Recently reported Log4j vulnerabilities have once again shined a light on the impact of interdependencies in technology. Log4j is a free tool widely used to log activity in an application and is utilized in millions of systems across the globe, including some used by the County. The County has already seen multiple attack attempts against systems, but none have been found to be successful thus far. County IT teams across the enterprise continue to identify and patch what may be vulnerable but as Lester Godsey, Maricopa County’s CISO, warns “this is a marathon not a sprint.”

As always, InfoSec recommends everyone to ensure your hardware and software are up-to-date both at work and at home. Read more about the extent of Log4j by clicking here.

Social engineering is one of the most successful tools in an attacker’s bag of tricks. Successful bad actors are gaining people’s trust to the tune of scamming more folks out of $5,000 or more. The FTC reports these losses increased to about 14% (up from 8%) so far in 2021, and on average losses increased from $700 per scam to $1,000.

Target cards seem to be the most popular brand of gift card with a reported loss of $2,500 per scam in the first nine months of the year.

Remember: Gift cards are for gifts, not for payments. For more information about gift card scams, or what to do if you are a victim, visit FTC’s Consumer Protection site.