***URGENT*** MEMO TO “THE IT GUY” RE: RANSOMWARE

Posted on by Shawn E. Tuma

***urgent memorandum***

TO: The “IT Guy”

FROM: Shawn Tuma

SUBJECT: Your clients affected by ransomware

STOP OVERWRITING / WIPING / DELETING OR OTHERWISE DESTROYING YOUR CLIENTS’ DATA WHEN THEY ARE AFFECTED BY RANSOMWARE!!!

PLEASE!!! PRETTY PLEASE!!! PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP!!! JUST STOP IT!!!

Seriously, everyone understands that ransomware is scary stuff and when you discover that one of your clients has been hit by it, it can cause quite a bit of panic. That is understandable. But, when you feel that sense of panic, that is not the time to act — that is the time to pause, take a deep breath, gather your senses, and let your emotions settle down and your brain take back over. Then, recall the Hippocratic Oath that doctors must take:

“first, do no harm”

Just because you cannot figure out what to do with the encrypted data does not mean that there are not other people out there who can. Consider these points:

  • There are really good folks out there who are experts at getting data like this decrypted.
  • There are outstanding cyber insurance policies that will pay the cost of the ransom to recover the data.
  • Over the course of time, ransomware decryption keys start to make their way into the wild and data that was at one time unrecoverable magically becomes recoverable.
  • And, in many cases, that original encrypted data is necessary to perform forensics that may prove to be very beneficial to your client.

But guess what? NONE OF THIS IS POSSIBLE AFTER YOU COME ALONG AND FINISH THE HACKER’S JOB BY DESTROYING ANY HOPE YOUR CLIENT EVER HAD OF RECOVERING ITS DATA BY PERMANENTLY DELETING IT!!!

PLEASE, JUST STOP IT!!!

Texas AG: Business Must Implement and Maintain Reasonable Cybersecurity Safeguards

Posted on by Shawn E. Tuma

Texas AG - Reasonable Cybersecurity

Go here to read: Texas Businesses Must Implement and Maintain Reasonable Cybersecurity Safeguards According to State Attorney General

Cyberbullying of Children is a Heartbreaking Problem that Parents Have a Role in Preventing

Posted on by Shawn E. Tuma

Cyberbullying — like plain “old fashioned” bullying — is a heartbreaking to see, especially when it is directed at innocent children. There are many things that can lead to it and there are many things that can help minimize it. I do not pretend to have all of the answers and, you can bet, if I thought I did, I would share them with the world.

See these Tips for Parents to Help Keep Kids Safe Online

But, there is one thing I do know and that is that parents have a very big role in helping to keep kids from bullying others and in helping to protect their own children from bullying. I use the words “helping to keep” and “helping to protect” as recognition that there is no single solution to this problem — but if we can help make it better, than that is a good place to start.

In this interview with Ken Molestina @cbs11ken on DFW CBS 11 @CBSDFW, we discuss some of the issues surrounding cyberbullying and you will notice that my advice keeps coming back to the parents, for a reason: We as parents are the first line of defense when things involve our children and there is no technology, service, app, or other person who can take our place.

How Parents Can Help Prevent Cyberbullying of Children

Here are several helpful resources to learn more about cyberbullying and how to help protect against it:

CyberBullying.gov provides extensive resources for parents and answers to questions such as:

  • What is Cyberbullying?
  • Cyberbullying Tactics
  • Preventing Cyberbullying
  • Warning Signs a Child is Being Cyberbullied or is Cyberbullying Others
  • What to Do When Cyberbullying Happens
  • Digital Awareness for Parents
  • Establishing Rules
  • Tips for Teachers
  • Reporting Cyberbullying

The Cyberbullying Research Center provides a very nice .pdf graphic listing these 10 tips for teens to preventing cyberbullying:

  1. Educate Yourself
  2. Protect Your Password
  3. Keep Photos “PG”
  4. Never Open Unidentified or Unsolicited Messages
  5. Log Out of Online Accounts
  6. Pause Before You Post
  7. Raise Awareness
  8. Setup Privacy Controls
  9. “Google” Yourself
  10. Don’t Cyberbully Others

Texas Bar Journal 2018 Year-End Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Update

Posted on by Shawn E. Tuma

The Texas Bar Journal’s year-end update on Cybersecurity & Data Privacy law was once again provided by Shawn Tuma and addressed the following issues:

  • Lawyers’ Cybersecurity and Data Breach Obligations that are required under Texas law and the ABA’s Ethics Opinion 483 titled Lawyers’ Obligations After
    an Electronic Data Breach or Cyberattack
  • Whether an IT service provider’s locking a customer out of its computer violates the Texas “hacking” law
  • Whether a woman viewing pictures on her boyfriend’s iPhone violates the Texas “hacking” law
Download the Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Law Update

The Most Important Lesson You Are Not Hearing About Apple’s iOS FaceTime Glitch

Posted on by Shawn E. Tuma

 The most important lesson about Apple’s iOS group FaceTime debacle that you are not hearing about should be a wake up call for everyone (Tuma explains this glitch on WFLA in Tampa, FL):

  • If Apple, through a programming glitch, has the ability to allow someone to use your iOS device as a microphone to listen to your conversations without you even touching the device or knowing it was in use, then Apple can do the same thing through purposeful programming.
  • If Apple can use programming to access your microphone, then it can also access your camera the same way.
  • If Apple can do this, so too could nation states with sufficient access to the programming (If you doubt this, read this story of UAE hackers).
  • If Apple and nation states can do this, so too can criminal hackers, with sufficient access. (Tuma explains more about this on WIOD in Miami, FL)

For decades our whole society has enjoyed the benefits of technology without accepting the responsibility of guarding against the privacy and security risks that go along with it. We have taken those things for granted and now it is time to pay the piper and become more responsible by being more cyber aware and using good cyber hygiene.

This is not just for the companies that provide this technology and collect and use our data. This is for all of us — we the people must learn to protect ourselves against these risks. (Tuma explains more about this on WJIM in Lansing, MI)

Here are a few points to consider to think about how we can do this:

  • There is no such thing as 100% security when it comes to technology or data. There is always some measure of risk involved in the cyber realm.
  • As you go through your day, imagine someone is listening and watching you through your telephone and think about what aspects of your private and business life you are unecessarily exposing through the technology and data we use.
  • This isn’t intended to be alarmist and suggest that you purge all technology from your life, however, there are ways to minimize unnecessary risk:
    • Do you really need your telephone in the private places you go, like your bedroom or restroom?
    • Do you really need to share your company’s deepest, darkest secrets in an email when it could have been done in person?
    • Do you need to have your telephone sitting on the table when you are discussing extremely sensitive private personal or business information, or, would that conversation go just as well (or even better) without the telephones?