A software architect and AWS cloud specialist, Carlos Salas is currently serving with his technological acumen at NordLayer. Carlos has more than 12 years of experience in fields such as Unix Administration, Software Development, Database Administration, Cloud Architecture, and Research and Development.

As Carlos explained early in the interview, he was always innovating and experimenting since his childhood days and has had an inquisitive mind toward technology and its application. He received his Master’s Degree in Informatics from the University of Vilnius.

After that first contact between the two experts, they talked about how NordLayer’s cutting-edge products and solutions create an impenetrable layer of security that is affordable for and accessible to everyone across the globe. From there on, the conversation turned into a masterclass in cybersecurity in today’s digitized world.

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The challenges of cybersecurity in the Web 3.0, NFTs and Metaverse era

NFTs, Metaverse, and Web 3.0 is the recent buzz in the town. Hilton was interested to know if the cybersecurity technologies that are a huge success today are equally (or even more) effective in Web 3.0. Carlos has the perfect answer for that: –

“It’s actually very peer-to-peer in essence. By using NordLayer, everyone is in the local area network. It doesn’t matter where you are. For systems where there is no centralisation, you have a segment that is connected to the internet, to the main net, but at the same time, it is micro-segmented. So, there are only very specific people that are going to be accessing certain central resources, and not all of them.”

He also explained how private gateways by NordLayer are responsible for maintaining a private line of communication between the peer group. Carlos patiently explained to Hilton how NordLayer maintains the level of security, while also maintaining the authenticity of digital avatars and an overall landscape of cybersecurity in the Metaverse.

Drawing an interesting simile, Carlos explained the cybersecurity measures at NordLayer: – “We use military-grade encryption. You can’t actually unencrypt this even by using a good force (unless by quantum computers). If you look at the research, it would take a few billion years to unencrypt these types of connections and put them into a perspective. The universe is younger than the time you will take to unencrypt this type of connection.” 

Carlos also told Hilton that to keep abreast with the latest technological advancements and provide cybersecurity to the expanding landscape of technology, NoedLayer is constantly educating its users and the general public through its blog posts and websites.

Concluding the interview, Carlos assured Hilton that the world is going to witness a wider adoption of the latest technologies in the next few years.

“Actually, right now, anyone that has a relatively modern device can use augmented reality. So, it’s going to be a matter of a couple of years, that people are going to start that more. I would say it is already mainstream. You could go to the streets, take out your phone, and scan a QR code, and you will see something pop out in real life. So, it’s already here.”, he clarified.

A life dedicated to cybersecurity and software engineering

Carlos joined NordLayer, a digital security and privacy solutions company, in 2021. His passion overlaps with the company’s mission to help the people to interconnect in a secure and faster way. Serving as an Engineering Manager at the NordLayer, Carlos is responsible for supervising and coordinating the efforts towards updating and deploying their privacy and security solutions.

He explained the company’s contribution to “empowering the user to be responsible for their own cybersecurity” while being at the backend for support and round-the-clock assistance.

In the words of Carlos, “It’s actually easier than it sounds, especially when you are using this type of technology where you are like plug n play install and everything will be working as a system.” 

Set up in 2021, the company has its offices all around the globe. The team of developers and experts at NordLayer is always innovating to provide cutting-edge solutions to keep cyberspace as secure and private as possible.

The solutions under the umbrella of NordLayer include:-

• NordVPN – the world’s most trusted online security solution, used by over 15 million of Internet users worldwide.

• NordPass – a password manager that securely stores and helps users organize their passwords by keeping them in one convenient place.

• NordLocker – a file encryption tool that secures sensitive files and folders with zero-knowledge AES-256 encryption.

• NordLayer – network access security that scales with businesses.

• NordWL – An infrastructure, know-how, and tools for businesses who want to build their own VPN products.

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4IR: AI Blockchain Fintech IoT Reinventing a Nation by Dinis Guarda and Rais Hussin (4irbook.com)

Dinis Guarda citiesabc openbusinesscouncil Series is also available as podcast on

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Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Engineering Manager at NordLayer Carlos Salas on Cybersecurity in Web 3.0 at The Latest Episode On Dinis Guarda YouTube Podcast Talks About appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Fraud Prevention — Your Company’s Shield

Fraud prevention solution is like a stone wall for your venture: it won’t let the scammers sneak in to hurt your success, reputation and, most importantly, your customers.

