This Metasploit module exploits a flaw where an authenticated user with sufficient administrative rights to manage pollers can use this functionality to execute arbitrary commands remotely. Usually, the miscellaneous commands are used by the additional modules (to perform certain actions), by the scheduler for data processing, etc. This module uses this functionality to obtain a remote shell on the target.

This Metasploit module exploits a shell command injection vulnerability in the libnotify plugin. This vulnerability affects Metasploit versions 5.0.79 and earlier.

TP-LINK Cloud Cameras including products NC200, NC210, NC220, NC230, NC250, NC260, and NC450 suffer from a command injection vulnerability. The issue is located in the swSystemSetProductAliasCheck method of the ipcamera binary (Called when setting a new alias for the device via /setsysname.fcgi), where despite a check on the name length, no other checks are in place in order to prevent shell metacharacters from being introduced. The system name would then be used in swBonjourStartHTTP as part of a shell command where arbitrary commands could be injected and executed as root.

Cyprus is ranked first in fDi’s Island Economies of the Future rankings, followed by the Dominican Republic and Sri Lanka. Cathy Mullan and Naomi Davies detail the results.

DA-WIN, a wireless IDS, provides an organization a continuous wireless scanning capability that is light touch and simple. It utilizes compact and discreet sensors that can easily be deployed reducing the total cost of protection and simplifying the effort required for absolute, categoric regulatory compliance. This archive includes a dd image to be used on a Raspberry Pi and a user manual.

DA-WIN, a wireless IDS, provides an organization a continuous wireless scanning capability that is light touch and simple. It utilizes compact and discreet sensors that can easily be deployed reducing the total cost of protection and simplifying the effort required for absolute, categoric regulatory compliance. This archive includes a dd image to be used on a Raspberry Pi and a user manual.

Teltonika RUT9XX routers with firmware before 00.04.233 are prone to multiple unauthenticated OS command injection vulnerabilities in autologin.cgi and hotspotlogin.cgi due to insufficient user input sanitization. This allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges.

This Metasploit module exploits an arbitrary command execution vulnerability in Webmin versions 1.900 and below. Any user authorized to the "Java file manager" and "Upload and Download" fields, to execute arbitrary commands with root privileges. In addition, "Running Processes" field must be authorized to discover the directory to be uploaded. A vulnerable file can be printed on the original files of the Webmin application. The vulnerable file we are uploading should be integrated with the application. Therefore, a ".cgi" file with the vulnerability belong to webmin application should be used. The module has been tested successfully with Webmin version 1.900 over Debian 4.9.18.

This Metasploit module exploits a command injection vulnerability in Imperva SecureSphere version 13.x. The vulnerability exists in the PWS service, where Python CGIs did not properly sanitize user supplied command parameters and directly passes them to corresponding CLI utility, leading to command injection. Agent registration credential is required to exploit SecureSphere in gateway mode. This module was successfully tested on Imperva SecureSphere 13.0/13.1/13.2 in pre-ftl mode and unsealed gateway mode.

An exploitable command injection vulnerability exists in the ACEManager iplogging.cgi functionality of Sierra Wireless AirLink ES450 FW 4.9.3. A specially crafted HTTP request can inject arbitrary commands, resulting in arbitrary command execution. An attacker can send an authenticated HTTP request to trigger this vulnerability.

This Metasploit module exploits an unauthenticated remote command injection vulnerability found in Barco WePresent and related OEM'ed products. The vulnerability is triggered via an HTTP POST request to the file_transfer.cgi endpoint.

