If you own a smartphone made by Chinese manufacturer OnePlus, you can thank security researcher Chris Moore for making a discovery that the manufacturer wasn’t going to tell you about. It turns out that OnePlus phones running the OxygenOS are recording a disturbing amount of user data and sending it back to a company server. The data being collected on users include, but are not limited to: • Any time the user locks or unlocks the phone • Any time the user launches, uses or closes an … Read more
2012 Disqus Hack Exposed More Than 17 Million Users
The hits just keep coming, with Disqus being the latest company to issue a breach disclosure. If you’ve never heard of it, Disqus is an incredibly popular, plugin-based comment service for blogs. Although the breach was only just discovered, it occurred five years ago in July 2012 and impacted more than 17.5 million users. Evidence of the breach was initially discovered by an independent security researcher named Troy Hunt. It was then reported to the company and disclosed 24 hours later … Read more
The IRS Awards Security Contract To Equifax Even After Hack
You’ve probably heard about Equifax’s recent troubles. More than 145 million consumer data files were exposed, including names, addresses, social security numbers and more. The problem was viewed as so serious that Equifax’s CEO stepped down and congressional hearings were launched, but then, a funny thing happened. Equifax got awarded a no-bid government contract worth millions ($7.25 million, to be exact) to help the IRS verify taxpayer identities in order to prevent fraud. One might … Read more
Sonic Drive-In Latest Company With Credit Card Breach
Another week, another data breach, and this time, popular fast food chain Sonic found itself in the crosshairs. The breach came to light when a Brian Krebs, a journalist for Infosec, spotted a large batch of credit card data for sale on an underground website. IBM’s “X-Force” division confirmed Krebs’ findings, and later that same day, Sonic confirmed the report, offering all of its customers two years of free fraud and identity theft protection. At this point, the company has released … Read more
Firefox Will End Support For XP, and Vista Users In 2018
Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP and Vista quite some time ago., Butbut so far, Firefox has been hanging tough, continuing to provide updates to their browser’s users on both platforms, doing at least something to extend their useful life a bit longer. That’s soon coming to an end going to change soon. Mozilla recently announced that as of June 2018, their support for both XP and Vista would be coming to an end. Originally, Mozilla planned to discontinue support to both XP and Vista … Read more
Even Minimal Exposure Can Result In Huge Fines
Data security is no laughing matter, and even small exposures can lead to hefty fines, no matter the size of your company. Last year, the federal government sent shockwaves through the industry when they began an aggressive campaign of investigating and punishing companies for HIPAA infractions, logging more than a dozen high profile settlements. While it’s true that this particular case did not involve a HIPAA violation, it has much in common with the hefty fines the federal government … Read more
WiFi Security Flaw Affects Millions Of Users And Devices
Security researchers have found a new critical security flaw dubbed “Krack” (Key Reinstallation Attacks) that affects literally every WiFi router and smart phone in use today. The reason? The security flaw resides in the WiFi standard itself, rather than in a third-party product. In addition to being vast in scope and scale, Krack is a particularly nasty, versatile flaw, allowing hackers to intercept credit card numbers, passwords, photos and a whole host of sensitive personal … Read more
Not Monitoring Internet Usage Could Be Risky Business
A Big Part of Your Business Can Cause Big Problems The internet and email are tools we use in business so fluently we can't imagine the world without them. However, more and more businesses are discovering that these tools are being used by employees for activities that aren't business related. Employers are quickly discovering that unmonitored internet use by employees is severely hampering productivity and can even result in serious legal consequences. In order to reduce or even eliminate … Read more
The Risks of a BYOD Policy
Bring Your Own Device or BYOD policies are a growing trend in the business world. And while it can be convenient for employees and a money saver for companies, it isn't without risk. So before you put a BYOD policy in place for your business, make sure you weigh the risk and reward. Racking Up the Costs BYOD programs can quickly be taken advantage of by employees. Several companies, especially those with multiple employees using the program, have run into individuals who take advantage of … Read more
This Halloween…Who’s Keeping An Eye On Your Computer Network?
Many business owners and managers we work with wait FAR too long to have us check and update their computer network's health and security. Unless we are actively performing regular daily/weekly/monthly maintenance, a nasty virus, malicious hacker, unexpected software corruption, hardware failure or dozens of other problems could catch you off guard and result in extensive downtime, data loss and expensive data recovery efforts. That's because many businesses do not perform regular maintenance … Read more
