Call 980-407-5488
Blog
April 14, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Recently, digital security firm Lookout spotted an innovative new kind of malware they dubbed Scareware. Targeting Apple mobile devices, it makes the user believe he or she has been the victim of a ransomware attack by using simple Javascripts to lock the Safari mobile browser into an endless loop, displaying a message that all the […]
Read more »
Tagged
April 13, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Who says hackers don’t have a flair for style? Security searchers at Avast, makers of a popular antivirus software, have stumbled across a new strain of ransomware that utilizes a Star Trek theme. Although the new Python-based malware is not known to have ensnared any victims yet, the security bulletin is making the rounds to […]
April 12, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Are you one of the holdouts still running Windows 7 or 8? If so, you should know that if you upgrade your processor to the very latest, you will no longer be able to receive automatic software updates. For clarification, Microsoft formally terminated support for Windows 7 in January 2015, regardless of what processor you’re […]
April 11, 2017 by Vertical Axion
If you haven’t heard of the Trojan called “Nuclear Bot,” you probably will have the dubious honor of seeing it in action soon. Its author just released the source code on the Dark Web, and that’s very bad news. Nuclear Bot is a devastatingly effective Trojan. Although designed to target banks, there’s no reason why […]
April 10, 2017 by Vertical Axion
On March 22, Urology Austin became the second medical company to suffer from a major breach. It was a particularly nasty one, combining data theft with a ransomware attack that impacted more than a quarter million users. To its credit, the company took immediate, decisive action. It ensured that no one’s care was impacted and […]
April 8, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Today’s corporate networks look so different from the networks of yesteryear that they’re almost not even comparable any more. In olden times, when the personal computer was a relatively new invention and networks were just beginning to form, they were homogenous and tightly controlled. They were nearly hermetically sealed digital environments with strong digital walls […]
April 7, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Tavis Ormandy is either the first, or the last person on the planet you ever want to get an email from, depending on your point of view. As Google’s best, most prolific bug-hunter, he’s constantly on the prowl for security flaws that could be exploited by hackers that could put your data at risk. Recently, […]
April 6, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Just how bad it bot activity on the net? How much traffic is generated by bots, and how big of a problem is that for business owners? The answers will surprise and dismay you. According to the annual “Bad Bot Report” published by a company called Distil, Bot activity accounted for 40% of all traffic […]
April 4, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Do you think your business is safe from a ransomware attack? It isn’t. This was indeed the case that when ransomware first burst onto the scene. Hackers were targeting very large institutions, seeming to favor the health care and insurance industries. But that is now changing, at least according to a recent report published by […]
April 3, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Ask.com is one of the internet’s oldest properties. It is not as well-known as the titans of the web (Google, Yahoo, etc.) but almost everyone who has spent any time at all on the internet is familiar with the brand, and its popular browser-based toolbar, distributed by the APN (Ask Partner Network) is used by […]
April 1, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Nobody likes CAPTCHAs. They’re annoying. They slow you down when you’re trying to log into a site that has data you need. Unfortunately, CAPTCHAs themselves proved necessary to help weed out bots and keep them at bay. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but in Google’s case, they began using text digitized […]
March 31, 2017 by Vertical Axion
If you’re a business owner, and you haven’t yet heard of BEC scams, it’s a term you owe it to yourself to get familiar with. The acronym stands for Business Email Compromise, otherwise known as CEO fraud, and it’s growing in popularity. The basic idea is that a hacker spends time studying your business, how […]
March 30, 2017 by Vertical Axion
The security company Checkpoint recently found a critical security flaw in both the Whatsapp and Telegram services that could have spelled big trouble for their users. Fortunately, it has already been patched with no apparent damage done, but below, the details of the flaw are outlined because this may not be the last time we […]
March 28, 2017 by Vertical Axion
There’s a new technology being developed by researchers at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) that stands to be a game-changer. Dubbed “lip password,” the new tech utilizes machine learning to recognize lip motion, shape and texture for each user when you speak your password. Of significance, your voice has nothing to do with the password […]
March 27, 2017 by Vertical Axion
A brazen group of hackers calling themselves the “Turkish Crime Family” claims to have more than half a million user names and passwords for a variety of Apple-based services, including mac.com, me.com and icloud.com. Unless their demands are met and the company pays a hefty $150,000, the group is threatening to erase everything in all […]
March 23, 2017 by Vertical Axion
The internet is beginning to resemble the wild west, thanks to this latest data breach, which has exposed almost a billion and a half email addresses and a full range of other personal information. The two things that make this particular incident noteworthy are its sheer size and the target of the hack. In this […]
March 22, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Have you recently purchased an Android phone? Depending on the brand and where you got it, you may have purchased a device pre-loaded with malware. So far, two unidentified vendors have been found selling smartphones from a variety of manufacturers containing malware from two different and particularly nasty families of malware: SLocker and Loki. In […]
March 21, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Given the fact that smart phones are about to eclipse PCs as the King of the digital world, threats against smart devices are garnering increasing attention, and the biggest players in the smart device market are taking an active stance against them. The Google Play Store is already one of the most secure online app […]
March 20, 2017 by Vertical Axion
With all its potential, the Internet of Things has problems. The single biggest one of these relates to privacy. This came into sharp focus last year when a smart TV producer revealed that their products were always on and could easily record private conversations. If the servers housing those recordings were hacked, it could put […]
March 18, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Should it be legal to hack a hacker who is intent on attacking you? It’s an interesting, touchy debate, with powerful opinions on both sides. On the one hand, hacking is universally regarded as an illegal act, even when conducted in self-defense. After all, it invariably involves breaching a network you do not own. Furthermore, […]
March 17, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Dahua, a Chinese manufacturer of DVRs and Smart Cameras, has security problems. In fact, on the Dark Web, the company is commonly referenced as building products that are particularly easy to hack, and as such, hackers gravitate to them. In practice, what this means is that Dahua devices make up a disproportionate share of most […]
March 16, 2017 by Vertical Axion
Unless you have kids, you may not have even known about CloudPets, or the MongoDB, much less the recent hack or the shocking lack of security. Firstly, yes. Smartpets are a “thing.” They are a new type of stuffed toy for small children connected to the internet. Parents and grandparents can record messages for their […]
March 15, 2017 by Vertical Axion
The next big thing is going to be really small, at least if Microsoft has anything to say about it. They’ve been experimenting with storing data in what some might call the most unlikely of places…DNA. The process is mind-bendingly complex, but the potential is simply too great to be ignored. A single gram of […]
March 13, 2017 by Vertical Axion
While Cloudflare isn’t a household name, it is one of the titans of the internet, having a massive presence as a reverse proxy service. It provides security and serves optimized content to many Fortune 500 companies and a whole host of smaller ones. From September of last year to Feb. 20 of this year, thanks […]