And if you think your company can pass on it, you’re bound to think again. FIrst of all, there are multiple threats your online brand might be exposed to right now:

• Identity theft. Scammers can steal someone’s sensitive info to either pose as that person or sell it on the black market.
• Card testing. There are databases, which contain credit card numbers, on the dark web. E-criminals “test” every single one of them to see if it’s possible to squeeze money out of it or buy stuff from you.
• False chargebacks. The most common type, when a dishonest customer requests money back but also gets to keep your goods that you honestly delivered.
• Account takeover. A customer’s account gets hacked, which may result in identity theft.
• Triangulation. An elaborate scheme, in which scammers sell your goods to other people and then claim a refund from you.

And the scheme list keeps growing. The next target-to-hit might be your business.

Losses & Consequences

If fraudsters succeed at one of their shady tricks with your enterprise, it will cause some unfavorable repercussions. For instance:

• Finances. If they keep on making false chargebacks, you either risk losing a lot of money — bank fees, refunds, high-risk merchant account fees — or an option to accept bank cards.
• Reputation. Identity theft, account hijacking, test fraud — all of these can seriously damage your rep and scare away customers for a long time.
• Time. Disputing chargebacks, doing damage control, organizing protection after getting hit — it takes time, effort and some of your nerves too.

As you can see, it’s best to take care of the security early on. And the best way to do this is by hiring trained experts.

A professional team can offer:

• Compliance. Your company will act in compliance with various protocols, including Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) — it helps to successfully dispute false chargebacks.
• Detection. Thanks to Device Fingerprint know-how and Know Your Customer procedure, scammers can be detected and neutralized promptly.
• Training. Your staff will receive training and guidelines to handle fraud efficiently.
• Extra safety. As a major bonus, you’ll be provided with Trustchain — an environment, which filters out fake personas, bots, scammers, while also employing safety standards.

It’s not just your reputation on the line when you enter the world of ecommerce. It’s also the well-being of your customers who are seen as easy prey by the e-criminals

So, don’t hesitate and protect your business right now. In the long run, it will bring handsome dividends: loyal and grateful clientele.    

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Fraud Prevention: Here’s Why Your Business Needs It appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Everyone is susceptible to a phishing attack. Often, phishing emails are well crafted and take a trained eye to spot the genuine from the fake. In this article you will learn top 10 tips to detect phishing scams.

Simply put, phishing is a cybercrime in which a target or targets are contacted by email, telephone or text message by someone posing as a legitimate institution to lure individuals into providing sensitive data such as personally identifiable information, banking and credit card details, and passwords. The information is then used to access important accounts and can result in identity theft and financial loss.

There are, however, ways to make yourself less of a target. Keep in mind our ten top tips to stay safe online.

1. Name of sender can trick you.

Email addresses and domain names can be easily spoofed. It is, therefore, crucial that you check the domain name for spelling alterations on suspicious emails. Even if they appear to have come from a trusted sender, always double check.

2. Check for typos.

Attackers are often less concerned about being grammatically correct. Which means that typos and spelling errors are often evident in messages. Such errors in an email could be a good indication that the message is not genuine.

3. Do not share sensitive information hastily.

Any email that asks for sensitive information about you or your company is suspicious. For instance, no bank will ever ask for personal information over an email. Directly call your bank to ascertain if an email is genuine or not.

4. Don’t fall for URGENCY!

Phishing attacks use scare tactics such as urgency and authority to trick victims into taking immediate action. Emails that ask to share personal information or to make cash transactions are… ‘phishy’.

One good example of this would be that of KrebsOnSecurity. The site heard from a reader in South Africa who recently received a text message stating his lost iPhone X had been found. The message addressed him by name and said he could view the location of his wayward device by visiting the link https://maps-icloud[.]com — which is most definitely not a legitimate Apple or iCloud link and is one of countless spoofing Apple’s “Find My” service for locating lost Apple devices.

