Hi friend,

Another four weeks have come and gone, it’s mindboggling to see war expand and produce the largest cyberwar in history. With cybercrime on the up globally, it’s hitting here home in Australia, hear how scammers are taking over Instagram accounts.

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Staying Safe Online

Over the past few weeks, two friends of mine had their Instagram accounts taken over by a scammer. The scammer posed as a friend or work colleague and tricked them into handing over their accounts.

The scam focuses on hijacking and taking over accounts with social engineering. Once they trick the account owner, they lock them out, change the username, and the profile picture and upload a series of fake, stolen images. They then contact other users as the account owner to find more victims. It’s a series of stolen accounts where the scammer can start fresh with each new account, just awful.

In addition to stealing their account, the scammer tries to trick users into recording and uploading a video promoting their scam. Due to fear or embarrassment, victims unknowingly help the scammer, this happened to one of my friends.

It’s led me to talk to a few friends about basic cyber security awareness, something we should all be more aware of. It’s shined a light on the importance of password complexity and being aware of who we’re really talking to online.

Cybercrime is rampant and shows no sign of slowing down, so it’s eye-opening to see it impact people around me. Please use a password manager like Bitwarden to secure your online accounts from scammers, and never reuse passwords. The internet is a wonderful tool, it opens us up to unlimited possibilities, but it does the same for criminals.

Catch-Up & Next Steps

A quick look back at the month and forward to the next.

Months Memories

  • The Batman 2022 was released, I saw it twice in cinemas… [controversial opnion] it tops Dark Knight for me (in some ways).
  • We’re testing a Cyber training platform at work, it’s similar to TryHackMe, very exciting!
  • Due to the Instagram account takeovers, I’ve switched to Bitwarden – it’s worth checking out.
  • I’m 92% complete TryHackMe’s Beginner Learning Path, so close to finishing.
  • Content I published includes TryHackMe: Nmap Walkthrough or Notes, Network Services Part 1 Walkthrough or Notes, Cowsays What CTF, Updating Domains, Updated: Hackers Learning Path and Hackers Learning Path.

Consumed Content

Key Point Indicators (KPIs)

  • Newsletter friends: 154 (+14%)
  • YouTube subscribers: 341 (+4%)
  • Blog views, visitors: 2553, 1578 (+20%, +15%)

Next Month

  • Finish TryHackMe’s Beginner Path.
  • Start Roppers Fundamentals, again.

Kind regards, Ash