Blogs

Below are blogs that I've written on topics covering blockchain technologies and cybersecurity. I look into how these technological advancements will change our lives today and what it means for all of us in the future.

Interested in possibly working together? Feel free to reach out via my contact page and let's chat!

In The News: Apple Announces New Security Updates for Devices, Remedying Dozens of Weak Points

Michael Paulyn

4 days ago
1 min

In The News: Apple Announces New Security Updates for Devices, Remedying Dozens of Weak Points

Recently, Apple announced new security updates remedying issues with iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS, operating systems have dozens of weak points, making them vulnerable to being hacked. This statement also covered 37 vulnerabilities ranging from multiple components in iOS and macOS that span from privilege escalation to arbitrary code execution and information disclosure to denial-of-service (DDoS). Hungry for more? Join me each week, where I'll break down complex top

2 views0 comments

FBI Recovers Over $500,000 In Ransomware Payments and Crypto from N. Korean Hackers

Michael Paulyn

7 days ago
1 min

FBI Recovers Over $500,000 In Ransomware Payments and Crypto from N. Korean Hackers

The United States Department of Justice announced they’ve recovered over $500k worth of Bitcoin from North Korean-sponsored hackers using ransomware dubbed “Maui.” The DoJ stated that "the seized funds include ransoms paid by healthcare providers in Kansas and Colorado." Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen explains that "reporting cyber incidents to law enforcement and cooperating with investigations not only protects the United States, it is also good business. The reim

4 views0 comments

In the News: Uber Says No Sensitive Data Leaked in Latest Breach

Michael Paulyn

Sep 18
1 min

In the News: Uber Says No Sensitive Data Leaked in Latest Breach

Recently, Uber shared an update stating that they found no evidence that any private user data was leaked from its computer system. Uber company spokesperson states, "we have no evidence that the incident involved access to sensitive user data (like trip history). All our services, including Uber, Uber Eats, Uber Freight, and the Uber Driver app, are operational." However, what seems to be uncertain is if any additional information was stolen or how long the cybercriminals we

1 view0 comments

SaaS Security: It Turns Out Our Devices Are a New Weak Point

Michael Paulyn

Sep 15
1 min

SaaS Security: It Turns Out Our Devices Are a New Weak Point

Recently, it's come to light that hackers have found a new way to infiltrate a company's network through mobile devices. By employees using their phones or computers to get their job done, cybercriminals are also finding new ways to get their job done; through misconfigurations used as entry points. If a device isn't updated or doesn't have the proper security protection, it can quickly put an entire organization at risk of being attacked. With that comes a rise in Endpoint (

3 views0 comments

With the help of Evilnum Malware, Hackers can Easily Target Crypto Platforms

Michael Paulyn

Sep 11
1 min

With the help of Evilnum Malware, Hackers can Easily Target Crypto Platforms

The Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) system was able to track down Evilnum, which has shown vital signs of activity focused on European financial institutes. Targets were companies that worked as foreign exchanges, cryptocurrency platforms, and decentralized finance (DeFi), all beginning in late 2021. The security agency Proofpoint states, "Evilnum is a backdoor that can be used for data theft or to load additional payloads. The malware includes multiple interesting component

5 views0 comments

Russians Hack Broadcasting Hilarious Fake News About Zelenskyy's Health

Michael Paulyn

Sep 9
1 min

Russians Hack Broadcasting Hilarious Fake News About Zelenskyy's Health

Recently, a local Ukrainian radio, TVAR Media, was the victim of a Russian cyberattack, where a hilarious fake message about President Zelenskyy was in poor health. The State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP) shared a statement reading," cybercriminals spread information that the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is allegedly in intensive care, and his duties are performed by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan St

3 views0 comments

The CISA Increase Catalog of New Vulnerabilities with 10 New Items

Michael Paulyn

Sep 4
1 min

The CISA Increase Catalog of New Vulnerabilities with 10 New Items

The United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has announced that it has added ten new active vulnerabilities to the "Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog,"; most of which appear to be affecting industrial automation software from Delta Electronics. This particular issue, which is identified as CVE-2021-38406 (CVSS score: 7.8), heavily impacts DOPSoft 2 versions 2.00.07 and prior versions, which could result in arbitrary code execution. Fur

3 views0 comments

Using a New Linux Malware Framework, Attackers can Secretly Install Rootkits

Michael Paulyn

Sep 1
2 min

Using a New Linux Malware Framework, Attackers can Secretly Install Rootkits

A never-before-seen Linux malware virus that can set up rootkits and has a modular approach has received the nickname "Swiss Army Knife." This newly discovered Linux threat, dubbed as Lightning Framework by Intezer, is one of the most sophisticated frameworks created for targeting Linux systems because it is equipped with a multitude of capabilities. In a new report by Intezer researcher Ryan Robinson, "the framework offers both passive and active capabilities for communicati

5 views0 comments

Michael Paulyn

Aug 28
1 min

Quick Snapshot: What is Python?

