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January 2, 2019 by Vertical Axion
There’s a new, widespread phishing campaign underway that you need to be aware of if you use the Apple App store at all. At this time, no one knows who’s behind the campaign, but already, a surprising number of people have been taken in by it. The campaign works like this: You’ll receive an email […]
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January 1, 2019 by Vertical Axion
There’s a new malware threat in the MacOS ecosystem called OSX.LamePyre. If you haven’t heard of it yet, it belongs on your radar. At the moment, industry experts agree that it’s more of a crude work in progress. Unfortunately, the danger of crude works in progress is that the hackers continue to develop them, making […]
December 31, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Do you own an Android device? Are you a PayPal user? If you answered yes to both of those questions, you have something new to worry about. A limited number of versions of an app called “Optimization Battery” contains a Trojan designed to steal money from PayPal accounts, including those that are protected by two-factor […]
December 29, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Three years ago, Microsoft decided to retire their beleaguered Internet Explorer browser. It was a disaster, riddled with critical security flaws and technologically far behind Chrome and Firefox. The company vowed to do better, so they started fresh and introduced Microsoft Edge. It was designed to compete head to head with the big name browsers […]
December 28, 2018 by Vertical Axion
The annual list of the worst passwords in use during 2018 has just been published by SplashData. This year’s list features a number of the usual suspects, but there are also a few new entries. Here are the ten worst passwords in use, according to the data: 123456 password 123456789 12345678 12345 111111 […]
December 27, 2018 by Vertical Axion
If you’re a Google Plus user, you’re probably already aware that Google has plans to bring an end to the service. What you may not know is that recently, Google+ suffered another breach in a long string of breaches. This most recent incident put the private information of more than 52 million users at risk. […]
December 26, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Are you a Quora user? If so, you’re certainly not alone. It is the internet’s most popular question-and-answer website, which makes it a unique property in the social media ecosystem. Unfortunately, the site recently suffered a massive data breach that exposed the personal information of about one hundred million of the site’s users. The Quora […]
December 25, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Marriott now has the dubious honor of having suffered one of the worst breaches in history. Granted, the 500 million customer records recently stolen from the company pales in comparison to Yahoo’s loss of nearly three billion customer records, but Marriott’s number is certainly nothing to scoff at. In 2016, the company acquired rival Starwood […]
December 24, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Are you one of the legions of Americans who run on Dunkin’? If so, be advised that your DD Perks Reward Account may have been compromised. The company reported that they were recently breached by a currently unknown third party, and that at least some customer information was compromised. Dunkin’ (formerly known as Dunkin Donuts) […]
December 22, 2018 by Vertical Axion
IoT startup Trillbit has a big idea with profound implications for the Internet of Things, and by extension, for all of us. The company is currently designing a system called “Trill Tones” that will create a mesh of ultrasonic pulses into a type of sound that the human ear won’t be able to register but […]
December 21, 2018 by Vertical Axion
It’s no secret that ransomware attacks have been on the rise over the last couple of years. Many companies, desperate to get their files back, have resorted to simply paying the ransom and hoping the hackers act in good faith and keep their word where unlocking the files is concerned. That approach just got a […]
December 20, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Apple doesn’t tend to share well with other corporations, but they have made a few efforts to expand their services to the platforms of their competitors. You can, for instance, download Apple Music onto an Android device or on Sonos Speakers. Soon, you’ll be able to access Apple Music on your Amazon Echo. The rollout […]
December 19, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Most people use Google Chrome. In fact, according to the latest statistics, Chrome has more than half the browser market share, with the rest dividing the smaller portion of the market between them. That’s relevant because recently, Google has made important changes to their browser that provide visual cues when a website you’re visiting doesn’t […]
December 18, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Have you ever created an account on Dell’s website to purchase computer equipment? If so, your account may have been compromised. As a precaution, Dell has forced password resets for every account on their site. You’ve likely already got a notification sitting in your inbox with a password rest link and additional instructions and information. […]
December 17, 2018 by Vertical Axion
In recent months, security researchers have unearthed all sorts of new hardware vulnerabilities. Several of them allow hackers to quietly assume control of your PC’s built-in camera or microphone, giving them the ability to spy on you and invade your privacy at will. Normally this is accomplished when a hacker can trick you into downloading […]
December 15, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Microsoft just won a huge military contract worth $480 million to bring 100,000 customized AR (Augmented Reality) headsets, based on their HoloLens technology, to the US Army. The army’s plan is to integrate the headsets with their STES (Synthetic Training Environment Squad) system, which allows US forces to conduct hyper-realistic mock battles as practice before […]
December 14, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Akamai has discovered a nasty new hack that’s allowing cybercriminals to move beyond simply compromising routers, but also, in some instances, to use the compromised routers to take control of other machines sitting behind it on your network. The hack, known as UPnProxy exploits weaknesses in the design of the UPnP services installed on many […]
December 13, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Bob Diachenko, the Director of Cyber Risk Research for Hacken, recently made a disturbing discovery. He found an ElasticSearch server open and vulnerable on the internet, without so much as a password to protect it. Unfortunately, the server was leaking a staggering 73GB of data and had a number of databases cached inside the server’s […]
December 12, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Do you have an account on USPS.com? If so, you’re not alone. Tens of millions of Americans use it daily for a variety of purposes. Unfortunately, if you do have an account, it may have been compromised. Recently, the USPS announced the discovery of a critical security vulnerability that exposed the account information of more […]
December 11, 2018 by Vertical Axion
In recent years we’ve seen several companies suffer from hacks of various magnitudes. Over time, we’ve witnessed the growth of what could be described as best practices in terms of how to respond. The typical arc goes something like this: The hack is discovered. Immediately thereafter, the company discloses the pertinent details about the hack, […]
December 10, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Google relies on crowd sourcing to help keep its maps up to date. There’s no other approach that even comes close to being feasible. Sure, Google has employees on the job, roving the nation’s highways, byways, and back streets. Even if the company employed ten times the number they’re currently using, their maps wouldn’t be […]
December 8, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Back in October, Microsoft issued an update for Windows 10 that was a bit of a disaster. It wound up deleting some user files and sparked a completely justified outrage. The company pulled the update back, taking it offline so more people wouldn’t be impacted. Then they recently re-released it, this time, without the file […]
December 7, 2018 by Vertical Axion
There’s trouble brewing at Amazon, although details are sketchy about how much trouble there might be. Recently, the company sent the following message to some of its customers: “Hello, We’re contacting you to let you know that our website inadvertently disclosed your email address due to a technical error. The issue has been fixed. This […]
December 6, 2018 by Vertical Axion
In recent months, Google has taken steps to tighten up its processes so that fewer poisoned apps find their way into the Google Play Store. In addition to that, the company has stepped up its efforts to ruthlessly track down and remove malicious apps whenever and wherever they are found. By most accounts, that effort […]
