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How Data Brokers Sell Your Identity

Data Privacy Week is here, and there’s no better time to shine a spotlight on one of the biggest players in the personal information economy: data brokers. These entities collect, buy, and sell hundreds—sometimes thousands—of data points on individuals like you. But how do they manage to gather so much information, and for what purpose? From your browsing habits and purchase history to your location data and even more intimate details, these digital middlemen piece together surprisingly comprehensive profiles. The real question is: where are they getting it all, and why is your personal data so valuable to them? Let’s unravel the mystery behind the data broker industry.

What are data brokers?

Data brokers aggregate user info from various sources on the internet. They collect, collate, package, and sometimes even analyze this data to create a holistic and coherent version of you online. This data then gets put up for sale to nearly anyone who’ll buy it. That can include marketers, private investigators, tech companies, and sometimes law enforcement as well. They’ll also sell to spammers and scammers. (Those bad actors need to get your contact info from somewhere — data brokers are one way to get that and more.)

And that list of potential buyers goes on, which includes but isn’t limited to:

• Tech platforms
• Banks
• Insurance companies
• Political consultancies
• Marketing firms
• Retailers
• Crime-fighting bureaus
• Investigation bureaus
• Video streaming service providers
• Any other businesses involved in sales

These companies and social media platforms use your data to better understand target demographics and the content with which they interact. While the practice isn’t unethical in and of itself (personalizing user experiences and creating more convenient UIs are usually cited as the primary reasons for it), it does make your data vulnerable to malicious attacks targeted toward big-tech servers.

How do data brokers get your information?

Most of your online activities are related. Devices like your phone, laptop, tablets, and even fitness watches are linked to each other. Moreover, you might use one email ID for various accounts and subscriptions. This online interconnectedness makes it easier for data brokers to create a cohesive user profile.

Mobile phone apps are the most common way for data brokerage firms to collect your data. You might have countless apps for various purposes, such as financial transactions, health and fitness, or social media.

A number of these apps usually fall under the umbrella of the same or subsidiary family of apps, all of which work toward collecting and supplying data to big tech platforms. Programs like Google’s AdSense make it easier for developers to monetize their apps in exchange for the user information they collect.

Data brokers also collect data points like your home address, full name, phone number, and date of birth. They have automated scraping tools to quickly collect relevant information from public records (think sales of real estate, marriages, divorces, voter registration, and so on).

Lastly, data brokers can gather data from other third parties that track your cookies or even place trackers or cookies on your browsers. Cookies are small data files that track your online activities when visiting different websites. They track your IP address and browsing history, which third parties can exploit. Cookies are also the reason you see personalized ads and products.

How data brokers sell your identity

Data brokers collate your private information into one package and sell it to “people search” websites. As mentioned above, practically anyone can access these websites and purchase extensive consumer data, for groups of people and individuals alike.

Next, marketing and sales firms are some of data brokers’ biggest clients. These companies purchase massive data sets from data brokers to research your data profile. They have advanced algorithms to segregate users into various consumer groups and target you specifically. Their predictive algorithms can suggest personalized ads and products to generate higher lead generation and conversation percentages for their clients.

Are data brokers legal?

We tend to accept the terms and conditions that various apps ask us to accept without thinking twice or reading the fine print. You probably cannot proceed without letting the app track certain data or giving your personal information. To a certain extent, we trade some of our privacy for convenience. This becomes public information, and apps and data brokers collect, track, and use our data however they please while still complying with the law.

There is no comprehensive privacy law in the U.S. on a federal level. This allows data brokers to collect personal information and condense it into marketing insights. While not all methods of gathering private data are legal, it is difficult to track the activities of data brokers online (especially on the dark web). As technology advances, there are also easier ways to harvest and exploit data.

As of March 2024, 15 states in the U.S. have data privacy laws in place. That includes California, Virginia, Connecticut, Colorado, Utah, Iowa, Indiana, Tennessee, Oregon, Montana, Texas, Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, and New Hampshire.[i] The laws vary by state, yet generally, they grant rights to individuals around the collection, use, and disclosure of their personal data by businesses.

However, these laws make exceptions for certain types of data and certain types of collectors. In short, these laws aren’t absolute.

Can you remove yourself from data broker websites?

Some data brokers let you remove your information from their websites. There are also extensive guides available online that list the method by which you can opt-out of some of the biggest data brokering firms. For example, a guide by Griffin Boyce, the systems administrator at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, provides detailed information on how to opt-out of a long list of data broker companies.

Yet the list of data brokers is long. Cleaning up your personal data online can quickly eat up your time, as it requires you to reach out to multiple data brokers and opt-out.

Rather than removing yourself one by one from the host of data broker sites out there, you have a solid option: our Personal Data Cleanup.

Personal Data Cleanup scans data broker sites and shows you which ones are selling your personal info. It also provides guidance on how you can remove your data from those sites. And if you want to save time on manually removing that info, you have options. Our McAfee+ Advanced and Ultimate plans come with full-service Personal Data Cleanup, which sends requests to remove your data automatically.

If the thought of your personal info getting bought and sold in such a public way bothers you, our Personal Data Cleanup can put you back in charge of it.

[i] https://pro.bloomberglaw.com/insights/privacy/state-privacy-legislation-tracker/

The post How Data Brokers Sell Your Identity appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Black Hat Europe 2024 NOC/SOC: Security Cloud

This Holiday Season, Watch Out for These Cyber-Grinch Tricks Used to Scam Holiday Shoppers

McAfee threat researchers have identified several consumer brands and product categories most frequently used by cybercriminals to trick consumers into clicking on malicious links in the first weeks of this holiday shopping season. As holiday excitement peaks and shoppers hunt for the perfect gifts and amazing deals, scammers are taking advantage of the buzz. The National Retail Federation projects holiday spending will reach between $979.5 and $989 billion this year, and cybercriminals are capitalizing by creating scams that mimic the trusted brands and categories consumers trust. From October 1 to November 12, 2024, McAfee safeguarded its customers from 624,346 malicious or suspicious URLs tied to popular consumer brand names – a clear indication that bad actors are exploiting trusted brand names to deceive holiday shoppers. 

McAfee’s threat research also reveals a 33.82% spike in malicious URLs targeting consumers with these brands’ names in the run-up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This rise in fraudulent activity aligns with holiday shopping patterns during a time when consumers may be more susceptible to clicking on offers from well-known brands like Apple, Yeezy, and Louis Vuitton, especially when deals seem too good to be true – pointing to the need for consumers to stay vigilant, especially with offers that seem unusually generous or come from unverified sources.  

McAfee threat researchers have identified a surge in counterfeit sites and phishing scams that use popular luxury brands and tech products to lure consumers into “deals” on fake e-commerce sites designed to appear as official brand pages. While footwear and handbags were identified as the top two product categories exploited by cybercrooks during this festive time, the list of most exploited brands extends beyond those borders: 

Top Product Categories and Brands Targeted by Holiday Hustlers 

• Product categories: Handbags and footwear were the two most common product categories for bad actors. Yeezy (shoes) and Louis Vuitton (luxury handbags) were the most common brands that trick consumers into engaging with malicious/suspicious sites. 

• Footwear: Adidas, especially the Yeezy line, was a top target, with counterfeit sites posing as official Adidas or Yeezy outlets. 

• Luxury goods and handbags: Louis Vuitton emerged as a frequent target, particularly its handbag line. Cybercrooks frequently set up fake sites advertising high-demand luxury items like Louis Vuitton bags and apparel. 

• Watches: Rolex was one of the most frequently counterfeited brands, with fraudulent sites openly selling counterfeit versions of the brand’s coveted watches. 

• Technology: Scammers frequently used the Apple brand to trick consumers, including fake customer service websites and stores selling counterfeit Apple items alongside unrelated brands. 

By mimicking trusted brands like these, offering unbelievable deals, or posing as legitimate customer service channels, cybercrooks create convincing traps designed to steal personal information or money. Here are some of the most common tactics scammers are using this holiday season: 

Unwrapping Cybercriminals’ Holiday Shopping Scam Tactics 

• Fake e-commerce sites: Scammers often set up fake shopping websites mimicking official brand sites. These sites use URLs similar to those of the real brand and offer too-good-to-be-true deals to attract bargain hunters. 

• Phishing sites with customer service bait: Particularly with tech brands like Apple, some scam sites impersonate official customer service channels to lure customers into revealing personal information. 

• Knockoff and counterfeit products: Some scam sites advertise counterfeit items as if they are real; there is often no indication that they are not legitimate products. This tactic was common for scammers leveraging the Rolex and Louis Vuitton brands, which appeal to consumers seeking luxury goods. 

