ComputerWorld – Page 179 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: Tim Greene| Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2017 11:20:00 -0700

BOSTON — Blockchain can help secure medical devices and improve patient privacy, but the key is proper implementation, according to a top security pro at Partners Healthcare.

The downsides would include mistrust of the technology because of blockchain’s potential performance problems, and its association with ransomware and use as payment for illegal items on the Dark Web, Partners’ Deputy CISO Esmond Kane told the SecureWorld audience last week in Boston.

On the other hand, the decentralized, encrypted public ledger could have a wealth of applications in healthcare, Kane says. These include streamlining the resolution of insurance claims, management of internet of things medical devices and providing granular privacy settings for personal medical data.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

March 27, 2017 admin

iPad bomb plot allegedly led to electronic device ban on flights

Credit to Author: Darlene Storm| Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2017 08:58:00 -0700

A plot allegedly involving an iPad bomb was one of the factors which sparked US and UK restrictions on bringing electronic devices larger than a smartphone into the passenger cabin of flights traveling from the Middle East.

It’s unclear if the alleged bomb was inside an iPad knockoff or used an iPad shell, but the tablet filled with explosives was not in itself enough to trigger the electronic device ban. An unnamed source told The Guardian that the US and UK bans “were not the result of a single specific incident but a combination of factors.”

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

March 27, 2017 admin

IDG Contributor Network: Saks self-leaked customer data unencrypted, violating multiple rules

Credit to Author: Evan Schuman| Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2017 04:00:00 -0700

With so many retailers being impacted by cyber attacks, it’s easy to conclude that thieves are necessary for data breaches. Not necessarily. Saks last week made clear that it can breach itself quite efficiently.

That revelation comes courtesy of Buzzfeed News, which visited the site and noticed private data about quite a few fellow site visitors and shoppers.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

March 27, 2017 admin

UK official wants police access to WhatsApp messages

Credit to Author: John Ribeiro| Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2017 03:26:00 -0700

A senior U.K. official is asking that law enforcement be given access to encrypted messages on WhatsApp and similar services, a demand that is likely to fuel an ongoing debate over whether companies should create backdoors into their encryption technologies for investigators.

Khalid Masood, the terrorist who killed four people outside Parliament on Wednesday, had sent a message on WhatsApp shortly before the attack, according to reports.

“We need to make sure that organizations like WhatsApp, and there are plenty of others like that, don’t provide a secret place for terrorists to communicate with each other,” Home Secretary Amber Rudd said on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

March 25, 2017 admin

How to protect yourself from ATM crime

Credit to Author: Mike Elgan| Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2017 04:00:00 -0700

The ATM card is dead. Or is it?

Starting Monday, all 13,000 Wells Fargo ATMs will enable you to withdraw money without using your card, according to Jonathan Velline, head of Wells Fargo ATM and branch strategy.

It works like this: Open the Wells Fargo app on your phone. Tap a button in the app for a temporary eight-digit code. Then enter the code, followed by your PIN, to access your account.

Wells Fargo is the first major U.S. bank to offer app-based access to all of its ATMs.

Citigroup, Chase and Bank of America and others are working on similar ATM functions, with only some machines already upgraded.

wellsfargo atm code — Wells Fargo will enable ATM access without a card via a temporary eight-digit code accessible in its mobile app.
To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

March 24, 2017 admin

CIA, WikiLeaks and Doctor Who?

CSO Online's Steve Ragan and Joan Goodchild chat about the hot security news of the week, including their take on the recent WikiLeaks revelations around the CIA, and how Cisco, Samsung and Apple have responded to the information.

ComputerWorld Independent

March 24, 2017 admin

Apple: Macs and iPhones are safe from newly revealed CIA exploits

Credit to Author: Lucian Constantin| Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2017 12:11:00 -0700

The Mac and iPhone exploits described in new documents attributed to the CIA were patched years ago, according to Apple.

WikiLeaks released a new set of files Thursday that supposedly came from the CIA. They contain details about the agency’s alleged malware and attack capabilities against iPhones and Mac computers.

The documents, dated 2012 and earlier, describe several “implants” that the CIA can install in the low-level extensible firmware interface (EFI) of Mac laptop and desktop computers. These EFI rootkits allow the agency’s macOS spying malware to persist even after the OS is reinstalled.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

March 24, 2017 admin

Google Play faces cat-and-mouse game with Android malware

Credit to Author: Michael Kan| Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2017 11:16:00 -0700

What’s the best way to avoid Android malware? Downloading all your apps from the Google Play store — where software is vetted – is perhaps the best advice.

But that doesn’t mean Google Play is perfect.

Security researchers do find new Android malware lurking on Google’s official app store. That’s because hackers are coming up with sneaky ways to infiltrate the platform, despite the vetting processes that protect it.

“Eventually, every wall can be breached,” said Daniel Padon, a researcher at mobile security provider Check Point.

To be sure, most Android users will probably never encounter malware on the Google Play store. Last year, the amount of malicious software that reached the platform amounted to only 0.16 percent of all apps, according to a new report from Google.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here