There’s been a scary increase in successful ransomware attacks against large organizations this year. Specifically, hospitals have found themselves at the mercy of hackers who demand ransom payments to unlock critical system files. Recently, there have been signs that these criminals have moved on to universities, too. The University of Calgary [Keep reading]
Quantrey Bryant wasn’t a suspected terrorist, but he was a convicted felon, and felons aren’t supposed to be able to buy guns. But from an Alabama jail cell, using smuggled cell phones, stolen credit card data, online websites, and straw buyers, Bryant was able to set up a guns-for-money crime [Keep reading]
How bad has the ransomware problem become? The state auditor of Ohio held a press conference yesterday because local government agencies keep falling for ransomware attacks. And a firm that tracks domain activity found a 3,500% increase in ransomware-related domain name registrations in the past quarter. Hacker love to cut and [Keep reading]
Tinder is kicking young teen-agers off its service, the dating app firm has announced. Currently, anyone 13 or over with a Facebook account can use the app, which popularized the term “swipe right.” Other dating apps or sites, like Bumble or Match.com, require users to be 18 years old. Tinder announced that [Keep reading]
Those new chip-enabled credit cards are working, says Visa: counterfeit card fraud dropped 26 percent in a year at merchants set up to accept the cards, Visa told me this week. You didn’t think criminals would stand still, did you? In a mad dash to squeeze every last dollar out [Keep reading]
As recent college grads begin to enter the workforce this month, consider this: Workplace generation gaps used to pit 60-somethings vs 20-somethings. Not any more. Tech changes so fast that 25-year-olds have trouble communicating with 22-year-olds now. Sorry, Zoomers, but you’re kind over the hill now. (Join the club!) Analysts are [Keep reading]
iTunes gift cards have become a common tool for online scammers to wring money out of victims, according to new warnings from Apple and U.S. federal authorities. One agency received a deluge of complaints during a recent weekend, including word from one victim who lost $31,000 in a recent iTunes payment scam, according to [Keep reading]
QUICK: What was your LinkedIn password in 2012? OK, now think of every password you have set at every service you use and make sure that LinkedIn password isn’t re-used anywhere. If ever you needed a reminder not to re-use passwords, here it is. We knew that LinkedIn got hacked in 2012, but [Keep reading]
What’s the harm if someone gets your zip code wrong in a database? Well, that question ended up at the center of a Supreme Court ruling today — and a popular Twitter hashtag, #zipcodeharms. I’ll get to that in a minute. But first, is it a good or a bad thing when [Keep reading]
How can a bank – or any organization — become less secure in its attempts to become more secure? Let me tell you how. Security must do two things: Protect and enable. If your security doesn’t enable people to do what they have to do, they will inevitably circumvent it, [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan