Your Cyber-Defense

Your Cyber-Defense

Why do YOU need this?

1. Attorney General W.P. Barr stated on July 23, 2019, that the public has a "right of access" to your emails, phone location, texts, and browsing data. In saying that he doesn't believe in a right to privacy on personal devices, he stated "technology creates new spheres of privacy that the drafters of the Fourth Amendment could not have thought to enumerate." He stated the goal of reading everyones' phone data is to "detect and prevent crime before it occurs." His desired access to your data is regardless of "whether it is stored on a device or in transmission," or "on disks or other storage devices." He stated that this unrestricted access should be on "consumer products and services such as messaging, smart phones, e-mail, and voice and data applications." A.G. Barr doesn't believe in following the Supreme Court's proclamation that a warrant is needed before analyzing any of the data on a phone. He also called Apple's use of strong-encryption " illegitimate, and so is any demand for that product". He's outlawing the use of encryption to which the government doesn't have a back-door and stating that if you buy and use Apple's encryption, you are a criminal. Why does he find it so repulsive to get a warrant and follow what the Supreme Court has decided? Make him follow the law.

As if that isn't enough to make you encrypt your phone with strong-encryption....

2. Microsoft, Apple, Google, and other data providers have already provided Federal law enforcement with back doors to all data stored in the cloud. The Supreme Court has ruled that anything stored on the cloud is not private and since phones come preset to back-up to the cloud, they already have access to most of your phone data, depending on how often it backs-up. 

3. China has built its military and tech industry on espionage from US companies. Besides China, there are persistent Cyber-attacks from Iran, Russia, Ukraine and others. My home router is attacked more than 4,000 times in any 12-hour timeframe. Imagine the attacks business and government networks undergo on a minute-by-minute basis. Your phone and your home network are getting as much attention from the attacking Cyber-bots as every other network device.  You don't know it, but you are always under Cyber-attack.

4. Microsoft's Windows 10 sends 2 Gigabytes of data from your Windows 10 device, to Microsoft, every month. This has been a constant complaint since Windows 10 was introduced. Google collects data from every Android device constantly, in order to sell and place ads. Facebook scans your device for information to upload to their data-centers. Apple does as well, but not to the extent of Google or Microsoft. 

5. Your phone company keeps track of your location. Whenever your phone pings a new cell tower, it gets recorded in their logs. This location data is sold to advertisers and given to law enforcement.

CyDeR, Inc. can help you stop this monetizing of your data, stop illegal access to your devices, anonymize your location, and protect you from the constant Cyber-Attack bots that are always testing each device. Call Dr. Steve today to schedule an introductory meeting. During that meeting, your digital protection needs will be discussed and a personal protection plan will be developed.


Affluent Persons Protection

Today’s world is rife with anti-affluence sentiment. Affluent persons are a target for hacktivists seeking to make a political statement, and hackers seeking to make a name for themselves and steal their piece of your hard-earned pie. With family and assets to protect and identity theft increasing daily, we use enterprise grade data security and device hardening methods to protect the family and assets. This comprehensive security helps protect personal identities as well as bank and investment accounts that are accessed on digital devices.

Beyond the enterprise, mobile devices are valuable targets since their use is increasing for critical interactions. Private communications, banking transactions, and investment portfolios, all provide an increasingly active target for hackers. Securing the data as well as the family and their identity is part of our digital security implementation. Following these trends, we provide your choice of phones with upgraded levels of security beyond what a normal person needs.

With under-age identity theft becoming prevalent, protecting the family is also a critical step in protecting assets. Using "parental controls" our services block inappropriate web content as well as protecting the family from tracking and malware.

Face it, normal people don't need this type of cyber security. This type of security is for those who have something to protect. Cyber-crime methods constantly evolve, and this demands a responsive and alert cyber defense. Our comprehensive program protects your identity, privacy, and data no matter where you are.

By following highest security standards and implementing them according to the needs of each individual, your mobile and home transactions will be secured to the highest level. Also, data flow is analyzed and monitored daily to make sure only allowed servers are being contacted through mobile and home devices. Tracking is minimized and only data necessary to perform white-listed tasks is permitted to leave the devices. Anonymous web usage is enabled and the user is only identified to financial apps where required. Attacks on devices are quickly monitored and analyzed for defensive purposes.

