The Mushroom Policy

Is Obstructing Security Obstructing Justice?

by Dominic Alvieri

June 13th, 2023

@AlvieriD

 

What does a mushroom have to do with cybersecurity?

Let's put a name to what has been going on in the corporate world regarding ransomware attack communications. Yes, I said ransomware. The Schneier Blog just put out an excellent short blog on some of the legal tactics behind some of the recent delays for incident responders and security efforts.

How does one grow mushrooms? 

If you know how to nurture mushrooms you're wanted in corporate public relation departments around the globe. In most cases to grow mushrooms you to keep them in the dark and feed them a lot of crap. Literally that's all you have to do. Very much like the lawyer-fed communication orders given to PR rooms to disseminate lately.

"to grow mushrooms you keep them in the dark and feed them a lot of crap."

In many cases I don't believe that every company would come forward if samples, flashes or exfiltrated data itself didn't leak out. Many companies wouldn't say a word about it. After being confronted several companies have come forward with vague crafted statements months after the fact. Truth be told sometimes it does take some time to do a complete forensic investigation. 

Don't mention or use the word ransomware, say cyber incident. It sounds better. They didn't name names.

The Ostrich Policy

You could just bury your head in the sand and hope it goes away.

Employees of Highland Homes in Texas have reached out in April saying that their bosses kept denying the Alphv BlackCat posts claiming that they breached the company. BlackCat finally dumped alleged company data a few weeks ago in late May.

Accountability

If you are going to make money off of my data you have to protect it better. Stand up a be the good corporate citizen we always hear about.

Stay safe. 

Dominic Alvieri 

@AlvieriD

Is Leaked Data on the Dark Web Difficult or Easy to Access?

 Lawyers in Oakland and Minnesota are Worlds Apart

By Dominic Alvieri

June 8th, 2023

Twitter @AlvieriD

The distance between Oakland, California and Minneapolis, Minnesota is approximately 1,968 miles but they are going to be worlds apart in the coming courtroom battles stemming from the recent cyber incidents involving the City of Oakland and the Minneapolis Public School District. 

Play Ransomware breached the City of Oakland and Medusa Team hacked the Minneapolis Public School District. 

Is Accessing Dark Web Data Leaks Easy or Difficult?

I have a great respect for the legal profession but also believe it is one of the most abused professions. The current silencing and obstruction of security incidents is evidently not obstruction of justice. 

Some things are black or white.

In Minnesota lawyers are going to argue that accessing their dark web data leak is difficult to for the normal person.

In Oakland offensive lawyers are going to argue that their leaked data is very easy to access.

Lawyers take note of the recent examples of the dangers online including Medusa Team loading the MPS breached data and new Akira Ransomware has just been caught trying to fingerprint users. 

Truth be told it is fairly easy to access the dark web and get in trouble for the unsuspecting or unaware. What I think doesn't really matter, I'm just a random guy on the internet. 

Nearly any person with access to a computer can be shown fairly quickly how to access ransomware group leak sites and data but I would not suggest it. You need to know how to safely traverse online.

Stay safe online and off.

Dominic Alvieri

The Cyber Show

@AlvieriD