5. Hover but don’t click.

Hover over URLs. If the alt text does not match the display text, or if it seems strange, DO NOT click on it.

6. Attachments can be dangerous.

Hover over attachments to check for an actual link before you click on it or download it. But, if you are still unsure of the sender, do not click on the link.

7. Is it too good to be true?

If it sounds too good to be true, chances are it is! Phishing attacks use fake rewards to tempt victims to take action. You wouldn’t win a lottery if you never participated.

8. Keep your devices up to date.

Devices, and the applications on them, are more susceptible to attacks when systems are not updated. Maintain your antivirus and regularly check for updates.

9. Regularly check your accounts.

Check your accounts regularly to ensure that no changes have been made without your knowledge. Staying on top of your accounts, and knowing what data is held in each, will make spotting a phishing attack easier.

10. When in Doubt, Call out.

If you suspect that the security of your work device or data has been compromised, inform your cyber security team or your manager immediately.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Top 10 Tips to Detect Phishing Scams appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Many Americans were already living paycheck to paycheck before the COVID-19 pandemic. But as of spring 2020, it’s safe to say even more U.S. consumers have found themselves in a precarious financial position.

According to PYMNTS.com, nearly six out of 10 Americans say they’re living paycheck to paycheck. This means any interruption in work — like an unpaid furlough or layoff — can leave them unable to keep up with monthly expenses. Anyone who’s been in this situation knows how stressful it can be. It’s also very difficult to save when most or all of your income is going toward living expenses and debts, leaving you with a thin cushion if/when a financial emergency pops up.

A credit card cash advance may sound tempting when money is tight — whether you need it to cover a one-time emergency, or you’ve just fallen behind on routine bills.

Here’s what to know about credit card cash advances.

You Can Often Use a Credit Card at the ATM

We most often associate ATMs with debit cards, but some borrowers may be able to use their credit cards. Rather than drawing from a checking account, the money will count against your account’s credit limit.

As U.S. News & World Report outlines, cards typically carry an advance limit that’s a portion of the card’s maximum. So, a card with a $5,000 maximum purchase limit could have an advance limit in the ballpark of $1,500 to $2,000 dollars.

Not every card allows cash advances, nor is there a universal fee or interest rate for borrowing money in such a way. You’ll need to dig into your card agreement or talk to your card issuer to find details like these.

Credit Card Advances Can Be Quite Expensive

While a cash advance might do in a pinch, it’s best to avoid getting into the habit of using them. Why? Because, all factors considered, it can be a very expensive way to borrow money.

NerdWallet outlines three expenses associated with cash advances on credit cards:

•ATM/bank fees: You may have to pay a few dollars for the privilege of using an ATM.

•Cash advance fees: Your credit card company may either charge a flat fee (like $10) or a percentage of the amount you borrow (like five percent).

•Interest charges: Your credit card issuer may actually charge a higher annual percentage rate (APR) for advances than they do for regular purchases. Furthermore, advances can start racking up interest right away rather than allowing a grace period.

Credit card debt already tends to carry a higher average interest rate than other kinds of debt, like personal loans. In addition to enabling interest to accumulate quickly it compounds. This means your original balance and the interest it accrues accumulate more interest, which increases your balance and attracts even more interest — infinitely.

This helps explain why many Freedom Debt Relief reviews and other online accounts of dealing with credit card debt mention debt spiraling out of control — despite borrowers’ best efforts to pay them down. Remitting the minimum amount due does little to chip away at rapidly growing interest. As a result, people often find themselves becoming mired deeper and deeper in debt.

Alternatives to Credit Card Cash Advances

It’s worth looking into alternatives to credit card cash advances, like taking out a personal loan from a bank or asking for a salary advance at work. Although an advance may be less risky than, say, an ultra-high-interest payday loan, it’s still wise to exhaust your other options first.