 With holiday shopping in full swing, it’s essential for consumers to stay one step ahead of scammers. By understanding the tactics cybercriminals use and taking a few precautionary measures, shoppers can protect themselves from falling victim to fraud. Here are some practical tips for safe shopping this season: 

Smart Shopping Tips to Outsmart Holiday Scammers 

• Stay alert, particularly during shopping scam season: The increase in malicious URLs during October and November is a strong indicator that scammers capitalize on holiday shopping behaviors. Consumers should be especially vigilant during this period and continue to exercise caution throughout the holiday shopping season. 

• Wear a skeptic’s hat: To stay safe, consumers should verify URLs, look for signs of secure websites (like https://), and be wary of any sites offering discounts that seem too good to be true. 

• Exercise additional caution: Adidas, Yeezy, Louis Vuitton, Apple, and Rolex are brand names frequently used by cybercrooks looking to scam consumers, so sticking with trusted sources is particularly important when shopping for these items online. 

Research Methodology 

McAfee’s threat research team analyzed malicious or suspicious URLs that McAfee’s web reputation technology identified as targeting customers, by using a list of key company and product brand names—based on insights from a Potter Clarkson report on frequently faked brands—to query the URLs. This methodology captures instances where users either clicked on or were directed to dangerous sites mimicking trusted brands. Additionally, the team queried anonymized user activity from October 1st through November 12th. 

Examples: 

The image below is a screenshot of a fake / malicious / scam site: Yeezy is a popular product brand formerly from Adidas found in multiple Malicious/Suspicious URLs. Often, they present themselves as official Yeezy and/or Adidas shopping sites. 

The image below is a screenshot of a fake / malicious / scam site: The Apple brand was a popular target for scammers. Many sites were either knock offs, scams, or in this case, a fake customer service page designed to lure users into a scam. 

The image below is a screenshot of a fake / malicious / scam site: This particular (fake) Apple sales site used Apple within its URL and name to appear more official. Oddly, this site also sells Samsung Android phones. 

The image below is a screenshot of a fake / malicious / scam site: This site, now taken down, is a scam site purporting to sell Nike shoes. 

The image below is a screenshot of a fake / malicious / scam site: Louis Vuitton is a popular brand for counterfeit and scams. Particularly their handbags. Here is one site that was entirely focused on Louis Vuitton Handbags. 

The image below is a screenshot of a fake / malicious / scam site: This site presents itself as the official Louis Vuitton site selling handbags and clothes. 

The image below is a screenshot of a fake / malicious / scam site: This site uses too-good-to-be-true deals on branded items including this Louis Vuitton Bomber jacket. 

The image below is a screenshot of a fake / malicious / scam site: Rolex is a popular watch brand for counterfeits and scams. This site acknowledges it sells counterfeits and makes no effort to indicate this on the product.  

The post This Holiday Season, Watch Out for These Cyber-Grinch Tricks Used to Scam Holiday Shoppers appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Password Advice for the Rest of Us

Secator - The Pentester'S Swiss Knife

secator is a task and workflow runner used for security assessments. It supports dozens of well-known security tools and it is designed to improve productivity for pentesters and security researchers.

Features

• Curated list of commands

• Unified input options

• Unified output schema

• CLI and library usage

• Distributed options with Celery

• Complexity from simple tasks to complex workflows

• Customizable

Supported tools

secator integrates the following tools:

Feel free to request new tools to be added by opening an issue, but please check that the tool complies with our selection criterias before doing so. If it doesn't but you still want to integrate it into secator, you can plug it in (see the dev guide).

Installation

Installing secator

pipx install secator

pip install secator

wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/freelabz/secator/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

docker run -it --rm --net=host -v ~/.secator:/root/.secator freelabz/secator --help

alias secator="docker run -it --rm --net=host -v ~/.secator:/root/.secator freelabz/secator"

secator --help

git clone https://github.com/freelabz/secator
cd secator
docker-compose up -d
docker-compose exec secator secator --help

Note: If you chose the Bash, Docker or Docker Compose installation methods, you can skip the next sections and go straight to Usage.

Installing languages

secator uses external tools, so you might need to install languages used by those tools assuming they are not already installed on your system.

We provide utilities to install required languages if you don't manage them externally:

secator install langs go

secator install langs ruby

Installing tools

secator does not install any of the external tools it supports by default.

We provide utilities to install or update each supported tool which should work on all systems supporting apt:

secator install tools

secator install tools <TOOL_NAME>

secator install tools httpx

Please make sure you are using the latest available versions for each tool before you run secator or you might run into parsing / formatting issues.

Installing addons

secator comes installed with the minimum amount of dependencies.

There are several addons available for secator:

secator install addons worker

secator install addons google

secator install addons mongodb

secator install addons redis

secator install addons dev

secator install addons trace

secator install addons build

Install CVEs

secator makes remote API calls to https://cve.circl.lu/ to get in-depth information about the CVEs it encounters. We provide a subcommand to download all known CVEs locally so that future lookups are made from disk instead:

secator install cves

Checking installation health

To figure out which languages or tools are installed on your system (along with their version):

secator health

Usage

secator --help

Usage examples

Run a fuzzing task (ffuf):

secator x ffuf http://testphp.vulnweb.com/FUZZ

Run a url crawl workflow:

secator w url_crawl http://testphp.vulnweb.com

Run a host scan:

secator s host mydomain.com

and more... to list all tasks / workflows / scans that you can use:

secator x --help
secator w --help
secator s --help

Learn more

To go deeper with secator, check out: * Our complete documentation * Our getting started tutorial video * Our Medium post * Follow us on social media: @freelabz on Twitter and @FreeLabz on YouTube

Unifying Cyber Defenses: How Hybrid Mesh Firewalls Shape Modern Security

New 0-Day Attacks Linked to China’s ‘Volt Typhoon’

Malicious hackers are exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Versa Director, a software product used by many Internet and IT service providers. Researchers believe the activity is linked to Volt Typhoon, a Chinese cyber espionage group focused on infiltrating critical U.S. networks and laying the groundwork for the ability to disrupt communications between the United States and Asia during any future armed conflict with China.

Image: Shutterstock.com

Versa Director systems are primarily used by Internet service providers (ISPs), as well as managed service providers (MSPs) that cater to the IT needs of many small to mid-sized businesses simultaneously. In a security advisory published Aug. 26, Versa urged customers to deploy a patch for the vulnerability (CVE-2024-39717), which the company said is fixed in Versa Director 22.1.4 or later.

Versa said the weakness allows attackers to upload a file of their choosing to vulnerable systems. The advisory placed much of the blame on Versa customers who “failed to implement system hardening and firewall guidelines…leaving a management port exposed on the internet that provided the threat actors with initial access.”

Versa’s advisory doesn’t say how it learned of the zero-day flaw, but its vulnerability listing at mitre.org acknowledges “there are reports of others based on backbone telemetry observations of a 3rd party provider, however these are unconfirmed to date.”

Those third-party reports came in late June 2024 from Michael Horka, senior lead information security engineer at Black Lotus Labs, the security research arm of Lumen Technologies, which operates one of the global Internet’s largest backbones.

In an interview with KrebsOnSecurity, Horka said Black Lotus Labs identified a web-based backdoor on Versa Director systems belonging to four U.S. victims and one non-U.S. victim in the ISP and MSP sectors, with the earliest known exploit activity occurring at a U.S. ISP on June 12, 2024.

“This makes Versa Director a lucrative target for advanced persistent threat (APT) actors who would want to view or control network infrastructure at scale, or pivot into additional (or downstream) networks of interest,” Horka wrote in a blog post published today.

Black Lotus Labs said it assessed with “medium” confidence that Volt Typhoon was responsible for the compromises, noting the intrusions bear the hallmarks of the Chinese state-sponsored espionage group — including zero-day attacks targeting IT infrastructure providers, and Java-based backdoors that run in memory only.

In May 2023, the National Security Agency (NSA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a joint warning (PDF) about Volt Typhoon, also known as “Bronze Silhouette” and “Insidious Taurus,” which described how the group uses small office/home office (SOHO) network devices to hide their activity.

In early December 2023, Black Lotus Labs published its findings on “KV-botnet,” thousands of compromised SOHO routers that were chained together to form a covert data transfer network supporting various Chinese state-sponsored hacking groups, including Volt Typhoon.

In January 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice disclosed the FBI had executed a court-authorized takedown of the KV-botnet shortly before Black Lotus Labs released its December report.

In February 2024, CISA again joined the FBI and NSA in warning Volt Typhoon had compromised the IT environments of multiple critical infrastructure organizations — primarily in communications, energy, transportation systems, and water and wastewater sectors — in the continental and non-continental United States and its territories, including Guam.

“Volt Typhoon’s choice of targets and pattern of behavior is not consistent with traditional cyber espionage or intelligence gathering operations, and the U.S. authoring agencies assess with high confidence that Volt Typhoon actors are pre-positioning themselves on IT networks to enable lateral movement to OT [operational technology] assets to disrupt functions,” that alert warned.

In a speech at Vanderbilt University in April, FBI Director Christopher Wray said China is developing the “ability to physically wreak havoc on our critical infrastructure at a time of its choosing,” and that China’s plan is to “land blows against civilian infrastructure to try to induce panic.”

