Hacked Again by Scott N. Schober

Hacked Again

By: Scott N. Schober

I found Scott Schober and the details of his book “Hacked Again” by way of Twitter. And it caught my eye, especially when I noticed, directly under the title it read: “It can happen to anyone even a cybersecurity expert.” Okay, now I was totally looking over the details of this book cover to cover, and even made an attempt to contact Scott, and gave him the details of my blog. 

He responded, and said he would love to have me read and review his book. And then he asked for my address. I was like what? My home address? Now I was even more excited, because not very often does someone want to send out a real life paperback anymore, least wise without making you enter contests, do this, that, and you know—work for it. Needless to say, I gave him my address and anxiously awaited the arrival of my book of knowledge. 

Once the book came, the first thing I noticed about it, was Scott made a glossary. Now that was intriguing. For those of us who aren’t experts, and wonder what a ‘pen test’ is, he explains. I am one who had no idea what one is. And in case you don’t know, I will explain since I did bring it up to those of you following along. 

Definition of a pen test: A colloquial term for penetration test or penetration testing. If you still don’t know, don’t be alarmed. There is no quiz in this review, or in the book, I promise. LOL

Anyway, I read this book cover to cover, twice honestly. I wanted to be certain I caught a few things, in case I missed something.

You see, Scott Schober is a CEO of one of the top wireless security firms. No, that isn’t where or how he started, but through the thick of it, it is how he learned and grew, and even learned. Those who create mayhem, hack, create bugs and viruses, and even cyber attack, and cyber bully people and companies, are internet criminals. Some get caught, and some don’t. These people live on the dark web, and victimize anyone and everyone without a care in the world.

Scott Schober has even been victimized, not once, but several times. You may think that just because someone is a security expert that they know the ins and outs, and that this kind of things doesn’t happen to them, but guess what?! It does. You go to bed one night with thousands and wake up the next in the hole. Where did it all go? What happened? Where did he go wrong? 

Through watching and learning, Scott sets up accounts, watches, learns, and educates himself. He changes banking institutions, and even checks into their own employees, and data entry, and more. But still, the only place he feels his money is safe, is in his own hands, or even in his mattress. Scott is learning banks are not the safest place for his money. 

Scott researches, he learns even more of hacks and breaches. There are several banks, (I am not going to mention them in this, for their protection, and mine.) who have issues. These banks seem to know they have issues, but yet do nothing, because they are big enough to what? (My question here? Big enough to what? Not care? It’s a write off? What?)

Banks hire employees, run credit checks, and do everything they can to make sure your money is safe. Your money is also FDIC protected, which means it is insured.

When hackers gain access to your money, and the bank has to replace it, obviously it must be quick and easy, because I personally have had it happen several times, and without question it was replaced in two days with one bank, and twenty four hours with another. The one banks fraud department was already aware of the case, that one was the case that was going on already, the twenty four hour one, saying others had already filed. The other, the two day one, I provided my info, and they claimed they had to investigate. The longest I have ever had to wait myself, for a fraud claim was a week. I have never had a fraud claim denied, ever. This to me, is sad and pathetic.

The fraud departments, which were added, because of hackers, and the dark web, were created because of these Criminals, and sure- it’s making more jobs for the unemployed. (For now, until that goes robotic.) But these things are all being added, and more things keep being added to banks because of hackers, and the internet, and crime, and criminals. So honestly- will our money ever be safe again?

Long ago I watched a movie, or maybe a TV show. I can’t remember what or which it was. But there internet, and electronic devices, and the web, everything went out, like it was back to the dark ages. Those that didn’t have their money out of the machines, were screwed. Meaning, if you had no cash in hand, you had no money- period. And a lot of people believe that. When they were promising us that the year 2000, or 2001- you know the millennium was going to cause the world to end, or some kind of problems for us, some expected the computers to stop working then. Because of issues like this, yes. There are many people who do have cash in hand, and are prepared. This is a wise suggestion, as you will see, when you read Scott’s book. It is better to be a little prepared, then not at all.

This book "Hacked Again" looks at ways to protect your monies, ways things can happen, and even explained how it did happen to Scott Schober, a professional cybersecurity expert. This book will enlighten you, make you wonder, and then make you rethink your possibilities. You will be glad that you read it, and you will want to share it with others, so they can learn, and be informed as well. It is a five star read, very educational, and informative. The book in itself, "Hacked Again" will teach you things, even if it is only one thing, I promise you it will be one thing you did not know. I am glad I read it, and this book will never be dusty, because I will always go through it, and check things out in it every so often, and share it and its info with others. You truly need to get your copy of “Hacked Again” if you haven’t already, you won’t regret it, in this day and age, trust me.

 

Here is Scott with his awards that he has earned

Before I ask my questions to Scott, I wanted to warn you the readers, that my questions will seem a little more in depth than usual, because I too, have been hacked. So my questions may seem a little more personal, but I wanted to really let you see, and know what it is like, to be “Hacked Again”.