Credit card cash advances allow borrowers to get money at the ATM against their credit limit, but this service does cost money. In other words, that convenience comes at a huge price.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post What to Know About Credit Card Cash Advances appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

• Machines in the Netherlands are most likely to encounter cybercrimes; Ireland is least likely

• 10.17% of machines in Belarus encounter malware every month, making them the least cyber-secure country for malware encounters

• The UK and Ireland are among the countries least likely to encounter ransomware attacks and cryptocurrency mining (0.01% and 0.02%)

The severity of cyber-breaches has become more and more intense in recent years. As a result, security experts at Specops Software sought to find out which (Western) European countries are the most cyber-insecure for citizens.

To find out, Specops Software calculated which country is most likely to encounter cyber-crimes by analysing the percentage of cloud provider attacks on Azure and the monthly percentage of machines that encountered cryptocurrency mining, malware and ransomware.

Cloud attack encounters

The Netherlands received the highest number of cloud provider incoming attacks, with data stating that 16.28% of Azure accounts have faced breaches. They are followed closely by Bulgaria (11.68%).

Other countries among the highest cloud attack encounters include France (2.73%), United Kingdom (2.02%) and Finland (1.72%).

Cryptocurrency encounters

On average, Belarus has the highest number of cryptocurrency mining encounters every month, with 0.42% of machines recording the issue.

Next is Ukraine (0.33%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (0.25%) and Bulgaria (0.17%).

The least vulnerable country is Ireland, where only 0.01% of machines encountered cryptocurrency mining.

The United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Germany and Netherlands are second least likely to encounter cryptocurrency mining, as only 0.02% of machines in each country had.

Malware encounters

Belarus has the most malware encounters in Europe, with 10.17% of machines in the country encountering them each month on average.

In second place is Ukraine (9.57%), followed by Bosnia (6.76%), Romania (5.92%) and Bulgaria (5.66%).

The country with the least malware encounters is Ireland, where only 0.7% of machines in the country encountered malware each month on average.

Finland (1.27%), Norway (1.33%), Netherlands (1.33%) and Denmark (1.35%) are among the countries least vulnerable to malware encounters.

Ransomware encounters

0.09% of machines in Ukraine encountered malware on average every month, making them the most insecure country to malware encounters in Europe.

Belarus are second most vulnerable, with 0.06% of machines encountering malware, followed by Bosnia (0.05%), Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Greece and Croatia (0.04%).

Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway and Finland encountered the smallest number of ransomware threats, with only 0.01% of machines facing them each month.

With the risk of cyber-crime high in many European countries, Aimée Ravacon from Specops Software has suggested three distinct tips to reduce your risk of attacks:

“1. Stop re-using passwords. When you reuse your passwords, you are opening yourself up to cyber-crime since attackers use your login information from one site to target another site.

2. Use multi-factor authentication. Many online services now offer multi-factor authentication, but too few people are taking advantage of this extra security layer. This simple step just takes a minute but can protect you from falling victim.

3. Don’t click on strange links. Phishing emails are designed to look real and can even appear to come from people you know. But clicking on links in a phishing email can open a backdoor for an attacker.”

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Research: European Countries Most at Risk of Cyber Crime appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

In today’s modern world, data breaches are ever-growing threats that can affect businesses in just about every industry. To keep your company’s proprietary information, as well as your customers’ sensitive financial data secure, you must implement policies and procedures to protect that data. Here’s what you need to do.

Conduct a Thorough System Audit

You can’t protect against data breaches if you don’t know where your security vulnerabilities lie. An IT security audit will give you a better sense of the areas you need to give more attention to in creating future security measures. This audit should look for any ways that data thieves, both internal and external, could gain access to your company’s systems and the data they contain. At the end of the audit, you should have a detailed outline of what you need to do next to secure your systems.

Protect Against Malware and Viruses

Firewalls are your first line of defense against malware, but they are not enough to stop all of today’s digital threats. In addition to basic firewalls, you’ll also need robust virus protection software on every computer in your organization to stop these malicious files before they infect your machines, possibly spreading throughout your network. Email spam filters are necessities as well, as many viruses come in the form of email attachments.

Provide Training for Your Employees

In many cases, data breaches happen because unsuspecting employees inadvertently give hackers access. Most of the time, this is unintentional, and it is also preventable. Your business must require your team members to go through data security training as part of the employee onboarding process. This demonstrates to them that your organization takes data security seriously and that they should as well. Even long-term employees should go through this training, and your staff should repeat the training periodically to ensure they understand how to protect against the latest threats.

