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Issue
September 2006
In this month's issue of our Security Watch Newsletter we provide a follow up
to the recently held seminar on Identity Theft, update you on some of the latest
happenings at BH Consulting and outline what a mule scam is. We also draw your attention to some
forthcoming EU legislation, focus on some of the initiatives in combating
Phishing attacks, outline the Top 5 reasons for data security breaches and
highlight Microsoft's latest patch to address the VML vulnerability.
About BH Consulting
BH Consulting was founded in answer to demands for an independent consulting
firm to assist clients gain a competitive edge by achieving IT Operational
excellence in deploying, managing and securing their IT infrastructure. With
over 20 year’s experience, we provide you with access to in-depth expertise,
experience and technical know-how. Backed with our quality processes and
commitment to deliver, BH Consulting provides clients with quality solutions at
cost effective rates.
 Support
Focus Ireland
If you have found any items in our
Security Watch Newsletter to be of use to you we ask that you
make a donation to
Focus Ireland who
work tirelessly supporting the homeless throughout Ireland. Focus Ireland
aims to advance the right of people-out-of-home to live in a place they call
home through quality services, research, and advocacy. The objectives of
Focus Ireland are to respond to the needs of people out-of-home and those at
risk of becoming homeless, through a range of appropriate high quality services,
to provide emergency transitional and long-term accommodation for people
out-of-home, to campaign and lobby for the rights of people out-of-home
and the prevention of homelessness. No sum is too small and all is
put to excellent use.
BH CONSULTING NEWS
Identity Theft
Seminar as part of Global Security Week
As part of this year's Global Security Week initiative
BH Consulting, in partnership with
Vigitrust, sponsored a free seminar on
Identity Theft. The seminar
was a resounding success with full attendance on the day. Delegates heard
excellent talks from the Garda Computer Crime Unit and the Garda National Bureau
of Fraud Investigation,
ENISA (the European Network and
Information Security Agency) and also from the
Companies Registration Office. There is an excellent
resource
provided by An Garda Siochana to help you prevent identity theft, while ENISA
provided free copies of their
Security Awareness Guide. The Companies Registration Office provided
an excellent overview of their
CORE system which companies can use to prevent
corporate ID Theft. Finally, as part of Global Security Week 2006 the team
behind this years event have created a comprehensive guide to the best links on
Identity Theft and made it available on the
Global Security Week website.
Presentations from the seminar will also be soon available on the Global
Security Week website.
BH Consulting Advises Ireland AM Viewers on
Identity Theft
Brian Honan, Senior Consultant with BH Consulting, recently appeared on the
Ireland AM show on TV3 advising viewers on how best to protect themselves
against Identity Theft. Brian provided details on what measures to protect
your identity and prevent it from being used by criminals. That advice is
outlined below;
AVOIDING IDENTITY THEFT
* Beware of giving out email address
* Use a special email for shopping
* Only buy from sites with a clear privacy policy
* Use a Strong password
* Be careful of mailing lists
* Keep records of all transactions so you can verify them
against your statements
FRAUDULENT EMAIL PHRASES
* ''Verify your account''
* "Respond within 48 hours or your account will be closed"
* "Dear valued customer"
* "Click the link below to gain access to your account"
IF YOU ARE A VICTIM OF INTERNET THEFT
* Notify financial institutions
* Change passwords
* Notify relevant websites
* Request a credit report
* Contact the police
WWW.BHCONSULTING.EU Launched
BH Consulting are happy to announce the launch of our .EU domain,
www.bhconsulting.eu
. Having a .EU domain name enables you to protect your company brand,
products and/or trademark. It also opens your company to access to a wider
audience. If you wish to register your own .EU domain name you can do so
by checking the
European Registry of Internet Domain Names.
BH Consulting To Address NITEs
Seminar
This year the 5th annual National IT & eSecurity Summit takes place at the IMI
Conference Centre on the 8th and 9th of November. Brian Honan will be
giving a talk on "Improving Security - Incident Response". Further details
of the conference is available
here.
