Lifeboat Foundation

Even when you pay for a decryption key, your files may still be locked up by another strain of malware.

Not the usual medical or science, but it may help someone.

Windows 10 comes with its own baked-in antivirus solution called Windows Defender, and it is enabled by default when setting up a new PC. At the very least, that affords you some basic protection against the many malware threats out in the wild. But did you know there is an added optional layer that can keep your pictures, videos, work documents, and other files safe in the event of a ransomware infection? The caveat is that you have to manually enable ransomware protection in Windows 10.

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An attack has crippled the company’s operations—and cut off a large portion of the East Coast’s fuel supply—in an ominous development for critical infrastructure.

Top U.S. fuel pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline has shut its entire network, the source of nearly half of the U.S. East Coast’s fuel supply, after a cyber attack that the company said was caused by ransomware.

The shutdown has raised fears of a price spike at the gas pumps ahead of peak demand summer driving season if it persists, and has drawn attention to how critical U.S. energy infrastructure is vulnerable to hackers.

Colonial transports 2.5 million barrels per day of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined products through 5500 miles (8850 km) of pipelines linking refiners on the Gulf Coast to the eastern and southern United States.

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Computing experts thought they had developed adequate security patches after the major worldwide Spectre flaw of 2018, but UVA’s discovery shows processors are open to hackers again.

In 2018, industry and academic researchers revealed a potentially devastating hardware flaw that made computers and other devices worldwide vulnerable to attack.

Researchers named the vulnerability Spectre because the flaw was built into modern computer processors that get their speed from a technique called “speculative execution,” in which the processor predicts instructions it might end up executing and preps by following the predicted path to pull the instructions from memory. A Spectre attack tricks the processor into executing instructions along the wrong path. Even though the processor recovers and correctly completes its task, hackers can access confidential data while the processor is heading the wrong way.

Continue reading “Spectre Strikes Back: New Hacking Vulnerability Affecting Billions of Computers Worldwide” »

A mental health startup built its business on easy-to-use technology. Patients joined in droves. Then came a catastrophic data breach.

Lauded for years as the system able to best prevent malware infection, macOS recently fell victim to an operating system vulnerability that hackers used to circumvent all of Apple’s system defenses.

Security researcher Cedric Owens discovered this bug in March 2021 while assessing Apple’s Gatekeeper mechanism, a safeguard that will only allow developers to run their software on Macs after registering with Apple and paying a fee. Moreover, the company requires that all applications undergo an automated vetting process to further protect against malicious software.

Unfortunately, Owens uncovered a logic flaw in the macOS itself, rather than the defense systems. The bug allowed attackers to develop malware able to deceive the operating system into running their malware regardless of whether they passed Apple’s safety checks. Indeed, this flaw resembles a door that has been securely locked and bolted but still has a small pet door at the bottom through which you can break in or insert a bomb.

GPS is a world-changing technology. It’s also incredibly fragile, easily spoofable, and consistently hackable. That’s why the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are looking to the stars for a navigational Plan B.

Deleting another spam email in our inbox is becoming an everyday habit. Some may have even had their accounts hacked after clicking a misleading link or had their identities stolen. These are some common cybercrimes and as our reliance on the internet grows, our interactions with cybercrimes becomes more frequent.

According to a recent FBI report on internet crime, 241342 Americans fell victim to phishing, vishing (via call) and smishing (via text) attacks last year, making it the most common type of cybercrime.

This chart shows the most common types of internet crimes in the U.S. in 2020.

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