Petronella Cybersecurity News

Well, isn’t that ironic? It’s not a good look… You peddle in protecting businesses from cyber attacks, only to fall victim to a successful cyber crime, yourself. But to be completely fair, this was a highly sophisticated and systematic attack (payback, perhaps?  That’s pure speculation, by the way!) by what appears to be a concentrated […]

Penalties: Case Studies (An Excerpt from Craig’s newest book: “Ultimate Guide to CMMC: How to Access Millions in Government Contracts”) As we have established, it is clear that the “self-reporting” and “honor system” for government contractors who are required to abide by NIST 800-171 to gain government contracts is NOT working. But just because everyone […]

“CMMC certification is your Driver’s License on the Information Superhighway.” -Katie Arrington And if that’s the case (which it is), then the self-assessment required by the new DFARS Interim Rule is your permit… One that you must attain before December 1st, 2020 if you want to keep your car on the road- or your contract […]

Intrigue. Subterfuge. Deception. Suspense. Is this a new James Patterson novel?  No, but it could very well be…  This is the tale of a new kind of attack – an attack in the Digital Age, where one person, clicking on an expertly-executed devious email and opening an innocuous-looking Google Doc, allowed hackers in 2020 to […]

US Intel Officials warn that Americans are being targeted by foreign spies on Zoom and other video chat platforms. We have been following the saga that is Zoom security since the beginning of the work-from-home boom stemming from the pandemic, and even as Zoom attempts to update its security, more bad press keeps popping up. […]

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has played a huge role in assisting physicians during the pandemic.  Which may sound a little crazy at first, but if you think about it, actually makes a lot of sense. One of the best ways to keep the disease from spreading, as we all know by now, is by limiting human-to-human […]

BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR EMAILS. We have warned you before that cybercrminals are exploiting the boom in remote worker brought on by the Coronavirus, and we will keep warning you, because this is a trend that likely isn’t going anywhere.  Now, hackers are using fake Zoom and WebEx emails to steal login credentials AND download […]

As we have previously reported, the spotlight glaring down on teleconference giant, Zoom, during this Covid-19 lock-down has uncovered some pretty major security breaches. Fortunately for those quarantined around the globe, it appears that the company is putting some real effort into fixing those issues. Zoom 5.0 Update Zoom is apparently working on updates to […]

Working from home during the global pandemic has allowed the nations of the world to keep their economies limping along while they search for a fix, but it has come with a price.  Many remote workers’ home offices are utilizing Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, to to log in, but they lack the level of […]

I don’t think we can stress this enough… Cybercriminals have ZERO shame. They don’t even blink at exploiting a global pandemic for their own personal gain.  How do we know that?  By the increase in ransomware and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks during global lock down, when  the need to access networks and online businesses is […]

With the halt of HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) audits by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office (HHS) for Civil Rights (OCR), the healthcare industry is seeing a decline of about 2% annually in compliance with HIPAA’s Security Rule (NIST 800-66).  With that, however, has been a rise in […]

It’s a lot easier to get away with bad deeds when the attention isn’t on you… Which is a lesson Zoom is learning right about now,  as the business booms in the wake of the global pandemic. In addition to all the other privacy concerns we outlined in our previous article about Zoom, a recent […]

With the Coronavirus raging, more and more people are working remotely than ever before.  Meaning there are more people using online platforms than ever before to conduct meetings, share work and generally communicate with co-workers than ever before. Unfortunately, that also means more hackers are able to take advantage of employees working from home than […]

While it can be argued that many groups haven’t necessarily had the best reactions to this pandemic that is majorly impacting lives around the globe, one group who deserves serious accolades is the COVID-19 CTI League,  which is a group of 400 cyber security volunteers spanning over 40 countries, who have taken it upon themselves […]

Private data is prone to exposure by an as-yet patched bug in Apple’s most recent iOS 13.4, due to a VPN bypass issue that fails to terminate all connections, thus leaving behind traces of data that are, nonetheless, unprotected. But as Apple works on the patch, researchers recommend users take the following steps to decrease […]

Hackers have wasted no time in exploiting the chaos being wreaked on the world by the Coronavirus by hijacking routers and changing DNS settings to redirect their targets to fake Coronavirus apps and infecting their devices with Oski malware that steals their information.  So far, over 1,000 victims have been reported. Though the scam started […]

Right now, in this time of utter uncertainty, there is a lot of anxiety going around and a lot of questions that just can’t be answered yet: “Can I still work?” “Will I have enough supplies to survive?” “Am I going to be able to keep my home office safe from hackers?” One thing you […]

A disruption to your routine, like social distancing to avoid making a pandemic worse, can be the source of stress and anxiety.  If this is your first time working from home, however,  you should know that there are a lot of benefits!  While the thought of working while your children run around the house may […]

Working from home right now in the early days of a pandemic is the best case scenario for attempting to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.  A lot of people think this is just another flu, but it’s not, and the differences between COVID-19 and the flu or the common cold are important in understanding […]

There are a myriad of reasons not to allow workers to work remotely… From security concerns to productivity issues, it’s hard to give up the ability to monitor what your staff is doing. But there are certain times when it is the only real option you have.  One of the biggest advantages to being able […]