I've been using Google's Keep Notes for all my note-taking, but I would like to shift away from that and use an app that is more secure. I've heard of Notion and Evernote but I'm not sure about their level of security/encryption. Any suggestions?

I'm curious on how to get started in self hosting. I have computer experience, being an Android Developer, but I hardly have experience in Linux and backend/networking work.

I've been wanting to start up a Plex/Jellyfin server for a while, and I have an old system sitting around with a Ryzen 1700 with a graphics card in there as well that's been begging for attention, and maybe I can throw on a Minecraft server in there as well. Since I travel a bunch, it would be nice too to be able to access my media for when I'm traveling, or to let my parents or friends access some shows if they so desire!

What I'm worried about is exposing my network to the internet basically. I used to run a Minecraft server with port forwarding and such on a personal computer but now I'm realizing that that's probably a bit unsafe lol.

Basically, are there any guides that I can look at, or any of your own experiences that could potentially help me or anyone who's interested?

I hope I’m posting this in the correct place. I’ve been having a disagreement with someone over the abilities of hackers. I kinda hope Deimorz pops in because he wrote automod.

I said that the only way for someone to gain access to a subreddit to make changes is if they steal a moderator’s account password or they are added to the mod team. The person I’m having a disagreement with believes that adding text to the wiki for users to view (like the extensive wiki r/skincareaddiction has) would make it easier for hackers to insert malicious code in order to gain access to the sub. This person also mentioned being able to change the subreddit through browser tools. She insists the sidebar and wiki are potential access points for scripting attacks. Automod just so happens to be enabled which is why I mentioned Deimorz.

I’m not an IT professional. My brothers currently are which helped me learn most of what I know. I’ve supplemented that over the years with whatever info I came across online. What she’s saying sounds like crazy town to me. But since I’m not a hacker, is there a way to use the sidebar or wiki area to hack into a subreddit?

Thanks in advance to anyone who pities me by providing a detailed answer to this thinly veiled request to help me win an internet argument 🙇🏾‍♀️.

I finally got around to upgrading my mom’s computer (an Asus laptop from 2015) from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10. I’ve already deleted a few apps she won’t use (e.g., Xbox) and disabled/stopped some unneeded services. What else can I do to keep her computer fast? Particularly interesting in more services I can disable and the best browser/ad blocker combo. Thanks y’all!

I’ve recently gotten to speak with a few folks who work at an enterprise security company. I asked what their security researchers set as company rules for allowed laptops. My one datapoint so far is “Dell or Apple.” So for example, no Thinkpad X1 Carbon, which is arguably the best work laptop.

I am curious what other large security companies (or any of you security minded folks) set as rules for trusted laptops. Can anyone share their lists and theories as to why I heard Dell and Apple? BIOS is more trustworthy?

I'm a little late on this, admittedly. $dayjob is requiring us all to set up a pair of YubiKeys, and I'm using them for the first time and my mind is a little blown.

I was seeing articles about "passkeys" all summer, not really grokking what they were talking about, clinging to my usernames and passwords and 2FA codes coming out of 1Password, etc.

I just set it up on a few accounts today, initially as an additional 2FA source, but when I set them on GitHub, I saw for the first time how exactly they are used instead of the username and password and 2FA combo to log in, and it seems incredible to me!

For long-time YubiKey users: what are some cool things in the ecosystem that you would recommend looking at?

I just received a mail from my own e-mail address, hosted on Gandi on my own domain name. It said that the sender has hacked me, used malware, keyloggers and RDP to get my passwords and copy all my files to his own computer, and took videos of me while watching adult content using my webcam (I never noticed the light turning on for it). Claims they've been doing this for a few months. Gives a bitcoin address and wants $1000 (a sum I can't and won't give, don't even have a fraction of it) in 48 hrs, or else will share the videos with my contacts. It said something about a pixel the message included.

I viewed the message from K-9 mail on android (which didn't tell anything about pixels or whatnot), and when I went back on my computer to check the headers and stuff, the message was deleted.

Now, is this some sort of phishing or or have I really been pwned? I feel like it's just phishing, but the message deleting itself kinda gave me shills of fear. I promptly changed my password for the mail account.

Saturday Security Brief

Topics: Attack Surface Management, Active iMessage exploit targetting journalists, Academic research on unique EM attack vectors for air-gapped systems.

Any feedback or thoughts on the experience of receiving and discussing news through this brief or in general are welcome. I'm curious about this form of staying informed so I want to experiment. (Thanks again for the suggestion to post the topics as comments.)

Attack Surface Management

This concept is about ensuring that your network is equipped to handle the many issues that arise from accommodating various "Servers, IoT devices, old VPSs, forgotten environments, misconfigured services and unknown exposed assets" with an enterprise environment. Some of the wisdom here can be applied better think about protecting our personal networks as well. Outdated phones, computers, wifi extenders, and more can be a foothold for outside attackers to retain persistant access. Consider taking steps to migigate and avoid potential harm from untamed devices.

