cybersecurity

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€750.000 per year for some onepager PDF, you can do that too.

scam-3933004_1920

(Image Credits: mohamed Hassan via Pixabay)

Dear Annie BG Mathews,

Dear CIO Applications Europe,

(quote, feb 2020) “I am Annie from CIO Applications Europe magazine and it is my pleasure to inform you that we have pre-screened the top players who have carved a niche in the Information Security arena and have shortlisted them to be featured as one of the “Top 10 Information Security Consulting/Service Companies 2020”, <…> being one of them.”

(quote, apr 2020) “I am Annie from CIO Applications Europe magazine, and it is my pleasure to inform you that we have pre-screened the top players who have carved a niche in the GDPR arena and have shortlisted them to feature as one of the “Top 10 GDPR Consulting/Service Companies 2020”, <…> being one of them.”

Did you also get the same mail  from “CIO Applications Europe”, with their fabulous “Top 10” marketing, asking a small fee of €2500,- to be featured as top-player in the <see below> field, for which you get a fabulous … eh.. 1 single pager PDF. And using their top 10 logo in your marketing.

Top, you make me feel so special!

Just.. ehm… radio couloir says lots of my sector contacts and LinkedIn network contacts got the exact same mail.. So, top 10, my @§§.

Marvelous quick win

Just a bit of 12y-old math says: that is a smart turnover of 25.000 EUR per top 10 published. Knowing that they have published roughly 30 of their “top 10” articles for 2019, this means a quick win of €750.000 on one-pagers only.

The categories they have listed last year:

(Look it up yourself: https://www.google.be/search?q=inurl:cioapplicationseurope.com+%22Top+10%22+%22-+2019%22)

  • Agile Technology, Asset management, Automotive, Blockchain, Blockchain Solutions, Business Intelligence, CEM solution, Contact center, Cognitive consulting, ERP, FinTech Solution, GDPR Solutions, GDPR consulting, IBM Solution, Information Security, IoT solution, IT services management, Legal technology, Mar tech, Microsoft solution, Microsoft Consulting, Procurement, Proptech, Salesforce, Smart City Tech,…

Forgive me if  I forgot another €25.000,- in the 30x Top 10 of 2019 they listed.

But some important categories missing, so you can do that too, some ideas below.

If the “Top 10” on GDPR is completed, you create new categories like “GDPR consulting”, “GDPR legal advice”, “GDPR breach specialist”, “GDPR expert”, “GDPR Services”, that’s another 125K of revenue, easy deal to fill the 1 million bucket.

So, you can buy yourself a list in the Top 10.

So here’s the deal, for 2499 EUR, you can get listed in the 2020 Top 10 spam and scam companies, you get a full A6 print page (special 7pt Wingdings font) with a 3 minute made-up interview with your CSSO. (Chief Spam’n Scam Officer.)

Legit business??

For €2499,- you get an interview, a one pager and a logo for display.

I quote: “We want to work with you towards a single page article after an interview with the senior management projecting the unique story of your company. For a nominal amount of 2,500 Euros, you will own complete print and digital rights to use the pdf of profile in your process of acquiring new clients along with many other prominent benefits like rights to use the Top 10 logo in your communications, single page complimentary advertisement placement and many more which I would love to explain when we connect. ”

It’s not forbidden to make you a ridiculous offer, but do you really want to sponsor this scam and spam practice and keep it alive?

Fact is, this is not ‘just a spam’ campaign.. It’s setup as legitimate business, at first sight.

You can still ask yourself why CIO Applications “EUROPE” would have a phone number in the US.

#GDPR!

It’s not only about the scam, they are using personal data without notification.

And you can argue they can use “legitimate interest”. Yes, for sure. But still they need to apply article 13 and 14, when collecting personal data. Their privacy notice (https://www.cioapplicationseurope.com/privacy-policy/) is not mentioned in the mail communication, it does not mention how they collect my data and how the process it. Neither do they refer to the required legal GDRP mentions (like DPA contact and so on…).

There is no reference how to file a subject-data access request… you can always spam their marketing department as mentioned in their privacy notice.

So, this could even be a valid reason for contacting your DPA and file a complaint.

