location data and personal information . February 6 , 2017 —For just a few days last month , a photo filter app called Meitu , which turns selfies into pearl-skinned , doe-eyed Anime characters , enthralled the social media world . But Meitu faded as quickly as it rose to internet fame after cybersecurity researchers exposed what was really behind the app . Meitu ’ s application program interfaces ( API ) revealed code that collected Attack.Databreach a bevy of personal data that goes far beyond what typical photo apps gather . It amassed Attack.Databreach users ' precise locations , call information , carrier information , and Wi-Fi connections . The company explained that it collected all that data to `` optimize app performance '' and better engage users . As smartphones become ubiquitous , app makers are becoming more brazen about collecting Attack.Databreach personal data , say experts and privacy advocates . And while iPhones and Android devices have limited privacy settings , most consumers remain in the dark about what companies are collecting Attack.Databreach and how they are using that information . `` There 's been erosion of privacy over the past few years . '' In 2015 , he cowrote a study that found a dozen or so popular Android apps – from companies such as the Weather Channel and Groupon – collecting Attack.Databreach location data about every three minutes .

WikiLeaks is posting Attack.Databreach thousands of files Tuesday the organization says detail the CIA ’ s efforts to surveil overseas targets by tapping otherwise ordinary devices that are connected to the Internet . The anti-secrecy group launched a “ new series of leaks , ” this time taking aim at the CIA ’ s Center for Cyber Intelligence , which falls under the agency ’ s Digital Innovation Directorate . The group maintains the CIA ’ s center lost control of its hacking arsenal , including malware , viruses , trojans , weaponized `` zero day '' exploits , malware remote control systems and associated documentation , and is posting what it calls the `` largest-ever publication of confidential documents on the agency . '' The dump Attack.Databreach comprises 8,761 documents and files from a network of the Center for Cyber Intelligence . A CIA spokeswoman declined to comment specifically . “ We do not comment on the authenticity or content of purported intelligence documents , ” says Heather Fritz Horniak . The authenticity of the posted documents in links from the WikiLeaks site could not be independently verified . Last year , WikiLeaks disseminated Attack.Databreach internal email communications following a hack Attack.Databreach —purportedly aided by the Russian government—of the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign . The group says the Center for Cyber Intelligence's archive was circulated in an '' unauthorized manner '' among former U.S. government hackers and contractors , one of whom provided Attack.Databreach WikiLeaks with portions of the archive . “ This extraordinary collection , which amounts to more than several hundred million lines of code , gives its possessor the entire hacking capacity of the CIA , ” WikiLeaks states . “ Once a single cyber 'weapon ' is 'loose ' it can spread around the world in seconds , to be used by rival states , cyber mafia and teenage hackers alike ” . The violation highlights critical shortcomings in personnel practices , the realities of insider threats and the lack of adequate controls , even within the intelligence community . `` It ’ s too easy for data to be stolen Attack.Databreach , even—allegedly—within the CIA ’ s Center for Cyber Intelligence , '' says Brian Vecci , technical evangelist at Varonis , a software company focused on data protection against insider threats , data breaches Attack.Databreach and ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom '' The entire concept of a spook is to be covert and undetectable ; apparently that also applies to actions on their own network . The CIA is not immune to issues affecting many organizations : too much access with too little oversight and detective controls . '' A Forrester study noted that more 90 percent of data security professionals experience challenges with data security , and 59 percent of organizations do not restrict access to files on a need-to know-basis , Vecci points out . `` In performing forensics on the actual breach Attack.Databreach , the important examination is to determine how 8,761 files just walked out of Attack.Databreach one of the most secretive and confidential organizations in the world , '' he continues . `` Files that were once useful in their operations are suddenly lethal to those same operations . We call this toxic data , anything that is useful and valuable to an organization but once stolen Attack.Databreach and made public turns toxic to its bottom line and reputation . All you have to do is look at Sony , Mossack Fonseca and the DNC to see the effects of this toxic data conversion . `` Organizations need to get a grip on where their information assets are , who is using them , and who is responsible for them , '' Vecci concludes . They need to put all that data lying around in the right place , restrict access to it and monitor and analyze who is using it . '' Tuesday ’ s document dump Attack.Databreach mirrors the one WikiLeaks carried out when it exposed Attack.Databreach cyber toolkits used by the National Security Agency , and frankly , is not that surprising of revelation at all , offers Richard Forno , assistant director at the University of Maryland , Baltimore County Center for Cybersecurity and director of the Cybersecurity Graduate Program . “ The big takeaway Attack.Databreach is that it shows the CIA is just as capable of operating in the cyberspace as the NSA , ” Forno says . The CIA ’ s cyber focus reinforces the idea that security in this domain is just as important as others for national security and solidifies the U.S. government ’ s commitment in the area , Forno offers . WikiLeaks contends that the CIA and its contractors developed malware and hacking tools for targeted surveillance efforts , tapping otherwise ordinary devices such as cellphones , computers , televisions and automobiles to spy on targets . Some cases involved CIA collaboration with the United Kingdom ’ s intelligence MI5/BTSS , WikiLeaks states . It maintains the CIA ’ s Mobile Devices Branch developed malware to penetrate cellphone securities and could be tapped to send CIA users ’ geolocation information , audio and text files and covertly activate the phones ’ cameras and microphones . “ These techniques permit the CIA to bypass the encryption of WhatsApp , Signal , Telegram , Wiebo , Confide and Cloackman by hacking Attack.Databreach the ‘ smart ’ phones that they run on and collecting Attack.Databreach audio and message traffic before encryption is applied , ” the group states .