SecurityWe know that an unsecured Internet of Things (IoT) thing like a light bulb or a web-connected picture frame can become part of a botnet or a dedicated denial of service attack. But how does that happen? That’s the topic of today’s show.
September 13, 2017 • 17 min read
SecurityMughthesec is adware.
MacScan can detect and remove Mughthesec Adware from your system, as well as provide protection against other security and privacy threats. A 30-day trial is available to scan your system for this threat.
September 1, 2017 • 1 min read
SecurityPwnet is a trojan horse that comes disguised as a hack for the videogame Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Once installed, it can mine cryptocurrency and send it to the malware author.
MacScan can detect and remove Pwnet Trojan Horse from your system, as well as provide protection against other security and privacy threats. A 30-day trial is available to scan your system for this threat.
September 1, 2017 • 1 min read
SecurityWith malicious networks using tens of millions of computers and devices to serve up spam, run denial of service attacks, and more, botnets are a threat we can’t ignore.
August 31, 2017 • 18 min read
SecurityCheating in online video games is nothing new — it’s been an almost permanent fixture of the scene for years. Despite consistent anti-cheat efforts, new hacks continue to crop up for popular games all the time. It’s an arms race, much in the same way security researchers and malware authors battle against each other on a regular basis. Dabbling in these hacks has always been risky business; after all, how can you trust the author to provide the cheat you want, without some nasty extras packaged inside?
The reality …
August 30, 2017 • 3 min read
SecurityToday, we are looking at five of the biggest data breaches and most notable hacks in history. Who got hit? What data was stolen? How did they happen?
August 24, 2017 • 18 min read
Security
SecurityOn today’s episode, we’re looking at the way technological change has affected modern medicine, threats the healthcare industry faces, and what we can do to protect patient safety now and in the future.
August 17, 2017 • 18 min read
SecurityOne of Apple’s most famous marketing campaigns revolved around the catchphrase “There’s an app for that”—to the point that Apple eventually had the slogan trademarked. However, for users living in China, that statement is no longer true. According to a recent report from CNBC, Apple has removed most of the VPN apps from its Chinese App Store.
The removals weren’t random: China made unauthorized connections—including those made possible by virtual private networks—illegal in January of this year. VPNs allow users to access restricted parts of the Internet and surf …
August 14, 2017 • 3 min read
SecurityEvery time a new version of Apple’s operating system arrives, every tech-focused publication on the Internet does a deep dive on the new key features. Occasionally, though, cool bells and whistles go overlooked. Such is the case with the macOS Keychain Access application, which, in addition to storing passwords and account information, can also be used to store and secure sensitive data.
Keychain Access gives users the option to store what it calls “Secure Notes,” alongside passwords and other valuable data. Say you need to store something like a …
August 11, 2017 • 3 min read
SecurityThe rise of artificial intelligence in the consumer space seems to have happened overnight. It feels like we’ve gone from Apple’s introduction of Siri to virtual assistants everywhere in the blink of an eye. On today’s episode, we’ll be covering some security concerns that accompany the rise of AI.
August 10, 2017 • 16 min read
SecurityAnother glaring security problem with Internet of Things devices has come to light. The details highlight the reasons why IoT security should be a front-line concern — not an afterthought. With several major attacks this year powered by botnets built on the back of compromised IoT devices, manufacturers should be looking more closely at their code. However, this latest exploit lies several layers deep in device programming. Dubbed “Devil’s Ivy” by the researchers who uncovered it, it’s a flaw within open-source software used by many devices.
Researchers uncovered the …
August 10, 2017 • 2 min read
SecurityEarlier this year, Google users encountered a unique and particularly devious phishing attack. Phishers have used Google Docs in various capacities for several years, most frequently creating phony forms to try to collect sensitive user data. During this enormous wave of phishing attempts, though, users received an email from one of their contacts with an edit invitation to a Google Doc. If clicked, you would see a screen asking to allow an app called “Google Docs” to access your Google information, including your contacts.
In reality, this app was …
August 8, 2017 • 2 min read
SecurityWhile the WannaCry ransomware wave was sweeping the globe, one of the first stories that emerged alongside it was about the exploit that allowed it to exist: EternalBlue. Exposed as an NSA-discovered vulnerability during leaks by the mysterious Shadow Brokers, it allows malware authors to attack vulnerable Windows machines through a basic protocol for sharing files. Though it turns out that most of the machines WannaCry infected were Windows 7 computers, EternalBlue is just one part of a larger family of exploits. All these were leaked earlier this year, …
August 5, 2017 • 2 min read
SecurityOn today’s episode we’ll be taking a look at spyware: what it does, where it comes from, and what you can do to defend against it.
Sometimes it’s pretty obvious when you’ve got a malware infection – ransomware lets you know that your files have been encrypted and are being held for ransom, while adware spawns endless popups in your web browser. Spyware operates a bit differently, and unlike other types of malware it prefers to remain hidden on an infected system. It might come as a surprise, but some spyware …
August 3, 2017 • 27 min read
SecurityRemember jailbreaking? From the first iPhone, it has been an integral part of the community around the device and even something which has pushed its development forward. Initially, just a way to unlock the phone and release it from the “jail” of an exclusive carrier contract, jailbreaking quickly grew into more. Games made their first appearance on iOS via jailbreaking, and for several years the only way to install custom wallpapers or ringtones on an iPhone was with a jailbreak. Many of the early iterations of the phone were …
August 3, 2017 • 3 min read
SecuritySocial media has come a long way from its early days, and with the domination of major players including Facebook and Twitter, many of the early pioneers have faded into relative obscurity. Friendster abandoned plain social networking in 2011 and finally shuttered its services in 2015. MySpace, once the fastest growing and largest social network, quickly lost ground to Facebook and eventually lost many of its users. 2016 brought the revelation that 360 million accounts had been compromised all the way back in 2008 and were now for sale …
August 2, 2017 • 2 min read
SecurityAmong a slew of other announcements at Apple’s WWDC in June this year was the news that iPhone and iPad users would finally see the release of iOS 11 later this year. After the recent release of iOS 10.3.3 to users and the release of the latest iOS 11 beta to developers, it seems like the upgrade is not too far from its official release, currently expected sometime in September. What does Apple have in store for users, and what kinds of security improvements might we be able to …
August 1, 2017 • 2 min read
SecurityWe recently shared a story concerning the release of iOS 10.3.3 and the critical Wi-Fi vulnerabilities it corrected within the Broadcom chips used in many iPhones. That update, released July 19th, also accompanied updates for many other Apple products, including macOS Sierra, tvOS, and Safari. The “Broadpwn” bug corrected in the latest version of iOS was also fixed in many of these updates as well. Users who apply these updates are no longer at risk from malicious Wi-Fi networks that can use Broadpwn to take over devices. However, these …
July 31, 2017 • 2 min read
SecurityToday’s episode of The Checklist is all about identity theft. With the right information, the wrong people can steal your identity – basically pretend to be you – and do a lot of damage in your name, and to your name.
July 27, 2017 • 17 min read