NLB Blog

With many schools expected to be closed through the end of the school year, 30 million children and counting will be spending more time than ever on unsecured devices, apps, third-party educational sites and social media platforms. CyberScout urges the public to be aware of an increased risk of cyber-attacks targeting our nation’s youth and teach children to P-A-U-S-E and think about cyber-safety best practices every time they are online.

The Covid-19 pandemic has now caused many cities and municipalities to enact shelter in place orders. With the spread of novel coronavirus, daily life has been affected in unprecedented ways. Home-work and homeschooling measures mean that millions of Americans are using video conferencing for the first time. With this surge in new users, there will be many cybersecurity challenges. When it comes to flattening the curve of Covid-19, we know it’s important to be mindful about what you touch. The same goes for the online environment. 

During the evolving public health crisis surrounding COVID-19 (coronavirus), it is essential to remain vigilant in the days and weeks to come, online as well as out in the world. It is likely you are tracking several news sources on this growing epidemic—now defined by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as a pandemic. While it is important to heed the CDC’s advice to wash our hands and keep social distance, we should also maintain our information and digital hygiene

At NebraskaLand Bank, one of our culture statements is “Comm(unity) Minded”.  This part of our culture is so ingrained in every one of us, that we can’t help but approach everything with a community minded point of view, even a pandemic. Our employees have been asking how they can help support our community so we thought we would share some ideas.

The number of stalkerware apps detected on smartphones increased in 2019, a full 60% over the previous year according to a new report released by Kaspersky Labs. The anti-virus company’s annual mobile malware report said stalkerware reports increased from 40,286 in 2019 to 67,500 in 2019, figures derived from data gleaned from Kaspersky product users that consented to provide statistical data for research purposes.

You’ve probably heard of scammers targeting people with phishing emails, but what about vishing?

Vishing (or voice phishing) is similar to a phishing attack, but it is conducted over the phone. Here’s how it works: Scammers call targets from a phony (or spoofed) phone number, typically claiming to be representatives of banks or financial organizations alerting the target to an account issue. Other methods include loan offers, employment opportunities, and debt collectors, but the goals are generally the same: get the target to provide information about their financial accounts or send money.

Cyberwar could be a life disrupter as well as a business killer. Iran and its allies have a history of launching attacks that are hard to prove but nonetheless concerning. Top among the threats posed by Iran is the possibility of a massive cyber offensive aimed at critical infrastructure like the power grid, financial organizations, hospitals, election systems, businesses of all stripes, and government agencies. While you might imagine such an attack would be readily apparent with widespread blackouts and the like, the start of a cyberwar campaign may be more like the contrail of a firework, a subtle streak of smoke in the sky preceding a very obvious conflagration. It could target your employees, not your company. We're all connected. So, how do you know if it's happening?