Security

ComputerWorldIndependent

Unclear on the concept, plastic edition

Credit to Author: Sharky| Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2017 03:00:00 -0700

This IT pilot fish tries to practice good data security in his personal life as well as on the job — but that doesn’t always work out.

“My wife was going to charge some travel expenses on my credit card during her break at work,” says fish. “So as not to give up my card for the day, I wrote the number, expiration date and security code on a piece of paper.

“As I wrote the 16 digits out, I realized that she was taking this piece of paper to work, and who knows who might see it or what might happen if she were to throw it out? So instead of writing the last four digits, I wrote “xxxx,” and texted them to her instead.

“I thought I had done a decent job in protecting my credit card information — until later that morning, when she texted me saying that there was an issue with one of the charges. Would I mind calling, since she was unable? No problem, I responded. Can you send me the number to call?

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

Read More
SecurityTrendMicro

TippingPoint Threat Intelligence and Zero-Day Coverage – Week of July 3, 2017

Credit to Author: Elisa Lippincott (TippingPoint Global Product Marketing)| Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2017 15:45:09 +0000

It has been quoted by Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and others that insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I could say that in our world of cyber security, despite all the headlines about data breaches and ransomware, there is no “insanity.” Products we used 25 years ago…

Read More
ComputerWorldIndependent

Microsoft releases 15 Office patches for July, but some June bugs still stink

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2017 07:23:00 -0700

On Patch Wednesday of this week, Microsoft said it released 14 non-security Office updates, covering such fascinating topics as improved Dutch translations in Word 2013, Danish translations in Access, and Finnish and Swedish translations in Excel. Typical first Tuesday stuff.

Microsoft neglected to mention that it also shipped a fix for the bugs introduced by last month’s patches to Outlook 2010. Dubbed KB 4011042, the neglected fix appears to be a non-security patch that fixes bugs created by a security patch — a red flag for many advanced patchers.

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

Read More
ComputerWorldIndependent

The ancient Microsoft networking protocol at the core of the latest global malware attack

Credit to Author: Preston Gralla| Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2017 03:20:00 -0700

Another day, another global malware attack made possible by a Microsoft security hole. Once again, attackers used hacking tools developed by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA), which were stolen and subsequently released by a group called Shadow Brokers.

This time around, though, the late-June attack apparently wasn’t ransomware with which the attackers hoped to make a killing. Instead, as The New York Times noted, it was likely an attack by Russia on Ukraine on the eve of a holiday celebrating the Ukrainian constitution, which was written after Ukraine broke away from Russia. According to the Times, the attack froze “computers in Ukrainian hospitals, supermarkets, and even the systems for radiation monitoring at the old Chernobyl nuclear plant.” After that, it spread worldwide. The rest of the world was nothing more than collateral damage.

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

Read More