Recently a few of our clients were recipients of phishing email leveraging scare tactics, also known as the Phantom Extortion Scam. This scam involves cyber criminals sending fake emails or messages to individuals or businesses, claiming that there has been a security breach or incident involving sensitive client or organization data. The cyber criminals then
Earlier today the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to propose rules related to cybersecurity risk management for registered investment advisers, and registered investment companies and business development companies (funds), as well as amendments to certain rules that govern investment adviser and fund disclosures. The SEC Chair Gary Genlser stated that the proposed rules and amendments
Ransomware, the word alone evokes fear into many companies. How did this form of crime actually start? In 1989, Dr. Joseph L. Popp created the first ransomware called the "AIDS Trojan." This trojan virus encrypted files on a computer after rebooting a number of times. Fast forward to 2006, Archiveus, a computer virus that affected
Today the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sanctioned eight firms in three actions for failures in their cybersecurity policies and procedures that resulted in email account takeovers exposing the personal information of thousands of customers and clients at each firm. A total of $800,000 were levied against these firms. In summary, the firms named in
Yesterday the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) released its 2021 exam priorities. In the letter the SEC highlighted that their focus remains the same from prior years with a slight shift in priorities and adjustment of focus. The SEC stated that they will review whether firms have
Yesterday The Office and Compliance Inspections and Examinations ("OCIE") issued an alert about safeguarding client accounts against credential compromise that highlighted the issue of "credential stuffing attacks". Credential stuffing is a type of cyber attack where many compromised user credentials are tried against systems to gain unauthorized access, using automated means. Over the past few
Today the OCIE issued a Ransomware Alert, highlighting an uptick in sophisticated social engineering and other cyber campaigns, designed to infiltrate the networks of financial institutions to access sensitive information and/or to deploy ransomware. As a reminder, ransomware actors typically demand monetary payment for the return of data. We can spend time regurgitating what was
On June 29, 2020 Palo Alto Networks published a notice about a critical vulnerability affecting their devices. https://security.paloaltonetworks.com/CVE-2020-2021. The vulnerability, which is listed as an issue affecting the way SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) authentication happens, can be exploited by remote attackers to gain access to the device. Dissecting this vulnerability, Palo Alto states that
The team at Check Point identified that cyber criminals - dubbed the Florentine Banker - targeted three Private Equity firms and stole over $1.3 million dollars, with only about half the money recovered. The cyber criminals launched an email spear-phishing campaign targeting executives, and other high-profile employees in an attempt to gain access to
