Stories in the Spotlight – July 2020
Twitter hacks Twitter was hacked by a group with the intention of running a bitcoin scam. We're assuming they were Nigerian princes, but that hasn't been proven....yet. They targeted 130 accounts of high profile people such as Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, and Kanye West and sent bogus messages that encouraged people to send them Bitcoin. All told, they gained about $120,000 in currency. It happened from the inside The investigation is showing that the group gained access to the accounts by targeting mid-level employees at Twitter. Two scenarios: 1. The employees were victims of complex phishing schemes (social engineering attacks designed to get people to give away sensitive information like user names, passwords, etc.) 2. An employee was in on it. Neither situation is good for Twitter as it reveals significant security vulnerabilities. Twitter released a statement saying that they have "taken significant steps to limit access to internal systems," but that's easier said than done. This type of mess isn't easy to clean up and often creates additional vulnerabilities. Word of advice to all: Don't click a link (any link) unless you know exactly what it is, who it's from, and where it's taking you. Clicking on mystery links is a great way to get your information stolen. 5G: What should we expect? Let's start with a quick overview of 5G. There are three aspects to it: Low-Band: Transmits on the 600mhz frequency and has a very long range. Useful for covering rural areas where towers and antennas are sparse. Speeds can be around 300 Mbps if you're close to [...]