Unfortunately this year has been one of the worst in terms of cyber hacks and security breaches. It gets even worst as CIA Director John Brennan was hacked without the use of sophisticated methods or intricate skills. It’s all too easy and is yet another learning experience for the U.S. Government and the world.
“In Brennan’s case, those weak points were outside of the CIA,” according to CNET.
“That hack followed the Department of Defense’s revelation in April that Russian hackers compromised its systems when security professionals clicked on email links containing malicious code. In both cases, people who are trained to know better fell victim to attacks that exploited their human weakness.”
Hackers breached the personal AOL account of Brennan by fooling customer service reps at Verizon AOL, according to the report. CNET‘s report cited Wired, who reportedly spoke to the hackers to get a step by step rundown of the hack. It all started with a cell phone number, sweet talking Verizon to obtain his email address and personal information. Once all of the necessary information was obtained, the hackers had what they needed to get AOL to reset the password giving them full control and access to his account.
“Security experts refer to this kind of attack as social engineering, and it’s easier than it sounds,” according to CNET.
“‘These kinds of attacks happen daily all over the world to anyone,’ said Marc Boroditsky, manager of Authy, a cybersecurity company that creates tools for proving your identity when signing into an account.”
These lessons are becoming too common in the cyber world and it’s a prime factor as to why there should be a security renaissance coming.
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