Quick question - how much do the world's cyber criminals make every sixty seconds? If you guessed a quarter of a million dollars, you'd be wrong. If you doubled that value, you'd be wrong again. According to research conducted by RiskIQ, cybercriminals are raking in a cool million dollars per minute, compared with businesses spending $171,233 per minute on security measures. It's a lopsided battle, and businesses aren't winning. Some other interesting tidbits culled from the company's … Read more
High Frequency Audio Computer Monitors May Expose Screen Activity
It may sound like something straight out of a science fiction movie, but recently, researchers have made a disturbing discovery. Using nothing more than an off-the-shelf microphone, it's possible for an attacker to determine what content you're viewing on your computer monitor. The researchers tested a variety of LCD screens (with both LED and CCFL backlighting) and observed that the high-pitched noise made by the monitors changed as the content displayed on the screen changed. The … Read more
Millions Of T-Mobile Customers Data May Have Been Leaked
Telecommunications giant T-Mobile is the latest victim of a large-scale data breach, with personal data belonging to more than two million of its customers having been leaked. The exposed information included customer name, phone number, email address, billing zip code, account number and whether the account was pre-paid or post-paid. As bad as that is, it could have been far worse. Fortunately, no financial information, passwords, or social security numbers were compromised. According to … Read more
Android Malware Could Access Your Pictures And Calls
Android users have a new threat to contend with, according to a sixteen-page whitepaper outlining a new malware strain. The paper was published by a group of security researchers working for Bitdefender. They identified a robust new strain of malware called "Triout." According to the report, although they just discovered the malware a month ago, there are indications that it has been in use since at least mid-May of this year. Among other things, it can: Steal call log … Read more
Gmail Releases New Confidential Mode
Google has introduced a new Gmail feature called "Confidential Mode," which seeks to make sending and receiving important or sensitive emails more secure. Unfortunately, it may have inadvertently created as many problems as it solves. Here's how the new feature works, and why you may be leery of using it: To send a confidential email, compose your message as normal, and then, click the "lock" icon located at the bottom of the email screen. When this button is pressed, you'll be presented … Read more
If You Use Photoshop, Update Immediately
Do you use Photoshop? Does anyone who works for you use it? If so, you'll want to apply the latest security patch immediately. Two new vulnerabilities were discovered after the release of Adobe's regularly scheduled August 2018 security patch update. This prompted the company to take the unusual step of releasing an emergency, out-of-band update to correct the issue. These two newly discovered vulnerabilities (tracked as CVE-2018-12810 and CVE-2018-12811) impact Adobe photoshop CC2017, … Read more
New Intel Vulnerability Named Foreshadow Found
Intel has had a tough time of things so far this year. The most recent trouble stems from yet another newly discovered security flaw in the company's processors, bearing the inelegant name of "L1 Terminal Fault," or "Foreshadow" by those who have discovered it. The attack can take one of three different shapes (so far), and ultimately allows a hacker to access sensitive data stored in the computer's memory or on third-party cloud-based storage services. This sensitive data includes … Read more
Fax Machines Might Be Gateway To Next Hacker Attack
Nothing bad could possibly happen to your company's network if the only piece of information the hackers have is your fax number, right? Unfortunately not, according to recent research by employees at Check Point. They recently revealed details about not one, but two different REC's (Remote Code Execution) techniques that exploit flaws in the communications protocols of tens of millions of fax machines spread all over the globe. If you think the Fax machine has largely gone the way of … Read more
Cortana May Have Flaw Allowing Unauthorized System Access
Researchers at McAfee have demonstrated a method that hackers could use to perform an end-run around Cortana and access data, run malicious code, or even change a locked computer's password. In this case, however, the emphasis is on the word "could." The researchers readily admit that this attack is high risk, has never been seen in the wild, and has little possibility of going undetected for a variety of reasons. Even so, the research is disturbing and does point to a valid weakness that … Read more
Survey Shows People Are Most Concerned About Data Theft
How seriously does the average consumer take data theft? It's an interesting (and fair) question, and one that Radware recently attempted to answer when the company sent out surveys. They contacted more than three thousand people to conduct its recent survey titled "Consumer Sentiments: Cybersecurity, Personal Data and the Impact on Customer Loyalty." As it turns out, today's consumers take the matter even more seriously than many other types of crimes. Here are some of the highlights … Read more
