Independent – Page 202 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: Lucas Mearian| Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2018 03:03:00 -0700

Facial recognition technology, which has begun to gain traction on mobile devices like the iPhone X and various Android smartphones, could soon show up at work – and at the airport.

The technology uses a person’s face to authenticate their identity, making it a potentially important security tool.

In 2015, Google launched its “Trusted Face” feature as part of its Android 5.0 Lollipop update. Trusted Face, part of Android’s Smart Lock technology, works in the same way as Apple’s Face ID, which replaced the Touch ID fingerprint reader on the iPhone X.

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Independent Krebs

March 29, 2018 admin

Omitting the “o” in .com Could Be Costly

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2018 13:08:16 +0000

Take care when typing a domain name into a browser address bar, because it’s far too easy to fat-finger a key and wind up somewhere you don’t want to go. For example, if you try to visit some of the most popular destinations on the Web but omit the “o” in .com (and type .cm instead), there’s a good chance your browser will be bombarded with malware alerts and other misleading messages — potentially even causing your computer to lock up completely. As it happens, many of these domains appear tied to a marketing company whose CEO is a convicted felon and once self-proclaimed “Spam King.”

ComputerWorld Independent

March 29, 2018 admin

Throwback Thursday: What could be simpler?

Credit to Author: Sharky| Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2018 03:00:00 -0700

IT department sends an email blast to the users: From now on, everyone will use a single login credential for all areas of the network, according to a pilot fish on the receiving end.

Fish’s reaction to single sign-on? “Yahoo! No more numerous account credentials to keep track of for various subsystems within the domain!”

In short order, all users are issued their single login credentials. And someone in IT has thought this through: The new user name and password are the same as for the user’s existing email account. That should make them easier for users to remember.

There’s just one catch.

It turns out that before a user can get to the single-login screen to use his single-login credentials, he first has to go to the subsystem he’s planning to use.

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ComputerWorld Independent

March 28, 2018 admin

Microsoft Patch Alert: Windows 7 takes the brunt of March patching problems

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2018 10:30:00 -0700

An enormous number of patches spewed out of Microsoft this month, with two ponderous cumulative updates for each version of Windows 10, a third “bonus” bug fix for Win10 Fall Creators Update (version 1709), and a just-described bug in Windows 7 that’ll leave you begging for a Win7 patch that works.

There’s also a bit of comic relief with a patch for Win10 1709, KB 4094276, that “makes improvements to ease the upgrade experience to Windows 10 Version 1709.” That’s a wonderful example of a self-referential fix.

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ComputerWorld Independent

March 27, 2018 admin

Q&A: Could blockchain professionalize Gmail?

Credit to Author: Kathryn Cave| Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2018 07:42:00 -0700

Despite the constant announcements that email is dead – or, at least, about to die – it is still the most common form of workplace communication. Now, Swiss company Gmelius, which launched in 2016, believes it has come up with a way to counteract some of email’s shortcomings and make it better.

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(Insider Story)

ComputerWorld Independent

March 27, 2018 admin

Advice from a CISO: Blockchain still searching for its tipping point

Credit to Author: IDG Connect| Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2018 07:23:00 -0700

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(Insider Story)

Independent Krebs

March 26, 2018 admin

Who and What Is Coinhive?

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2018 12:12:31 +0000

Multiple security firms recently identified cryptocurrency mining service Coinhive as the top malicious threat to Web users, thanks to the tendency for Coinhive’s computer code to be used on hacked Web sites to steal the processing power of its visitors’ devices. This post looks at how Coinhive vaulted to the top of the threat list less than a year after its debut, and explores clues about the possible identities of the individuals behind the service.

ComputerWorld Independent

March 26, 2018 admin

Because what's more important than being on-brand?

Credit to Author: Sharky| Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2018 03:00:00 -0700

Manager at this software vendor insists on having admin rights to every system, and she likes to set passwords that consist of the name of the company’s flagship product, reports a pilot fish working there.

“She would use ourproductname1 — or ourproductname1! if that didn’t satisfy complexity requirements — for production systems,” fish says. “Sending her a copy of our organization’s security requirements didn’t seem to help.

“Thankfully, as our product matured, more and more of the older systems came offline and were replaced by me with newer systems and secure passwords.

“One fine morning I received a barrage of alerts that our SaaS product was down. Looking through the logs, I saw a multitude of authentication errors from attempted database connections.

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