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
Macs Can Be Hacked With Synthetic Dismissal On Warning Boxes
Depending on the lens you view him through, Patrick Wardle (former hacker for the NSA and macOS security expert) is either your best friend or your worst nightmare. Most people (whether fans of Apple or not) will readily concede that the company works hard to make their products as secure as possible. Unfortunately, at this year's Def Con hacker convention in Las Vegas, Wardle made a presentation that is currently sending shockwaves through the Apple user community. He exposed a major … 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
PGA Golf Organization Gets Hit By Ransomware
These days, we expect giant corporations, government agencies and medical facilities to be the targets of hackers. However, golf is something new. According to a recent report from GolfWeek, the PGA's offices have been hacked and infected with what appears to be the "BitPaymer" ransomware. That's the same strain that recently hit the town of Matanuska-Susitna, in Alaska, forcing city officials to resort to the use of typewriters for a week until they got their system back. The interesting … Read more
New Scam Targets Apple Users
There's a new, surprisingly elaborate phishing scam targeting iPhone users. The scam starts with an email informing users that their phones have been locked due to "illegal activity" and instructing them to call "Apple Care" to get the problem fixed. Of course, there is no such company as Apple Care, but it's an official enough sounding name that it's luring a surprising percentage of victims into calling. In fact, opening the email will open a call dialog box, making connecting to "help" a … Read more
