Introduction: A New Age for Utah Manufacturing For decades, Utah has been quietly building a reputation as one of America’s most dynamic and resilient manufacturing states. From aerospace assembly lines in Ogden to precision medical device production in Salt Lake City, the sector is as diverse as it is essential. But the industry in 2025…
The legal industry is entering a new era. The 2025 Report on the State of the US Legal Market, published by the Thomson Reuters Institute and Georgetown Law’s Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession, shows a major shift in how law firms think and operate. While 2024 was financially successful for many firms, real…
December 2024 ended the year with serious cybersecurity concerns. Major companies and institutions reported data breaches. Attackers targeted banks, hospitals, state systems, and retailers. Each incident exposed customer information, caused downtime, or created legal and financial problems. For Utah businesses, these incidents show why cybersecurity must be a top priority. If your company stores customer…
In 2024, third-party data breaches affected most major U.S. banks. These breaches happened because vendors, not the banks themselves, failed to protect sensitive systems and data. This created access points for cybercriminals to steal information, cause downtime, and spread attacks across connected organizations. This kind of breach is no longer limited to large banks or…
A recent cybersecurity breach at the U.S. Treasury Department shows how vulnerable modern systems have become—even in high-security environments. Hackers linked to a foreign state gained remote access to user workstations using a compromised security key from a third-party platform. This attack highlights key risks for Utah businesses that depend on remote access tools, IT…
Artificial intelligence is changing how businesses operate. It helps companies make decisions, solve problems, and work faster. Today, many companies in Utah are learning about a new kind of AI called Generative AI. This version of AI creates new content, such as images, text, and code. If you run a business in Utah and are…
Cybersecurity Risks in Water Systems: A Wake-Up Call for Utah Businesses Cybersecurity is critical for protecting the infrastructure that supports daily life. For water systems, the risks are growing. A report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reveals that 193 million Americans may rely on water systems vulnerable to cyberattacks. This includes over 97 systems…
Modern smartphones collect and share an overwhelming amount of data. While this improves functionality, it also poses serious privacy and security risks. For Utah businesses, understanding how phones track users is essential to protecting sensitive data and maintaining cybersecurity. Here are six ways your phone tracks you and practical steps to stop it. #UtahITSupport #ManagedITServices…
Cyberattacks are growing in sophistication, and businesses in Utah are not immune. The recent charges against five members of the Scattered Spider hacking group highlight the risks that companies face. These hackers, accused of phishing and theft, targeted companies and individuals across the U.S., including major industries such as telecommunications and cryptocurrency. For Utah businesses,…
Windows 10 will reach its end of life on October 14, 2025, meaning Microsoft will stop offering free security updates and technical support. While your PC will still function, it will no longer have protection from modern threats, leaving it vulnerable. If your PC failed the Windows 11 compatibility test, don’t worry—you have options to…
Microsoft recently addressed 90 vulnerabilities in its latest security update, including two actively exploited zero-day flaws. These vulnerabilities pose a serious threat to businesses using the Windows ecosystem. For companies in Utah, this is a critical reminder to strengthen cybersecurity measures and leverage managed IT services to stay protected. Key Zero-Day Vulnerabilities in Focus CVE-2024-49039:…
The FBI has issued a critical alert to U.S.-based organizations, warning about fake emergency data requests used by cybercriminals to steal sensitive information. This tactic is a growing concern for businesses in Utah, emphasizing the need for strong cybersecurity and managed IT services. What Are Emergency Data Requests? Emergency data requests allow law enforcement to…
A data breach at Thompson Coburn, a prominent law firm, exposed sensitive information of over 300,000 Presbyterian Healthcare Services patients. This incident highlights the growing cybersecurity risks for law firms, emphasizing the need for strong IT support and managed IT services to protect client data. What Happened in the Breach? Thompson Coburn detected unauthorized activity…
The holiday season is a critical time for Utah businesses. Sales increase, customer activity surges, and your IT systems face greater demands than ever. The last thing you need is downtime or a cybersecurity breach during this busy period. With managed IT services, you can ensure your systems perform smoothly and securely throughout the season.…
This year has seen significant data breaches impacting millions worldwide. While these incidents often involve major corporations, small to midsize businesses (SMBs) in Utah face similar risks. Without strong cybersecurity and managed IT services, businesses can fall victim to attacks that result in downtime, lost revenue, and reputational damage. Let’s explore the top five data…
In a chilling cybersecurity mistake, Colorado accidentally published voting system passwords online for several months. While officials assured the public that the error did not compromise the election’s security, the incident serves as a haunting reminder for businesses in Utah about the importance of protecting sensitive data. Even minor oversights can lead to major vulnerabilities.…
Phishing attacks remain one of the most common cyber threats for one simple reason: they work. Every day, over 3.4 billion spam emails flood inboxes, catching businesses like yours off guard. For someone like you, John, trying to keep your business afloat amidst regulatory compliance and cybersecurity concerns, phishing emails are more than just an…
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has long been used by businesses to increase productivity, enhance customer experiences and make data-driven decisions. But what happens when this powerful technology turns against you? For executives navigating an increasingly complex cybersecurity landscape, being aware of AI-powered cyber attacks that pose existential threats is of vital importance. Emergence of AI-Powered Attacks…
Introduction Cybersecurity has been a significant concern for executives and decision-makers, with threats growing both in number and sophistication each year. As cloud computing and remote work environments become the norm, the network perimeter is rapidly evolving, requiring new approaches to security. One such groundbreaking approach gaining traction is Secure Access Service Edge, commonly referred…
Zero-trust architecture is one of today’s most discussed security measures. But cybersecurity professionals admit that gaining support can be difficult. They say it’s important to explain the threat landscape, and how zero-trust addresses it. Prioritizing and planning for small changes is important. So, the risk can be reduced over time and benefits can be realized.…
Cybercriminals are leveraging an as-a-service delivery model to distribute malware. This approach helps attackers infiltrate local networks, encrypt data and extort money. These attacks can be damaging for victims and lucrative for criminals. The perpetrators of ransomware target industries that hold sensitive data, such as the healthcare industry 1. Cybercriminals have become more sophisticated Cybercrime…
Although this year is far from complete, we wanted to take a minute and look at the top cybersecurity trends in 2023 so far: Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS). RaaS is an example of cybercrime where cybercriminals sell ransomware, hacking tools and other cybercrime-related items to other criminals who use them for attacks. RaaS is a type of cybercrime where…
A ransomware attack exposed the information of more than 3.3 million patients on Dec. 1, 2022. Multiple medical groups are affected under the Heritage Provider Network in California. These are: Lakeside Medical Organization Regal Medical Group ADOC Medical Group Greater Covina Medical Understanding Ransomware Ransomware is a malicious computer program that attempts to infect computers…
Cybersecurity company Sentinel Labs has discovered a new malvertising campaign targeting AWS users. Sentinel Labs warns that cybercriminals have established a campaign on Google Ads programs that take users to a fake landing page to steal their credentials and other details. What Is a Malvertising Campaign? A malvertising campaign is a digital ad intended to…
Modern businesses rely on computers and the internet to perform their daily operations. An example is the use of emails, which is essential for client and internal communications. Companies also collect data from their customers and use that to perform their services. An online shop needs to process personal information and credit card payments. Hospitals…
Adobe and Microsoft announced on Feb. 8, 2023, a collaboration to transform the PDF reading experience by bringing Acrobat to Edge. They aim to provide stronger security and improved performance through the new partnership. Microsoft Edge and Adobe Acrobat Edge is the official web browser of Microsoft. It is the successor to the Internet Explorer…
Reddit, a popular social news site, disclosed that it was hacked on Sunday night (pacific time). The company announced on February 9th in a posting that they first became aware of the incident that happened on February 5th. It refers to it as “sophisticated phishing” targeting Reddit employees. According to the CEO, the unidentified persons…
Russian search engine Yandex offers a slew of online services to replace Google, Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, and Uber. However, a recent Yandex data leak contains nearly 50 gigabytes of data with leaked files, including information ranging from API (application programming interface) keys to search engine behaviors. Information released by the leaker as “Yandex git sources”…
Microsoft has decided to retire its MS Teams Free (classic) app. Released in 2017, MS Teams is a communication platform where users chat and call each other over the internet. While the primary concept is nothing new, the innovation comes with bells and whistles included. It is geared towards being a collaboration platform. The product…
Schools in Tucson, AZ, and Nantucket, MA, became the most recent targets of cyberattacks within hours of each other during the last week of January. The two attacks appear to be unrelated. The hackers behind the Tucson Unified District ransomware attack specifically mentioned low spending on crucial cyber services as a reason for infecting their…
Google Fi users have received emails regarding a recent data breach at T-Mobile. From November 2022 through January 2023, hackers were able to obtain unauthorized access to data for 37 million T-Mobile customers. Google Fi, a wireless plan, uses T-Mobile networks to provide wireless service to customers. Google Fi wireless plan users also had information…
The hackers behind Prilex PoS (point-of-sale) malware have developed a new way to steal credit card information to target customers using contactless or “tap-to-pay” payments. Prilex PoS malware has stolen credit card information from payment terminals and ATMs before, but only if the customer physically inserts their card. Originally, the malware targeted ATM users withdrawing…
As a business owner, you realize the necessity of being competitive in a rapidly evolving industry. One method is to use technology to simplify your operations. The proper strategies and tools can boost productivity, cut expenses, and help you provide better customer service. A few strategies for achieving these objectives are: Automate repetitive tasks: Many IT…
In this digital age, effective management of IT assets and inventory is essential to running a successful business. Knowing what assets are available for use and keeping an organized inventory list can help appropriately allocate resources and prepare to scale operations as the business grows over time. As such, it is crucial for business owners…
Businesses have become increasingly competitive in the digital age, and innovative entrepreneurs have taken steps to give their companies an edge. One increasingly popular way of staying competitive is to utilize automation tools. Automation tools can improve the efficiency of almost any business, no matter its size, which can have various benefits such as time…
Businesses can significantly benefit from utilizing social media as a marketing tool. With billions of people using social media worldwide, it presents a unique opportunity to reach potential customers and grow your business. To get started, creating a social media marketing plan is essential. This will help you identify your target audience, set goals, and…
Technology has drastically changed the way people work. With the rise in remote jobs and teams, workers need to collaborate and communicate effectively, even in different time zones and countries. Working productively in remote teams can be challenging, but various strategies can help the team remain effective and on task. The following tips can help…
Technology has drastically changed the way people work. With the rise in remote jobs and teams, workers need to collaborate and communicate effectively, even in different time zones and countries. Working productively in remote teams can be challenging, but various strategies can help the team remain effective and on task. The following tips can help…
Email marketing is a highly successful strategy for modern businesses, giving a variety of advantages that may assist in increasing customer interaction, brand exposure, and lead generation. Here are some of the most important benefits of having an email marketing plan for your company: Increased customer engagement: By delivering targeted, tailored emails to your clients,…
Businesses around the world have adopted Windows 10, one of Microsoft’s most popular operating systems. However, Microsoft will cease selling certain digital downloads of the popular operating system on January 31, 2023. The discontinuation of Windows 10 can significantly impact business operations, particularly regarding security. Businesses will continue to receive updates and support until October…
VPNs, or virtual private networks, have grown in popularity recently as more people recognize the need for internet privacy and security. A VPN is a software that encrypts your internet connection, making it difficult for anyone to intercept your data and track your online activities. A VPN may be helpful for small IT companies since…
Public and private cloud infrastructures have benefits and drawbacks that can impact small to medium-sized businesses. Some advantages of public cloud infrastructure include lower costs, scalability, and flexibility. However, public clouds also present certain risks, such as data security vulnerabilities. Public clouds can be less secure and reliable than private clouds. On the other hand,…
On January 23, 2023, GoTo released a statement detailing an update to the ongoing data breach investigation. Business owners should pay attention to this incident and its implications for their security practices. Details of the Hack: According to GoTo’s statement, the attack was first confirmed on November 30, 2022, involving unauthorized access to the company’s…
On December 20, 2022, PayPal, one of the most widely used online payment platforms, confirmed that 35,000 users’ accounts had been compromised due to a security breach. An unauthorized party viewed and potentially obtained some personal information of PayPal customers between December 6, 2022, and December 8, 2022. As soon as PayPal identified the breach,…
Businesses seeking to improve productivity and minimize disruptions caused by IT issues can benefit from managed IT services. A managed service provider (MSP) can provide businesses with the expertise to maintain and optimize their IT infrastructure by outsourcing IT support. By doing so, companies can avoid costly downtime and interruptions caused by IT, which can…
The mobile phone provider recently announced that a data breach had impacted 37 million T-Mobile accounts. In a Form 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, T-Mobile said they realized an authorized entity obtained data via a single API on January 5, 2023. Unlike other data breach cases where customer data is sometimes…
Businesses of all sizes can benefit from outsourcing IT support because of the accessibility to specialized knowledge, cost reductions, and operational flexibility. Some top benefits of outsourcing IT support include financial savings, access to technical knowledge, and more flexibility. By evaluating these advantages, companies can make educated decisions about whether outsourcing IT support is the…
As the New Year begins, business owners need to be aware of a significant change in the technology landscape: the end of Microsoft’s support for Windows 7 and 8.1. As of January 10th, 2023, Microsoft will no longer provide security updates or technical support for these versions of its operating system. This poses a significant…
Norton LifeLock, a leading provider of identity protection and cybersecurity services, recently experienced a data breach caused by a credential stuffing attack. Credential stuffing is a cyberattack in which a hacker uses previously compromised information from one account to access another account, website, or service. This highlights the risks of reusing passwords across accounts, making…
A recent report by Cisco revealed some of its routers were prone to several security flaws. As a result, business owners and their IT staff should pay close attention to the security of their networks to determine the appropriate course of action. Due to their high potential for cybersecurity attacks, end-of-life devices are particularly concerned.…
Project management software is quickly becoming a necessity for businesses of all sizes. It has the potential to increase efficiency and productivity by streamlining project management tasks and reducing manual processes. These tools are integral in helping businesses manage their projects, save time, and increase profits. With a wide variety of features and customizable options,…
A cyberattack on the Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS) in Iowa has left parents and students scrambling to stay updated on the latest news. The DMPS canceled classes and activities for two days due to a security breach in their network as technicians scrambled to protect data and restore the computer system. The school announced…
As a small business owner, your business may face various challenges regarding IT support, such as limited resources or lack of experience. This is why it’s essential to have reliable IT systems in place, as they can be valuable allies in solving these challenges. Small businesses may outsource their IT support needs to a team…