D-Link DIR-859 Routers are vulnerable to OS command injection via the UPnP interface. The vulnerability exists in /gena.cgi (function genacgi_main() in /htdocs/cgibin), which is accessible without credentials.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-208 - An issue has been identified in Mandriva Business Server 2's setup package where the /etc/shadow and /etc/gshadow files containing password hashes were created with incorrect permissions, making them world-readable. This update fixes this issue by enforcing that those files are owned by the root user and shadow group, and are only readable by those two entities. Note that this issue only affected new Mandriva Business Server 2 installations. Systems that were updated from previous Mandriva versions were not affected. This update was already issued as MDVSA-2015:184, but the latter was withdrawn as it generated.rpmnew files for critical configuration files, and rpmdrake might propose the user to use those basically empty files, thus leading to loss of passwords or partition table. This new update ensures that such.rpmnew files are not kept after the update.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-209 - Update PHP packages address buffer over-read and overflow vulnerabilities. PHP has been updated to version 5.5.24, which fixes these issues and other bugs. Additionally the timezonedb packages has been upgraded to the latest version and the PECL packages which requires so has been rebuilt for php-5.5.24.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-210 - A denial of service flaw was found in the way QEMU handled malformed Physical Region Descriptor Table data sent to the host's IDE and/or AHCI controller emulation. A privileged guest user could use this flaw to crash the system. It was found that the QEMU's websocket frame decoder processed incoming frames without limiting resources used to process the header and the payload. An attacker able to access a guest's VNC console could use this flaw to trigger a denial of service on the host by exhausting all available memory and CPU.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-211 - glusterfs was vulnerable to a fragment header infinite loop denial of service attack. Also, the glusterfsd SysV init script was failing to properly start the service. This was fixed by replacing it with systemd unit files for the service that work properly.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-212 - An off-by-one flaw, leading to a buffer overflow, was found in the font parsing code in the 2D component in OpenJDK. A specially crafted font file could possibly cause the Java Virtual Machine to execute arbitrary code, allowing an untrusted Java application or applet to bypass Java sandbox restrictions. A flaw was found in the way the Hotspot component in OpenJDK handled phantom references. An untrusted Java application or applet could use this flaw to corrupt the Java Virtual Machine memory and, possibly, execute arbitrary code, bypassing Java sandbox restrictions. A flaw was found in the way the JSSE component in OpenJDK parsed X.509 certificate options. A specially crafted certificate could cause JSSE to raise an exception, possibly causing an application using JSSE to exit unexpectedly. A flaw was discovered in the Beans component in OpenJDK. An untrusted Java application or applet could use this flaw to bypass certain Java sandbox restrictions. A directory traversal flaw was found in the way the jar tool extracted JAR archive files. A specially crafted JAR archive could cause jar to overwrite arbitrary files writable by the user running jar when the archive was extracted. It was found that the RSA implementation in the JCE component in OpenJDK did not follow recommended practices for implementing RSA signatures.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-213 - lftp incorrectly validates wildcard SSL certificates containing literal IP addresses, so under certain conditions, it would allow and use a wildcard match specified in the CN field, allowing a malicious server to participate in a MITM attack or just fool users into believing that it is a legitimate site. lftp was affected by this issue as it uses code from cURL for checking SSL certificates. The curl package was fixed in MDVSA-2015:098.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-214 - The libksba package has been updated to version 1.3.3, which fixes an integer overflow in the DN decoder and a couple of other minor bugs.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-215 - The t1utils package has been updated to version 1.39, which fixes a buffer overrun, infinite loop, and stack overflow in t1disasm.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-216 - Lack of filtering in the title parameter of links to rrdPlugin allowed cross-site-scripting attacks against users of the web interface.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-217 - SQLite before 3.8.9 does not properly implement the dequoting of collation-sequence names, which allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (uninitialized memory access and application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted COLLATE clause, as demonstrated by COLLATE at the end of a SELECT statement. The sqlite3VdbeExec function in vdbe.c in SQLite before 3.8.9 does not properly implement comparison operators, which allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (invalid free operation) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted CHECK clause, as demonstrated by CHECK in a CREATE TABLE statement. The sqlite3VXPrintf function in printf.c in SQLite before 3.8.9 does not properly handle precision and width values during floating-point conversions, which allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via large integers in a crafted printf function call in a SELECT statement. The updated packages provides a solution for these security issues.