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December 24, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Hackers have found yet another possible inroad they can use to infect the machines of unsuspecting users. This time, they’re infecting older versions of WinZip. If there’s one utility that’s nearly as ubiquitous as Adobe’s Acrobat Reader, it would probably be WinZip. In the 30+ years since its initial release, the handy tool has seen […]
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December 23, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Microsoft has really struggled in recent years to make a browser that could compete with the most popular offerings on the market today. Internet Explorer was the early standard, but was quickly eclipsed, and slowly fell into obscurity. The company’s second attempt, Edge, was short-lived and never had time to fully mature before the company […]
December 22, 2020 by Vertical Axion
With the pandemic still raging, many schools around the world are still shuttered as tens of millions of school age children take to learning from home via remote or distance learning technologies. It is by no means a perfect substitute for in person learning but right now at least, it’s the only viable option available. […]
December 21, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Microsoft recently issued a warning about an ongoing malware campaign they discovered. It seeks to install a new browser hijacking, credential stealing malware strain called Adrozek onto as many PCs as possible. Based on Microsoft’s analysis of the campaign, at its peak, it was able to infect more than 30,000 devices every single day. Microsoft […]
December 19, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Since the start of the pandemic, Microsoft has been working at a furious pace to add new features to Teams. It has become one of the company’s most widely used services, allowing remote employees to communicate seamlessly with each other. Continuing that trend, the Redmond giant has recently added yet more new features, including a […]
December 18, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Internet Explorer is proving to be a very difficult web browser to kill, and it’s not for lack of trying on Microsoft’s part. Back in August of this year (2020), the company mapped out a path to the end of life for Explorer. That included ending Microsoft Teams support of the browser by November 30, […]
December 17, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Do you own an iPhone? If so, although you may not know the name, you owe Ian Beer your thanks. Recently, he discovered an absolutely devastating iPhone hack that allowed attackers to take complete control over a target device from a distance with absolutely no action required on the part of an unsuspecting victim. In […]
December 16, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Do you use the Go SMS Pro Android app? If so, you’ve got plenty of company. The app is one of the most popular on Google’s Play Store, boasting more than 100 million installs. That, unfortunately, is the problem. A few months ago, Trustwave discovered and disclosed a major flaw in the app that allowed […]
December 15, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Black Friday wasn’t as big of a shopping day as it could have been this year, and we have the pandemic to thank for that. In response to that, retailers have extended the holiday shopping season by starting earlier and offering more deals online, and holiday shoppers have responded to those changes. While Black Friday’s […]
December 14, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Is Google Chrome your browser of choice? If it is, then you’ve probably noticed some changes recently, with the browser offering to check the status of your saved passwords to see if they’ve been compromised. Google has made some excellent moves in recent months designed to bolster the security of everyone who uses their products, […]
December 12, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Microsoft has had a firm date to end support for Windows 7 on the books for over a year. They’ve insisted repeatedly that there was no flexibility in the date, so Windows 7 users would need to upgrade or risk not being protected by security patches. Then the pandemic hit, and after wrestling with the […]
December 11, 2020 by Vertical Axion
A new ransomware strain burst onto the scene in September of this year (2020). Dubbed ‘Egregor’ by the research team at Digital Shadows who discovered it, it has already claimed more than seventy victims in nineteen countries around the world. Worse, the hackers controlling it appear to just be getting started. The malware is expertly […]
December 10, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Researchers at Check Point have recently discovered a new malware threat that targets mobile device users. Dubbed WAPDropper, this is a multi-function bit of code that’s capable of being outfitted with a variety of payloads. At present, the hackers controlling WAPDropper have seen fit to include a premium dialer module, which gives the code the […]
December 9, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Are you a Spotify user? If so, you’ve got plenty of company. It’s one of the shining success stories on the web, and has grown to become one of the most popular music streaming services available. Unfortunately, that also makes it a target, and recently, researchers at VPNMentor discovered a database of more than 300,000 […]
December 8, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Unless you’re a regular Home Depot shopper, you may have missed the fact that back in 2014, the company was the victim of a successful hacking attack that saw malware installed on the company’s POS (Point of Sale) system. The attack allowed them to collect more than 40 million records belonging to customers in both […]
December 7, 2020 by Vertical Axion
If you’re a US citizen, scammers have found a new way to make money at your expense, using the global pandemic as a ‘hook.’ Since the start of the pandemic, there have been a number of campaigns designed and run by scammers to spread misinformation, steal vaccine research, and scam people out of money. The latest […]
December 5, 2020 by Vertical Axion
If you’re an avid gamer, you’re almost certainly at least passingly familiar with Minecraft, and you may be an active player. Despite its blocky, simplistic graphics, it’s the most popular game of all time. It is very prevalent on the internet. If you play on an Android device, be aware that hackers are now exploiting […]
December 3, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Hackers have increasingly gravitated to ransomware attacks in 2020, as being one of the best and most reliable paths to a payday. That brings to mind an interesting question though. Naturally, the viability of this type of attack comes down to what percentage of victims are willing to actually pay the ransom, and what is […]
December 2, 2020 by Vertical Axion
It’s time once again for a survey of the worst passwords of 2020, brought to you by Norpass and associates. The company has been analyzing passwords retrieved from the Dark Web to study them. They are trying to locate trends and see just how well we’re doing overall, in terms of picking passwords that aren’t […]
December 1, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Are you a Pluto.tv user? If so, you’re not alone. The internet television station boasts an impressive user base of nearly thirty million users who enjoy a wide range of free TV shows, with the caveat that they have to put up with commercials. Unfortunately, security researchers recently found a vast trove of Pluto.tv login […]
November 30, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Researchers from cybersecurity company Morphisec have recently discovered a new strain of malware they believe has been in the wild of the internet since at least May of this year (2020). Dubbed Jupyter, this strain is classed as an Info Stealer. It focuses on getting into user names, passwords and other private systems and exfiltrating […]
November 28, 2020 by Vertical Axion
If you’re a diehard Chrome browser user, be aware that as of November 17th, 2020, Chrome 87 has now been ported to the Stable desktop channel, and it’s an upgrade well worth getting. It adds a raft of performance improvements that will increase your overall browsing speed, in addition to offering some new security features. […]
November 27, 2020 by Vertical Axion
For several years now, most of the big tech companies have been using the lure of free to grow their respective user bases. Free unlimited data on phone plans. Free, unlimited storage on cloud drive plans, and the like. Free can get expensive for these firms, however. Over time, most of them have slowly backed away […]
November 26, 2020 by Vertical Axion
File this away under the least surprising announcement ever. Actually, it’s not so much an announcement as a reminder that on January 26, 2021, when Mozilla releases Firefox 85, the option to re-enable Adobe’s Flash Player will be gone, effectively eliminating Flash on the browser. Firefox is the latest in a string of browsers to […]
