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Targeted Phishing: Your auth password for [ user@host.com ] expires today !

It’s been a while since I received a targeted phishing. This time it is on one of my email accounts hosted on Google, and strangely, their phishing filter did not catch this one.     ITNotification <ITNotices@mail.com>  sorin@mustaca.com Expiration Your Password for sorin@mustaca.com has expired today. You can change your Password or continue using current Access   KEEP PASSWORD  ->erased domain on geocities.com   sorin@mustaca.com Admin. 2023 Admin – 2023

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ChatGPT and copywriting

I received a spam and the guy offered to have my corporate site re-written. He sent me an example of how it be like in a Google Docs document. The text was very artificial, kind of those written by ChatGPT (check my recent blog posts about this: www.sorinmustaca.com). I will write about this too. Original: We at End Point Cybersecurity focus on the cyber security of your company. We bring together decades of expertise and technical know-how in  Cybersecurity, Software Development, Product and Project Management and Product Lifecycle. Our consultants specialize in maximizing the agility of your organization, enabling you to react faster to the constantly changing market situations and gain a leg up on the competition So, I copy/pasted the text to #chatgpt and asked: Did you write this?   Revision: At End Point Cybersecurity, we prioritize the security of your company by leveraging our decades of expertise in Cybersecurity, Software Development, Product and Project Management, and Product Lifecycle. Our experienced consultants specialize in helping your organization stay agile in the face of constantly changing market situations, giving you a competitive edge.   The idiot spammer didn’t even bother to remove the “extras” added by ChatGPT. So, he left the text there:…


ChatGPT and automotive cybersecurity #2/2: TISAX certification

This is the 2nd post about Automotive Cybersecurity. Since I am working these days on CSMS (based on ISO ECE 21434 and TISAX), part of my companies consulting offer for automotive I thought maybe I check what ChatGPT things about them.   First post was about CSMS and ISO 21434 and this one is about TISAX.   Query: Tell me about challenges in TISAX certification    ChatGPT: “TISAX (Trusted Information Security Assessment Exchange) is a security assessment and certification process for automotive suppliers. The certification is used to evaluate and ensure the information security capabilities of companies in the automotive sector. There are several challenges associated with TISAX certification: Complex requirements: TISAX has extensive and complex security requirements that can be difficult to understand and implement. Companies may struggle to meet these requirements and may need help from experts to achieve certification. Resource constraints: Implementing the security measures required for TISAX certification can be resource-intensive and time-consuming. This can be especially challenging for small or medium-sized businesses. Technical difficulties: Companies may face technical challenges in implementing the necessary security controls, particularly if their existing systems are not well-suited to the TISAX requirements. Cost: The cost of TISAX certification can be…


ChatGPT and automotive cybersecurity #1/2: About CSMS from ISO 21434

As promised, I played more with ChatGPT and this time I started to dig a bit into cybersecurity for automotive. Since I am working these days on CSMS (based on ISO ECE 21434 and TISAX), part of my companies consulting offer for automotive I thought maybe I check what ChatGPT things about them. Unfortunately, nothing dramatically new, a form of what a google search gives you. However, the model answered something interesting about TISAX, which usually I, as a human would probably answer.  ( No, this post is not written by ChatGPT: 🙂   )   Here it is:   Query: Tell me about CSMS from ISO 21434   ChatGPT: CSMS (Cybersecurity Management System) is a framework for managing cybersecurity within an organization, as defined in ISO 21434. ISO 21434 is an international standard for automotive cybersecurity that provides guidelines for the development and implementation of cybersecurity measures in the automotive sector. CSMS is designed to help organizations manage cybersecurity risks and protect against cyber threats. It is based on the same principles as other management systems, such as quality management or environmental management, and provides a structured approach to managing cybersecurity. The framework covers a range of cybersecurity-related activities, including:…


So much hype about Chat GPT… here are some facts

So much hype about ChatGPT these days.. But what does it mean? So, I gave it a try … and I created an account. This is the first post from many about ChatGPT. First thing you see when you go on the page:   CapabilitiesRemembers what user said earlier in the conversationAllows user to provide follow-up correctionsTrained to decline inappropriate requests LimitationsMay occasionally generate incorrect informationMay occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased contentLimited knowledge of world and events after 2021   I will only see later how true these warnings are 🙂     Query: What does Chat GPT mean? ChatGPT: “ChatGPT” stands for “Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer”. It’s a language model developed by OpenAI, which uses the Transformer architecture and is pre-trained on a large dataset to generate human-like text in response to prompts.     Nice, let’s try something else: If I ask about me or several people I know, but not any VIP person, nothing is found. If I ask about big VIPs, like Joe Biden, Olaf Scholz, Michael Jackson, then it finds various things you would find by just googling.. But then if I provide an anchor, a starting point, apparently this more information confuses the…