Ryan English, an information security engineer at Lumen, said it’s disappointing his employer didn’t at least garner an honorable mention in Versa’s security advisory. But he said he’s glad there are now a lot fewer Versa systems exposed to this attack.

“Lumen has for the last nine weeks been very intimate with their leadership with the goal in mind of helping them mitigate this,” English said. “We’ve given them everything we could along the way, so it kind of sucks being referenced just as a third party.”

How to Spot Phishing Lures

Phishing attacks have all kinds of lures. And many are so tried and true that it makes them easy to spot.

The target of a phishing attack is you. More specifically, your personal info and your money. Whether a scammer reaches out by email, with a text, or through a direct message, that’s what they’re after. And with a link, they whisk you off to a sketchy site designed to take them from you.

Just how much phishing is going on? To date, we’ve identified more than half a billion malicious sites out there. A number that grows daily. Because these attacks often succeed. One big reason why — they play on people’s emotions.

Phishing attacks always involve a form of “social engineering,” which is an academic way of saying that scammers use manipulation in their attacks. Commonly, scammers pretend to be a legitimate person or business.

You can get a better idea of how this works by learning about some of the most popular scams circulating today:

The CEO Scam

This scam appears as an email from a leader in your organization, asking for highly sensitive info like company accounts, employee salaries, and Social Security numbers. The hackers “spoof”, or fake, the boss’ email address so it looks like a legitimate internal company email. That’s what makes this scam so convincing — the lure is that you want to do your job and please your boss. But keep this scam in mind if you receive an email asking for confidential or highly sensitive info. Ask the apparent sender directly whether the request is real before acting.

The Urgent Email Attachment

Phishing emails that try to trick you into downloading a dangerous attachment that can infect your computer and steal your private info have been around for a long time. This is because they work. You’ve probably received emails asking you to download attachments confirming a package delivery, trip itinerary, or prize. They might urge you to “respond immediately!” The lure here is offering you something you want and invoking a sense of urgency to get you to click.

The “Lucky” Text or Email

How fortunate! You’ve won a free gift, an exclusive service, or a great deal on a trip to Las Vegas. Just remember, whatever “limited time offer” you’re being sold, it’s probably a phishing scam designed to get you to give up your credit card number or identity info. The lure here is something free or exciting at what appears to be little or no cost to you.

The Romance Scam

This one can happen completely online, over the phone, or in person after contact is established. But the romance scam always starts with someone supposedly looking for love. The scammer often puts a phony ad online or poses as a friend-of-a-friend on social media and contacts you directly. But what starts as the promise of love or partnership, often leads to requests for money or pricey gifts. The scammer will sometimes spin a hardship story, saying they need to borrow money to come visit you or pay their phone bill so they can stay in touch. The lure here is simple — love and acceptance.

How to avoid phishing attacks

While you can’t outright stop phishing attacks from making their way to your computer or phone, you can do several things to keep yourself from falling for them. Further, you can do other things that might make it more difficult for scammers to reach you.

• Pause and think about the message for a minute.

The content and the tone of the message can tell you quite a lot. Threatening messages or ones that play on fear are often phishing attacks, such as angry messages from a so-called tax agent looking to collect back taxes. Other messages will lean heavily on urgency, like a phony overdue payment notice. And during the holidays, watch out for loud, overexcited messages about deep discounts on hard-to-find items. Instead of linking you to a proper e-commerce site, they might link you to a scam shopping site that does nothing but steal your money and the account info you used to pay them. In all, phishing attacks indeed smell fishy. Slow down and review that message with a critical eye. It might tip you off to a scam.

• Deal directly with the company or organization in question.

Some phishing attacks can look rather convincing. So much so that you’ll want to follow up on them, like if your bank reports irregular activity on your account or a bill appears to be past due. In these cases, don’t click on the link in the message. Go straight to the website of the business or organization in question and access your account from there. Likewise, if you have questions, you can always reach out to their customer service number or web page.

• Consider the source.

When scammers contact you via social media, that can be a tell-tale sign of a scam. Consider, would an income tax collector contact you over social media? The answer there is no. For example, in the U.S. the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) makes it clear that they will never contact taxpayers via social media. (Let alone send angry, threatening messages.) In all, legitimate businesses and organizations don’t use social media as a channel for official communications. They’ve accepted ways they will, and will not, contact you. If you have any doubts about a communication you received, contact the business or organization in question directly. Follow up with one of their customer service representatives.

• Don’t download attachments. And most certainly don’t open them.

Some phishing attacks involve attachments packed with malware, like ransomware, viruses, and keyloggers. If you receive a message with such an attachment, delete it. Even if you receive an email with an attachment from someone you know, follow up with that person. Particularly if you weren’t expecting an attachment from them. Scammers often hijack or spoof email accounts of everyday people to spread malware.

• Hover over links to verify the URL.

On computers and laptops, you can hover your cursor over links without clicking on them to see the web address. Take a close look at the addresses the message is using. If it’s an email, look at the email address. Maybe the address doesn’t match the company or organization at all. Or maybe it looks like it almost does, yet it adds a few letters or words to the name. This marks yet another sign that you might have a phishing attack on your hands. Scammers also use the common tactic of a link shortener, which creates links that almost look like strings of indecipherable text. These shortened links mask the true address, which might indeed be a link to a scam site. Delete the message. If possible, report it. Many social media platforms and messaging apps have built-in controls for reporting suspicious accounts and messages.

• Go with who you know.

On social media and messaging platforms, stick to following, friending, and messaging people who you really know. As for those people who contact you out of the blue, be suspicious. Sad to say, they’re often scammers canvassing these platforms for victims. Better yet, where you can, set your profile to private, which makes it more difficult for scammers to select and stalk you for an attack.

• Remove your personal info from sketchy data broker sites.

How’d that scammer get your phone number or email address anyway? Chances are, they pulled that info off a data broker site. Data brokers buy, collect, and sell detailed personal info, which they compile from several public and private sources, such as local, state, and federal records, plus third parties like supermarket shopper’s cards and mobile apps that share and sell user data. Moreover, they’ll sell it to anyone who pays for it, including people who’ll use that info for scams. You can help reduce those scam texts and calls by removing your info from those sites. Our Personal Data Cleanup scans some of the riskiest data broker sites and shows you which ones are selling your personal info.

• Use online protection software.

Online protection software can protect you in several ways. First, it can offer web protection features that can identify malicious links and downloads, which can help prevent clicking them. Further, features like our web protection can steer you away from dangerous websites and block malware and phishing sites if you accidentally click on a malicious link. Additionally, our Scam Protection feature warns you of sketchy links in emails, texts, and messages. And overall, strong virus and malware protection can further block any attacks on your devices. Be sure to protect your smartphones in addition to your computers and laptops as well, particularly given all the sensitive things we do on them, like banking, shopping, and booking rides and travel.

The post How to Spot Phishing Lures appeared first on McAfee Blog.

How to Protect Your Identity, Finances, and Security Online

If you want to protect your identity, finances, and privacy online, you have a pretty powerful tool at hand. It’s online protection software. Today’s protection is built to get that job done.

For starters, online protection has evolved tremendously over recent years, making it more comprehensive than ever. It goes far beyond antivirus. And it protects more than your devices. It protects you. Your identity. Your finances. Your privacy.

Given how much of daily life has shifted to our computers and phones, like our finances and shopping, there’s a strong case for getting comprehensive online protection in place.

Granted, we’re an online protection company. And of course, we hope you’ll give our protection like McAfee+ a close look. With that, a quick rundown of what it can do for you and your identity, finances, and privacy helps. In all, it shows just how comprehensive this protection gets.

You can keep tabs on your identity.

This form of protection starts with Identity Monitoring. It checks the dark web for your personal info, including email, government IDs, credit card and bank account numbers, and more. If any of it shows up on the dark web, it sends you an alert with guidance that can help protect you from identity theft.

Should the unexpected happen, our Identity Theft Coverage & Restoration can get you on the path to recovery. It offers up to $2 million in coverage for legal fees, travel, and funds lost because of identity theft. Further, a licensed recovery pro can do the work for you, taking the necessary steps to repair your identity and credit.

Another way identity thieves get what they want is through scam texts, emails, and messages. You can keep clear of their shady links with our new AI-powered Scam Protection. It automatically detects links that can send you to scam sites and other destinations that steal personal info. If you accidentally click? Don’t worry, we can block risky sites if you click on a suspicious link in texts, emails, social media, and more.

You can monitor your financial big picture all in one place.

As you conduct so many of your finances online, it only makes sense that you can keep tabs on them just as easily. Features like our Credit Monitoring keep an eye on changes to your credit score, report, and accounts with timely notifications and guidance so you can take action to tackle identity theft.