Synology has issued a patch for a severe vulnerability in the VPN Plus Servers that could be used to take control of systems remotely. The vulnerability, now known as CVE-2022-43931, has a top severity score of 10 on the CVSS scale and is defined as an out-of-bounds write flaw in Synology VPN Plus Server’s remote…
It can be challenging for business owners to keep up with the latest technology trends and determine which ones are worth investing in. However, businesses must stay current with technology to remain competitive in today’s market. The following are the top three technology trends every business owner should be aware of: Cloud computing: Cloud computing…
Hackers are baiting their victims with stolen financial data in a clever phishing scheme. Over 400,000 data points, including identity numbers, names, phone numbers, and payment records, are used to persuade consumers to click on a malicious link. This link downloads a potent virus called BitRAT that can steal passwords, spy on users, and install…
As a managed IT service provider, we understand the importance of technology in helping businesses stay competitive in the digital age. In today’s fast-paced business environment, staying up-to-date with the latest tools and technologies is essential for success. However, for small and medium-sized businesses, this can be a challenge. It can be difficult to stay…
A dataset purportedly comprising the email addresses and phone numbers of over 400 million Twitter users just a few weeks ago was listed for sale on the hacker forum Breached Forums. The information was initially released on December 23, 2022, by a hacker going by the handle “Ryushi.” The attacker demanded $200,000 for an “exclusive”…
Since October 2022, a new kind of malware has been targeting financial institutions. A widespread and powerful type of Android malware has turned its focus to online banking apps, employing keylogging capabilities to steal passwords and usernames for bank accounts, social networking accounts, and other accounts stored in your Android device. Researchers at the cybersecurity…
VoIP stands for voice over internet protocol, and the technology has been around since 1993, allowing companies to save money and improve productivity. VoIP is a method that allows you to transmit phone calls from your business through a local area network instead of through traditional telephone services. As a result, companies that use VoIP…
Verizon, a major wireless company in the United States, has announced that it will no longer offer 3G cellular data as of December 31st, 2022. It marks the end of an era for 3G technology, a technology that has facilitated the evolution of smartphones and internet connectivity over the last two decades. It was 3G…
As a business owner, it’s crucial to have the right tools in place to help your business run smoothly and efficiently. One of the critical tools you’ll need is the right software. Whether you’re looking for software to help you manage finances, communicate with your team, or handle customer relationships, many options are available. So…
This past October, during a ransomware assault on a healthcare facility in southwest Louisiana, hackers collected and exposed the personal information of approximately 270,000 patients and workers. A ransomware organization known as the Hive has claimed responsibility for the incident. Hive and other ransomware groups are increasingly targeting organizations, stealing data before locking down systems…
Companies of all sizes may benefit from managed IT services since they offer a variety of technical support and maintenance services while also saving time and money. Managed IT services may benefit your company in several ways, including: Proactive maintenance: By keeping an eye on your systems and keeping them up to date, managed IT…
Social media marketing is an effective tool used to promote your company online. Many people use social media channels to promote products or services; however, companies can also use social media to generate leads without advertising on search engines like Google. In addition, companies with blogs and social media pages might run sponsored posts on…
Maximizing Success with a Well-Designed Website A poorly designed website can significantly impact a business’s bottom line. In today’s digital age, having an online presence is crucial for attracting potential leads and making sales. Conversely, a website that is difficult to navigate or has a poor user experience can result in lost opportunities and revenue.…
Business email compromise (BEC) attacks are becoming widespread and present a significant risk to businesses of all sizes. These attacks involve hackers posing as trusted individuals or organizations via email to request sensitive information or financial transfers. BEC attacks often target high-level employees, such as executives or financial managers, and can be highly sophisticated. Attackers…
A new phishing campaign targeting Facebook users has been identified by cybersecurity firm Trustwave. In this campaign, hackers use fake copyright infringement notices to trick users into giving away their account details. The phishing messages claim that Facebook will delete the user’s account within 48 hours unless they fill out an appeal form to protect…
LastPass, a popular password manager, announced that an unauthorized party accessed the company’s archived backups of its production data on a third-party cloud-based storage service. According to the company’s investigation, a threat actor accessed the cloud storage environment in August 2022 with information obtained from an earlier incident. Although the threat actor did not access…
In late November 2022, sports betting firm DraftKings announced that it had suffered a data breach affecting approximately 68,000 customers. The company stated that the breach resulted from a credential stuffing attack, in which attackers obtained credentials from a third-party source and attempted to use them to access DraftKings accounts. According to DraftKings, the attackers…
For the majority of organizations, traveling to a conference may be time-consuming, expensive, and challenging. Then there’s the trip, the time away from the workplace, and the mountain of fires to put out when you return. Vendors, groups, and media sources do online webinars almost every day. Free webinars typically aim to inform both partners…
While public Wi-Fi can be a convenient way to stay connected while traveling, it is important to be aware of its potential security risks. If a hacker intercepts your data while using public Wi-Fi, it can result in identity theft, compromised credentials, malware exposure, or even compromise your business account. There are a few steps…
The FBI program tasked with ensuring critical infrastructure security has been compromised by hackers, who now offer access to the program’s data on the dark web. The breach was initially disclosed by Brian Krebs of Krebs on Security, who claims that the data was for sale on a cybercrime forum called Breached. When Krebs called…
Are you a business owner looking to get the most out of your Google smart home devices? If so, you’re in luck! Google has enabled its Nest products and Android OS with the initial rollout of the Matter smart home standard. This means that businesses now have the ability to link their devices with Matter…
What do you do when your most personal information has been compromised? This is likely the question that customers of Sequoia One asked themselves earlier this month as they were informed that the company had been hacked. Sequoia One specializes in the management of human resources, benefits, and payroll. For the past 21 years, they’ve…
As a business owner, it’s important to stay informed about potential vulnerabilities that could impact your organization. Recently, Cisco reported a critical vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2022-20968, affecting its IP Phone 7800 and 8800 Series. This new vulnerability is caused by inadequate input validation of packets using the Cisco Discovery Protocol. In other words, a threat…
Google Chrome is one of the more commonly used web browsers. Over the years, though, Chrome has gained a reputation for utilizing a large portion of a computer’s memory. This can be a problem if you’re running other resource-intensive tasks and don’t want to slow things down. With the latest update for Chrome on desktop,…
A new version of Microsoft Edge is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. While the update is relatively small, it contains two feature upgrades and significant security fixes, including one for the Chromium engine’s “Type confusing in V8” vulnerability. Vulnerability Fix Unsurprisingly, one of the most significant improvements in this version addresses CVE-2022-4262. The flaw…
If you run your own business, it can take up a lot of your time. For example, you might spend hours manually posting to social media, writing emails, and much more. While these tasks aren’t necessarily hard to do – automation takes far less time and often requires less effort. An automated system lets you…
Whether you’re a student or an employee, digital documents are now essential for the future of work. While there are different types of digital documents, one of the most often used document formats is PDF. Today, millions of PDF files are exchanged between users worldwide. Those who have collaborated with a team in an office…
According to a post on Google’s official blog site, the company is making it even more straightforward to share files with coworkers by making new suggested contacts available directly from the share sheet. Google Workspace has introduced a new row of suggested contacts underneath the area you typically use to write a contact’s name or…
Apple released several new security features on December 7th, 2022, designed to keep users’ sensitive data and communications secure. Advanced Data Protection for iCloud is one of the most notable features for Apple users. In order to protect sensitive data stored in iCloud, such as voice memos, photos, notes, and more, Apple’s new Advanced Data…
With hundreds of thousands of users daily, Microsoft continuously develops new and innovative ideas to simplify business, school, and everyday tasks. It was a busy month for Microsoft in November as the company added a wide variety of new and exciting features to its Microsoft Teams platform. This resulted in added features for devices, meetings,…
On December 5th, 2022, Google announced on Twitter that it is bringing continuous scrolling to the United States desktop users. Traditionally, while searching on Google, users could wander through pages to find the information they need. With continuous scrolling, desktop users can see up to six pages of search results at once by scrolling down…
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software allows marketing teams to manage customer interactions better, track customer relationships, and monitor customer activity. It also will enable businesses to collect detailed profiles of their customers, allowing companies to target future products and offers to specific users. As technology becomes more sophisticated and affordable, it’s more important than ever…
A somewhat concerning flaw has been fixed by SiriusXM that would allow unauthorized individuals to unlock doors remotely and start engines by only having the vehicle identification number (VIN). Sam Curry, a researcher at Yuga Labs, published a Twitter thread explaining the details of the discovered security flaw. The security bug affected vehicles using SiriusXM’s…
Dropbox has announced its plans to purchase several key assets from Boxcryptor so that it is able to provide end-to-end encryption for its business users. In addition, the partial merger between the two companies will enable Dropbox to better meet its client’s needs, including an enhanced level of security for cloud storage. Boxcryptor, a provider…
According to LastPass CEO Karim Toubba, the password manager has been hacked once again. A data breach occurred in the development environment only a few months ago, prompting LastPass to announce they had experienced a security breach on August 25, 2022. LastPass disclosed to its customers that a developer account was compromised. At the time,…
The new security-focused data lake solution from Amazon Web Services (AWS), unveiled at re:Invent 2022, aims to give consumers more value from their security data. The Amazon Security Lake service aims to consolidate an organization’s security data from various on-premises and cloud-based sources into a single location to pinpoint security threats precisely. With the help…
While artificial intelligence (AI) is seen as a new phenomenon in mainstream society, it is not a new concept. As AI technologies increase, AI is becoming increasingly important for companies looking to stay competitive. What is AI Artificial intelligence is a broad term for any computer software that engages in human-like activities. This includes learning,…
The FBI warns about scammers pretending to be refund payment gateways from financial institutions to steal sensitive information from unsuspecting victims. The federal law enforcement agency stated that scammers deceive victims into granting them access to their computers via email or phone calls by posing as representatives of technical or computer repair companies. According to…
Earlier this year, Twitter confirmed that an API vulnerability had caused a massive data leak containing non-public information for over 5.4 million Twitter users. Twitter denied claims that hackers had leaked the private information priorly. However, Pompompurin, the owner of the hacking forum Breached, stated they were responsible for exploiting the API bug and platforming…
Threat actors may now launch their own sophisticated assaults thanks to the emergence of Phishing as a Service (PhaaS) platforms like “Caffeine.” Through an open registration procedure, anyone who wishes to launch their phishing campaign can sign up on these platforms. Security experts at Mandiant discovered the first sighting of these threats while investigating a…
Data allegedly stolen from Cincinnati State Technical and Community College has been leaked after Vice Society attacked the campus. Many of the stolen documents were posted on the hackers’ websites. These documents date from several years ago until November 24, 2022, suggesting that threat actors still have access to the compromised systems, but this has…
In a massive malicious SEO campaign, cybercriminals are promoting low-quality Q&A sites by redirecting visitors to fake discussion forums. As a result, almost 15,000 sites have been compromised. In September 2022, researchers at Sucuri discovered the attacks. Each compromised site was found to contain approximately 20,000 files that were utilized in the search engine campaign.…
Security experts at Akamai have discovered a campaign that uses an elaborate phishing kit. This campaign targets Americans using lures centered around holidays like Labor Day and Halloween. The kit combines several methods and employs several evasion detection techniques to prevent non-victims from visiting its phishing pages. One of the most intriguing aspects of the…
Lenovo reports that it has patched two critical security flaws that affected several of its ThinkBook, IdeaPad, and Yoga laptops. Lenovo is also recommending that consumers update their systems immediately. The flaws make it possible for cybercriminals to deactivate the UEFI Secure Boot tool, allowing them to load and run malicious scripts during the system…
The feature is comparable to Apple’s ‘App Tracking Transparency. However, unlike Apple, DuckDuckGo’s method does not rely on app developers’ compliance with user choice. All known trackers are blocked. According to DuckDuckGo, Android users have an average of 35 applications installed on their smartphones, resulting in between 1,000 and 2,000 monitoring attempts every day for…
Accountability can be a tricky thing when it comes to your remote employees. It’s something that even seasoned managers struggle with. If that’s the boat you find yourself in, take notes! In this article, we’ll outline some simple and effective ways you can foster and develop accountability in your remote teams without having to micromanage.…
David Schütz, a cybersecurity researcher, inadvertently discovered a means to circumvent the lock screen on his fully updated Google Pixel 6 and Pixel 5 devices, allowing anybody with physical access to the smartphone to unlock it. Bypassing the lock screen on Android smartphones is a straightforward five-step method that should only take a few minutes.…
According to a KrebsOnSecurity article, the recent growth of phony LinkedIn accounts is causing an identity crisis for the business networking site and organizations that rely on it to hire and evaluate new workers. The fake LinkedIn profiles, created with content stolen from authentic accounts and AI-generated profile pictures, are giving corporate HR departments and…
When you’re a business owner, you always look for ways to streamline processes and improve efficiency. A single sign-on (SSO) system is a great way to simplify authentication. It allows users to access multiple applications with just one login credential, saving them time and money as well as reducing the number of lost or forgotten…
It’s getting easier than ever to conduct effective phishing campaigns thanks to the rise in popularity of SaaS platforms. A recently published report released by Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 revealed that the use of Software as a Service to conduct phishing attacks has surged by an incredible 1,100 percent between June 2021 and June…
There are many reasons why staff may be required to put customers on hold. However, Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology can be utilized to ensure that callers do not feel abandoned during this time. In addition, VoIP systems offer the option of entertaining customers while they wait in line. Some possibilities are playing engaging music,…
As our world becomes increasingly digitized, businesses are finding themselves at a greater risk of cyberattacks. One way companies can protect their data is by encrypting it. Encryption transforms readable data into an unreadable format, making it difficult for unauthorized individuals to access and interpret it. A recent survey conducted by Thales discovered that the…
A cyber-security threat actor known as SocGholish has compromised a JavaScript code used by an unnamed media content provider. The malware is being used to spread the FakeUpdates malware to major media outlets across the United States. More than 250 regional and national newspaper sites are affected by the malicious JavaScript. Some impacted media organizations…
According to Microsoft’s latest announcement, businesses should assess security measures to defend against evolving cyber-security threats. Microsoft released its Digital Defense Report (MDDR) for 2022. Microsoft released alarming statistics about the cyber threats that the company has faced in the last year, including phishing, identity theft, and ransomware attacks. Microsoft Security Update Alerts Tom Burt…
While holding its Zoomtopia event on November 8, 2022, the video conferencing giant announced the release of two brand-new productivity tools for Zoom users. In addition to the communication and collaboration tools already provided within Zoom, the newly released Zoom Mail and Calendar Clients are intended to increase users’ productivity. A beta version of Zoom…
