Do you play Blizzard online computer games such as World of Warcraft, Diablo III, Hearthstone, Starcraft II, or Overwatch? If so, there's a potential problem you need to be aware of. Tavis Ormandy, a researcher on Google's Project Zero team, recently discovered that the Blizzard Update Agent is vulnerable to hacking, via a technique known as "DNS Rebinding." The update agent is designed to accept commands to install, uninstall, change settings, update and perform other maintenance … Read more
2 Million Credit Cards Stolen From Popular Sandwich Shop
By now, we've seen enough large-scale Point of Sale (POS) credit card thefts that patterns are beginning to emerge. Some companies follow the general arc of the narrative better than others and deserve credit for doing so, but in the end, the story is about the same. That's certainly the case with Jason's Deli. Recently, they discovered RAM-scraping malware on a number of their POS terminals. This has happened at a total of 164 of their locations, scattered across 14 states. During the … Read more
Mac Computers Battling New Malware For Hijacking DNS
It's official, the first macOS malware of 2018 is here. Discovered by an independent security researcher and dubbed "OSX/MaMi," the code is functionally similar to DNSChanger malware. The researcher posted his findings on the Malwarebytes forum and none other than Patrick Wardle (an ex-NSA hacker) analyzed it, having this to say: "OSX/MaMi isn't particularly advanced - but does alter infected systems in rather nasty and persistent ways. By installing a new root certificate and hijacking … Read more
Google Will Get Tougher On Websites Not Using HTTPS
Google is poised to make an important change to its Chrome browser beginning in July 2018. Here's the summary from Emily Schechter, the Google Chrome Security Product Manager: "For the past several years, we've moved toward a more secure web by strongly advocating that sites adopt HTTPS encryption, and within the last year, we've also helped users understand that HTTP sites are not secure by gradually marking a larger subset of HTTP pages as 'not secure.' Beginning in July 2018 with the … Read more
Use Of Bots Has Increased Fake Account Creations
The ThreatMetrix Cybercrime Report 2017 is out, and is a troubling read for anyone who has anything to do with data security. As a fraud prevention company protecting nearly a billion and a half users around the world, they're uniquely positioned to know, and their insights on the threat landscape is invaluable. Their main finding is that hackers, scammers and fraudsters are moving away from using stolen debit and credit cards, given that these things have such a short shelf life. On the … Read more
Intel Chips Face Another Possible Vulnerability
Intel's year isn't getting off to a very good start. Just after the discovery of a pair of critical vulnerabilities that have been in their chipsets for more than a decade comes the discovery of yet another serious flaw that could impact millions of laptops around the world. A Finnish data security firm called "F-Secure" just reported an issue with Intel's Active Management Technology (AMT) that could allow a hacker to completely bypass the machine's normal login procedure and take control … Read more
Inappropriate Ads Found In Some Game Apps for Kids
Normally, Google's robust series of checks and audits are pretty good at catching malicious code and preventing it from making its way to the Play Store. Sometimes, however, something slips through anyway despite the company's best efforts. This latest one is particularly bad. Researchers from Check Point have identified a new strain of malware called "AdultSwine" lurking in more than sixty gaming apps on the Play Store. Each of these apps has been downloaded between 3 million and 7 million … Read more
Must Know Info For Backup, Security and Disaster Recovery
The Importance of a Proactive, NOT Reactive Approach With the major role information technology plays in the way business is conducted in today's world, it's crucial that every business owner, both large and small, be able to see the big picture of protecting client and company data from disaster. Data backup disaster comes in many forms, from hackers to employee sabotage, to viruses and natural disaster, it's critical to your business operation that you understand the scenarios and solutions … Read more
Is Working on Personal Devices Risky Business?
It's natural and common for your employees to want to conduct some of their work at home or on the road, and often the most convenient way is to do so on their personal devices. However, this could be putting your business at risk, and thus allowing your employees to conduct their work on personal devices could be risky business. The Risk of Not Being Regulated Since your employees personal devices aren't the property of the company, they aren't being properly protected and regulated. And … Read more
8 Ways To Keep Your Small Business Secure
If you own and operate a small business, lowering costs is an important part of keeping your company in the black. Cutting costs on your IT budget could inadvertently compromise your company’s security. Even though small businesses may not have all of the resources that large corporations do, they are still just as vulnerable to the same security threats. Here are ways to help secure your small business: 1. Have Anti-virus & Malware Software Every computer is vulnerable to the wide variety … Read more
