Cyber Security

As a result of the rash of hacking, ransomware and data breaches in recent years, information security professionals are in high demand. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be an 18% increase in information security analyst positions between 2014 and 2024. This expected growth far exceeds that of other occupations, even […]

According to a recent two-year study of hospitals and other organizations related to the healthcare industry, medical facilities on the whole are woefully unprepared to the threat of increasingly more sophisticated hackers. More specifically, their defense is focused almost exclusively on protecting patient records and is typically reactionary rather than proactive. What defenses that are […]

If you’ve been using two-factor authentication, you’re very used to online services sending you a code via text to verify changes to your account.  Hopefully you aren’t in love with that particular security measure, because it’s about to go the way of the dodo. The US National Institute for Standards and Technology says in the most […]

As our recent blog stated, almost 20,000 DNC emails were posted by WikiLeaks on Friday, and it was believed to have been compromised by Russian hackers. Details are coming to light, however, that the breach may not have been committed by just any Russian hackers, but by hackers commissioned by the Russian government in order to […]

What is the definition of irony? Writing an email that mocks a news report, questioning your cybersecurity, just two months before your system is hacked, and said email is mass-leaked to the media. Cue up the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Almost 20,000 emails from seven senior DNC staff members (sent between January of last year […]

Now that Lindsay Mills has reunited with her exiled boyfriend, Edward Snowden, in Russia, the NSA whistleblower blower seems to be content. But after his announcement yesterday, we can see that there might be one other little aspect of his life that he is missing from his pre-leaking days; something that would be missing from […]

You may have heard about the Locky strain of ransomware due to it being one of the most pervasive brands of malware. Its success rate is due in no small part to it being constantly updated and recently it got a new one: it can encrypt files when a computer is offline. Previously, Locky worked by […]

We all remember the dispute Apple and the FBI had over unlocking the phone of one of the shooters in the San Bernardino terrorist attack. Authorities have found a new way to get around all that using a new technique: 3D printing fingerprints. Michigan police recently approached professors at the University of Michigan to see […]

By now people should know not to jump on untrusted Wi-Fi networks, but unfortunately there are a lot of people who either still do it. In order to test this out, security researchers at Avast Software went to the Republican National Convention and set up a series of fake Wi-Fi networks. Despite opening themselves up […]

If you are an iPhone owner who felt smug last Summer after learning that Stagefright bugs were found to be silently spying on almost a billion Android devices, you may want to consider hiding that smile of yours before your Android brethren read this article… Tyler Bohan, a senior security researcher at Cisco Talos, released […]

ATTENTION: New Pokescams Exploiting Pokeman Go Gamers In case you were hiding out in the far reaches of Siberia or have been deep-sea fishing for crabs in Alaska, you have probably heard of the newest Pokémon craze sweeping the globe, called “Pokémon Go.” And in case you do not have children, or are not among […]

What happens when ransomware developers combine two already-aggressive viruses into one Mega Strain? Satana. Satana is the Italian word for Satan, and the title is apropos. It is a devastating two-step combination of malware-strain, Petya, and ransomware, Mischa. And though the two have a shared history, with Mischa playing backup in case Petya fails, it […]

Unfortunately for medical practices the transition and reliance on digital patient records have brought with it a new set of problems. Between hackers stealing patient data or holding it for ransom with ransomware and the increased chances of a HIPAA audit, smaller medical practices run the risk of being forced to close down. In 2011, […]

If your computer is supported by Windows Vista or any later version (including the most recent one, Windows 10), do not postpone your next Microsoft update. The software behemoth announced yesterday that its next monthly security update will include a patch for a “critical” flaw that, if exploited, would allow a hacker to take control […]

When Amazon didn’t take a hacker’s warnings of vulnerabilities seriously, he released the usernames ad passwords to over 80,000 of their users. The hacker, who goes by the handle ox2Taylor, claims to have beached one of the retailer’s servers. After attempting to contact Amazon to notify them and getting no response, he felt the best […]

Hackers are continuously looking for new ways to steal your personal data and sell it on the black market. Thanks to a group of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and Georgetown University have uncovered a new method of hijacking your phone simply by streaming videos with hidden voice commands. Everybody knows YouTube and […]

June saw the most patient data breaches for 2016 so far, with over 11 million patient accounts compromised, according to a new report.  Over ten million of them came from one single breach. Hackers are not the sole cause of all the data breaches, though they caused a significant portion at just over 40%.  The same […]

A new strain of ransomware has surfaced that is targeting hospitals. Being called “Crysis”, this new malware not only encrypts a hospital’s files, it then uploads that data to the hackers’ servers. As you can imagine, this has hospitals less concerned about if they should pay the ransom, but the HIPAA nightmare this creates. This […]

In the great schism that is the 2016 election year, bi-partisan participation may seem like a thing of the past, but believe it or not, it is not quite dead just yet. A letter sent by Congressmen Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Will Hurd (R-Texas) this week not only praised Deputy Director for Health Information Privacy […]

The biggest threat in the United States when it comes to property crime is identity theft. It surpasses all other property crimes combined with a total of over $10 billion dollars in losses. With that in mind here are five easy steps that will help you protect your identity. Use silly answers for security questions. […]