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New Hack Attempts To Access Office 365 Passwords
Companies are getting better at detecting and fending off brute force attacks. Depending on how big, and how hard-hitting the attack is, it can still get through, of course, but the main problem with such an attack is that it’s impossible to miss. The moment it starts, security professionals know what’s going on, and can […]
OnePlus Mobile Phone Found To Be Collecting User Data
If you own a smartphone made by Chinese manufacturer OnePlus, you can thank security researcher Chris Moore for making a discovery that the manufacturer wasn’t going to tell you about. It turns out that OnePlus phones running the OxygenOS are recording a disturbing amount of user data and sending it back to a company server. […]
2012 Disqus Hack Exposed More Than 17 Million Users
The hits just keep coming, with Disqus being the latest company to issue a breach disclosure. If you’ve never heard of it, Disqus is an incredibly popular, plugin-based comment service for blogs. Although the breach was only just discovered, it occurred five years ago in July 2012, and impacted more than 17.5 million users. Evidence […]
Microsoft Officially Pulls Plug On Windows Phone
The Windows phone is officially dead, with the announcement from Joe Belfiore that there would be no new feature updates and no further development. The writing has been on the wall for a while now, with Microsoft gutting its phone division and laying off thousands of employees. But until Belfiore’s announcement, the company hadn’t made […]
The IRS Awards Security Contract To Equifax Even After Hack
You’ve probably heard about Equifax’s recent troubles. More than 145 million consumer data files were exposed, including names, addresses, social security numbers and more. The problem was viewed as so serious that Equifax’s CEO stepped down and congressional hearings were launched, but then, a funny thing happened. Equifax got awarded a no-bid government contract worth […]
Microsoft Edge Browser Coming To Android And IOS
Since ditching its beleaguered Internet Explorer browser, Microsoft’s latest offering, Edge, which is bundled with Windows 10, has been struggling to gain a foothold in the market. Yes, it comes preloaded on Windows 10 machines, and that fact alone has prompted significant use. However, the browser has its share of weaknesses and limitations, one of […]
Sonic Drive-In Latest Company With Credit Card Breach
Another week, another data breach, and this time, popular fast food chain Sonic found itself in the crosshairs. The breach came to light when a Brian Krebs, a journalist for Infosec, spotted a large batch of credit card data for sale on an underground website. IBM’s “X-Force” division confirmed Krebs’ findings, and later that same […]
Google Has Announced Earbuds That Translate Language In Real Time
Google Labs has produced some amazing ideas. Some of them have found their way to the market, and many others have not. The one thing they have in common, though, is that they’re all intriguing and exciting. That’s especially true of Google’s latest offering, Google Pixel Buds. If you’ve ever read “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To […]
Firefox Will End Support For XP, and Vista Users In 2018
Microsoft stopped supporting Windows XP and Vista quite some time ago., Butbut so far, Firefox has been hanging tough, continuing to provide updates to their browser’s users on both platforms, doing at least something to extend their useful life a bit longer. That’s soon coming to an endgoing to change soon. Mozilla recently announced that […]
Several Security Issues Found In Solutions That Use DNSmasq
Open source tools offer a lot of compelling advantages, with one of the biggest and most important being that they tend to have relatively fewer bugs and security flaws. The reason is that they’re open source initiatives, and anyone can dig into the source code and tweak it to make it better. Unfortunately, there are […]
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.


