Penzoil3 Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?100284-Dino-Cattaneo-posted-bad-news-on-Facebook It's a bummer. His planes are great. I just bought his F-35 from FSS to show support. I urge you all to do the same ! Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warren Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 Wow. That is really sad news. Thanks for the h/u Sue. I cannot understand why people design these infectious programmes and put them out there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 For my info......when getting instructions to "pay the ransom", do the thieves provide banking details or do they require Credit Card? Either way, one should be able to get the Creditcard provider or bank to follow up on the illegal activity because the thief would have to be a "merchant" or if funds deposited directly would have to have a real bank account somewhere. Once either was found out then Interpol or the like should be able to locate the account owners/merchant and take appropriate action. This of course does not help Dino's immediate situation. I am probably being naïve but does anybody know if such action is being taken by Interpol or the like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penzoil3 Posted May 8, 2016 Author Share Posted May 8, 2016 The bandits are using Bitcoin, from what I've read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boleyd Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 BitCoin, like encryption and TOR are designed to give "freedom loving" people across the globe the ability to communicate despite in-country censors. Unfortunately, to allow the benefits to these unfortunate people others much sacrifice some safety. Most of the thieves are poorly socialized and seem unable to understand the miseries of jail, or there are some that welcome the fraternal nature of a cell with Big Bubba. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stillwater Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 11 hours ago, Penzoil3 said: I just bought his F-35 from FSS to show support. I urge you all to do the same ! Sue That is a brilliant idea to help a man who has contributed a lot to the community - for free...! PS: If i could find it on FSS... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penzoil3 Posted May 8, 2016 Author Share Posted May 8, 2016 Just search for F-35. Thanks Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobnobs Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 Sad news. The only motive here is money as is the root of pretty much all criminal activity. As a few words of caution; just remember that anti-virus isn't a full solution. It cannot protect you against zero-day threats. Zero-day malware is stuff that is so new that they don't have a signature for it in your anti-virus so until the anti-virus gets patched it possibly won't detect it. The only way to fully protect yourself is to backup on a physically seperate drive. A backup on another drive in your computer doesn't cut it. The malware will take control of it. Oh and paying a ransom is no guarantee that you will get your data back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triplane Posted May 9, 2016 Share Posted May 9, 2016 8 hours ago, Hobnobs said: .......The only way to fully protect yourself is to backup on a physically seperate drive. A backup on another drive in your computer doesn't cut it. The malware will take control of it...... Indeed, an external drive is the way to go. But.....the bad guys can/will also get to the external backup drive if it's available. Cerber, for example, will encrypt data on any drive it can see. To minimize any chance of that happening, be sure the backup drive is never connected to the computer when not in use. The bad guys can't get to those critical backup files if the backup drive isn't live. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightsails Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Sadly most of us don't back up nearly often enough. It is often only when there is a physical issue with the equipment or a critical software failure that we suddenly get concerned about backups. Your personal data ie. pictures, home/cell phone movies, documents of every type that you created, financial information and contact information are all prime candidates of things you should burn to a CD or DVD. These are the things that you can't or will have the most difficulty replacing. Consider having the rest just icing on the cake. Burning DVD or CD's may take longer than using an external drive however most PC's being used for flight sims have this ability. For the price of some blank media you can create backups fairly cheaply. Once created these are among your safest backups as they can not be erased or written over the top of, just don't lose the disks. IF you create or add very few of these types of documents then once created you will have some peace of mind. If you create a lot of these documents adjust your backup schedule accordingly. For financial information you might consider a USB thumb drive or an external drive that you only power on when you need to use it. Removable media is by its very nature more tamper proof and safer from Black Hat hackers. i help manage backups for an incredible amount of data and can attest that it is a constant and ongoing process. (I will also admit that I've been caught off guard without good backups at home and have regretted it.) SO BACKUP UP OFTEN AND SLEEP SOUNDLY. (ps. Our company got hit by one of these ransomware programs, a couple of drives were encrypted, we deleted them, ran some restores and with a quick thumb of the nose we were good to go. If more people and companies were able to do this there would be less incentive for these types of programs to be created.