Category Archives: Cyber

MGM Resorts Hit by Cyber – Timely Newsletter Reference….

Posted on September 13, 2023 by | Leave a comment

With the final editing of the Q 4 2023 Newsletter in process… an article included in is Cyber Security from a half day seminar late spring….

From the Newsletter Article..

If there’s one thing, for those of us with little time or patients for a long read that we would like you to take from this article it is that most cyber intrusions come from an e-mail that has a bad actor with a hot link click, do not click on that bad hot link!

The second thing and more encouraging, most cyber security situations are not extremely complicated and are allowed by a simple letting of our guards down- see above point!

It Happens to the Best of them – MGM Resorts

Monday morning, during a regular research call, it was noted MGM had been taken down via a hacker… maybe a bad loser… but who knows…

This from the site early am Monday… for all of MGM at the time…

Oh my…just checked it again… YIKES!

Snapshot taken 9-12-23 at 8:44 PM

Cannot imagine the lost revenue from this hack… WOW!

Quick Google for more information — From – This Las Vegas Journal

On Tuesday, some point-of-sale locations couldn’t process credit card transactions at MGM’s retail outlets, and in-resort ATMs were offline. Some guests complained that they couldn’t get into their hotel rooms because the MGM app was off. The company has since remedied that problem by issuing key cards. MGM’s websites and mobile app remained down on Tuesday.

Have a Great “Cyber Security Aware” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

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Friday from Afar … Picture of Local Guest … Cyber Reminder … Some Really Good New Spam, Wish they would focus that Energy …

Posted on July 28, 2023 by | Leave a comment

Mentioned yesterday in an email…. We have a “Love Hate” Relationship with technology… When it works… yay.. .When it doesn’t … Nay….

Technology does give us the ability to be more mobile as we are taking our last “Full at home Family” Trip, with the oldest heading off to school at the end of next month…. All good, all part of the process, as many of you have said…

Here is a Picture of a resident from our current location -Actually looks like he is posing!

Cyber Reminder — Wish time was spent in a Positive Direction

While many (present party included) are sharing their last family get aways ,.,,,the bad guys, and likely some bored young techies, are still at it…

Was going to say these were all time stamped at the incorrect hour, but the last Amazon spam came through mid-day yesterday… Oh.. all of these were yesterday, and that was a light day…

This first one almost got me, as it was sandwiched between two legitimate tax related emails from different sources… Of course, DO NOT CLICK ON ANYTHING IN THESE!

These other two are regulars, but again came in yesterday… NEVER EVER CLICK ON THE PDF – Below Right Screenshot…

Have a Great weekend, Next Week Monthly Review Monday and last week remote! – Talk Then!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

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April 2023 Audio Video Review – Cyber Reminder, US Dollar Discussions, Chat GPT the modern .COM (Dot Com) – Financial Planning and Capital Market Review – By John Kvale CFA, CFP

Posted on May 1, 2023 by | Leave a comment

Hello and Welcome to our April 2023 Financial Planning and Capital Market Update!

If you are too busy to read, feel free to listen as we describe our post and thoughts in friendly podcast audio format as well as Video!

Newbies –

We like to articulate our thoughts and review on a Monthly basis our Financial Planning Tips, Capital Markets thoughts and current events!

Hope you enjoy!

April 2023 Video –


YouTube

Financial Planning Tip(s)

Cyber – Fraud Reminder

In this post about cyber fraud and a reminder we point out where some 95% of all intrusions come from….

The trojan horse of clicking on a spam email!

Capital Market Comments –

US Dollar Currency Status –

After hearing from four different directions …discussions of the US dollar and weaking in its status… the follow post was born…

Likely overstated…but acknowledge there are surely effect from cutting a countries Swift code- (lifeline to wires)

True Foreigners, likely want a WEAKER US dollar – as its strength is not waning currently!

.COM and Chat GPT Comparisons

One of the neat things about staring so young in this industry and doing this for so long, is at a fairly young (this is subjective our course) age we get to recall and remanence about times of old….

…We all know what happened eventually, tons of .COM companies came public and expired in short order… BUT public companies learned by adding .COM to their name or services would drive the stock price up… many times in huge amounts…

.Com rhymes with Chat GPT – in almost every way…. but be sure to follow the revenues, not the narratives!

Have a Great Day, Talk to You at the End of April !

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

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Posted in Audio, Cyber, Education, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments, Monthly Review, Podcast, Video

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Fraud and Cyber Reminder – AGAIN – Where do over 95% of the intrusions come from?

Posted on April 12, 2023 by | Leave a comment

This is REALLY important for all of us… take a few to read – will try to keep it as short and direct as possible !

Since last talking about this, a 4.5 hour (went faster than you may think) meeting was attended with experts from across the country on this subject….