I don’t want to unsubscribe to spam mail, because I don’t want to give you just more information if you don’t respect me from the beginning.

What’s the real problem then?

What do you think of a “Top-10” ranking, that is only based on the fee you pay? The first 10 that pay, are in the top 10. Number 11, bad luck. Oh wait, we’ll setup another top 10.

This feels like bribery. And mental pressure.

They send out the requests to new companies, struggling to conquer the market. They make your feel important, but it’s only about the money.

This type of practice puts other legitimate rankings in such a bad daylight… the smell of money on a “Top 10 …something”. This destroys the reputation of other communities, value papers and IT or security sectors. It’s not isolated to this one bad apple.

Be smart

Think. If it doesn’t feel right, it is not right. For a bare €2499,- you can achieve a lot more than a single page PDF and a top 10 logo.

For the same money and the support of a real marketing specialist, and some smart channel management, you can create real impact.

But most important of all, do what you do best. Create impact. Create great stuff, create buzz, let customers tell your story…

Stay out of the pile of bad apples.

#justthinking

Note-to-self: MNM van KSZ (Minimale normen – Sociale Zekerheid)

Minimale Normen / Normes Minimales van de KSZ (Kruispuntbank van de Sociale Zekerheid) gebaseerd op de ISO27001/ISO27002

“De toepassing van de minimale normen informatieveiligheid en privacy is verplicht voor instellingen van sociale zekerheid overeenkomstig artikel 2, eerste lid, 2° van de wet van 15 januari 1990 houdende oprichting en organisatie van een Kruispuntbank van de Sociale Zekerheid (KSZ). Bovendien moeten de minimale normen informatieveiligheid en privacy eveneens toegepast worden door alle organisaties die deel uitmaken van het netwerk van de sociale zekerheid overeenkomstig artikel 18 van deze wet. Tenslotte kan het sectoraal comité van de sociale zekerheid en van de gezondheid de naleving van de minimale normen informatieveiligheid en privacy ook opleggen aan andere instanties dan de hogervermelde.  ”

Bookmark:

(NL) https://www.ksz-bcss.fgov.be/nl/gegevensbescherming/informatieveiligheidsbeleid

(FR) https://www.ksz-bcss.fgov.be/fr/protection-des-donnees/politique-de-securite-de-linformation

(edit)

Opmerking: voor alle duidelijkheid, op zich zijn deze documenten geen nieuwigheid maar buiten de SZ zijn deze normen minder gekend… vandaar dat het toch nuttig is om ze bij te houden als geheugensteun en referentie. Je komt er sneller mee in contact als je denkt…

Cybersecurity voor vrijeberoepen en KMO (Webinar bij VLAIO)

Afgelopen vrijdag 21 februari, organiseerde Agentschap Innoveren & Ondernemen een praktisch webinar over Cybersecurity.

We toonden een vernieuwende aanpak die de zelfredzaamheid en veerkracht bij KMO’s inzake cybersecurity helpt vergroten.

Cybersecurity wordt beschouwd als één van de grootste bekommernissen in het huidige ondernemerschap. De veiligheid van (klanten)gegevens is een topprioriteit en een beleid hieromtrent uitwerken is noodzakelijk. Als adviseur zult u wel vaker de vraag krijgen van uw klanten over hoe ze hiermee aan de slag moeten gaan.

Hartelijk dank Melissa Gasthuys als gastvrouw en Eveline Borgermans voor de perfecte begeleiding en opname bij Agentschap Innoveren & Ondernemen

Hier de link naar de slides

De link naar de opname:

En je kan altijd nog even gaan kijken op cybervoorkmo.be voor meer tips en hints.

Privatum – Privacy After Work (2020-02-06 collaterals)

OP 6 feb jongstleden, presenteerde ik een sessie bij Privatum, voor hun avondsessies van  “Privacy After Work”.

Dat is een lichte, interessante aanpak om mensen bij elkaar te brengen ivm privacy en gegevensbescherming, dus  ideaal voor netwerking en interessante dingen te leren.

Meer info hier: https://www.privatum.be/privacy-after-work-2/

Hieronder vind je een overzicht van de links en URLs waar ik naar verwees tijdens de sessie.

