Independent – Page 28 – Computer Security Articles

The big problem with privacy is that once you relinquish some of it, you never get it back. What makes it worse is when those who are supposed to protect your rights choose to undermine them. When they do so, they eat away at the thin protections we should all enjoy in the digital age.

US agencies’ illegal use of smartphone data

These are some of the reasons to be so concerned to learn from a newly released US Department of Homeland Security report that multiple US government agencies illegally used smartphone location data, breaching privacy regulations as they did. To do this, they purchased smartphone location data, including Advertising Identifiers (AdIDs) from data brokers that had been harvested from a wide range of apps.

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ComputerWorld Independent

October 5, 2023 admin

Are you looking forward to the new age of mobile app insecurity?

A contact recently told me that Apple handles thousands of inquiries from people who have forgotten or misplaced their Apple ID logins every day. That’s probably why Apple recently made it easier to access your Apple ID using any known email address.

But Apple reps are also inundated with requests related to third-party apps over which they have no control. As the EU looks to force Apple into allowing apps from alternative app stores onto its devices, a practice known as sideloading, the user experience with Apple devices — and the flood of inquiries and complaints — is about to get much, much worse.

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ComputerWorld Independent

October 4, 2023 admin

Message to IT: Yes, you should install Apple security updates

While it’s not universally the case, many businesses actively using Macs for work may not be paying enough attention to ensuring those devices are secured, according to cloud security provider Qualys, which estimates that just over half of Macs remain unprotected by recent security patches.

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ComputerWorld Independent

October 3, 2023 admin

Zero trust and why it matters to the Apple enterprise

Once upon a time, digital business sat inside the security perimeter. Devices were kept in offices, shared the same network, and were protected by antivirus software, firewalls, and software updates. This system wasn’t perfect and became increasingly specialized, with security teams, networking teams, and others all working in different sectors.

With mobility, this changed. Devices were unleashed from their locations, used their own networks, and stood outside of traditional corporate endpoint protection.

The pandemic accelerated these changes, fostering the evolution of innovative security protections outside of traditional perimeters, such as around zero-trust. The global zero trust security market is now expected to reach $99 billion by 2030, up from $23 billion in 2021.

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Independent Krebs

October 2, 2023 admin

Don’t Let Zombie Zoom Links Drag You Down

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Mon, 02 Oct 2023 15:43:34 +0000

Many organizations — including quite a few Fortune 500 firms — have exposed web links that allow anyone to initiate a Zoom video conference meeting as a valid employee. These company-specific Zoom links, which include a permanent user ID number and an embedded passcode, can work indefinitely and expose an organization’s employees, customers or partners to phishing and other social engineering attacks.

Independent Krebs

September 30, 2023 admin

A Closer Look at the Snatch Data Ransom Group

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2023 19:47:57 +0000

Earlier this week, KrebsOnSecurity revealed that the darknet website for the Snatch ransomware group was leaking data about its users and the crime gang’s internal operations. Today, we’ll take a closer look at the history of Snatch, its alleged founder, and their claims that everyone has confused them with a different, older ransomware group by the same name.

ComputerWorld Independent

September 28, 2023 admin

Google to block Bard conversations from being indexed on Search

Alphabet-owned Google is working on blocking user conversations with its new Bard generative AI assistant from being indexed on its Search platform or showing up as results.

“Bard allows people to share chats, if they choose. We also don’t intend for these shared chats to be indexed by Google Search. We’re working on blocking them from being indexed now,” Google’s Search Liaison account posted on Twitter, now X.

The internet search giant was responding to an SEO Consultant who pointed out on Twitter that user conversations with Bard were being indexed on Google Search.

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Independent Krebs

September 27, 2023 admin

‘Snatch’ Ransom Group Exposes Visitor IP Addresses

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2023 11:48:37 +0000

The victim shaming site operated by the Snatch ransomware group is leaking data about its true online location and internal operations, as well as the Internet addresses of its visitors, KrebsOnSecurity has found. The leaked data suggest that Snatch is one of several ransomware groups using paid ads on Google.com to trick people into installing malware disguised as popular free software, such as Microsoft Teams, Adobe Reader, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Discord.