The fact is, you need protection from your government as well as the malicious actors around the world. Snowden exposed that all digital communications are stored in an NSA data center in case the government needs to look up your history. Attorney General Barr just stated that he is willingly overlooking the Supreme Court Rulings on cell phone privacy and wants access to everyone's live communications as well as protected data. The Supreme Court has ruled that unless there is 1) imminent danger that you will destroy the data or 2) imminent threat to public safety, the government has to have a warrant to access your phone. Problem is, the Supreme Court ruled that if you back your phone up online, your data is no longer protected. This means Apple backups, Samsung backups, and Gmail, Outlook, or any online service that stores your documents has to provide access to law enforcement without a warrant. Some good companies, like Apple, still require a warrant and will not reverse engineer back-up encryption, but unless you're using the latest encryption, there's not much hope in keeping your private data private.

This is why we provide phones that use advanced algorithms to minimize any tracking and identification, protect from Stinger-cell traffic interception, and protect our user's important transaction data. We're not anti-government, we're pro Bill-of-Rights as interpreted by the Supreme Court in our system of checks and balances.



Executive Protection

 Division Presidents, Board Members, and CEOs all have access to highly critical business information—information that could be used by competitors or other adversaries to harm current and future business prospects. These business-essential executives often communicate while off campus using email, texting, and other methods that need to be secured and protected.

 Important business executives have become the target of specific malware designed to give the attackers information on the company as well as the executive himself. Beyond the executive, the family is also a target, as familial information can be used for extortion and blackmail. Beyond this vulnerability, mobile devices carry information about bank accounts, investments, and other personal data that can be used to steal an identity, steal corporate information, or steal sensitive security details.

The security that comes with mobile phones is not adequate for the types of attacks that are directed at this level of executive. It may be adequate for the teenager who watches YouTube all day and spends all night texting their friends while playing video games, but a business-critical executive needs specific and personalized cyber security to protect against Nation States and Advanced Persistent Threats.

CyDeRinc can provide mobile protection for the executive as well as their family. Securing the mobile devices of children and spouses can protect that information as well as their identities. We will provide enterprise grade digital security to the home environment to protect family, spouses and assets.

Securing the executive against tracking, malware and message exfiltration is not the only focus. Providing a safe internet experience using "parental controls" for the family is also important. Identity theft of under-age persons is becoming an important issue as well.

Daily monitoring of data flow contacted servers, attack recognition, anonymous mobile browsing, tracking reduction, and threat-vector profiles are a small part of our executive services.

  • Call Dr. Smith to discuss how he can help secure your digital environment. He would be happy to arrange an in-person consultation. 540-693-six three six five  or email him at p3.drsmith@cyderinc(dot)com.



Protection from Illegal Search of your data by AG Barr. 

 The Supreme Court has ruled that a search warrant is needed to view data on a cell phone unless there is imminent danger or imminent destruction of incriminating evidence. Attorney General Barr stated in July 2019, that your data on your devices should not be "insulated from legitimate scrutiny" (now it's guilty until data shows you're innocent, that "technology creates new spheres of privacy that the drafters of the 4th Amendment could not have thought to enumerate" (words on a phone deserve less protection than words on paper because the phone is inherently dangerous), and claims that Apple's refusal to crack their own encryption makes Apple's business "illegitimate, and any demand for the product." He just declares "ex cathedra" that anyone buying iPhones are criminals since iPhones use good encryption. From reading the speech, one gets the sense that has put "cross-hairs" or "targeting lasers" on Apple for their refusal to dismantle and break their own software.

Click here for an analysis of his speech in which he dismantles Balance-of-Power, the Constitution, and the 1st and 4th Amendments. He also states his goal is to "detect and prevent crime before it occurs" instead of prosecute it.

Securing the Digital Landscape

 Every digital device contains logs of the activity done on it. Laptops, phones, home internet devices all are attractive targets for criminals. Account numbers, passwords, addresses, contacts, conversations, emails, and more can be compromised on a mobile device. Securing these devices is a top priority, using a multi-layered security approach.

Browsing histories can be used for extortion or blackmail. Phones can be used to track daily activities. Contact lists are stolen just to impersonate friends and family. Data is the currency of the 21st century and if your phone isn't setup correctly, that currency is sitting on a cloud server somewhere, waiting to be swiped. Part of securing mobile devices is limiting where that data is stored.

Securing the home environment is critical as well. Restricting Wifi to authorized devices, securing the gateways and routers to prevent unauthorized tampering, and providing a safe browsing environment is all part of what we do.

Digital Protection

 CyDeRinc’s goal is to provide enterprise-level digital network protection to the client and their family. By using top-shelf systems with custom security implementation, we secure the client’s digital environment holistically.

