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until DropBox, Filesanywhere, Box or similar services get hacked (which does happen from time to
time…so be aware and stay vigilant), you can tell all your friends, coworkers and business
associates you only accept attachments in a DropBox type service. I wouldn’t recommend using
Apple iCloud, Amazon Cloud, Microsoft Cloud Drive or Google Cloud Drive as they are targeted by
hackers daily. Look for a less known service that offers encryption and stronger guarantees. Then,
when someone is going to send you a file, tell them – don’t use email, send it to this link (you
provide them a way into your DropBox) and then before opening any of these attachments, you
download them and then run them through your favorite antivirus scanner. If you are serious about
security, run it through one of these:
http://www.virustotal.com which has over 40 different antivirus scanners that it runs on your file
upload to determine if it’s malware.
https://www.metascan-online.com/ which has currently 42 different antivirus scanners and like
virustotal will accept file uploads that are over 100mb if need be to be scanned for detection of
malware.
http://virusscan.jotti.org/en which has been around for a while only accepts 25mb file size uploads
and quickly runs them through about 22 antivirus scanners to check for malware.
It’s time we treat privacy respectfully. It’s good for people and for businesses to be respectful to
others right to privacy. If you want to track an email tell the recipients you are using email tracking
technology. Sure, it can be a 4 point font at the bottom of the email but at least you’re being honest
about it. And for folks worried about their privacy, only receive emails in a TEXT viewing mode and
you’ll be safe. Consider this one more lesson we’ve learned from the Sony Pictures Entertainment
breach.
Getting More Proactive and One Step Ahead of the Next Threat
As I said recently on BNN in Canada, see: http://www.bnn.ca/News/2015/1/24/How-businesses-
can-neutralize-cyber-security-threats-in-2015.aspx entitled Go Phish: The Rise of Hacking –
Part Three, the biggest threats we face this year are:
• Spear phishing (targeted email) attacks
• Remote Access Trojans (RATs) which are used to control a computer in another location
• Mobile Devices loaded with eavesdropping malware in the form of trusted and free apps
It’s time consumers, small offices – home offices (SOHOs) and small to medium sized
businesses (SMBs) as well as large enterprises get more proactive and assume you already
have vulnerabilities and malware. Start with:
• Training employees better
• Hardening systems
• Detecting and removing RATs
• Deploying full disk encryption and real-time backups
• Defending against phishing attacks
• Managing the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) dilemma
63 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – February 2015 Edition
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