re: Is the whole hacker / IT security / upgrade loop just a system to keep people employed?

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, if I have a vendor who has approved remote access to my system and their employees have their accounts hacked, how do I know it's really my vendor contacting me about scheduling their next remote session?

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I get it..I've spent many a Monday morning in a hotel, calling all the branches to remind them that my service tech from ABC will be coming around over the next few days..We have also found that the younger kids (opposite the old ones that open emails) do not question anything..They see random people walking around and are cool with that..I printed a badge one time with the name spot saying "Shouldn't Behere"...Again, the biggest threat to IT today is the user..

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Yeah I understand that, but it seems like a filter that only lets through internal emails is pretty straightforward. If external email is far more likely to be malicious, it would make sense to limit where/what that email can access on the network.

I have no clue if that's possible, just wondering.

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It's an active practice. Often, external emails are flagged and a banner is added. Some are blocked completely. Attachments from external emails are blocked. Hyperlinks are removed.

Lots of steps can be taken to prevent stupidity from being a factor. But that doesn't stop people from being stupid and smart people will find a way to exploit that. If emails don't work, there are other methods.

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We have also found that the younger kids (opposite the old ones that open emails) do not question anything..They see random people walking around and are cool with that..I printed a badge one time with the name spot saying "Shouldn't Behere"

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Younger generations are much less social in the real sense. They don't get to know their coworkers and they are often conditioned to not ask questions. It's a real problem.

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This, is also a favorite

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Network printers and copy machines. Easiest targets that no one wants to manage.

A fish tank is just awesome though. Respect.

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We STILL have a 10-15% click rate, with some quarters being as high as 30%.

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This sounds low based on the amount of folks here that don't understand what's a blind link.

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And those hacked vendors allow the hackers to create more realistic phishing attempts.

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I'm seeing this a ton these days. Mainly Office365 compromises. So our attorneys will get emails from legit clients or other attorneys that have been compromised. Thankfully it's usually additional phishing account harvesting.

Lesson here is that if you're using a cloud-based application that you're accessing from outside your network and you're not using MFA, you're wrong.

I strait up halted our O365 rollout here until we had MFA in place.

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accessing from outside your network and you're not using MFA, you're wrong.

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so hard to force this on clients..They'll check facebook and text religiously but can't be bothered to install an app that sends them a code

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Good ole Shodan.

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that site is scary

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ETA: edited the link to less "uninstall adblock" site

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Your link is blocked by my work filters. Was this a test?

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so hard to force this on clients..They'll check facebook and text religiously but can't be bothered to install an app that sends them a code

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Oh we had people bitching up a storm once we rolled it out. Our response was "Do you want to keep this multi-million dollar client? Yes? Well then shut up because they're the one requiring this."

Client requirements and ISO/HITRUST certification has made ramming through good security practices SO much easier.

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they're the one requiring this

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lot of people don't get this either...We can't let X connect in because they don't meet our own internal requirements..Fix their shite and get back to us