Independent – Page 70 – Computer Security Articles

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2022 04:07:15 +0000

Twice in the past month KrebsOnSecurity has heard from readers who’ve had their accounts at big-three credit bureau Experian hacked and updated with a new email address that wasn’t theirs. In both cases the readers used password managers to select strong, unique passwords for their Experian accounts. Research suggests identity thieves were able to hijack the accounts simply by signing up for new accounts at Experian using the victim’s personal information and a different email address.

ComputerWorld Independent

July 7, 2022 admin

Apple slaps hard against ‘mercenary’ surveillance-as-a-service industry

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Thu, 07 Jul 2022 06:17:00 -0700

Apple has struck a big blow against the mercenary “surveillance-as-a-service” industry, introducing a new, highly secure Lockdown Mode to protect individuals at the greatest risk of targeted attacks. The company is also offering millions of dollars to support research to expose such threats.

Starting in iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS Ventura, and available now in the latest developer-only betas, Lockdown Mode hardens security defenses and limits the functionalities sometimes abused by state-sponsored surveillance hackers. Apple describes this protection as “sharply reducing the attack surface that potentially could be exploited by highly targeted mercenary spyware.”

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ComputerWorld Independent

July 7, 2022 admin

Microsoft backs off facial recognition analysis, but big questions remain

Credit to Author: Evan Schuman| Date: Thu, 07 Jul 2022 03:00:00 -0700

Microsoft is backing away from its public support for some AI-driven features, including facial recognition, and acknowledging the discrimination and accuracy issues these offerings create. But the company had years to fix the problems and didn’t. That’s akin to a car manufacturer recalling a vehicle rather than fixing it.

Despite concerns that facial recognition technology can be discriminatory, the real issue is that results are inaccurate. (The discriminatory argument plays a role, though, due to the assumptions Microsoft developers made when crafting these apps.)

Let’s start with what Microsoft did and said. Sarah Bird, the principal group product manager for Microsoft’s Azure AI, summed up the pullback last month in a Microsoft blog.

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ComputerWorld Independent

July 6, 2022 admin

European Parliament approves sweeping big tech antitrust laws

Credit to Author: Charlotte Trueman| Date: Wed, 06 Jul 2022 06:28:00 -0700

The European Commission announced late yesterday that the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) have been voted through, marking a new chapter for how technology companies will be able to operate in the EU. The parliament voted 588 in favor and 11 against for the DMA, while 539 MEPs backed the DSA, with 54 votes against.

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ComputerWorld Independent

July 5, 2022 admin

Think twice before deploying Windows’ Controlled Folder Access

Credit to Author: Susan Bradley| Date: Tue, 05 Jul 2022 07:29:00 -0700

As ransomware attacks gained steam in the mid-2010s, Microsoft sought to give Windows users and admins tools to protect their PCs from such attacks. With its October 2017 feature update, the company added a feature called Controlled Folder Access to Windows 10.

On paper, Controlled Folder Access sounds like a great protection for consumers, home users, and small businesses with limited resources. As defined by Microsoft, “Controlled folder access helps protect your valuable data from malicious apps and threats, such as ransomware. Controlled folder access protects your data by checking apps against a list of known, trusted apps. Supported on Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022, Windows 10, and Windows 11 clients, controlled folder access can be turned on using the Windows Security App, Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, or Intune (for managed devices).”

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ComputerWorld Independent

July 5, 2022 admin

Are banks quietly refusing reimbursements to fraud victims?

Credit to Author: Evan Schuman| Date: Tue, 05 Jul 2022 03:00:00 -0700

There are some scary reports popping up that various major financial institutions no longer credit back all fraudulent transactions, even when victims file a police report. If true, it’s a disastrous move that will painfully hurt the institutions.

Let’s look a recent New York Times report on the problem:

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ComputerWorld Independent

June 29, 2022 admin

FCC commissioner wants Apple, Google to remove TikTok from App Stores

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2022 05:34:00 -0700

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr has written to Apple and Google to request that both companies remove the incredibly popular TikTok app from their stores, citing a threat to national security.

Is your data going TikTok?

Carr warns the app collects huge quantities of data and cited a recent report that claimed the company has accessed sensitive data collected from Americans. He argues that TikTok’s, “pattern of conduct and misrepresentations regarding the unfettered access that persons in Beijing have to sensitive U.S. data…puts it out of compliance,” with App Store security and privacy policies.

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Independent Krebs

June 28, 2022 admin

The Link Between AWM Proxy & the Glupteba Botnet

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2022 18:33:31 +0000

On December 7, 2021, Google announced it had sued two Russian men allegedly responsible for operating the Glupteba botnet, a global malware menace that has infected millions of computers over the past decade. That same day, AWM Proxy — a 14-year-old anonymity service that rents hacked PCs to cybercriminals — suddenly went offline. Security experts had long seen a link between Glupteba and AWM Proxy, but new research shows AWM Proxy’s founder is one of the men being sued by Google.