Despite concerns from privacy advocates, Australia is currently the only democracy in the world that uses facial recognition technology to aid Covid-19 containment procedures. Police ensure that Western Australian citizens are following the seven…
Tag: Security News
Europe, Global Security News, North America
ToddyCat claws at Asian governments
by Avast Blog •
Researchers are monitoring an advanced persistent threat (APT) codenamed ToddyCat that has been linked to attacks on government and military entities in Europe and Asia since at least December 2020. Using an unknown exploit to deploy the Chopper …
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Vishing scams on the rise: How to protect yourself
by Avast Blog •
Vishing scams have quickly become another major security threat for people around the globe. And although Interpol has cracked down in recent days, the risk of being targeted — and falling victim — to vishing scams has reached new heights.
The po…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Meta Bridges 2D And 3D With Crayta | Avast
by Avast Blog •
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced last week that user-generated tools like Crayta will help bridge the 2D gaming experiences on Facebook with the 3D world of the metaverse. Meta acquired Crayta last year when it bought Unity 2 Games. The company…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Digital wellbeing: Do free countries have more of it?
by Avast Blog •
How are you all doing out there, Internet People? According to the first ever Avast Digital Wellbeing Report, it’s a mixed bag. We wanted to analyze the relationship between a country’s freedom of the internet, measured by its Freedom on the Net …
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Russian Disinformation Evolving Across the Globe | Avast
by Avast Blog •
Authors: Sadia Afroz and Vibhor Sehgal.
On February 24, a conspiracy theory emerged that Russia attacked Ukraine to destroy a clandestine U.S. weapons program. This narrative, started by a QAnon follower on Twitter, quickly became one of the “off…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Twitter fined $150M for selling user data
by Avast Blog •
According to a court complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), “While Twitter represented to users that it collected their telephone numbers and email addresses to secure their accounts, Twitter failed to disclose that it also used…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Supply chain scams pull no punches
by Avast Blog •
From one perspective, the global supply chains our industries have built all around the world are beautiful and impressive. Some are more elaborate than others, but they all act as long-distance assembly lines, each third party doing their part. …
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Verizon’s 2022 data breach report: Key takeaways
by Avast Blog •
It’s time for the annual Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report (DBIR), a compendium of cybersecurity and malware trends that offers some of the best analyses in our field. It examines more than 5,000 data breaches collected from 80 partners fr…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Pre-Hijacking Attacks on Social Media Accounts | Avast
by Avast Blog •
A new paper by the Microsoft Security Response Center explains account pre-hijacking, where attackers open an account with the victim’s email address then lie in wait for the victim eventually to join the site. Once the victim joins the site and …
Europe, Global Security News, North America
How license plate scanners challenge our data privacy
by Avast Blog •
As more communities install automated license plate readers (APLRs) to monitor vehicle traffic, there are growing concerns about the privacy and efficacy of these tools. Stories have appeared in local newspapers, such as those in St. Louis, Louis…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Microsoft research reveals the changing face of skimming campaigns
by Avast Blog •
In a recent report, Microsoft’s 365 Defender Research Team reveals new obfuscation techniques that are changing the face of skimming. By observing recent web skimming campaigns, Microsoft’s security researchers have discovered the latest ways att…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Become a Cybersecurity Hero: An Interview with a White Hat Hacker
by Avast Blog •
While the terms might be more familiar to fans of old-fashioned cowboy films, “white hat” and “black hat” have found modern relevance in the world of computer hacking.
In the black-and-white cowboy films of yesteryear, the concept of the white ha…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Top financial scams: Imposter scams, romance scams, and prizes
by Avast Blog •
The year is not even half over, but the FTC has already logged almost 500,000 fraud scams and over 300,000 cases of identity theft since January. According to the UN, an additional 782 million people have come online during the pandemic, raising …
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Virtual product placements revealed by streaming platforms
by Avast Blog •
Both Amazon Prime Video and NBCU’s Peacock have unveiled beta programs that allow products and product ads to be digitally placed in their streaming content. During the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s NewsFronts convention this month, Amazon sho…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
LPM hack: Just because an iPhone is powered off doesn’t mean it’s safe
by Avast Blog •
Did you know that even when your iPhone is turned off, some of its components are still getting power? Researchers have found this to be one of the reasons why a new attack vector can operate without your knowledge. The issue lies with the iPhone…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
The real exchange rate between crypto and freedom
by Avast Blog •
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and digital art (including, I proudly admit, my own) are offering people the chance to tell their stories in innovative new ways. Cryptocurrencies have exploded, offering people around the world a new tool to use for in…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Which phishing scams are trending in 2022?
by Avast Blog •
With more people looking to cash in on hype surrounding the cryptocurrency market than ever before and an increasing digital workforce which may lack awareness of network security set-ups, cybercriminal activity remains rampant. Bitcoin’s endurin…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Deepfake threats: Risk of false electronic evidence, extortion
by Avast Blog •
In the first report produced through the Observatory function of the Europol Innovation Lab, Europol warns that the threats posed by deepfakes are increasing. Deepfake technology uses AI to alter existing images and sometimes create new ones. Acc…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Some US travel applicants now have to provide their social media account details
by Avast Blog •
For the past several years, millions of foreign visitors and potential immigrants entering the US have divulged the contents of their social media accounts to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This requirement is part of the Visa Life…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Will Elon Musk follow the rules in his takeover of Twitter?