 Mobile Devices: We setup mobile devices for the highest security using various measures. Precautions are taken to prevent the user’s GPS locations from being tracked, as well as enabling anonymous usage. Data transfer is monitored to ensure extraction has not taken place. Cell phones are backed up to secure devices and randomized. Other security and anonymizing measures are employed as well.

Home: ISP provided gateways are secured. Additional devices are added to secure web access, prevent web page attacks, and prevent malicious emails from phishing or delivering malware. Data transfers are monitored daily, checking for malicious server connections and attacks from hackers and nation-states.

Traveling: Mobile devices can be custom-secured for the environment. For information on how to secure the phone while traveling, see the page Articles, Rants and Raves. However, our security implementation goes far beyond what can be included in an online guide.


Common Digital Attacks

Phishing is the most common attack. Email with malicious software or links are sent to many individuals with the goal of obtaining corporate network credentials. Since login pages can be easily copied, hackers will copy the login page and use a link in an official looking email to get victims to input their network credentials. Similarly, bank login pages can be easily copied and used as a decoy to get banking credentials.

Spear-Phishing is designed to retrieve high level information from high level executives. Individuals are researched online, using public business documents, and specifically targeted for their access to important information. This type of attack continues to grow and is why CyDeRinc provides our services. High level executives and executives with access to intelligence are specifically targeted in this type of attack.

Phishing and spear-phishing can be used to either swipe login credentials using copied sites or for installing malware on the device. Often times the phishing emails will contain a document or file that the user will open, which installs secret malware on the device. From there, the malware can open a connection to the attacker, a back-door, who will then use the back door to view everything done on the device, or to retrieve specific data. In these types of attacks, the victim may never know the device was compromised until their identity is stolen, bank account drained, or other unwitting consequences occur. Sometimes accounts are drained slowly as not to raise suspicion.

Port-Scanning is continuously done by bots run by malicious organizations. Scanning is done against a device or gateway to determine which types of connections the device will accept. On a phone or laptop, an open-port can allow a program to be activated in the background and the user never know. Once a bot finds open ports, the bot will report back to its Command and Control the IP address of the open ports. From there another bot or an attacker will attempt different methods to access the device.

Ports are guarded by Firewalls to determine which signals are allowed through to the device. The scanning is done automatically and depending on the ports the bot finds open, further connections are attempted on that port to see if access can be gained to the device. Windows PCs are particularly lax with their Firewalls since there are so many background services running that use network access.

Malware is often installed on a device from email or a web page that has been taken over by attackers. An email will usually require the user to run or open an attachment in order to install the malware. A web page that has been taken over and instructed to install malware on visitor’s devices is much more difficult to stop. The vast array of services available on websites makes the nefarious use of these more easily done. An anti-virus that scans email and web traffic is critical to stopping malware.

Malware is also installed on devices through app stores. Android and Apple have both had issues with malware being present in the apps in their stores. Android and Apple systems are more secure than a Windows PC, but there will always be those sneaking malware into the apps.

It's not the just the loner in his parent's basement typing away on a keyboard all day that pose the threat. China, Russia, and Iran makeup a significant part of the threat landscape. Persistent Threat Actors don't go away, they keep trying. And now that the NSA Toolkit has been turned against the United States, corporation and research institutions are having technological advancements pilfered at an alarming rate. Protect yourself and your business today.

Dr. Smith has worked tirelessly through the years for those he has served. His experience in different ventures helps him think outside of the box. Put this experience to work for you.

  • Call Dr. Smith to discuss how he can help secure your digital environment. He would be happy to arrange an in-person consultation. 540-693-six three six five  or email him at p3.drsmith@cyderinc(dot)com.


Website information standards: The web has become overrun with bots that scan websites looking for email addresses and phone numbers. The bots submit what they find to their operators who use the information as a way to scam people and fill inboxes with useless spam. To this end, information on this site is not standard, in order to make it more difficult to be scraped without human interaction. Thus, our phone number has the last 4 digits spelled and the email address has (dot) instead of ".". Please bear with us as we attempt to limit the nefarious actors who steal company time with email spam and phone-call scams. Accordingly, our phone service employs a direct response mechanism so that only live callers get through. Follow the simple instruction and you will be taken to a direct line.

  

Privacy Policy

 It is the policy of Cyber Defense & Research, Inc. that subscribers' personal information shall remain private and not be revealed without a signed release from the client. A search warrant shall be necessary for the release of information to law enforcement. Names are not digitally stored with other personally identifiable information.