PayPal is teaching fraudsters how to create the perfect phishing email

PayPal is sending a lot of emails these days, one of these got me confused. I am sure now it is a valid email, but the multitude of different links in it and the confusing information is making this email very suspicious.   Here is a summary of the email:   Ihre Meinung ist uns wichtig. Daher möchten wir Sie einladen, ein paar Fragen zu Ihrer Erfahrung mit PayPal zu beantworten. Sie helfen uns damit, unseren Service für Sie noch besser zu machen. Alle Antworten sind selbstverständlich anonym und vertraulich. Um an dieser 10- bis 15-minütigen Umfrage teilzunehmen, klicken Sie einfach auf den Button. Sie haben bis zum 27/01/2023 Als Dankeschön für Ihr Feedback erhalten Sie automatisch eine Gewinnchance für einen Mastercard-Geschenkgutschein im Wert von 1.000 €.* Für weitere Einzelheiten zu Gewinn und Teilnahmeregeln, klicken Sie bitte hier. Jetzt mitmachen     How do I know the email is not a phishing? Because all of these together (not separated): It addresses me via name It writes my email address below All domains belong to PayPal No confidential information is requested   Why is this email suspicious: The subject promises the chance to get a large amount of money if the…



I am worried: AV-Comparatives tests of Business Security products

Av-Comparatives did a long-term test of security Business Products. The details can be seen here: https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/business-security-test-august-september-2022-factsheet/ Initially, I wanted to write about this test because I was surprised to see how well Microsoft Defender performed. But then, I started to read the details, even if the full report will only be released in December 2022.   Read below the things which surprised me:   Engines used Information about additional third-party engines/signatures used by some of the products: Acronis, Cisco, Cybereason, G Data, Trellix and VIPRE use the Bitdefender engine (in addition to their own protection features). VMware uses the Avira engine (in addition to their own protection features). G Data’s OutbreakShield is based on Cyren.   Of course, most of this is not new … What surprised me was: Cisco is using Bitdefender Watch Guard, Crowdstrike and K7 have own engines Crowdstrike’s ML engine is good G Data is using also Cyren    2) The special settings are not even close to the defaults. It is normal that in business environments, and with business products in general, to be configured by the system administrator, in accordance with vendor’s guidelines and their own expectations. But, this also tells me that there can be huge differences in the detection, performance and FP rate of…


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(ISC)2 certification counts – how many CSSLP are out there?

(ISC)2 maintains this page https://www.isc2.org/member-counts.aspx# with the counts of all certifications per country. I wrote before about this here https://www.sorinmustaca.com/how-many-certified-secure-software-lifecycle-professionals-are-out-there/, but this was back in 2013 (1.5 years after I became certified) !   Some statistics: As of September 25 2013: 1168 CSSLP  Romania  1 Germany 19   As of May 23 2022: 3008 CSSLP   Romania  6 Germany 48 Mexico 8       If these numbers appear big… look at the count of CISSP (without specializations): 152.623 as of today. So, yes, you can see how hard is to get this certification.   This year I celebrate 10 years of being a CSSLP!  


The lies and promises of House Automation

If you are tech-savvy it is very probable that you have already a few “smart” devices at home: digital assistant (e.g. Amazon Alexa, Google Nest, Mini etc.) music players (e.g. Sonos, ) lights (e.g. Philips Hue) TV (pretty much all on the market) appliances (e.g. coffee machine, fridge, etc.) (e.g. Jura, Samsung) fire/smoke detectors (e.g. Nest) power sockets with or without power measurement (e.g. Nous) vacuum cleaners (e.g. iRobot) actuators (e.g. Shelly) doors, windows (e.g. garage doors) security systems (many) web surveillance systems (many) … “Smart” here means only that they are connected: to a network via WiFi or can be contacted directly via Bluetooth, a RF protocol  or some proprietary protocol. This list is definitely not meant to be complete and there are many more producers on the market than what I wrote above. Maybe I shouldn’t give any example … I am *not* affiliated in any way with them.   Those who are really tech-savvy, probably have some degree of automation installed or want to install. The promise What is the incentive of doing Home Automation ? Well, they promise to make your life easier, funnier, to give you what you need when you need. Also to protect…


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