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-218 - Multiple vulnerabilities have been found and corrected in glibc. It was discovered that, under certain circumstances, glibc's getaddrinfo() function would send DNS queries to random file descriptors. An attacker could potentially use this flaw to send DNS queries to unintended recipients, resulting in information disclosure or data loss due to the application encountering corrupted data. Various other issues were also addressed. The updated packages provides a solution for these security issues.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-220 - NTLM-authenticated connections could be wrongly reused for requests without any credentials set, leading to HTTP requests being sent over the connection authenticated as a different user. When doing HTTP requests using the Negotiate authentication method along with NTLM, the connection used would not be marked as authenticated, making it possible to reuse it and send requests for one user over the connection authenticated as a different user.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-219 - NTLM-authenticated connections could be wrongly reused for requests without any credentials set, leading to HTTP requests being sent over the connection authenticated as a different user. When parsing HTTP cookies, if the parsed cookie's path element consists of a single double-quote, libcurl would try to write to an invalid heap memory address. This could allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service. When doing HTTP requests using the Negotiate authentication method along with NTLM, the connection used would not be marked as authenticated, making it possible to reuse it and send requests for one user over the connection authenticated as a different user.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-221 - Multiple vulnerabilities have been found and corrected in clamav. The updated packages provides a solution for these security issues.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-222 - Emanuele Rocca discovered that ppp was subject to a buffer overflow when communicating with a RADIUS server. This would allow unauthenticated users to cause a denial-of-service by crashing the daemon.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-224 - Ruby OpenSSL hostname matching implementation violates RFC 6125. The ruby packages for MBS2 has been updated to version 2.0.0-p645, which fixes this issue.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-225 - The cherokee_validator_ldap_check function in validator_ldap.c in Cherokee 1.2.103 and earlier, when LDAP is used, does not properly consider unauthenticated-bind semantics, which allows remote attackers to bypass authentication via an empty password.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-226 - FCGI does not perform range checks for file descriptors before use of the FD_SET macro. This FD_SET macro could allow for more than 1024 total file descriptors to be monitored in the closing state. This may allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (stack memory corruption, and infinite loop or daemon crash) by opening many socket connections to the host and crashing the service.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-223 - Multiple integer signedness errors in the Dispatch_Write function in proxy/dispatcher/idirectfbsurface_dispatcher.c in DirectFB allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via the Voodoo interface, which triggers a stack-based buffer overflow. The Dispatch_Write function in proxy/dispatcher/idirectfbsurface_dispatcher.c in DirectFB allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service and possibly execute arbitrary code via the Voodoo interface, which triggers an out-of-bounds write.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-227 - This update provides MariaDB 5.5.43, which fixes several security issues and other bugs.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-228 - It was found that libuv does not call setgoups before calling setuid/setgid. This may potentially allow an attacker to gain elevated privileges. The libuv library is bundled with nodejs, and a fixed version of libuv is included with nodejs as of version 0.10.37. The nodejs package has been updated to version 0.10.38 to fix this issue, as well as several other bugs.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-229 - It was discovered that the snmp_pdu_parse() function could leave incompletely parsed varBind variables in the list of variables. A remote, unauthenticated attacker could exploit this flaw to cause a crash or, potentially, execute arbitrary code.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-230 - Squid configured with client-first SSL-bump does not correctly validate X509 server certificate domain / hostname fields.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-231 - Tilmann Haak from xing.com discovered that XML::LibXML did not respect the expand_entities parameter to disable processing of external entities in some circumstances. This may allow attackers to gain read access to otherwise protected resources, depending on how the library is used.

