Amazon sells ad space on its e-commerce site and on other sites that the company owns, accounting for a huge number of pageviews. At the beginning of September, they’ll no longer accept Flash ads on those sites, following a general trend online of distrust of Flash, especially after Yahoo’s ad network was used to potentially deliver malware to users in a Flash ad. [More]
malware
Mozilla: Firefox Bug Could Secretly Search, Upload Your Files
By 8.7.15
If you use Firefox on a PC, you should make sure you update your browser right now: Mozilla says a Firefox user notified the company after spotting a bug that has the potential to search and download local files. [More]
Yahoo Removes Malware From Its Advertising Network That Exploited Weakness In Adobe Flash
By 8.4.15
For six days last week, malware known as “malvertising” was reportedly lurking in Yahoo’s advertising network, with the potential for attackers to infect internet users’ computers and hold them for ransom. Security researchers say they notified Yahoo of the malware upon discovering it on Sunday, and the company removed the malicious code immediately. [More]
Sally Beauty: Investigation Confirms Customer Payment Info May Have Been Put At Risk, But Not Debit PINs
By 5.29.15
Three weeks after Sally Beauty first said it was looking into whether it’d been the victim of a hack attack, the company says it’s confirmed that criminals used malware on some of its point-of-sale systems, possibly exposing payment information for customers who used cards at some of its U.S. stores. [More]
Big Credit Card Data Breach Hits Bars And Restaurants Using Harbortouch Point-of-Sale Systems
By 5.5.15
In much of the country, this is the first truly warm week of the year. The change of seasons has us turning to shorts, dresses, sandals, and chilled fruity drinks served in rooftop bars. But data breaches, alas, are always in style, and buying that beverage may land you with a stolen credit card number. [More]
Great, Now Hackers Are Apparently Hiding Malware In Job Applications Submitted Online
By 5.1.15
Though we often think of all the stress in a hiring process as being on the side of the job seeker, businesses have a new potential part of the process to worry about: Researchers say hackers are infecting companies by slipping malware in along with resumes submitted through job posting website CareerBuilder.com. [More]
Google Expands “Safe Browsing” App To Warn Users About Sites Riddled With Unwanted Software
By 3.13.15
First of all, we’d like to offer a belated Happy Birthday to the World Wide Web, which turned 26 yesterday. You’re closer to 30 than 20 now, so your hangovers will only get worse. Second, to honor that milestone, Google announced updates to its Safe Browsing technology, including a warning when users are about to visit a site chockfull of unwanted software. [More]
Fake Pizza Hut Anniversary Email Won’t Give You Free Pizza, Just Malware
By 11.7.14
Emails for free pizza might be few and far between, so when one shows up in your inbox you might be tempted to ditch those dinner plans for a few cheesy slices. But even the promise of free pizzas can be too good to be true, that was certainly the case this week when an email purported to be from Pizza Hut didn’t end in free pizza, but dangerous malware. [More]
Ice Cream Hack: Dairy Queen, Orange Julius Latest Companies Hit By A Data Breach
By 10.10.14
A trip to the local Dairy Queen usually ends in a tasty, cool treat, but customers are nearly 400 stores it ended with a decidedly less delicious surprise: A security breach. [More]
UPS: Hackers Hit Computer Systems At 51 Retail Stores, Possibly Exposing Customer Info
By 8.21.14
Did I bump my head and wake up in late 2013? Because it sure feels like deja vu with a slew of recent data breaches: Joining P.F. Chang’s, a group of supermarket chains and Community Health Systems in this month’s data breach roll call is United Parcel Service, which says 51 of its retail store locations had their computer systems hacked. [More]
Secret Service Warns Against Keylogging Malware At Hotel Business Centers
By 7.14.14
Here’s one that should be added to the earlier list of possible hotel scams. The U.S. Secret Service has sent out a warning to hotel operators, asking them to check shared computers in their business centers for malware that can log keystrokes and steal sensitive information from users. [More]
New Malware Activated By Text Message Makes ATMs Start Spitting Cash
By 3.25.14
Let’s not pretend that the sight of an ATM spewing cash out of its mouth like it hit the oil can just a little too hard last night isn’t something we’ve all dreamed of, though knowing full well that we’d never steal in real life. But it’s far from a dream for cybercriminals who have figured out how to trigger malware infections that get ATMs to spit cash just by sending a text message. [More]
Mobile Ads Overtake Porn As Most Likely Way To Get Malware On Your Phone
By 3.5.14
While malware dressed in pornography’s clothing used to be the most tempting for smartphone users, it’s been overtaken recently by mobile ads, says one online security company in its latest report. Which means that either our big clumsy figures are accidentally hitting things or we’d rather look at ads than naked body parts. [More]
Scam E-Mail Lying About Friend’s Death Brings World Of Grief For Guy Who Clicked
By 2.19.14
It can be a real shock to hear about the sudden death of someone you know. So shocking that you might let your guard down and immediately seek more information. That’s what some fraudsters are counting on. They send you an e-mail entitled “Passing Of Your Friend” that looks like a legit notice from a funeral home, but is neither. [More]
Click On The Link In That ‘Funeral Notice’ E-mail At Your Own Risk
By 2.13.14
Most e-mail scams try to take advantage of consumers’ curiosity, which is why phishing messages promising sex and/or porn still dominate the scam spam landscape. But some online jerks are trying to tap into an equally primal, but less crude, instinct by sending out fake funeral notices in the hope that people won’t be able to keep themselves from clicking away. [More]
Homeland Security Warns Retailers About Malware Used In Target Hack
By 1.17.14
While you might imagine other big retailers sitting back and having a good ol’ chuckle at the expense of Target, the reality is more like they’re all shaking in their boots. Because if a massive data breach could hit Target, it could happen to any merchant (and probably will hit more). The government wants retailers to be ready, and has released a bunch of information about the methods used in the attack to prepare them. [More]
Clicking On Shady Links To Download Apps Is A Super Easy Way To Get Your Phone Hacked
By 8.8.13
Listen, it’s not like we’re trying to be nags, here. It’s just that it is so very easy for n’er-do-wells to hack into your private life and we want to make sure you’re safe and sound. We’re not the only ones to drive home this point, as one security expert shows with a simple hack he made that looks like an app but is really an insidious, spying piece of malware. [More]
Someone Is Watching You Pick Your Nose Via Webcam & Sharing Photos With Fellow Creepers
By 3.11.13
In today’s world of constant Internet connections and online communities dedicated to anything and everything and how to do it, it isn’t just obsessed exes and the neighborhood peeping Tom we have to worry about. Now there are ratters, so-named after the Remote Administration Tool some hackers use to spy on strangers. [More]
