Computer Security Awareness Training

Earlier this year, cyber criminals attacked a county school district and siphoned US$704,610.35. out of the districts bank accounts over a four day period, and over $1.2 million was siphoned from a Texas importer using the same attack.

Attackers took advantage of a widely used but obscure Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network to gain access to the funds. This network is used to handle direct deposits, checks, bill payments, and cash transfers. Experts say ACH fraud continues to grow in this economic downturn, and while consumers are protected, the rules for corporations and organizations are not as clear-cut.

How Can We Avoid ACH Fraud Cyber Attacks?

This type of fraud is typically started with a phishing e-mail to the person in charge of the company checkbook. They trick the victim into running software, opening an attachment, or visiting a malicious web site. From there, the criminals are able to install keylogging software and steal bank account information and passwords.

With a strong cybersecurity policy and security awareness training, you can ensure that your employees will be equipped to recognize and avoid these and other attacks before its too late.

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Yesterday morning, top government IT officials met in Washington DC to discuss 3rd party certification of private sector access to government agency websites.

The certification bodies (Trust Framework Providers), would evaluate OpenID and Info Card providers for use in logging into government agency websites. This would allow users to log in to government sites using favorite OpenID-supporting website credentials such as Google, AOL, Yahoo or other commercial accounts.

Technical details can be found in Marshall Kirkpatrick’s article, US Government Reviewing OpenID For Login on .Gov Sites.

However, some issues have been raised by government support for OpenID. OpenID Foundation board member Chris Messina mentioned the importance of protecting individual privacy while improving ease of use and convenience.

As Marshall puts it, “Government validation of federated identity could be a major boost for the ecosystem of the open, distributed web, and thus for innovation online. We hope the people making these plans can get it right and that the relevant government agencies can garner sufficient public support.”

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