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Your First Aid to Cyber Extortion

Cyber extortion, contrary to some misconceptions, isn’t new. The fact is it's a top IT security concern that's been targeting susceptible enterprises for over four decades now. Here's some background information. Bank of America was the first to be on the receiving end of the threat in 1971. Since then, it has become a thriving business for...
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Get Verified Through a Promoted Tweet? Nope. It's a Scam!

A Promoted Tweet claims it can help Twitter users get their accounts verified, but in reality, it's just a scam. Promoted Tweets are a way by which Twitter users can pay for a Tweet to reach a wide audience and generate engagement with their current followers. As such, they are an excellent tool for anyone looking to advertise something....
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Unmasking The Spooky LinkedIn Stalker

Remember when you were a kid on Halloween? You were so excited to trick-or-treat that you couldn’t even finish your dinner. With your Halloween costume on, you were ready to go out with your friends and get all the candy you could. Think about the advice you likely heard from your parents before leaving the house. Perhaps it was something like “only...
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DDoS and IoT - A ‘Perfect’ Storm

A perfect storm is definitely brewing. Severe and hazardous internet weather warnings have been out there for some time now, and last week’s DDoS downpour on Dyn, along with the escalating events leading up to it, may prove to be a mere shower compared to what is yet to come. Let’s start by considering another type of forecast, that of the projected...
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ISPs Will Need Customers' Permission to Sell Data Under New FCC Rules

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has adopted new rules that will require Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to obtain customers' permission before they sell their data for marketing purposes. On 27 October, the Commission's Democratic majority secured the passage of the rules with a 3-2 vote, with Republicans opposing adoption. Chairman Tom...
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AppUNBlocker: Bypassing AppLocker

Windows AppLocker is a powerful whitelisting technology built into modern Windows operating systems. It provides the ability to lock down installers, scripts and executables on the local machine via either a white list or a black list of file data. For many organizations, this is a great technology to reduce the attack surface of the endpoint by...
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Evolving Connectivity: Understanding the Benefits and Risks of IoT

We at The State of Security have explored all the ways people can strengthen their security online in acknowledgement of National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) 2016. We kicked off the public awareness campaign by providing tips on how users can protect their passwords, as well as defend against ransomware and other common IT security...
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How to fight macro malware in Office 2016 and 2013

Macro malware arrived with a bang 21 years ago, and it's still causing problems. Concept, the first ever virus to spread by infecting Microsoft Office files, turned the anti-virus world on its head overnight when it was shipped by Microsoft on a CD ROM in August 1995. Up until then the main thing computer users had to worry about was malware hiding...
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100,000 Bots Infected with Mirai Malware Behind Dyn DDoS Attack

Dyn has stated that approximately 100,000 bots infected with Mirai malware helped launch a large distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against its domain name system (DNS) infrastructure. Scott Hilton, EVP of product at the internet performance management company, said in a statement on 26 October that the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS)...
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The Health of Healthcare’s Cyber Security

The current diagnosis for healthcare cyber security is frightening. Here's our current assessment: One in three healthcare records were compromised in 2015 (IBM 2016). Healthcare is the number one industry when it comes to its records being breached (IBM 2016). Ransomware is on the rise, with 88 percent of attacks occurring in healthcare ...
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Tech Savviness Does Little for Americans' Security Aptitude, Finds Survey

There's no better time than autumn to raise user awareness about how to stay safe online. It's a time of year when children return to school and information security students take the next step towards launching their career. We also can't forget that October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) in the United States and European Cyber...
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The .Thor Variant of Locky Virus

The newest variant of Locky ransomware has begun to add yet another file extension to the files it encrypts, and it is the .thor file extension. The virus drops a _WHAT_is.html and the same named .bmp type of file after an infection has been caused. The ransomware also creates several other files, such as a malicious .dll file that causes the...
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Protecting Your Privacy Doesn't Have to be Complicated

We’ve all been warned – no matter what we do online, somebody is out there watching. It might be to gather information for marketing purposes. The exposure of personal information to the wrong party, however, is a real concern. All of our emails, photos, passwords, addresses, credit card numbers, and social media messages are out there for someone...
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New MAC OS and iOS Changes Might Frustrate VPN Users

It’s been weeks since Apple released its new operating systems, iOS 10 and mac OS Sierra. The new updates brought security patches, features and upgrades. Siri assistant has finally arrived on desktops, and an exciting universal clipboard allows you to select photos from an iPhone device and paste them directly on the desktop. However, with these...
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The .Shit File Virus Ransomware Is No Joke

Well, this didn’t take long – after .Odin, and .Zepto before it, the latest successor to the Locky Ransomware line is here. It has been rather “playfully” named .Shit File Virus by its creators. Apart from the name, there’s nothing to laugh at concerning this newest Ransomware threat. A rather significant drop in malware activity in the last few...
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iOS, Android Apps Found Leaking User Privacy Data, Researchers Say

Security researchers are warning of a rise in mobile apps leaking user privacy data, including device metadata, location and personally identifiable information (PII). In a new report analyzing mobile privacy trends, researchers at Zscaler revealed both Android and iOS users could be left vulnerable to targeted denial-of-service attacks, phishing...
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Women in Information Security: Tiberius Hefflin

Information security is the fastest growing area of IT. It affects more people in more ways than ever before. It affects not only our public records, our utilities, our white-collar work, and our entertainment. Now that we carry small computers in our pockets and in our cars, talk of the Internet of Things (IoT) is also starting to become reality....