Practice Makes Perfect

A few decades ago I was enrolled in a FREE Tae-Kwon-Do class. I made it up to Green belt, and then life happened. You can probably identify with this – life got busy and I could no longer attend the class. There are something’s that I remember, but many things I forgot. Why? I didn’t practice those skills. A few months ago I decided that I needed to be more active in my middle age, and enrolled in a Tai Chi class and a Karate class.

This stuff was a lot easier 20 years ago!

Anyway, these classes have lots of repetition. You can do the same moves for hours on end. Why? One simple word – Practice. By continually drilling the movements into to the students, these techniques will become second nature.

Imagine just how useful it would be to want to become proficient at karate, and buying, reading and studying karate books. How prepared would you be when the time comes to use karate? Imagine an assailant coming at you, and you nervously fumble in your pocket for your “Karate for Everyone  Pocket Guide”. Do you think you honestly think you’ll have time to flip to page 7 which you have to know addresses this case? Of course not!

Do you remember those scenes from The Andy Griffith Show, where Barney Fife was trying to show of the Judo skills he just read about in his Judo book, and right in the middle of wanting to show off what he thought he knew, he told Andy to stop, and went to consult his book.  Just how well would this work in a real combat situation? But Barney did have one part right..he did try to practice those skills instead of just thinking he was ready when the time came.

Our military spend lots of time training and becoming condition for combat. There are whole facilities built for nothing but combat training, and mock wars. When the time comes..they are ready .

The same is true for you. -practice, and train so that when the time comes you can quickly pull out your pepper spray, aim it, and shoot it correctly, without thinking about it.

Learn How to Use Your Personal Protection Product

Having a personal protection product and not knowing how to use it when you need it can is a dangerous combination. By not knowing how to effortlessly use your pepper spray, stun gun or whatever your self-defense product of choice is, can injure you as easily as it can hurt your assailant. Once you have selected a personal protection ask for instructions and learn how to effectively use it. Then PRACTICE using it over and over and over until it becomes second nature. If you watch old westerns, you may have seen where cowboys would practice there quick draw, or their shooting skills so that they could shot accurately when the time came.

What would you do.. IF

The actress Robin Curtis once told me that when she was little, she would practice hiding in the dyer just in case someone broke into her home, and was going to rob the place. While this may seem a bit strange, at least she had a plan and knew how to execute it. You can learn from this by training using your protection product or self defense methods for different scenarios. What would you do if your approached by strangers in your car? What if someone is following you in a parking lot? What if your date tries to rape you. What if…

How will you respond? Practice –practice Practice.

Did Someone Say Practice?

Remember an assailant may try to get the stun gun or pepper spray or whatever away from you, if possible. This is why it is so important to practice so that you can react quickly, reflexively-in an instant to successfully protect yourself. The time you have to recognize an assault and bring the protection product to action may be less than three seconds!

When you are out walking, especially in the dark, in an isolated area carry your stun gun or pepper spray in your hand ready for use. It is not a bad idea to have

one in your car, your home, place of work, and of course with you to cover any contingency. I’ve always suggested that people who buy pepper spray should purchase two. One to practice with, and one to use.

Did you know that women are more likely to be crime victims, especially those who work late at night and those who live alone. They in particular need non-lethal

self-defense products such as an effective stun gun or pepper spray. Check with your local police department. Literally thousands of police departments carry and use stun device or pepper spray. Why wouldn’t you?

No matter what you choose as you means of self defense, learn how to use it, and practice practice, practice.

