Items tagged with security
There are some things you just should not do. Stick your tongue out and lick a metal pole during a freezing day in winter (or anytime, really), is one of them. Putting ketchup on eggs is another (oh you sick puppies!). But perhaps most of all, you should not use lax security practices, especially when in possession of...
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A security company called Armis is spilling the beans on a collection of eight different exploits that it is collectively calling BlueBorne. These exploits can allow a hacker access to your phone in seconds without having physical access to the device. Perhaps the scariest part of the exploit is that BlueBorne isn't...
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Equifax is still trying to dig its way out from under the bad press and an angry public after a hack of its database gave access to personal information on 143 million Americans. Equifax offered those affected by the security breach the ability to lock their credit reports to prevent the stolen information leaked in...
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It's not uncommon for us to write about security issues, but it's pretty rare when we write about one that's not going to be fixed, per the guilty party. In this case, that guilty party is Microsoft, and the bug is one that has been around ever since the launch of Windows 2000. Whether or not it's truly severe, we'll...
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Equifax was hacked surfaced and 143 million Americans have potentially had their personal information stolen. What many have been wondering is what exactly do the hackers plan to do with all that stolen data. A report making the rounds claims that the hackers want...
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If you thought putting Homer Simpson in charge of a nuclear power plant seemed like a scary proposition, well, you would be right. But sometimes truth is stranger (and in this case, scarier) than fiction. Such is the case with security outfit Symantec reporting that hackers have been targeting the energy sector in...
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There is a good chance that your Android device is insecure from the get-go. In examining smartphone bootloader firmware, security researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara found vulnerabilities in bootloader components from five major chipset vendors. In each case, these flaws break what is called...
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Because there clearly haven't been enough ISP router vulnerabilities popping up this past year, another one helps usher in the new month. This one is being dubbed "SharknAT&To" (because every vulnerability needs a catchy name!), a portmanteau involving the cult classic in-the-making, Sharknado, and leading internet...
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Instagram users have something to worry about after hackers breached the database of the social network and photo sharing websites. The hackers were able to gain access to the phone numbers and email addresses of six million Instagram account using a bug that Instagram CTO Mike Krieger has now confirmed...
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Andy Rubin, co-founder of Android and CEO of Essential, issued an apology after his smartphone company accidentally leaked out private data from dozens of customers to other customers. What happened was sort of akin to mass emailing a large group and forgetting to BCC everyone, leaving their email addresses in plain...
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Would you trust your life to a hacker? No, of course not, and neither does the US Food and Drug Administration. The FDA issued a recall of nearly half a million pacemakers after the organization discovered a vulnerability that makes several models susceptible to hacking. Once exploited, a hacker would be able to...
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A team of researchers from Positive Technologies have dug into the innards of Intel Management Engine (ME) 11 and have found a way to turn the feature off. If you aren't familiar with ME, it's a separate processor that is tucked away inside Intel CPUs that allows companies to manage the computers on their networks...
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We all know we should be changing our passwords on a frequent basis, at probably every quarter in general (and more or less often depending on the type of account and what information is accessible). It is easy to overlook, however, at least until something serves as a reminder. Well, let a recent leak hundreds of...
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It's been an unfortunately busy few weeks for Android vulnerabilities. Earlier in the month, we wrote about SonicSpy, a grandiose piece of malware that could gain an incredible amount of control over your device - including, of course, being able to record your audio. Just last week, we followed-up with another story...
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There is good money to be earned from being an software exterminator. Several companies have so-called bug bounty programs in place in which they pay out rewards for rooting out certain software flaws and vulnerabilities. DJI, a major player in consumer and professinal drones and aerial imaging technology, is the...
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The Internet of Things (IoT) sounded like a great idea at first glance when it first began picking up steam. However, the problem with giving every single gadget that we come in contact with access to the internet is that no one really thought much about security, leaving many these things vulnerable to viruses and...
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Just last weekend, we wrote about SonicSpy, a grossly robust piece of malware that infected hundreds of apps on the Play Store. Google is always quick to remove this awful junk when it is detected, but the fact that we keep talking about the issue means it's not going away.
It was security research firm Lookout...
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If there's one thing that's been made abundantly clear over the past couple of years, it's that if you dabble in cryptocurrency, you really need to do your homework and due diligence to make sure you don't wind up on the opposite end of an attack, or scam. Some Ethereum owners are learning this lesson the hard way...
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Antivirus maker Kaspersky Lab may have kissed and made up with Microsoft over a dispute in how Windows 10 handles third-party AV software, but even so companies are reportedly being warned not to use the security software. The warning comes from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), according to...
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Hacker group OurMine claims to have hacked the official PlayStation Twitter and Facebook pages Sunday night. The group took credit for the hack and posted several messages to the social media accounts, which have now all now been deleted.
Before the messages were deleted, they were copied for posterity...
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Yesterday, a video hit YouTube that could have been alarming to any Apple users anyone running an iPhone 7 or 7+, or even some iPhone 6 models. With a $500 device in hand, simple iPhone passcodes could be defeated quickly and easily, with the help of a brute force password-hacking tool. Many passcodes are just 4...
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It seems like more now than ever, the chance that you'll run into a situation where law enforcement wants to see what's on your phone isn't outside the realm of possibility. The problem in many jurisdictions is that law enforcement is allowed to force you to unlock your phone, something easily taken care of with a...
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