Category: Security & Fraud

Phishing scams are the most effective ways for people to gain important and valuable information about your login name and password. Many of us have heard about phishing email scams and campaigns, but most people do not realize or understand that phishing scams can also take on the appearance of a text message on mobile Read More

Tip 1 BND has your security in mind as we handle your information, but you can protect your account by creating a strong password. Here’s a way to create a password that’s very hard to crack by following these steps: Think of a phrase or sentence with at least eight words. It should be something Read More

With all the novel corona virus news going around, it can be difficult to know what is truth and what is fiction. Especially with all the information flying about regarding the financial stimulus that was approved by Congress. So, here are a few things to know about the upcoming increase in your account balance and Read More

Most of us rapid fire text messages every day without a second thought. In fact, the average person sends 67 SMS (Short Message Service) texts a day, with 6 billion sent daily in the U.S. alone. Would any of us ever imagine that every one of those texts are up for grabs for any bad Read More

The Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker has been very busy. The organization posted a scam alert involving Outlook and Google Calendar users and fake events posted to their accounts. “Calendar spam” is a new and very real problem that can lead to stolen identity and malware. Users can sync Google and Outlook, so a bogus Read More

With malware attacks, it’s long believed that Mac and Apple devices are generally safer than their Android counterparts. Although Apple owners may find comfort in that, hacking trends are changing in a way that’s not comforting at all. These days, hackers are pushing their malware onto all devices, including Apple in ways that are not Read More

We get a lot of mail, even these days when so much of our communication is done electronically. Granted, most of it is not of interest to most of us and it goes directly into the trusty “File 13.” However, those pre-approved credit card applications, loan re-finance offers, bank statements, and the like are all Read More

Financial institutions and hacking go hand-in-hand these days and keeping your bank account and credit from being the next victim is more important than ever. The safest approach, although the least favorite, is assuming that if your data hasn’t yet been hacked that at some point it will be. Hacking banks and their account holders Read More

Word has it that some of us like to share our financial transactions with our friends…or in some cases the entire world. A researcher in Berlin found that nearly 210 million Venmo transactions were available for download to anyone who could find them. The researcher claimed to download 57,600 transactions per day, even after Venmo (owned Read More

There’s a new malware attacking financial institutions according to a recent report by Kaspersky Lab. Since 2013 and possibly earlier, an advanced keylogging hack on Mexican banks was discovered using spearphishing and infected USB devices to gain access to bank accounts. Although the campaign, called Dark Tequila, specifically targeted Mexican banks, there’s no reason to believe Read More

The latest Kaspersky Lab report Spam and Phishing 2018 sheds a huge spotlight on the most popular hacking technique to date. In 2018, 482 million bogus websites were sent to inboxes everywhere. Users were hit with email phishing, including fake website pages. Never known to miss an opportunity, hackers used creative topics for lures, including the 2018 Read More

As if fighting outside hack attacks are not enough, IT departments everywhere are combating another foe: company social media websites. These websites and the content employees post to them pose a challenge to keep that information from harming cybersecurity efforts. Most companies have social media sites that post information about the company, including plenty of Read More

It’s not the newest trend. In fact, it’s rather old news. It’s still important to use strong passwords, use passphrases, and YES! Passwords really do still get cracked. The many techniques for obtaining passwords over the years have become more sophisticated, but the tried and true methods still work. The top methods for cracking passwords, Read More

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that email phishing is a favorite and effective hacker tool worldwide. A report by the Ponemon Institute and Keeper Security finds negligent employees are the #1 cause behind data breaches at small-to-medium-size businesses (SMBs), and phishing emails are the #1 form of attack on those employees. According Read More

Managing employee passwords is a struggle for most businesses in the U.S. and worldwide. It is costly maintaining healthy password security, but not having it can be enormously costly. According to the recent Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report, over 70% of employees reuse passwords at work. The report finds a staggering “81% of hacking-related breaches leveraged either Read More

That deadline is looming. You know the one. The tax return filing deadline is just around the corner. This year, it’s Tuesday, April 17 and don’t think for a second that the cybercriminals out there are not very aware of this date. In fact, the IRS is warning taxpayers once again to be on the Read More

Bad things happen to good consumers and 2017 was a banner year for cybercrime here and abroad. The 2017 Norton Security Report found that of the $172 billion that was stolen from consumers globally–$19.4 billion of that was from consumers in the U.S. The average victim lost $142 and 20 hours of their time trying Read More

A recent report released by ThreatMetrix, Cybercrime Report 2017: A Year in Review, provides an eye-popping account of cybercrime and fraud worldwide. The fear of having one’s credit or banking cards physically stolen is rapidly shifting to having that information stolen online and for good reason. The report finds that from 2015 to 2017, cyberattacks increased by 100%. Read More

SMS text phishing, or smishing, is on the rise for us all. Smishing has been around for a while, and is gaining in popularity for cyberthieves. Texts are being sent to smartphones asking recipients to go to a link or respond with personal information. Most often, these texts contain a great sense of urgency to Read More

Cyber scammers don’t take any time off for the holiday season. In fact, they’re working overtime to take advantage of the spirit of giving. Giving to them, that is. By now consumers know that packages left outside their homes are up for grabs by package pilferers. Consider those the good old days. The latest cyber Read More

It’s that time again and it’s never a bad thing to remind everyone about good security practices for keeping your money and identity safe during Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday shopping. Cyberthieves are just as excited about this time of year as everyone else. That’s because they can make off with a Read More