PepperEyes.com is dedicated to providing you with the best and most affordable personal protection products on the market to meet the security needs of you, your family members or your business, by assisting anyone who is unwilling to become a victim of crime. If you want to take personal responsibility for yourself, your home or your business, purchase our high quality discount personal protection products and arm yourself with the knowledge of the best way to stay secure in an ever-increasing violent world. In today’s society being equipped mentally and physically is no longer an option. PepperEyes.com is a division of Onyx Knight Enterprises

Practice, Practice, Practice

Yes, this technique will get you to Carnegie Hall, but it’s also necessary for every lifesaving technique. Most Humans when in situations that cause them to experience extreme stress, panic or fright may not be able to “keep their heads”, stay cool and focus on the steps necessary to resolve or deal with the situation.  Our natural instinct will cause our heart to pound, our bloodstream gets flooded with adrenaline, our senses are impaired, and our minds are adrift in emotions that grip us so that we can’t think clearly.

 Imagine if a fire broke out in you home in the middle of the night, and your family has a fire plan, but was never rehearsed. Most often than not, panic will ensue, and you and your family may or may not get out alive.  If you have a family fire plan you should rehearse it twice a year. So that in the even of a fire, you will you will know what to do.

 The same works concept works with self defense. Now matter what you purchase to protect yourself with, or what techniques you have learned you need to practice it to have it be part of your responses. A simple technique of a mom and a child to learn in a situation is when the need arises for the mother to step in front of the child to put the child out of the frame of reference. Then the mother (or father) keeps eye contact with the perpetrator and talk the whole time. While the perpetrator is concentrating on the parent, the child can easily slip away to get assistance, and out of harms way. The parent and the child need to practice this technique so that it can  be effective. The parent and the child need to set up code phrases such as “Don’t harm my child” or “Leave us alone we don’t have nothing”. Upon hearing this the child should know what to do. However this technique is almost useless unless it is practiced over and over, so that it becomes second nature for both the parent and the child.

 If you purchase pepper spray, or a stun gun, or learn self defense martial arts, you will need to take the time to practice to know what to do when the need arises.

 

 By Victor Swindell, owner of PepperEyes.com, a division of Swindell Enterprises. PepperEyes.com is dedicated to assist those people who are unwilling to become a victim and are taking responsibility to protect themselves, their cars, or their possessions .In today’s society being equipped mentally and physically is no longer an option.

Beware the Scam email in wearing your Boss skin

An institution is receiving reports of employees receiving (and in some cases responding to) PHISHING attempts through what is called social engineering and spoofing (definitions below). It usually looks like it’s coming from an executive/supervisor and takes on the form of:

Surprised business man with computer

“I’m so tied up right now I would have preferred to call you but can’t call you at the moment because am in a meeting off campus and phone aren’t allowed during the meeting. I need you to help me run an urgent errand from any store around. Let me know if you can do this!“

The FROM: field will have the name of a  manager/executive/supervisor ( <SOME NAME YOU KNOW <aceusuedosr@gmail.com>).

If you respond to the initial message, will can expect to receive a follow up message with specific instructions (e.g. purchase gift cards and email the codes to them, go to a website and enter personal information, etc.).

REMINDER:

1. Carefully inspect these emails for something NOT RIGHT. 
   Do it have the usually stuff.
2. Pay attention to the ACTUAL EMAIL ADDRESS and not the name. It will come from sources like GMAIL, YAHOO, or other systems that allows you to create FREE email accounts. I can’t tell you how many email I get from Amazon….with a hotmail address.

Definitions:

• Social engineering is the term used for a broad range of malicious activities accomplished through human interactions. It uses psychological manipulation to trick users into making security mistakes or giving away sensitive information. Social engineering attacks happen in one or more steps. A perpetrator first investigates the intended victim to gather necessary background information, such as potential points of entry and weak security protocols, needed to proceed with the attack. Then, the attacker moves to gain the victim’s trust and provide stimuli for subsequent actions that break security practices, such as revealing sensitive information or granting access to critical resources.
  
• Spoofing is a type of scam in which a criminal disguises an email address, display name, phone
  number, text message, or website URL to convince a target that they are interacting with a known, trusted source.¹ Spoofing often involves changing just one letter, number, or symbol of the communication so that it looks valid at a quick glance. For example, you could receive an email that appears to be from Netflix using the fake domain name “nettflix.com.”
  
• Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. It occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity, dupes a victim into opening an email, instant message, or text message.
  
  
  Defense Against Crime provides you with the best information to meet the security needs of you, your family members or your business, by assisting anyone who is unwilling to become a victim of crime.  If you want to take personal responsibility for protection, home security, business security, purchase high-quality self-defense products kits and arm yourself with the knowledge about self-defense and security products and information of the best way to stay secure in an ever-increasing violent world. In today’s society, being equipped mentally and physically is no longer an option. – Victor Swindell, Onyx Knight Enterprises 

Just one click and you can be hooked

What is Phishing    (fishing)

Phishing is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal your data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. It occurs when an attacker, masquerading as a trusted entity like your bank, or a company, or friend, dupes you into opening an email, instant message, or text message. You are then tricked into clicking a malicious link, which can lead to the installation of malware, the freezing of the system as part of a ransomware attack, or the revealing of sensitive information.

An attack can have devastating results. For individuals, this includes unauthorized purchases, the stealing of funds, or identity theft.

Furthermore, phishing is often used to gain entry into corporate or governmental networks as a part of a larger attack, such as an advanced persistent threat event. In this latter scenario, employees are compromised to bypass security perimeters, distribute malware inside a closed environment, or gain privileged access to secured data. This is usually how big data thefts happen.

An organization succumbing to such an attack typically sustains severe financial losses in addition to declining market share, reputation, and consumer trust. Depending on the scope, a phishing attempt might escalate into a security incident from which a business will have a difficult time recovering.

Phishing attack examples

There are several examples of phishing emails on this blog that you can example by typing ‘Phishing’ in  the search bar

The Phishing attempt  all have a CALL TO ACTION (CTA)  a link for you to click

Several things can happen to you when you click that link.

You will be redirected to a bogus page appearing exactly like the real site page (usually with bad grammar or spelling errors), where both new and existing passwords are requested. The attacker, monitoring the page, hijacks the original password to gain access to secured areas on your actual account if you have an account there.

The user is sent to the actual password renewal page. However, while being redirected, a malicious script activates in the background to hijack the user’s session cookie. This results in what is called a reflected XSS attack, giving the perpetrator privileged access to the  real network.

Some Phishing techniques

Email phishing scams

Email phishing is a statistical game. An attacker sends out thousands of fraudulent messages can net significant information and sums of money, even if only a small percentage of recipients fall for the scam. As seen above, there are some techniques attackers use to increase their success rates.  There is a reason why the Nigerian Prince Scam is still going on.

For one, they will go to great lengths in designing phishing messages to mimic actual emails from spoofed organizations like banks, or shopping companies. Using the same phrasing, typefaces, logos, and signatures makes the messages appear legitimate. 

In addition, attackers will usually try to push you into action by creating a sense of urgency by causing fear and panic. For example, as previously shown, an email saying your bank account access has been stopped because of unusual activity.  Applying such pressure causes you to be less diligent and more prone to error.

Lastly, links inside messages resemble their legitimate counterparts, but typically have a misspelled domain name or extra subdomains. In the above example, the amazon.com/support URL was changed to  amozon.com/support. Similarities between the two addresses offer the impression of a secure link, making the recipient less aware that an attack is taking place.

Spear phishing

Spear phishing is an email or electronic communications scam targeted towards a specific individual (like you), organization or business. Although often intended to steal data for malicious purposes, cybercriminals may also intend to install malware on your computer.

This is how it works: An email arrives, apparently from a trustworthy source, but instead, it leads you to a bogus website full of malware. These emails often use clever tactics to get victims’ attention. For example, the FBI has warned of spear phishing scams where the emails appeared to be from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Many times, government-sponsored hackers and hacktivists are behind these attacks. Cybercriminals do the same intending to resell confidential data to governments and private companies. These cybercriminals employ individually designed approaches and social engineering techniques to effectively personalize messages and websites. As a result, even high-ranking targets within organizations, like top executives, can find themselves opening emails they thought were safe. That slip-up enables cybercriminals to steal the data they need to attack their networks.