On that note, here are my questions for Scott:

1. My husband and I have also dealt with BOA. Originally, we are from Akron, Ohio. They were first known as Charter One there. And while they were Charter One, we were even having problems with them. Once they became BOA, the problems became even more intense. My question to you is this: Is it just that banking systems are easy to hack, or is it that BOA is/was an easy target?

Many banks have been targeted and hacked for the past few years.  Most notably was JP Morgan/Chase that I discuss in the book. In 2015 Bank of America was under multiple attacks by hackers.  The hackers created a mirror image of the BOA’s web site and from a phishing attack re-directed customers to a ‘fake’ BOA site that looked 100% legit. They would they would be re-directed the fake site would ask to verify their account information.  After they entered their account info they would be re-directed again to a site that asked for their personal information (i.e. Address, password, DoB, and answers to three security challenge questions). All of this looked as though the bank was asking this but it was really the hackers. 

Lately there have been numerous hacks to smaller regional banks as hackers have realized that larger banks are spending significant dollars to stop hackers and the smaller banks can’t afford to spend as much on advanced threat detection systems that can thwart attacks.

2. My second question still goes along with question one, do you think that BOA is just insecure, or do you think that all banks are just easy targets?

I think BOA as well as many banks like JPMC, CititBank…. have all had to heavily invest in cyber security monitoring tools, realtime threat detection tools and internal training top down so everyone within the organization is on high alert.   I recently talked to the president of a smaller regional bank and asked him his personal opinion as how safe are banks today and his response was: " No bank is 100% secure” which I can believe. 

3. As with you, we switched from BOA because we lost a lot of funds. And it didn't stop happening no matter what we did. And this was our personal checking account. This was before online banking. How was it 'then' so easy to do these kinds of things to people?

There are numerous ways that hackers can get your funds.  Credit card can be compromised (most common is where hackers install skimmers at gas pumps, or scan your card when it is out of your site).  Debit Cards there are many bluetooth skimmers that are inserted into physical ATM machines that can compromise your mag stripe data and pin hole micro cameras to see your PIN as it is typed.  Many thieves will hack into banks, monitor tellers transactions, and they transfer money out of one account to another using the tellers credentials.  

 

Scott speaking in public

4. What is the best advise that you can give to anyone, in business and in life, to keep their bank accounts secure?

If you can keep your personal finance simple it is easier to monitor and protect.  If you have (1) credit card you can easily monitor activity and you can also call and tell your credit card company to monitor and set limits (i.e. if any transactions are ever done over $500 please do not put through and call me first).  Having 2+ credit cards is very challenging to monitor and catch fraudulent charges.  It is essential to report anything suspicious immediately to your bank so no further funds can be stolen. 

Do not use debit cards.  The cyber thieves are taking money out of your account directly and it takes longer to get the funds back.  You must report any compromises immediately as well.

5. My Aunt and my Father insist that the computers and the internet are tools of the Devil, and will destroy us. Do you agree with this terminology?

My opinion is there is good and bad with all technology and it is really how you use technology in a positive balanced way.  There will always be unsavory individuals who will sell illicit items in the dark web (i.e. drugs, firearms, child pornography…) as well as on the internet in general.

6. If you could explain the internet to someone who had never heard of it, you know someone who just climbed out the dark ages, how would you explain it to them?

The Internet is a system of interconnected computers around the globe allow billions of devices to interconnect.  The internet allows individuals, businesses, education, and government to freely communicate.  The internet is where you can go to get directions, information, photos, videos, music, news and everything and anything you can imagine.

7. Since you have written this book, have you learned anything new?

I continue to learn everyday, especially through the feedback from my readers.  I was amazed how many people upon reading Hacked Again have reached out to me to share their own nightmares of being hacked.  Many readers reached out to asking for further advice which I am always happy to share. 

8. Have you ever had any issues with cyber bullying or cyber attacks?

I have had several notorious hackers that have ‘cyber bullied’ me on twitter and LinkedIn.  For the most part I try to ignore them.  They have tried to belittle me and are frustrated that I share tips to help people keep safe so it is somewhat flattering.  When they escalate the cyber bullying to threats and improper language I simply block them and report them.

9. Do you think social media is too revealing and people are too forth coming with their lives and secrets?

Absolutely, as you can socially engine most internet users password, security challenge questions with the basic information they post on various social media sites.  I always encourage people to limit the amount of information that you put out there.  If you feel the desire to put your birthday on LinkedIn, why not lie.  Why tell everyone what high school you attended? Why not make make the cyber thieves have a challenge with incorrect information posted on social media when they are trying to hack your account.

10. What do you think is the safest bank, or is there one?

My mattress, cash is king.  I limit the use of one credit card that I use.  I also write on the back where the signature ‘CHECK ID BEFORE RUNNING’ so most of the time I will be asked for ID.  This is useful if I ever have my card stolen and a merchant will ask for ID and the cyber thief will not succeed. 

11. What is the actual safest way to handle our money?

I recommend keeping a small stash of cash hidden at home that you use to pay daily incidental expenses (i.e. gas, food…)   This is helpful to minimize what you spend when you have to reach into your wallet for each purpose.  I suggest the use of one credit card so you can monitor closely all transactions.  I am a believer if you can’t afford it - don’t buy it. 

