Author Archives: Daniel Quinn Flint

John Bernard, a pseudonym used by a convicted thief and con artist named John Clifton Davies who’s fleeced dozens of technology startups out of an estimated $30 million, appears to have reinvented himself again after being exposed in a recent investigative series published here. Sources tell KrebsOnSecurity that Davies/Bernard is now posing as John CavendishContinue reading “Investment Scammer John Davies Reinvents Himself?”

Phishers targeting Microsoft Office 365 users increasingly are turning to specialized links that take users to their organization’s own email login page. After a user logs in, the link prompts them to install a malicious but innocuously-named app that gives the attacker persistent, password-free access to any of the user’s emails and files, both ofContinue reading “Malicious Office 365 Apps Are the Ultimate Insiders”

When normal computer users fall into the nasty habit of recycling passwords, the result is most often some type of financial loss. When cybercriminals develop the same habit, it can eventually cost them their freedom. Our passwords can say a lot about us, and much of what they have to say is unflattering. In aContinue reading “The Wages of Password Re-use: Your Money or Your Life”

Some of the world’s top tech firms are backing a new industry task force focused on disrupting cybercriminal ransomware gangs by limiting their ability to get paid, and targeting the individuals and finances of the organized thieves behind these crimes. In a 50-page report delivered to the Biden administration this week, top executives from Amazon,Continue reading “Task Force Seeks to Disrupt Ransomware Payments”

Big-three consumer credit bureau Experian just fixed a weakness with a partner website that let anyone look up the credit score of tens of millions of Americans just by supplying their name and mailing address, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. Experian says it has plugged the data leak, but the researcher who reported the finding says heContinue reading “Experian API Exposed Credit Scores of Most Americans”

In 2017, KrebsOnSecurity showed how easy it is for identity thieves to undo a consumer’s request to freeze their credit file at Experian, one of the big three consumer credit bureaus in the United States.  Last week, KrebsOnSecurity heard from a reader who had his freeze thawed without authorization through Experian’s website, and it remindedContinue reading “Experian’s Credit Freeze Security is Still a Joke”

What was the best news you heard so far this month? Mine was learning that KrebsOnSecurity is listed as a restricted competitor by Gartner Inc. [NYSE:IT] — a $4 billion technology goliath whose analyst reports can move markets and shape the IT industry. Earlier this month, a reader pointed my attention to the following noticeContinue reading “Note to Self: Create Non-Exhaustive List of Competitors”

On Aug. 13, 2020, someone uploaded a suspected malicious file to VirusTotal, a service that scans submitted files against more than five dozen antivirus and security products. Last month, Microsoft and FireEye identified that file as a newly-discovered fourth malware backdoor used in the sprawling SolarWinds supply chain hack. An analysis of the malicious fileContinue reading “Did Someone at the Commerce Dept. Find a SolarWinds Backdoor in Aug. 2020?”

Microsoft today released updates to plug at least 110 security holes in its Windows operating systems and other products. The patches include four security fixes for Microsoft Exchange Server — the same systems that have been besieged by attacks on four separate (and zero-day) bugs in the email software over the past month. Redmond alsoContinue reading “Microsoft Patch Tuesday, April 2021 Edition”

Someone is selling account information for 21 million customers of ParkMobile, a mobile parking app that’s popular in North America. The stolen data includes customer email addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, license plate numbers, hashed passwords and mailing addresses. KrebsOnSecurity first heard about the breach from Gemini Advisory, a New York City based threatContinue reading “ParkMobile Breach Exposes License Plate Data, Mobile Numbers of 21M Users”