How to prevent phishing

Phishing attack protection requires steps be taken by YOU and the company you work for.

For users, vigilance is key. A spoofed message often contains subtle mistakes that expose its true identity. These can include spelling mistakes or changes to domain names, as seen in the earlier URL example. Users should also stop and think about why they’re even receiving such an email.  Many of these have been covered in previous Phishing blogs on this site

For enterprises, several steps can be taken to mitigate both phishing and spear-phishing attacks:

Mult-factor authentication (MFA) is the most effective method for countering phishing attacks, as it adds an extra verification layer when logging in to sensitive applications. MFA relies on users having two things: something they know, such as a password and user name, and something they have, such as their smartphones. Even when employees are compromised, MFA prevents the use of their compromised credentials, since these alone are insufficient to gain entry.

In addition to using MFA, organizations should enforce strict password management policies. For example, employees should be required to frequently change their passwords and not be allowed to reuse a password for multiple applications.  Google is great for examining your stored password and giving you this warning.

Educational campaigns can also help diminish the threat of phishing attacks by enforcing secure practices, such as not clicking on external email links.

Defense Against Crime provides you with the best information to meet the security needs of you, your family members or your business, by assisting anyone who is unwilling to become a victim of crime.  If you want to take personal responsibility for protection, home security, business security, purchase high-quality self-defense products kits and arm yourself with the knowledge about self-defense and security products and information of the best way to stay secure in an ever-increasing violent world. In today’s society, being equipped mentally and physically is no longer an option. –
Victor Swindell, Onyx Knight Enterprises

The police does not collect fines…

Yesterday I received one of those fake robotic calls saying there was law enforcement actions being taken against me and that federal agents were coming to get me for illegal enforcement action for crimes using my identity… blah blah blah.

I’m sure some of you have received them too.

I also wonder how many people fall for this.

I didn’t hang up…I was waiting for the scammer to actually pick up, because I was ready for them.

But, they hung up.

If you are guilty of a crime…law enforcement will not call you…they will come and get you.
If you owe money for a crime … you have to go to court first (unless you are dealing with the IRS).  The judge will tell you what you owe in term for fines and jail time.

REMEMBER THIS: NEITHER LAW ENFORCEMENT OR GOVERNMENT ENTITIES DO NOT MAKE ROBOCALLS THREATENING YOU WITH ARREST OR ASKING FOR IMMEDIATE PAYMENT.

Think about this .. If you’ve ever gotten a traffic citation .. you never paid the police officer did you?
The police (good ones) do not collect fines, they will however give you a ticket, or a free ride in their car and you get to wear shiny connecting bracelets.

So please don’t fall for these scams that are mean to scare you so that you panic and fall for them.


But if you want to have fun….

1. Pretend you are hard of hearing
2. Answer the phone speaking an Alien Language (I try to answer in Klingon)
3. Pretend to by your father
4. Tell them the person they are looking was arrested last week.

What should you do?

• Install Robo Killer on your mobile phone
• Report government imposters to the Federal Trade Commission
• Always ask for written verification of any debt. Never pay a debt by wiring money or using a pre-paid debit card. Even if you owe a debt, you still have rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

Defense Against Crime provides you with the best information to meet the security needs of you, your family members or your business, by assisting anyone who is unwilling to become a victim of crime.  If you want to take personal responsibility for protection, home security, business security, purchase high-quality self-defense products kits and arm yourself with the knowledge about self-defense and security products and information of the best way to stay secure in an ever-increasing violent world. In today’s society, being equipped mentally and physically is no longer an option. –

Victor Swindell, Onyx Knight Enterprises