If ever there were two phrases that didn't seem to go together, they would probably be "Fitness trackers" and "National Security Risk."  The very idea that a simple fitness tracker could pose such a risk seems laughable on the surface, but this is no laughing matter.

Google recently released their Play Store stats for 2017.  The results are both encouraging and disheartening.  Overall, Google caught and removed more than 700,000 malicious apps from the Play Store, minimizing their impact on the company's massive Android user base.

Recently, Apple found itself in hot water with its normally adoring user base. This happened when it became known that the company was intentionally throttling (slowing down) the speed of older iPhones.

The company's intentions were good.  They clearly meant well.

Another day, another high-profile ransomware attack.  This time, the victim was Allscripts, an EHR (Electronic Health Record) company that hospitals, pharmacies, and ambulatory centers around the country rely on.

The company's data was thought to be safe on the cloud, but that proved not to be the case.

Recently a critical flaw was found inside every Intel chip made during the last decade.  The flaw makes two different exploits possible.  These exploits have been dubbed "Meltdown" and "Spectre."

The flaws are incredibly severe, and make it possible for a hacker to gain complete, unfettered access to the targeted PC or laptop.

All companies collect data on their customers, but some are better than others when it comes to being upfront about what kinds of data are collected.  Over the past year, Microsoft has made many moves that have been well-received by their enormous user base.

Do you play Blizzard online computer games such as World of Warcraft, Diablo III, Hearthstone, Starcraft II, or Overwatch?  If so, there's a potential problem you need to be aware of.

Tavis Ormandy, a researcher on Google's Project Zero team, recently discovered that the Blizzard Update Agent is vulnerable to hacking, via a technique known as "DNS Rebinding.

By now, we've seen enough large-scale Point of Sale (POS) credit card thefts that patterns are beginning to emerge.  Some companies follow the general arc of the narrative better than others, and deserve credit for doing so, but in the end, the story is about the same.

It's official, the first macOS malware of 2018 is here.  Discovered by an independent security researcher and dubbed "OSX/MaMi," the code is functionally similar to DNSChanger malware.

The researcher posted his findings on the Malwarebytes forum and none other than Patrick Wardle (an ex-NSA hacker) analyzed it, having this to say:

"OSX/MaMi isn't particularly advanced - but does alter infected systems in rather nasty and persistent ways.

The ThreatMetrix Cybercrime Report 2017 is out, and is a troubling read for anyone who has anything to do with data security.  As a fraud prevention company protecting nearly a billion and a half users around the world, they're uniquely positioned to know, and their insights on the threat landscape is invaluable.