In May 2014, an accountant to a Texas manufacturing firm received an email from a familiar correspondent, his company’s CEO. The email instructed him to wait for a call from a partner company and warned against sharing the email to anyone else for fear of regulation backlash. The company ended up losing US$ 480,000 to wire fraudsters who used the potent and very costly business email compromise (BEC) scam or CEO fraud. The firm is now suing its cyber insurer for not covering the loss.
Read MoreImagine getting a notification from your bank, asking for your cooperation in installing an updated version of their mobile app. After downloading the app, it asks for administrator privileges. The notification you received said it would indeed prompt the question and so you allowed it. You try the app out and it works fine. You were…
Read MoreLast week, Microsoft ended support for older versions of Internet Explorer (versions 8, 9, and 10). This was done as part of the January 2016 Patch Tuesday cycle; at the same time support for Windows 8 also ended. This means that Microsoft will stop updating old versions of the browser and from now on (with some small exceptions) only systems with the latest IE version (Internet Explorer 11) will receive updates and patches. This poses risks to both end users and enterprises that fail to upgrade to new browser versions.
Read MoreResearchers, whether independent or from security vendors, have a responsibility to properly disseminate the information they gathered to help the industry as well as users. Even with the best intentions, improper disclosure of sensitive information can lead to complicated, and sometimes even troublesome scenarios.
Read MoreThe life cycle of Windows 8, the first operating system Microsoft intended for both desktop and mobile use, has ended. After this January 2016 Patch Tuesday release, users who have not yet updated/upgraded to Windows 8.1 (which was made available in late 2013) or Windows 10 will stop receiving updates. Updating to Windows 8.1 or 10 is currently free for Windows 8 users. This particular end of support should not be a surprise: once a service pack (in this case, Windows 8.1) is released, users have approximately 24 months to upgrade before support ends.
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