Python has taken the tech world by storm as one of the most popular coding languages. With a range of versatility that extends from machine learning applications to building websites and software testing, Python is one beginner-friendly programming language to learn. What Is Python? Python is one of the premier programming languages in tech. Python's versatility and ability to act as a general-purpose coding language make it the workhorse for most projects. On top of being us

3 views0 comments

In the News: Meta Was Restricting Abortion Content

Michael Paulyn

Aug 21
1 min

In the News: Meta Was Restricting Abortion Content

As luck would have it, Meta is now again in hot water, not for another metaverse idea but for actively restricting content on abortion. Initially, there was widespread speculation that Meta was working on changing its policies after the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the US Supreme Court; these rumors are true. Although Meta continues to deny it ever changed its policies concerning Roe v. Wade, pro-choice activists say censorship isn't new but has been going on for years. In a

4 views0 comments

In the News: As It Turns Out, China's Been Hacking US Phone Networks

Michael Paulyn

Aug 18
1 min

In the News: As It Turns Out, China's Been Hacking US Phone Networks

China has been secretly hacking the United States' phone networks for years without anyone being the wiser. Over the last two years, state-sponsored hackers working for the Chinese government have consistently focused on telecommunication technology, ranging from standard home routers to massive national telecom networks. A recent report states that there's widespread hacking in the US, thanks to research from the NSA, FBI, and the CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Secur

3 views0 comments

Hot Off the Press: Update Your Windows OS and Chrome Browser

Michael Paulyn

Aug 14
1 min

Hot Off the Press: Update Your Windows OS and Chrome Browser

This past June saw a ton of software updates across many platforms, many of which fixed some major weak points and vulnerabilities. It was a busy month for many of these major tech firms from companies such as Google and Microsoft. Here's more on these new updates and what they might mean for you as a user. Microsoft The first of many, Microsoft fixed 55 flaws in many of its products, addressing issues such as exploited remote code execution (RCE) issue in Windows dubbed "Fol

5 views0 comments

Michael Paulyn

Aug 11
1 min

Quick Snapshot on Ransomware's Elements

Ransomware is a type of malware that cybercriminals use to prevent users from having access to their network, system, or data. Hackers will threaten to run off with this access or data, leaving victims in the lurch and panic; the condition is that a ransom needs to be paid in exchange. 3 Key Elements of Ransomware All types of ransomware have the same essential elements, regardless of how complex or crude. Here's a short explanation of each element below: Access As an integra

12 views0 comments

Russia Inches Closer to A Splinternet: Putin's Dream

Michael Paulyn

Aug 7
2 min

Russia Inches Closer to A Splinternet: Putin's Dream

It's no surprise that for years, the Kremlin has been looking to develop its autonomous internet, utterly separate from the rest of the world, known as a "splinternet." With the unprovoked war in Ukraine, this concept has become more of a reality as time goes on, no longer just a vague vision for the future. As of March 4, 2022, many Russian Twitter users began noticing more odd changes, from bad connections to slow crawls from page to page, then lights out. Without warning,

10 views0 comments

A Step-by-Step Guide: If You Can't Log into Your Gmail Account

Michael Paulyn

Aug 4
2 min

A Step-by-Step Guide: If You Can't Log into Your Gmail Account

Imagine you wake up just like any other morning. As your coffee is brewing, you check your phone and look over any emails in your inbox. But you find your account is locked, you have no access, and panic starts settling quickly. What now? How can you fix this issue? Don't worry; help is on the way. How Gmail Accounts Get Disabled As frustrating as getting locked out of your Gmail account is, knowing how this happens can make a difference. Typically, there are three common sce

5 views0 comments

Russia A World Pariah: Is Now Relentlessly Under Attack in the Cyberworld

Michael Paulyn

Jul 31
2 min

Russia A World Pariah: Is Now Relentlessly Under Attack in the Cyberworld

Ukraine's "IT Army" using DDoS attacks has developed custom malware tailored explicitly to Russia. Since its attack on Ukraine, Russia's become a pariah among much of the world and other world powers, and as far as cyberattacks go, it's now a fan favorite for frequent cyberattacks. This tight-knit group of volunteers continues to successfully take down many Russian websites, effectively putting them offline with intense waves of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, p

4 views0 comments

U.S. Feds Offering $10 Million Reward for Info on N. Korean Hackers, "Lazarus Group"

Michael Paulyn

Jul 28
1 min

U.S. Feds Offering $10 Million Reward for Info on N. Korean Hackers, "Lazarus Group"

Recently, the news has come out of Washington, with the U.S. federal government stating they'll pay up $10 million in rewards for information on the North Korean hacker agency, Lazarus Group. With information on this state-sponsored hacker group's cryptocurrency theft, cyber espionage, and other illicit state-paid cyberattacks. In a statement released in a tweet, "if you have information on any individuals associated with the North Korean government-linked malicious cyber gro

5 views0 comments

In The News: DuckDuckGo Less Private Than First Thought

Michael Paulyn

Jul 23
1 min

In The News: DuckDuckGo Less Private Than First Thought

Another week, another scandal. As luck would have it, DuckDuckGo, the internet's leading search engine for being so privacy-focused, isn't as private as first thought. For anyone using DuckDuckGo, the idea was that this new company wasn't tempted to help major firms conduct surveillance on unsuspecting everyday people. Oh wait, that's exactly what they are, it turns out. The company in question, Microsoft, was made an exception it turns out, by advertising trackers on website

5 views0 comments

Continued: More Shadow IDs and Reporting

Michael Paulyn

Jul 20
1 min

Continued: More Shadow IDs and Reporting

As it turns out, reporting on Shadow IDs and networking monitoring tend to miss the mark. Most network monitoring only works on checking and scanning for any malicious traffic that could lead to deadly data breaches. The truth is companies are flying blind when it comes to actual logins, meaning they can't tell the difference between browsing, private accounts, and corporate app activity, which use sign-ups (and then there are phishing scams thrown in for good measure). Many

3 views0 comments

In The News: Experts Ringing the Alarm Against New Threat of "Black Basta" Ransomware

Michael Paulyn

Jul 17
1 min

In The News: Experts Ringing the Alarm Against New Threat of "Black Basta" Ransomware

Listen up if you're in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom. Cybersecurity experts are ringing the alarm about a new ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) syndicate, Black Basta, with over 50 people in the USA falling victim in the last two months. A report released by Cybereason states that "Black Basta" targets a range of industries, including manufacturing, construction, transportation, telcos, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, plumbing and heating,

4 views0 comments