Secure Mobile Devices

Many of your employees likely utilize their smartphones or tablets to assist with their work, and if your organization does not provide company devices, this can be a significant security risk. If your team is using their own devices, you need to have a BYOD policy in place. This can require your employees to install specific software or applications on their devices to enhance security. You’ll also need to provide technical support to help employees with installation, updates, and other necessary tasks to ensure their devices stay as secure as possible.

Encrypt All of Your Data

While it may be tempting only to encrypt sensitive data, it is good practice to encrypt everything. If hackers identify that they can gain access to some of your unencrypted data, they’ll be encouraged to keep trying to break into your more secure files. By encrypting everything, you’ll show possible data thieves that you are doing everything in your power to keep them out, possibly discouraging them from attempting to hack your organization and leading them to move on to an easier target.

Manage Passwords Carefully

Even with the growing threat of data breaches, many people still don’t create passwords that are anywhere near secure enough to stop hackers. It is crucial that your business institute strict password protocols for your employees. Passwords should be complex so that they are not easy to guess, including both capital and lowercase letters, as well as numbers and symbols. You should also require your team to change their passwords at least every six months to minimize risk.

Minimize Accessibility

When it comes to your organization’s sensitive data, the only people who should have access to it are the ones who genuinely need it. In most cases, this will mean only those at the highest levels of your company or those in specific departments that use the data. General employees should not have any more access than they truly need. By restricting the number of people who are allowed to access secure data, you’ll reduce the number of possible vulnerabilities, making it much more difficult for hackers to gain access using low-level employee credentials.

Maintain Constant Vigilance

With data security, it is not enough to set up security protocols and hope for the best. Defending against data breaches is a constant battle as hackers and thieves continue to grow more and more sophisticated. To keep up, your security measures need to become more sophisticated as well. New threats are revealed with each passing day, so you need to update your security efforts to stay ahead of them continually.

While all of this may seem a bit overwhelming at first, there is no need to worry. As long as you create a step-by-step plan to improve your company’s data security and commit to following it, your organization can keep its data as secure as possible.

This is an article provided by our partners network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.

Contributed content

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Keeping Business Data Secure appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Criminals are turning to sophisticated methods of scamming businesses out of money, convincingly posing as regular suppliers to trick them into changing supplier bank account payee details.

A recent survey by UK Finance show that fraudsters stole almost £93m from UK firms last year through this type of scam. There were 3,280 invoice and mandate fraud cases involving businesses, while the average payment made was £20,750, showing how costly these scams can be. Invoice fraud typically involves criminals targeting businesses by email, posing as a regular supplier and then making a request for their bank account details to be changed. Firms are then tricked into sending money to an account controlled by the fraudster rather than the genuine supplier. But despite these £93m being lost to invoice fraud last year, over 43% of businesses aren’t even aware of it, let alone the threat it poses.

Invoice fraud should be major concern and the process of changing the bank details should always be treated with extreme caution. And Barclays, one the largest banks in the UK has released a series of tips to make people stay safe and aware of this type of fraud.

How it works

But before jumping on the tips, let’s explain how this fraud method works. Firs of all, a criminal contacts you, posing as a genuine supplier, and asks you to change the bank details you use to pay them. It’s not hard for criminals to investigate your invoice details, even down to payment dates, to make their approach look more convincing. The message will often have a sense of urgency, and ask you to act immediately.

The fraudulent letters and emails they send are well-written, so the fraud is difficult to spot if you don’t have strong operating processes and controls. Email addresses are easy to spoof. If a PC is infected with malware, criminals can access genuine email addresses and take over existing email conversations. Requests made in writing often come on paper with a company’s letterhead to make them look convincing.

Four tips to help you stay safe

1. When you get bank account details by email or letter for making a payment, paying an invoice, or as part of for a notice telling you about a change of bank details, always verbally confirm changes by calling a known contact at the company to confirm the request is genuine, using details you have on file and not the ones in the message.

