Welcome to DR's note, your weekly dose of knowledge from Circuit Stitch Blog.

 Today we will talk about OSINT.

 

            What is OSINT and how do you pronounce that?  Let’s start with the latter and work our way from there.  It is pronounced O SIN T, start with the O and say SIN, and end it with a T.  So what is OSINT, it stands for Open Source Intelligence, the meaning which is coming from Wikipedia is, “the collection and analysis of data gathered from open sources (overt and publicly available sources) to produce actionable intelligence.”  Basically, it means any source of information you can gather by publicly available means.  It’s the beginning steps that some hackers would take to investigate you and find out all they can so that hack or take advantage of you. 

 

            Are hackers the only ones that do this? Nope, it is not just hackers that use OSINT, it is business’s, law enforcement, or nation-state actors.  Businesses use OSINT to gather knowledge about consumers as to better market to them and thus increase profits.  Law enforcement use it to gather knowledge people they are trying to arrest, to build a better case on them.  Nation-state actors use this info to do all sorts of malicious things spear phishing (target phishing campaign) to industrial sabotage.  Nation-state actors can be some of the most highly trained and devoted hackers out there. 

 

            Your are probably asking yourself, how does this pertain to me?  OSINT can be used to learn more about you!  This is one reason I say to keep all your account private as much as possible and don’t overshare on social media.  But how do they find all this out?  Nowadays they have software out there that can do sweeps of the internet for certain usernames, email addresses, etc.  But the most common thing used today is called Google hacking or more commonly known as Google Dorking.  Techopedia defines Google Dorking as “a hacking technique that makes use of Google's advanced search services to locate valuable data or hard-to-find content.”  So you use advanced search services that are already baked into Google’s search engine,  In the next paragraph we will look into how this is done and ways you can use it to your benefit.

 

            So let say you wanted to search a website (lets say Target) for an item or items(lets say Pokemon), you could type in the Google search bar pokemon target and you’ll get things from Pokemon cards to toys to youtubers that went to target for Pokemon.  Now if we put in the Google search bar site:target.com “Pokemon”, this will search the Target website for anything that has the word Pokemon in it.  You can do this with any website and and search terms, I used this process when looking for ink for printers here at SMC.  There are tons that you can do with Google Dorking, I’ve linked a google dork cheat sheet in the sources if you care to look.

 

            Other the Google Dorking what are some other ways that people find OSINT.  Well once someone gets your name or even a username that you use on social media, video games, etc. they can start to build their OSINT on you by searching either of those terms and as they find more info it will give them more to search.  It’s like a snowball effect or an even more strange analogy where the person takes a penny and trades up to eventually have a car.  It is reasons like these I advocate that you use a Password Manager, 2FA, change accounts to private, and never trust anyone online or on the phone.  If you just do a couple of these then you will be ahead of so many people.

 

            I hope this has been eye-opening and gives you a better understanding of what OSINT is and how it can be used to help or harm you.  As always if you have a questions or concerns feel free to call or email me, I’d love to talk about it.  Also if you have any DR note topics you want me to discuss please let me know.  Until next week, I hope you have a great week and Be Awesome.

 

Source:

Open-source intelligence: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_intelligence

Nation State Threat Actors: From a Security Awareness Perspective: https://www.sans.org/blog/nation-state-threat-actors-from-a-security-awareness-perspective/

What is Spear Phishing: https://www.knowbe4.com/spear-phishing/

Google Dorking: https://www.techopedia.com/definition/30938/google-dorking

Google Dork Cheatsheet: https://gist.github.com/sundowndev/283efaddbcf896ab405488330d1bbc06

OSINT Framework: https://osintframework.com

Welcome to DR's note, your weekly dose of knowledge from Circuit Stitch Blog.

 Today we will talk about the "GoodWill" ransomware

 

Have you heard of this ransomware?  It is called "GoodWill" and it seems to aim at making you a better person.  You may be asking yourself how does it do this?  Well, I shall discuss with you how it is done.  First, your computer will need to be infected with this ransomware, this can be done like any other virus you get on your PC.  You clicked on a link you shouldn’t have, downloaded a pirated movie or game, went to that porn site, etc.  But now your computer is infected and there is only one way to get it decrypted.

 

Technically there are several "Activities" in this one way but we shall look at them one at a time.  The first "Activity" they require you to do is to cloth a roadside homeless person.  But you not only have to give them clothing, but you must also create a Facebook, Instagram, or Whatsapp story about clothing the homeless.  You must also use the photo frame they give you and encourage others to do it as well.  Once you do this then you have to send them an email with a screenshot of the post and the post link, here is my favorite part, it says and I quote "later our team will verify the whole case and promotes you for the next activity".  So then you have to wait till their team verifies what you have done, then you can move on to the next "Activity".  Let's look at the next "Activity" to see what our "GoodWill" entail.

 

The next "Activity" is to pick up 5 poor children from your neighborhood and take them out for dinner at Dominos, Pizza Hut, or KFC.  Then once again you will have to make a story post on your social media, this time though the kids have to be in the picture and have smiles on their faces.  You must again use their picture frame and take screenshots of the post, this time though you will need to take a picture of your receipt to send along with to the ransomware people.  Also again you will have to wait to have it verified before you can move on to the third and final "Activity".

