Thursday, October 5, 2017

Equifax breach shows signs of a possible state-sponsored hack

Ever since word of the Equifax hack got out, there's been one lingering question: was it a state-sponsored attack, or just criminals who took advantage of a security hole? At the moment, it looks like it might be the former. Bloomberg sources have shed light on the ongoing investigations into the breach, and they claim there are signs of a government's involvement. The initial group of hackers weren't particularly experienced, according to the tipsters, but they handed things over to a more "sophisticated" team. There are even hints that this might be the work of Chinese intelligence agents, although it's not yet clear who's responsible.

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One third of smartphone notifications make our mood worse, research shows??

As part of the study, the researchers developed an app – NotiMind – which participants downloaded to their phones. The app collected details relating to the phone’s digital notifications, as well as participants’ self-reported moods at various points in the day over a five-week period.

The researchers say their findings show that it possible to predict phone users’ moods based on information they are receiving. ?? In the future they say it could be used to personalise notifications, so fewer system notifications were sent when someone was feeling down, or more entertainment features to boost mood.

When hackers sent an email designed to steal thousands of dollars, they failed to make their message entirely convincing...

Read more in my article on the Tripwire State of Security blog.

Friday, September 29, 2017

Internet Explorer bug can reveal the contents of your address bar – HOTforSecurity

If you’re one of the many people still using Microsoft Internet Explorer to surf the internet, you have just been given another good reason to upgrade to a more modern browser.

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Internet Explorer bug can reveal the contents of your address bar – HOTforSecurity

Friday, September 8, 2017

Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks

What is a social engineering attack?

In a social engineering attack, an attacker uses human interaction (social skills) to obtain or compromise information about an organization or its computer systems. An attacker may seem unassuming and respectable, possibly claiming ... READ MORE

Using Caution with Email Attachments

Why can email attachments be dangerous?

Some of the characteristics that make email attachments convenient and popular are also the ones that make them a common tool for attackers:

Email is easily circulated – Forwarding email is so simple that viruses can quickly infect many machines. Most viruses don't even require users to forward the email—they scan a users' computer for email addresses ...