Using Powershell to read registry HKEY_USERS

By | August 30, 2023
Script execution. Shows the wallpaper path and file used for each user account in HKEY_USERS of the Windows registry.

Download files from website via Powershell

By | August 11, 2023

A simple method I like to use when I want to quickly run a powershell script to download a file from a webserver. I use this when endpoints are not on an internal network so a network share is not always available, but since I am usually remotely calling the powershell script, Internet access is established.

The commandlet I use is Invoke-RestMethod. I provide the source url for the file on a webserver to download and the destination, and I’m done. Extremely simple and extremely effective. There are so many ways to do this, but this is the method I personally use the most.

The below example is what I have used to download the CleanZoom utility from Zoom that will remove any installed versions of Zoom on an endpoint, save the file in a temporary directory and then execute the utility.

Scareware is not dead

By | June 19, 2023

An email was forwarded to me that came from a security MSP trying to stir up business with someone at the company I work at. Their quasi-scareware email was funny, but a horrible way for us to take seriously. Only thing missing was a sentence asking for bitcoin.

I remember several years ago, companies were scanning their web server logs and doing DNS look-ups to find out what companies visited their website. Then the Spam and cold call of sales would begin. That tactic finally died off……mostly. The below email was not sent to our company from a DNS look-up scrape (I know, as our external IP’s at work can barely can tell you what state we are in), it was pure spam. Probably someone going through Linkedin and such finding contacts.

If you send an email that begins like this, we cannot take you seriously.

Ah, remembering the good ole days, when the scareware looked like an actual alert:

Aloha!

By | April 14, 2023

Not a good week for NCR Aloha POS hosted solutions. They have been dealing with a BlackCat ransomware attack as reported by articles at:

BleepingComputer – NCR suffers Aloha POS outage after BlackCat ransomware attack.

DataBreaches.net – A short-lived BlackCat listing suggests NCR’s customers’ networks were accessed

Securityweek.com – Payments Giant NCR Hit by Ransomware

CPO Magazine – Financial Services Firm NCR Hit by Ransomware Attack, Disrupting Aloha and Back Office Products

CybersecurityDive – NCR restores more services following ransomware attack

The below screenshot was taken from https://status.aloha.ncr.com