Cyber Security: Five New Year's resolutions for your computer

Your computer might be showing its age, be it slow boot-up times, sluggish performance, annoying freeze-ups and pop-up windows caused by malware ("malicious software"). This is especially frustrating for those who rely on their computer for work. Instead of buying a new computer, however, perhaps you can squeeze more life out of your aging PC or Mac. Click here to read about five New Year's resolutions for your computer.

Cyber Security: Computer security experts warn of cell phone hack attacks

Text messages from your phone company could mean a security problem for you. Those texts are apparently so easy to mimic that crooks could send you alerts that look like the real thing. Click on those links and the hacker could grab your login information, or fool you into divulging your credit card details. Read the article here.

Cyber Security: Hackers could infiltrate NSW traffic and sewage systems, Auditor-General Grant Hehir warns

Hackers could infiltrate Sydney's traffic light network and cause accidents or road chaos, an official investigation has found, raising serious doubts over the preparedness of the state's vital infrastructure to ward off cyber attacks. Click here to read the article.

Cyber Security: A Thief Named 'Mastermind' Hacked 20 Million Accounts On A Russian Dating Website

As if online dating wasn't sketchy enough, now you have to worry about hackers. About 20 million accounts on a Russia-based dating website called Topface were hacked, according to a report by Bloomberg. About 40% of the data came from European users. The thief who operated under the alias "Mastermind" then offered the accounts for sale on a website used by cyber criminals, which was detected by the fraud-detection software-maker, Easy Solutions Inc. Read more here.

Cyber Security: ‘Malvertising’ the latest threat to computer security

The recent barrage of stories about computer security attacks are enough to make you unplug your computer and go back to reading books and writing letters. Well, it turns out there’s another one consumers need to have on their radar. It’s called “malvertising,” and USA TODAY reports that it’s malicious software — what we call malware — hidden in online ads. Often, the advertiser doesn’t even know it’s there, much less you. But malvertising works differently than plain old malware. Click here to read more.

Cyber Security: Progressive Insurance snapshot dongle is hackable

Jalopnik reported Jan. 20, 2015 that an independent security researcher has confirmed the security vulnerabilities that lie within the OBDII dongle that Progressive Insurance provides more than 2 million customers. Simply put, there is no security encryption coded into the devices between the OBDII port, your car's CAN bus system and Progressive Insurance's servers to the devices. According to Corey Thuen of Digital Bonds Labs, any enterprising entry level hacker can potentially access the same information that Progressive sees seriously compromising whatever information is being shared between you and your insurer. Read the article here.

Cyber Security: UK and US spies to carry out fake hacking attacks on banks, airlines and nuclear plants

Britain and the US are to set up a joint ‘cyber squad’ to carry out fake hacking attacks on banks, aircraft and nuclear power plants. In talks at the White House, David Cameron and Barack Obama are set to agree an unprecedented level of co-operation, with a team of agents to help safeguard both countries. A report from British spy chiefs to be published today says four in every five big firms in the UK last year experienced some sort of serious cyber security breach. Click here to read the article.

 

 

 

 

Cyber Security: Website of Georgian state minister's apparatus subjected to cyber attack

The website of the apparatus of Georgian state minister for diaspora affairs, diaspora.gov.ge that was subjected to cyber attack on Jan.18, still doesn't work. Click here for the article.

Cyber Security: Threat of Cyber Attacks Must Be Priority for Corporate Boards

The threat of cyber attacks must be taken more seriously by corporate boards at Britain's largest companies, according to a survey by KPMG LLP today. Less than 40 percent of board members in the FTSE 350 Index companies said they viewed cyber attacks as a more serious risk than other potential pitfalls, the survey said. Read the article here.

Cyber Security: Human element remains weakest link in data security

User error, and lazy humans, are the biggest weakness in most businesses' data security systems, according to a local expert. Read more here.

Cyber Security: UK National Grid under constant cyber attack

Conservative MP James Arbuthnot chaired the Defense Select Committee up until last year and said that the National Grid is facing cyber-attacks every minute. He plans to visit the National grid next month to discuss the issue. "Our National Grid is coming under cyber attack not just day-by-day but minute-by-minute,” said Arbuthnot at a London conference last year, with his comments first reported by Bloomberg. “There are, at National Grid, people of very high quality who recognize the risks that these attacks pose, and who are fighting them off…but we can't expect them to win forever.” Click here to read more.

 

 

Cyber Security: AOL Ad Network Hit with Malvertising

Cybercriminals have targeted one of the largest digital networks to kick off the year: AOL's Advertising.com. Hackers hijacked ads on the network and served up drive-by malware downloads to the Huffington Post, GameZone, LA Weekly and several other sites last week, according to Cyphort, an advanced malware defense firm. Read the full story here.

Cyber Security: Tampa #1 in nation for computer hacker attacks

Tampa is number one in the nation, but not for the reason you might hope. A new study from EnigmaSoftware.com finds this region is the single-most hacked spot in the country when it comes to people's personal computers. Click here to read the article.

Cyber Security: Retail cyber attacks drop by half despite rising data theft

A report released Monday from IBM security researchers suggests that, overall, cyber attacks against retailers are on the decline, even though the total amount of data compromised continues to steadily rise. Read the article here.

Cyber Security: ID theft, IRA risks, stock scams in 2015

The new year will bring a host of financial threats. Consumers should know what to do following data breaches and be aware of IRA-rollover penalties and topical stock-scam alerts. Click here to read more.

Cyber Security: Banks, oil & gas, governments most vulnerable to cyber-attacks, Cisco says

Banks and other financial institutions, oil and gas firms as well as governments in Nigeria have been identified as the most vulnerable to cyber attacks by a Cisco report released yesterday. These sectors were among the global list of industries susceptible industries to cyber security across the globe according to the Cisco 2014 Security Report. Read the article here.

Cyber Security: 2015 cyber risk and data protection predictions

Businesses in 2015 are expected to experience increasing challenges as they struggle to contend with the burgeoning threat of complex cybercrime. EY analysis has outlined some of the key areas that cyber risks threaten to impact in the coming year, including the difficulties in the insurance sector of underwriting cyber risk, the raft of regulation coming out of both the EU and the UK, the importance of integrated risk functions in firms, and the cyber risk of supply chains moving to the cloud. Click here to read more.

Cyber Security: Gov't beefs up cyber-security after website attacks

The Government of Jamaica (GOJ) says it is implementing a raft of measures to address the issue of cyber security, following an attack on more than 10 government websites three weeks ago. “Upon becoming aware of the attacks, the ministry immediately moved to implement several measures to safeguard against further attacks,” Minister of State in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Julian Robinson said. Read more here.

Cyber Security: Payment Card Gateway Firm Hacked

The latest retail breach is not a retailer, per se, but it's in the ballpark. Charge Anywhere, a company that provides electronic payment gateway solutions to retailers and other merchants, is reporting that criminals infiltrated its system five years ago, putting unencrypted payment card of payment card data it holds is an absolute priority and has apologized for the incident, it seems breaching the data was also the cybercriminal's priority -- and the criminal won the security match. Read the article here.

Cyber Security: Holding masses of data, cybercriminals face new hurdles to cashing out

After Sony Pictures Entertainment's computer network was breached in late November, it appeared the hackers wanted to blackmail the company. Apparently Sony Pictures didn’t give the hackers what they wanted, and gigabytes of data were posted online, including a spreadsheet of all of the company’s employees and their salaries. Though the Sony hackers apparently did not get what they wanted, data clearly has a value. But determining its value depends on a variety of factors. And it’s not as easy as it used to be to cash out. Read more here.