'Tis The Season! Beware Of Malicious QR Codes

Over a Trillion dollars will be spent in the United States over the holidays with nearly 47% of these sales occurring online. While we are still recovering from the pandemic, businesses have spent most of the year preparing for holiday shopping, which also means something else - a much greater risk for getting hacked!

While organizations are busy running promotions, hackers are like kids in a candy store throughout the festive season with all that credit card information flowing into the deep, dark web each and every second, which is accessible on countless websites. Below is a new method being used by hackers along with some statistics you will find alarming and need to know, so you can be prepared.

Lately restaurants and several other businesses are offering their menus, sales discounts or facility instructions through scanning QR Codes. Hackers are now replacing or modifying the QR Codes so that software can be installed on your smartphone that will allow remote access or installation of ransomware. In most cases, you can request an actual menu or instructions instead of scanning the QR Code.

There is an attempted hacker attack every 39 seconds. In the two to three minutes, it takes you to read this article, six businesses have been hacked! 62% of businesses experienced phishing and attacks in 2020. Phishing can also stem from oblivious employees that can create an opening for a hacker. All these need to be considered to ensure we remain protected. 43% of cyber-attacks target small business. More than half of hackers focus on small to medium sized businesses knowing that many haven’t allocated appropriate resources to cyber security or haven’t prioritized it as a real threat through their inception and growth.

In today’s world it is not a matter of if you will be hacked, it is a matter of when. Taking the appropriate security measures including training, preparing and practicing security breach protocols are a need-to-have, not nice-to-have, especially over the holidays when ecommerce sales are expected to rise.

Thank you for your continued support as we work together to improve our cybersecurity posture. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at bbanks@lonestarcom.com .

-Brian Banks, Internal Information Security Officer

October, The Official Cyber Security Awareness Month

We are entering the last quarter of 2021 for Cyber Security Awareness Training. This years’ Cyber Security Challenges were additional opportunities to fine-tune our Cyber Security Culture. With continuous phishing emails, text messages and phone calls, we remained clear of company data breaches and remained true to our policies regarding protecting our customers’ networks as we continue to meet and exceed their cyber requirements.

October is Cyber Security Awareness Month. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate. Lone Star Communications is rapidly growing with many new faces at our various regions. In many cases, cyber criminals’ successes are built around tricking new employees into clicking and entering personal information. As we proceed into the fall holiday months, let’s continue to be aware of the popular fake gift card requests by criminals imitating our executives; simply completely delete this email from Outlook by pressing “SHIFT + DELETE.” Do not let ANY fake emails reside in your deleted or trash folder. These emails could potentially have scripts or coding that may execute and cause vulnerabilities.

Thank you for your continued support as we work together to improve our cyber security posture. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at bbanks@lonestarcom.com .

September Cyber Security Defender

Dakota Stowe, Receptionist, Grand Prairie Office

Dakota is one of the many new additions to the Lone Star Communications Family for 2021. As a new employee, with various duties as a receptionist, she is on the front lines to receiving a myriad of phishing emails and vishing (fake phone calls) attempts. She is continuously remaining vigilant at reporting and catching these fake attempts.

For More Information on Cyber Security, Please Feel Free to Contact Me bbanks@lonestarcom.com or on MS TEAMS.

-Brian Banks, Internal Information Security Officer

Browser HiJacking

Browser hijacking is a method cyber-criminals use to steal personal data. If a hijacking program has taken hold of your browser, any personal or sensitive information stored within it is seriously at risk. Browser hijackers also often make it impossible for you to use your browser normally and can open up your computer to a host of additional infections. However, most hijackers are easy to spot once you know what to look for.

One of the most common symptoms of browser hijacking is discovering that your homepage has been reset. If your browser displays an unfamiliar website after launching, particularly advertising fake security software, this is almost definitely the work of a hijacker. If you enter a URL and find yourself directed to a different website than the one you intended, this also indicates a hijacker infection. While you will be able to reset your home-page right off the bat, it will probably revert to the hijacked state once you launch your browser again. In order to get your settings back to normal, you must remove the hijacker.

Many people think of popup windows as a mere nuisance, but popups are a favored form of malware delivery for browser hijackers. Highjacked browsers often display unstoppable flurries of popup ads, and hijackers can even disable your browser's popup blocker. The goal with the never-ending popups is to get you to click on one of the links by mistake, thus installing rogue programs. These links may also try to direct you towards malicious websites.

Another variation on popup hijackers is the fake security alert. If your browser or desktop displays a generic message saying that your computer is being hacked or that your security has been compromised, take a minute to read the message in full before clicking on any links. If the message is from a security program that you don't remember installing, there's a good chance that this is the work of a hijacker. As these messages are designed to look like legitimate system alerts, look carefully for any discrepancies, such as colors that vary from your desktop color scheme or obvious spelling errors.

If you suspect that your browser has been hijacked, shut it down immediately. Contact your local Lone Star Communications' IT Professional. Your LSC IT Professional will perform a full system scan with approved antivirus software, which will remove the hijacker software. After the hijacker is taken care of, a clean reinstall of your browser software will be done in order to erase any changes that the hijacker has made. As hijackers sometimes piggyback on third-party browser add-ons, only download add-ons from sources approved by your local LSC IT Professional. It is also wise to change all your passwords after a hijacker infection.

August Cyber Security Defenders

LSC Human Resources and Accounting Team

Lone Star Communications’ Human Resources and Accounting Team, unfortunately receive a variety of attempts to steal personal data and sensitive company information, due to the positions they hold. I receive updates of the attempts and push those notifications out company-wide. Thanks to everyone again for a safe month. Cyber Security is a Team Effort, and I absolutely appreciate every single email that is reported or authenticated.

-Brian Banks, Internal Information Security Officer