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Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: SW Cheese Country
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Originally Posted by GH85Carrera View Post
Question for the IT pros.

The news is full of reports of all sorts of companies getting their systems hacked, and locked with ransom ware. Are the hackers just so smart and devious that they can get through the firewalls, passwords, and other protections and take over or is it some idiot employee opening an email attachment or downloading a software application?

Just how do the hackers get in and take over?

I am just curious. My computer is just a really nice setup running Win 10 Pro. Yea, I have a firewall, and I would never open any attachment if I don't know the sender.

I do run antivirus software, and my router is just a few months old, and the firmware up to date. I am way too small to attract the bad guys, but I am amazed that large corporations are getting hacked and locked out of their systems. And it keeps happening. HOW?
Some MS Office users don't realize that using the preview pane is far more secure than opening the email to read it.

I would lay odds that almost most ransomware gets into a system via social engineering. Some does get in through unpatched systems, but most of those hacks are to put stuff on a network to glean data from the system over a period of time and they can use that data for social engineering, use the data as a hostage or sell the data.

For an example of a fair amount of money involved in social engineering with no ransomware:

https://www.csoonline.com/article/2961066/ubiquiti-networks-victim-of-39-million-social-engineering-attack.html
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Old 07-07-2021, 02:14 PM
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