Google recently found itself in a bit of hot water after an investigation by Quartz revealed that the company was intrusively collecting location data on literally every Android device in use today. That's billions of devices all over the globe. There are many instances when there's an expectation that location data can and will be tracked. In fact, one of the most commonly used features of smartphones in general (GPS and directions) demands it. After all, Google Maps can't tell you how to … Read more
More Bad News For OnePlus Phone Users
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 a factory-installed application called "Engineering Mode" that can perform a series of intrusive hardware diagnostic routines and can even … Read more
Malware Infections Grow 4X In Just One Quarter
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 infections. What's worse is that the infections have spread to literally every corner of the globe. No nation is completely safe. Digging more deeply into … Read more
Latest Store With Payment Breach Is Forever 21
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." The investigation into the incident is ongoing, and we don't have full details yet, but here's what we know so far: • Although the … Read more
Be Careful Of Downloads – Google Play Store Sees Malware Increase
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 different security companies: Dr. Web, McAfee and Malwarebytes. According to the latest McAfee report, 144 Play Store apps have been identified as containing … Read more
Black Friday Brings Major Increase In Fraud
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 busy shopping days. The estimate is higher than it's ever been and is driven in large part by the sheer number of high profile data … Read more
Apple’s New Face ID May Have Been Compromised
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 made another attempt when they released their new iPhone X, complete with a new "ultra-secure" Face ID security feature, which was touted during the new phone's September launch event. … Read more
Windows 10 Gets New Set Of Recommended Security Standards
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 interested in making your computer as safe and secure as it possibly can be, this is a road you'll have to go down on your own and make the necessary mods and … Read more
How Safe is Your Password Really?
Imagine this: You're setting up your login information for your email, or maybe it's your Cloud database account. Upon entering your password, the program prompts you to include a capitalized letter, number and possibly a symbol in your password. You wonder, "Is this really necessary? Who's going to be THAT determined to break into my accounts?" Well to answer that question: hackers. Hackers are going to great lengths to recover your account login credentials. And as hackers develop more ways … Read more
Android Gets Fix For KRACK WiFi Vulnerability
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 more destructive, conducting all manner of "man in the middle" attacks against anyone on the network. The major tech companies were all given advance notice of Vanhoef's research, … Read more