De handouts van de sessie vind je op SlideShare:

Slide 10; de ISO27701 bouwstenen:

 

Slide 11: (*) Gratis downloads

Slide 21

Uitgebreide ISO27701 mapping met GDPR in XLS formaat (wat handiger)

https://github.com/PeterGeelen/ISO27701Collaterals

Direct links

Extended mapping

https://github.com/PeterGeelen/ISO27701Collaterals/blob/master/20200129%20PECB%20ISO27701%20vs%20GDPR%20-%20extended%20mapping.xlsx?raw=true

Handy mapping

https://github.com/PeterGeelen/ISO27701Collaterals/blob/master/20200129%20PECB%20ISO27701%20vs%20GDPR%20-%20handy%20mapping.xlsx?raw=true

Slide 52

Meer info: https://identityunderground.wordpress.com/2017/11/06/note-to-self-iso27001-iso27002-downloads-tools/

http://www.iso27001security.com/html/toolkit.html

GDPR-ISO27k mapping:  http://www.iso27001security.com/ISO27k_GDPR_mapping_release_1.docx

Meer info over de ISO27701, incl webinars & LinkedIn articles met Q&A

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pgeelen/detail/recent-activity/posts/

Interessante update:

Microsoft heeft een open-source mapping gepubliceerd tussen de controles in ISO / IEC 27701 (de nieuwe uitbreiding van de gegevensbescherming van ISO 27001 en 27002) en verschillende wettelijke regels, waaronder de GDPR (Europese Unie).
Het project bevat een Excel-bestand met de onbewerkte gegevens: zie https://github.com/microsoft/data-protection-mapping-project/raw/master/src/assets/database.xlsx

De directe link naar het volledige open source-project zelf is: https://github.com/microsoft/data-protection-mapping-project

Note-to-self: 2019 …cost of a data breach…

Many InfoSec and data protection or privacy courses reference 3 authoritative yearly reports that show interesting numbers, statistics and trends about breaches year over year.

And these are extremely useful to talk about to your management…

Interesting to know they all have been updated for 2019.

1. Verizon DBIR

(The Verizon Data breach Investigations Report, DBIR)

https://enterprise.verizon.com/resources/reports/2019-data-breach-investigations-report.pdf (click the view only option)

2. IBM-Ponemon – Cost of a data breach report 2019

https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/ZBZLY7KL

(You can always use the official link and give away your privacy…at https://www.ibm.com/security/data-breach)

3. IAPP-EY Annual Governance Report 2019

(IAPP members get it for free)

Hint: the IAPP link below also shows reports of previous years.

https://iapp.org/resources/article/iapp-ey-annual-governance-report-2019/

V2018 also available from the EY website: https://assets.ey.com/content/dam/ey-sites/ey-com/en_gl/topics/financial-services/ey-iapp-ey-annual-privacy-gov-report-2018.pdf

Using SPF to block mail account spoofing

Introduction

Did you ever got a mail from yourself, but you’re sure you did not send it?

This week I got that mail from a mail alias I’m using, so it’s actually not a native mailbox, but a mail forwarder address, which makes the claim that “the mailbox is hacked” pretty silly…

But if you got this message from a native mailbox, it does sound scary, isn’t it?

I already had some similar symptoms on other mail addresses in the same domain.

Symptoms

You get a mail from your own mail address… which is called mail spoofing.
And it looks like:

mailspoof

Spoofed mail message content

Hi!

As you may have noticed, I sent you an email from your account.
This means that I have full access to your account.

I’ve been watching you for a few months now.
The fact is that you were infected with malware through an adult site that you visited.

If you are not familiar with this, I will explain.
Trojan Virus gives me full access and control over a computer or other device.
This means that I can see everything on your screen, turn on the camera and microphone, but you do not know about it.

I also have access to all your contacts and all your correspondence.

Why your antivirus did not detect malware?
Answer: My malware uses the driver, I update its signatures every 4 hours so that your antivirus is silent.

I made a video showing how you satisfy yourself in the left half of the screen, and in the right half you see the video that you watched.
With one click of the mouse, I can send this video to all your emails and contacts on social networks.
I can also post access to all your e-mail correspondence and messengers that you use.

