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September 15, 2018 by Vertical Axion
In 2016, an unnamed US energy company left some 30,000 records (containing information about its security assets) exposed for more than two months (a total of 70 days), in violation of energy sector cyber security regulations. When the incident was initially reported, the name of the company was withheld. That company has now agreed to […]
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September 14, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Tech Support scams are nothing new, but they are getting increasingly sophisticated. Worse, tech giants like Google are finding it notoriously difficult to detect them. A report recently released by the venerable data security firm, Symantec, indicates that tech support scammers are increasingly integrating call optimization into their schemes, which allows them to insert phone […]
September 13, 2018 by Vertical Axion
If you fly Air Canada and use their mobile app, it may be time to change your password. The company recently announced that between August 22nd and August 24th of this year, they detected “unusual log-in behavior,” and that a small fraction (some 20,000) of their 1.7 mobile app users may have had their data […]
September 12, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks are a major threat, costing business nearly three billion dollars a year. This form of attack primarily targets the C-Suite in order to impersonate them. In the world of BEC attacks, those that employ requests for wire transfers are almost devastatingly effective. Asaf Cidon, the Vice President of Content Security […]
September 11, 2018 by Vertical Axion
2017 was “The Year of Ransomware.” It saw an incredible number of ransomware attacks and infections, paired with a tremendous number of innovations. Although 2018 hasn’t seen quite the same level of ransomware activity, it’s still a major threat with one company coming under attack about every ten minutes. Although there haven’t been as many […]
September 8, 2018 by Vertical Axion
A new study recently published by Sitchfast Technologies paints a grim picture of the threat landscape for small and medium-sized business. Their key finding? A staggering 60 percent of small businesses that suffer a data breach of any magnitude go out of business within six months. Worse, one business owner in three does not have […]
September 7, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Researchers operating out of the University of Florida, Stony Brook University and Samsung Research America have made a disturbing discovery. Millions of Android smartphones manufactured by eleven different OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) were found to be vulnerable to attack via AT Commands. If you’re not sure what an “AT Command” is, you’re not alone. Part […]
September 6, 2018 by Vertical Axion
The great state of Texas has 15.2 million registered voters. Unfortunately, personal details belonging to nearly all of them (14.8 million) have been compromised, but don’t blame the state’s election officials. This staggering breach was caused by the carelessness of a conservative-focused data firm, ironically named “The Data Trust.” They left their research file completely […]
September 5, 2018 by Vertical Axion
There’s a new threat to point of sale (POS) systems coming out of Russia, according to security researchers from Booz Allen Hamilton. The malware, which they’re calling “RtPOS” isn’t bleeding edge technology, and does not approach the level of sophistication of other recently discovered strains, but that doesn’t mean it should be taken lightly. These […]
September 4, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Quick question – how much do the world’s cyber criminals make every sixty seconds? If you guessed a quarter of a million dollars, you’d be wrong. If you doubled that value, you’d be wrong again. According to research conducted by RiskIQ, cybercriminals are raking in a cool million dollars per minute, compared with businesses spending […]
September 3, 2018 by Vertical Axion
It may sound like something straight out of a science fiction movie, but recently, researchers have made a disturbing discovery. Using nothing more than an off-the-shelf microphone, it’s possible for an attacker to determine what content you’re viewing on your computer monitor. The researchers tested a variety of LCD screens (with both LED and CCFL […]
September 1, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Telecommunications giant T-Mobile is the latest victim of a large-scale data breach, with personal data belonging to more than two million of its customers having been leaked. The exposed information included customer name, phone number, email address, billing zip code, account number and whether the account was pre-paid or post-paid. As bad as that is, […]
August 31, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Android users have a new threat to contend with, according to a sixteen-page whitepaper outlining a new malware strain. The paper was published by a group of security researchers working for Bitdefender. They identified a robust new strain of malware called “Triout.” According to the report, although they just discovered the malware a month ago, […]
August 29, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it had entered into a partnership with Open Whisper Systems, the makers of the Signal app. The purpose of the partnership was to bring Signal’s open source, end-to-end encryption protocol to Skype. As of the latest Skype builds, that is now a reality. Stable versions of Skype have been […]
August 28, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Google has introduced a new Gmail feature called “Confidential Mode,” which seeks to make sending and receiving important or sensitive emails more secure. Unfortunately, it may have inadvertently created as many problems as it solves. Here’s how the new feature works, and why you may be leery of using it: To send a confidential email, […]
August 27, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Do you use Photoshop? Does anyone who works for you use it? If so, you’ll want to apply the latest security patch immediately. Two new vulnerabilities were discovered after the release of Adobe’s regularly scheduled August 2018 security patch update. This prompted the company to take the unusual step of releasing an emergency, out-of-band update […]
August 25, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Intel has had a tough time of things so far this year. The most recent trouble stems from yet another newly discovered security flaw in the company’s processors, bearing the inelegant name of “L1 Terminal Fault,” or “Foreshadow” by those who have discovered it. The attack can take one of three different shapes (so far), […]
August 24, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Depending on the lens you view him through, Patrick Wardle (former hacker for the NSA and macOS security expert) is either your best friend or your worst nightmare. Most people (whether fans of Apple or not) will readily concede that the company works hard to make their products as secure as possible. Unfortunately, at this […]
August 23, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Nothing bad could possibly happen to your company’s network if the only piece of information the hackers have is your fax number, right? Unfortunately not, according to recent research by employees at Check Point. They recently revealed details about not one, but two different REC’s (Remote Code Execution) techniques that exploit flaws in the communications […]
August 22, 2018 by Vertical Axion
Researchers at McAfee have demonstrated a method that hackers could use to perform an end-run around Cortana and access data, run malicious code, or even change a locked computer’s password. In this case, however, the emphasis is on the word “could.” The researchers readily admit that this attack is high risk, has never been seen […]
August 18, 2018 by Vertical Axion
How seriously does the average consumer take data theft? It’s an interesting (and fair) question, and one that Radware recently attempted to answer when the company sent out surveys. They contacted more than three thousand people to conduct its recent survey titled “Consumer Sentiments: Cybersecurity, Personal Data and the Impact on Customer Loyalty.” As it […]
August 17, 2018 by Vertical Axion
These days, we expect giant corporations, government agencies and medical facilities to be the targets of hackers. However, golf is something new. According to a recent report from GolfWeek, the PGA’s offices have been hacked and infected with what appears to be the “BitPaymer” ransomware. That’s the same strain that recently hit the town of […]
August 13, 2018 by Vertical Axion
If you’re a Reddit user, it’s time to change your password. According to the company, they recently discovered evidence of a hack that exposed all company data from the site’s launch (2005) to 2007, including user emails and account credentials. The company also reported that all public messages from that time period were downloaded, as […]
August 11, 2018 by Vertical Axion
F-Secure recently published a new report, and their findings are disturbing. The click rates on spam emails increased to 14.2 percent for the second half of 2017, up from 13.4 percent reported in the first half of 2017. The increase seems to be driven by two factors. First, more intense targeting of smartphone users, who […]
