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Windows “Blue Screen of Death” Getting New Information
If you have a Windows-based PC (and you probably do), then you’ve almost certainly had the dubious honor of seeing the dreaded BSOD, or Blue Screen of Death. Unfortunately, since the first appearance of that screen, it has had a history of being less than helpful. Mostly, what you get is a long string of […]
New Smart Adware Uses Your Computer Resources For Profit
Remember the good old days, when all Adware did was make your web browsing experience inconvenient by bombarding you with annoying popups? Sadly, those days appear to be over. There’s a new generation of Adware that goes far, far beyond that. Recently, a particularly nasty variant called VLMiner was found. It’s clever, and is programmed […]
BadLock Threat Not So “Bad” But Still Requires Patch
So, it turns out that the “Badlock” Samba exploit wasn’t quite as bad as it was originally cracked up to be. If you haven’t heard of Badlock, you’re not alone. It made the rounds in Internet security circles, but wasn’t widely publicized because it is a fairly specific, narrow threat, unlike some of the other […]
Legacy Operating Systems Including XP Lose Chrome Support
If your company has one or more of millions of PCs still running Windows XP, your options are collapsing around you rather quickly, making it more important than ever to finally get around to upgrading to a more current OS. Microsoft formally ended all support for XP last year, and now Google has decided to […]
Using Oracle Software? Update Now
It’s been a busy week at Oracle. The company has recently released a massive flurry of patches that fix a staggering 136 security issues for a wide range of the products it sells. This release comes in tandem with the decision to switch from CVSS 2.0 to CVSS 3.0 (the Common Vulnerability Scoring System). The […]
Microsoft Releases Optional Update to Secure Wireless Mouse From Threat
Last year, an IoT (Internet of Things) security firm called Bastille Networks uncovered an attack from an unexpected vector. Hackers can actually take control of your wireless mouse, which has no on-board security, and use the device to spoof keyboard inputs to the computer it is attached to. The hope was that by revealing details […]
Have You Enabled Two Factor Authentication Yet?
Are you still using single factor authentication in your business? If so, you are taking an unnecessary risk. If the only thing standing between the hacking community and your company’s data is a password, then no matter how robust those passwords might be, it’s just a matter of time before someone slips up, and your […]
Even Large Company Employees Get Hit By Phishing/Whaling Scams
Toy manufacturing giant Mattel was recently the target of a whaling scam that could have been both highly embarrassing and extremely costly, if not for a single stroke of luck. If you’ve not heard the term, “whaling” is a subset of the phishing scams that hackers commonly run, with the key distinction being that whaling […]
Mistypying A Web Address Could Put Malware On Your System
More problems for the Adobe Flash player, and a new type of hacking attack that security experts are referring to as “Typosquatting.” If you’ve not yet heard the term, you’re not alone, but you can bet that it will be making headlines in the months ahead. So far, this type of attack is limited to […]
Urgent News: US Government Urges Removal of QuickTime for Windows
If you have Apple QuickTime installed on a Windows-based PC, you should uninstall it immediately. In a public statement issued on 4/14/2016, the US-CERT recommends the removal of QuickTime for Windows. Apple announced that they’re no longer supporting the product in any way, including issuing security updates. On the heels of this announcement, the Zero […]
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.