 

The final "Activity", now requires you to go to your nearest hospital, and find someone that needs their care paid for because they don't have the money and pay their medical bill.  That's correct, you must go pay their medical bill, or as the ransomware states "provide them maximum part of the required amount."  You will also need to get selfies with the person you just paid their medical bill, record the whole conversation between you and them and send it back to the ransomware people.  But you’re not done yet, after you have done everything above you then need to and I quote, "Write a beautiful article on your Facebook and Instagram by sharing your wonderful experience to other people that how you transform yourself into a kind human being by becoming victim of a ransomware called Good Will".  So you not only have to do all these "goodwill" acts but at the end, you have to create a post saying that this ransomware has changed your life for the better.  Then hopefully this ransomware group with send you a decryption key that you can decrypt your files.

 

Well, I don't know about you but I don't need ransomware forcing me into performing "activities" and making me post about it on social media to create awareness about the plight of being a human.  Are these things happening, yes. Do you wish more people would help with these issues, yep.  Should you hi-jack someone’s files and force them into this position in the hope it will make them a better person in the end, nope.  Ransomware in any form no matter have "pure" your intentions are, is illegal.  The easiest way to fight against ransomware is to keep your computer up-to-date with the latest security updates and to have a good anti-virus in place.

 

I hope this has informed you about some of the newest ransomware that could not only impact your work system but even your computer at home.  If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below.  If you have any ideas for future DR notes please let me know, and maybe it will be a future DR note.  I hope you are having a great week and Be Awesome!

 

 

 

 

Sources:

 

New 'GoodWill' Ransomware Forces Victims to Donate Money and Clothes to the Poor: https://thehackernews.com/2022/05/new-goodwill-ransomware-forces-victims.html

 

Eerie GoodWill ransomware forces victims to publish videos of good deeds on social media: https://blog.malwarebytes.com/ransomware/2022/05/eerie-goodwill-ransomware-forces-victims-to-publish-videos-of-good-deeds-on-social-media/#:~:text=GoodWill%20ransomware%20functions%20like%20any,to%20recover%20your%20locked%20files.

Welcome to DR's note, your weekly dose of knowledge from Circuit Stitch Blog.

This weeks DR note is how to tell you've been hacked.

With cyber crime on the rise I am here to show you how you can tell if someone could have access to  your computer or device.  Let us start off by going to a website https://haveibeenpwned.com , with this site you can put in your email address and see if it was found in any data breach's.  If so then you want to change the passwords to these accounts, and if you use the same password for other account you should change them too.  Like I've said before you want to get yourself a password manager.    Also on that website is a list of other sites that have had data breaches, so you can check to see if one of the sites you visit often is on there.   You can even set up a Google alert for data breach, that way when they happen you can be on top of it. 

Those are a couple of ways to tell if you've been hacked, but what do you do if you have been hacked.  First off notify family, friends, and any one that follows you on social media platforms.  By doing this it helps to keep others from getting hacked as well, with them thinking that they are interacting with you.  Secondly if they demand a ransom for your information on your computer, DO NOT PAY IT.  By paying it you are funding them whether you think  you are or not.  Contact the police and possible 3rd party to get you info back.  Lastly if you suspect someone has log into an account of yours, make sure you change the password immediately.   You should also have 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication) enabled.

I hope this helps you to understand if you've been hacked and to take precautions to keep from getting hacked.  As always feel free to email or message me if you have any questions or concerns.

Welcome to DR's note, your weekly dose of knowledge from Circuit Stitch.

 In this weeks note we will talk about social media privacy.

In this day and age we like to share all sorts of things to our social media.  Anything from special occasions and holidays to the mundane like what your eating for breakfast or look at me walk down a road.  But our we over sharing?  Could what we put on our social media be used against us?  Yes it can!!!  Hackers can use this information to pose as trusted sources and trick you into giving them information.  Let me tell you they are very good at it, if you don't believe me check out some videos on youtube by scammer payback and just listen to the scammers script.  It shows you how good they are at what they do, then finish the video and watch as this guy just destroys the scammers.  Very good watch.  But back to the point at hand, I will explain how to make your facebook and instagram more private. 

First with facebook go to facebook.com, if you are logged in at the top right hand corner of the page you will see a triangle pointed down.  Click on that, then click settings & privacy(on mobile it is in the menu button at the bottom).  Click privacy check up (mobile click settings then privacy check up).  Click on the first box who can see what you share.  Go through the prompts making it so that either only your friends can see or only you.  That is it for facebook unless you want to add more security which we will talk about at a later date. 

Now onto instagram, go to instagram.com if you are logged in click on your profile picture in the upper right hand corner(on mobile click the profile picture in lower left).  Click on privacy and security(on mobile click privacy).  Check the box that says private account if not checked.  That is it then for instagram.

Now you have some of your social accounts a little more private and secure.  If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below.  Thank you and have a great day.