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January 6, 2021 by Vertical Axion
Japanese juggernaut Kawasaki Heavy Industries is the latest company to fall victim to a security breach. The company, which employs more than 35,000 people and has offices all over the globe recently disclosed the breach to its customers. The company discovered that one or more unauthorized parties accessed a company server in Japan from an […]
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January 5, 2021 by Vertical Axion
In 2020, hackers around the world have increasingly gravitated to ransomware as their preferred method of attack. This year, there have been dozens of high-profile, successful attacks on companies around the world. Whirlpool, one of the largest home appliance manufacturers in the world, is the latest company to fall victim to this type of attack. […]
January 4, 2021 by Vertical Axion
One year ago, Microsoft officially ended support for the venerable Windows 7 operating system. No new security patches have been issued, which means that anyone running a Windows 7 machine at this point is taking a tremendous security risk. That is especially true if that machine is connected to a corporate network. It would be […]
January 2, 2021 by Vertical Axion
If you make extensive use of Google’s products, you almost certainly noticed the worldwide outage of Google’s services. As details continue to emerge about the outage, it’s increasingly clear that Google has some egg on its face and that the outage was an entirely self-inflicted wound. The failure was ultimately caused by the company’s Identity […]
December 31, 2020 by Vertical Axion
If you have a smartphone, and these days, almost everyone has at least one, you’re incredibly easy to track. That’s especially true if you have more than a handful of apps on your phone, because apps are notoriously bad about demanding access to details about you they don’t need in order to function. From the […]
December 30, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Is your company’s website built around WordPress? If so, you’re certainly not alone. WordPress is, to this day, the simplest way to get a site up and running quickly. It’s easy to use, has an intuitive interface and there are thousands of great plugins that extend its capabilities. Unfortunately, hackers are all too aware of […]
December 29, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Avast are the makers of popular antivirus software. Their researchers, recently found a total of twenty-eight different Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge extensions that were laced with malware. Worse, they found the extensions have been downloaded by more than 3 million users around the world. All of the extensions were designed to help facilitate the […]
December 28, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Are you working from home right now? If so, you’ve got plenty of company. Since the pandemic began, tens of millions of American workers have started doing exactly that, but there’s a problem. While working from home has its upsides, it also tends to be a bit noisier, especially if you have children, neighbors, or […]
December 26, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Scammers have a new way of ripping people off this year. If you’re not mindful of it, it could literally cost you. Gift cards have always been fairly popular, but this year, they seem to be more popular than ever. According to the online fraud prevention company, Bolster, thieves have been hard at work setting […]
December 25, 2020 by Vertical Axion
We’re drawing close to the end of an era. The writing has been on the wall for Adobe’s Flash player for quite some time, and the company has set a firm date of January 12th, 2012 as its official end of life. Recently, they took another important step closer by releasing what will be their […]
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 […]
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 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 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 […]