What does a real estate agent, Russian crime bosses, and a $34 million payday have in common? Ransomware, vulnerable targets, and big money.
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Realtors@ respond to surge in attacks, Russian crime bosses building empires on ransomware, payments skyrocketing to $20,000, and the FBI warns with a PSA.

The Cyber Advisor Letter

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Rich in Russia.

Hi there, 

The residential real estate sales industry is responding to the recent surge of attacks on agents and clients by rethinking IT security. Doing business in the Digital Age, especially in an industry like real estate, requires information security at the individual level, on personal technology, and it must work like the professional works - everywhere, all of the time, and across all of their devices. 

We will be in San Diego the week of June 27th helping one of the real estate industry's largest trade associations prepare and position their members for their new face of risk. The SDAR, the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors® has partnered with Total Digital Security to provide its members with commercial-class solutions to protect their clients, their brokers, and themselves. Read more below, and if you are in town, I hope you will join us at one of our workshops.

http://www.totaldigitalsecurity.com/blog/realtors-protecting-from-cyber-risk

Russian crime bosses are using the economic crisis in their country to turn ransomware attacks into a dynasty.

Like you buy software-as-a-service, for example Microsoft Office 365, or any of Adobe's products, entreprenuerial cartel leaders are enticing their out-of-work comrades with ransomware-as-a-service. Anyone can participate by renting the software, which works for use in high-volume ransomware attacks, and sharing a cut of the profits with the syndicate.

Read more below, about:

  • How an unemployed Russian can make 9x the average salary with a ransomware subscription.

  • How the ransomware-as-a-service business model returns an ROI of 1,425% per month, with virtually no start-up capital required.

  • How crime bosses are scoring $30 million and more per year, by scaling their business with ransomware-as-a-service incentives for unemployed Russians. 

Finally, as we expected, ransomware demands are sky-rocketing and we are now seeing $20,000 plus ransoms in the field. We think the ransoms will continue to climb, perhaps another 6 -12 months, and then decline precipitously as they become daily, mainstreet occurences for anyone unprepared.

The FBI responded to the recent surge in ransomware on June 1st, with this Public Service Announcement, (click to view).

FBI_PSA_June_2016_-597695-edited.png > Individuals and personal email are being targeted.

 > Street-level ransoms at $250 - $1,200.

 > Ransomware; the evolution of extortion.

 

Cyber Security for Life

What is the best way to re-position for your future in the Digital Age, and the new era of risk we face? Private Email Domains - to get off the grid of abuse and reclaim control of personal information is your #1 priority.

Private email isn't the only answer, and re-positioning is a process - not an on/off switch. But, privatizing your email is a significant move toward reducing your digital footprint, and it's the best way to get started on your journey toward digital autonomy and information security. 

How to Establish a Family Email Domain Using Commercial-Class Security

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Video - How to Establish a Private Email Domain

https://youtu.be/fIzoLk_UQXU


The Great Digital Divide

Hackers are using the mega-trend toward increasingly cheap, powerful technology to bully and assault the most vulnerable of their potential targets; individuals and their personal technology.

We, as individuals, families, professionals, and leader's, can also ride the wave of the mega-trend and use cheap, powerful technology to protect ourselves.  

Total Digital Security seeks out the best IT security technology available anywhere, and we make it accessible, easy to use, and affordable to the rest of us.

We uniquely provide commercial-class, cyber security technologies, not available on the App or Play Stores, to those that "get it", understand what is at stake, and want to position for long-term survival and success in the Digital Age. No IT department required. 

Thanks for reading,

 

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Russians and Ransomware

  • How Russian cybercrime bosses are crafting empires during their country's economic crisis using ransomware.

  • "The only things you need are a computer and the ability to follow clear instructions. If you can do that you will never have to worry about your finances again."

Click for more. 

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Ransomware Demands Hit $20,000

 

  • New, under-the-radar ransomware strain "Crysis" is proliferating.
  • Now, in lieu of just locking your data, hackers remove your files, store them remotely, and then begin the negotiation.
To protect your Mac, click here.
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 Phishing Emails Are Up 789% and 93% of it is Ransomware

Our risk levels are increasing exponentially. 

  • "As of the end of March, 93 percent of all phishing emails contained encryption ransomware."

  • "And the number of phishing emails hit 6.3 million in the first quarter of this year, a 789 percent increase over the last quarter of 2015.  CSO Magazine, June 1, 2016 

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The Math 

How to return 1,425% a month to make $30 million a year. 

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The business model for hacking and ransomware attacks illustrates how lucrative these easy, safe to committ crimes really are.

Cisco engineers figure a typical hacker can make $34 million a year using today's ransomware software tools. Tools available to anyone. For rent. Crime-as-a-service.

 

"What You Can Learn from the Ridiculous Money Cybercriminals Make." by Trustwave

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Another Day at the Office

 

Kaspersky's CyberMap of

Attacks in Real-Time

 

 

cybermap.kaspersky.com

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U.S. Congress Bans YahooMail

"... the House Information Security Office has seen an increase of attacks... using mail applications such as YahooMail, Gmail, etc. The attacks are focused on putting “ransomware” on users’ computers."

From an email memorandum to all House Staff.

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