Computer Safety & News

Several protective practices are shared as follows: http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/security/310959-how-to-protect-your-group-twitter-account   QUOTE: Several Twitter accounts belonging to the United Kingdom’s Guardian were hit by the Syrian Electronic Army over the weekend, and last week, Associated Press, CBS News, and BBC were also hacked. SEA threatened to keep up its attacks because Twitter keeps suspending its account. Several […]

Initially, saw this as a POC against simulation software and certainly a wakeup call to promote safety.  However, Hugo’s comments are worth noting below … He noted software exploits and vulnerabilities, that with the right delivery system that could be potentially manipulated.   While there are limitations on what can be accomplished, there are many mitigating controls that […]

Intego security notes benefits of outbound protection where malware attempts to connect to the Internet from an infected computer.  By definition, all firewalls offer in-bound protection, and there are additional benefits in detecting and preventing malware from phoning home  http://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/whats-the-difference-between-incoming-and-outgoing-firewall-protection/ QUOTE: The other day, we mentioned that the OS X application firewall provides only inbound protection. […]

While there was some initial misreporting, Commercial airlines contain special hardware and software that would prevent a situation as described in article.  With that said, everyone must constantly plan security appropriately in airlines, power plants, automobiles, or other things which could be potentially manipulated from the outside  http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/13/faa_debunks_android_hijack_claim/ QUOTE: Aviation officials have taken a skeptical […]

Lookout Mobile security warns of a major new Android malware family called “Bad News” that uses highly advanced techniques to spread and manipulate infected smartphones https://blog.lookout.com/blog/2013/04/19/the-bearer-of-badnews-malware-google-play/ QUOTE: Lookout has discovered BadNews, a new malware family, in 32 apps across four different developer accounts in Google Play. According to Google Play statistics, the combined affected applications […]

Facecrooks security notes a newer version of this hoax was found to be circulating  http://facecrooks.com/Scam-Watch/Hoax-Claims-Facebook-is-Shutting-Down-on-May-15.html QUOTE: The same rumors and hoaxes tend to circulate on Facebook time and again. There’s the classic viral message claiming that Facebook is going to begin charging users to access the site, and another popular rumor asserting that if you […]

Google has made some beneficial recent changes as noted below: http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/04/28/google-tightens-up-play-store-policy-officially-bans-off-market-updates/ QUOTE: Google has made a number of changes to its Android Play Store ecosystem recently. Part of the reason is that Mountain View has been copping lots of flak for the prevalence of malware in unofficial application markets, often in pirated apps. That’s a […]

An interesting article describing risks in using personally owned mobile phones for business use http://redtape.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/23/17864332-use-your-personal-smartphone-for-work-email-your-company-might-take-it QUOTE: If you use your personal smartphone or tablet to read work email, your company may have to seize the device some day, and you may not get it back for months. Employees armed with a battery of smartphones and […]

Ransomware is a malicious attack that puts a lock on a user’s PC, where they cannot easily proceed without paying the charge or removing the malware.  A new fake version appears to come from FBI and even has capability to activate a user’s webcam.  Infected users should never pay this fee and they should seek […]

The ISC is capturing social engineering attacks and have close to 200 incidents documented https://isc.sans.edu/diary/Report+Fake+Tech+Support+Calls+submission+form+reminder/15704 https://isc.sans.edu/reportfakecall.html QUOTE: We are trying to better understand how common “Fake Tech Support” calls are, and what they are trying to achieve. If you received a call that claims to provide tech support, or another service, only to extract information […]