Independent – Page 111 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: Lucas Mearian| Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 10:17:00 -0800

BlackBerry has unveiled several updates to its enterprise mobility security platform, offering three new UEM peoducts aimed at enabling secure access to tools, applications and files based on a zero-trust architecture.

The trio of new suites are add-ons to BlackBerry’s flagship Enterprise Mobility Suite, aimed at enhancing productivity, collaboration and workforce agility.

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ComputerWorld Independent

November 21, 2019 admin

The 5 true takeaways from Android's camera vulnerability circus

Credit to Author: JR Raphael| Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 09:21:00 -0800

I don’t know if you’ve read much news this week, but it seems the sky is falling and we’re all terribly doomed.

No, I’m not talking about that news — as usual, that’s another column for another publication — but rather the news that a security flaw in some Android camera apps could turn our phones into privacy-plundering spy portals and bring an end to human life as we know it.

I mean, have you seen some of these headlines?!

“Hundreds of millions of Android phone cameras can be hijacked by spyware”
“Android flaw lets rogue apps take photos, record video even if your phone is locked”
“An Android flaw lets apps secretly access people’s cameras and upload the videos to an external server”

Holy hibiscus, Henry! Even I’m trembling from all of that, and I know it’s a bunch of misguided, sensationalized hooey.

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ComputerWorld Independent

November 21, 2019 admin

Throwback Thursday: See if you can wriggle out of this one

Credit to Author: Sharky| Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 06:00:00 -0800

It’s several years ago during a major virus outbreak — if you know your history of computer viruses, you can narrow it down — and a user at a remote site calls this pilot fish to complain that her computer won’t let her get any work done.

“I asked her if she had called the local technician — who worked for me — and she replied that she had called him numerous times but he had not picked up his phone,” says fish. “I told her I would take care of it.”

Fish calls his tech, who says he has spoken to the user each time she called and explained to her that he’ll help her as soon as he can, but he’s finishing work in another area.

That satisfies fish, who goes back to his own work. And soon he gets a message from his tech, sent from the irate user’s email account, reporting that the tech checked the user’s PC, found a virus and removed it, and updated the PC’s virus definitions. Case closed.

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ComputerWorld Independent

November 20, 2019 admin

Facebook's iOS 'bug' secretly filmed users. IT, take note.

Credit to Author: Evan Schuman| Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2019 09:41:00 -0800

News reports last week — subsequently confirmed by a Facebook executive’s tweet — that the Facebook iOS app was videotaping users without notice should serve as a critical heads up to enterprise IT and security execs that mobile devices are every bit as risky as they feared. And a very different bug, planted by cyberthieves, presents even more frightening camera-spying issues with Android.

On the iOS issue, the confirmation tweet from Guy Rosen, who is Facebook’s vice president of Integrity (go ahead and insert whatever joke you want about Facebook having a vice president of integrity; for me, it’s way too easy a shot), said, “We recently discovered our iOS app incorrectly launched in landscape. In fixing that last week in v246, we inadvertently introduced a bug where the app partially navigates to the camera screen when a photo is tapped. We have no evidence of photos/videos uploaded due to this.”

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ComputerWorld Independent

November 20, 2019 admin

Security lessons from a Mac-only fintech company

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2019 07:43:00 -0800

Apple remains a highly secure choice for enterprise professionals, but security threats remain and the environment requires sophisticated endpoint management tools, confirmed Build America Mutual (BAM) CTO, David McIntyre.

The Mac only bank

BAM is one of the leading U.S. municipal bond insurers and has insured over $65 billion since launch in 2012. It also has the rare distinction of being a fintech firm that is completely based on Macs.

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Independent Krebs

November 20, 2019 admin

DDoS-for-Hire Boss Gets 13 Months Jail Time

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2019 13:05:15 +0000

A 21-year-old Illinois man was sentenced last week to 13 months in prison for running multiple DDoS-for-hire services that launched millions of attacks over several years. This individual’s sentencing comes more than five years after KrebsOnSecurity interviewed both the defendant and his father and urged the latter to take a more active interest in his son’s online activities.

ComputerWorld Independent

November 20, 2019 admin

How make a Windows disaster recovery kit

Make your own disaster checklist and recovery toolkit before trouble happens.

Independent Krebs

November 19, 2019 admin

Ransomware Bites 400 Veterinary Hospitals

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2019 14:43:18 +0000

National Veterinary Associates (NVA), a California company that owns more than 700 animal care facilities around the globe, is still working to recover from a ransomware attack late last month that affected more than half of those properties, separating many veterinary practices from their patient records, payment systems and practice management software. NVA says it expects to have all facilities fully back up and running normally within the next week.