Dan Goodin

February 19, 2016

Dell to Customers: Report ‘Service Tag’ Scams

This post was originally published on this siteComputer maker Dell is asking for help in an ongoing probe into the source of customer information that appears to have somehow landed in the laps of fraudsters posing as Dell computer support technicians. KrebsOnSecurity readers continue to report being called by scammers posing as Dell support personnel who offer “proof” that they’re with Dell by rattling off the unique Dell “service tag” code printed on each Dell customer’s PC or laptop, as well as information from any previous (legitimate) service issues the customer may have had with Dell. Image: Wikipedia In January, Ars […]
February 3, 2017

How Google Took on Mirai, KrebsOnSecurity

This post was originally published on this siteThe third week of September 2016 was a dark and stormy one for KrebsOnSecurity. Wave after wave of huge denial-of-service attacks flooded this site, forcing me to pull the plug on it until I could secure protection from further assault. The site resurfaced three days later under the aegis of Google’s Project Shield, an initiative which seeks to protect journalists and news sites from being censored by these crippling digital sieges. Damian Menscher, a Google security engineer with whom I worked very closely on the migration to Project Shield, spoke this week about the unique […]
October 12, 2017

Equifax Credit Assistance Site Served Spyware

This post was originally published on this siteBig-three consumer credit bureau Equifax says it has removed third-party code from its credit report assistance Web site that prompted visitors to download spyware disguised as an update for Adobe’s Flash Player software. Image: Randy-abrams.blogspot.com On Wednesday, security expert and blogger Randy Abrams documented how browsing a page at Equifax’s consumer information services portal caused his browser to be served with a message urging him to download Adobe Flash Player. “As I tried to find my credit report on the Equifax website I clicked on an Equifax link and was redirected to a malicious URL,” Abrahms […]
January 31, 2020

Iowa Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Men Hired to Test Their Security

This post was originally published on this siteOn Sept. 11, 2019, two security experts at a company that had been hired by the state of Iowa to test the physical and network security of its judicial system were arrested while probing the security of an Iowa county courthouse, jailed in orange jumpsuits, charged with burglary, and held on $100,000 bail. On Thursday Jan. 30, prosecutors in Iowa announced they had dropped the criminal charges. The news came while KrebsOnSecurity was conducting a video interview with the two accused (featured below). The courthouse in Dallas County, Iowa. Image: Wikipedia. Gary DeMercurio, 43 […]