Smart home device calls cops during domestic dispute
Amazon is kicking off its third annual Prime Day by slashing the cost of an Amazon Echo, cutting 50 percent off the price tag, and selling the Echo for only $89.99. Google is competing by cutting $64 from the price tag for a Google Home and Chromecast bundle, selling the two for $99.99. So, if you’ve been wanting to…
Google Patches Critical Vulnerabilities in Android
Google on Wednesday announced that a total of 138 vulnerabilities were addressed in the Android platform with the release of this month’s set of security patches. The July 2017 Android Security Bulletin was split in two partial security patch level strings: the 2017-07-01 security patch level that addresses issues in the platform itself, and the 2017-07-05 security patch…
Guide to the top college and university cyber security degree programs
The shortage of cyber security professionals is well documented, and this lack of expertise can keep organizations from bolstering their security programs. CISOs and CSOs should be heartened by the fact that more colleges and universities are offering academic programs and degrees in cyber security specialties. They are also doing their best to place young…
Security’s blind spot: The long-term state of exception
It seems every major hack is accompanied by the pointing of fingers. And there are plenty of places to point them: the servers that weren’t patched, the retailer who hadn’t finished setting up an intrusion detection system, the high-ranking official who used his personal email to store secrets, the critical application with unfixed security holes…
Hacking Factory Robot Arms for Sabotage, Fun & Profit
Black Hat talk will discuss how hackers could take over robotic arms, create micro-defects in products, and open up a new world of subtle blackmail. Security researchers have been accumulating a trove of breakthrough discoveries on Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) vulnerabilities and releasing them at the Black Hat Briefings over the last few years…
Social media is a cybersecurity risk for business
By itself, social media might not constitute a cyberthreat but once again, employees who ignore best practices around security are making it easy for scammers. It’s even been described as the perfect hunting ground for illegal activity. Social media has also turned into a dandy reconnaissance tool that cybercriminals use to socially engineer their victims. When someone neglects their privacy settings or publicly posts personal notes and photos, they can leave cybercriminals free to use their information…
Petya Weren’t Expecting This: Ransomware Takes Systems Hostage Across the Globe
Early on Tuesday, June 27, reports began to circulate that organizations in the Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe were suffering ransomware attacks. It quickly became clear that this Petya attack could equal or surpass the May WannaCry attack. WannaCry’s spread was so successful because it was powered by a flaw in Windows, and although Microsoft…
UK Parliament Cuts Email Access After Cyberattack
Britain’s parliament shut down external access to e-mail accounts on Saturday following a cyberattack. Parliamentary authorities described the attack as “sustained and determined”, in an email sent to lawmakers and published by the Daily Telegraph. “Earlier this morning we discovered unusual activity and evidence of an attempted cyberattack on our computer network,” it read. “Closer…
Honda Halts Production at Japan Plant After Cyber Attacks
Honda said Wednesday it had temporarily halted production at a plant in Japan after it suffered a cyberattack from the same ransomware that struck hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide last month. The Japanese automaker said it had shut its plant in Sayama, near Tokyo, on Monday after discovering its computer system was infected with…
North Korea’s DDoS Attacks Analyzed Based on IPs
Arbor Networks has used the IP addresses shared recently by United States authorities to analyze distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks attributed to the North Korean government. The security firm believes the data may not be as useful for organizations as the U.S. hopes. Earlier this month, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) released a…