Items tagged with security
IT admins would do well to prepare themselves for a rather large collection of security updates that Oracle is planning to release this Thursday. The updates are supposed to fix precisely 113 security vulnerabilities that a apply to hundreds of versions of the company's products, including Database, Fusion Middleware...
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China made headlines the world over yesterday when its state media declared that Apple's beloved iPhone poses a threat to national security. With such a grand accusation, we knew that it wouldn't take long for Apple to speak up, and despite it being the weekend, the company issued a statement today. The Cupertino...
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We've been around the block enough times to know that outside of setting a storage medium on fire or some other equally extreme measure, all data is recoverable, it's just matter of time, money, and overall desire. However, it was still sobering to find out exactly how much data security firm Avast was able to recover...
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When NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden came forth last year with the US government's spying secrets, it didn't take long to realize that some of the information revealed could bring on some serious repercussions - not just for the US government, but also for US-based companies. The latest to feel the hit? None other than Apple, and in a region...
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It's standard practice to factory restore an Android device before flipping it on eBay or Craigslist, but the amount of recoverable data you leave behind might shock you. Those nude selfies that were only intended for your special friend? They're on there, and so is a wealth of other personal information that security...
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So it’s not just us then. While we seethe over NSA spying allegations here in the U.S., ISPs across the pond who believe they were spied upon by the UK’s intelligence agency GCHQ in the wake of Edward Snowden’s leaks are taking action. According to BBC News, seven Internet providers, in conjunction...
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Ever since Edward Snowden leaked details on how the government had forced various IT companies to disclose information (or secured their willing cooperation), companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft have been desperate to regain their users' trust. Six months ago, Microsoft announced that it would reengineer...
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A group of Russian hackers known collectively as either "Energetic Bear" or "Dragonfly" is mounting sabotage operations against a number of power and oil companies primarily located in the U.S. and throughout parts of Europe. Among the group's targets are energy grid operators, major electricity generation firms...
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IT admins take notice, you will no longer receive email notifications from Microsoft announcing Patch Tuesday security bulletins. This includes security bulletin advance notifications and summaries, as well as new security advisories and bulletins and major or minor revisions to security advisories and bulletins...
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Talk about an unpleasant conversation -- officials from Montana have begun alerting approximately 1.3 million people that their personal information may have been compromised by a data breach. At present, there's no evidence that any information was stolen, however it has been confirmed that hackers infiltrated a...
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Flappy Bird developer Dong Nguyen has promised to bring his popular game back to app stores in August complete with a multiplayer component next time around, but if that isn't incentive enough to wait for the real deal, perhaps the risk of malware infection will push you to patience. According to the latest Threats...
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When the OpenSSL vulnerability Heartbleed broke cover in April, it felt like it was the only thing that mattered for an entire week. Like many news outlets, we reported on the bug from a number of different angles, and it was all for good reason: It's a severe bug, and one that the world needs to know about. Given all...
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Following Google’s initial foray into the connected home front with the acquisition of Nest is an acquisition of Dropcam, a startup that makes a cloud-based WiFi video monitoring service. Rumors had emerged a few weeks ago that this was happening, but now the deal is going through for $555 million. According to...
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Even when the government conducts secret activities, those ventures have to be funded, and a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives last night took a swipe at the NSA’s domestic spying practices by cutting some of its funding. According to Ars Technica, Representatives James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Zoe Lofgren...
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Apple introduced a kill switch to its iPhones last autumn, and it appears that the new security measure is actually curtailing theft. Eric Schneiderman, New York’s attorney general, and George Gascón, San Francisco’s DA, both believe that kill switch technology has led to fewer robberies involving...
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Security breaches that expose sensitive customer data are becoming uncomfortably common these days. The newest firm to fess up to falling prey to a hacker attack is AT&T, which has begun sending letters out to customers letting them know about a breach that occurred between April 9 and April 21 of this year...
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Privacy has become an incredibly hot topic in the tech world as cloud computing and online services of many kinds proliferate rapidly while concerns of snooping by the U.S. government escalate. To engender some good faith from its throngs of customers, Microsoft has revamped its service agreements to enact more...
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Facebook rolled out a new mobile feature that uses your device’s microphone to “hear” a song you’re listening to or a TV show you’re watching so you can append that item to a status post. Predictably, a lot of people believe that this is a feature designed for snooping and are not happy...
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Our innocence lost, we now know that the National Security Agency (NSA) effectively strong arms technology companies far and wide into dishing out our personal information. It's a bum rap, and it may make you think twice about firing off that email to a friend or family member criticizing one of the government's...
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It's time to say 'goodbye' to TrueCrypt, the popular open-source full disk encryption software, which was abruptly shut down earlier this week by the anonymous developers who built the program. According to a message on TrueCrypt's website, the software is no longer secure and may contain unfixed security issues. "The...
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The takeaway from a new survey is short and alarming: Hackers are winning the war. In a survey co-sponsored by PwC, the U.S. Secret Service, the CERT Division of Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute, and CSO security news magazine, it was found that cybercriminals are more relentless than ever...
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Australian authorities are advising Apple device owners who have iCloud accounts to change their passwords due to a recent hacking/hijacking outbreak, and now it appears to be spreading to the U.S. as well. The attacks involve a hacker logging into an iCloud account and using the lost device feature to lock users out...
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