Virtual private networks (VPNs) are used to give users remote access to resources on corporate networks. However, several factors have revealed incompatibilities between VPNs and Zero-Trust security systems. Businesses are worried that VPNs are becoming a severe threat to their operations. According to a report by Zscaler, nearly half of information technology professionals have seen…
It’s no secret that cyber attacks are on the rise, and that no company is immune to them. Dropbox, a cloud storage company, was the lastest victim when their GitHub account was compromised. This allowed attackers access to 130 code repositories, which contained sensitive data. Dropbox was notified of a potential breach on October 14th…
Recently, Verizon experienced a minor but significant data breach. Between October 6, 2022, and October 10, 2022, an unknown malicious actor gained access to Verizon’s prepaid wireless accounts, compromising approximately 250 individuals. According to a letter to customers, Verizon discovered the breach after noticing “unusual activity” on its network. Due to the data breach, a…
In recent years, the use of advanced technology in the office has increased in popularity among businesses to improve their efficiency, productivity, and effectiveness. Whether running a small or large company, it is important to know that utilizing a dual monitor setup in your office can provide quite a few advantages. Effortless Research It is…
There is no doubt that Zoom has become very popular in the business and academic sectors, as it is widely used for video conferencing and voice-over IP (VoIP). Zoom issued a security bulletin at the beginning of October, informing users that an update was now available for download in response to an identified security flaw.…
DuckDuckGo announced on October 18, 2022, that the beta version of its Mac desktop app is now available for all Mac users. DuckDuckGo is a browser that focuses on privacy. It has many new features designed to make web browsing more private and less cluttered, improving the user experience. DuckDuckGo generates objective results without any…
An advanced PHP variant of the Ducktail malware poses a risk to Facebook users. On October 13th, 2022, ZScaler, a cloud security firm, published a blog post detailing this latest discovery. The new PHP version is being distributed by “pretending to be a free/cracked program installer.” It also targets numerous platforms, such as Telegram and…
Microsoft announced the Azure DDoS IP Protection released as a public preview on October 19, 2022. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can now benefit from DDoS protection with a pricing model customized to their specifications. DDoS Protection provides similar capabilities to DDoS Network Protection (previously known as DDoS Protection Standard). It is designed for enterprises…
In order to be successful, it is important for businesses to have a good customer relationship management system in place. However, many small companies make simple mistakes that get them in trouble. If you don’t keep your customer data clean and accurate, your business could be at risk. Here are some common CRM mistakes you…
Fortinet addressed a critical vulnerability that gave remote access to numerous services and was being exploited by threat actors in the wild. The company described the vulnerability as an authentication bypass on the admin interface, allowing unauthenticated users to connect to FortiProxy web proxies, FortiGate firewalls, and FortiSwitch Manager on-prem management instances. Specifically, the flaw…
On October 7, 2022, Toyota Motor Corporation made an announcement that the personal information of approximately 296,000 consumers had been compromised. The Toyota T-Connect system enables owners of Toyota automobiles to link their cell phones to their vehicles. By doing so, users can monitor the status of their engines, listen to music, navigate, and track…
On October 18, 2022, Firefox 106 Stable and Firefox 102.4 ESR were released to the public. New features A new Colorways theme, Firefox view, PDF editing, text recognition, and extraction on macOS are all included in the most recent Firefox Stable release. While Firefox 106 introduces several brand-new features, the version also resolves security concerns.…
In light of a recent data breach, the City of Tucson, Arizona, is alerting approximately 123,000 citizens that their personal information has been compromised. The issue was detected in May 2022, but the city’s investigation didn’t conclude until last month. As detailed in the notification addressed to those impacted by the data breach, an attacker…
According to a new Akamai analysis, the company’s experts classified about 79 million domains as dangerous in the first half of 2022; based on a NOD (newly observed domain) dataset, this is about 13 million malicious domains per month, representing 20.1% of all the successfully resolved NODs. According to Akamai, a NOD is any domain…
Lyft is now launching autonomous robotaxi trips in Austin, Texas. Argo AI will power Ford’s autonomous driving vehicles. According to a blog post by the company, Austin users can choose a driverless commute directly from the Lyft app for the same price as a regular Lyft ride. Customers can start the ride, unlock the doors,…
After a source code leak was posted by an unidentified third party on 4chan and GitHub last week, the technology giant Intel has confirmed that confidential source code related to its Alder Lake CPUs has been leaked. The disclosed information comprises UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) code for the company’s 12th-generation CPUs that were released…
While Premiere Elements 2023 is receiving a couple of new features and a considerable speed boost, Photoshop Elements 2023 adds some powerful new features and enhanced performance. Along with these enhancements, both editors have been given a boost from Adobe Sensei, the company’s universal AI. While Premiere Elements 2023 is receiving a couple of new…
Turnstile, an ambitious new project from Cloudflare, aims to do away with the CAPTCHAs that are now being used on the internet to confirm users are not robots. Turnstile utilizes a revolving set of “browser challenges” to verify that visits to a website are not, in fact, bots. This service is free for all website…
Some major U.S. airports’ websites were inaccessible early on Monday, October 10, 2022, due to a coordinated denial-of-service assault orchestrated by professional hackers. However, officials said flights were unaffected. The assaults, in which participants bombard sites with garbage data, were planned by a mysterious organization named Killnet. The group posted a target list on its…
On October 4th, 2022 a cybersecurity incident has disrupted CommonSpirit Hospitals. With more than 150,000 employees, 20,000 physicians, and serving 21 million patients, CommonSpirit Hospitals is the second-largest nonprofit hospital system in the nation. In 21 states, CommonSpirit operates more than 1,000 care sites and 140 hospitals. CommonSpirit Hospitals announced it is investigating an “IT…
Voice over IP, or VoIP, has become increasingly popular among business owners. However, many business owners ask if VoIP is viable in a landscape where many voice systems are either no longer supported or cost a fortune to upgrade. Your business relies on a consistent and secure communication network. Therefore, choosing the right voice-over IP…
This year, security experts have found three updated versions of Prilex malware that target point-of-sale systems. In 2014, Prilex was a type of malware that targeted ATMs. It switched to PoS (point of sale) devices in 2016, but it wasn’t until 2020 that the malware reached its peak. After that, it faded away in 2021.…
Having remote workers in your business is a great way to expand cost-effectiveness and helps your business grow. But, unfortunately, many businesses have issued remote workers limited access to the network to protect important information. Knowing this, hackers are finding creative ways to access networks and steal vital information. It is important to ensure your…
A number of exciting products were announced at Amazon’s Hardware 2022 event. These announcements include two brand-new Eero home networking products and the news that the next-generation Echo Dot devices will feature Eero capabilities. The first product is the Eero PoE 6 access point. Due to PoE (Power over Ethernet) technology’s popularity among enterprises and…
Malware as a Service (MaaS) has gained popularity over the past few years as a method of spreading malware. Typically, MaaS is provided at a monthly, annual, or lifetime subscription price. Once a threat actor obtains access to the malware, they can target individuals through various tactics. A relatively new MaaS has emerged, called Erbium.…
Tesla introduces the humanoid Optimus robot prototype and claims to be aiming for a price of under $20,000. After the event started, Tesla’s eagerly anticipated humanoid robot was unveiled. The prototype walked unfettered across the stage. Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, stated that the team is working to make the robot accessible as soon as possible…
The most recent version of Firefox, version 105, was made available for download on September 20, 2022. This version is a minor update that does not offer as many new features as previous versions. However, the most striking improvement in Firefox 105 is that Mozilla has drastically decreased the number of out-of-memory browser crashes the…
Microsoft released the “first major update” for Windows 11 on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, as Windows 11 nears its first anniversary. According to a blog posted by Microsoft, the Windows 11 update focuses on four key areas: ● Making the PC easier and safer to use for everyone ● Empowering people to be more productive…
So, you’ve built your company’s website. That’s great news and a major milestone, for sure. Unfortunately, your work is just beginning. If you want anybody to be able to find you among the billions of sites that make up the internet, you’re going to need a little bit of help. The first and best thing…
Recently, researchers at Mitiga have sounded the alarm about a new Business Email Compromise (BEC) campaign. They discovered evidence of the campaign responding to another incident and have watched the campaign grow in scope and scale over time. Here’s how the attack works: The individual targeted by the campaign receives an email that appears to…
Based on a recent survey conducted by the folks at Titaniam, a solid majority of organizations have robust security tools in place. Yet nearly 40 percent of them have fallen victim to a ransomware attack in the past year. How can this be? With conventional tools in place, how can this still be happening? The…
In June, Wiz engineers discovered and reported #AttachMe, a critical cloud isolation flaw in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). Due to its potential to affect all OCI customers, the #AttachMe cloud vulnerability is one of the most severe vulnerabilities discovered to date. The majority of the time, cloud isolation flaws only impact a single cloud service.…
Recently, Google’s engineers introduced a small but important feature to their Calendar app. If you haven’t used the “known senders” option, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It allows you to toggle a setting that will filter out invites from people you don’t know, with an eye toward eliminating or drastically reducing…
DuckDuckGo has a reputation for protecting the privacy of its users far more than most other companies. Last year, the tiny search engine announced that they were experimenting with a free service designed to dodge email trackers as a means of further protecting the privacy of its users. The company’s Email Protection service works by…
On September 7, 2022, Apple hosted its annual product release event at one pm Eastern Time (ET). Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, took the stage at the Far Out event held at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, to unveil a slew of brand-new and significantly enhanced devices. The iPhone 14 and several new smartwatches and…
Microsoft Teams is a part of the 365 product family and is used by more than 270 million people for exchanging text messages, videoconferencing, and file storage. In August of 2022, the team at Vectra Protect discovered a post-exploitation vulnerability in the plaintext storage disk used by Microsoft Teams while conducting research for a client.…
Lenovo issued a security notice informing customers of multiple serious BIOS vulnerabilities affecting hundreds of Lenovo devices across various models (Desktop, All in One, IdeaCentre, Legion, ThinkCentre, ThinkPad, ThinkAgile, ThinkStation, ThinkSystem). Exploiting the vulnerabilities might result in the disclosure of sensitive information, an increase in privileges, a denial of service, and possibly even the execution…
An unknown hacker, who claims to be eighteen years old, acquired administrative access to Uber’s corporate network and proprietary internal tools on Thursday, September 15, 2022. On September 15, 2022, at 6:25 pm PT, Uber issued a statement on Twitter that it was “responding to a cybersecurity incident.” An attacker gained access to the account…
Tech giant Google recently announced that it’s closing the doors on its IoT Core service. Their stated reason for doing so was that their strategic partners can better manage customers’ IoT services and devices. Time will tell if the company’s decision was a good one. Another tech giant, Microsoft, is wasting no time and is…
Are you the type of person who is in the habit of keeping all their apps open? If so, you’re going to love a recent addition to Windows 11. In a bid to make finding your open apps easier, once you’ve run out of room on the Windows Taskbar, they’ve introduced a new “taskbar overflow”…
Smaller companies often struggle to develop and invest in robust IT security systems, which can leave them relatively more vulnerable to cyber attacks. If that’s the situation you’re in and you’re trying to decide what to invest in and where to use the money that you have to spend on IT security, here’s a quick…
Recently Zoom, a popular, cloud-based communications platform used for online meetings and video conferencing, experienced an outage that impacted tens of thousands of users worldwide. The issue began shortly after 8:00 am PDT on Thursday, September 15, 2022, when users reported that they could not log in or join meetings. At 8:17 PDT, the company…
Even if you don’t consistently install Microsoft’s security patches as soon as they’re released, the September 2022 patch released this week deserves immediate attention. Dozens of bugs, flaws, and vulnerabilities were addressed in this iteration, including fixes for: *30 Remote Code Execution vulnerabilities 18 Elevation of Privilege vulnerabilities 16 Edge/Chromium vulnerabilities 7 Information Disclosure vulnerabilities…
Hackers are increasingly adopting practices that legitimate business owners will immediately recognize. Recently, a new PhaaS (Phishing as a Service) operation has surfaced that specifically targets major banks. These banks include Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, Capital One, PNC, US Bank, Lloyds Bank, Santander, and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Snarkily named “Robin Banks,”…
If you’re a Gmail user and you haven’t seen the change already, be aware that Google has freshened up their email interface. Don’t expect a radical change, however. This update is more of an evolution than a revolution. Chiefly, you’ll notice that the Chat, Spaces, and Meet buttons have all been drawn closer together. This…
Do you have a MacBook with a Butterfly Keyboard? If so, keep an eye out for an email regarding the Butterfly Keyboard class action lawsuit. Recently, Apple has agreed to pay out $50 million to settle the suit that alleged that Apple knew about flaws with the butterfly keyboard’s switches it built into several MacBook…
Recent Windows 11 updates have been problematic in several ways. That’s not the end of the world, but it has been more than a little frustrating for those in the test group getting a first look at the new operating system. One recently introduced bug has been a sore spot for Windows 11 users. The…
A small but important feature was recently incorporated by the Windows 11 design team. A new Account Lockout Policy enabled by default has been added. This policy automatically locks user accounts (including Admin accounts) after ten failed sign-in attempts. The account remains in a locked state for ten minutes, requiring users to wait that amount…
There’s a new threat to be aware of if you own an android device. Microsoft recently warned that their researchers had spotted a new toll fraud malware strain wreaking havoc in the Android ecosystem. Toll fraud is a form of billing fraud. It is a scheme whereby bad actors attempt to trick unsuspecting victims into…
If you haven’t heard of DuckDuckGo, it’s a tiny browser that only gets a fraction of the traffic that Google does. If we’re being honest, it gets only a fraction of the web traffic that Bing does. The search engine does have some pluck though and bills itself as the engine of choice for those…
Researchers at Defiant authored the popular Wordfence security solution for WordPress users and they have detected a massive campaign that has seen hackers actively scanning for websites employing the Kaswara Modern WPBakery Page Builder plugin. The plugin was recently abandoned by the creative team behind it before receiving a patch for a critical security flaw.…
If you haven’t heard of the UK startup Speechmatics, it may come as a surprise to learn that the company may be on its way to becoming a globally recognized brand. The company’s ambitious goal is to leapfrog over the progress made by America’s tech giants in speech recognition by using AI and machine learning.…
There’s interesting news in the world of Windows 11 development. Microsoft recently began testing a new Kiosk feature that will enable IT administrators to limit which applications users can use while logged into their user profiles, blocking all other functionalities. Even better is that the kiosk approach allows you to create multiple different apps and…
If you eat out or are in the habit of ordering take-out on a regular basis, be aware. Recently, a large, well-organized web-skimming campaign has been uncovered that allowed hackers to swipe the payment card details for more than 300 restaurants, impacting more than 50,000 customers. Web-skimmers are sometimes called Magecart malware and they are…
Quantum computing is on the horizon. Unfortunately, it’s been on the horizon for at least two decades. It’s one of those technologies that’s always “just around the corner.” In recent years, however, several important strides have been made. Although quantum computing isn’t exactly mainstream, great strides have been made where the technology is concerned. There’s…
According to ongoing research by Group-IB, a massive phishing campaign is currently underway. This is a campaign that has impacted no less than 130 organizations across a broad range of industries. These include but are not limited to professional recruiting firms and companies connected to finance and technology. Some of the companies targeted include giants…