Mandriva Linux Security Advisory 2015-232 - A malformed certificate input could cause a heap overflow read in the DER decoding functions of Libtasn1. The heap overflow happens in the function _asn1_extract_der_octet().

(Please visit the site to view this video)

What does it take to make a city greener? In San Francisco, it took a small group of motivated people to come together to create a nonprofit. After the city cut funding for urban forestry 36 years ago, seven individuals decided to take matters into their own hands. They created a nonprofit, Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF).

Starting with a Small Budget, FUF Plants Nearly Half San Francisco's Street Trees

The organization started off with just a small budget from a leftover city grant. Then it used grassroots efforts to rally neighborhoods throughout the city around urban trees. By empowering and supporting communities and homeowners to plant and care for their own trees, FUF has successfully planted 60,000 of the 125,000 trees in San Francisco. The group eventually even worked with the city to create San Francisco's first ever Urban Forest Plan.

FUF Harnesses the Power of Many Volunteers to Plant and Advocate for Trees

FUF is a member of TechSoup, and TechSoup's staffers were very excited to reach out for an interview to hear more about the group's impact. My team joined FUF early on a Saturday morning for its volunteer tree planting event in the Portola neighborhood, a part of the city that is lacking street trees. It was cold even by San Francisco standards, but there was an impressive turnout of volunteers present and ready to plant.

The executive director of FUF, Dan Flanagan, joined us and told us about his work. "We get to get out in the city and make it greener. We advocate for trees; I always call ourselves the Lorax of San Francisco. We are the only organization in San Francisco that is speaking for the trees."

FUF Gets the Chance to Plant Even More Trees … in Neighborhoods That Really Need Them

Dan was excited about a recent accomplishment for the organization. San Francisco just passed Proposition E, which opens up major opportunities for the nonprofit. As he said, "It changes the responsibility from street trees and sidewalks away from the homeowners and to the city. As a result, homeowners are no longer responsible, and now we actually get a chance to make the city more green than ever before by planting more trees in neighborhoods that couldn't afford it before."

This policy makes the city responsible for maintenance, but it will still require FUF to continue its work of planting the trees. FUF hopes to plant 1,700 trees this year and ultimately hopes to plant 3,000 trees every year.

FUF Puts Technology from TechSoup to Work

I was curious to find out how FUF was using technology to further its mission. Jason Boyce, individual gifts manager, said: "Here at Friends of the Urban Forest, a lot of our field staff tend to be out in the field all day; technology really needs to be out of the way to allow us to plant. So, as a result, the relationships we build with our community tend to be stronger because we use technology to enable our work, but it doesn't get in the way of our work."

Jason explained, "We have been working with ArcMap for years, ... GIS software that TechSoup has provided for us. We use it to plant trees, to figure out where we are going to plant. When we do our plantings, we actually dole out the maps that our volunteers use to do the plantings, and all that comes through ArcMap. We use Adobe Acrobat to put together our tree manuals for our new tree owners and volunteer manuals. We use AutoCAD to put together the permit drawings for our sidewalk gardens. Technology plays a really important role in doing our plantings and making San Francisco more green."

FUF Partners with the City to Calculate the Environmental Benefits of Trees

Jason also recently worked with the city on the Urban Forest Map, which is an interactive online map that tracks every tree in San Francisco. The map helps calculate the environmental benefits the trees provide, including stormwater mitigation, air pollutants captured, and carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere. This platform has increased the visibility of the city's urban forest.

As Jason said, "We are now at the forefront of cities worldwide that are building software to manage their urban forests. … [This] really gives a lot of benefit to the people living in San Francisco."

TechSoup is proud to support organizations like Friends of the Urban Forest by enabling them with the technology they need. That support gives them more time to focus on their impact, like planting trees, or to build the communities that help them thrive.

spanhidden

Fall has arrived, and with it comes fundraising season. More than one-third of charitable giving happens in the last three months of the year, and the emergence of Giving Tuesday (on November 28 this year) makes the year's end even more critical for charities.

Feeling overwhelmed? Your local NetSquared group is here to help with free, in-person events being held across the U.S. and the globe.

Naples, Florida, is hosting a meetup on tools for effective email fundraising; Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, is hosting a series of Giving Tuesday brainstorming sessions; and Chicago, Illinois, will explore how your CRM can save end-of-year fundraising plans.

