Cold Hands Cyber Security Article Part 1
I lost over a month’s worth of income and my online reputation was damaged. My Facebook mortuary business accounts were hacked for 34 days 8 hours and 12 min. It took countless days/hours of work to recover my accounts. I fell into a deep depression after I realized how aggressive the hackers were and the extent, they went to steal my online business and my assets. This has been a learning and growing experience for me as a business owner and influencer. I highly recommend that if you are a business owner you invest time and resources into cyber security before the inevitable happens. “It’s foolish to think it will never happen to you.” If it can happen to our state Department of Health, it can and most likely will happen to your funeral home in the future.
Scammers in the Asian pacific are now topping off at 30,000. This number is growing, and the FBI can’t handle the endless cases that are reported. We are on our own. I wanted to share my experience so that you can protect your independently owned business assets, families and most importantly your reputation!
My FB accounts @coldhandshosts on FB and @nxtgenmortuarysupport were targeted due to the weak security I had in place. I was strategically hacked on the first day we started convention in Hammock Beach this year. I was overwhelmed traveling to Florida, meeting up with you all, and busy with the daily hustle and bustle of convention. I didn’t even notice my FB page had been hacked. I did notice that I could not access my Cold Hands page but thought it was an update from FB. On day 2 of convention, I started to notice sexually suggestive and shocking material being posted on my page. I could not figure out how it was happening, I still had access to my personal FB page, so I wondered how the heck are they posting this content. My followers, families and friends began sending direct messages to me on messenger stating, “Looks like you’ve been hacked.”
Do not think for one minute that the timing was coincidental. This was a strategically planned attack and takeover. The scammers had targeted my pages and saw through promotional content for my speaking engagement that I would be busy at convention. They knew it would make it difficult to act fast and recover my accounts because I was distracted. They knew that grandiose hotels have spotty internet, and I would be left helpless until I got home. AGAIN-THE TIMING OF THE ATTACK WAS NOT A COINCIDENCE.
After convention I immediately released a public statement on my PERSONAL social media that the breach had occurred. I also emailed all my families and clients alerting them with emails about the breach letting them know I will NEVER ask them for money over text and to be aware of any emails that seem suspicious from emails that look close to mine requesting money or account information.
This may have saved many of my clients from being scammed as I spread awareness as quickly as possible. This type of breach is especially important for funeral homes because our clientele is an extremely vulnerable population. These scammers are bottom feeders of the earth and do not care that people have suffered a loss and are living the worst days of their lives. They do not care if you get paid for funeral services or have money to pay your employees who have little mouths to feed. Once scammers and hackers have breached your sensitive data, they can EASILY take over your website and they will reach out to your bereaved families with very realistic “phishing” emails pretending to be you making fake funeral arrangements, sending fake funeral bills and even demanding money up front. These scammers are highly educated and WILL target your at need families in the days immediately before a funeral has occurred. They may even offer the bereaved family a “large discount” if they pay through a link immediately that leads to the scammers bank account. They may email one of your families stating they need to send $4000 via zelle for the purchase of a casket or else the casket won’t make it in time for the funeral. Families WILL fall for these emails and texts, and it is your responsibility to protect them as much as practicable.
I spent 30 hours researching the breach the first week. After the 5th day I felt hopeless, so I reached out to a professional cyber security company called Hacked.com and they were able to help me after an investment of $500+ for consulting and one on one assistance. They were also able to detect how the breach occurred. Here is how it happened:
The scammer hacked my personal FB without leaving a trace probably from a password that had been recycled and used on other sites. Next, they made themselves comfortable and looked around my Meta Business Suite for a day. During their snooping they made themselves “Page Admin.”
Coming soon: Part 2: "The Page Admin"...
copyright 2024
Monica Torres, affectionately known in our embalming community as “Cold Hands” is a LFD, LE, Reconstruction Specialist, Desairologist, Public Speaker and owner of trade embalming company NXT Generation Mortuary Support. NXTgen offers a variety of progressive services and products to funeral homes and professionals including accredited technical training, nationwide talent acquisition, and consulting services. For more information visit www.nxtgenmortuarysupport.com or follow @ColdHandsHosts copyright 2024
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