If you want to prevent this,
transfer the amount of $778 to my bitcoin address (if you do not know how to do this, write to Google: “Buy Bitcoin”).

My bitcoin address (BTC Wallet) is: 1GoWy5yMzh3XXBiYxLU9tKCBMgibpznGio

After receiving the payment, I will delete the video and you will never hear me again.
I give you 48 hours to pay.
I have a notice reading this letter, and the timer will work when you see this letter.

Filing a complaint somewhere does not make sense because this email cannot be tracked like my bitcoin address.
I do not make any mistakes.

If I find that you have shared this message with someone else, the video will be immediately distributed.

Best regards!

Root cause

The DNS setting of your domain is missing SPF records, that counter mail spoofing (an unauthorized mail server, user or hacker sending mail as “you”)…

Troubleshooting

When looking at the mail properties it’s pretty difficult (if not impossible) to find out who actually has sent the mail….

Solution

Basic domain settings

Add an SPF record to your domain DNS settings.

To get started, look up your mail provider or hosting provider’s name + SFP.

FYI, I’m hosting my domains at one.com, they’ve got some straight forward advise to configure the DNS. For any other domain, at any other provider it’s similar.

Office 365

When you buy a domain, but host your mail on O365, there are some additional settings to configure. But Office 365 will explain.

The easy part, logon to your O365 tenant, and check your domain health (see video below)

For more info, check these documents:

References

SPF tooling

Other security options

See also

Hotmail/Outlook.com Solving Mass Mailing Delivery Issues

Short URL: Http://aka.ms/outlook.com/help

While SPF is the first step, you should also consider DMARC and DKIM.

 

Risk treatment options parody

The orginal meme on risk analysis is around for a while on the internet.

(sorry, can’t find the original credits, feel free to claim and prove the credit, happy to comply)

risk classification

But risk management is only complete with risk treatment.

(original quality below)

risk_treatment_options.png

Please be aware of EUDT. BE unethical and dirty domain sales tricks (EN version)

fraudwarning

For the last 2 months I have been receiving some fraudulent, unethical and threatening mails from a company named “European Domains & Trademarks”, with the e-mail domain EUDT.BE, registered company name “Domeinnaam Register”.

The company is linked to: http://www.domeinnaamregister.com/ en http://www.nederlandsdomeinregister.nl/
In the Netherlands the company is registered as KVK: 64626679 and VAT: NL201158802B01. (as published on their website, the commerce register and DNS registrar).

The company is making false claims and is using unethical practices, and scaring people to extort money and scamming people into ridiculous expensive and fraudulent contracts.

The official registration owner of this URL and company is a Dutch company that is a very well known for very bad scamming practices.
And also the Belgian domain registration authority is warning for this company:
https://www.dnsbelgium.be/en/news/watch-out-domain-name-offers-domeinnaamregistercom

This is not their first warning, it already was reported in 2013 and 2016 (see below).

Also in the Netherlands, this organization is known and has been reported for the same malpractices before, like:

What it is about?

See full text at end of this post.

In short, he company contacts people, entrepreneurs, company owners pretending that they received a request to register a domain name (like company.nl) similar to the company domain you already registered (like company.com) and that they are legally forced to contact you to offer the first registration.

Next they say that they are obliged to register and protect the domain name for 10 year for €19.75 (ex VAT!) per year. And you need to pay this in one shot.

And a lot more bullshit in the mail…

What should you do?

  • DO NOT react to the mail, and ignore the mail,
  • before deleting the mail: report these practices to the authorities (eg Ministry of Economic Affairs)

If you really want that domain

  • DO NOT react to the mail, ignore the mail, delete the mail
  • contact your favorite, official and trusted registrar and by the domain via the regular / official channel

Why is this bullshit?

Please be aware that

  • domain registration is on a “first come, first serve” basis (unless it’s a malicious registration to harm a target company)
  • domains like .BE,  .NL, EU… cost about €6, €8, … 12 EUR per year.
  • Some registrars offer decent discounts, so it can be even cheaper.
  • You can renew domains YEARLY, no need to pay 10 years upfront.