2. Build a process to check new bank details on invoices. Have a clear procedure for making payments in your business, and make sure all your staff know how these scams occur, particularly those responsible for making payments. If you feel pressured or anxious, take your time and ask for help.

3. Criminals can access or alter emails to make them look genuine – hacking real email addresses is on the increase. Do not use the contact details in an email. Instead, check the supplier’s official website or documents you know are real. Keep vital security software up to date to help protect your company’s devices from viruses and hackers.

4. Help protect yourself against all fraud by making sure we have up-to-date contact details for you and your business. You can update them in your Barclays app, in Online Banking or through your relationship team.

As always regarding cyber security matters, common sense and awareness are two essential security tools. Most of these scams can be spotted in advance and can be avoided if measures are in properly in place, both from the technology side and, more importantly, from the human perspective.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

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Kaspersky experts have discovered the money-stealing malware MobOk hiding within seemingly legitimate photo editing apps available on the Google Play store. At the time of detection, the apps, titled ‘Pink Camera’ and ‘Pink Camera 2’ had been installed around 10,000 times. The apps were designed to steal personal information from victims and use that to sign them up to paid subscription services. Victims only discovered they’d been hit when they saw unexpected costs on their mobile services bill. The apps have now removed from the Google Play store and are no longer available. This is a huge cyber security vulnerability for a growing threat.

The MobOk malware is a backdoor, one of the most dangerous types of malware, because it offers the attacker almost complete control over the infected device. Despite the fact that content uploaded to Google Play is thoroughly filtered, this is not the first time that threats have made their way onto users’ devices. In many cases, backdoors are covered by a semi-functioning app, which appears at first glance to be a poor, but innocent attempt to create a legitimate app. For this reason, the Pink Camera apps didn’t arouse suspicion, because they included genuine photo editing functionality and had been downloaed from the trusted Google Play store.

To avoid falling victim to malicious apps, Kaspersky researchers advise users to:

• Remember that even a trustworthy source, such as an official app store, can contain dangerous apps. Be vigilant and always check application permissions to see everything that installed apps are allowed to do. Check the app ratings and reviews on official stores, such as Google Play or the App Store. Malicious apps will sometimes receive low ratings and users will post comments that warn others about the risk of malware  If you are about to install such an app – pay extra attention to its permission requests.
• Install system and application updates as soon as they are available — they patch vulnerabilities and keep devices protected.
• Use a reliable security solution for comprehensive protection from a wide range of threats, such as Kaspersky Security Cloud

However, as soon as users started to edit their pictures using the Pink Camera apps, the apps requested access to notifications and this initiated the malicious activity in the background. The aim of this activity was to subscribe the user to paid mobile subscription services. These usually look like web-pages offering a service in exchange for a daily payment that is charged to the mobile phone bill. This payment model was originally developed by mobile network operators to make it easier for customers to subscribe to premium services, but it is now sometimes abused by cyberattackers.

Once a victim was infected, the MobOk malware would collect device information such as the associated phone number, in order to exploit this information in later stages of the attack. The attackers then sent details of web-pages with paid subscription services to the infected device and the malware would open them, acting like a secret background browser. Using the phone number extracted earlier, the malware would insert it into the “subscribe” field and confirm the purchase. Since it had full control over the device and was able to check notifications, the malware would enter the SMS confirmation code when it came in – all without alerting the user. The victim would start to incur costs and continue to do so until they spotted the payments in their phone bill and unsubscribed to each service.

“The Pink Cameras’ photo editing capability was not very impressive, but what they could do behind the scenes was remarkable: subscribing people to malicious, money-draining services in Russian, English and Thai, monitoring SMS and requesting Captcha – the code that you need to write down to prove you are not a robot – recognition from online services. This means that they also had the potential to steal money from victims’ bank accounts. Our theory is that the attackers behind these apps created both the subscription services, not all of which were genuine, and the malware that hooked subscribers, and designed them to reach an international audience,” said Igor Golovin, security researcher at Kaspersky.

Kaspersky Lab detects the MobOk malware as HEUR:Trojan.AndroidOS.MobOk.a

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Cyber Security: Fake Photo Editing Apps On Google Play Hid Powerful MobOk Malware appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

Victims of cyber crime can now call on help from an AI chatbot as well as experienced cyber crime agents, thanks to The Cyber Helpline, the first nationwide cyber crime support service.

