Episode 42 - Advocates for the Masses

The Host Unknown Podcast

10 minutes before rolling, our show notes were empty. This is what you get when you are dealing with professionals.

This week in Infosec

Tweet of the Week

Billy Big Balls

Rant of the week

Industry News

Sticky Pickle of the Week

This week in Infosec

(Liberated from the “today in infosec” twitter account):

11th February:

1956: 'Cambridge spies' surface in Moscow Two British diplomats who vanished in mysterious circumstances five years ago have reappeared in the Soviet Union. Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean handed a statement to four representatives from the press in a hotel room overlooking Moscow's Red Square. In their 1,000-word statement the former diplomats denied ever having been Soviet agents. They said they had come to the USSR to "work for the aim of better understanding between the Soviet Union and the West". http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/11/newsid_2721000/2721413.stm Agent Garbo: https://www.mi5.gov.uk/agent-garbo

Billy Big Balls

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/feb/12/kpmg-bill-michael-resigns-after-telling-staff-to-stop-moaning

KPMG’s UK chairman, Bill Michael, has resigned after telling staff to “stop moaning” during a virtual meeting about the coronavirus pandemic and the impact of lockdown on people’s lives.

Michael, who has headed the company since 2017, was speaking at a virtual town hall meeting on Monday with members of the firm’s financial services consulting team when he made the comments.

The 52-year old Australian, who also said that staff should stop “playing the victim card” and described the concept of unconscious bias as being “complete and utter crap for years”, apologised and said on Friday the scandal over his comments had made his position at the accounting giant “untenable”.

“I love the firm and I am truly sorry that my words have caused hurt among my colleagues and for the impact the events of this week have had on them,” Michael said. “In light of that, I regard my position as untenable and so I have decided to leave the firm. It has been a privilege to have acted as chair of KPMG. I feel hugely proud of all our people and the things they have achieved, particularly during these very challenging times.”

KPMG, which said that it will undertake a “leadership election” to replace Michael in due course, has appointed senior elected board member Bina Mehta as acting UK chair.

“Bill has made a huge contribution to our firm over the last 30 years, especially over the last three years as chairman, and we wish him all the best for the future,” said Mehta.

Rant of the Week

Florida county sheriff Bob Gualtieri held a remarkably clear-headed and fact-filled news conference about an attempt to poison the water supply of Oldsmar, a town of around 15,000 not far from Tampa.

Gualtieri told the media that someone (they don’t know who yet) remotely accessed a computer for the city’s water treatment system (using Teamviewer) and briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide (a.k.a. lye used to control acidity in the water) to 100 times the normal level.

“The city’s water supply was not affected,” The Tampa Bay Times reported. “A supervisor working remotely saw the concentration being changed on his computer screen and immediately reverted it, Gualtieri said. City officials on Monday emphasized that several other safeguards are in place to prevent contaminated water from entering the water supply and said they’ve disabled the remote-access system used in the attack.”

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/02/whats-most-interesting-about-the-florida-water-system-hack-that-we-heard-about-it-at-all/

Industry News

Europol Breaks $14m Card Fraud Ring

Cyber-Attacker Tries to Remotely Poison Florida City

Experts Warn of “Beg Bounty” Extortion Attempts

New Council Will Drive UK’s Cyber-Training and Standards

Scammers Selling Fake #COVID19 Vaccination Cards for Just $20

Credential Theft Attacks Doubled Between 2016 and 2020

UK Cops Arrest Eight in US Celeb SIM Swap Case

UN Links North Korea to $281m Crypto Exchange Heist

Political Bias and Impulsive Behavior Open Door to Misinformation

Javvad’s Weekly Stories

Tweet of the Week

https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/11/facebook_phishing_domains/

https://www.zdnet.com/article/proofpoint-sues-facebook-to-get-permission-to-use-lookalike-domains-for-phishing-tests/

https://twitter.com/campuscodi/status/1359708438859776002?s=20

Sticky Pickle of the Week

You’re the head of a trio - have been wrongfully accused of having an over-inflated ego.

And you get this amazing interview and coverage in the largest magazine in the UK.

How do you bring it up without reinforcing their image of you having a large ego, and being insecure of your greatness.

https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=f73de865-57f0-49d7-9a61-318ea24773c7

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