Computer Safety & News

Communications and social media application plug-ins may create greatest risk of privacy and security according to excellent study performed by Marble Labs during Q1 2014. http://www.marblesecurity.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Marble-Mobile-App-Threat-Report-March_2014_0317.pdf http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/none/321703-the-10-riskiest-mobile-app-types QUOTE: Communication apps topped the list; over ten percent of them got tagged as risky. Social media apps came next, around nine percent risky. Somewhat to my surprise, […]

A Fake TOR Browser touted to improve security is circulating to Apple users.  As article reflects it will infect vulnerable systems with adware and other malicious agents. http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/apple-ios-iphone-ipad-ipod/321803-fake-tor-browser-app-for-ios-full-of-adware-spyware QUOTE: Concerned about online tracking and eavesdropping? Considering TOR? If so, don’t download the iOS app for the Tor Browser from Apple’s App Store. It appears the Tor […]

New Chinese AV Vendor QIHoo, Kaspersky, and Bitdefender recorded perfect scores in latest tests for Windows 7 64 bit O/S as noted in review AV-TEST review. http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/security-software/321857-chinese-antivirus-qihoo-360-earns-top-score-in-independent-test http://www.av-test.org/en/tests/home-user/windows-7/janfeb-2014/ QUOTE: Chinese Antivirus Qihoo 360 Earns Top Score in Independent Test. Last time around, Qihoo earned 5.5 points in each category, for a total of 16.5. This […]

An interesting article notes that hotels may only retain lost items for short period of time and dispose of electronic items in a variety of ways http://blog.winmagic.com/2014/03/26/with-lost-laptops-its-finders-keepers/ http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/laptops/321933-hotels-play-finders-keepers-with-lost-smartphones-and-laptops QUOTE: We’re all human, and humans forget things. And as previously discussed on this bog, laptops are commonly lost. And while one cannot really blame hotels for […]

PC Magazine shares excellent security awareness that static identifiers like SSN or birthdates can never change and must be protected from criminals. http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/identity/321982-change-your-password-fine-change-your-ssn-oh-dear QUOTE: When an online shopping site suffers a data breach, you’ll get a warning to change your password. If your bank is hacked, they’ll send you a new credit card. The real […]

Trend Labs warns of this new threat which uses PowerShell scripts to infect Word and Excel documents http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/word-and-excel-files-infected-using-windows-powershell/ QUOTE: Malware targeting Word and Excel files has been around for some time, but we recently encountered a new malware family, CRIGENT (also known as “Power Worm”) which brings several new techniques to the table. (We detect […]

During mid-March, Adobe released an important update for Flasher player http://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/adobe-flash-player-12-0-0-77-released-for-mac-and-windows/ QUOTE: Adobe Flash Player 12.0.0.77, released for Mac and Windows, is now available for download. Adobe has also released Adobe Flash Player 11.2.202.346 for Linux. These updates address two vulnerabilities, which, if exploited would allow malicious native-code to execute, potentially without a user being […]

PC Magazine reviews Malwarebytes version 2.0, which is excellent tool with improved user interface, built-in rootkit detection, and thorough malware scanning capabilities. http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/security-software/322084-malwarebytes-2-0-still-tough-on-malware-now-with-a-pretty-face FULL REVIEW – Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 2.0  (Editor’s Choice – free product) http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2455505,00.asp QUOTE: After ten years of version 1.x, Malwarebytes has finally released version 2.0. The powerful malware-fighting tools are all still […]

The SEC recently stopped a financial scam where Facebook and other sites were utilized http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/03/05/sec-pyramid-facebook-twitter/6089055/ QUOTE: The Securities and Exchange Commission took emergency action against an alleged fraudulent pyramid scheme promoted on Facebook and Twitter. A federal court gave the SEC a court order to freeze the accounts held by Fleet Mutual Wealth and MWF […]

Facebook has introduced new software to improve facial recognition http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/18/facebook-deepface-facial-recognition_n_4985925.html http://facecrooks.com/Internet-Safety-Privacy/Facebook-Announces-%e2%80%9cDeepFace%e2%80%9d-Photo-Matching-Technology.html/ QUOTE: Facebook owns the world’s largest photo library, and it now has the technology to match almost all the faces within it.   Facebook announced last week that it has developed a program called “DeepFace,” which researchers say can determine whether two photographed faces are […]