People are the weakest link
This sounds like a nightmare too impossible to happen. US soldiers putting sensitive information online in non-secure third party websites. It defies belief, yet we’re reading that it happened. The story popped up on ‘Gizmodo’
It is alleged that US Soldiers were saving sensitive information on a couple of common flashcard sites, presumably of things they were trying to memorise and learn. Even worse, their settings were on ‘public’ not ‘private’
It’s a classic warning about the risk of people, however well intentioned, saving critical data online in places the organisation is unaware of, and can’t control. That’s why our new KARE for Security S2 plan helps identify use of these sites in your organisation.
US Soldiers Accidentally Leaked Nuclear Weapons Secrets: Report (gizmodo.com)

Shadow IT
Shadow IT is one of the largest threats to data privacy in organisations today.
It’s not necessarily because these sites are going to be hacked, although that’s always possible, but just because if you don’t know the tools are in use, then there is no way that you can manage them!
The first step to maintaining this data is to identify it! That’s why you need new tools that are cloud focused. If you’re still using the same old security tools that you used to use prior to the cloud, then you are not keeping up and we need to talk!
Protect Yourself from AI Phone Scams: A Terrifying New Trend
The rise of AI phone scams has brought personal targeting to a whole new level. Scammers are using AI-created fake texts (smishing) or even AI -created cloned voices of social media users. It has already found its way to New Zealand shores - New AI combats text...
KARE – Will your support plan need to change?
2008 was a long time ago. New Zealand was a different place. The IT maintenance needs of business were so much simpler! Locally, there was a change of government. Internationally, we were watching the start of the GFC with the fall of Lehman Bros bank. In the...
Putting a light on the dark web with upgraded monitoring
What's the Dark Web? The Dark Web, is often associated with a veil of notoriety, is a part of the internet intentionally hidden from traditional search engines. It requires specific software, such as Tor, to access, offering an anonymous platform where privacy is...
When does using CC in an email become a privacy breach?
Sometimes you need to use the BCC (Blind carbon copy) function in email! Last month, the email addresses of 147 gun owners were shared in an email. Whoever was sending the email put everyone in the 'cc' line. That meant their email addresses could be read by anyone...
Don’t accidentally throw away your WiFi!
Canon just sent out a warning. Wipe your old printers before selling/discarding them! It seems that printer technicians can access the memory and go into settings to uncover old Wifi passwords. Their advisory seems to suggest wiping the settings a couple of times...
Avoiding Subscription Bombs
If 10,000 emails suddenly flooded your inbox, what would you do? Suddenly any real messages will be lost in the blitz of spam that's overloading your screen. It is hard enough to delete all those messages, let alone filter out the genuine ones from the flood. This...
Gotcha!
"GROUP-IB" are a Singapore-based cyber-security provider. They go deep into the cyber-crime sphere and it's paid off. After 30+ attacks, and over $US30M stolen, "OPERA1ER" have been caught! They describe a bad actor who, from 2019, had used the same MO over and...
Look before you click
The latest trend in phishing is pictures! It might be a thumb nail of a picture - a cute pet, interesting garden scene, or some other curiosity. It might be in the form of advertisement. Maybe it is offering a time sensitive, and urgent deal. It might even be a...
REWATCH Cyber Lessons from the field.
What can we learn from recent NZ cyber-events? What is real and what is hyperbole? Scroll down for the MFA revelation - it will surprise you!Introducing Campbell McKenzie from Incident Response, the team called in after cyber-events to help clean up and manage the...
REWATCH Did you know that, on average, 1.2 million Microsoft accounts get compromised every month?
Did you know that, on average, 1.2 million Microsoft accounts get compromised every month? According to Microsoft, 99.9% of hacked accounts didn't use MFA, and only 11% of all accounts have MFA enabled. The average cost of a ransomware security breach is $4.62...