New Firefox Release Disables Adobe Flash Support

January 24th, 2019

Are you a Firefox user?  If so, be advised that in Mozilla's next release, Firefox 69, the company will be disabling support for the beleaguered Adobe Flash plugin.

The change has been on the radar for quite some time, so it should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Government Shutdown May Cause Issues With Web Security

January 23rd, 2019

Here's a side-effect of the government's continuing shutdown that many people had not anticipated:  Expiring TLS Certificates used for web security. Most people clearly see the impacts of national parks closing and the like.

It's worth remembering that the government's IT staffed as been classified as 'non-essential' too, which means they're currently sitting at home twiddling their thumbs, waiting for the politicians to decide what's next and get the doors of government opened up again.

New Ransomware Encrypts Data And Steals Payment Info

January 22nd, 2019

There's a new strain of ransomware being deployed with increasing frequency.  Believe it or not, it's even more dangerous than the strains we've seen in recent months.

Unlike other types of ransomware, this one not only encrypts your files and demands payment (which is bad enough) but it also attempts to steal your credit card information via a PayPal phishing page included in the code.

Windows 10 May Soon Provide Option To Pause Updates

January 21st, 2019

Recent Windows 10 updates have been giving the company's user base heartburn lately, with their tendency to delete files and cause at least as many problems as they solve.  If you're among the frustrated ranks, good news is on the horizon.

The company is currently readying an update that will allow you to pause the update function so that they no longer occur automatically.

Passport And Credit Card Numbers Stolen In Marriott Hack

January 19th, 2019

Recently, Marriott Hotels informed the world that they had been the victims of a massive data breach.  As it turns out, the breach was even more serious than was initially reported.

As the company has learned more from the ongoing investigation into the matter, they've been doing an admirable job at keeping the public updated, even if the details are cringe-worthy.

Page Caches May Be Vulnerable To Attack

January 18th, 2019

There's a new side channel attack to worry about. This one is after the target system's OS page cache, where a variety of sensitive data that has been accessed by the device's owner is stored for rapid retrieval.  Perhaps the worst and most ominous aspect of this newly identified threat is the fact that it's not limited by hardware architecture, and has been found to work on both Window and Linux-based machines.

High Quality Photos May Affect Facial Recognition On Some Phones

January 17th, 2019

One of the exciting new features offered by the latest smartphones is facial recognition, which allows users to unlock their devices simply by looking at them.  On paper, it's a great feature and incredibly convenient, but there's a problem. The issue was uncovered by a non-profit group called the Dutch Consumentenbond, which tested more than a hundred smartphones offered by a broad spectrum of vendors.

Flaws In Several Adobe Products Could Let Attackers In 

January 16th, 2019

Two new critical flaws have been discovered in Adobe Acrobat and Reader that require your urgent attention.

In fact, the flaws were rated as so severe that the company broke with its tradition of releasing security updates around the middle of the month in coordination with Microsoft's "Patch Tuesday".

They released an update sooner this time, in order to make sure that these issues were resolved, and ensure the fixes were in the hands of their users.

Adware Continues To Be A Major Issue On Android Devices 

January 15th, 2019

Google has been busy in recent weeks.  They've removed a staggering 85 apps from their Play Store when they discovered that they were pushing highly aggressive adware to the users who downloaded them.

The apps the company removed were wearing a number of disguises, passing themselves off as everything from games, to remote control simulators, to streaming video services, and more.

Wannacry Ransomware Continues To Be A Problem For Some

January 14th, 2019

It's been the better part of two years since the outbreak of the Wannacry ransomware epidemic.  Unfortunately, all this time later, some companies are still dealing with the fallout.  According to the latest research, Wannacry is still infecting hundreds of thousands of computers around the globe.