And if you spot something out of the ordinary, our Security Freeze can quickly stop unauthorized access. It freezes credit card, bank, and utility accounts and prevents thieves from opening new ones in your name.

Rounding things out, you also have transaction monitoring features. They track transactions on credit cards and bank accounts — shooting you a notice if unusual activity occurs. They also track retirement accounts, investments, and loans for questionable transactions. Finally, further features can help prevent a bank account takeover and keep others from taking out short-term payday loans in your name.

You can lock down your privacy.

Several features get the job done. Our Social Privacy Manager helps you adjust more than 100 privacy settings across your social media accounts in only a few clicks. This way, your personal info is only visible to the people you want to share it with.

Another big intrusion on your privacy comes at the hands of online data brokers. They drive a multi-billion-dollar industry by collecting, batching, and selling people’s personal info. To anyone. That includes hackers, spammers, and scammers who use it to their own ends. Yet you can get your info removed from some of the worst offenders out there. Personal Data Cleanup scans data broker sites and shows you which ones are selling your personal info and helps you remove it.

Another great tool for protecting your privacy comes in the form of a VPN. As a “virtual private network,” it encrypts your activity. Think of a VPN as a private tunnel for your internet traffic. It hides your search habits and history from those who might use that info to build a profile of you — whether to serve up targeted ads or to steal personal info for identity theft. In all, a VPN gives you one of the most secure ways you can go online.

The post How to Protect Your Identity, Finances, and Security Online appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Enabling Cybersecurity Incident Response

How Secure is Video Conferencing?

For millions of people, it’s not a workday without it — video conferencing. And plenty of business gets done that way, which has made conferencing a target for hackers. That then begs the important question, how secure is video conferencing?

The answer is pretty secure if you’re using a reputable service. Yet you can take further steps to keep hackers and party crashers out of your meetings.

Why would someone want to crash your meeting? 

Hackers and party crashers are likely motivated by one of two things: financial gain or mischief.

Given that some meetings involve confidential or sensitive info, someone might have financial motivation to join in, spy on, or record the meeting. Recently, we saw the lengths at least one AI company went to when it spied on a competitor’s video conference call.[i]

And of course, some bad actors want to cause a disruption. As we saw in recent years, they’ll barge right into a meeting and create a ruckus with rude speech and other antics.

Falling somewhere in between, some hackers might try to intrude on a meeting and slip a malware-laden attachment into chat.[ii] For one, that can lead to a major disruption. And in a business context, financial disruption as well.

How do they pull it off? The typical avenues of attack apply. They might use stolen or hijacked accounts. The meeting was inadvertently set to “public,” allowing anyone with a link to join. Otherwise, they might compromise a victim’s device to piggyback their way in.

How to protect your video calls

Use a service with end-to-end encryption. 

Put simply, end-to-end encryption provides a solid defense against prying eyes. With it in place, this form of encryption makes it particularly difficult for hackers to tap into the call and the data shared within it. Secure video conferencing should use 256-bit AES GCM encryption for audio and video, and for sharing of screens, whiteboard apps, and the like. On a related note, read the service’s privacy policy and ensure that its privacy, security, and data measures fit your needs.

Make your meetings private and protect them with a password. 

Keep the uninvited out. First, setting your meeting to private (invitees only) will help keep things secure. Some apps also provide a notification to the meeting organizer when an invite gets forwarded. Use that feature if it’s available. Also, a password provides another hurdle for a hacker or bad actor to clear. Use a fresh one for each meeting.

Use the waiting room. 

Many services put attendees into a waiting room before they enter the meeting proper. Use this feature to control who comes in and out.

Block users from taking control of the screen. 

Welcome or unwelcome, you can keep guests from taking over the screen. Select the option to block everyone except the host (you) from screen sharing.

Turn on automatic updates on your conferencing app. 

By turning on automatic updates, you’ll get the latest security patches and enhancements for your video conferencing tool as soon as they become available.

Get wise to phishing scams. 

Some interlopers make it into meetings by impersonating others. Just as bad actors use phishing emails and texts to steal personal financial info, they’ll use them to steal company credentials as well. Our Phishing Scam Protection Guide can show you how to steer clear of these attacks.

Use online protection software. 

Comprehensive online protection software like ours can make for safer calls in several ways. For one, it protects you against malware attacks, such as if a bad actor tries to slip a sketchy download into your meeting. Further, it includes a password manager that creates and stores strong, unique passwords securely. This can help increase the security of your video conferencing account.

Also, get wise to AI deepfakes on video calls

This is a new one. AI deepfake technology continues to evolve, we find ourselves at the point where scammers can create AI imposters in real time.

We’ve seen them use this technology in romance scams, where scammers take on entirely new looks and voices on video calls. And we’ve seen at least one group of scammers bilk a company out of $25 million with deepfaked executives on a call.[iii]

Strange as it might sound, this kind of deepfake technology is possible today. And realizing that fact is the first step toward prevention. Next, that calls for extra scrutiny.

Any time-sensitive info or sums of money are involved, get confirmation of the request. Place a phone call to the person after receiving the request to ensure it’s indeed legitimate. Better yet, meet the individual in person if possible. In all, contact them outside the email, message, or call that initially made the request to ensure you’re not dealing with an imposter.

The safer video conference call

With the right provider and right steps in place, video calls can be quite secure. Use a solution that offers end-to-end encryption, keep your app updated for the latest security measures, and lock down the app’s security settings. Also, recognize that AI has changed the way we look at just about everything online — including people on the other side of the screen. As we’ve seen, AI imposters on calls now fall into the realm of possibility. A costly one at that.

[i] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/07/technology/ai-start-ups-competition.html

[ii] https://www.pcmag.com/news/hackers-circulate-malware-by-breaking-into-microsoft-teams-meetings

[iii] https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/04/asia/deepfake-cfo-scam-hong-kong-intl-hnk/index.html

The post How Secure is Video Conferencing? appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Why Should I Pay for Online Protection?

We all love free stuff. (Costco samples, anyone?) However, when it comes to your family’s security, do free online protection tools offer the coverage you truly need?

Not always. In fact, they might invade the privacy you’re trying to protect.

Here’s why.

Free tools don’t offer the level of advanced protection that life on today’s internet needs. For starters, you’ll want malware and antivirus protection that’s as sophisticated as the threats they shut down. Ours includes AI technology and has for years now, which helps it shut down even the latest strains of malware as they hit the internet for the first time. We’re seeing plenty of that, as hackers have also turned to AI tools to code their malicious software.

Malware and antivirus protection protects your devices. Yet a comprehensive approach protects something else. You and your family.

What makes comprehensive online protection such a strong option

Comprehensive online protection looks after your family’s privacy and identity. That keeps you safe from prying eyes and things like fraud and identity theft. Today’s comprehensive protection offers more features than ever, and far more than you’ll find in a free, and so incomplete, offering.

Consider this short list of what comprehensive online protection like ours offers you and your family:

Scam Protection

Is that email, text, or message packing a scam link? Our scam protection lets you know before you click that link. It uses AI to sniff out bad links. And if you click or tap on one, no worries. It blocks links to malicious sites.

Web Protection

Like scam protection, our web protection sniffs out sketchy links while you browse. So say you stumble across a great-looking offer in a bed of search results. If it’s a link to a scam site, you’ll spot it. Also like scam protection, it blocks the site if you accidentally hit the link.

Transaction Monitoring

This helps you nip fraud in the bud. Based on the settings you provide, transaction monitoring keeps an eye out for unusual activity on your credit and debit cards. That same monitoring can extend to retirement, investment, and loan accounts as well. It can further notify you if someone tries to change the contact info on your bank accounts or take out a short-term loan in your name.

Credit Monitoring

This is an important thing to do in today’s password- and digital-driven world. Credit monitoring uncovers any inconsistencies or outright instances of fraud in your credit reports. Then it helps put you on the path to setting them straight. It further keeps an eye on your reports overall by providing you with notifications if anything changes in your history or score.

Social Privacy Manager

Our social privacy manager puts you in control of who sees what on social media. With it, you can secure your profiles the way you want. It helps you adjust more than 100 privacy settings across your social media accounts in just a few clicks. It offers recommendations as you go and makes sure your personal info is only visible to the people you want. You can even limit some of the ways that social media sites are allowed to use your data for greater peace of mind.

Personal Data Cleanup

This provides you with another powerful tool for protecting your privacy. Personal Data Cleanup removes your personal info from some of the sketchiest data broker sites out there. And they’ll sell those lines and lines of info about you to anyone. Hackers and spammers included. Personal Data Cleanup scans data broker sites and shows you which ones are selling your personal info. From there, it provides guidance for removing your data from those sites. Further, when part of our McAfee+ Advanced and Ultimate, it sends requests to remove your data automatically.

Password Manager

Scammers love weak or reused passwords. Even more so when they’re weak and reused. It offers them an easy avenue to force their way into people’s accounts. Our password manager creates and securely stores strong, unique passwords for you. That saves you the hassle of creating strong, unique passwords for your dozens and dozens of accounts. And helps protect you from fraud.