12. Please provide for us your book links, and social media links:

www.hackedagain.com

http://scottschober.com/author/

@ScottBVS

@HackedAgainBook

@BVsystems

LINK for graphics for Hacked Again:  http://scottschober.com/media-graphics/

13, Please share with us any extra info you feel worthy of sharing:

Look for my next book:  ‘Don’t Feed The Drones’ 

14. Any last words to your readers and fans?

Stay Safe

Hacked Again by Scott N Schober
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I found Scott Schober and the details of his book “Hacked Again” by way of Twitter. And it caught my eye, especially when I noticed, directly under the title it read: “It can happen to anyone even a cybersecurity expert.” Okay, now I was totally looking over the details of this book cover to cover, and even made an attempt to contact Scott, and gave him the details of my blog.

He responded, and said he would love to have me read and review his book. And then he asked for my address. I was like what? My home address? Now I was even more excited, because not very often does someone want to send out a real life paperback anymore, least wise without making you enter contests, do this, that, and you know—work for it. Needless to say, I gave him my address and anxiously awaited the arrival of my book of knowledge.

Once the book came, the first thing I noticed about it, was Scott made a glossary. Now that was intriguing. For those of us who aren’t experts, and wonder what a ‘pen test’ is, he explains. I am one who had no idea what one is. And in case you don’t know, I will explain since I did bring it up to those of you following along.

Definition of a pen test: A colloquial term for penetration test or penetration testing. If you still don’t know, don’t be alarmed. There is no quiz in this review, or in the book, I promise. LOL

Anyway, I read this book cover to cover, twice honestly. I wanted to be certain I caught a few things, in case I missed something.

You see, Scott Schober is a CEO of one of the top wireless security firms. No, that isn’t where or how he started, but through the thick of it, it is how he learned and grew, and even learned. Those who create mayhem, hack, create bugs and viruses, and even cyber attack, and cyber bully people and companies, are internet criminals. Some get caught, and some don’t. These people live on the dark web, and victimize anyone and everyone without a care in the world.

Scott Schober has even been victimized, not once, but several times. You may think that just because someone is a security expert that they know the ins and outs, and that this kind of things doesn’t happen to them, but guess what?! It does. You go to bed one night with thousands and wake up the next in the hole. Where did it all go? What happened? Where did he go wrong?

Through watching and learning, Scott sets up accounts, watches, learns, and educates himself. He changes banking institutions, and even checks into their own employees, and data entry, and more. But still, the only place he feels his money is safe, is in his own hands, or even in his mattress. Scott is learning banks are not the safest place for his money.

Scott researches, he learns even more of hacks and breaches. There are several banks, (I am not going to mention them in this, for their protection, and mine.) who have issues. These banks seem to know they have issues, but yet do nothing, because they are big enough to what? (My question here? Big enough to what? Not care? It’s a write off? What?)

Banks hire employees, run credit checks, and do everything they can to make sure your money is safe. Your money is also FDIC protected, which means it is insured.

When hackers gain access to your money, and the bank has to replace it, obviously it must be quick and easy, because I personally have had it happen several times, and without question it was replaced in two days with one bank, and twenty four hours with another. The one banks fraud department was already aware of the case, that one was the case that was going on already, the twenty four hour one, saying others had already filed. The other, the two day one, I provided my info, and they claimed they had to investigate. The longest I have ever had to wait myself, for a fraud claim was a week. I have never had a fraud claim denied, ever. This to me, is sad and pathetic.

The fraud departments, which were added, because of hackers, and the dark web, were created because of these Criminals, and sure- it’s making more jobs for the unemployed. (For now, until that goes robotic.) But these things are all being added, and more things keep being added to banks because of hackers, and the internet, and crime, and criminals. So honestly- will our money ever be safe again?

Long ago I watched a movie, or maybe a TV show. I can’t remember what or which it was. But there internet, and electronic devices, and the web, everything went out, like it was back to the dark ages. Those that didn’t have their money out of the machines, were screwed. Meaning, if you had no cash in hand, you had no money- period. And a lot of people believe that. When they were promising us that the year 2000, or 2001- you know the millennium was going to cause the world to end, or some kind of problems for us, some expected the computers to stop working then. Because of issues like this, yes. There are many people who do have cash in hand, and are prepared. This is a wise suggestion, as you will see, when you read Scott’s book. It is better to be a little prepared, then not at all.

This book "Hacked Again" looks at ways to protect your monies, ways things can happen, and even explained how it did happen to Scott Schober, a professional cybersecurity expert. This book will enlighten you, make you wonder, and then make you rethink your possibilities. You will be glad that you read it, and you will want to share it with others, so they can learn, and be informed as well. It is a five star read, very educational, and informative. The book in itself, "Hacked Again" will teach you things, even if it is only one thing, I promise you it will be one thing you did not know. I am glad I read it, and this book will never be dusty, because I will always go through it, and check things out in it every so often, and share it and its info with others. You truly need to get your copy of “Hacked Again” if you haven’t already, you won’t regret it, in this day and age, trust me.




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