With more than 75 events scheduled for October, there's probably an event scheduled for your community, so RSVP now for one of our meetups.

Join us!

Upcoming Tech4Good Events

This roundup of face-to-face nonprofit tech events includes meetups from NetSquared, NTEN's Tech Clubs, and other awesome organizations. If you're holding monthly events that gather the #nptech community, let me know, and I'll include you in the next community calendar, or apply today to start your own NetSquared group.

Jump to events in North America or go international with events in

• Africa and Middle East
• Asia and Pacific Rim
• Central and South America
• Europe and U.K.

North America

Monday, October 2, 2017

• Vancouver, British Columbia: Photojournalism for Nonprofits and Small Businesses #Storymakers2017

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

• Portland, Oregon
  • Happy Hour with Nonprofit Tech Luminaries
  • NTEN Presents: Oregon Nonprofit Tech Roundup
• Montréal, Québec: Développer une Présence Web Efficace
• Naples, Florida: Tools for Effective Email Communication
• Mason, Ohio: Connecting Nonprofits and Techies in Cincinnati

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Bagels and Bytes — Allegheny
• Baltimore, Maryland: WordPress 101 and Tech Help and Consultations
• San Francisco, California: Code for America Civic Hack Night (Weekly)

Thursday, October 5, 2017

• Calgary, Alberta: Evening on Data Ethics

Friday, October 6, 2017

• Seattle, Washington: King County Executive Director Forum

Monday, October 9, 2017

• Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin: Giving Tuesday Brainstorming

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

• Columbus, Ohio: Nonprofit IT Forum
• Decatur, Illinois: Free and Low-Cost Resources for Nonprofit Software
• Ottawa, Ontario: Review Progress on Data Analysis Projects

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

• Mason, Ohio: Help Create an App for Homeless to Manage Money More Effectively
• San Francisco, California: Code for America Civic Hack Night (Weekly)
• Boston, Massachusetts: Tech Networks of Boston Roundtable: Building an Effective Data Culture at Your Nonprofit
• O’Fallon, Missouri: Learn How to Apply for a $10,000 per Month Google AdWords Grant
• Phoenix, Arizona: Website Building 101: Quick and Easy Web Presence for Nonprofits
• Los Angeles, California: Nonprofit Volunteer Management
• Chicago, Illinois: Net Neutrality

Thursday, October 12, 2017

• Chicago, Illinois: It's Never Too Late: How Your CRM Can Save End-of-Year Fundraising
• Seattle, Washington: What You Need to Know About Board Governance

Saturday, October 14, 2017

• Saint Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Blogger Conference | by Get Social Events, the Social Media Breakfast Folks ($25)

Monday, October 16, 2017

• San Francisco, California: Social Impact in Tech: Panel Discussion with LinkedIn, Lyft, and Salesforce
• Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin: Giving Tuesday Brainstorming
• Seattle, Washington: Fall Nonprofit Technology Speed Geek

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

• Buffalo, New York: Essential Data Management
• Orlando, Florida: Tech4Good Orlando October: Search Engine Optimization and Strategy

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

• San Francisco, California: Code for America Civic Hack Night (Weekly)
• Houston, Texas: NetSquared Houston
• Research Triangle Park, North Carolina: Crowdsourcing Change: The Social Web to Nonprofits

Thursday, October 19, 2017

• Monroeville, Pennsylvania: TechNow 2017 Conference
• Sweet Briar, Virginia: Using Data to Reach Your Audience

Friday, October 20, 2017

• West Chester, Ohio: Southwest Ohio Give Camp
• Boston, Massachusetts: Tech Networks of Boston Roundtable: Can Appmaker Help You? A Free Database Tool from Google

Monday, October 23, 2017

• Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin: Giving Tuesday Brainstorming
• Austin, Texas: Engaging the Millennial Donor

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

• Vancouver, British Columbia: How Delivering Webinars Can Benefit Your Mission

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

• Baltimore, Maryland: Salesforce 101 for Nonprofits and Free Tech Help and Guidance
• San Francisco, California: Code for America Civic Hack Night (Weekly)
• Seattle, Washington: Recruit, Engage, and Retain a Great Board