Do you make use of the “MyChart” portal to refill prescriptions, contact your healthcare providers or make appointments? If so, you should know that recently, the healthcare giant Novant disclosed a data breach that impacted more than 1.3 million patients. Impacted patients had their personal information collected by a Meta Pixel ad tracking script. Meta…
Using different passwords on every website and storing them in a secure password manager is a standard best practice in data security. It’s generally good advice, but what happens when the makers of password vaults get hacked? That’s what the more than twenty-five million users of LastPass are now finding out. LastPass is one of…
Do you have the Kali Linux distribution running on one of the machines you own? If you’re not sure what that is, then you almost certainly don’t. Kali is a Linux distro used mostly by “ethical hackers” who use it mainly to perform security audits, cybersecurity research, penetration testing and the like. Offensive Security has…
MacOS features a powerful sandbox restriction that helps keep modern Apple computers safe by limiting how code can run on the system. Unfortunately, no system is bullet proof. There’s a way that a determined attacker could bypass sandbox restrictions and execute malicious code arbitrarily. Engineers at Microsoft discovered the vulnerability, and independent security researcher Arsenii…
If you own a Lenovo laptop, be aware that researchers at ESET have recently discovered a trio of bugs reported to Lenovo that could allow an attacker to disable security features and hijack your operating system. The issues are tracked as CVE-2022-1890, CVE-2022-1891, and CVE-2022-1892 and are all classed as medium severity level. The first…
Does your company use Microsoft 365? If so, and you’ve noticed that your Office apps have begun to crash mysteriously and inexplicably, be aware that the latest update (build 15330.20298) is the culprit. Unfortunately, the bug was introduced in the Enterprise channel during the company’s regularly scheduled “Patch Tuesday.” The error manifests itself when users…
The Internet of Things (IoT) has seen explosive growth in recent years. If you like, you can now build your own smart home with intelligent toasters, washing machines, dishwashers, and refrigerators. They are all connected to your home network, and they all make vast amounts of data available to you at your fingertips. Unfortunately, security…
Security researchers at Unit 42, a division of Palo Alto Networks, have been tracking the efforts of a massive campaign aimed at Elastix VoIP telephony servers. They are used by companies of all shapes and sizes to unify their communications, and it is especially attractive because it can be used with the Digium phones module…
“Just Google it.” You’ve probably heard that phrase a thousand times. In fact, you may use it yourself on a regular basis. Unfortunately, Googling it wasn’t possible recently. The iconic search giant went dark across broad swaths of the world and simply could not be accessed at all for thirty 34 very long minutes. It…
Do you own a device running macOS Monterey 12.5.1, or iOS/iPadOS 15.6.1? If so, you’ll want to download and install the latest patches as soon as possible. Apple recently released a small but critical security update aimed at fixing a pair of serious vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on an…
Analysts at Red Canary Intelligence have recently spotted a Windows worm on hundreds of networks belonging to a wide range of organizations around the world. Dubbed “Raspberry Robin” by the research team that discovered it, this worm spreads via infected USB devices and was initially spotted in September of last year (2021). Another firm, Sekoia,…
Most business owners understand the importance of being active on at least one social media channel. That’s fine as far as it goes, but have you considered supplementing your social media presence with a good, old-fashioned newsletter? Of course, when we say newsletter, we’re not talking about something you print and mail to your customers but…
Another week, another Microsoft “End of Life” reminder to write about. This time, it’s Windows Server 2012 R2. If you’re a user, then you’re probably already aware of the looming deadline. If you’ve blocked it out of your mind, or if you’ve missed the notifications that Microsoft has been sending out, here’s what you need…
If you are still using Windows 8.1 and if you’ve somehow managed to avoid seeing the parade of notices Microsoft has been sending out, you should know that the end is nigh. Support for the aging OS will end on January 10, 2023. If you have not already done so, you should begin making plans…
Twilio is the Cloud Communications Company. They are the latest to fall victim to a data breach. The company recently disclosed that some of its customer data was accessed by unknown attackers who gained access to the system by stealing employee login credentials via an SMS phishing attack, known as ‘Smishing,’ for short. The company’s…
Are you a fan of NFTs? If so, you’ve probably heard of OpenSea, which is the largest marketplace for non-fungible tokens. If you have an account there, be aware that recently the company disclosed that their network had been breached and they issued a warning to their clients urging them to be on the lookout…
Recently, Google announced a small but significant change to Google Docs. Now, if you have enabled offline access for files you have stored on your Google Drive, the system will auto-sync any Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel, or Word files if you have opened them with Google Slides, Sheets, or Docs. This is a tremendously handy change.…
Do you have a Twitter account? Have you been patting yourself on the back while assuming that your identity was a secret, allowing you to ply the waters of Twitter in anonymity? Unfortunately, that’s probably not the case. Recently, Twitter disclosed the existence of a critical security vulnerability that allows someone to discern whether a…
Researchers at Lumen’s Black Lotus Labs recently spotted evidence of a highly sophisticated and tightly targeted campaign aimed at SOHO (small office/home office) routers across both Europe and North America. Based on the evidence the team has collected thus far, their conclusion is that the unidentified actor must be state sponsored. This is because garden…
Apple has recently announced a new string of updates for their OS family including iOS, iPadOS 15.6, macOS 12.5, watchOS 8.7 and tvOS 15.6. Bear in mind that the next version of all of these will be out in just a few months, so these updates are a bit light on features as compared to…
The more efficient you are, the more effective you are. That’s true whether you’re working from the office or from home. Fortunately, most office environments lend themselves to being efficient, so there’s probably not much you need to do on that front. So, the tips below are aimed mostly at those who are working from…
Researchers at Trustwave have shed light on a recently discovered phishing campaign revolving around Facebook Messenger bots. If you don’t spend much time on social media, chatbots are programs designed to impersonate live people and are usually relegated the task of answering simple questions as a form of triage customer support. If the bot can’t…
Hackers found a new way to slip malware past your defenses. Researchers around the world have spotted a curious new campaign designed to scare victims by sending them emails warning of copyright infringement. The email begins by warning that the recipient’s website is hosting copyright-protected content and threatens legal action if the offending material isn’t…
Conflict in the workplace is sadly inevitable. Put a group of people in a room together for eight hours or longer every day, week after week. No matter how well they get along, sooner or later, it’s going to happen. Since it can’t be completely avoided, the next best thing is to have a plan…
Recently, Microsoft added a new feature for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) which has fans of the product cheering. Once the new “Mobile Network Protection” feature is enabled on the iOS and Android devices you want to monitor, the security platform will provide the same robust protections and notifications that your other network devices currently…
Are you a member of the Windows 11 Insiders group? If so, then you already know that you get a sneak peek at all the cool new features the engineers at Microsoft are building into the new Operating System. If you’re not yet a member of that group, then this announcement might entice you to…
Do you run a WordPress site? Do you also use the popular forms design and management plugin called NinjaForms? If you answered yes to both of those questions, be aware that NinjaForms was recently found to have a critical security flaw. The flaw takes the form of a code injection vulnerability and impacts all versions…
While “vishing” is by no means a new threat, it’s not something that has ever happened with sufficient frequency to get most people’s attention. So, if you haven’t heard the term before, you’re not alone. “Vishing” is short for voicemail phishing, and it is apparently on the rise based on data collected by the security…
Data security isn’t something that’s at the forefront of most people’s minds, but it probably should be. These days, we use far more than just our trusty laptops and desktops to do real, meaningful work. Most people have a plethora of devices they tap into on a regular basis and take with them wherever they…
Do you have an account with Michigan-based Flagstar Bank? As one of the largest banks in the United States, it’s quite possible that you do. If so, be aware that the company recently issued a breach disclosure notification relating to a security incident that occurred in December of 2021 when unknown attackers breached the company’s…
Recently, Microsoft published a fascinating blog post. In the blog post, they said they were experimenting with “novel approaches” when it comes to harnessing the power of AI to spot threats on the threat landscape before they become a problem. In particular, the company is focused on stopping ransomware attacks while they’re still in their…
Do you own one or more of the following products made by Cisco? The RV110W Wireless-N VPN Firewall The RV130 VPN Router The RV130W Wireless-N Multifunction VPN Router The RV215W Wireless-N VPN Router If so, be advised that a new and critical security vulnerability has been found that impacts your equipment. It is being tracked…
Do you use Microsoft Teams? If so, you’ll be thrilled to know that the Redmond Giant is continuing to pour resources into improving the software with a specific focus on audio and video quality. Recently, the company announced a plan to add echo cancellation, which is a feature that legions of Teams users have been…
Unless you’re an IT Security Professional, you may never have heard of EnemyBot. It is a bit like the Frankenstein of malware threats, a botnet that has borrowed code from multiple different sources. While that’s not terribly original, it does make it dangerous. The hackers behind the code are actively adding new exploits as newly…
Corporate branding can be worth its weight in gold and certain images are absolutely iconic. The Golden Arches, the Nike “swoosh,” and Apple’s Apple all come to mind. Logo images give companies the means of offering a consistent brand image over time, and that can be a very good thing. Over time, tastes and styles…
Remember the Heartbleed scare we had a couple years back? It was a nasty side-channel attack that was somewhat exotic and difficult to pull off, and it was absolutely devastating and sent shockwaves through the entire world. Well, it’s back. In a way. While this new side-channel attack isn’t identical, it’s similar enough that the…
Microsoft Exchange servers are once more in the crosshairs of hackers around the world. Most recently, hacking groups have been specifically targeting them to deploy BlackCat ransomware. As is common among ransomware attacks, the hackers here first rifle through an infected network, looking for login credentials, proprietary information, and other sensitive files that they can…
If you grew up in the days before the internet, it’s absolutely staggering to think of all the ways that mobile technology has changed our lives (and mostly for the better). Remember when you had to pay for long distance telephone calls? That’s mostly a thing of the past. In under a minute, you can…
It may seem as though Internet Explorer is the browser that will not die, but according to Microsoft, it is now a step closer to breathing its last virtual breath. Microsoft has struggled in the browser wars for the entire existence of the internet. They came late to the party. Although they did manage to…
If you’re involved with IT Security at any level and if your network includes Linux servers, keep a watchful eye out for the new Panchan botnet. It first appeared in the wilds on March of this year (2022) and its main focus seems to be targeting Linux servers in the education sector and enslaving them…
These days, companies spend significant sums of money to protect themselves from cyber criminals. The threat matrix is vast, and attacks can come from almost any quarter. That is why many companies not only spend heavily on antivirus software, but also on a wide range of tools that IT security professionals can leverage to intercept…
Do you receive healthcare of any kind from Kaiser Permanente? If so, be aware that they recently published a data breach notification indicating that an unidentified attacker accessed an email account that contained personal health information on April 5th, 2022. Based on the investigation to this point, it appears that sensitive health information belonging to…
Tech giant Cisco recently sent out a notification to its vast customer base urging them to apply a recently issued patch that addresses a critical security vulnerability. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to bypass the authentication process entirely and gain access to the web management interface of Cisco email gateway appliances with non-default configurations.…
Top quality talent can be difficult to find in any field, if you have spent any time looking for and hiring people, you know the challenge can be an especially daunting one. There’s tremendous competition for talented folks. Given the cost of hiring and training new people, it’s something you want to get right the…
According to research conducted by the cybersecurity firm PIXM, there is a massive phishing campaign that peaked in April and May of this year (2022) and it is still ongoing. The campaign has lured millions of unsuspecting users to phishing pages by abusing Facebook and Facebook Messenger and tricking users into entering their account credentials.…
Are you a Linux user? If so, be aware that there is a new kind of malware to be concerned about. The BlackBerry Threat Research and Intelligence team, in concert with Joakim Kennedy (an Intezer Analyze security researcher), have announced the discovery of a new strain of malware. They’ve dubbed it Symbiote, and it was…
Researchers at HP have discovered a new malware loader that they’ve dubbed SVCReady. While new malware strains are common, this one is distinct for a couple of different reasons. Like many malicious programs, this spreads primarily via phishing email campaigns. One way that this new strain differs however, is the fact that the malware is…
Are you excited about Windows 11? Many people are and in fact there are legions of beta users who are in the Windows Insiders group so they can get a sneak peek at some of the features on deck as updates are released. One of the coolest new features making its way through the development…
It’s never a good thing when well-organized groups of hackers start working together, but that’s what appears to be happening. Recently, evidence has emerged that the Black Basta ransomware gang has begun tight-knit cooperation with the infamous QBot malware operation. They share the specific goal of inflicting maximum damage on corporate targets. While many different…
If you’re involved in information security in any capacity, you’re probably quite familiar with the infamous Emotet botnet. It’s one of the most dangerous and prolific botnets out there and it is a dire threat to organizations of all sizes. The bad news is that the botnet is still being actively enhanced and is gaining…
Depending on where you live, you may have received medical care from the Shields Health Care Group (Shields), or from a provider associated with them. If so, be aware that the Massachusetts-based medical provider specializing in PET/CT scans, MRIs, radiation oncology, and ambulatory surgical services has been hacked. The unknown hackers gained access to their…
You may not know the name Matthew Hickey, but you should thank him for a recent discovery that could save you a lot of grief. Hickey is the co-founder of a company called Hacker House. He recently discovered a flaw that could allow for the opening of a remote search window simply by opening a…
Recently, Microsoft reported high severity security vulnerabilities in multiple apps offered by large international mobile service providers. What makes this especially noteworthy is the fact that these vulnerabilities aren’t app specific, but framework specific. Many carriers use the same basic framework to construct their apps and now all have been found to contain vulnerabilities. The…
Do you maintain a MySQL server? If so, you’re certainly not alone. What you may not know is that according to research conducted by The Shadowserver Foundation, (a cybersecurity research group) there are literally millions of MySQL servers visible on the internet that shouldn’t be. In all, the group found more than 3.6 million MySQL…
Are you a WhatsApp user? If so, be aware that hackers have worked out a means of hijacking a user’s WhatsApp account and gaining access to a user’s contact list and personal messages. The attack relies on mobile carriers’ automated service to forward calls to different phone numbers, which is a service every major mobile…
Teams was “just another Microsoft application” before the pandemic. Thanks to Covid-19 though, demand for video conferencing solutions shot through the roof, and suddenly Teams found its groove. Microsoft had been gamely trying to bolster its popularity and the pandemic certainly helped. For more than two years, the Redmond giant has been pouring an increasing…
Not long ago, researchers at Eclypsium got a lucky break. An unknown and unidentified individual began leaking communications from inside the Conti ransomware organization. These leaked communications seemed to confirm what has long been suspected: That there are strong ties between the Conti gang and Russia’s FSB (military intelligence). This sounds like something right out…
File this away under “good news, bad news.” The bad news is that there’s a new, critical zero-day threat to be concerned about. The threat has been dubbed ‘Follina.’ It is being tracked as CVE-2022-30190 and is being described by Microsoft as an MSDT (Microsoft Windows Support Diagnostic Tool) remote code execution flaw that impacts…
Are you planning on setting up an Exchange server soon or are you running one now? If so, be aware that Microsoft is changing their guidance when it comes to the technology and specifically running a server on-premises. Two years ago, the Redmond giant announced that the next versions of their Skype for Business Server,…
If you’re deeply involved in IT security, you may already be familiar with the ERMAC Android banking trojan. If this is the first time you’re hearing of it, be aware that the hackers who authored the malicious code have recently released ERMAC 2.0, which represents a significant upgrade in capabilities from the previous iteration. ERMAC’s…
Are you one of the legions of users making use of the Screencastify Chrome extension? It’s a fantastic Chrome extension that allows you to almost effortlessly create screencasts for a variety of purposes. Unfortunately, the web extension also suffers from a critical security vulnerability that allows attackers to take control of a user’s webcam and…
Are you a Google Chrome user? If so, be aware that the company recently released a stable version of Chrome 102 and is urging all users of its browser to update right away. The latest release contains a total of 32 security fixes on Windows, Mac and Linux. Of the 32 flaws addressed, eight are…
Do you own a Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, or Cadillac? If so, be aware that GM recently acknowledged that they fell victim to a credential stuffing attack a little over a month ago. The attack exposed some customer information to the attackers and allowed them to redeem an undisclosed number of rewards points for gift cards.…
Are you a Windows 11 early adopter? If so, you’ll want to grab the latest update KB5014019. It contains several important bug fixes including fixes for Direct3D app crashing issues, slow file copying issues, and an issue with the TPM (Trusted Platform Module) driver. Some users have reported the TPM driver was dramatically increasing system…
A browser hijacker called “ChromeLoader” has had a large uptick in detections this month, which is raising eyebrows among security professionals. ChromeLoader can modify a victim’s web browser settings to show search results that promote unwanted (and usually spammy) software, annoying pop-up ads, fake giveaways, adult games, dating sites, surveys, and the like. As malware…
HTML attachments as an attack vector may seem a little old school. However, according to statistics compiled by Kaspersky Lab indicates that in 2022, that form of attack is not just simply still being employed, but hackers are making surprisingly regular use of it. The security company detected more than two million emails of this…
Do you own and manage a WordPress site either personally or as part of your business? Do you also use the Tatsu plugin which offers a powerful suite of in-browser editing features and has been installed by more than 100,000 users worldwide? If so, be aware that there is a serious security flaw in the…
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued an advisory that serves as a stark warning. If you’re using VMware products that are impacted by recently disclosed critical security flaws, either patch them immediately or remove them from your network. CISA issued the dire warning because the last time critical security flaws were discovered…
If you’re not familiar with the term, a Zero Day exploit is a security flaw that the software vendor is not aware of and hasn’t yet patched. In many (but not all) cases, Zero Day Vulnerabilities will also have publicly available proof-of-concept exploits before a patch becomes available. Quite often, these flaws are being actively…
Phishing campaigns get more effective the more closely they can imitate a trusted source. Recently, security researchers at Fortinet discovered evidence of a phishing campaign that specifically targets Microsoft Windows users and installs three different types of malware on the systems it manages to infect. Among other things, this campaign gives the hackers behind it…
Security researchers employed by Microsoft have recently spotted a variant of the Sysrv botnet. They have dubbed the new variant Sysrv-K. This new variant works in two ways. First, it exploits a flaw in the Spring Cloud Gateway that allows remote code execution (tracked as CVE-2022-22947). Second, the botnet scans the web for WordPress plugins…
HP recently released a BIOS update to address a pair of high-severity vulnerabilities that affect a wide range of PC and notebook products offered by the company. In both cases, the vulnerabilities would allow an attacker to execute code arbitrarily and with Kernel level privileges. The two flaws are being tracked as CVE-2021-3808 and CVE-2021-3809…
Do you use a Zyxel firewall? If so, there’s good news. The company has fixed an issue you may not have even been aware that you had. The company pushed out the fix in a silent update a little over two weeks ago, but when they implemented the push, they didn’t provide many details about…
It is the end of an era. Apple recently announced that they were discontinuing the legendary iPod, which is now in its 7th generation of production. When first released more than fifteen years ago, the iPod was an instant smash hit that almost singlehandedly created the digital music industry, moving it from the shadowy frontier…
If you’re a member of the Windows Insiders group, then you are likely already aware of this. If not, here’s something else to look forward to when Windows 11 is formally released. Microsoft has been experimenting with a new “Suggested Actions” feature when you copy data onto your clipboard. It all begins with Windows 11…
At least one group of hackers has learned a new trick you need to be aware of. Security researchers at Kapersky Lab have discovered a malicious campaign-in-progress that is using event logs to store malware. That is a technique that has not been seen or documented until now. This new methodology is designed for maximum…
The name Kevin Beaumont may not be familiar to you, but if you’re a Linux or Solaris user, he may have just saved you a whole lot of grief. Recently, Mr. Beaumont discovered a stealthy backdoor malware that has been quietly infecting Linux and Solaris SPARC systems for more than five years. BPFdoor only parses…
How many “smart” devices do you have connected to your home or company network? It’s probably a higher number than you originally estimated. However large that number is, it pays to be aware that IoT devices are some of the least secure devices available on the market today, which makes them the weakest link in…
Hackers around the world are increasingly targeting verified Twitter accounts with emails designed to pilfer your Twitter login credentials. Verified Twitter accounts differ from standard Twitter accounts in that they sport a large blue check mark next to the user’s name, which indicates that the person who owns the account is someone of considerable influence…
The MalwareHunterTeam recently discovered a new ransomware operation that is particularly nasty. Called Onyx, outwardly, the operation does what most ransomware campaigns do. It gets inside a corporate network, exfiltrates the data that it wants, then seems to encrypt the rest, and then threatens to release the files to the broader public unless their demands…
Google SMTP relay service is wildly popular and used every day by legions of users. Unfortunately, hackers around the world are aware of this and increasingly they’ve begun abusing the SMTP relay service. The basic idea is as follows. Some clever hackers have figured out that they can bypass email security products and deliver malicious…
Google has been making some fantastic changes to bolster user security in recent weeks. That includes changes to their Google Play Store that will require developers to disclose exactly what data they plan to track and collect when users install the apps they create. In a related vein, the tech giant has also recently added…
Ask just about any IT security professional and they will tell you that weak user passwords are one of the biggest problems and most persistent threats to corporate networks. Despite years of training, re-training, and near-constant reminders to strengthen passwords, users keep making the same mistakes. They’ll re-use the same password across multiple properties. They…
Some interesting and disturbing changes are afoot in the hacking world. It appears that the TrickBot gang is now working for the Conti Syndicate. TrickBot is a well-known group of botnet developers responsible for the creation of the BazarLoader. BazarLoader has been used by Conti in the past as their delivery system of choice when…
Researchers at Bitdefender have discovered a new malware campaign. This one uses an attack method that has fallen out of favor in recent months, called the Exploit Kit. Exploit Kits used to be all the rage. Flash Player was a popular target for Exploit Kit based attacks but it is now a thing of the…
A handy new Google Assistant is coming soon to a device near you. The new feature is designed to automate the frustrating and often time-consuming task of changing your passwords after a breach. This information is according to a tweet from Max Weinbach and a separate report from a group called the Android Police. Google…
Do you own an Amazon Kindle? If so, you’re probably already aware of one of the major frustrations with the product. Kindles are amazing but they don’t support the epub file format. Of course, epub is the format that just about everybody else on the planet other than Amazon sells e-books in. The company has…
A small but important change is coming to your Android apps. Soon you’ll notice a new Data Safety section on the Google Play Store which will provide greater transparency about exactly what data the apps you install are collecting. The change is meant to serve as a “privacy label” that will allow users to evaluate…
There’s a new hacking campaign underway that you need to be aware of especially if you or anyone you know is interested in upgrading to Windows 11. The campaign appears to be a legitimate offer from Microsoft and it gives users the opportunity to upgrade to Windows 11 for free. Unlike many campaigns of this…
Has your Windows 10 machine been mysteriously freezing up on you lately? If it has, you’re not alone. Fortunately, Microsoft’s engineers have identified the root cause of that issue and have released a patch that fixes it. The patch you’re looking for is KB5012636. Be aware that this is a cumulative update preview patch for…
Netflix has been talking about cracking down on password sharing for years. So far, it’s been just talk. Recently, the company suffered its first decrease in subscribers in recent memory. They lost more than 200,000 in the first quarter of 2022. That is a fact which sent their stock price reeling. According to the company’s…
If you rely on a Microsoft Exchange server to handle email for your company, there is something you should be aware of. Recent research by security and analytics company Varonis has discovered that an affiliate of Hive ransomware has begun targeting Exchange servers that are vulnerable to ProxyShell security issues. If the group in question…
Do you have an Android device? Is it built around a Qualcomm or MediaTek chipset? If you answered yes to both of those questions, be aware that researchers at Check Point have recently discovered an issue which could put your device at risk. The team discovered a flaw in the implementation of the ALAC (Apple…
Considered to be social media for professionals, LinkedIn is an invaluable tool for millions of people all over the world and a great way to make a wide range of professional connections. Unfortunately, hackers and scammers are aware of this fact and tend to gravitate to it as well. They are hoping to take advantage…
Millions of people around the world have leveraged the awesome power of WordPress to build their sites. Whether for personal or business use, WordPress has the flexibility and functionality to create just about any type of site you can dream of. A large part of this flexibility comes from the power of plugins, but that’s…
The owners of the Qbot botnet are changing things up. The botnet’s normal Modus Operandi for distributing their signature Qbot malware has been to push their malicious code via phishing emails which contain Microsoft Office documents laden with poisoned macros. More recently though, the group behind the botnet has switched to phishing emails carrying password-protected…
There’s a new strain of malware that specifically targets Android users that you should be aware of. Dubbed simply “Fakecalls,” it is a banking trojan that boasts a powerful new ability we haven’t seen before in the malware world. It can fake a call from your bank. On its face, it looks like most of…
If you have any tools in your garage, odds are good that at least a few of them are Snap-on tools. The brand is ubiquitous in the United States and the company is one of the leading manufacturers globally. They sell under a variety of different brand names and some of them you may not…
If you rely on Microsoft’s Edge browser to surf the web, you’re in luck. The Redmond Giant has recently made some modifications to the browser’s “sleeping tabs” feature, which improves its overall performance and responsiveness. The Sleeping Tabs feature began rolling out for edge users running Beta 88 back in December of 2020. It had…
Are you one of the legions of users who rely on the Teradici PCoIP client? If so, be aware that whether you’re running Windows, Linux, or macOS, there’s a raft of new critical security vulnerabilities you need to be aware of. These are security issues that could potentially impact some fifteen million endpoints. The essence…
If you’re a member of the Windows Insiders group, you may already be aware of this. If you missed the company’s announcement be on the lookout for some new security improvements in upcoming releases. Microsoft has been playing an increasingly active role in countering a wide range of cybersecurity threats and their upcoming security enhancements…
If you own an Android device, odds are excellent that your go-to source for apps of any kind is the Google Play Store. That includes antivirus apps to help keep your device safe. Unfortunately, the hackers of the world are aware of that fact and are always on the lookout for ways to capitalize on…
If you use certain VMWAre products, be aware that the company has recently identified and issued a patch for a total of five critical security vulnerabilities. These are being tracked as: CVE-2022022954 (This issue is a server-side template injection remote code execution issue) CVE-2022-22955 CVE-2022-22956 (This issue, and the one above it are both OAuth2…
Do you use the popular smartphone app “Cash App?” If so, you’re certainly not alone. It is wildly popular and used by millions of people around the world. As one of the most wildly popular things on the web, that has made it a target. Cash App was formerly known as Square. Recently, they submitted…
There’s a new malware threat to keep an eye out for according to researchers from Zscaler. Dubbed FFDroider, this one is known for hijacking a variety of social media accounts and stealing credentials and cookies stores in web browsers. Given the dominance of social media properties on the web, that makes FFDroider a serious threat.…
Over the past few weeks, there’s been a bit of an uproar on various social media channels. Many AMD users are reporting inexplicable changes to their BIOS settings which users were never asked to approve. AMD began investigating the issue and isolated it to AMD Ryzen chips and it appears the company’s user base was…
If you’re an Apple user and you have an iPhone, a Mac, or both, you’ll want to grab the company’s most recent security update. The latest release pushes out fixes for a pair of zero-day vulnerabilities that researchers have seen actively exploited in the wild. The flaws in question are being tracked as CVE-2022-22674 and…
Do you have an iPhone? If so, are you running IOS 15.4? If you are, you may have noticed an unusual power drain on your battery that’s dramatically shortening the life per charge. That’s the kiss of death for any handheld device and if you’re experiencing the issue, you’re not alone. The good news is…
Do you have an HP LaserJet Pro, a Pagewide Pro, an OfficeJet, Enterprise, Large Format, or DeskJet printer at your home or in your office? If so, then be aware that your machine is likely vulnerable to at least one of four security vulnerabilities rated as critical. The first of these is a buffer overflow…
A nasty new malware strain has recently been spotted in the wilds by researchers at zScaler. Dubbed “BlackGuard” the malicious code has been found on a variety of Russian underground Blackhat forums. It is offered as a service and anyone criminally minded can access the code for the bargain price of just $200 a month.…
Do you have an Android device? Even if you don’t, you know someone who does. Google is incredibly good at spotting poisoned copies of apps on its Play Store and getting rid of them before they can spread to the devices of users who rely on the safety and security offered by the Play Store.…
Microsoft recently confirmed that an account belonging to one of their employees was compromised by the Lapsus$ hacking group, which allowed them to abscond with portions of the company’s source code. Yes, you read that correctly. Microsoft got hacked. They now join the latest in a seemingly unending parade of large tech companies to have…
Do you use Windows Server 2019? If so, then you may be experiencing some issues as of the latest update. According to details published on the Windows Health Dashboard, customers who installed updates released on January 25th or later may experience DNS issues relating to DNS stub zones. The company had this to say about…
Do you have a Wyze Cam? If you’re not sure what that is, it’s an internet camera that offers a low-cost solution to those who are interested in playing around with video and not willing to spend a ton of money on it. Unfortunately, in this instance it’s a budget option with a bite and…
One of the latest revelations to come from the Windows 11 development team is that Microsoft is working on streamlining the process of setting a default web browser for Windows 11 users. The new paradigm under development will allow the selection to be made with a single click! The new change was rolled out on…
Do you own a Chromebook? If so, be aware that version 100 of the Chrome OS and Chrome Browser boasts a new launcher. Simply press the “Everything” button which is located on the left-hand corner of your screen to open the Chrome OS launcher. Like the Windows Start button and the macOS “Spotlight” feature, the…
Microsoft recently announced that it was doing a bit of re-branding. The company’s apps that connect Android and iPhones to your Windows PC were formally called “Your Phone.” Under the new re-naming scheme, those apps will now be called “Phone Link.” Hand in hand with that change, Microsoft is also re-naming the mobile companion app,…
Diana Lopera is a researcher for Trustwave Cybersecurity and has stumbled across something that’s one part interesting and one part disturbing. Apparently, a group of hackers are trying a new approach to distribute their malicious code which is leveraging Microsoft’s HTML help files. Yes, you read that correctly. It’s an innovative technique that’s not only…
Do you use Microsoft PowerToys? If you’re not sure what that is then you probably don’t. If you’re curious, Microsoft has an open-source set of tools called PowerToys which is designed to allow power users to customize their Windows environments to taste. In some instances, for some Microsoft 365 users, if the user in question…
If you follow the global threat landscape closely, then you may already be aware of a notorious Chinese hacking collective known as “Storm Cloud.” What few people know is that this group seems to be the driving force behind a new variant of malware that researchers have recently spotted in the wild. Dubbed “GIMMICK” by…
Online photography platform Shutterfly is the latest high-profile company to fall victim to a hacking attack. The company recently disclosed that in December of last year (2021) they were targeted by the Conti gang, who successfully breached their system and initiated a ransomware attack. The company’s breach notification statement was sent to impacted users and…
It’s no secret that the pandemic changed the way much of the world works. Tens of millions of people are now working from home with millions more eyeing that as a very real possibility. Unfortunately, the pandemic also changed what kinds of opportunities hackers and scammers are targeting. It shouldn’t come as a great shock…
People who are in the habit of pirating movies and software have something new to worry about. It seems hackers have begun targeting at least some of them with a ubiquitous form of malware. On the Dark Web, anyone who is willing to shell out twenty bucks or so can get their hands on a…
A security researcher who goes by the name “Dr. Web” has been tracking a suspicious increase in Trojan infiltration emanating from the Google Play Store. It is not currently known whether a single organized and determined group of hackers is responsible for the surge or if several groups just happen to be focused on the…
The automotive parts giant named DENSO is the latest corporation to fall victim to a hacking attack. The company has offices all over the world and supplies parts to brands including General Motors, Fiat, Volvo, Toyota, and others. Collectively the company and its subsidiaries employ more than 160,000 people and boasts revenues of more than…
Do you rely on Microsoft SQL and MySQL databases? If so, be advised that the cybersecurity firm AhnLab recently published a report about a newly emerging threat. It seems that hackers are now targeting poorly secured Microsoft SQL and MySQLdatabases with a malware strain known as GhostCringe. If you’re not familiar with it, GhostCringe is…
Emotet is in the news again according to the latest information from email security firm Cofense. Emotet is notorious for spreading via phishing campaigns and this latest phishing campaign sees them impersonating the IRS. By all outward appearances, the emails look legitimate. The Emotet gang knows that with so many people feeling harried during tax…
Are you a Windows Insider? If so, be aware that the company is testing a “hidden” new feature you’re probably going to love. It’s a small change but its impact is enormous. The feature is the Tabbed File Explorer! The experimental feature must be explicitly enabled but once it is it works a lot like…
Microsoft may have inadvertently signaled that they are soon going to reincorporate ads into Microsoft 11, which is going to please exactly no one. In the most recent Windows Insiders build, third party ads were displayed but only briefly. They vanished as of the next update. The company responded to the angry inquires that the…
If you’re an early adopter playing with the Windows 11 builds as they come out and you are a “Windows Insider,” then you probably already know this. In the latest build, users were treated to a raft of new improvements and enhancements including a new Windows 11 video editor called Clipchamp. The build with the…
Do you have a PC with an AMD Ryzen CPU? If so, be aware that AMD has found an issue which causes “temporary pauses in system interactivity or responsiveness.” The issue affects some Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems with the Firmware Trusted Platform Module (fTPM) enabled. If you’re not familiar with it, the fTPM…
The problem with smartphones is that they eventually run out of room. Honestly it’s a wonder the issue isn’t even bigger than it is. After all, miniaturization isn’t cheap but smartphone manufacturers have been able to cram incredible amounts of storage into tiny spaces. The day is coming when you’re going to run out of…
Samsung’s corporate network was breached recently. That’s bad news all by itself. The company has recently confirmed that in addition to the confidential customer information that was stolen, the hackers also made off with the source code for the software used in the company’s Galaxy smartphones. The hackers responsible for the attack call themselves “Lapsus$.”…
Here’s a statistic you’re not going to like. Based on research conducted by cybersecurity researchers at Proofpoint, there has been a staggering 500 percent increase in malware attacks against mobile devices during the opening months of 2022. The most significant peak so far this year occurred at the end of February. Most of the malware…
Do you use Google Messages? If so, there’s good news! In recent months, the company has taken steps to bridge the Windows and iOS ecosystems the Android ecosystems and the iOS ecosystems. They’ve been creating a more seamless user experience and allowing users from those various ecosystems to communicate and share more easily. The latest…
Do you own an Ionic smartwatch? If you haven’t heard yet, be advised that Fitbit has issued a voluntary recall of the devices produced between 2017 and 2020. It’s also worth mentioning that at the start of this year (2022) FitBit was acquired by Google. So if the contact information you see on the FibBit…
Thanks to the fine folks at Palo Alto Networks we have a better view of the relative safety and security of network-capable medical devices. Unfortunately, the news is grim. Based on their findings after examining more than 200,000 infusion pumps, about half are vulnerable to critical security issues. Yes you read that correctly. That’s 100,000…
It’s 2022 and after years of warning people repeatedly about the dangers of using the same old passwords and using the same password across multiple websites, you would think this would get better. You would think we’d have that problem solved and there would be one less network security risk to worry about. Unfortunately, if…
Nvidia joined the seemingly unending parade of major corporations to fall victim of a hacking attack. Recently, a group of hackers calling itself “Lapsus$” began sharing details about the incident and the damage that it caused. Nvidia confirmed the attack. Nvidia released a formal statement which reads in part as follows: “On February 23, 2022,…
We barely got to know Wi-Fi 6 but companies like Qualcomm are already making plans for the next generation of Wi-Fi technology. They are working on Wi-Fi 7 which is otherwise known as 802.11. Granted, the new standard is a long way from being ready to roll out, so don’t expect to see any equipment…
If you have smart devices in the Android ecosystem, there’s a new threat to be aware of in the form of a malware strain called Teabot. This bit of malicious code is a Remote Access Trojan or RAT for short. The group behind the code is making a big push to see it spread worldwide.…
The US Federal Trade Commission reports that Americans lost almost six billion dollars to fraud last year. The $5.8 billion total represented a catastrophic 70 percent increase compared to the losses reported in 2020. The FTC maintains a database of millions of consumer records it uses to track such information. Based on the statistics gleaned…
Are you a Citibank customer? If so, be aware that a group of scammers is specifically targeting Citibank account holders. The campaign is incredibly convincing, and the emails look just like official communications from the company. All logos have been copied and are positioned correctly. The sender address appears genuine at first glance and the…
Security experts tell people all the time to never to download apps from anywhere other than official sources like the Microsoft Store, the Google Play Store, and the Apple App Store. It’s good advice but unfortunately, even those sources aren’t perfect when it comes to keeping malicious apps that have been poisoned with malware off…
Meyer Corporation is a California-based company and a giant in the cookware industry. Meyer is the latest victim in a seemingly never-ending parade of hacking attacks. The full extent of the attack has not yet been disclosed because an investigation into the matter is ongoing. However, we do know at this point that the attackers…
Apple AirTags are handy. They’re an incredibly convenient way to help keep track of your stuff. If you lose something that has been tagged you can easily locate it using the “Find My” app, which will point the way to whatever it is that you have tagged. The only problem is AirTags can be misused…
Recently, Skype announced a change to its 911 calling feature. Previously the feature was only useable in the UK, Finland, Denmark, and Australia. Now, the company has unlocked it for the United States as well and will even allow the software to share the location of the caller with emergency services. It’s a welcome change…
If you’re a Mac user and you also use Zoom be sure to check to see what version of Zoom you’re running. Recently a bug in the Mac version of the software was found that could cause your computer’s microphone to remain on even after leaving a meeting. Mac Zoom users have been complaining about…
Recently, Microsoft announced that they were adding support for Android Apps to Windows 11. The company first began testing that new functionality back in October of last year (2021). Now, the public preview has been unveiled in the US, allowing users to run some Android apps acquired from the Amazon store right from their Windows…
Do you have a WordPress site? Do you use the PHP Everywhere plugin? If so, you’re not alone. More than 30,000 site owners have installed it. It’s an excellent plugin that dramatically enhances websites using it, because it allows webmasters to place PHP pretty much anywhere on the page to display dynamic web content. Wordfence…
We have recently learned that Puma Sportswear was impacted by a data breach in the waning days of 2021. It’s important to note that Puma’s networks were not attacked directly. The attack was made against Kronos which is one of the company’s North American workforce management service providers. In a recently filed data breach notification…
Do you use Microsoft Teams and do you have an older PC that struggles with Teams video meetings? If so there’s good news. Microsoft has recently upgraded Teams and halved the power used by Teams video meetings to make life easier on people with older hardware. Of course, even if you’ve got newer hardware this…
There are two new forms of malware spreading rapidly among people with Android devices according to researchers at ThreatFabric. This latest campaign involves the FluBot malware (also known as Cabassous) and the Android banking trojan called Medusa. What’s disturbing about this most recent spate of attacks is that both forms of malware share the same…
According to researchers at HP, there’s a new threat to worry about. Hackers have recently begun disguising malware as Windows 11 upgrades and are using them to target Windows 10 users who are anxious to move to Microsoft’s latest OS. This new campaign begins like many others with an email informing the recipient that if…
Hackers will attack absolutely anybody. No one is safe and nothing is sacred. Not even football is safe. The most recent high-profile attack was made against the San Francisco 49ers according to BleepingComputer which got confirmation from the 49ers. According to the information disclosed by the 49ers they are in the process of recovering from…
It’s no secret that supply chain issues have impacted a variety of different industries. Apple has been somewhat less impacted than others. Leveraging this and their massive infrastructure and marketing budget, they have flexed their corporate muscles and gained market share. According to statistics gathered by data analytics firm Kantar, Apple accounted for slightly more…
Researchers from Fortinet are warning of a new threat to be on the lookout for. Right now, NFTs are all the rage. Everyone is talking about them, and many are excited about them. Hackers have been quick to take advantage of that fact, and the Fortinet researchers have stumbled across a poisoned spreadsheet that purports…
Researchers at Avanan are a Check Point subsidiary. They have recently issued a warning that anyone who uses Microsoft Teams should be aware of. According to the latest statistics, more than 270 million people use Teams every single month. According to Avanan, hackers are breaking into Team chats and attaching malicious files to ongoing conversations.…
For most of the history of the internet Linux has been able to stay below the radar of hackers around the world. While there have been some attacks that specifically targeted Linux users, they’ve managed to keep a low enough profile that it hasn’t been a major issue. According to a group of researchers from…
Researchers have spotted a new phishing campaign you should be aware of. What sets this one apart is that the hackers are using a lowly but specially crafted CSV file to infect machines. They are installing the BazarBackdoor malware. If you’re not familiar with the term CSV stands for “Comma Separated Values” and it’s a…
Individual users often don’t have a good sense of the scope and scale of hacking attacks around the world. The numbers may shock you. According to Microsoft, in 2021 the company blocked more than 25.6 billion brute force authentication attacks against Azure AD users. They also and intercepted a staggering 35.7 billion phishing emails with…
An increasing number of scammers are using social media to target victims and relying on social engineering tricks to convince people to part with their personal information or money. The problem has grown serious enough that the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has issued a formal warning to consumers. According to a recently released FTC report:…
Microsoft recently announced an important upgrade to Microsoft Defender. It now supports vulnerability management for both Android and iOS. The company’s announcement reads in part as follows: “With this new cross-platform coverage, threat and vulnerability management capabilities now support all major device platforms across the organization – spanning workstations, servers, and mobile devices. Threat and…
In late 2020 a new strain of malware called UpdateAgent appeared and began infecting Mac users. Initially the strain wasn’t all that worrisome. It stole system information but it was by no means the worst threat on a Mac user’s radar. Since that time, the hackers behind the malicious code have been busy. UpdateAgent has…
Back in September of 2020 Microsoft announced that it was experimenting with the addition of SMTP MTA Strict Transport Security (MTA-STS) support to Exchange Online. This was done in a bid to ensure the email communication and security of their Office 365 customers. In a recent statement by the company the Exchange Online Transport Team…
BRATA malware was first spotted in the wilds by Kaspersky back in 2019. Its earliest incarnation saw it targeting e-banking users and it was designed to steal banking and login credentials of anyone infected. That’s undeniably bad but according to researchers the latest version of BRATA has gotten downright nasty. Security professionals have discovered a…
If you have Google Drive, there’s good news. The company has recently announced that soon they’ll be rolling out a new feature to help alert users to the presence of suspicious documents. Google Drive users will soon start seeing banners alerting them to possible dangers This will serve as an additional layer of defense that…
Hackers have recently hit upon a new money-making scheme. Some groups have started breaking into Instagram accounts belonging to people with high numbers of followers. They are then holding those accounts hostage until the owner agrees to pay the ransom. In some cases, the hackers are charging as much as $40,000 USD to return an…
Google partner Zimperium zLabs has recently discovered a sophisticated scam targeting more than 100 million Android users. The scam has been in operation right under Google’s nose for nearly two years. The scam has now been shut down by Google but while it was in operation, it spanned some 470 Android apps on the Play…
There’s good news for Apple users. The company has been busy and has recently released security updates that address two Zero-Day vulnerabilities. These are security flaws that could be exploited by hackers to cause no end of trouble to anybody running macOS or iOS. The first Zero-Day addressed is being tracked as CVE-2022-22587 and is…
One of the most persistently frustrating aspects of our highly interconnected world is that we seem to exist in at least three different distinct ecosystems. Apple users live in the Apple ecosystem which encompasses both its mobile products and its PCs. Windows users live in the Windows ecosystem which encompasses both laptops and desktops but…
There is a new phishing campaign to keep a watchful eye on according to email security firm INKY. It’s a particularly fiendish one. The attackers have designed an email template that does an admirable job of imitating the look and feel of emails sent from the US Department of Labor. These are being sent out…
When Apple first released iOS 15 they posted a promise on their website. That promise was: “If you’re using iOS or iPadOS 14.5 or later, you might now see the option to choose between two software update versions. This option allows you to choose between updating to the latest version of iOS or iPadOS 15…
Scammers delight in impersonating government agencies and well-known brands to lure email recipients into giving up their personal information. That information is then either exploited directly or sold to the highest bidder on the Dark Web. Have you ever wondered which agencies, companies or brands are the most imitated by these attackers? Whether you have…
There was a recently discovered issue with the way the IndexedDB API was implemented in Safari’s WebKit engine. This is giving IT professionals who work in an environment dominated by Apple products heartburn. The faulty implementation allows or could allow an attacker to intercept leaking browser activity in real time including the user IDs associated…
There’s a new strain of malware called SysJoker to be mindful of. It’s especially dangerous because it can target Windows, Mac or Linux systems. That makes it an equal opportunity strain. Researchers at Intezer are credited with discovering the malware in the wild in December of 2021 during an investigation of an attack on a…
According to the latest Gartner’s statistics, a total of 339.8 million personal computers were shipped in 2021. That was up from 309.1 million in 2020 which amounts to about 10 percent growth in the market. The company noted that the fourth quarter of 2021 saw a 5 percent drop compared to last year, which may…
Chalk up another first for the hackers. For the first time that we know of, a successful hacking attack caused prisoners in New Mexico to be confined to their cells for a time. The Metropolitan Detention Center in Bernalillo County, New Mexico went into lockdown on January 5th of this year (2022) when hackers infiltrated…
For those that aren’t aware, PCI SIG is short for the PCI Special Interests Group. They have just announced the release of the latest PCI Express (PCIe) specification which is called PCIe 6.0. It has the entire industry abuzz. Standards aren’t usually all that exciting but, in this case, it’s a very big deal. That’s…
Google is once again raising the bar where messaging and team meeting software is concerned. The company just rolled out the first phase of its new live translation service for Meet users after months of beta testing the feature. Naturally this is the first step in a long process, so there are some limitations and…
If you have an iPhone by now you’ve almost certainly heard of the security flaw in the HomeKit protocol which allows Apple users to discover and control a wide range of Smart Devices in their home from the HomeKit dashboard. The recently discovered security flaw dubbed “DoorLock” allows an attacker to essentially brick your phone…
You may find many people who would argue that the iconic Blackberry was ahead of its time. It was in many ways the godfather of the entire smartphone industry. When it was initially released it was an absolute game changer. Of course, time allowed other companies including tech giants Apple and Google to catch up…
A research team from Minerva Labs are working in conjunction with the MalwareHunterTeam. They have recently been tracking a Trojan called Purple Fox and have published a warning about it. The group behind the Trojan is now distributing their malicious code disguised as a Telegram installation file. If you’re not familiar with that name Telegram…
By now you’re almost certainly aware of the Log4j Java issue. It’s a serious and fixable flaw relating to java logging. Recently the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a chilling warning to anyone who hasn’t yet fixed the flaw and protected against the vulnerability. The FTC’s statement reads in part as follows:…
If you’re managing a company of any size and interested in copying from some other firm’s playbook, Apple is almost always a good choice. Even the folks at Google seem to think so. The search giant recently announced a plan to tighten the integration between Android/Chrome and Windows to create a seamless and hassle-free user…
It’s the dawning of a new year and the hackers of the world have been busy. This time it’s US Cellular caught in the crosshairs. The company recently reported that their billing system was hacked and they sent breach notification letters to more than four hundred impacted individuals. US Cellular is the fourth largest carrier…
Thank Trevor Spiniolas’ sharp eyes if you own an iPhone. The independent security researcher recently discovered a critical security flaw in iOS that impacts all version from 14.7 to 15.2. If exploited, this flaw can turn your fancy phone into a very expensive paperweight, so it’s one to take seriously. Trevor discovered that by changing…
A new threat has appeared on the horizon. Even if the name is not familiar to you this malware strain is bad news indeed. Called RedLine it is an information-stealing malware that specifically targets popular web browsers including Opera, Microsoft’s Edge browser, and Chrome. Unfortunately, many people have come to rely on their trusty web…
Recently digital media giant Shutterfly was hit by a major ransomware attack. The attack disrupted broad swaths of the company’s services including those offered under their GrooveBook, BorrowLenses, and Lifetouch brands. According to a report received by BleepingComputer, Shutterfly was targeted by the Conti gang. That group was able to encrypt more than four thousand…
The great thing about standards is that they provide a standard. A common framework that the manufacturers in any given industry can design around. That’s amazing when everything works the way it’s supposed to but sometimes the system goes haywire. Sometimes things just don’t work out as planned. Take the world of HDMI. The HDMI…
There are strange events swirling around LastPass. LastPass is a popular password safe and identity protection service. Recently Twitter exploded with reports from around the world of people who received a notification from LastPass regarding a string of suspicious login attempts. Most of them came from countries other than the ones the impacted users lived…
If you’re one of the early adopters of Windows 11 then you may have already experienced the latest bug that crept into the mix as of build 21H2. Apps that utilize Win32 APIs to render colors on some HDR (High-Definition Range) displays may not work as expected. HDR displays are noted for their rich incredibly…
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gets a lot of bad press. Sometimes there are good reasons for that but much of the time there are not really any good reasons. As the nation’s lead spectrum regulator their primary job is to balance all needs and factors. They are supposed to arrive at decisions that do…
Are you a Skype user? If so be aware that Microsoft (the company that owns Skype) just added a handy new feature you may want to start taking advantage of right away. The next time you update your software you’ll be able to zoom in on a screen shared by the user you’re communicating with.…
If you’re like most cellphone users, you absolutely love the automatic call blocking feature that most companies offer as part of their standard service. A call comes in from a “suspicious” number and the phone just blocks it. That’s awesome and even better is you can add new numbers to it. So on those occasions…
There’s a new malware strain you should make sure your IT staff is aware of. Called the Dark Watchman, it is a well-designed and highly capable RAT (Remote Access Trojan) paired with a keylogger written in C#. First discovered by researchers at Prevailion this piece of malware likes to lurk in the Windows Registry and…
Surveys have long been a playground of hackers and scammers. That’s true at any time of the year but it’s especially true around the Holidays when such scams seem to attract even more unwitting victims. In fact, some estimates place scammer profits revolving around fake surveys as being nearly $80 million a month. So it’s…
There’s a new strain of ransomware to be concerned about in the form of AvosLocker. This is from security firm Sophos who warns that the new strain of human-operated ransomware is one to watch. AvosLocker burst onto the scene over the summer of this year (2021). Having enjoyed some success with their product the gang…
Do you own and operate a WordPress website? Do you also use the “All in One” SEO plugin? If you answered yes to both of those questions, then be aware that you’ll want to update that plugin as soon as possible. Recently security researcher Marc Montpas from Automattic Security discovered and reported a pair of…
Haven’t heard of Log4j before right now? If not, you’re certainly not alone but unfortunately it’s something you’re likely to hear more about in the weeks ahead. It may wind up being the cause of a few headaches for you. “Log4j” is a Java library. Its function is to log error messages in applications. Consider…
Do you own a Lenovo Yoga or ThinkPad laptop? If so be advised that a pair of critical security flaws have recently been found that could allow an attacker Admin level access to your machine. The flaws are centered in the IMControllerService and are being tracked as CVE-2021-3922 and CVE-2021-3969. They impact all Lenovo System…
We haven’t heard much about Anubis in recent months. Anubis is the nasty Android-based banking Trojan that has made headlines on more than one occasion. If history is any guide at all Anubis will soon be making headlines again. It’s back and based on the findings from researchers at Lookout the hackers controlling the malware…
Two months ago, Microsoft began rolling out support for end-to-end encryption for all Teams calls. Given the pandemic and the increased demand for Teams and services like it, that was a very big deal. The good news is that Microsoft recently announced that the rollout is complete and all Teams calls now support E2EE which…
If yours is one of the thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon Web Services (AWS for short) then you’re already aware that recently there were issues. Even if your business doesn’t rely on AWS directly if you do business with anyone who does rely on Amazon’s Flagship digital service you’re probably at least aware…
The Apple and Android ecosystems just took another step toward melding together with the release of a new App built by Apple. The app allows Android devices to track any nearby device that is “Find My-enabled.” From Apple’s perspective the move is less about creating a user experience that spans ecosystems and more about user…
It’s the end of an era. Alexa.com is an iconic website run by Amazon that ranks and analyzes the popularity of other sites on the web. This site is soon to be retired. Alexa.com is actually a subsidiary company wholly owned by Amazon. They offer an impressive suite of SEO services to webmasters interested in…
For a few years now Microsoft has been experimenting with voice commands. Their early experiments were limited to contexts that resided wholly inside specific applications however. For example, once you opened Word you could use voice commands to activate a few of the software’s features. Recently the company decided to take voice controls to a…
QNAP has recently warned its customers of an ongoing campaign that is targeting QNAP NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices and infecting them with cryptomining malware. This particular campaign is deploying software designed to mine Bitcoin and using your computing power to generate profits for them. If you are infected, you’ll see a new process running…
App spending in 2021 grew by an impressive 25 percent in 2021 and has increased to an impressive $135 billion. Even better is the growth shows no signs of slowing down. That is surprising because the industry at large has come under increased scrutiny and both the Apple and Google App Stores have introduced new…
With the holiday shopping season in full swing shoppers are descending on virtual storefronts in droves seeking the best deals. Naturally this means that hackers are also circling like sharks watching for an opportunity to steal data and profit from it. Their most recent trick? To infect random WordPress plugins with malicious code that can…
Whatsapp has had a tough year from a security standpoint and has suffered losses in the size of its user base as a result. To their credit, the company has been working hard to make their product more secure. Recently they took another powerful step in that direction with the introduction of disappearing messages. These…
Cox Communications is a major provider of cable, internet, and phone service in the United States. The company is the latest in a seemingly unending parade of companies to fall victim to a hacking attack. In this case, the hacker gained access to company servers by impersonating a member of Cox Communication’s Customer Support team. …
Apple Wallet just got a powerful new feature that’s sure to make it more attractive to busy travelers. Thanks to an agreement with Hyatt your Apple Wallet is now capable of serving as a digital hotel key. This counts as a promise kept. At the 2021 WWDC Apple promised that it would be adding digital…
Emotet is one of the most feared malware strains circulating right now. The team behind it has managed to infect a staggering array of targets all around the globe. To say that it is a major threat would be an understatement. Recently the group behind Emotet just upped the ante even further. Researchers have recently…
Microsoft is making a few UI changes across its entire product line in anticipation of rolling out Windows 11. Early this year (2021) the company announced that they were updating the UI for Office 365 and Office 2021. Over the summer small groups of users participated in an open beta and began playing with the…
Recently Twitter’s CEO stepped down. Since then, the company has been gearing up to make some changes that many of the industry’s insiders regard as long overdue. The first of these changes has now been rolled out with the company modifying its privacy policy and outlining new rules related to the sharing of pictures and…
Most people have a home network these days which connects their computers and tablets, allows them to stream video from their Smart TVs, and surf the web from their phones using their home network rather than their cellphone’s data plan. If you have a home network then you should keep reading. Recently security researchers tested…
Microsoft has had a long and interesting relationship with its venerable “Paint” app. Most people are familiar with Paint. It’s been around since the earliest versions of Windows and let’s be honest it was never a great application. It allows users to do the basics but it was quickly eclipsed by more robust and feature-rich…
It’s no real secret that Microsoft has never been a big fan of Chrome, FireFox, or any other web browser that it didn’t build. The company clearly hasn’t gotten over the fact that it lost the browser wars and lost them handily. That’s why it keeps trying periodically to reinvent the wheel offering up new…
The Japanese electronics juggernaut Panasonic is the latest company to fall victim to relentless hackers. In a recent press release the company indicated their servers had been successfully attacked on November 11th, 2021. The statement reads in part as follows: “As the result of an internal investigation, it was determined that some data on a file…
Have you had your DNA tested by DDC (DNA Diagnostic Center)? If so be advised that the company was recently hacked and that the attackers were able to make off with data impacting 2,102,436 people. According to the company’s disclosure statement the breach occurred between May 24th and July 28th 2021 and the company’s internal…
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has identified more than 4,000 different retailers that have been compromised by hackers exploiting known vulnerabilities on checkout pages in order to divert payments and steal payment card details. The NCSC has been quietly alerting vulnerable retailers over the past 18 months. Based on the data gathered by…
Do you own an iPhone 12 or 13? Have you been dealing with dropped calls? If so then Apple has good news and a fix for that. Simply upgrade to iOS 15.11 and you should be good to go. 15.11 is a minor update that only contains a single entry in the change log. Literally…
Vestas Wind Systems is one of the leaders in wind turbine manufacturing in North America with 40,000 MW currently installed and another 36,000 MW under service in both the US and Canada. Recently the company published a breach notification indicating that they had been the subject of a successful cyber attack which occurred on Friday,…
Are you a GoDaddy customer? Do you maintain a WordPress blog with the company? If so be advised that the company recently announced a breach of their network. An as yet unidentified third party accessed GoDaddy’s Managed WordPress hosting environment. Based on the investigation to date the intrusion began on September 6, 2021. While taking…
According to a report recently released by Abnormal Security there’s been a huge upsurge of instances of people getting scammed after visiting what they thought were Global Entry, NEXUS, and TSA PreCheck service sites. The issue is that scammers are building very convincing fakes of these types of sites and charging busy travelers $140 for…
Sometimes the development process is smooth and sometimes it’s not so smooth. Right now Windows 11’s development is falling into that latter category. Recently Windows Engineers announced a serious issue plaguing the OS. The culprit was compatibility between the new OS version 21H2 and Intel’s SST (Smart Sound Technology) drivers. SST is a big deal…
Some months back YouTube announced that it would begin experimenting with the notion of hiding the number of down votes or dislikes that displayed content receives. At present for most of the content on the platform the number of “thumbs down” votes is displayed alongside the number of “thumbs up” votes that a given video…
Are you a Spotify user? Have you found yourself wanting or needing to block another user? Until recently if you found yourself in that situation you had no choice but to contact customer support and have them block the user for you. Apparently it’s become a big enough and common enough issue that the company…
Twitter hasn’t had a very good relationship with auto-cropping. Images just haven’t historically displayed very well on the platform. Fortunately that is soon changing. The company recently announced that it is dropping crop on the web altogether on both its Android and iOS apps. It may seem like a small change but Twitter’s auto-cropping algorithm…
If you have an Android device be aware that there’s a new strain of malware out there. Called MasterFred this new malware utilizes well-constructed fake login overlays in order to steal the login and credit card information for Twitter Instagram and Netflix users. A sample of the code was submitted to VirusTotal in June of…
A new report by Barracuda was recently published. It revealed that the vast majority of baiting email attacks conducted this year were done via G-mail accounts. The firm surveyed 10,500 different organizations and found that more than a third (35 percent) of them received at least one bait attack email in September 2021 alone. That’s…
The internet has been around for a while at this point and it has brought to mind an issue we’ve never had to deal with until now. What happens to your digital “stuff” when you die? Does it just go away? Does it simply become inaccessible? In the here and now the answer has been…
One of the things that has allowed social media platforms to grow so quickly and utterly dominate the internet is the fact that they’re free to use. They’re not completely free however because users are required to give up a lot of personal information. The bottom line is that there’s no monetary cost involved which…
If you use Exchange Server to handle your company’s email then you’re probably already aware that a critical security flaw has been discovered that puts the server at risk. The issue is being tracked as CVE-2021-42321 and impacts both Exchange Server 2016 and 2019. Even worse is that Microsoft reports that this issue has been…
Open-source applications don’t get much in the way of protection. However in recent years Microsoft has taken steps to change that and especially as it relates to Linux. A few months back the company expanded those protections by adding endpoint detection and response (EDR) to Defender for Endpoint. More recently Microsoft added that capability for…
If you spend a lot of time browsing the Windows Store you may have noticed something unexpected. You can now download Mozilla’s Firefox browser from that source. Previously Mozilla was unable to upload its browser to the Windows Store because Microsoft’s policies required that all browsers on their platform had to use the engine provided…
