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Report Shows Small Percentage Of Employees Know About Ransomware
The statistics are alarming. Ransomware is fast becoming the favored hobby horse of hackers worldwide. Barely a week goes by that a new strain isn’t introduced into the wild, with expensive, and often tragic consequences. Right now, the average amount paid by office workers impacted by a ransomware attack is $1400, a figure that continues […]
Data Breach Costs Hilton $700,000 In Settlement
Hilton Hotels is in hot water, having recently been fined a hefty $700,000 in an agreement with the states of New York and Vermont over the company’s mishandling of a pair of recent data breaches. According to official statements released by investigators, the company was found to have made two glaring errors: failing to maintain […]
Android Bug Found In Adaptive Icons
Do you use apps that employ the new “Adaptive Icons” feature introduced in Android Oreo? If so, be aware that there’s a serious flaw in the code that could send your device into an infinite bootloop, leaving you no alternative but to restore the device to factory default settings, which will almost certainly result in […]
Yet Another Credit Card Breach For Hyatt
Hotel giant Hyatt is in the crosshairs again, having suffered its second data breach in two years. Hyatt’s security team recently confirmed the breach as having occurred between March 18 and July 2 of 2017. While the company has yet to release any information detailing the number of impacted users, simply stating that it was […]
Watch Out For New Facebook “Trusted Friend” Scam
If you can’t trust your friends, who can you trust? No one, apparently. There’s a new scam on Facebook that’s making waves, and it’s one you should be mindful of. You may get an “urgent message” from someone you know, asking for your help in recovering their Facebook account. This is a tried and true […]
Top Subject People Fall Victim To Is – Data Breach Notification
For hackers around the world, success breeds more success, it seems. A company called KnowBe4 has released a report entitled “Top Ten Global Phishing Email Subject Lines For Q3 2017.” To prepare it, they analyzed email subject lines from simulated phishing tests to determine what the most effective approach was. Their findings were that “Official […]
Ransomware Continues To Evolve On Android Devices
Hackers around the world are continuing to innovate at a terrifying, relentless pace, and that truth is reflected in the latest form of ransomware to be found in the wild. Dubbed “DoubleLocker,” this new strain targets Android devices. It uses and abuses the platform’s Accessibility Service, reactivating itself every time the user presses the phone’s […]
Hard Drives Susceptible To Sound Waves, Can Double As Microphones
File this one away under “obscure and terrifying.” Recently, a security researcher named Alfredo Ortega, speaking at a security conference in Buenos Aires, unveiled research revealing that the hard drive in your computer can be, with a bit of work, turned into a rudimentary microphone and used to spy on you. It should be noted […]
After Yet Another Equifax Hack, IRS Suspends Contract Worth $7.5M
Equifax just can’t seem to get out of its own way. Not long ago, the company suffered a massive data breach which saw the sensitive information of more than 145 million consumers exposed. As a result, congressional hearings were convened, and the CEO resigned in disgrace. Amazingly, though, despite these events, the IRS opted to […]
Popular Chrome Ad Blocker Faked, 30k Users Infected With Malware
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,” as the saying goes. Unfortunately, Google has now been fooled by the same trick twice. For the second time in recent years, Google has allowed a malicious variant of the popular extension “AdBlock Plus” onto its Chrome Web Store. It was noticed by […]
A Visionary Approach to Your Security
The purpose of an IT partner isn’t just to fix something when it is broken, it is to keep your people working and your data secure. Astral moves beyond traditional managed services by addressing all the key areas of cybersecurity in today’s complex landscape.