Identity Theft Coverage & Restoration

This provides you with extra assurance while you shop. Say the unfortunate happens to you and find yourself a victim of identity theft. Our coverage and restoration plan provides up to $2 million in lawyer fees and reimbursement for lawyer fees and stolen funds. Further, a licensed expert can help you repair your identity and credit. In all, this saves you money and your time if theft happens to you.

Why “free” online protection often comes at a cost

Say your online protection leaves gaps in your family’s safety, or that it uses less-effective methods and technologies. That exposes you to threats — threats can cost you time and money alike if one of those threats gets through.

One example, consider the online crimes reported to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. In 2023, they fielded 5.4 million fraud reports. Of them, 2.6 million reported a loss for a total of $10 billion. The median loss was $500 across all reports. Of course, that’s only the median dollar amount. That number can climb much higher in individual cases.

Source: U.S. Federal Trade Commission

Without question, protection is prevention, which can spare you some significant financial losses. Not to mention the time and stress of restoring your credit and identity — and getting your money back.

Does free online protection software gather and share my data?

A “free” solution has to make its money somehow.

Free security solutions sometimes carry in-app advertising. More importantly, they might try to gather your user data to target ads or share it with others to make a profit. Also by advertising for premium products, the vendor indirectly admits that a free solution doesn’t provide enough security.

Further, these tools also offer little to no customer support, leaving users to handle any technical difficulties on their own. What’s more, most free security solutions are meant for use on only one device, whereas the average person owns several connected devices. And that’s certainly the case for many families.

Lastly, free solutions often limit a person’s online activity too. Many impose limits on which browser or email program the user can leverage, which can be inconvenient as many already have a preferred browser or email platform.

Why comprehensive online protection like McAfee’s matters

Free security products might provide the basics, but a comprehensive solution can protect you from a host of other risks — ones that could get in the way of enjoying your time online.

With comprehensive online protection in place, your family’s devices get protection from the latest threats in the ever-evolving security landscape. It keeps your devices safe. And it keeps you safe. With that, we hope you’ll give us a close look when you decide to upgrade to comprehensive protection.

The post Why Should I Pay for Online Protection? appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Does Antivirus Software Slow You Down?

“Antivirus software slows down my PC.” This is a comment that is often heard when talking about antivirus and malware protection.

That might be the case with many security products, but it’s not the case with McAfee. Independent tests since 2016 have proven that McAfee is not only good at catching malware and viruses, but also one of the lightest security products available today.

What is antivirus protection?

Antivirus forms a major cornerstone of online protection software. It protects your devices against malware and viruses through a combination of prevention, detection, and removal. Ours uses AI to detect the absolute latest threats — and has for several years now.

For decades, people have installed antivirus software on their computers. Today, it can also protect your smartphones and tablets as well. In fact, we recommend installing it on those devices as well because they’re connected, just like a computer. And any device that connects to the internet is a potential target for malware and viruses.

One important distinction about antivirus is its name, a name that first came into use years ago when viruses first appeared on the scene. However, antivirus protects you from more than viruses. It protects against the broad category of malware too — things like spyware, ransomware, and keyloggers.

How does performance get measured?

To measure how much impact online protection software has on PC performance, some independent test labs include performance impact benchmarks in their security product tests. The most well-known of these test labs are AV-TEST, which is based in Germany, and Austria-based AV-Comparatives. These independent labs are among the most reputable and well-known anti-malware test labs in the world.

Over the years, we’ve tested strongly. Those results got stronger still with the release of our McAfee Next-gen Threat Protection.

McAfee’s AI-powered security just got faster and stronger. Our Next-gen Threat Protection takes up less disk space, reduces its background processes by 75%, and scans 3x faster than before. This makes your time online safer without slowing down your browsing, shopping, streaming, and gaming.

And the results show it.

Strong antivirus doesn’t have to slow you down

Even with strong protection continuously monitoring all activity on your PC and laptop for threats, the best kind of antivirus keeps your devices running quickly.

Advances in our already high-performing protection have solidified our excellent standing in independent tests. The labs run them regularly, and we take pride in knowing that we’re not only protecting you, we’re keeping you moving along at a good clip.

The post Does Antivirus Software Slow You Down? appeared first on McAfee Blog.

How To Tell If Your Smartphone Has Been Hacked

It takes a bit of effort, but iPhones can wind up with viruses and malware. And that can indeed lead to all kinds of snooping. 

Whether through malware or a bad app, hackers can skim personal info while you browse, bank, and shop. They can also infect your phone with ransomware that locks up your personal info or that locks up the phone itself. 

Those are some worst-case scenarios. However, good for you and unfortunate hackers is the way iPhones run apps. It makes it tough for viruses and malware to get a toehold. Apple designed the iOS operating system to run apps in what’s called a “virtual environment.” This limits the access apps have to other apps, which helps prevent viruses and malware from spreading. 

Still, malware can end up on an iPhone in a couple of ways: 

The owner “jailbreaks” the iPhone

This practice gives people more control over their iPhones. By jailbreaking, they gain “root control” of the phone. With that, they can do things like remove pre-installed apps and download third-party apps from places other than the App Store. And that’s where the trouble can start.  

Jailbreaking removes several of those barriers that keep viruses and malware from spreading. Further, downloading apps outside of the App Store exposes the phone to viruses and malware. Apple doesn’t review the apps in those stores. That way, a hacker with malicious intent can post a bad app with relative ease. 

A malicious app sneaks into the App Store

Apple has a strict review policy before apps are approved for posting in the App Store. Per Apple, “Apple’s App Review team of over 500 experts evaluates every single app submission — from developers around the world — before any app ever reaches users. On average, the team reviews approximately 132,500 apps a week.”

However, bad actors find ways to sneak malware into the store. Sometimes they upload an app that’s initially innocent and then push malware to users as part of an update. Other times, they’ll embed malicious code such that it only triggers after it’s run in certain countries. They will also encrypt malicious code in the app that they submit, which can make it difficult for reviewers to sniff out.   

So, barring a jailbroken phone, the chances of getting a virus or malware on your iPhone remain low. Still, it can happen.  

How to know if your smartphone has been hacked

Because we spend so much time on our phones, it’s fairly easy to tell when something isn’t working quite like it is supposed to. While you can chalk up some strange behavior to technical issues, sometimes those issues are symptoms of an infection. Malware can eat up system resources or conflict with other apps on your phone, causing it to act in odd ways.  

Some possible signs that your device has been hacked include:  

Performance issues  

A slower device, webpages taking way too long to load, or a battery that never keeps a charge are all things that can be attributed to a device reaching its retirement. However, these things might also be signs that malware has compromised your phone.  

Your phone feels like it’s running hot

Malware running in the background of a device might burn extra computing power, causing your phone to feel hot and overheated. If your device is quick to heat up, it might be due to malicious activity.  

Mysterious calls, texts, or apps appear

If apps you haven’t downloaded suddenly appear on your screen, or if outgoing calls you don’t remember making pop up on your phone bill, that is a definite red flag and a potential sign that your device has been hacked.  

Changes or pop-ups crowd your screen  

Malware might also be the cause of odd or frequent pop-ups, as well as changes made to your home screen. If you are getting an influx of spammy ads or your app organization is suddenly out of order, there is a big possibility that your phone has been hacked.  

Three tips to prevent your phone from being hacked

To avoid the hassle of having a hacked phone in the first place, here are some tips that can help.  

1. Update your phone and its apps.

Promptly updating your phone and apps is a primary way to keep your device safer. Updates often fix bugs and vulnerabilities that hackers rely on to download malware for their attacks.  

2. Avoid downloading from third-party app stores.

Apple’s App Store has those protections in place that we mentioned before. That’s unlike those third-party sites, which might not have those same protections. Further, some purposely host malicious apps. Avoiding these sites altogether can prevent these apps from allowing hackers into your device.  

3. Don’t use a jailbroken phone.

As we’ve seen, jailbreaking a phone introduces all kinds of security issues. Your best bet as an everyday internet user is to rely on iOS and the protections that come with it. 

Has my iPhone been hacked? 

If you are worried that your device has been hacked, follow these steps: 

Completely power down your phone. Powering down and then giving your phone a fresh start can put a halt to any malicious activity. 

Remove any apps you didn’t download. From there, power down your phone and restart it as before. 

If you still have issues, wiping and restoring your phone is an option. Provided you have your photos, contacts, and other vital info backed up in the cloud, it’s a relatively straightforward process. A quick search online can show how to wipe and restore your model of phone.  

Check your accounts and credit for any unauthorized purchases. Several features in our McAfee+ plans can help. Identity Monitoring can alert you if your info winds up on the dark web. Our Credit Monitoring along with our transaction monitoring can also alert you of unusual activity across your accounts. 

