Author: Lauren Abshire

Lauren Abshire is the Director of Content Strategy at the United States Cybersecurity Magazine. Lauren is an avid writer, researcher and reader.

Cybersecurity Facts and Stats

Author(s):

Lauren Abshire, Director of Content Strategy, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

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Cybersecurity Facts and Stats - Reasons Why You Should Join the Cybersecurity Industry

Cybersecurity is more than a person behind a screen or hackers in hoodies. Cybersecurity is one of the fastest growing career fields and for good reason: cybersecurity is a universal need. Cybersecurity encompasses everything relating to our data and the protection thereof. Let’s look at some cybersecurity facts and stats and reasons why you should … Read more

Data Scraped from LinkedIn Users is Being Sold

Author(s):

Lauren Abshire, Director of Content Strategy, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

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Data Scraped from LinkedIn - Leaked Data from LinkedIn

On a popular hacker forum, data scraped from over 500 million LinkedIn accounts has been found for sale. 2 million of these records were reportedly leaked to prove their legitimacy which a user could then view for $2 worth of the forum’s credits. The leaked data includes LinkedIn IDs, names, user genders, email addresses, phone … Read more

HACKERS: THE 411

Author(s):

Lauren Abshire, Director of Content Strategy, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

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Hackers, White Hat, Black Hat, Red Hat, Gray Hat, Hacktivists and Script Kiddies

White Hat, Black Hat, Gray Hat, Hacktivists, we hear all of these names, but what is hacking and who are they? What are the different types of hackers? Why hack? The media has used this term since the 1990’s and it can be traced back further to the late 1980’s. Hacking is the act of … Read more

Clop Group Leaks University Data

Author(s):

Lauren Abshire, Director of Content Strategy, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

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Clop Group Leaks Data

On March 29, 2021, the Clop ransomware hacker group began leaking screenshots of sensitive data that was stolen (allegedly) from two U.S. Universities online. The leaked screenshots include federal tax documents, tax summary documents, passports, Board of Nursing applications and tuition remission paperwork. These documents include social security numbers, addresses, passport numbers with their photos, … Read more

China-based Hackers Attack Linux with REDXOR Malware

Author(s):

Lauren Abshire, Director of Content Strategy, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

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Chinese Hackers Attack Linux with REDXOR Malware

On Wednesday, March 10, 2021, Intezer Researchers revealed a new malware targeting Linux endpoints and servers. Researchers dubbed this “undocumented backdoor” as REDXOR for its “network data encoding scheme based on XOR.” Researchers believe REDXOR was developed by sophisticated Chinese bad actors. The malware was uploaded from Taiwan and Indonesia. Furthermore, through their investigation, Intezer … Read more

Microsoft Exchange Hacked by China-based “Hafnium” Group

Author(s):

Lauren Abshire, Director of Content Strategy, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

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Microsoft Exchange Hack by Hafnium Group

On March 2, 2021, Microsoft reported that a Chinese based, state-sponsored sophisticated attack group which they are calling “Hafnium” hacked the Exchange Server using previously unknown exploits. Microsoft states that Hafnium is a highly skilled and sophisticated bad actor which uses three steps in their attacks. In their March 2, 2021 report, Microsoft released the … Read more

UPDATE: Oldsmar Water Hack

Author(s):

Lauren Abshire, Director of Content Strategy, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

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On February 5, 2021, a hacker took remote control of one of Oldsmar Water Plant’s operator machine. The hacker then increased the sodium (lye) by 100 factors. The FBI was called in after this attempted attack was noticed and reported to the local Sheriff’s office. It was reported that the Oldsmar Water Plant occasionally used … Read more

VPN vs Zero-Trust Network Access

Author(s):

Lauren Abshire, Director of Content Strategy, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

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Virtual Private Networks (VPN) has provided remote workers with privacy while they are connected to a public connection for many years. While zero-trust is newer, it has proven to be quite effective. Especially in an age where remote work continues to increase, as does cyber-attacks. Noticeably, on VPNs. This begs the question, which is more … Read more

FBI Called After Oldsmar Water Hack

Author(s):

Lauren Abshire, Director of Content Strategy, United States Cybersecurity Magazine

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ChildDrinksTapWater

On February 8, 2021, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri of Pinellas County, Florida gave a press conference surrounding the unlawful intrusion (hack) into the City of Oldsmar’s water plant treatment system (which had taken place on February 5, 2021). The hacker took remote control of one of the Plants’ operator’s machine. After that it took merely minutes … Read more