Monday, October 30, 2017

• Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin: Giving Tuesday Brainstorming

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

• Seattle, Washington: Bolder and Wiser: Nonprofit Advocacy Rights (Part 2)

Central and South America

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

• Guatemala City, Guatemala: Pechakucha Guatemala — Historias Digitales Vol. 15

Africa and Middle East

Sunday, October 1, 2017

• Cotonou, Benin: L'Utilité des Logiciels de TechSoup dans la Progression d Nos ONG dans le Monde
• Kampala, Uganda: Digital Storytelling for Nonprofits Workshop

Monday, October 2, 2017

• Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: Monthly Meeting of Local Members

Saturday, October 7, 2017

• Matloding, South Africa: Technology for Rural Development
• Bunda, Tanzania: Microsoft Cloud Computing
• Morogoro, Tanzania: Role of ICT for Farm Management

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

• Bamenda, Cameroon: How to Create Digital Stories

Friday, October 13, 2017

• Katabi, Uganda: Using Social Media Applications for Development
• Pangani, Tanzania: Storymakers Campaign

Saturday, October 14, 2017

• Bunda, Tanzania: Microsoft Cloud Computing

Sunday, October 15, 2017

• Cotonou, Benin: Les Logiciels Mis en Don par Techsoup.org pour les ONG et Association au Benin

Saturday, October 21, 2017

• Bunda, Tanzania: Microsoft Cloud Computing

Saturday, October 28, 2017

• Bunda, Tanzania: Microsoft Cloud Computing
• Morogoro, Tanzania: Technology for Livelihood Improvement

Asia and Pacific Rim

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

• Taipei, Taiwan: NGO要怎麼搞群眾募資？- 綠盟經驗談

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

• Singapore, Singapore: DataJam!

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

• Wellington, New Zealand: Set Your Email Newsletter on Fire | Net2Welly Oct '17 Meetup

Sunday, October 15, 2017

• Jakarta, Indonesia: Web Hosting

Europe and U.K.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

• Paris, France: AdWords Express — Grands Débutants

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

• Puidoux, Switzerland: 7ème Journée Pédagogique ESV-SPV (AVMES/AVMD)

Friday, October 6, 2017

• Carouge, Switzerland: 12h de Hackaton pour Afficher les Termes et Conditions, Que Vous Ne Lirez Jamais

Saturday, October 7, 2017

• Genève, Switzerland: LINforum3 Partage Idée, Réflexion, Projet, Startup, Service … Responsables!

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

• Cambridge, United Kingdom: Social Media Surgery — Hands-on Help with Social Media

Thursday, October 12, 2017

• Paris, France: La Data pour Vous Renforcer

Saturday, October 14, 2017

• Pully, Switzerland: Intergen.Digital à Pully

Monday, October 16, 2017

• Birmingham, United Kingdom: Social Media Session

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

• Dublin, Ireland: Smart Cities for Good

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

• Paris, France: Forum National des Associations et des Fondations
• Bordeaux, France: Les Personas pour Optimiser Votre Conversion

Thursday, October 19, 2017

• Bath, United Kingdom: Tech for Good Community Mapping
• Paris, France: Brainstorming, Plans d'Actions sur Internet

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

• Manchester, United Kingdom: Tech for Good: At the BBC
• Paris, France: AdWords – Initiation
• Paudex, Switzerland: RdV4–0.ch: 3. Solutions Informatiques — Cloud — SaaS — Services en Ligne

Thursday, October 26, 2017

• Barcelona, Spain: ¡Relanzamos NetSquared Barcelona! ¡Te Esperamos!
• Paris, France: Analytics — Initiation

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

• Renens, Switzerland: OpenLab: Visite du Fablab de Renens

Left photo: Gregory Munyaneza / NetSquared Rwanda / CC BY

Center photo: Chrispin Okumu / NetSquared Kenya / CC BY

Right photo: Chrispin Okumu / NetSquared Kenya / CC BY

spanhidden

Many nonprofits handle sensitive personal information belonging to community members — whether it's names or email addresses or payment information. But are you handling this data properly to prevent a data breach?