Great notes, a thick booklet, and subject matter for us to visit on once again…

Key Points:

VAST number (>95%) of intrusions are from email – i.e. bad click, usually while in a hurry (guard down)

Thankfully the fraud is USUALLY not extremely technical – i.e. its a simple human slip up

Cell Phone Texts are no longer safe – Bad guys have figured them out

File Sharing programs are the best

Two Factor Authentication is the bomb – use as much as possible

Email take over and impersonation is the most common

USB or Pen External Drives are full of viruses

Ideas for staying safe:

Password of 15 characters – know that is long- Use a password phrase with a symbol for easy reference

Never EVER open or click on an unfamiliar email link – if important there is another way or repeated after confirmation

Never use Pen/USB External Drives – Heck we are disabling the ability to use them in our office computers – setting in Windows

Wow – this morning our local Newspaper runs a special from the FBI – DO NOT USE PUBLIC CHARGING STATIONS – Well guess the bad guys have found them too… Avoid all public locations!

We adapt and they adapt…but that is ok, just keeping this a bit top of mind should keep us all much safer!

Have a Great “Cyber Reminder” Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

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Posted in Cyber, Education, Investing/Financial Planning

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Sudden Increase in Spam both email and text…. Reminder to complete those patches! 18 examples recorded in less than two weeks for your viewing! Do not Bite on a Spam Email/Text Could Be Hazardous!

Posted on March 13, 2023 by | Leave a comment

The following is another reason to make sure your patches are being installed, both from the hardware, such as the maker of your phone, or other device, and software standpoint. Not doing your updates may subject you to more continued spam, and one slip up could cause much greater problems…

Have you experienced a sudden increase in email or text spams? If not consider yourself lucky, but not necessarily out of the woods yet!

About two weeks ago an email spam increase seem to occur. Luckily and just by chance a decision to start taking snapshots of the email spams was made as multiple emails occurred from a regular go to flight provider located here in Dallas, Southwest!

Counter Action Problems – Better than the Alternative

With an electronic fax delivery system and email delivery of this post being blocked, the largest providers, most notably, Microsoft have taken note and attempted to raise the gates. This increase in their spam filters, garners unintended consequences such as a loss of the route delivery of the aforementioned items. In our case, our IT department re-issued safe acceptance of our key items, and we were back in business.

Think to yourself if you are missing a regular contact from something, your provider may have blocked while trying to attempt coverage of this new Spam attack!

Examples of the last two weeks record keeping! Do not bite!

The Golf Cart is my favorite and most clever… Not sure where the Ace Hardware came from!

Have a Great Spam Update Reminder Day!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

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Posted in Clients/Clients Only, Cyber, Investing/Financial Planning, John Kvale, Personal

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Friday Office Hours, Out but Tethered …Time Change Weekend … Spring Break … Punxsutawney Phil Spring Tree Update … Spam/Cyber Preview – Look Out they are Back!

Posted on March 10, 2023 by | Leave a comment

As mentioned last Friday … with the kids completely out today, for the betterment and the safety of the streets, we are out today as well … officially starting our spring break a bit early as next week IS spring break, and we will be out of the office all week next week …. but tethered electronically as always!

Time Change Weekend!

One of our favorite days of the year occurs this weekend, the time change. Don’t forget to change whatever few clocks you may have that do not automatically change Saturday night as that leads to an irregular time read and unnecessary stress usually occurring when we’re in a hurry of course….at least in my experience!

Snapped less than 24 Hours Ago – Spring Tree

Thank you for the Spring Tree Comments…. you have personally spurred us to continue the tracking… although we are likely nearing the end of our journey… Hence the bigger picture!

The following Punxsutawney Phil Spring Tree update was snapped (used same camera and same location for better reference) less than 24 hours ago …

Now we are cooking… Hello Spring … at least in Texas!

Closing Break Reflections and Personal Thoughts

For some reason being out of the office brings clarity….

Maybe it is the slow Wifi or maybe just different location/surrounding….

No matter… we are happily “Lightly” Tethered… the keyboard is tapping with residual to do’s/Newsletter/Blog posts… speaking of which, a great Cyber related post coming Monday… worth your time… and yes, really enjoy doing this over time off…. never work!

Have a Great Friday/Weekend and if Your Spring Break… that too… Talk Next Week!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

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Posted in Clients/Clients Only, Cyber, John Kvale, Personal

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Updates from the Conference – Today’s FOMC Announcement Analysis – Cyber Security …

Posted on November 2, 2022 by | Leave a comment

As mentioned last week, the first in-person large conference in some time is going on this week…. It is very nice to see everyone “In Person” …. we had forgotten just how full the schedules are during these events … full day ahead …

Briefly our two most important topics so far!

FOMC – Federal Open Market Committee Thoughts for Today’s Announcment

Just after lunch hour today the FOMC lead by Jerome Powell are set to raise rates (Fed Funds Rates – think overnight checkbook rate) by .75% (75 basis points) ….

