Have you ever visited a website that you have signed up to and created an account and then never used it again?

There have been a number of stories appearing recently that highlights a growing problem with the abundance of services and account sign ups on the internet. The story I will focus on is about a home owner who found a car parked on her property that she knew nothing about. The outcome was that the landlord had signed up for a carparking service a few years back and never cancelled it.

Mum’s fury as driver ‘parks car on her driveway for Birmingham Airport’

Mystery solved into holidaymaker parking car on furious mum’s drive for Birmingham Airport

Over the many years of the internet how many services and pages have you signed up to and have subsequently forgotten about as you have moved onto other services or simply not used it in a very long time?

GDPR is there to protect and ensure data is up to date and correct, but is it really being applied to accounts on systems. There does seem to be a lack of reminders or removal of accounts that have been dormant/not logged in for some time from systems.

You will probably have key accounts that you maintain and use:

• Daily – such as Social Networks, Shopping, Banking
• Monthly – such as Utilities (Water, Gas, Electricity)
• Yearly – such as HMRC/ Inland Revenue for a Tax Return

What else have you signed up to and then not used? Forgotten or unused accounts could pose a security threat to your identity. A good way to see if your details have been gathered by hackers and being sold is through the website Have I been Pwned. https://haveibeenpwned.com/

My Top 5 recommendations to consider when creating an account are:

1. Think about the system/service you are signing up for. Is this a one off transaction or something you will use on a regular basis.
2. Use a password management tool to help you track all the sites you use and have accounts on and review this once a month or every couple of months.
3. Consider cancelling/deleting accounts that you no longer need.
4. Use different passwords on different systems. A password management tool will help.
5. Check your emails for changes to accounts/terms and conditions on systems you haven’t used in a while.

There is nothing more annoying when your working on your computer and that popup appears saying “Reboot Now to complete the patch”. Thankfully some vendors have got wise to this over the years and have added changes to update at reboot/shutdown or allow to to choose a time. Annoying as it is, these patches are important and should not be ignored or delayed too long before applying.

When you think about patching/upgrading what do you think of?

• PC/Laptop/Tablet
• Mobile
• Network

The typical focus of home users is around the end device we use rather than the other parts of the homes IT infrastructure.

A lot of home users these days rely on service provided network equipment such as routers from their internet service provider, but are these kept up to date? A recent study by Which found that millions of routers are not updated to the latest patches or had weak passwords and providers have been stated that they monitor and update their routers.

If you have your own router on the end of a connection, time to check when it was last updated. If its a managed device you can usually log in to it and check the last patch applied date. Is it being updated?

A recent discovery of FragAttacks (attacks that exploit security vulnerabilities that affect Wi-Fi devices) have shown that it is possible to steal data from any WiFi network that’s not patched, however its not an easy attack to recreate and vendors have been issuing patches to protect against this. This highlights the need for patching and updates to not just your end user device, but network devices as well.

As per a previous blog post – Good practices to adopt are

• Check the manufactures website for firmware or driver updates on a regular basis – All devices within the home
• If the device software allows a check to be made for updates on a regular basis make use of the tool
• Use strong passwords
• Change any default passwords
• Don’t use the same password on different systems
• Use passwords on your video calls
• Use a VPN if working from home
• Turn on two factor authentication on applications that allow it
• Use Anti-virus and malware apps

If this is all second nature to you that’s great, however it may not be to others. Reach out to your family and friends and talk them through what they need to do so it becomes second nature to them.

You are only secure as your last update/patch!

Further Reading

• Everyone needs good Cyber Security knowledge
• What are FragAttacks?
• FragAttacks.com
  

“Everyone needs strong good Security knowledge”. With the increase of connected devices that are entering our lives and the number of vulnerabilities being found in technologies that are becoming common place in our homes, people will need to be more savvy around Cyber Security and know what is going on with our devices and information.

Recent times have also seen an increase in the usage of devices, applications, social media and video calls. It has also seen an increase in the number of scams and security issues increase.

Sales of technology to allow remote working and to stay in touch with family and friends was rapid at the start of the pandemic and this also saw the cost of some devices increase as stocks reduced. The rush to buy was huge and lots of items were quickly plugged into devices to get online and talking. A lot wont have looked at updating any versions of these add ons firmware, drivers etc to the latest versions, which may cause issues later.

Security however cannot be an after thought and should be one of the first things you think about. Also helping your family and friends to make sure that they have updated to the latest versions and are secure.

Our devices are only as good as the last updates/patches applied and security measures that we have in place. The UK Government has previously reported planning new laws to cover smart gadgets sold which includes stronger passwords and length of time before an update. There are already a large number of devices already installed and in use. A number of these wont have had any updates or changes applied since first being installed if they are a manual process for the user to initiate.

Good practices to adopt are

• Check the manufactures website for firmware or driver updates on a regular basis
• If the device software allows a check to be made for updates on a regular basis make use of the tool.
• Use strong passwords
• Change any default passwords
• Don’t use the same password on different systems
• Use passwords on your video calls
• Use a VPN if working from home
• Turn on two factor authentication on applications that allow it

If this is all second nature to you thats great, however it may not be to others. Reach out to your family and friends and talk them through what they need to do so it becomes second nature to them.

Further Reading

• National Cyber Security Office – Cyber Aware
• National Cyber Security Office – Top tips for staying secure online

It it just me or is this on the rise? Recently I have noticed an increase in the number of scam phone calls that I have been receiving on my land line and on mobile. All from different countries and trying various scams to get information, money or both.

ts nothing new, calls like this go on all the time and unfortunately people do get scammed as they fall for what is being said on the other end of the line.

The game is how long you can keep them on the phone so they can’t spend time trying to scam someone who doesn’t know they are being scammed.

Recently an automated call with a computer voice called my home number saying that my internet router was going to be shutdown from my service provider as it had been identified as being hacked. Yeah – Right! So I played along and decided to record the call, which I will probably use in a future podcast. I got put onto a woman in India who evidently didn’t know what type of scam front end had put me through. She then went on to tell me my computer had a virus. Eventually I did ask “How many people had she scammed today”. The reply was lots and she put the phone down. – Time on call 30 Mins

Another call today was one of those, insurance accident ones, but this time they tried a different tack. Saying it was a follow up call to my wife about the accident she had. Again scam and I asked the lady who called if she had job satisfaction scamming people. This call came from London so I have reported it to the action fraud centre. – Time on call 5 Mins.

And as I am writing this post another call comes in – Can you spare me 20 seconds to answer 2 questions, then starts to ask me to confirm my phone number and tries to ask me about my home ownership. When I ask whats the end part of the the call, are they trying to sell me something or scam information out of me they hang up. Another call from London so again have reported it to the action fraud centre. – Time on call 5 Mins.

At least that’s 40 mins that other people haven’t been bothered or scammed by these callers.

A lot more can be done though and needs the teleco’s and authorities to go after the numbers where these calls come from and start prosecuting or at least shutting them down. That said the police get these calls as well – here is a great video on youtube of an IRS scammer trying to scam a police officer and he gets the scammer to explain how that particular scam works.

Lots of people already add numbers to online systems such as Who Called Me, and these are normally the first place I go when number comes up I don’t recognise. You can also put the number in the search engine which bring up sites where its been logged as a problem/scam caller.

If you don’t know how to protect yourself on the phone, one of the best place to get tips is from your or other banks websites. Plenty of good information on keeping safe on there.

Just because you call saying your from my bank doesn’t mean I’m going to answer your security questions.