This post is by no means exhaustive — after all, every nonprofit handles different sorts of data, and each organization has different security needs. That said, these are some practical things to think about when you review your handling of sensitive personal information.

#1 Risk: Malware and Software Vulnerabilities

The Problem

This one may seem obvious, but with so many other security risks out there, it's easy to forget that malware still poses a major threat to your organization's data.

How You Can Mitigate It

To start, make sure you have antivirus software installed, and that it's up to date. In addition, you'll want to make sure your operating system and any software installed are also up to date, with all security patches installed.

Beyond that, be careful what you click on. Don't download and install software from sites you don't trust. Be careful of the email attachments and links you click on — even from people you know. If you aren't expecting a file or link, click with caution.

#2 Risk: Ransomware

The Problem

Ransomware is an especially insidious form of malware that holds your computer or data hostage unless you pay a sum of money to a criminal actor. Oftentimes, ransomware will encrypt your data, preventing you from accessing it. And according to Symantec's Director of Security Response Kevin Haley, some forms of ransomware will threaten to publicly release your data.

How You Can Mitigate It

Aside from up-to-date antivirus software and taking steps to avoid infection in the first place, there isn't a ton you can do to deal with a ransomware attack once your data's been encrypted.

In that case, according to Haley, keeping up-to-date backups of your data is your best bet. That way, you'll be able to get back up and running quickly with minimal data loss. (TechSoup offers backup and recovery solutions from Veritas.)

#3 Risk: Public Wi-Fi

The Problem

Public Wi-Fi is generally fine for some things, such as browsing cat videos on YouTube, or catching up on the headlines. However, for anything involving sensitive personal information, it's a security disaster waiting to happen. Bad actors could potentially eavesdrop on what you're doing while using public Wi-Fi, leaving your data and work open to prying eyes.

How You Can Mitigate It

First off, avoid using public, unsecured Wi-Fi when handling sensitive information — whether it's internal organizational data or your own personal banking information. Using a wireless hotspot, like those from Mobile Beacon (offered through TechSoup), instead of public Wi-Fi is an easy way to keep your data more secure.

If you can't avoid public Wi-Fi, a virtual private network (VPN) is a good option — VPNs secure data between your computer and the website you're visiting. Not all VPNs provide the same level of security, though, and you'll need to make sure your VPN of choice conforms to any data security regulations that your organization may be subject to. See our previous overview of VPNs for more.

#4 Risk: Inappropriate Sharing of Sensitive Information

The Problem

Sharing sensitive information via email, messaging apps, or similar means is a risky proposition.

Email is a notoriously insecure method of communication. Email accounts are often the target of data breaches and phishing attacks. (A phishing attack is where an attacker tries to steal your account information by tricking you to enter your account information on a phony login page.)

And whether it's through email or messaging app, it's all too easy to accidentally leak data by sharing it with the wrong person.

How You Can Mitigate It

Avoid sending sensitive information to colleagues via email. It's easier said than done, we know. Maybe you need to share a list of donor contact information with your marketing department, for example. Consider uploading it to a secure file server on your network that can only be accessed by others in the office.

If your organization uses a cloud storage service like Box, consider using that instead — so long as it meets your organization's security needs. These cloud storage services usually encrypt data you upload to prevent it from getting stolen. You may also want to consider using constituent relationship management (CRM) software, a tool designed specifically to store and manage your organization's contacts.

In addition, pay attention to access permissions. If you can, restrict access to sensitive information to only those who need it. Revisit your permissions settings regularly and update them as needed.

To prevent your user accounts from being compromised in the first place, practice good account security hygiene. Use strong passwords and require your staff to use two-factor authentication.