The Cyber Helpline is a free, confidential helpline for individuals who have been victims of cyber crime. It has been able to scale to support nationwide enquiries by deploying confidential chatbot technology from leading UK AI and chatbot agency GreenShoot Labs.

The Cyber Helpline, a Not For Profit company, helps individuals contain, recover and learn from cyber attacks by connecting them with a cyber security chatbot and volunteer experts who provide relevant advice and guidance, at any time, day or night.

“There are so many people, old and young, who are targeted by sophisticated cyber criminals, subjecting them to undue stress, but who don’t have the finances nor know where to go in these situations,” said Rory Innes, CEO The Cyber Helpline. “The Cyber Helpline has been launched to give victims a place to go for experienced advice from cyber security volunteers.”

“In order to scale we needed a solution that would help us support the rising level of crime nationwide, whilst ensuring personal confidentiality,” added Innes. “Working with our cyber security volunteers, GreenShoot Labs built us the answer via chatbots which can navigate the complex world of cyber crime but also help victims contain threats and recover.”

The GreenShoot Labs-developed chatbot gathers details from the individual victims of the cyber crimes, allowing them to explain in their own language what has happened. Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning is then used to interpret, categorise and diagnose the attack. Working with cyber security experts, GreenShoot Labs trains and improves the platforms accuracy over time.

“We could completely understand the need to increase the support available to victims of cybercrime and worked together with the team to develop a fully scalable chatbot solution,” said Tim Deeson, CEO of GreenShoot Labs. “The first thing we needed to understand is how people report and describe these crimes; we wanted to make a system that allowed people to provide as much detail as possible in the most natural way, whilst ensuring privacy as the utmost priority. Only if a user decides to ask the chatbot to introduce them to a volunteer cyber security expert for further help it will ask for a first name, phone number and email address to help solve the issue.”

“We are delighted with the results from the initial public release. Around 80% of our enquiries are now being successfully handled by the chatbot allowing the remaining 20% of more complex cases to be handled by our cyber security experts – it’s a way higher proportion than we initially envisaged,” added Innes. “For a Not For Profit, the optimisation of resources, combined with improved support of a critical service, really validated our decision to innovate with support automation.”

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Cyber Security: AI Chatbot Launched To Help Fight Nationwide Cyber Crime appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

1. Lock It Up. It doesn’t matter whether you are popping out for a coffee or not, your office doors need to stay locked. It can help businesses to buy into swipe card security systems, because then you can dish out more than one card to people and you know that they can get in and out securely.
2. Film It. If you experience someone trying to make their way into your office, you need to prove it. The way to do that is to budget for CCTV camera installation so that you can capture the image of anyone trying to break in. There is an increased need for CCTV with businesses, so you shouldn’t be the only one who doesn’t have it.
3. Label It. Office equipment that you have budgeted and paid for – even down to the chairs and desks – needs to be labelled. You should buy a label maker from your chosen office supply company and ensure that everything has your business name and telephone number on it.
4. ID Badges. Security doesn’t just extend to the four walls of your office. You need to ensure that you are letting in the right people at the right time, and the best way to do that is to ensure that everyone has a lanyard with an ID card attached. Visitor badges can be bought and created by your admin team.
5. A Bit Alarming. If you’re adding cameras, security locks and badges, you need a way to know whether someone still tries to trespass on your business without you knowing. Alarm systems are very technical, with some triggering silent alarms to the police and others letting off huge amounts of noise to frighten off the assailant. Choose your alarm system wisely.
6. Emergency Planning. You need an emergency back up for your security. If you realise that something is missing from your office after some time away, you need to have a way to ensure your business processes are not interrupted because of it.
7. Passwords. Every business computer should have a case sensitive password attached that is changed frequently. This is the best way to ensure that if you suffer a theft of equipment, someone cannot access the machine rendering it useless.

Office security isn’t a joke and should be taken seriously by all involved in your workplace

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Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post You’ve Sorted Your Cyber Security. What About The Office? appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.