Computer Safety & News

Some warnings are circulating for fraudulent scams, malicious websites, email attachments and other attacks that can be disguised & taken advantage of if Hurricane Dorian impacts are experienced.  Well established charities like Red Cross or Salvation Army are often safer for example than a special new charity just established.   https://www.wtsp.com/article/weather/tropics/charitable-scam-warning-tips-hurricane-tropical-storm/67-ec07ceff-2b15-4d5d-a254-4efbd9e1b6aa There are some important […]

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3433926/hands-on-with-the-next-microsoft-edge-microsofts-revamped-chromium-based-browser.html Microsoft’s fusion of the Chromium browser and the traditional Microsoft Edge is worth trying out, though the current beta version is a bit heavier than the traditional Edge.  Last week, Microsoft announced a stable beta channel for what it’s calling the next version of Microsoft Edge. Microsoft’s Edge browser will now be designed around Chromium, the open-source […]

https://www.eweek.com/enterprise-apps/how-to-create-a-microsoft-teams-structure A Microsoft Teams structure allows organizations to create containers for work. Those work containers can be as arbitrary as an organization allows.   Controlling the architecture of a Teams implementation falls to policy and practice rather than technology. Ahead of a Teams implementation, organizations should plan in parallel for how people will use Teams

Malicious websites are hosting special iPhone exploits designed to steal private data such as iMessages, photos and GPS location in real-time — just by visiting the website itself. https://www.foxnews.com/tech/iphone-hack-attack-monitoring-implants-iphones https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2019/08/a-very-deep-dive-into-ios-exploit.html Ian Beer, of Google’s security research team Project Zero, said in a blog post on Thursday that hackers exploited iPhone vulnerabilities to surreptitiously place the implant on […]

Some excellent advanced tips for EXCEL — as date & time analysis is frequent for both IT & business needs   Dates and Times in Excel  

CISA has designated September 2019 as National Preparedness Month.  NPM 2019 will promote disaster & emergency planning. This year’s theme is “Prepared, Not Scared.” https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2019/08/28/september-national-preparedness-month-be-prepared-not-scared Learn more about National Preparedness Month at Ready.gov/September and see Ready.gov/Cybersecurity and the following CISA Tips Protecting Against Ransomware Preventing and Responding to Identity Theft Handling Destructive Malware Protecting Against Malicious Code

https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2019/08/27/apple-releases-multiple-security-updates Apple has released security updates to address vulnerabilities in multiple products. A remote attacker could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) encourages users and administrators to review the Apple security pages for the following products and apply the necessary updates: watchOS […]

These are excellent security precautions to avoid romance scams which are one of most popular fraudulent activities on Internet https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2019/08/27/protect-against-romance-scams QUOTE:  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released a short video to help users spot and defend against romance scams. In this type of fraud, cyber criminals gain the confidence of their victims and trick them […]

An important vulnerability has been patched for Google Chrome v76 & this should be promptly patched in case future exploits are developed https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2019/08/27/google-releases-security-updates-chrome https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2019/08/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_26.html Google has released Chrome version 76.0.3809.132 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This version addresses a vulnerability that an attacker could exploit to take control of an affected system.  The Cybersecurity and […]

VMware has just purchased Pivotal (a cloud development firm) and Carbon Black (a security provider offering both cloud & network defense tools) https://www.networkworld.com/article/3433916/vmware-spends-48b-to-grab-pivotal-carbon-black-to-secure-develop-integrated-cloud-world.html All things cloud are major topics of conversation at the VMworld user conference next week, ratcheted up a notch by VMware’s $4.8 billion plans to acquire cloud development firm Pivotal and security […]