Researchers at Rutgers University have hit upon a novel idea that could be a game-changer in terms of biometric identification. The team published a paper entitled "VibWrite: Towards Finger-input Authentication on Ubiquitous Surfaces via Physical Vibration," and demonstrated a prototype of the device at the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) conference in Dallas, Texas. The new technology is a lesson in simplicity, consisting of a simple vibration motor and a receiver on almost any … Read more
Report Shows Small Percentage Of Employees Know About Ransomware
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 to creep higher. What's perhaps even more alarming, however, is the fact that although companies the world over have made a concerted effort to sound the … Read more
New Ransomware “BadRabbit” Starting To See Infections In The US
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 be a harbinger of things to come. The new threat is functionally similar to NotPetya, which not only encrypts the files on a target system but also then … Read more
Granting Photo Access In iPhone Might Allow Unauthorized Photographing
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 users grant camera permissions to. Basically, any time you upload an avatar or post a picture with an app, you've got to give it camera permissions to do that. Krause … Read more
Productivity: Is the Job Really Getting Done?
Are Your Employees Too Distracted To Be Productive? In the age of technology that has come with cell phones, email, instant messaging and social media, it's easy to see where distractions can become a common occurrence. Nobody wants to be distracted, especially while at work. However, recent research has shown that the common distractions we all face in the workplace may be diminishing productivity and efficiency more than we realize. Set It and Forget It Constant emails, questions from … Read more
A Simple Way to Increase Employee Productivity
Don't Lose Information when You Update. Everyday it seems like a new technology is hitting the market, and in order to keep up companies are constantly updating to the latest software. While this can be a great way to become more efficient in the workplace, this can also cause employees problems if not properly implemented. One of the largest time wasters for employees is searching or finding information. In order to reduce the time wasting and confusion these services could be applied to … Read more
How Rapid is Your Disaster Recovery?
It's Not IF, But WHEN... Everyone has experienced a setback due to a computer crash. However, the impact of a digital disaster is much more drastic when it comes to your business. Instead of losing an hour or two of work, you could be losing days or even weeks of valuable work and data. What's your plan if your network went down for days and you were unable to access your email or file sharing? What would you do? I'll Prepare...Eventually... While this issue is a major risk and could have … Read more
Watch Out For New Facebook “Trusted Friend” Scam
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 phishing scam, relying on some basic psychology. After all, if you get an earnest sounding message from someone you know explaining that you're listed as one of their "Trusted Friends" and … Read more
Top Subject People Fall Victim To Is – Data Breach Notification
For hackers around the world, success breeds more success, it seems. A company called KnowBe4 has released a report entitled "Top Ten Global Phishing Email Subject Lines For Q3 2017." To prepare it, they analyzed email subject lines from simulated phishing tests to determine what the most effective approach was. Their findings were that "Official Data Breach Notification" was the hands-down winner, generating far more click-throughs than any other. Perry Carpenter, KnowBe4's Chief … Read more
Ransomware Continues To Evolve On Android Devices
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 "Home" button. Initial forensic analysis of the code base reveals this new threat to be based on Svpeng, which is a nasty form of malware … Read more