See also

(BE-NL) Verkooptrucs met domeinnamen (*) (Credits: Dries Van Giel op 15 juni 2018)

More information

Credits: Dries Van Giel (*)

Belgium

Official warnings by DNS.BE

Official registrars

Warnings from official domain registrars and site hosters (no strings attached!)

Log a complaint at

If you’re already been caught by these #holes, you can register a complaint at: https://meldpunt.belgie.be/meldpunt/nl/welkommeldpunt.belgie.be

Netherlands

Full text (NL)

(Source: Happywebsites)

Geachte heer/mevrouw ,

Recent hebben wij telefonisch contact met u op proberen te nemen. Dit is tot op heden nog niet gelukt. We sturen u dus een email met daarin informatie over het volgende:
We hebben een aanvraag binnen gekregen om de website http://www.questforsecurity.eu te laten registreren. We zien in ons systeem dat u de eigenaar bent van http://www.questforsecurity.be. Helaas kan dit voor u in de toekomst verstrekkende gevolgen hebben. We zijn daarom dus wettelijk verplicht om contact met u op te nemen om u het eerste registratierecht te bieden. Dit houdt in dat wij de aanvraag van de derde partij afwijzen en de website:

http://www.questforsecurity.eu

Na een akkoord zullen doorlinken naar:

http://www.questforsecurity.be

Het komt er op neer dat u de eerste optie op de domeinnaam krijgt, dit om eventuele problemen in de toekomst te voorkomen. De aanvraag is gedaan vanuit de regio Antwerpen.
Doorgaans zijn wij verplicht om de domeinnaam voor 10 jaar vast te leggen en te beschermen. De jaarlijkse prijs voor de .EU extensie is € 19,75 per jaar. Dit betekent dus een eenmalig bedrag van €197,50. Wanneer de doorlink voltooid is, zal al het verkeer wat naar de .EU extensie gaat, automatisch op uw .BE extensie terecht komen. De verwerking hiervan duurt maximaal 24 uur. Deze domeinnaam is dan wereldwijd bereikbaar. De derde partij wordt afgewezen en deze kan niks met uw domeinnaam doen.
Overige informatie:

U ontvangt een eenmalige factuur van €197,50 exclusief BTW voor een looptijd van 10 jaar.

Na een jaar kan het ten alle tijden geannuleerd worden. U krijgt dan het resterende aantal jaren op uw rekening teruggestort.

Indien u hiermee akkoord gaat, stuur dan binnen 24 uur na ontvangen van deze email een akkoord per mail naar met daarin uw naam, en factuurgegevens naar; bart@eudt.be
Hierop volgend gaan wij de derde partij afwijzen en de doorlink in orde maken. U krijgt dezelfde dag nog alles per mail toegestuurd met alle informatie die u nodig heeft.

Met vriendelijke groeten,

Bart Mulder
European Domains & Trademarks
http://www.eudt.be
bart@eudt.be

And also

…
Reynaud Laurent
European Domains & Trademarks
http://www.eudt.be
reynaud.laurent@eudt.be

Better be smart.
Be safe.

And I hope these ### will be stopped sooner than later.

Note-to-self: prepping for CSA CCSK v4 upgrade

Note-to-self: extended reprint of a LinkedIn post…

I might have mentioned it already, but if you have passed the CCSK exam before, better logon to your CCSK profile on the CSA website and check if you still have an exam token left.

By default you get 2 tokens each exam registration, so…

If you pass your exam the first time, the “second try” backup token is left unused in your profile.

And (if not yet expired) you can use it to upgrade your CCSK to v4.

Tokens stay valid for 2 years after purchase.

More info: https://ccsk.cloudsecurityalliance.org/en/faq

On that page you can also find the required study material for the exam.

You can download the CCSK v4 prep kit from : https://downloads.cloudsecurityalliance.org/ccsk/CCSKv4_Exam_Preparation_Kit.zip

It’s an online exam and thus open book exam, using the below reference guides.

But realise:  60 questions in 90 minutes still is hard work, so better do some prep work up front to maximize your chances.

Once you pass this one, you can go for the (ISC)² CCSP with more confidence…