BH Consulting Interviewed about
Recent Phishing Attacks and Mule Scams
With the recent spate of phishing attacks against Irish banks, Brian Honan was
interviewed by TV3 evening news to explain how people can fall victim to these
type of attacks. Brian was also interviewed by the Irish Independent on
the same topic and how people can protect themselves from the increasing number
of mule scams.
Mule scams are named after the drug mules used in drug smuggling. The basis of
the scam is that criminals need to transfer money they have fraudulently gained
from Phishing scams etc. to their own bank accounts. The criminals need this to
happen in such a way to leave no trace back to them. The criminals
send out emails looking to recruit people to act as agents for a legitimate
looking company. These emails look like legitimate job ads and often link to a
website that also looks legitimate. The "job advert" is looking for people
to act as agents for the company and to process transactions on behalf of the
company. The potential employee could be given a scenario where they are told
they will be collecting money from customers and forwarding that money by wire
transfer to the "hiring company's" account. All potential employees need to
have is an email address and a bank account. Money from "customers" is
transferred into the "employee's" bank account and the "employee" then transfers
that money, minus a commission, to the criminals bank account or most likely via
Western Union. The first thing the employee knows about the scam is when the
police call at their door.
BH CONSULTING WEBSITE UPDATE
We strive at BH Consulting to provide information that is
relevant and useful in securing and running your business. To this end we
provide a range of whitepapers available for download
free from our
white papers page;
LATEST THREAT LEVELS
Get more information on the latest updates on current threats at
our online resources page;
FEATURES
European Commission Proposes Data Breach Notification Legislation
The European Commission has published proposals for
new legislation that will require telecom companies to notify customers and
regulators of any breaches in security resulting in the personal data of
customers being exposed. Similar laws exist within the United States which
have resulted in an increase in the number of breaches being reported... Click
here for more info.
ISSA Ireland Calls for More User Education
With the increasing number of phishing attacks the Irish Chapter of the
Information Systems Security Association has
called for consumers to be better educated on
identifying and preventing Phishing attacks. With
reports of stolen IDs available for £1 on
certain websites, the issue of ID Theft will continue to be a major concern.
Recently, a number of Irish banks have come together to form the High Tech Crime
Forum... Click
here for more info
Top Five Reasons for Security Breaches Identified
A recent publication by the US Chambers of Commerce and VISA has identified the
top 5 reasons for security breaches in companies. The report outlines the
reasons for the breaches and provides recommendations on how companies can
prevent these breaches. While the report does focus on credit card
merchant companies, four out of the five points are applicable to all companies.
Click
here for more info
Microsoft Release Patch for VML Vulnerability
Microsoft have deemed the VML vulnerability to be serious enough to
warrant issuing a
patch to address the issue outside of their
normal patch cycle (the first Tuesday of each month). The fact that
Microsoft has deemed this vulnerability critical enough for them to rush out a
patch should be enough to indicate to you that this patch should be deployed in
your environment as soon as possible. If you have an effective patch
management processes in place it should cater for emergency patch deployment,
but remember to ensure the patch is tested adequately before deploying it. ... Click
Here
for more info
FREE SECURITY SCAN
In partnership with
Qualys, BH Consulting
are offering a for a free Network Security Scan so you can check how healthy
your network is. To find out more about what this service can do for you, visit
our free
Network Security Scan.
Alternatively contact
us or visit our website to get more details on our
risk assessment service.
This issue of Security Watch is being brought to you by BH Consulting.
If you have found this issue to be of use please support our drive to raise funds
for
Focus Ireland.
Each
Security Watch eNewsletter, and the special Security Alert issues, are produced
independently by the Windows IT Pro Custom Media Group and is distributed by
various Microsoft security partners. Each eNewsletter contains up-to-date
information about security strategies, technologies, and alerts. Each Security
Alert contains the latest information about security threats.
Additional news courtesy of
Silicon Republic,
Cnet,
Silicon and
Zdnet
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