Lastly, if you spot an issue, get some help from a pro. Our Identity Theft Coverage & Restoration service offers $2 million that covers travel, losses, and legal fees associated with identity theft. It also offers the services of a licensed recovery pro who can repair your credit and your identity in the wake of an attack. 

The last word: Does my iPhone need antivirus? 

On a non-jailbroken phone, no. You don’t need antivirus. Yet your phone should certainly get extra protection. Phones face far more threats than viruses and malware alone. 

Comprehensive online protection software like ours can keep you and your phone safer. It can: 

• Block sketchy links in texts, emails, and messages. 

• Block yet more sketchy links in search, while surfing, and on social media. 

• Protect your identity in the ways mentioned above by keeping tabs on your credit and accounts. 

• Protect your privacy by removing your personal info from shady data broker sites. 

• Make you more private still by locking down your privacy settings on social media. 

Those are only a handful of the many features that protect more than your phone. You’ll find yet more that protect you — namely, your identity and your privacy. 

So while iPhones don’t need antivirus, they certainly benefit from extra online protection. 

The post How To Tell If Your Smartphone Has Been Hacked appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Sharing Isn’t Always Caring: Tips to Help Protect Your Online Privacy

When it comes to protecting your privacy, take a close look at your social media use—because sharing can quickly turn into oversharing.

The term “oversharing” carries several different definitions. Yet in our case here, oversharing means saying more than one should to more people than they should. Consider the audience you have across your social media profiles. Perhaps you have dozens, if not hundreds of friends and followers. All with various degrees of closeness and familiarity. Who among them can you absolutely trust with the information you share?

And you might be sharing more than you think. Posts have a way of saying more than one thing, like:

“This is the pool at the rental home I’m staying at this week. Amazing!” Which also tells everyone, “My home is empty for the next few days.”

“I can’t start my workday without a visit to my favorite coffee shop.” Which also says, “If you ever want to track me down in person, you can find me at this location practically any weekday morning.”

One can quickly point to other examples of oversharing. Unintentional oversharing at that.

A first-day-of-school picture can tell practical strangers which elementary school your children attend, say if the picture includes the school’s reader board in it. A snapshot of you joking around with a co-worker might reveal a glimpse of company information. Maybe because of what’s written on the whiteboard behind the two of you. And in one extreme example, there’s the case of an assault on a pop star. Her attacker tracked her down through her selfie, determining her location through the reflection in her eyes.

The list goes on.

That’s not to say “don’t post.” More accurately, it’s “consider what you’re posting and who gets to see it.” You have control over what you post, and to some degree, who gets to see those posts. That combination is key to your privacy—and the privacy of others too.

Three simple steps for protecting your privacy on social media

1) Be more selective with your settings: Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and others give you the option of making your profile and posts visible to friends only. Choosing this setting keeps the broader internet from seeing what you’re doing, saying, and posting—not to mention your relationships and likes. Taking a “friends only” approach to your social media profiles can help protect your privacy because that gives a possible scammer or stalker much less material to work with. Yet further, some platforms allow you to create sub-groups of friends and followers. With a quick review of your network, you can create a sub-group of your most trusted friends and restrict your posts to them as needed.

2) Say “no” to strangers bearing friend requests: Be critical of the invitations you receive. Out-and-out strangers might be more than just a stranger. They might be a fake account designed to gather information on users for purposes of fraud. There are plenty of fake accounts too. In fact, in Q1 of 2023 alone, Facebook took action on 426 million fake accounts. Reject such requests.

3) Consider what you post: Think about posting those vacation pictures after you get back so people don’t know you’re away when you’re away. Also, consider if your post pinpoints where you are or where you go regularly. Do you want people in your broader network to know that? Closely review the pics you take and see if there’s any revealing information in the background. If so, you can crop it out (think notes on a whiteboard, reflections in a window, or revealing location info). Further, ask anyone you want to include in their post for their permission. In all, consider their privacy too.

Further ways to make yourself more private online

While we’re on the topic, you can take a few other steps that can make you more private online. In addition to your social media usage, other steps can help keep more of your private and personal information with you—where it belongs:

• Skip the online quizzes: Which superhero are you? “What’s your spooky Halloween name?” or “What’s your professional wrestler name?” You’ve probably seen quizzes like these crop up in your feed sometimes. Shadily, these quizzes might ask for the name of the street you grew up on, your birthdate, your favorite song, and maybe the name of a beloved first pet. Of course, these are pieces of personal information, sometimes the answer to commonly used security questions by banks and other financial institutions. (Like, what was the model of your first car?) With this info in hand, a hacker could attempt to gain access to your accounts. Needless to say, skip the quizzes.
• Clean up your personal data trail: When was the last time you Googled yourself? The results might reveal all kinds of things, like your estimated income, the names and ages of your children, what you paid for your home, and, sometimes, your purchasing habits. Who’s collecting and posting this information about you? Online data brokers gather information from all manner of public records. Beyond that, they’ll also gather information from app developers, loyalty cards, and other companies that track your web browsing. Data brokers will sell this info to anyone. Advertisers, background checkers, telemarketers, and scammers too. Data brokers don’t discriminate. Yet you can clean up that information with a Personal Data Cleanup like ours. It scans some of the riskiest data broker sites for your personal info and helps manage the removal for you. ​
• Spend time online more privately with a VPN: A VPN creates an encrypted “tunnel” that shields your activity from cybercriminals so what you do online remains anonymous.​ It helps make you anonymous to advertisers and other trackers too. By encrypting your web traffic requests, a VPN can hide your search habits and history from those who might use that info as part of building a profile of you—whether that’s for targeted ads or data collection that they might sell to brokers for profit. Comprehensive online protection software like ours includes one.

More privacy partly comes down to you

Granted, “social” is arguably the opposite of “private.” Using social media involves sharing, by its very definition. Yet any oversharing can lead to privacy issues.

Maybe you want close friends to know what’s going on, but what about that so-so acquaintance deep in your friends list? How well do you really know them? And to what extent do you want them to know exacting details about where you are, where your kids go to school, and so on? Those are questions you ultimately must answer, and ultimately have some control over depending on what you share on social media.

Also important to consider is this: if you post anything on the internet, consider it front-page news. Even with social media privacy settings in place, there’s no guarantee that someone won’t copy your posts or pics and pass them along to others.

The flipside to the topic of social media and privacy is the platform you’re using. It’s no secret that social media companies gather hosts of personal information about their users in exchange for free use of their platforms. Certainly, that’s a topic unto itself. We cover what social media companies know about you in this article here—along with a few steps that can help you limit what they know as well.

When it comes to your privacy and social media, it depends largely on how you use it. How you use various privacy and audience settings offers one way to manage it. The other is you and the information you put out there for others to see.

The post Sharing Isn’t Always Caring: Tips to Help Protect Your Online Privacy appeared first on McAfee Blog.

What Security Means to Families

What is our real job as parents? Is it to ensure our kids get good grades? – Maybe. Or is it ensuring we can give them the latest and greatest clothing and devices? Mmmm, not really. When all is said and done, I believe our real job is to keep our kids safe, teach them to be independent, and set them up for success – both online and offline.

As first-generation digital parents, many of us are learning on the job. While we can still glean advice from our own parents on dealing with our teenager’s hormones and driving challenges, there’s no intergenerational wisdom for anything digital. So, it is inevitable that many of us parents feel unsure about how and why to be proactive about online safety.

With four grown boys, 12 nieces and nephews, and almost 13 years in this job talking to families about online safety, I’ve developed a pretty good understanding of how families want to live their lives online, their biggest concerns, and how they value safety and security. Here’s what I’ve learnt:

What Are Parents’ Biggest Concerns?

I’ve often dreamt about wrapping my boys in cotton wool and keeping them away from the real world. But unfortunately, that’s not how it works. The internet definitely has some hugely positive features for teens and tweens but there are some challenges too. Here is what parents are most concerned about:

1. Social Media

Without a doubt, tween and teen social media usage would currently be the biggest concern for most parents. In Australia, there is currently a move to delay children using social media to 16. The Prime Minister is a fan as are many state and territory leaders. There’s no doubt parents are concerned about the impact social media is having on their children’s mental health. Whether dealing with followers, friends, or FOMO (fear of missing out), harassment, or exposure to unhelpful, or even dangerous influencers, parents are worried and often feel helpless about how best to help their kids.

2. Bullying

Parents have every right to be concerned. Cyberbullying does happen. In fact, 1 child in 3 reports being the victim of cyberbullying according to a UNICEF study. And in a study conducted by McAfee in 2022 that does a deep dive into the various types of bullying, there’s no doubt that the problem is still very much a reality.

3. Inappropriate Content

There really isn’t anything you can’t find online. And therein lies the problem. With just a few clicks, a curious, unsupervised 10-year-old could access images and information that would be wildly inappropriate and potentially traumatic. And yes, I’m talking sex, drugs and rock and roll themes! There are things online that little, inexperienced eyes are just not ready for – I am not even sure I am either, to be honest!

