AtomBombing Attack Could Be Huge Threat To Windows PCs

November 12th, 2016

Researchers at a cyber security company called EnSilo have found a new vulnerability in Windows PCs, and it’s about as bad as it could possibly get.

The new attack vector does not exploit a bug in the code, but rather, the design of the OS itself, which uses Atom Tables to store data that’s being used frequently and shared by multiple applications.

Sad Day For Vine Video Users: Service To Shut Down

November 11th, 2016

Vine, one of the many properties owned by Twitter, is dead, after the company tried unsuccessfully to find a buyer for the struggling service.

If you’re a Vine regular, you’ve probably sensed the move coming for quite some time. As part of Twitter’s constellation of products, it was one service among many, and never really got the time or attention it deserved.

New Twitter Link Hack Calls 911 From Your Mobile Device

November 10th, 2016

There’s a new viral link making the rounds on Twitter that you should advise your staff to steer clear of. If you see a link that begins with “goo.gl,” don’t click it. If you do, not only will it crash your Twitter app if you’re on your smartphone, but after it does that, it will place a call to 911.

Worse, as soon as the first call ends, it will keep dialing back.

Cybercrime Has Affected 45% of Consumers: Are You Next?

November 9th, 2016

It has been widely reported that cybercrime is one of the fastest growing types of crime on the planet today, but new statistics published by MarkMonitor’s Online Fraud Barometer indicate that it’s a lot worse than previously imagined.

Close to half (45%) of all consumers have, at some point, fallen victim to cybercriminals.

New DSL Type May See Faster Speeds In Near Future

November 8th, 2016

If you’re a VDSL user, there’s good news on the horizon. Recently, Nokia has announced some amazing increases in its XG.fast speeds, achieving up to 5Gbps (about 625MB per second) over 70 meters of conventional copper telephone wire.

That’s huge, but it gets even better.

More Medical Devices Under Attack, Some PaceMakers May Be Vulnerable

November 7th, 2016

The Internet of Things has been getting a lot of bad press in recent weeks. Not long ago, an army of enslaved smart devices was used to bring much of the internet in the United States to its knees for several hours. A few weeks before that, an exploit in a “smart” insulin pump was demonstrated that could potentially allow a hacker to kill the patient relying on it by ordering an insulin injection when none was needed.

How Denial Of Service Attack Took Down Part Of The Internet

November 5th, 2016

You probably noticed that at various points during a day not long ago, you couldn’t get on the internet. If you could, a lot of the sites you’re used to visiting were simply unavailable for extended periods of time.

The reason you couldn’t get on the internet was because a company you’ve probably never heard of, called Dyn, came under a massive DDOS attack.

HIPAA Hits Hard, Health Company Receives 2 Million Dollar Fine

November 4th, 2016

Yet more evidence that the federal government’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is cracking down on HIPPA violations, the agency recently levied a hefty $2.14 million dollar fine against St. Joseph Health System for what it describes as an egregious breach of security.

Android Users Should Be Aware Of New Drammer Hack

November 3rd, 2016

The Linux exploit called Rowhammer is back in the news. This time, it’s targeting Android devices.

If you missed the news about Rowhammer, or need a refresher, the exploit basically works like this: if you can engineer a piece of malware that will consistently access the same row of memory on an installed chip, hammering at it, it will cause electricity to leak to the adjacent row of memory, which is expressed as a bit.

5G Ready In 2018, May Not Be Seen Until 2020

November 2nd, 2016

Qualcomm has made a bold announcement in advance of this year’s 4G/5G Summit in Hong Kong. Their newest offering, the X50, will ship in the second half of 2018, and is being billed as a 5G modem. It will feature download speeds of up to 5GBps where networks support them, and represents a big leap forward by any reckoning.