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
Android Still Tracking Users With Location History Turned Off
According to Google's support page on the matter, disabling your phone's "Location History" in your phone's privacy settings will prevent Google from tracking every move you make. The support page reads as follows: "You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored." That doesn't leave much in the way of wiggle room. A pity it's not even close to being true. A new investigation conducted by the Associated Press reveals … Read more
Survey Shows People Are Most Concerned About Data Theft
How seriously does the average consumer take data theft? It's an interesting (and fair) question, and one that Radware recently attempted to answer when the company sent out surveys. They contacted more than three thousand people to conduct its recent survey titled "Consumer Sentiments: Cybersecurity, Personal Data and the Impact on Customer Loyalty." As it turns out, today's consumers take the matter even more seriously than many other types of crimes. Here are some of the highlights … Read more
Social Media App Filters Could Alter Beauty Perception
File this one away under "unintended consequences." There's a newly emerging trend in the medical community called "Snapchat Dysmorphia" that's leaving plastic surgeons around the country to sound the alarm, and in some cases, scratch their heads in disbelief. Recent research conducted at Boston University has discovered that the digital filters featured prominently in social media services like Snapchat are influencing how Millennials think about beauty. It's causing significant numbers of … 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
Android Gets New OS Update Named Android Pie
Android 9 is finally here, at least for some users. As of today, if you have any of the following phones, you can get the latest update: The Google Pixel The Pixel XL The Pixel 2 The Pixel 2 XL The Essential Phone The company is currently working with other vendors to make the new update available. So if you've got an Android device other than those listed above, you should have access to the new version later this fall. As to features, there's a lot to like. Google … Read more
Microsoft Is Keeping Classic Skype, For Now
Microsoft recently found itself on the receiving end of more than a little user rage when they made significant changes to Skype, with the release of version 8. The company's original plan was to model Skype 8 after several different social media services, but the users found the new interface to be both annoying and frustrating. On the face of it, Skype 8 boasts a number of impressive enhancements, enabling users to screenshare inside calls, connecting with up to 24 users simultaneously and … Read more
Reddit Users Advised To Reset Their Passwords
If you're a Reddit user, it's time to change your password. According to the company, they recently discovered evidence of a hack that exposed all company data from the site's launch (2005) to 2007, including user emails and account credentials. The company also reported that all public messages from that time period were downloaded, as well as an unknown number of private conversations. In addition to that, the hacker was apparently able to access the logs containing the email digests … Read more
Click Rates For Spam Emails Are Increasing
F-Secure recently published a new report, and their findings are disturbing. The click rates on spam emails increased to 14.2 percent for the second half of 2017, up from 13.4 percent reported in the first half of 2017. The increase seems to be driven by two factors. First, more intense targeting of smartphone users, who are typically more distracted and not paying as much attention when opening and reading emails. Second, a slight increase in sophistication. For instance, an email … Read more