4. Screen Time

While I think many parents still find the word screen time a little triggering, I think some parents now realise that not all screen time ‘was created equally’. It’s more about the quality and potential benefit of screen time as opposed to the actual time spent on the screen. For example, playing an interactive, good quality science game as opposed to scrolling on Instagram – clearly the game wins!

However, parents are still very concerned that screen time doesn’t dominate their kids’ lives and adversely affects their kids’ levels of physical activity, face-to-face time with family and friends, and their ability to sleep.

Ramping Up Online Security Is the Best Way To Manage Concerns

While there is no silver bullet here, being proactive about your family’s online security is THE best way of protecting your family members, minimising the risk of unpleasant interactions, and setting them up for a positive online experience. And it will also reduce your stress big time – so it’s a complete no-brainer!!

Here are 5 things you can kick off today that will have a profound impact on your family’s online security:

1. Talk, talk, talk!!

Yes, that’s right – simply talk! Engaging with your kids about their online lives – what they like to do, sites and apps they use and any concerns they have is one of the best ways to keep them safe. As is sharing your own stories. If your kids know that you understand the digital world, they will be far more likely to come to you if they experience any issues at all. And that’s exactly what we want!!

2. Parental Controls and Monitoring

Parental controls can work really well alongside a proactive educational approach to online safety. As well as teaching kids healthy digital habits, they can also help parents monitor usage, set limits, and even keep tabs on their kids’ whereabouts. Gold!! Check out more details here.

3. Social Media Safety

Undertake an audit of all family member’s privacy settings to ensure that are set to the highest level. This will ensure only trusted people can view and interact with your kids’ profiles. Also, remind your kids not to overshare as it could lead to their identities being stolen. And check out McAfee’s Social Privacy Manager which can help you manage more than 100 privacy settings on social media accounts in seconds.

4. Make a Plan In Case of Aggressive Behaviour

As a cup-half-full type, I’m not a fan of negativity but I am a fan of plans. So, I do recommend creating an action plan for your kids in case they encounter something tricky online, in particular bullying or aggressive behaviour. I recommend you tell them to take screenshots, disengage, tell someone they trust (ideally you), and report the behaviour to the relevant social media platform or app. In some cases, you could involve your child’s school however this obviously depends on the perpetrator.

5. Passwords please!

I know you have probably heard it before, but password management is such a powerful way of staying safe online. In an ideal world, every online account should have its own unique password. Why? Well, if your logins get stolen in a data breach then the cybercriminals will not be able to reuse them to log into any of your other accounts.

And while you’re at it, ensure all passwords are at least 8-10 characters long, and contain random symbols, numbers and both upper and lowercase letters. If all is too hard, simply engage a password manager that will both generate and remember all the passwords for you. What a relief!

And of course, it goes without saying that a big part of being safe online is having super-duper internet protection software that will give you (and your family members) the best chance of a safe and secure online experience. McAfee+’s family plans not only give you a secure VPN, 24/7 identity and financial monitoring and alerts but AI-powered text scam detection and advanced anti-virus that will protect each of your family members from fake texts, risky links, viruses, malware and more. Sounds like a plan to me!!

Till next time

Stay safe everyone!

Alex

The post What Security Means to Families appeared first on McAfee Blog.

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How Free VPNs Come With a Price

The number of people who use VPNs (virtual private networks) continues to mushroom. Recent research shows that 46% of American adults now use a VPN — 23% of which use it for strictly personal purposes.[i] Within that mix, 43% said they use a free VPN service. Yet “free” VPNs often come with a price. Typically at the expense of your privacy.

A personal VPN establishes a secure tunnel over the internet, offering you both privacy and freedom from IP-based tracking. It protects your identity and financial info by encrypting, or scrambling, the data that flows through the tunnel. Moreover, it can mask your true location, making it appear as though you are connecting from somewhere else.

Sometimes a VPN is included in more robust security software, as it is in our McAfee+ plans. It’s also, but often it is a standalone tool, that is offered for a monthly subscription rate or for free. While it might be tempting to go for a free option, there are some serious considerations that you should take to heart.

Free VPNs – risky business

Because free VPNs don’t charge a subscription, many make revenue indirectly through advertising. This means that users get bombarded with ads. And they get exposed to tracking by the provider. In fact, one study of 283 free VPN providers found that 72% included trackers.[ii] The irony is worth pointing out. Many people use VPNs to shroud their browsing from advertisers and other data collectors. Meanwhile, free VPNs often lead to that exact kind of exposure.

But beyond the frustration of ads, slowness, and upgrade prompts is the fact that some free VPN tools include malware that can put your sensitive info at risk. The same study found that 38% of the free VPN applications in the Google Play Store were found to have malware, such as keyloggers, and some even stole data from devices.

Also concerning is how these free providers handle your data. In one worrying case, security researchers uncovered seven VPN providers that gathered user logs despite pledges not to.[iii]

Clearly, many so-called “free” VPNs aren’t free at all.

Privacy worth paying for – paid VPN benefits

VPNs are critical tools for enhancing our privacy and shouldn’t be an avenue opening the door to new risks. That’s why your best bet is to look for a paid VPN with the following features:

Unlimited bandwidth — You want your network connection to stay secure no matter how much time you spend online.

Speedy performance — We all know how frustrating a sluggish internet connection can be when you are trying to get things done. Whether connecting for productivity, education, or entertainment, we’re all dependent on bandwidth. That’s why it’s important to choose a high-speed VPN that enhances your privacy, without sacrificing the quality of your connection.

Multiple device protection — These days many of us toggle between mobile devices, laptops, and computers, so they should all be able to connect securely.

Less battery drain — Some free mobile VPNs zap your battery life, making users less likely to stay protected. You shouldn’t have to choose between your battery life and safeguarding your privacy.

Ease of use — For technology to really work, it has to be convenient. After all, these technologies should power your connected life, not serve as a hindrance.

Fortunately, we don’t have to sacrifice convenience, or pay high prices, for a VPN that can offer a high level of privacy and protection. A comprehensive security suite like McAfee+ includes our standalone VPN with auto-renewal and takes the worry out of connecting, so you can focus on what’s important to you and your family, and enjoy quality time together.

[i] https://www.security.org/resources/vpn-consumer-report-annual/

[ii] https://www.icir.org/vern/papers/vpn-apps-imc16.pdf

[iii] https://www.pcmag.com/news/7-vpn-services-found-recording-user-logs-despite-no-log-pledge

The post How Free VPNs Come With a Price appeared first on McAfee Blog.

What You Need to Know About Election Security

As election season approaches, the importance of safeguarding our democratic processes has never been more critical. Ensuring election security is not just the responsibility of government bodies but also of every individual voter. This blog post aims to provide valuable insights and practical tips for consumers to protect their votes and understand the mechanisms in place to secure elections.

Understanding Election Security

Election security encompasses a broad range of practices designed to ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and accessibility of the voting process. This includes safeguarding against cyber threats, ensuring the accuracy of voter registration databases, protecting the physical security of voting equipment, and maintaining transparency in the vote counting process. As voters, being aware of these elements helps us appreciate the complexity and importance of secure elections.

Tips for All Voters

1. Verify Your Voter Registration

One of the first steps to secure your vote is to ensure that you are registered correctly. Check your voter registration status well in advance of the election day through your local election office or official state website. This helps to avoid any last-minute issues and ensures your eligibility to vote.

2. Be Wary of Misinformation

Misinformation can spread rapidly, especially during election periods. Rely on official sources for information about polling locations, voting procedures, and deadlines. Avoid sharing unverified information on social media and report any suspicious content to the relevant authorities.

3. Use Trusted Voting Methods

Whether you are voting in person or by mail, make sure to follow the recommended procedures. If voting by mail, request your ballot from a verified source and return it through secure methods such as official drop boxes or by mail with sufficient time to ensure it is received before the deadline.

4. Protect Your Personal Information

Scammers often target voters to steal personal information. Be cautious of unsolicited phone calls, emails, or texts asking for your personal details. Official election offices will not request sensitive information such as your Social Security number via these methods.

5. Report Irregularities

If you notice anything unusual at your polling place or have concerns about the voting process, report it immediately to election officials. This includes any signs of tampering with voting machines, suspicious behavior, or attempts to intimidate voters.

Special Tips for First-Time Voters

1. Understand the Voting Process

Familiarize yourself with the voting process in your area. This includes knowing your polling location, understanding what identification is required, and learning about the different ways you can cast your vote. Many states provide detailed guides and resources for first-time voters.

2. Plan Ahead

Plan your voting day in advance. Decide whether you will vote in person or by mail, and make sure you have all necessary documentation ready. If you are voting in person, consider going during off-peak hours to avoid long lines.

3. Educate Yourself on the Candidates and Issues

Before you head to the polls, research the candidates and issues on the ballot. This will help you make informed decisions and feel more confident in your choices.

