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August 8, 2020 by Vertical Axion
For more than five months, the internet breathed a collective sigh of relief as one of the most notorious strains of malware, Emotet, went dark and ceased all activity. It was as though the hackers in control of the code had simply pulled the plug. All good things, however, inevitably end. On July 17th, 2020, […]
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August 7, 2020 by Vertical Axion
According to the 2020 Vulnerability and Treat Trends Report, the number of new samples of ransomware increased by a staggering 72 percent during the first half of this year. Hackers around the world have come to increasingly view it as their go-to attack option. As with a great many things in recent months, this trend […]
August 6, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Do you use Adobe Photoshop, Bridge, or Prelude? If so, and even if you’re not normally quick to apply security patches issued by the company, you’ll want to give the most recent patch from Adobe priority. The company’s most recent patch addresses an even dozen critical security flaws that could allow an attacker to execute […]
August 5, 2020 by Vertical Axion
If you use Microsoft Edge on Windows, macOS, iOS, or Android, you’ll probably want to install the July 2020 update as soon as possible because it contains a raft of improvements to the browser. First and most importantly, Microsoft Edge is joining the FastTrack Ready Partner Program, beginning in August. If you’d like to help […]
August 3, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Do you own an Android device? Is Firefox your browser of choice? If you answered yes to both of those questions, be advised that there’s a serious flaw in the Firefox app for Android that may prompt you to uninstall it until the company issues a patch to correct it sometime in October. Here’s a […]
August 1, 2020 by Vertical Axion
How would you like to get your internet signal from outer space? You can! Elon Musk’s SpaceX company has moved another step closer to offering internet connectivity via its Starlink service. However, at the moment, there’s an important catch and caveat. Starlink has recently emailed fans to get their home addresses in anticipation of the […]
July 31, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Are you a G-Suite user? If so, we have great news! Recently, Google rolled out a number of exciting new features to enhance both the usability of the G-Suite and its security. In the words of Javier Soltero, the VP and GM of the G-Suite: “Instead of learning another tool, we need the tools we […]
July 30, 2020 by Vertical Axion
A number of prominent hacking groups made a gentleman’s agreement with research labs that are attempting to develop a vaccine for the deadly COVID-19 virus currently ravaging the planet. The agreement was promising that no attacks against research facilities would be made. Unfortunately, not everyone is playing by those rules. Recently, intelligence agencies in the […]
July 27, 2020 by Vertical Axion
An as-yet unidentified hacker pulled off quite a heist on Twitter recently. He (or she) gained access to a Twitter Admin account, and used that access to rapidly take control of a number of high profile Twitter accounts. Once the hackers gained control of these accounts they began using them to lure unsuspecting victims to […]
July 25, 2020 by Vertical Axion
In 2015, a new image format was born of a collaboration between Cisco, Google, and Xiph.org. Dubbed AVIF, the format is based on the Av1 video codec. It is royalty-free and widely regarded as the most highly optimized image format to be developed to date, superior to old standbys BPEG, PNG, and even the newer […]
July 24, 2020 by Vertical Axion
If you aren’t normally in the habit of installing updates when companies release them, you’ll probably want to make an exception for KB4484439. It is a non-security update for Windows Installer editions of Office 2013 and 2016 products. If you use Office 2016, and frequently edit Word documents that feature custom XML values, these will […]
July 22, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Although you may not be familiar with the name, a strain of ransomware called “Conti” is surging in popularity on the Dark Web and seeing a rapidly growing number of installations, so it’s definitely one to be on guard against. Advanced intel’s Vitali Kremez has been tracking this strain since it first appeared in late […]
July 21, 2020 by Vertical Axion
All things end eventually, and in the years since Microsoft’s Windows has existed, the OS has undergone a great many changes. Most for the better, but some that have met with unexpected backlash. Last year, millions of users nearly revolted at the notion that MS Paint would be retired. As image editing software goes, Paint […]
July 20, 2020 by Vertical Axion
On a regular basis, we see headlines talking about how this or that company got hacked and X number of employee or customer logins got exposed. However, since those headlines happen in isolation, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. A trip to the Dark Web will reveal just how big of a […]
July 18, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Apple users are in a state of absolute uproar. Recently, battery life has taken a hit, with batteries draining more quickly than ever, sending legions of iPhone users on a hunt to track down the culprit or culprits. Early indications are that more than one app is responsible for the drastic reduction in battery life, […]
July 17, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Malware Lab’s researcher Maciej Kotowicz has made an intriguing discovery that makes the Trickbot banking trojan even more of a threat. The most recent strain of the malware he looked at is sporting a new feature that allows the code to check the resolution of the screen on the machine it’s running on. If it […]
July 16, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Mark the date August 12th, 2020 on your calendar if you’re a GSuite user. Google has warned users that unless they update their GSuite iOS and Android apps, they may stop working by the date referenced above. The company’s announcement concerning the matter reads, in part, as follows: “In 2018, we began making changes to […]
July 15, 2020 by Vertical Axion
If you have one or more illegal copies of Apple software on your Mac, be aware that there’s a new threat to be concerned about. An info-stealing, data wiping malware strain known as ThiefQuest has been found embedded in torrents of illicit software written for macOS. While ThiefQuest isn’t as commonly seen as some other […]
July 14, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Recently, Microsoft announced a small but important improvement to one of its signature products, Microsoft Word. The company is planning to roll out a plagiarism checking tool bundled with a virtual writing assistant powered by the company’s increasingly powerful AI/Machine Learning code. If you’re interested in trying it out, it’s currently available to customers using […]
July 13, 2020 by Vertical Axion
The University of San Francisco (UCSF) is the latest organization to fall victim to hackers, running afoul of a group utilizing the Netwalker ransomware strain. UCSF is a research university whose recent efforts have been focused on health sciences generally and COVID-19-related research specifically. On June 3rd, 2020, Netwalker published a notice on a site […]
July 11, 2020 by Vertical Axion
You probably aren’t familiar with the name Ata Hakcil. He’s a computer engineering student who recently conducted one of the largest password security surveys currently available. To conduct his research, he collected a number of username and password “data dumps” from the Dark Web and analyzed the passwords he found there. Hakcil was able to […]
July 10, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Hackers are constantly on the lookout for new ways of causing mayhem and stealing data. Recently, researchers have unearthed a new technique to be on guard against. A few hackers have begun embedding credit card stealing scripts inside favicon meta data. If you’re not familiar with the term, you definitely know what a favicon is. […]
July 9, 2020 by Vertical Axion
Does your company make use of VMware products? If so, be advised that a pair of researchers from Synacktiv recently reported a series of critical security flaws in VMware’s ESXi, Workstation and Fusion products. The recent discovery prompted the company to issue an emergency security patch to address those issues. The most serious of the […]
July 8, 2020 by Vertical Axion
If you have computers on your corporate network that rely on NVIDIA hardware and software, be advised that the company recently released security updates to address serious security vulnerabilities found in CUDA and GPU Display drivers and Virtual GPU Management software. These are security flaws that could lead to an escalation of privileges, denial of […]
