You’re going to see a lot of headlines today about a nasty ransomware program named KeRanger that tries to extort Apple / Mac users by encrypting their files and charging ransom for the unscrambling key. Infected users must pay the virus creators today or risk losing use of their data. Here’s [Keep reading]
Crime does pay! About $28,744 per year, figures researcher Larry Ponemon. But that’s a quarter of the income that security pros make, so mommas, don’t let your babies grow up to be hackers. Hackers’ hourly rate suffers too. Computer criminals make about $40 an hour, compared to a little more [Keep reading]
The Internet, and the sharing economy, have changed the way we buy everything — from books to mattresses to “hotel rooms” to taxi rides. Now, it’s the insurance industry’s turn. A series of startups promise disruption of this product consumers love to hate. (Sorry, Flo.) Even well-known author Dan Ariely [Keep reading]
If a hacker was “sharing” your Netflix account, would you know? And should you care? Security firm Symantec recently warned that around the world, hackers have created a thriving black market in stolen — well, let’s call it “shared” — video service accounts. It’s easy to see how this happens. [Keep reading]
Those worried about the U.S. government finding ways to disable encryption in consumer technologies have a lot more explaining to do. The American public isn’t buying their point of view. By a wide margin, Americans side with the FBI over Apple in the recent, very public spat over unlocking an iPhone used by one [Keep reading]
Something has been bothering me about this very public Apple vs. FBI UFC legal battle. Recall that a California judge has ordered Apple to help the FBI circumvent encryption on an iPhone used by Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the San Bernardino terrorists. Apple is refusing. Here’s my question: What does the FBI think [Keep reading]
Now that credit cards have been chipped, the banking industry has set its sights on modernizing another essential financial tool that’s stuck in the 1980s — ATMs. You might have noticed that the fancy chip-enabled debit card you received does you no good at the ATM. That means counterfeit debit [Keep reading]
Hackers are still stealing money from Starbucks customers using a simple attack on the coffee giants’ app users, BobSullivan.net has learned. Nearly a year after my initial story exposed widespread attacks on app users’ bank accounts, the security problems plaguing Starbucks’ auto-reload and linked bank account features persist. Starbucks did [Keep reading]
U.S. consumers have finally been liberated from archaic technology that used to protect them and their credit cards from identity theft. Millions of Americans now have chip-enabled credit cards. And now the results of this sweeping change are in. Just as many consumers were hit by ID theft last year [Keep reading]
Verizon managed to ground an airline on Thursday. But it’s important to ask: Who’s really to blame? Discount airliner JetBlue appears to have cut some serious corners with its disaster recovery planning. The airline suffered nationwide delays on Thursday when many of its computer systems went down, preventing fliers from [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan