Presentation on Mapping Between Demand and Supply in the Industry of Cybersecurity

DeArtez and myself are working on a presentation to present to the lower level computer science majors. Informing them on the awareness of cybersecurity and certifications requirements for cybersecurity jobs. We plan on presenting this after spring break. (March 17-27, 2017)

Google Cracks Key Security Code

Google on Thursday announced that its two years of collaboration with Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica CWI the Netherlands national research institute for mathematics and computer science, resulted in the launch of a successful attack against the SHA-1 cryptographic algorithm, a widely used standard protocol used to protect sensitive data in millions of computers.

http://www.technewsworld.com/perl/section/cyber-security/

N.I.C.E

N.I.C.E. is the National Institute for Cybersecurity Education has been operating under a strategic plan that was developed in 2012. Its led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, they fulfill its mission by coordinating with academia, government, and industry partners to build on existing successful programs, facilitate changes and innovation.

http://csrc.nist.gov/nice/enewsletter/eNewsletter_001.html 

Watch Your Mobile Devices

Please be careful and mindful of things that you are exposing your mobile devices to. They are just as vulnerable as your desktop and laptops. Everything that you download isn't safe.

https://www.scmagazine.com/shock-to-the-system-fake-battery-app-zaps-android-users-with-charger-ransomware/article/633851/ 

Cyber Crimes

Thought I should share this with you all, because I was victim to this crime. About three weeks ago my PayPal account got hacked, they had access to my debit and credit card account and basically cleared my funds. I was graceful that PayPal had contact me asking about my recent activity and they gave me full refund, and prompt me for better security measures.

https://www.scmagazine.com/paypal-scam-uses-account-fraud-scare-tactics-to-phish-personal-data/article/634258/

Major issues and challenges in computer security, & the student’s awareness levels about the computer security

Online payment is vulnerable there are millions of attacks against financial institutions daily. Most people don’t think about there online shopping and put their card information in without checking to see if the site is secured. Personal information surfing the web and allowing the hackers to monitor your activities and get into your pc which causes virus. 

 Student awareness levels of computer security should be at least average. Students use the internet on a daily basic, for pleasure also for work. The spams in emails, pop ups, etc. Are seen by students frequently. These problems along with those pesky scammers and hackers cause a lot of damage computers. 

Password resets will become more disciplined

The security blogger Brian Krebs wrote in late December about how his PayPal account was hacked by cybercriminals linked to ISIS, through PayPal's "lazy authentication." An attacker called PayPal’s customer service call center and managed to impersonate Krebs and reset his password by providing the last four digits of his Social Security number and the last four numbers of an old credit card account. PayPal had given Krebs a key fob that generates security passcodes for two-factor authentication, but did not require the passcode for a password reset.

PayPal said in a statement that its standard procedures were not followed in this case. "While the funds remained secure, we are sorry that this unacceptable situation arose and we are reviewing the matter in order to prevent it from happening again," the company wrote.

The story illustrates one of the many places where the balance between convenience and security is delicate.

"The way to solve that problem is to take a very harsh stance — for instance, 'if we've issued you a multifactor token and you lose it, we can't help you get access to your account,'" said Dominic Venturo, chief innovation officer at U.S. Bank. "That wouldn't go over well in the banking industry. So as a result, you've got to balance that carefully."

Consumers are starting to be aware of and demand two-factor authentication, and bank regulators are starting to demand it too (especially in New York). Challenge questions (such as your first pet's name) are no longer enough to provide that second factor, because the answers are too easy to find on the Internet. In 2016, we’ll see more banks adopt mobile authentication, sending a passcode to the user’s smartphone via text message or email.

http://www.americanbanker.com/news/bank-technology/are-you-ready-for-the-cybersecurity-challenges-of-2016-1078663-1.html