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boleyd Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 (ps. Our company got hit by one of these ransomware programs, a couple of drives were encrypted, we deleted them, ran some restores and with a quick thumb of the nose we were good to go. If more people and companies were able to do this there would be less incentive for these types of programs to be created.) This is a very cogent comment.. We constantly read about companies admitting that they did no do updates or used old routers/switches or some other equally dumb omission. Too many managers decide that any investment that does not offer a Return On Investment (ROI) is not worthwhile. So the poor IT guy pleading for funds is sent away, and of course sacked when a breach occurs. WE DO NOT TRAIN OUR MANAGER, WE PROMOTE THEM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobnobs Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Managers: Give them what they need, not what they want. I have the same issues, constantly having to justify investment in security. Thankfully, some recent high profile breaches in the UK has made things a little easier but it is still frustrating. We are under constant attack and it is only sheer luck rather than skill that we haven't had a breach yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triplane Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Sigh...nothing has changed in all these years. I retired from an IT job 20 years ago and it was the same story then. Nobody wanted to hear about spending money for security...just do it on-the-cheap. I agree, it's a miracle that we don't have more major breaches. That really speaks well for the folks that are expected to provide top-notch security with no funds to do so. Hang in there guys. It's probably not going to get any better but go home every night knowing that what you do is really vital and, while it may not be appreciated by the bosses, it certainly is appreciated by the folks in the trenches. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boleyd Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 14 hours ago, Triplane said: Sigh...nothing has changed in all these years. I retired from an IT job 20 years ago and it was the same story then. Nobody wanted to hear about spending money for security...just do it on-the-cheap. I agree, it's a miracle that we don't have more major breaches. That really speaks well for the folks that are expected to provide top-notch security with no funds to do so. Hang in there guys. It's probably not going to get any better but go home every night knowing that what you do is really vital and, while it may not be appreciated by the bosses, it certainly is appreciated by the folks in the trenches. Doug Indeed there are really ignorant managers out there that spend more time in a bar than keeping track of security issues. Then there are the really stupid ones who will not spend money unless it can be shown to improve the bottom line. A more local focus is buying ORBX products. Are our transactions safe? We have no idea - pure trust. They may be relying on being a low profile uninteresting target. But some 16 year old might be looking at them anyhow and buying the black-market programs to hit them. Any company that takes Bit-Coin is, in my opinion, playing with fire. My "firewall" is reliance on ORBX as a reputable company that would not use a store front that did not have top security equipment and protocols. And, had a rigorous protocol to keep security updates current. Customers are at the mercy of their vendors. But I trust ORBX. A solution for really high value targets is to get off the internet. There is excess fiber in the ground. Remember in the dark-ages companies had private line networks. A nuclear power plant that has any internet access is irresponsible. There is no need for it. There are alternatives. Yes, once the fiber comes up out of the ground a nasty human in a central office could grab billions of transactions or send bogus commands to a nuclear reactor. Once you communicate, by mirrors, drums or pigeons, someone can intercept your data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobnobs Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 We run phishing campaigns which offer people a free cup of coffee or something in return for their network username and password to "verify" they work for the company. Off the 5000 people we sent it to, hundreds fell for it. Ordinary employees don't get it, so what chance do we have with managers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triplane Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 Two chances Dean...very slim and none..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boleyd Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 19 hours ago, Hobnobs said: We run phishing campaigns which offer people a free cup of coffee or something in return for their network username and password to "verify" they work for the company. Off the 5000 people we sent it to, hundreds fell for it. Ordinary employees don't get it, so what chance do we have with managers? That is very clever, and effective. We usually assume the public is somewhat informed but they mostly are discussing a vomiting cat on a social site and know little else. These people also vote. All you guys outside the USA are in for a nasty change. I need to buy the New Zealand Orbx products so I am familiar with it if I have to bail out. I have been watching Aussie stuff also to be ready with my accent. Or, I just cut up a white sheet with eye holes so am am not conspicuous at night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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