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February 18, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Despite the age of the OS, Windows 7 has enjoyed a surprisingly large and loyal user base. That changed suddenly when Microsoft finally pulled the plug on Windows 7 support. It couldn’t have come as a surprise to many people. After all, the company has been sounding the alarm and has announced the end of […]
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February 17, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Security lapses can happen to any company, large or small. No one is immune. Not even Google. Recently, the company began sending out email notifications to some users explaining that a bug in their system caused their videos to be shared with other users. Their email notification reads in part as follows: “…some videos in […]
February 15, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Hackers will take any and every opportunity presented to them, even if it means hacking smart light bulbs. Recently, security researchers at Check Point discovered a bug in the Philips Hue smart bulb that makes it vulnerable. The bug is being tracked as CVE-2020-6007 and scores an impressive 7.9 out of 10, making it the […]
February 14, 2020 by Vertical Axion
There’s a new threat making the rounds called ‘Metamorfo’ that you should be aware of. The malware began its life as a banking trojan. This news is from researchers at Fortinet, who report that the malicious code has recently gotten some upgrades that make it particularly nasty. Like many similar programs, this one finds its […]
February 13, 2020 by Vertical Axion
If you work in the financial sector, be advised that there’s a large scale botnet-driven malware campaign underway. It has been targeting firms in both the US and the UK. The malware at the heart of the campaign is Emotet, which began life as a banking trojan, but it has morphed into something quite different […]
February 12, 2020 by Vertical Axion
It’s easy to get caught up in the hype of popular movies. Hackers know this and are beginning to incorporate Oscar Nominated movies into their strategies. They’re using enticing images to bait unsuspecting users to install malware and lure them to phishing sites designed to steal credit card and other sensitive information. After all, wouldn’t […]
February 11, 2020 by Vertical Axion
There have been a dizzying number of high-profile data breaches in recent months, and now we have one more to add to the growing list. Health Share of Oregon is a Medicaid Coordinated Care Organization. They recently disclosed that they lost control of health and personal information belonging to more than 650,000 people. The root […]
February 10, 2020 by Vertical Axion
If you use Google Chrome on a mobile device, you’ll notice something any time Google displays a list of sites. Let’s say for example, if you perform a search for a keyword on Google.com, each website’s favicon will be displayed next to the link. This is to provide a visual cue about exactly what site […]
February 8, 2020 by Vertical Axion
On January 17th of this year (2020), Microsoft discovered and disclosed the existence of a zero-day vulnerability. It was present in Internet Explorer versions 9 through 11. Hackers could display specially crafted websites that would allow them to remotely execute commands on a site visitor’s computer without their knowledge. That is, if they browsed the […]
February 7, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Just about everyone has made use of Google Translate at one point or another. You find some text on a website written in a language you don’t understand, pop over to Google.com and within seconds, you know what the mystery text says. It’s a great feature, but it’d be even better if Google had a […]
February 6, 2020 by Vertical Axion
As you’re probably aware, Microsoft has officially pulled the plug on Windows 7 support for everyone except those who are paying for the privilege via the company’s ESU (Extended Security Updates) policy. The final Windows 7 update was KB4534310. After that, unless you’ve paid for ESUs, no further updates are coming, no exceptions. Well, except […]
February 5, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Not long ago, security researcher Brian Krebs discovered an issue with the iPhone 11. It contains a chip dubbed U1, which functions on UWB (Ultra Wide Band). Due to international regulatory requirements, the U1 chip has to disable itself at certain locations, which means that the phone has to periodically check for a user’s location, […]
February 4, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Another week, another high-profile data breach. This time, it’s a big one. In December 2019, the convenience store chain Wawa disclosed that they had discovered malware on their point of sale system and that tens of millions of customer records were at risk. Those at risk were potentially anyone who had paid for their gas […]
February 3, 2020 by Vertical Axion
If you’re a Mac user, you may have heard of the malware known as Shlayer. It first made headlines in the early part of 2018. The malware is primarily used to install malicious adware on infected systems that spam an unreasonable number of popups. The popups generate ad revenue for the malware’s controllers. The malicious […]
February 1, 2020 by Vertical Axion
As you may have heard, Microsoft is getting out of the browser game. Recently, the company announced that they were redesigning their Edge browser, which never quite caught on. Rather than trying once more to reinvent the wheel, the company has opted to build the re-imagined Edge browser on Google’s Chromium technology. More recently, however, […]
January 31, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Over the last twelve months, we’ve heard reports from companies of all shapes and sizes that have suffered from data breaches. Many of them were caused by an act of carelessness on the part of an employee that accidentally left an important database exposed to the world. It raises eyebrows though, to hear that Microsoft […]
January 30, 2020 by Vertical Axion
The malware named TrickBot has some new tricks up its sleeves. Recently, a new strain of the malware was spotted in the wild with new capabilities that allow it to target the Active Directory database stored on compromised Windows domain controllers. While TrickBot has never been seen as one of the most dire threats in […]
January 29, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Recently, the Department of Justice brought charges against Babatunde Olusegun Taiwo for using personal information acquired on the Dark Web. He used the information from data breaches to file fraudulent tax returns with the IRS. He was able to gain enough information to file more than two thousand income tax returns that attempted to claim […]
January 28, 2020 by Vertical Axion
There’s a disturbing emerging trend in the world of hackers who make use of ransomware to extort payment from companies. Increasingly, if a company won’t pay, their data that was stolen and encrypted is being published for all to see. KrebsOnSecurity recently identified a website associated with the creators of the Maze ransomware strain that […]
January 27, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Microsoft Edge is dead. Long, live Microsoft Edge! The tech giant Microsoft has seen enormous success in a variety of markets, but it never could make a dent in Google’s dominance in the browser market. As of January 15th, 2020, it appears that the company has given up trying. The old Microsoft Edge is being […]
January 25, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Mark Zuckerberg’s social media empire is chasing growth. It’s not hard to understand why. Facebook is the world’s largest social media platform, with more than 2.4 billion users worldwide. The bigger you get, the harder it is to grow. That is exactly why Zuckerberg zeroed in on the three fastest platforms in his empire: Messaging, […]
January 24, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Malware tends to be at its most effective when it exists in secret. Under the radar. This is what allows malicious code to burrow deep into an infected system and capture a wide range of data. It’s what allows cryptojacking software to quietly siphon off computer power to mine for various forms of cryptocurrency. That […]
January 23, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Google continues to improve security and its user experience in the Apple ecosystem. The most recent update to the company’s Smart Lock app on iOS allows users to use their iPhone as a physical security key (if and where two factor authentication technology is enabled). Once it’s set up, it works like this: If you […]
January 22, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Microsoft would like you to know that Windows 7 has reached the end of the road. No more security updates are coming, and there are no more patches or bug fixes. So from here, every newly discovered security flaw is essentially a zero-day issue. The company has been loudly advertising the fact that the end […]
