New Firefox Release Disables Adobe Flash Support

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.  It’s …

Government Shutdown May Cause Issues With Web Security

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 …

If Your Password is On This List, Change It Now

The annual list of the worst passwords in use during 2018 has just been published by SplashData. This year’s list features a number of the usual suspects, but there are also a few new entries.     Here are the ten worst passwords in use, according to the data: 123456 …

You Should Be Worried About Cryptocurrency Mining Malware

In the world of data security, cryptocurrency mining software is often overlooked or discounted as a threat because it doesn’t do serious harm to the infected system. It bleeds off computing resources, putting them to work for the miners who control the software, working for them to solve complex cryptographic …

Most Travelers Are Oblivious To Security Risks During Travel

Over the course of the holiday season this year, more than half of the working adults in the United States will be traveling with one or more of their work devices. Unfortunately, only a tiny fraction of those fully appreciate the data security risks inherent in travel, which is a …

How Long Before You Experience A Cyber Attack?

According to this year’s Traveler’s Risk Index, published by The Traveler’s Indemnity Company, a majority of business owners have a somewhat fatalistic view of hacking and data breaches. The index includes 52 percent of survey respondents indicating that they believe a cyber-attack is inevitable. The other statistics in the report …

An Exploited Website Can Cause Apple Products To Crash

Users of Apple tech have a new reason to worry.  A security researcher named Sabri Haddouche, who works for an instant messaging app called “Wire,” has published a proof of concept web page. It contains a fatal exploit that can crash and restart iPhones, iPads and any Mac. Essentially then, …

Popular NAS Device May Easily Be Compromised

Western Digital has a big problem, and if you use the company’s “My Cloud” network-attached storage (NAS) storage devices, you’ve got one too.  The WD My Cloud service is enormously popular because it’s so convenient, allowing both business owners and individuals to store their files, perform periodic backups, and of …