4. Seek Assistance if Needed

Don’t hesitate to ask for help if you need it. Election officials and poll workers are there to assist you. Additionally, many organizations offer support for first-time voters, including transportation to polling places and information hotlines.

Other Tips for Ensuring a Secure Election Experience

Stay Informed About Security Measures

Understand the security measures your state has implemented to protect the election process. This might include the use of paper ballots, post-election audits, and cybersecurity protocols. Being aware of these measures can increase your confidence in the election’s integrity.

Participate in Early Voting

If your state offers early voting, take advantage of it. Early voting can reduce the stress of long lines and crowded polling places on election day, making the process smoother and more secure.

Encourage Civic Engagement

Encourage friends and family to vote and educate them about election security. A well-informed electorate is a key component of a secure and fair election.

Stay Updated on Election News

Keep up with reputable news sources to stay informed about any potential security threats or changes in the voting process. This will help you stay prepared and responsive to any issues that might arise.

By following these tips and staying vigilant, every voter can contribute to a secure and fair election process. Remember, your vote is your voice, and protecting it is essential for the health of our democracy. Happy voting!

The post What You Need to Know About Election Security appeared first on McAfee Blog.

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JA4+ - Suite Of Network Fingerprinting Standards

JA4+ is a suite of network Fingerprinting methods that are easy to use and easy to share. These methods are both human and machine readable to facilitate more effective threat-hunting and analysis. The use-cases for these fingerprints include scanning for threat actors, malware detection, session hijacking prevention, compliance automation, location tracking, DDoS detection, grouping of threat actors, reverse shell detection, and many more.

Please read our blogs for details on how JA4+ works, why it works, and examples of what can be detected/prevented with it:
JA4+ Network Fingerprinting (JA4/S/H/L/X/SSH)
JA4T: TCP Fingerprinting (JA4T/TS/TScan)

To understand how to read JA4+ fingerprints, see Technical Details

This repo includes JA4+ Python, Rust, Zeek and C, as a Wireshark plugin.

JA4/JA4+ support is being added to:
GreyNoise
Hunt
Driftnet
DarkSail
Arkime
GoLang (JA4X)
Suricata
Wireshark
Zeek
nzyme
Netresec's CapLoader
NetworkMiner">Netresec's NetworkMiner
NGINX
F5 BIG-IP
nfdump
ntop's ntopng
ntop's nDPI
Team Cymru
NetQuest
Censys
Exploit.org's Netryx
cloudflare.com/bots/concepts/ja3-ja4-fingerprint/">Cloudflare
fastly
with more to be announced...

Examples

For more, see ja4plus-mapping.csv
The mapping file is unlicensed and free to use. Feel free to do a pull request with any JA4+ data you find.

Plugins

Wireshark
Zeek
Arkime

Binaries

Recommended to have tshark version 4.0.6 or later for full functionality. See: https://pkgs.org/search/?q=tshark

Download the latest JA4 binaries from: Releases.

JA4+ on Ubuntu

sudo apt install tshark
./ja4 [options] [pcap]

JA4+ on Mac

1) Install Wireshark https://www.wireshark.org/download.html which will install tshark 2) Add tshark to $PATH

ln -s /Applications/Wireshark.app/Contents/MacOS/tshark /usr/local/bin/tshark
./ja4 [options] [pcap]

JA4+ on Windows

1) Install Wireshark for Windows from https://www.wireshark.org/download.html which will install tshark.exe
tshark.exe is at the location where wireshark is installed, for example: C:\Program Files\Wireshark\thsark.exe
2) Add the location of tshark to your "PATH" environment variable in Windows.
(System properties > Environment Variables... > Edit Path)
3) Open cmd, navigate the ja4 folder

ja4 [options] [pcap]

Database

An official JA4+ database of fingerprints, associated applications and recommended detection logic is in the process of being built.

In the meantime, see ja4plus-mapping.csv

Feel free to do a pull request with any JA4+ data you find.

JA4+ Details

JA4+ is a set of simple yet powerful network fingerprints for multiple protocols that are both human and machine readable, facilitating improved threat-hunting and security analysis. If you are unfamiliar with network fingerprinting, I encourage you to read my blogs releasing JA3 here, JARM here, and this excellent blog by Fastly on the State of TLS Fingerprinting which outlines the history of the aforementioned along with their problems. JA4+ brings dedicated support, keeping the methods up-to-date as the industry changes.

All JA4+ fingerprints have an a_b_c format, delimiting the different sections that make up the fingerprint. This allows for hunting and detection utilizing just ab or ac or c only. If one wanted to just do analysis on incoming cookies into their app, they would look at JA4H_c only. This new locality-preserving format facilitates deeper and richer analysis while remaining simple, easy to use, and allowing for extensibility.

For example; GreyNoise is an internet listener that identifies internet scanners and is implementing JA4+ into their product. They have an actor who scans the internet with a constantly changing single TLS cipher. This generates a massive amount of completely different JA3 fingerprints but with JA4, only the b part of the JA4 fingerprint changes, parts a and c remain the same. As such, GreyNoise can track the actor by looking at the JA4_ac fingerprint (joining a+c, dropping b).

Current methods and implementation details:
| Full Name | Short Name | Description | |---|---|---| | JA4 | JA4 | TLS Client Fingerprinting
| JA4Server | JA4S | TLS Server Response / Session Fingerprinting | JA4HTTP | JA4H | HTTP Client Fingerprinting | JA4Latency | JA4L | Latency Measurment / Light Distance | JA4X509 | JA4X | X509 TLS Certificate Fingerprinting | JA4SSH | JA4SSH | SSH Traffic Fingerprinting | JA4TCP | JA4T | TCP Client Fingerprinting | JA4TCPServer | JA4TS | TCP Server Response Fingerprinting | JA4TCPScan | JA4TScan | Active TCP Fingerprint Scanner

The full name or short name can be used interchangeably. Additional JA4+ methods are in the works...

To understand how to read JA4+ fingerprints, see Technical Details

Licensing

JA4: TLS Client Fingerprinting is open-source, BSD 3-Clause, same as JA3. FoxIO does not have patent claims and is not planning to pursue patent coverage for JA4 TLS Client Fingerprinting. This allows any company or tool currently utilizing JA3 to immediately upgrade to JA4 without delay.

JA4S, JA4L, JA4H, JA4X, JA4SSH, JA4T, JA4TScan and all future additions, (collectively referred to as JA4+) are licensed under the FoxIO License 1.1. This license is permissive for most use cases, including for academic and internal business purposes, but is not permissive for monetization. If, for example, a company would like to use JA4+ internally to help secure their own company, that is permitted. If, for example, a vendor would like to sell JA4+ fingerprinting as part of their product offering, they would need to request an OEM license from us.

All JA4+ methods are patent pending.
JA4+ is a trademark of FoxIO

JA4+ can and is being implemented into open source tools, see the License FAQ for details.

This licensing allows us to provide JA4+ to the world in a way that is open and immediately usable, but also provides us with a way to fund continued support, research into new methods, and the development of the upcoming JA4 Database. We want everyone to have the ability to utilize JA4+ and are happy to work with vendors and open source projects to help make that happen.

ja4plus-mapping.csv is not included in the above software licenses and is thereby a license-free file.

Q&A

Q: Why are you sorting the ciphers? Doesn't the ordering matter?
A: It does but in our research we've found that applications and libraries choose a unique cipher list more than unique ordering. This also reduces the effectiveness of "cipher stunting," a tactic of randomizing cipher ordering to prevent JA3 detection.

Q: Why are you sorting the extensions?
A: Earlier in 2023, Google updated Chromium browsers to randomize their extension ordering. Much like cipher stunting, this was a tactic to prevent JA3 detection and "make the TLS ecosystem more robust to changes." Google was worried server implementers would assume the Chrome fingerprint would never change and end up building logic around it, which would cause issues whenever Google went to update Chrome.

So I want to make this clear: JA4 fingerprints will change as application TLS libraries are updated, about once a year. Do not assume fingerprints will remain constant in an environment where applications are updated. In any case, sorting the extensions gets around this and adding in Signature Algorithms preserves uniqueness.

Q: Doesn't TLS 1.3 make fingerprinting TLS clients harder?
A: No, it makes it easier! Since TLS 1.3, clients have had a much larger set of extensions and even though TLS1.3 only supports a few ciphers, browsers and applications still support many more.

JA4+ was created by:

John Althouse, with feedback from:

Josh Atkins
Jeff Atkinson
Joshua Alexander
W.
Joe Martin
Ben Higgins
Andrew Morris
Chris Ueland
Ben Schofield
Matthias Vallentin
Valeriy Vorotyntsev
Timothy Noel
Gary Lipsky
And engineers working at GreyNoise, Hunt, Google, ExtraHop, F5, Driftnet and others.

Contact John Althouse at john@foxio.io for licensing and questions.

_{^{Copyright (c) 2024, FoxIO}}

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