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August 5, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Patrick Wardle is a name you may not be familiar with, but if you’re a Mac user, it’s a name you need to know. He’s an ex-NSA hacker chief and is now the chief security researcher for Synack, and over the past few months, he’s been hot on the trail of an incredibly elusive bit […]
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August 3, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Trouble continues to brew where the IoT (Internet of Things) is concerned. Recently, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which is a division of the FBI, has issued a warning to parents about the potential dangers that “smart” toys pose. The warning comes on the heels of a number of reports to the IC3 about […]
August 2, 2017 by Vertical Axion
File this report away under “how not to respond to a data breach.” Yes, it has happened again, and this time, to the financial giant, Dow Jones & Company. The UpGuard Cyber Risk Team discovered a cloud-based file repository controlled by the company that had been misconfigured, allowing semi-public access to it. The repository was […]
August 1, 2017 by Vertical Axion
It’s finally happening, and we now have a firm timeframe. Adobe just announced that as of 2020, they will no longer be supporting their beleaguered Flash player. Once wildly popular and used by webmasters all over the world to provide interactive content on websites, over the past decade, Flash Player has been plagued by serious […]
July 31, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Are you a fan of wrestling? Have you signed up to the WWE’s website or any of their newsletters? If so, at least some of your information may have been stolen. Here’s what we know: A security researcher from Kromtech (owned by Forbes) name Bob Dyachenko discovered a WWE database on one of Amazon’s web […]
July 29, 2017 by Vertical Axion
It just may be the ultimate hack: stealing passwords from your brainwaves. It’s something that has moved beyond the realm of science fiction and into the realm of possibility, according to a joint research study conducted by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of California, Riverside. The research team tested […]
July 28, 2017 by Vertical Axion
If you used the travel site Saber for booking hotels between August of 2016 and March of 2017, be advised that your data was likely stolen by hackers, including your credit card number, your name as it appears on the card and the card’s expiration date. Saber is one of the web’s leading travel and […]
July 27, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Researchers from McAfee’s mobile division have discovered a strain of ransomware called “LeakerLocker” on two apps that slipped through Google’s various checks and made their way onto the Google Play Store. The apps in question were “Booster and Cleaner Pro,” which was billed as an app designed to boost memory on your smartphone, and “Wallpapers […]
July 26, 2017 by Vertical Axion
There’s a new piece of malware to worry about called “Neutrino,” and it represents an especially troubling development. It’s a fork of an older, well-developed banking Trojan called “Zeus,” and its designers have gone to great lengths to make sure that it remains undetected for as long as possible so it has more time to […]
July 25, 2017 by Vertical Axion
If you thought we’d seen the last of the Wannacry ransomware, think again. Recently, a new threat has been discovered that targets Linux users. It should be noted up front that “SambaCry” is not a variant strain of the aforementioned ransomware, but rather, a security flaw in Linux that mirrors the one Wannacry used to […]
July 24, 2017 by Vertical Axion
A new bug has been discovered that impacts both Android and iOS devices. If you use a smartphone that contains Broadcom Wi-Fi chips, and you probably do, the newly discovered exploit allows an attacker to execute malicious code on your device remotely with no input or action required by you. The bug was discovered by […]
July 22, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Researchers at the security firm Check Point have uncovered a new strain of malware they’re calling CopyCat that has taken the internet by storm, infecting millions of Android devices in South and Southeast Asia, for now. This malware could easily break out into other parts of the world. Best estimates are that some 14 million […]
July 20, 2017 by Vertical Axion
The total number of ransomware attacks has seen a massive spike, with nearly 50 percent more attacks against PCs occurring this year than last year. In the same time period, ransomware attacks against mobile devices fell marginally from 137,000 by this point last year to 130,000 this year. However, those numbers are tiny compared to […]
July 18, 2017 by Vertical Axion
If you’re one of the millions of Skype users around the world, check to see what version you’re using. If you haven’t upgraded to the latest build, you’re at risk. Recently, a new vulnerability came to light that allows hackers to take advantage of a security flaw in the software’s clipboard function that could spell […]
July 17, 2017 by Vertical Axion
A new survey released by Guidance Software reveals some disturbing trends about the state of cyber security. The survey asked 330 IT and digital security professionals questions about cyber-attacks and their impact on the organizations they serve. The biggest news was in how many organizations reported that they’d been the victims of a malware attack […]
July 15, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Microsoft recently announced a new change coming to Windows Defender in the fall called “Controlled Folder Access.” As the company describes the feature, it should enable Windows Defender to prevent files in specified folders from being modified (including encryption) by untrusted applications, which means that the new security measure would provide powerful defense against ransomware-style […]
July 14, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Qualcomm has recently announced the release of their next-generation fingerprint biometric technology for mobile devices, and on its face, it seems to be a significant improvement. The problem that the current generation of fingerprint scanning technology suffers from is that hackers have been able to find a variety of clever, shockingly simple and devastatingly effective […]
July 12, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Anyone who works in IT or has any interest in data security at all can tell you that the number of hacking attacks is on the rise. Worse than that, though, is the fact that the hackers themselves are getting increasingly organized, and that organization is allowing them to share code and develop entirely new […]
July 8, 2017 by Vertical Axion
If there’s one thing that’s true about the world’s hackers, it is that they are tireless and relentless when it comes to finding new and increasingly inventive ways to infiltrate a user’s system, collect data, and cause mayhem in general. The latest trend to be on the lookout for is phishing attacks aimed at mobile […]
July 7, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Since the 2016 election, there have been lots of hard questions asked about the sanctity of US elections, with mounting conjectural evidence that there was an active attempt by nation-state actors to influence the outcome of the most recent US Presidential election. Because of that, the security of US citizen voter data has been at […]
July 6, 2017 by Vertical Axion
A South Korean web hosting company called NAYANA has been the victim of what appears to be one of the largest, if not the largest ransomware attacks in the history of the internet. According to the digital security firm Trend Micro, the ransomware used in the attack is called Erebus, and successfully infected all of […]
July 5, 2017 by Vertical Axion
If you’ve never heard of a banking Trojan called Dyre, then consider yourself lucky. When Russian officials stormed the headquarters of the company that created it, it was heralded as one of the biggest takedowns in recent hacking history. It ended the rapid ascent of one of the fastest growing NextGen banking Trojans in recent […]
July 4, 2017 by Vertical Axion
The Girl Scouts are perhaps best known for their awesome cookies, but like their brother organization, the Boy Scouts, the girls in uniform do a lot more than just that. For the past 105 years, both organizations have been issuing merit badges for camping, survival skills and a wide range of outdoor activities. Recently, though, […]
July 1, 2017 by Vertical Axion
After the global Wannacry attack and Microsoft’s emergency patch to close the loopholes that made it possible, you might have been lulled into thinking that a similar attack was no longer possible. Sadly, you would be incorrect in thinking this. As you read these words, a similar, and in some ways worse, form of ransomware […]
