There's a worrying trend amongst businesses who haven't yet been through some kind of IT related security issue. It's human nature to think bad things only happ...
- Aldo Cutrer 0 Comments
Another found *in* the App Stores
Wandera are warning Android users to watch out for the RedDrop malware, which attempts to record audio, take photos, copy files etc, and even storing them on the users own Dropbox account ready to be used as extortion against the victim. It can do this, since it has full access to the account the apps of the victim's device has.
It also does the usual SMS premium service trick, and this, alongside a sophisticated network of back end hosting locations, leads analysts to believe this is a well-funded, determined hack which Wandera describe as "one of the most sophisticated" they have seen.
It's only just getting publicity, but Kaspersky has been aware of the threat since 2017.
To date, the victims are mainly in China, and the pattern is users searching adult content. However, dozens of innocent-looking apps which contain the malware have been identified - including many inside the the Sky Mobi Android app store.
- Brett Mozee 0 Comments
Suddenly heated up
A terrifying incident happened at the Hotel Ciputra on 30th September, 2017, when a Samsung smartphone suddenly caught fire in a mans shirt pocket.
Yuliant, a 47 year old hotel supervisor, was in the lobby when he suddenly felt a fierce burning sensation on his chest.
He dropped to the floor and a colleague scrambled to help him rip off his shirt.
He said he'd never had problems with his phone before.
The whole incident was captured on CCTV.
Samsung seemed to be over the exploding Note ordeal of 2016 - let's hope this isn't about to start all over again for them.
- Brett Mozee 0 Comments
No user intervention needed
In October 2016, an exploit for iOS was discovered which caused iPhones to repeatedly dial 911 without any intervention from the user at all.
In some places, this hit so hard that the 911 emergency call center in one area was classed as being in "immediate danger" of losing service, and two more were also at risk.
The investigation into these incidents is now complete, and the results show it was much more serious than it first appeared.
The count of the number of calls made was first determined to be in the low hundreds, but it has now been established the number is massively higher. A single tweeted link was clicked on a total of 117,502 times - each click causing a 911 call to be made.
- Brett Mozee 0 Comments
Acecard
Incredibly, new Android malware has been discovered which actually attempts to trick its victims into not only taking a selfie, but one of them holding a valid ID card such as a drivers license or passport. This is like the holy grail to id thieves, who are increasingly finding that government institutions, banks and other similar organisations such as utility companies are insisting on such proof before conducting business with their users.
Now let's be honest here, and a little discreet - it's only a "special" kind of user who's going to fall for such an obvious scam. We are, however, in the numbers game, and a tiny slice of a huge pie is still big enough to make it worthwhile for the bad guys.
Facebook and Twitter also use the "valid id" method to authenticate accounts which have had some kind of issue regarding security.