#5 Risk: Handling Credit Card Data

The Problem

A breach involving credit card data can be embarrassing for your organization, but it could wreak financial havoc on your members and supporters. All it takes is for hackers to grab a few pieces of information to rack up credit card debt in your supporters' names.

How You Can Mitigate It

Securing credit card information is important, but you don't have to make it up as you go. Make sure your organization conforms to payment card security standards. The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council, as well as banks and credit card issuers, provide guidelines on how to best handle credit card information to prevent breaches.

Has your nonprofit recently encountered any other notable risks? Tell us about it in the comments!

spanhidden

Computer and network security is an ever-evolving field. As technology advances, cybercriminals find new ways to exploit vulnerabilities in order to get at your personal, financial, or organizational data. We recently spoke with Symantec's Director of Security Response Kevin Haley to get an idea of what threats you'll face in the next year or two.

In short, expect a continuation of common threats like ransomware, as well as the emergence of new threats from connected devices and the so-called Internet of Things. Plus, keep an eye out for the resurgence of an old threat made new.

Ransomware with a Twist

Ransomware — malicious software that locks your data or otherwise compromises your computer in an attempt to extort money — is not a new threat. It's been around for a number of years in various forms. But according to Haley, a new form of ransomware doesn't just lock your files; instead, it threatens to publicly release your data unless you pay up.

For many individuals, this may simply mean an embarrassing leakage of personal data — browser history, emails, photos, and so on. For a nonprofit, especially one that deals with sensitive sociopolitical issues, the possibility of data leakage can have more serious ramifications. It could pose a threat to the community you serve.

Email That Looks Like It Came from a Co-worker

In traditional phishing attempts, scammers create an email that appears to be from a legitimate source — say, Google, Amazon, or Apple. Then they attempt to steal account information, such as usernames and passwords. But in an emerging form of phishing, hackers may use emails purportedly from co-workers or business associates to try to steal information from your organization.

For example, Haley says, you may receive an email from a vendor or a colleague asking for specific pieces of information (such as tax forms) or for money outright. The only problem is that these emails originate from scammers, not your colleagues. And once you email an important piece of information to these impersonators, there's no way to get it back.

With proper data handling, though, you can avoid these sorts of nightmares. See our recent post, 5 Data Security Risks for Nonprofits (and How to Fix Them), to learn more.

The Internet of Things Can Make People Vulnerable

From smart locks to Internet-connected appliances, the Internet of Things promises to change the way we interact with all sorts of items within our homes and offices. But with this comes the potential for security headaches.

According to Haley, these "smart" devices are rarely protected properly, and are easy to infect with malware. And this isn't just an issue that may cause problems some years down the line. Last year, as CNET reported, a network of malware-infected DVRs and webcams overloaded a number of popular websites and online services, temporarily knocking them offline.

Word Macro Viruses Make a Comeback

Perhaps the most surprising threat Haley warned about was the revival of Word macro viruses.

Macro viruses use Microsoft Word's macro programming feature — typically used to automate certain tasks within Word — to infect your computer. Macro viruses have been around for many, many years. And Word disables macros by default: If you open a Word document with a macro, you'll have to click a button to tell Word to turn on any macros within that document.

With this new wave of macro viruses, however, criminals employ social engineering trickery to goad you into turning on macros, allowing the macro virus to do its thing.

Fortunately, you can easily protect yourself from getting infected. First, don't open file attachments from people you don't know. If you receive a Word document with macros from someone you do know, confirm with that person to make sure that they intended to send the macros and that they are safe to run.

As Always, Vigilance Is Key

Although specific threats may evolve over time, good security practices never go out of style. Use a security software package and keep it updated. Enforce good account security practices within your organization.

Don't open file attachments from people you don't know, and don't open unexpected file downloads. Secure all your devices as best you can. And if something seems fishy — perhaps that email from your boss doesn't seem quite right — don't be afraid to question it.

By taking small steps like these, you might save yourself — and your organization — some serious pain.

spanhidden