Items tagged with security
Smartphones are inherently personal devices. We use them to help with and document so much of our lives. While data security is always a concern, the physical act of handing our phones over to be serviced can be particularly nerve-wracking. Sometimes the technician can perform the service in front of your watchful...
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Ransomware can be both disruptive and costly for its victims. A recent report found that the total downtime resulting from ransomware attacks in 2021 cost schools a whopping $3.56 billion. The sudden encryption of data on computer systems critical to an organization’s regular operations presents a major problem when...
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It seems these days that security researchers are sounding the alarm on malicious Androids apps in Google Play at an alarming rate. So it goes again with a fresh reporting highlighting over two dozen Android apps packaged with malware, and which have collectively been downloaded and installed 10 million times. Suffice...
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Malware spammers have been sending out emails that leverage a legitimate copy of the Windows Calculator app to sideload malware. This is yet another cunning ploy by cyber threat actors, however the victim would have to willingly go through several processes to fall prey to the QBot Banking Trojan scheme. Below, we...
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Ransomware attacks have been on the rise. This time around, the small Ontario, Canada town of St. Marys has been targeted. The ransomware organization behind the attack seems to be LockBit. So far though, no ransom has been paid. The town itself claims that most city functions are still operational and staff are still...
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It's that time again, time for the listing of apps that you might have downloaded that contain malware or methods in which to plant malware on your phone. Specifically for those who utilize Android and the Google Play Store these apps flew under the radar just long enough to wreak havoc on at least 300,000 devices. We...
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A hacker is attempting to sell what they claim is stolen source code and a database of more than 69 million user accounts from Neopets, a popular virtual pets website that launched all the way back in 1999. The official Neopets account on Twitter has posted a message saying it is investigating the data breach and...
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While malware and phishing are two different kinds of cyberattacks, threat actors sometimes use both methods in malicious campaigns. A threat actor known as Roaming Mantis appears to be doing exactly that in a new campaign documented by researchers at the cybersecurity firm SEKOIA. Roaming Mantis has previously...
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Near the end of 2020, Apple introduced a dedicated app privacy section to the App Store, requiring developers to disclose what user information is linked to users’ identities and used to track them. Then, in May of 2021, Google announced that a similar feature was in the works for its Play Store. Almost a year later...
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Ring, the smart home security company acquired by Amazon in 2018 for $1 billion, has a history of raising privacy concerns with its user data practices. Less than a year after Amazon completed its acquisition of Ring, an inside source revealed that the company’s employees had full access to customers’ live video...
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WordPress is one of the most popular and thus commonly used content management systems (CMS) on the web. However, it has a particular problem with add-on, extension, and plug-in authors abandoning their projects, and subsequently leaving gaping holes in site security. A case in point has been highlighted by the...
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We cover both ransomware and Elden Ring fairly regularly here at HotHardware, but it’s a sad day when those two things meet. The ransomware attacks that often receive the most coverage are those that disrupt major supply lines and infrastructure, raising national security concerns. However, ransomware gangs carry out...
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Time and again, we're reminded that even when installing Android apps directly from Google's Play Store, contracting a malware infection is still possible. It's still the safest route (versus venturing off elsewhere and/or sideloading), but still not foolproof. Case in point, a security researcher has sounded the...
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Phishing attacks employ various methods to trick users into handing over sensitive information, such as login credentials. Over time, as users have become more suspicious and email clients, web browsers, and IT departments have implemented anti-phishing measures, scammers have had to get creative and devise more...
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Dp you remember a few years ago when everyone panicked over a couple of security flaws known as Meltdown and Spectre? These were a new type of security hole altogether, known as speculative execution flaws because they exploit the so-named capability of modern processors. That was back in 2018, and since then, every...
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Earlier this year, we wrote about a vulnerability in Honda’s remote keyless entry (RKE) system that hackers could exploit to lock, unlock, and start certain Honda and Acura vehicles. This particular vulnerability was the result of Honda using fixed codes in its RKE system. Many Honda and Acura key fobs send the same...
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It's been three or four days since Microsoft rolled back the macro blocking update on "Current Channel" for Microsoft Office 365 users. Finally, we have a confirmed reason and some more information about the future of macros in Microsoft Office.
According to a recent post the reasoning for rolling back the change...
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Last year, a hacker who goes by the name “pompompurin” managed to breach a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) web portal and send out thousands of hoax emails from an official FBI email address. Just a couple weeks prior, pompompurin gained unauthorized access to the internal network of the stock trading app...
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Last week, we wrote about spyware that researchers gave the name “Hermit” and attributed to the Italian spyware vendor RCS Labs. Hermit falls within the same class of spyware as NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, which infected at least nine phones belonging to US State Department employees. This sort of spyware is usually...
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Secret Service Director James Murray has left his post in order to take over as the Chief Security Officer for Snap Inc. The 27-year veteran will serve his last day with the storied security service on July 30, 2022.
The Secret Service is the cream of the crop when it comes to security. It undertakes protecting the...
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In February security firms, researchers, infosec employees, antivirus, and malware organizations rejoiced. Why? Microsoft was finally disabling Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macros on Microsoft Office. However, the Redmond software giant just took a step back and reversed course on the change, but why?
What...
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Security researchers say they've uncovered a sneaky new malware strain that may go undetected by virtually all antivirus scanners on the market. While they have not tested each and every one of them in existence, they did upload the sample to VirusTotal and all 56 AV scanners on the site failed to detect a malicious...
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