There’s great news in your immediate future if you’re one of the legions of Excel users. Recently Microsoft made some behind the scenes changes to the venerable spreadsheet application that allows developers to code their own custom data types for use inside the program. The upgrade isn’t aimed at business executives but rather at developers…
Are you a OneDrive user running Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1? If so be aware that on January 1st, 2022 your OneDrive desktop application will reach end of support. The company offered the following by way of explanation: “In order to focus resources on new technologies and operating systems and to provide users…
The folks of Microsoft have been busy quietly making improvements to their venerable MS Office Suite. Recently Excel got some intriguing updates that expanded the number of data types cells could accept. That is with a bit of programmatic help of course. At this year’s Ignite IT conference Microsoft announced some exciting new tools and…
If you’re one of the legions of Windows 10 users you may have recently noticed a new application on your machine. Rest assured that you didn’t get infected with some type of malware. The new app is part of a Windows 10 update. Specifically KB5005463. If your system is set automatically receive Windows updates it…
There’s a nasty new strain of malware you need to be aware of that targets Android devices. Don’t let the funny name fool you because AbstractEmu is a serious threat. Not only will it root an infected device but it will allow the controller of the malware to take total control of the device. It…
Windows XP recently turned twenty. Two decades is an eternity in the world of computers. Yet despite its age the venerable OS still has a surprising number of loyal users. The problem is that Windows XP stopped receiving security updates in 2014. That means those who are still clinging to it run a very real…
Do you buy stocks via the no-cost RobinHood platform? If so be advised that the company has recently disclosed a massive data breach estimated to impact more than seven million customers. The attack against RobinHood’s networks occurred on November 3rd. It happened after an unidentified threat actor called the company’s customer support line and utilized…
If you’re not an Instagram user you may not have heard of ‘Stories.’ They are vertical photos or videos with a duration of no more than fifteen seconds per clip. You can post multiple 15 second clips in a row as well. The unique part is that they vanish after 24 hours of posting. Stories…
Hackers have a new tool in their toolbox you should be aware of. Called SEO Poisoning or sometimes “search poisoning” the attack relies on Black Hat SEO techniques to optimize web content. Researchers from Menlo Security have spotted two separate campaigns one linked to the SolarMarker backdoor and the other leveraging REvil ransomware to infect…
Recently one of the biggest companies on the web got a name change when the Facebook CEO announced that the company would henceforth be known as ‘Meta.’ Here’s what you need to know: First and foremost nothing at all will change about the company’s iconic social media platform. It will still be known as Facebook.…
Microsoft recently reported on the existence of an unusual phishing campaign designed primarily to harvest the passwords of unsuspecting victims. One of the things that makes the campaign so unusual is the fact that it appears to be built by using bits of code copied and pasted from the work of other hackers. Call it…
Researchers from Microsoft have reported the discovery of a new variant of macOS malware called WizardUpdate. The new version should worry all Mac users because it has been upgraded to incorporate enhanced evasion and persistence tactics that will make it more difficult to track, locate and ultimately stop. WizardUpdate is also known as UpdateAgent and…
Are you in the habit of not upgrading your Windows OS on a regular basis? If you are then when you get around to it you may find that you’ve got a rather long backlog of updates to apply. The process can take quite some time and involve a number of system restarts to complete…
Google has taken another step in a long series of steps designed to improve the lives of everyone who uses their ecosystem of products. In this case the company has added a new feature to Google Calendar. Called “Focus Time” and it’s an event setting that seeks to help people block out time free from…
In a bid to further bolster security Microsoft has recently announced the roll-out of end to end encryption for one to one Microsoft Teams calls. Teams already encrypts user data both in transit and at rest and it allows IT admins to establish automatic transcription and recording of all video calls. Microsoft had this to…
YouTube has long been a hunting ground used by hackers and scammers to push all manner of hoaxes, scams and malicious code onto unsuspecting users. A security researcher known only as Frost is working for Cluster 25. Frost has reported a significant uptick in the number of malware campaigns orchestrated from YouTube. Overwhelmingly these campaigns…
Internet ads are annoying. People tend to go to great lengths to avoid them if possible which is why ad blocking software and browser extensions are so popular. One of the more popular options is AllBlock which is a Chromium extension that is widely promoted on YouTube and Facebook. The extension touts its ability to…
Early adopters who are rushing to embrace and experiment with Windows 11 and that use Brother brand printers may experience printing problems. Microsoft recently posted a help article on their website explaining that if you own a Brother printer and have upgraded to Windows 11 you may lose your ability to print if your printer…
Are you an AirPods Pro owner? Do yours crackle and hiss? If you answered yes to both of those questions be aware that Apple has recently extended the support window for the product. This means that you may be able to get yours replaced for free. As with most of the products that Apple makes…
Do you use LibreOffice or OpenOffice? If so be aware that security updates have recently been issued due to the recent discovery of a major security flaw. This vulnerability allows an attacker to modify and manipulate documents so that it appears they have been signed by a trusted party. Although the flaw that makes this…
Phishing attacks tend to focus on executive level targets. They focus on high ranking targets who have considerable system access. That appears to be changing. A recent trend tracked by researchers from Avanan has revealed that nearly half of all phishing emails analyzed in recent months were crafted to impersonate non-executives. Additionally more than three…
Do you use Google Chrome on your phone? If so you may have found yourself frustrated more than once by having to tap the “see more results” button because you were unable to find what you were looking for in the first few search results. If you’ve ever experienced that you will be glad to…
If you use Facebook then you are no doubt aware that recently the company experienced an outage that took the site offline for several hours. Many people initially assumed that the company had been hacked. However as the outage continued there were none of the telltale signs of an attack. The outage impacted all of…
Are you a gamer or do you broadcast on Twitch for some other reason? If so be aware that the platform was recently hacked and the amount of information the attackers made off with is much more substantial than was originally estimated. Some of the data has now been leaked by an anonymous user on…
Do you have a computer powered by an AMD chipset? Are you excited to upgrade to Windows 11? If you answered yes to both of those questions you should know that at present some AMD processors are struggling to run Windows 11 smoothly. In fact a few processors have seen performance drops of up to…
Google recently announced that they’re planning to auto-enroll some 150 million user accounts into two factor authentication (2FA). The company prefers the term two-step verification (2SV). The company had this to say about the planned move: “…because we know the best way to keep our users safe is to turn on our security protections by…
With the release of Firefox 92 back in September Mozilla made a change that may well doom the browser. If you use Firefox you have probably already noticed it. When you start typing an address you will find sponsored Firefox contextual suggestions in a drop-down list. In simplest terms companies pay a premium to get…
Medical equipment provider Medtronic has issued an urgent recall order for insulin pump controllers belonging to their “MiniMed Paradigm” family. The company cited serious cyber security risks as the reason for the recall. The models in question are MMT-500 and MMT-503 which is used in conjunction with the Medtronic MiniMed 508 pump. Overall more than…
Researchers from Zimperium zLabs have detected a nasty, dangerous, global malware campaign that has managed to infect more than 10 million Android devices from around the world in more than 70 different countries. As with most malware campaigns this one relies on social engineering to spread. The first stage of the infection process is that…
Are you a gamer? Do you have an account on Steam, EA Origin, or the Epic Games Store? If so there’s an emerging threat you should be aware of. A new strain of malware is now being sold on the Dark Web. Discovered by researchers operating out of Kaspersky Labs the new malware strain has…
Do you have an iPhone? Do you make use of the Apple Pay service? If so there is a security issue you need to be aware of. Researchers have discovered a means by which fraudulent payments can be made from a locked iPhone. Two conditions must be true for the flaw to be exploited. The…
It’s good to be the King and in the world of search Google is the undisputed King. That fact has made the tech giant something of a target however. Google has been sued repeatedly and investigated by both the US Congress and the EU’s General Court owing to its dominant position in the realm of…
Are you a QuickBooks user? If so you’re going to be thrilled by the company’s recent announcement that Excel integration is coming soon. You read that correctly. Soon you will be able to sync QuickBooks and Excel which should simplify your life a great deal. This is but the latest in a long line of…
Hackers around the world are flexing their muscles. For reasons that aren’t yet clear they have been launching distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks against Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers and it is leading to widespread voice outages. VoIP provider Bandwidth.com is the latest company to fall victim to these attacks. On the afternoon…
A new Zero Day vulnerability in macOS has been discovered. The flaw impacts all macOS versions up to the latest release Big Sur. The bug was found by Park Minchan an independent security researcher and is tied to the way that macOS processes inteloc files. The processing methodology allows an attacker to embed malicious commands…
If you use the YouTube app on your phone and you’re a premium subscriber you’ve currently got the ability to download videos from the service. As of this date however those are the only people who have the ability to download videos. Even if you’ve subscribed to the premium service there is no download function.…
A new study recently published by the digital identity firm Beyond Identity contains a number of surprises relating to passwords and password security. This is information that IT professionals and small or medium-sized business owners should be aware of. While it is not a rigorous and scientific study the results of the company’s survey are…
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic online dating sites have seen a tremendous surge in memberships. People are seeking romance online since in person dating was sharply curtailed by lock downs. Naturally this proved to be an irresistible lure to scammers around the world. So much so that the FBI has recently issued a…
For the last several years, industry experts have been sounding the alarm about password security. We’ve known for quite some time that one of the biggest weak spots in corporate security is the fact that employee passwords are notoriously weak. Millions have been spent on security education. Seminars have been held on the dangers of…
GSuite has added an important new bit of functionality in the form of Android App Management, which comes in two basic flavors. There are some things you can do using the company’s basic app management console, but to get access to the full range of features, you’ll need to set up an advanced account. It’s…
An independent security researcher named Henze has discovered a potentially devastating macOS exploit that’s been dubbed Keychain, and he has posted a video demonstrating it in action. Henze has discovered other vulnerabilities in the past, so Apple was quick to take note. Here’s the problem, though: he’s frustrated that Apple’s Bug Bounty program only applies…
Several months ago, Facebook announced a new feature that would be coming soon to Messenger. Initially, the company didn’t set a timetable for the often asked for delete functionality, but it recently made its way into the code base and is now ready for use. Granted, it’s got limitations, but is a big step in…
Given the rate of increase in the number of hacking attacks, it was predicted early on that 2018 would be another record setting year. That came with more hack attempts and more successful attacks than were seen in 2017. Sadly, that prediction proved to be correct. What few people had anticipated, however, was how big…
Google has a new extension for its Chrome browser, and it’s one you should strongly consider getting for all of your devices at home and in the office. The extension is called ‘Password Checkup,’ and has exactly one purpose. It securely checks your logins against a breach database in real time as you’re logging onto…
AT&T is getting some pushback for what most industry insiders are calling a misleading indicator. It has started to appear on many new smartphones including both Androids and iPhones. With the latest update, a growing number of customers are now seeing a “5G E” indicator on their 4G phones, which leads to a momentary surge…
Despite that there are still a shocking number of Windows 7 users spread around the world, Microsoft has kept with its previously published end of support schedule, and is no longer supporting the venerable product. The company has also begun quietly pulling the plug on applications that were central to the Windows 7 user experience,…
At one point or another, everybody has done it. You open a browser and type in the URL of a site you visit frequently. In doing so, your finger slips and you mistype it. Sometimes, nothing comes of it except that you get an error message. Knowing that, increasing numbers of hackers have gotten into…
One of the unfortunate truths about apps is that many developers use deceptive practices to try and confuse consumers. They try to mislead them about how much custom features cost and when in-app purchases occur. Many attempt to hide or obfuscate the particulars of subscription details. The thinking here is pretty simple: First of all,…
In the world of hacking, steganography ranks as one of the most difficult methodologies to detect. If you’re not familiar with the term, it is the practice of embedding executable code inside images, which makes it virtually impossible to detect. The reason is simple: Virus scanners are built around the idea of searching for text…
Google has kept no secret of their plan to eventually put an end to their social media experiment, Google+. In case you haven’t been keeping abreast of the company’s announcements where the service is concerned, be aware that it will be shutting down on April 2nd of 2019. The closer we’ve gotten to that deadline,…
On paper, UltraViolet seemed like a great idea. It was (and still is, for the moment) a service that stored your license information for various digital media you purchased. You could buy a movie from Amazon Prime, buy something else from some other online vendor, and watch them on any number of devices without having…
The first browser update of 2019 is officially out. Both Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox browsers are getting a raft of security fixes that will help make Mac, Linux and Windows users safer and more secure. The latest build of Chrome addresses nearly sixty CVE-level flaws, seventeen of which are rated as being “high” severity,…
It’s been the better part of two years since the outbreak of the Wannacry ransomware epidemic. Unfortunately, all this time later, some companies are still dealing with the fallout. According to the latest research, Wannacry is still infecting hundreds of thousands of computers around the globe. As grim as that sounds, it’s not all bad…
Are you still using Internet Explorer? Now you have a new reason to consider switching to a more up to date browser. As most people know, Microsoft essentially gave up on Explorer after it failed to gain ground against its major competitors in the browser ecosystem. They started fresh, with Microsoft Edge, designed as a…
According to Alexa, Amazon is the 4th most visited website in the United States and ranks 8th worldwide. To say that it gets a lot of traffic every day would be an understatement, which is why a newly discovered phishing campaign pretending to come from Amazon is so disturbing. Although Amazon sees heavy traffic every…
Google is taking additional steps to protect its Chromebook user base. Currently, if a hacker has physical access to your machine, he or she could insert a flash drive in the USB port and run malicious code from it. The company is adding a new feature called USBGuard, which blocks USB port access any time…
Chromebooks are fun, cool machines that are incredibly popular with students, hipsters, artists, and the like. However, the company hasn’t been able to penetrate the Enterprise market with their product. It’s not hard to understand why. Overwhelmingly, businesses use Windows-based machines. Many of the applications businesses rely on simply won’t work on a Chromebook, and…
This spring, Windows 10 users will be treated to a raft of exciting new features. Currently, the company’s massive test group of Windows Insiders is enjoying playing with them, but they’ll be available to everyone in the early part of next year. Here are a few of the goodies you have to look forward to:…
According to data collected by Truecaller, the number of robocalls worldwide increased by a staggering 300 percent in 2018, although they were down slightly in the U.S. This data, however, should be taken with a grain of salt for two reasons. First and foremost, Truecaller did not research to collect the data. They mined it…
Microsoft recently announced an addition to Windows 10 that should make the lives of Enterprise and power users a whole lot easier. Running an unknown, untrusted .exe file on your machine can be an event that fills you with dread. The best case, of course, is that everything turns out fine. Worst case, the file…
Recently Facebook fessed up to a bug in their photo API that exposed the photos belonging to nearly seven million of the company’s users to app developers. The way the photo API is supposed to work is as follows: When you give an app permission to access your Facebook photos, that app is only supposed…