The experts here say focus on the future (for the record we have been crowing on looking forward throughout this slowdown see here and here – digressing) as the Wall Street chatter is a step down possibility at the next meeting to a .50% — a firming of the higher .75% increase as the next meeting OR an even softer talk of maybe no .50% would be market moving… again according to our experts…

Cybersecurity – No Email of Social Security or the Like Documents

Condensing this event into one important topic – we all need to make sure we do not send documents with Social Security numbers or the like through email…. the hackers are just too good…

This is more of a reminder for all… but as we enter tax season next year, a good reminder!

Alright, that is it for now, a quick jog and workout… then to breakfast and back in doors for a full scheduld of events today!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

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Posted in Cyber, Economy, FOMC, Interest Rates, Investing/Financial Planning, Market Comments

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Home Sweet Home … On the way … Saw Sharpened … School About to start … Fun Friday

Posted on August 12, 2022 by | Leave a comment

It has been nice being remote in a cooler climate….

Many of you know it truly is a working (but it never is work) remote vacation…

Tomorrow we rise before sun and hit the road back to the familiar surroundings…

School beacons not only for our family but for new minted “God Mother” daughter at a super close to home college… neat honor!

Speaking of working vacations, two 5 hour virtual seminars were completed midweek…. one of the most interesting sessions discussed the fact that mailed statements actually have a greater fraud exposure than electronic now… interesting… more to come!

Ahhhh….. today is a Friday heading into a mid month weekend, enjoy and talk next week!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

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Posted in Cyber, John Kvale, Personal

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Check Your Junk Email, Especially Yahoo Users … Friday …

Posted on May 20, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Long time friends and clients who we have communicated with for years, suddenly found some of our email in their spam folder in the last two weeks…. noted yahoo users were especially stricken…

We also have found the same in our folder here at the office and as you guys know we are very strict with our safety and cyber ware…

It’s likely there has been some type of major update due to a new spam or threat… no matter, be sure to check your spam folder for the next few weeks and “Trust” any friend emails that landed there,…

Ahhh…today is a Friday, and after breaking all kinds of records the last two weeks here in the south with temps approaching 100 very early in the season, we are looking at much more normal temps this weekend…

Enjoy and talk next week!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.

A Dallas Texas based fee only

Financial Planning Total Wealth

Management firm.

jkfinancialinc

street-cents

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Tax Forms Delivery and Corrections Update/Reminder, Watch the Cyber Tricks and a Brilliant New Cell Spam Calling Method that ALMOST Got Us – They Figured Out How to Put a Fake Name as the Number … Friday

Posted on February 11, 2022 by | Leave a comment

With a lot of questions this week on Tax forms, we thought it time to review estimated delivery dates AND take note of the first round of corrected 1099’s of March 3:

Timing of Available Tax Documentation

  • Delivery of 1099s: Currently, we expect the first wave of 1099s to begin posting online on January 21, 2022 with Advisor and client notifications going out shortly after. Estimated dates for the waves are below:
 Target Delivery Date*Details
Wave 1Close of business January 21, 2022No holdings subject to reallocation (ex. RICs, REITs)
Wave 2Close of business February 4, 2022Low risk for reallocation; income reallocations finalized through January 29th
Wave 3Close of business February 11, 2022Clients with finalized income reallocations received from January 30th through February 3rd
Wave 4Close of business February 11, 2022Remaining clients
  • Correction Cycles - Begins March 3, 2022 and occurring every 2 weeks through April 14, 2022

Do Not Fall for the Call Microsoft Computer Fraud

They are back, so BE CAREFUL… Within one week we have noted TWO fake Microsoft computer hacks…

Here is how it goes:

Upon turning your computer on you are told to call Microsoft to help “Fix” your ailing computer….

DO NOT BITE–

This from Microsoft Support

Avoid and report Microsoft technical support scams

Microsoft will never proactively reach out to you to provide unsolicited PC or technical support. If you receive a phone call claiming to be from Microsoft, or see a pop-up window on your PC with a fake warning message and a phone number to call and get your “issue” fixed, it’s better to be safe and not click any links or provide any personal information.

Never call the number provided in the error message. Real Microsoft error messages never include a phone number to call.

Brilliant Fake Cell Call

Ok, so we warned/lectured enough up top… this one ALMOST got yours truly….

Looked very similar to a tennis player parent in my contacts….

Say goodbye to the unknown numbers… looks like they figured out how to impose a fake name-

Ahh…today is a Friday and just a week ago with the frozen tundra…. looks to be almost 80 degrees here…

Enjoy!! Talk next week!

John A. Kvale CFA, CFP

  • Founder of J.K. Financial, Inc.
  • A Dallas Texas based fee only
  • Financial Planning Total Wealth
  • Management firm.
  • jkfinancialinc
  • street-cents

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Posted in Cyber, General Financial Planning, Investing/Financial Planning, John Kvale, Personal, Tax Related

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