Firefox To Start Showing Ads On Tab Page

May 22nd, 2018

Before Google released its Chrome browser, Firefox felt pretty good about their arrangement.  They got a handsome reward in exchange for making Google.com their default search engine.  It was a win-win.

These days though, Firefox's position is a bit more precious.

Having Chrome Issues Since The Latest Windows 10 Update?

May 21st, 2018

Microsoft has been having some "issues" of late.  It's April Windows 10 rollout had to be delayed on account of some mysterious BSOD ("Blue Screen of Death") issues. This month's rollout is plagued by similar problems, trading the BSOD issues for problems with both "Hey Cortana" and Google's Chrome browser.

Healthcare Sector Facing Rise In Ransomware Attacks

May 18th, 2018

The Department of Health and Human services has issued a warning to healthcare providers to be on high alert for the SamSam strain of ransomware, which has been used to attack eight different health care entities so far this year.

SamSam made its first appearance in 2016 and is seeing increasingly widespread use so far this year.

All Twitter Passwords Exposed, Change Your Password Now

May 17th, 2018

Twitter shot itself in the foot recently but is working hard to get out in front of the problem.  According to a recent blog post, the company experienced an issue with its hashing routine - a process which masks user passwords, making them virtually impossible to crack.

T-Mobile And Sprint To Merge Companies

May 15th, 2018

The on-again, off-again talks about a merger between T-Mobile and Sprint is definitely back on, with T-Mobile planning to buy Sprint for a staggering $26 billion.

The deal has been in the works since before Trump was elected President. It died quietly when it became clear that the Obama administration would not allow the deal to go forward, due to concerns that it would leave the US with only three telecom providers, which could harm consumers.

Some VW and Audi Cars May Be Hacked Through WiFi

May 14th, 2018

Thanks to researchers Daan Keuper and Thijs Alkemade (who work at the Dutch cyber-security firm Computest), newly produced Golf GTE and Audi A3 vehicles are a little bit safer, and a lot less vulnerable to remote hacks.

The duo found that by taking advantage of these vehicles' WiFi connection, they could access the cars' IVI, (in-vehicle infotainment system) and from there, gain access to other systems as well.

Use Caution Traveling, Hackers Now Have Keys To Hotel Rooms

May 12th, 2018

Score one for the good guys, but with hesitation. Unfortunately, in today's fast-moving digital world, even a victory doesn't mean the end of a problem.

Recently, a pair of researchers (Tomi Tuominen and Timo Hirvonen of F-Secure) released information about a new hack they had discovered.

Apple Will Officially No Longer Sell Routers

May 11th, 2018

After more than two decades in the business, Apple is officially going to stop selling routers.  The writing has been on the wall for a while now, since the company's "AirPort" family of products hasn't received a significant update in more than five years.

Hackers Can Use PDF Files To Access Windows Credentials

May 10th, 2018

Security researcher Assaf Baharav from Check Point Security has discovered a new twist on an old, fairly well-known attack.  He was able to essentially "weaponize" PDFs to steal Windows credentials stored in NTLM hashes.  Unfortunately, no action other than simply opening the PDF is required for the hacker to gain access to the information.

WiFi Sync on iOS Vulnerable To TrustJacking

May 9th, 2018

Owners of Apple devices have a new attack vector to worry about, called "TrustJacking."  Symantec researchers recently stumbled across a pair of scenarios that take advantage of Wi-Fi syncing of various Apple devices. These are scenarios that also take advantage of the trust users have in the security of their own devices, allowing hackers to take complete control over those devices.