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December 1, 2017 by Vertical Axion
OnePlus phones have been getting plenty of bad press lately, thanks to malicious apps found to be factory-installed on a percentage of the devices, along with some intrusive data collection features the manufacturer has installed. As it turns out, though, the story gets worse. Recently, a security researcher going by the alias “Elliot Alderson” discovered […]
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November 30, 2017 by Vertical Axion
The world’s hackers have been busy according to the latest report by Comodo security, which tracks the total number of threats around the globe, quarter by quarter. The latest statistics are alarming, showing a massive jump in the total number of malware infections reported in the third quarter of 2017. Reports show nearly 400 million […]
November 29, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Unfortunately, another high-profile data breach has surfaced. The latest company to fall victim is US-based fashion retailer Forever 21, operating more than 800 stores in 57 countries. The company became aware of the breach when they were notified of “unauthorized access to data from payment cards that were used at certain Forever 21 store locations.” […]
November 27, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Google’s Play Store is under siege. In recent month, there has been a sharp spike in malware campaigns launched against the store, with a shocking number of poisoned apps slipping past Google’s robust system of checks designed to prevent, or at least minimize such occurrences. The spike in poisoned apps has been reported by three […]
November 25, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Retailers are gearing up for the year’s busiest shopping weekend, which runs from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, but another group is also gearing up. Scammers. Security experts are warning that retailers should brace for impact because the best estimates are that there could be as many as fifty million fraud-based attacks between those spectacularly […]
November 23, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Tech companies of all shapes and sizes have been on the hunt for the “Holy Grail” of security features since before the rise of the internet. So far, a number of strategies have been developed, but none have proved to be successful. Hackers have found ways around each and every one to date. Apple recently […]
November 22, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Microsoft has introduced a new set of standards designed to make computers running Windows 10 more secure. Obviously, these standards are not industry requirements, and most of the off-the-shelf PCs you can buy will struggle to meet all of these requirements. In time, of course, that could change, but as things stand now, if you’re […]
November 17, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Last month, a new WiFi security vulnerability known as “Krack” was discovered by a security researcher named Mathy Vanhoef. It was about as serious as a security flaw could be, enabling hackers to clone a router and funnel traffic through it, either monitoring all the activity on the network, or, if they wanted to be […]
November 14, 2017 by Vertical Axion
You may not have heard of the new strain of ransomware known as BadRabbit. If you haven’t, it’s because the overwhelming percentage of BadRabbit attacks have been occurring in Russia, which accounts for 71 percent of all known infections at present. Unfortunately, there have been a few infections reported in the United States, which may […]
November 13, 2017 by Vertical Axion
An Austrian software engineer named Felix Krause has made a disturbing discovery about iPhones using iOS11. Once an app has been given permission to access the device’s camera, it can take pictures and videos without alerting the user and upload them to the internet in real time. Unfortunately, there are a lot of apps that […]
November 11, 2017 by Vertical Axion
The statistics are alarming. Ransomware is fast becoming the favored hobby horse of hackers worldwide. Barely a week goes by that a new strain isn’t introduced into the wild, with expensive, and often tragic consequences. Right now, the average amount paid by office workers impacted by a ransomware attack is $1400, a figure that continues […]
November 10, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Hilton Hotels is in hot water, having recently been fined a hefty $700,000 in an agreement with the states of New York and Vermont over the company’s mishandling of a pair of recent data breaches. According to official statements released by investigators, the company was found to have made two glaring errors: failing to maintain […]
November 9, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Do you use apps that employ the new “Adaptive Icons” feature introduced in Android Oreo? If so, be aware that there’s a serious flaw in the code that could send your device into an infinite bootloop, leaving you no alternative but to restore the device to factory default settings, which will almost certainly result in […]
November 8, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Hotel giant Hyatt is in the crosshairs again, having suffered its second data breach in two years. Hyatt’s security team recently confirmed the breach as having occurred between March 18 and July 2 of 2017. While the company has yet to release any information detailing the number of impacted users, simply stating that it was […]
November 7, 2017 by Vertical Axion
If you can’t trust your friends, who can you trust? No one, apparently. There’s a new scam on Facebook that’s making waves, and it’s one you should be mindful of. You may get an “urgent message” from someone you know, asking for your help in recovering their Facebook account. This is a tried and true […]
November 4, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Hackers around the world are continuing to innovate at a terrifying, relentless pace, and that truth is reflected in the latest form of ransomware to be found in the wild. Dubbed “DoubleLocker,” this new strain targets Android devices. It uses and abuses the platform’s Accessibility Service, reactivating itself every time the user presses the phone’s […]
November 3, 2017 by Vertical Axion
File this one away under “obscure and terrifying.” Recently, a security researcher named Alfredo Ortega, speaking at a security conference in Buenos Aires, unveiled research revealing that the hard drive in your computer can be, with a bit of work, turned into a rudimentary microphone and used to spy on you. It should be noted […]
November 2, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Equifax just can’t seem to get out of its own way. Not long ago, the company suffered a massive data breach which saw the sensitive information of more than 145 million consumers exposed. As a result, congressional hearings were convened, and the CEO resigned in disgrace. Amazingly, though, despite these events, the IRS opted to […]
November 1, 2017 by Vertical Axion
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,” as the saying goes. Unfortunately, Google has now been fooled by the same trick twice. For the second time in recent years, Google has allowed a malicious variant of the popular extension “AdBlock Plus” onto its Chrome Web Store. It was noticed by […]
October 31, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Companies are getting better at detecting and fending off brute force attacks. Depending on how big, and how hard-hitting the attack is, it can still get through, of course, but the main problem with such an attack is that it’s impossible to miss. The moment it starts, security professionals know what’s going on, and can […]
October 30, 2017 by Vertical Axion
If you own a smartphone made by Chinese manufacturer OnePlus, you can thank security researcher Chris Moore for making a discovery that the manufacturer wasn’t going to tell you about. It turns out that OnePlus phones running the OxygenOS are recording a disturbing amount of user data and sending it back to a company server. […]
October 28, 2017 by Vertical Axion
The hits just keep coming, with Disqus being the latest company to issue a breach disclosure. If you’ve never heard of it, Disqus is an incredibly popular, plugin-based comment service for blogs. Although the breach was only just discovered, it occurred five years ago in July 2012, and impacted more than 17.5 million users. Evidence […]
October 26, 2017 by Vertical Axion
You’ve probably heard about Equifax’s recent troubles. More than 145 million consumer data files were exposed, including names, addresses, social security numbers and more. The problem was viewed as so serious that Equifax’s CEO stepped down and congressional hearings were launched, but then, a funny thing happened. Equifax got awarded a no-bid government contract worth […]
October 24, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Another week, another data breach, and this time, popular fast food chain Sonic found itself in the crosshairs. The breach came to light when a Brian Krebs, a journalist for Infosec, spotted a large batch of credit card data for sale on an underground website. IBM’s “X-Force” division confirmed Krebs’ findings, and later that same […]