Consider putting certain devices on the guest network if your router supports doing so and has extra rules for devices on that network so they can't cause damage to your other devices directly.

"A report from 2016 predicted that 30% of all data breaches by 2020 will be the result of shadow IT resources: systems, devices, software, apps and services that aren’t approved, and in use without the organization’s security team’s knowledge. But shadow IT isn’t the only area where security and IT teams face issues with tracking and visibility."

Attack Surface Management: You Can’t Secure What You Can’t See ~ Security Trails

Multiple Journalists Hacked with ‘Zero-Click’ iMessage Exploit

Mobile spyware is continuing to evolve and tend towards professional solutions. Recently this technology has been abused to conduct espionage on journalists of major networks. Where once these exploits typically required some mistaken click from the user, new developments are allowing their activities without any trace or requiring interaction from the target.

"NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware is a mobile phone surveillance solution that enables customers to remotely exploit and monitor devices. The company is a prolific seller of surveillance technology to governments around the world, and its products have been regularly linked to surveillance abuses."

"In July and August 2020, government operatives used NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware to hack 36 personal phones belonging to journalists, producers, anchors, and executives at Al Jazeera. The personal phone of a journalist at London-based Al Araby TV was also hacked."

"The journalists were hacked by four Pegasus operators, including one operator MONARCHY that we attribute to Saudi Arabia, and one operator SNEAKY KESTREL that we attribute to the United Arab Emirates."

"More recently, NSO Group is shifting towards zero-click exploits and network-based attacks that allow its government clients to break into phones without any interaction from the target, and without leaving any visible traces."

The Great iPwn Journalists Hacked with Suspected NSO Group iMessage ‘Zero-Click’ Exploit ~ Citizen Lab

Security researchers exfiltrate data from air-gapped systems by measuring the vibrations made by PC fans.

Besides this potential exploit the article mentions past research done by Guri and his team which is worth checking out, like:

• LED-it-Go - exfiltrate data from air-gapped systems via an HDD's activity LED

• AirHopper - use the local GPU card to emit electromagnetic signals to a nearby mobile phone, also used to steal data

• MAGNETO & ODINI - steal data from Faraday cage-protected systems

• PowerHammer - steal data from air-gapped systems using power lines

• BRIGHTNESS - steal data from air-gapped systems using screen brightness variations

"Academics from an Israeli university have proven the feasibility of using fans installed inside a computer to create controlled vibrations that can be used to steal data from air-gapped systems."

Academics steal data from air-gapped systems using PC fan vibrations ~ Zdnet

Good Practices

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

Turn on MFA Before Crooks Do It For You ~ Krebs on Security

Hey guys -- I wrote a blog that I'd love some feedback on. I'm an identity product manager and have been trying to train my users to use passphrases. Do these read friendly enough? I want it to be readable by all users, but my target audience is other people in product and software.

https://medium.com/@toritxtornado/training-your-users-to-use-passphrases-2a42fd69e141

Friday Security Brief

This release is trial for a weekly security brief compiled from trusted sources that encourage a general awareness of cyber security issues. I'm still not sure about how to do this so any thoughts or feedback will be appreciated.

Brexit deal mandates a limit to security standards

"In what is surely an unthinking cut-and-paste issue, page 921 of the Brexit deal mandates the use of SHA-1 and 1024-bit RSA:"

Brexit Deal Mandates Old Insecure Crypto Algorithms ~ Schneier on Security

FBI Warns of Hijacked Security Devices being exploited for Swatting

"Stolen email passwords are being used to hijack smart home security systems to “swat” unsuspecting users, the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned this week. The announcement comes after concerned device manufacturers alerted law enforcement about the issue."

FBI Warn Hackers are Using Hijacked Home Security Devices for Swatting ~ Threatpost

A look back at some email attacks of 2020

"In 2020, our spam folders bulged with malware-laced emails, phishing lures linking to ransomware schemes, impersonation attacks, spoofed brand and fake domain missives, and dubious requests from legit-sounding companies. So, what defined 2020 in spam?"

Inbox Attacks: The Miserable Year (2020) That Was ~ Threatpost

SolarWinds hackers accessed Microsoft source code

"The hackers behind the SolarWinds supply chain attack managed to escalate access inside Microsoft's internal network and gain access to a small number of internal accounts, which they used to access Microsoft source code repositories, the company said on Thursday."

SolarWinds hackers accessed Microsoft source code ~ Zdnet

CISA updates SolarWinds guidance

"The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has updated its official guidance for dealing with the fallout from the SolarWinds supply chain attack.

In an update posted late last night, CISA said that all US government agencies that still run SolarWinds Orion platforms must update to the latest 2020.2.1HF2 version by the end of the year."

CISA updates SolarWinds guidance, tells US govt agencies to update right away