Re: Russian Hacker story in today's news

[Louis Aponte <louisaponte () WEBER EDU>]

Holden's reasoning or thinking and their response set aside; can this be
the reuse of last years breached accounts being retested at other sites
fishing for duplicated credential hits?
Regardless of security awareness programs the average user has the same
password for almost everything they log into. IMHO
So this list can be changed and unchanged passwords, since users tend to
return to a small given set of passwords again and again if allowed.
Hold Security has a known track record with the research they provided on
the Adobe and Target breaches. I don't believe they are setting up a
ransonware factory.
I don't think this is totally dismiss-able, just yet.

Louis


On Wed, Aug 6, 2014 at 1:45 PM, Tim Doty <tdoty () mst edu> wrote:

> On 08/06/2014 12:22 PM, Brad Judy wrote:
>
> > Brian Krebs has posted on the topic today:
> >
> > http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/08/qa-on-the-reported-
> > theft-of-1-2b-email-accounts/
>
> Significantly, I think, Brian says that Mr. Holden didn't take most of
> his advice...
>
>  It is true that Mr. Holden asked me to advise him when he was setting
> > up his business, but he hasn’t taken most of my advice. I have
> > received and will receive no compensation for said advice.
>
> So while Krebs puts him in a positive light in the article, this seems
> more like the typical "security entrepreneur" than news of a notable
> breach. More (scare) business as usual.
>
> Tim Doty
>
>
>
> > *From:*The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv
> > [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] *On Behalf Of *Keller, Alex
> > *Sent:* Wednesday, August 06, 2014 11:15 AM *To:*
> > SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU *Subject:* Re: [SECURITY] Russian
> >
> > Hacker story in today's news
> >
> > Hi Folks,
> >
> > I read the NY Times article yesterday and it immediately triggered
> > the BS meter. Article is exceedingly light on details.
> >
> > Hold Security website is rudimentary and vague:
> >
> > http://www.holdsecurity.com
> >
> > WordPress admin interface is running over HTTP (no SSL available):
> >
> > http://www.holdsecurity.com/wp-admin
> >
> > They list Brian Krebs (of Krebs on Security) as a “special advisor”:
> >
> > http://www.holdsecurity.com/about/advisory-board/
> >
> > But Brian has made no note of this story on his blog:
> >
> > http://krebsonsecurity.com
> >
> > None of this passes even the most basic sniff test.
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > alex
> >
> > *http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/06/technology/russian-gang-
> > said-to-amass-more-than-a-billion-stolen-internet-credentials.html
> >
> >  Alex Keller Information Technology Stanford School of Engineering
> > axkeller () stanford edu <mailto:axkeller () stanford edu> (650) 736-6421
> >
> > SoE_IT_Logo
> >
> > *From:* The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv
> > [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] *On Behalf Of *Chuck Braden
> > *Sent:* Wednesday, August 06, 2014 6:02 AM *To:*
> > SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
> > <mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU> *Subject:* Re: [SECURITY]
> >
> > Russian Hacker story in today's news
> >
> >  As I read Hold Security’s release this seems to be more of a
> > > marketing
> > ploy to sell services combined with a credential collection scheme of
> >  their own.
> >
> > A news resource I heard this morning said they would provide an
> > ability for users to query to see if their ID or what websites had
> > been compromised. No word when that would be available… Im not
> > hearing a lot from the vendor either – other than crickets and a cash
> > register bell ring. :-/
> >
> > Jimmy C Braden
> >
> > Information Security Officer
> >
> > AgriLife Information Technology
> >
> > 979-862-7254
> >
> > j-braden () tamu edu <mailto:j-braden () tamu edu>
> >
> > *From:*The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv
> > [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] *On Behalf Of *Slocum, Stacy
> > *Sent:* Wednesday, August 06, 2014 7:57 AM *To:*
> > SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
> > <mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU> *Subject:* [SECURITY] Russian
> >
> > Hacker story in today's news
> >
> > Good morning,
> >
> > A news story caught my attention this morning regarding the 1+
> > billion user accounts being collected by “Russian Hackers” over the
> > last 18 months.
> >
> > The story is based on Hold Security’s news release dated yesterday
> > (8/5/2014).  As I read Hold Security’s release this seems to be more
> > of a marketing ploy to sell services combined with a credential
> > collection scheme of their own.  Additionally their Terms of Service
> > must be agreed to before registering for their “trial” service of
> > matching your credentials with those from contained in the breach
> > database and they offer to let you know if your password was also in
> > the breached data… after you provide it to them…
> >
> > Does this seem odd to anyone else?
> >
> > Thanks, Stacy
> >
> > Stacy Slocum
> >
> > Chief Information Officer
> >
> > St. John Fisher College
> >
> > 3690 East Avenue
> >
> > Rochester, NY 14618
> >
> > (585) 385-8388