Mimecast's 2018 "State of Email Security" report is out, and although it's contents are hardly a surprise, the news it contains is mostly bad. For starters, it confirms what most IT professionals already know: Email continues to be a big threat for organizations of all sizes. Unfortunately, the C-Suite (CEO's, CIO's, CFO's, and the like) are a major part of the problem, representing a significant weak link in Enterprise security. Not only are they a prime target for hackers, but … Read more
Chrome Now Shows Sites Without SSL as Not Secure
There is a small but significant change from Google, with the release of Chrome 68. The updated browser will now prominently notify browsers when they surf their way to non-HTTPS websites, displaying them as "Not Secure." This is Google's latest step in a long campaign to try and make the web a safer and more secure place for internet users around the world. If you're not especially tech-savvy, here's why it matters: Anything sent over a non-HTTPS connection is in plain text, including … Read more
Bluetooth Vulnerability Allows Hackers To Access Devices
There's a new Bluetooth security vulnerability to be aware of, tracked as CVE-2018-5383, and it's a nasty one. It's a cryptographic vulnerability that affects firmware or operating system software drivers from a number of major vendors, including Qualcomm, Broadcom, Intel and Apple. At this point, the implication of the bug on Linux, Android, and Google are unknown. The flaw is related to two important Bluetooth features: BR/EDR implementations of Secure Simple Pairing in device firmware … Read more
Hackers May Set Their Sights On Your GPS Next
If you're like most people, you probably rely heavily on the GPS function of your phone. Type in an address and your phone helpfully guides you, turn by turn, to your destination. It's one of the most often utilized features of a smartphone, and of course, the hackers are very interested in interfering with it. Until now though, hackers have been unable to fool humans into driving to the wrong destination by hacking their GPS, because their instructions often make no sense given the … Read more
New Report Shows 32 Percent Increase In Cyber Attacks
Positive Technologies has just released a new report that paints a grim picture for IT professionals. If your sense is that the number of cyberattacks are increasing, you're not wrong. In fact, it's probably worse than you realize. So far this year, we've seen a staggering 32 percent increase in the total number of cyberattacks in the first quarter of 2018, compared to the same period last year. Even worse, malware attacks have increased by a mind-bending 75 percent since the first quarter of … Read more
World Cup Avoided Nearly 25 Million Cyber Attacks This Year
According to the Kremlin, Russia prevented almost twenty five million cyber-attacks during the World Cup this year. President Vladimir Putin praised the nation's digital security forces by saying the following: "I expect that your close and constructive interaction will continue and will contribute to ensuring the security of our states and our citizens in the future." Given the high-profile nature of the event, it was hardly a surprise that it would be a tempting target. In a survey … Read more
Clinic Employee Learns That Traveling Increases Data Theft Risk
On May 14th, the Billings Clinic in Montana issued a breach notification statement, which explained that they detected unusual activity within one of its employee's email accounts. The employee in question was traveling overseas on a medical mission when the email account was compromised. "As a result of the forensics investigation, we learned that an unauthorized individual had access to emails and attachments within that one account, some of which included patient information." As for … Read more
Thermal Imaging Could Help Thieves Steal Your Passwords
As if there weren't enough ways for hackers to steal your passwords, now, there's thermal imaging. If that sounds like something straight out of a science fiction movie, think again. Researchers from the University of California at Irvine recently discovered and demonstrated a technique that involves the use of a thermal imaging camera to capture heat traces left by human fingertips as they type passwords into a keyboard. In fact, their technique is effective for up to thirty seconds after … Read more
Massive Breach Affects 21 Million Users Of Timehop App
Do you use Timehop? If you're not sure what that is, it's a popular, clever little app that reminds social media users about posts they've made in the past. It can be quite handy, especially if you're active on numerous social media accounts. Unfortunately, the bloom is off the rose for Timehop. Recently, the company announced that it had suffered a breach on the Fourth of July, which gave the hackers virtually unfettered access to the company's cloud servers for more than two hours. … Read more
Malware Created Using Stolen Legitimate Security Certificate From D-Link
Researchers from the digital security firm ESET have recently spotted a new malware campaign with a nasty twist. It was created using a legitimate security certificate stolen from D-Link. The malware appears to be the work of an Advanced Persistent Threat group known as BlackTech, which primarily targets high profile users and firms in Asia, with a particular emphasis on Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. BlackTech is responsible for two different malware families, PLEAD and the DRIGO … Read more
