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
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
3 Reasons Why You Should Be Using Web Filtering
1. Security. Imagine an employee visits a website that causes a virus and infects all of your company's files. Getting those files back would be an absolute nightmare. That's why you should take a preventative approach and use web filtering. Web filtering protects your company's data from malware, phishing scams and other various cyber threats. It will block content and websites that could be potentially harmful. In turn, this will reduce the risk of a virus or security breach. 2. … Read more
Hard Drives Susceptible To Sound Waves, Can Double As Microphones
File this one away under “obscure and terrifying.â€� Recently, a security researcher named Alfredo Ortega, speaking at a security conference in Buenos Aires, unveiled research revealing that the hard drive in your computer can be, with a bit of work, turned into a rudimentary microphone and used to spy on you. It should be noted that this hack only works on HDDs and takes advantage of the way they are designed. Understand that this isn’t a flaw; it’s simply the way the technology … Read more
After Yet Another Equifax Hack, IRS Suspends Contract Worth $7.5M
Equifax just can’t seem to get out of its own way. Not long ago, the company suffered a massive data breach which saw the sensitive information of more than 145 million consumers exposed. As a result, congressional hearings were convened, and the CEO resigned in disgrace. Amazingly, though, despite these events, the IRS opted to award the company a contract worth $7.5 million for its help and expertise in verifying taxpayer identification to prevent identity theft. The irony did not … Read more
Popular Chrome Ad Blocker Faked, 30k Users Infected With Malware
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,” as the saying goes. Unfortunately, Google has now been fooled by the same trick twice. For the second time in recent years, Google has allowed a malicious variant of the popular extension “AdBlock Plus” onto its Chrome Web Store. It was noticed by a security researcher going by the alias “SwiftOnSecurity.” Before Google removed it, it had been installed more than 37,000 times by unsuspecting users. This incident underscores a … Read more
New Hack Attempts To Access Office 365 Passwords
Companies are getting better at detecting and fending off brute force attacks. Depending on how big, and how hard-hitting the attack is, it can still get through, of course, but the main problem with such an attack is that it’s impossible to miss. The moment it starts, security professionals know what’s going on, and can immediately spring into action. Of course, the hackers know this, and have been looking for ways around the problem. How can they launch an attack that will go … Read more
