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November 4, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Yet more evidence that the federal government’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is cracking down on HIPPA violations, the agency recently levied a hefty $2.14 million dollar fine against St. Joseph Health System for what it describes as an egregious breach of security. The company reported earlier in the year that action on […]
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November 3, 2016 by Vertical Axion
The Linux exploit called Rowhammer is back in the news. This time, it’s targeting Android devices. If you missed the news about Rowhammer, or need a refresher, the exploit basically works like this: if you can engineer a piece of malware that will consistently access the same row of memory on an installed chip, hammering […]
November 2, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Qualcomm has made a bold announcement in advance of this year’s 4G/5G Summit in Hong Kong. Their newest offering, the X50, will ship in the second half of 2018, and is being billed as a 5G modem. It will feature download speeds of up to 5GBps where networks support them, and represents a big leap […]
November 1, 2016 by Vertical Axion
File this one under “public service warning.” If you’re a fan and regular user of Facebook, beware of a new virus that’s making the rounds inside the social media giant. If you see a video on your wall titled “My First Video,” don’t click on it to play it. If you do, it will tag […]
October 31, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Are you a Spotify user? If so, you may have been infected. Recently, the company reported that one of its advertising partners had displayed an ad containing malware. As with most software of this type, it wrests control of the user’s browser, opening additional tabs on its own, and directing users to web pages loaded […]
October 29, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Some credit card companies have begun using selfies as an alternative to traditional, text-based passwords in order to provide enhanced security. No system is perfect, though, and hackers have already begun experimenting with various exploits to the new paradigm. Far and away, the most successful exploit so far has been the Acecard Trojan. This malware […]
October 28, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Online security has become increasingly important to rank and file users in recent years, and with good reason. 2015 saw the largest number of hacks and successful data breaches in the history of the internet, and 2016 is on track to surpass it. Even worse, it’s not just the number of attacks that are increasing, […]
October 27, 2016 by Vertical Axion
The risks and dangers associated with the Internet of Things continues to grow. Unfortunately, these days, a hacking attack can actually kill. Recently, a researcher uncovered a major security flaw in an insulin pump sold by Johnson and Johnson. The Animas OneTouch insulin pump has a WiFi feature that allows a diabetic patient wearing the […]
October 26, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Did they, or didn’t they? That seems to be the central question surrounding the recent revelation reported by Reuters. According to the news story, Yahoo complied with a Federal government request to track and monitor all incoming messages, forwarding any that contained a certain set of keywords to government agents. If the allegation is true, […]
October 25, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Back in September, President Obama called the news media out for their complacency. In a year marked by an extremely divisive political campaign, people have lamented the fact that many of the nation’s major news outlets are dealing in false equivalency and spin of one flavor or another. It’s creating a climate of misinformation that […]
October 24, 2016 by Vertical Axion
It was supposed to be a landmark achievement for Samsung, and the start of an era of record-breaking profits. The release of the Note 7 was widely anticipated, and when it hit the shelves back in August, customers flocked to buy the new devices. That’s when the trouble began. The new devices were plagued with […]
October 22, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Researchers at the University of Washington have developed an intriguing new technology that can actually transmit secure password signals through the body, using the fingerprint sensors and touchpads on smartphones and laptops, in what they’re calling “on-body transmission.” The signals are then authenticated when the password-protected devices touch the body. This is fundamentally different from […]
October 21, 2016 by Vertical Axion
There may be some good news where cybercrime is concerned. Increasingly, Americans are beginning to take the threat more seriously. A recently released survey conducted by TransUnion showed an unmistakable increase in awareness, which is a critical first step. Some of the key findings in the report were: • 83% of survey respondents reported being […]
October 20, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Say what you will about Russian hacking group “Fancy Bear,” but they’ve definitely got a sense of style. Fancy Bear is the group widely believed to be responsible for hacking the Democratic National Committee’s servers. Now, authorities believe the group has developed a form Trojan called Komplex, which targets Mac users. Like most other malware, […]
October 19, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Laptop users in general have been unhappy with Google’s Chrome browser. There are several aspects of the software’s design that cause it to drain battery power at an alarming rate. Fortunately, the company has decided to do something about that, and with the release of Chrome 53, things should be notably better. Although battery life […]
October 18, 2016 by Vertical Axion
If you’re a business owner that deals with credit cards, you probably aren’t impressed with the title of this article. However, if you’re the person responsible for being sure your organization is PCI compliant, you’ll be doing backflips! Ok, maybe it’s just our engineers that will be doing backflips, but we’ve been working hard on […]
In a bid to increase its share of the browser market, Microsoft has made some interesting moves recently, which make its new “Edge” browser software stand out from the crowd. The most recent change is the announced addition of Windows Defender Application Guard, which can be selectively enabled on a user’s browser. If the option […]
October 17, 2016 by Vertical Axion
From the very earliest days of the PC revolution, printer manufacturers have relied on a very specific model to sell their wares. They sell the printer itself as cheaply as possible, relying on the sales of ink cartridges to make up the difference and pad their bottom lines. Known as the “Razor and Blades” model, […]
October 15, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Over the past few years, most of MacOS’s updates have been aimed at bringing it firmly into alignment with iOS. Gradually, we’ve seen an increasing number of iOS’s features ported over to the desktop, up to and including the overall look and feel of the software that drives Apple’s mobile device empire. Until this most […]
October 14, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Much has been written about the explosion in the size of the Internet of Things: a dizzying and rapidly growing collection of internet-connected objects that we use to make our lives more convenient. These days, you can find smart versions of everything from televisions to refrigerators, video cameras, home security systems, thermostats and more. The […]
October 13, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Traditional web hosting services are on the way out, at least where small and medium sized businesses are concerned. These are the latest findings by Clutch.co, based on a recent survey of SMBs. A staggering 95% of them say they already have, or are planning to migrate from web hosting service companies to cloud hosting. […]
October 12, 2016 by Vertical Axion
If you’ve never heard of ClixSense, you’re not alone. It’s a website that supposedly pays its users for viewing advertisements and completing surveys online. Unfortunately, people who signed up to use the system got a whole lot more than they bargained for. In this case, the particulars of the hack are as interesting as its […]
October 10, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Are you familiar with the music service, Last.fm? If you used the service at any point in 2012, your password could be compromised. This is the latest find announced by LeakedSource, which provides an online listing of data breaches from around the web, as well as a repository that contains copies of the stolen data. […]
October 8, 2016 by Vertical Axion
Longer Tweets are finally coming! Maybe. At some point. It is the company’s single most requested feature: an easing of the tight, 140-character restriction on Tweet length. And although the company has often reiterated that it was holding fast to the limit, they’ve recently announced a willingness to reverse course in a limited fashion. Twitter’s […]