by Avast Blog •
European Union officials Cedric O and Thierry Breton both mentioned on Twitter that they expect Elon Musk to abide by the rules of the new Digital Service Act (DSA). The new legislation requires user-generated platforms to police its content, imp…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Obama speaks at Stanford University on strengthening our democracy and reforming social media
by Avast Blog •
Last week, Barack Obama delivered a keynote address at an event, “Challenges to Democracy in the Digital Information Realm”, co-hosted by The Stanford Cyber Policy Center and the Obama Foundation. The in-person event had more than 250,000 people …
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Newest State Data Privacy Legislation | Avast
by Avast Blog •
When we wrote about state privacy laws earlier this year, Virginia, California, and Colorado were the only states with laws in place to protect consumers’ privacy. (Nevada has also had a more limited law since 2019.) Since then, Utah Governor Spe…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Journey Into The Metaverse | Avast
by Avast Blog •
Late last year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the Facebook parent company would be rebranded as Meta. As part of that announcement, he talked about his dream that Meta will eventually be a “metaverse company.” What does that mean in…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
JekyllBot:5 Threatens Hospital Robots | Avast
by Avast Blog •
Researchers analyzing anomalies in network traffic coming from a hospital elevator followed the trail to an unsecure TUG Home Base server, which is used to monitor and manage the Aethon TUG robots used by the hospital. The researchers found five …
Europe, Global Security News, North America
War and Cyberwar | Avast
by Avast Blog •
I usually endeavor to separate my political activities and my cybersecurity and digital rights advocacy, except for cases in which they are inextricably connected. You can say that everything is connected, of course, and that is true, but you can…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
PCI DSS Update | Avast
by Avast Blog •
Since we last wrote about Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS), the organization has made a series of updates to its standards with its latest version 4.0. It contains several important improvements, which we’ll break down in t…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Is Metaverse the New Internet? | Avast
by Avast Blog •
Some researchers, business specialists, and forecasters believe the metaverse – the virtual reality platform accessed by devices like Meta’s Oculus Quest 2 – will reach the same popularity and generate the same revenue as the internet. Bloomberg …
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Yandex and Data Privacy Concerns | Avast
by Avast Blog •
Private data could be collected from thousands of Android and iOS apps via Yandex, the leading search engine in Russia, according to security researchers. The issue revolves around how this data might be available to Russia state agencies. In add…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
FIN7 and Ransomware | Avast
by Avast Blog •
Malware group FIN7 is once again on the move, leveraging software supply chains, remote program execution methods, and stolen credentials to deliver ransomware to enterprise networks. The group has been around since at least 2015. Initially, the …
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Hydra Cybercrime Forum Shut Down | Avast
by Avast Blog •
Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office and Central Office for Combating Cybercrime announced this week that they confiscated the Hydra server infrastructure after extensive investigations into the cybercrime forum since August 2021. The site, w…
Security Bloggers
New Risk-based Application Access Control aims to solve BYOD and Remote Work Security and Productivity Challenges
by Guru Writer •
Yesterday, Cato Networks introduced its new risk-based application access control for combatting the threat of infiltration posed by remote workers and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Now, enterprise policies will be able to consider real-time device context when restricting access to certain capabilities within corporate applications, the internet and cloud resources. “User devices can be […]
The post New Risk-based Application Access Control aims to solve BYOD and Remote Work Security and Productivity Challenges appeared first on IT Security Guru.
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Threats Targeting UPS Units | Avast
by Avast Blog •
Security researchers have uncovered a new series of threats that are targeting uninterrupted power supply (UPS) units. These threats can result in malware attacking the computers connected to the same networks through a variety of clever mechanis…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Does Cyber Risk Quantification Work? | Avast
by Avast Blog •
Cyber strategist Pete Lindstrom maintained in an article on CSO that cybersecurity risk is constantly changing in a way analogous to the probability odds in a March Madness tournament. Observing the constant data-analysis on the 538 March Madness…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Google Play Store Safety | Avast
by Avast Blog •
Before you download another application from the more than three million that are in the Google Play Store, read on to learn a few simple things you can do to protect yourself. Before we get into that, let’s establish why this is worthwhile.
The …
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Bots Buy Up Raspberry Pi Products | Avast
by Avast Blog •
Adafruit, a distributor of Raspberry Pi single board computers, has mandated that certain new purchases can only be completed with the use of two-factor authentication. The new requirement is due to reselling schemes that use bots to buy up the l…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Browser in the Browser Attacks | Avast
by Avast Blog •
A man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack consists of a victim, a website the victim would like contact with (such as a bank), and the attacker. The attacker inserts themselves between the victim and the targeted website with the intention to steal perso…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
Cyber Threats and The Ukraine Conflict | Avast
by Avast Blog •
“In this war, we are seeing cyberattacks from both Russia and Ukraine,” Avast Security Evangelist Luis Corrons recently commented. “And on top of that, a number of cybercriminals are taking advantage of the situation in order to scam good-willed …
Europe, Global Security News, North America
State of Crypto Crime | Avast
by Avast Blog •
US President Joe Biden recently issued an executive order that will oversee various cryptocurrency efforts, including a study of whether there should be a virtual dollar-based cryptocoin, the efficacy of various future banking regulations for the…
Europe, Global Security News, North America
DDoS Hacktivism | Avast
by Avast Blog •
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has sparked a tremendous amount of empathy from people across the globe. Some have contributed by providing aid and shelter to refugees, while others have donated funds to charities supporting those in Ukraine.
Th…