PC Security and Other Useful Information

Checkout Skimmers Powered by Chip Cards

“Easily the most sophisticated skimming devices made for hacking terminals at retail self-checkout lanes are a new breed of PIN pad overlay combined with a flexible, paper-thin device that fits inside the terminal’s chip reader slot. What enables these skimmers to be so slim? They draw their power from the low-voltage current that gets triggered when a chip-based card is inserted. As a result, they do not require external batteries, and can remain in operation indefinitely.”

Largest compilation of emails and passwords leaked for free on public forum

“More than 3.2 billion unique pairs of cleartext emails and passwords have just been leaked on a popular hacking forum, aggregating past leaks from Netflix, LinkedIn, Exploit.in, Bitcoin and more. This leak is comparable to the Breach Compilation of 2017, in which 1.4 billion credentials were leaked.

However, the current breach, known as “Compilation of Many Breaches” (COMB), contains more than double the unique email and password pairs. The data is currently archived and put in an encrypted, password-protected container.”

The Taxman Cometh for ID Theft Victims

“The unprecedented volume of unemployment insurance fraud witnessed in 2020 hasn’t abated, although news coverage of the issue has largely been pushed off the front pages by other events. But the ID theft problem is coming to the fore once again: Countless Americans will soon be receiving notices from state regulators saying they owe thousands of dollars in taxes on benefits they never received last year.”

SonicWall Breach Stems from ‘Probable’ Zero-Days

Posted January 25, 2021:

“SonicWall is investigating “probable” zero-day flaws in its remote access security products that have been targeted by “highly-sophisticated” attackers. The company says it is investigating the attack and will update customers within 24 hours.”

Joker’s Stash Carding Market to Call it Quits

Joker’s Stash, by some accounts the largest underground shop for selling stolen credit card and identity data, says it’s closing up shop effective mid-February 2021. The announcement came on the heels of a turbulent year for the major cybercrime store, and just weeks after U.S. and European authorities seized a number of its servers.

Zero-click iMessage zero-day used to hack the iPhones of 36 journalists

“Three dozen journalists had their iPhones hacked in July and August using what at the time was an iMessage zero-day exploit that didn’t require the victims to take any action to be infected, researchers said.”

Breach at Dickey’s BBQ Smokes 3M Cards

“One of the digital underground’s most popular stores for peddling stolen credit card information began selling a batch of more than three million new card records this week. KrebsOnSecurity has learned the data was stolen in a lengthy data breach at more than 100 Dickey’s Barbeque Restaurant locations around the country.”

Why & Where You Should You Plant Your Flag

“Several stories here have highlighted the importance of creating accounts online tied to your various identity, financial and communications services before identity thieves do it for you. This post examines some of the key places where everyone should plant their virtual flags.”

Turn on MFA Before Crooks Do It For You

“Hundreds of popular websites now offer some form of multi-factor authentication (MFA), which can help users safeguard access to accounts when their password is breached or stolen. But people who don’t take advantage of these added safeguards may find it far more difficult to regain access when their account gets hacked, because increasingly thieves will enable multi-factor options and tie the account to a device they control. “