eBay Breach: Password Reset Issues

There are 145 million people affected by the security breach from the Internet giant eBay.

Dumping the Data

When a catastrophic event happens, cyber-criminals come out from the shadows and lurk on their pray…YOU!

It has been stated that  eBay’s database and is on the market and priced for 1.45 bitcoin.

The claimed offer is for sale via anonymous text file site Pastebin.

It is likely that the data is not from the recent eBay data breach but possibly from another source.

The hacker provided a 3,000-row extract from a database with Asian-Pacific user names, addresses, phone numbers and their DOB.  This equals to about 145 million users.

The users are shown in the sample would represent an odd subset of users for an international company like eBay.

Even if the sample is not from the eBay breach, it could potentially be data from another major company’s leak.

Or it could be fake, and just another cyber-criminal trading for bitcoin on the blackmarket.

Did you receive a notice?

Many reports from worried eBay users says eBay has not yet sent them an email about the issue.  There is no notification when you go to eBay.com or any kind of warning about the breach.

There was a notification after the user tries to reset their password which urges users to create a new one.





It is common for websites to put a banner or notification on their site after a breach.  Notifications urging their users to change passwords, even when the theft is only of encrypted (and properly salted and hashed) passwords.

The reason why eBay hasn’t done the same, is a mystery…

 

Beef up the password

If you haven’t already done so, create a strong, unique password for your account.
Make sure you can remember it but nobody else will be able to guess it.

eBay unlike many others, allows short 6 character passwords.  The suggested amount of characters is at least 8.

eBay does require a mix of characters with upper, lower, number and a symbol.  Try and use a combination of them all.

The following passwords are rated as “medium” allowing users to use these as passwords:

• Password1
• MyH0us3
• Iloveyou!
• !2345@

You see how these passwords still have a combination of characters and numbers, although they are still quite easy to guess.

This is why it is so important to create a strong, secure password at least 8 characters long.

De-link PayPal

Since eBay owns PayPal, they suggest users to link their PayPal account to their eBay account.

Since the breach, if you have followed their suggestion, you may want to rethink your choice.

If you un-link PayPal from eBay account, you can still pay with your PayPal account at any time.

Linked accounts provide cyber-criminals with an easy way to gather a variety of data.

Anytime a step is removed from the process of logging in as a user, you remove a step of security against criminals gaining access to your information.

It took eBay two months to discover the hack because there was no sign of “unusual activity” detected.  eBay has not confirmed if the data stolen was private information or not.

Security experts have criticized the company for not encrypting all private customer information obtained.
eBay is aggressively investigating the intrusion with police enforcement but has no evidence that user accounts have been tampered with.

What do you think about this data breach?  Please leave your comments below, we would love to hear from you!

Be sure to follow us on Twitter at @hyphenet or “Like” us on Facebook to stay up-to-date on the latest computer security threats.

References:
Myers, Lysa
ESET
eBay breach news: Posted data dump not valid, password reset issues
http://www.welivesecurity.com/2014/05/22/ebay-breach-news-posted-data-dump…
Published: May 22, 2014

Gibbs, Samuel
TheGuardian
Ebay denies ‘stolen database’ on sale for 1.45 bitcoin is authentic
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/22/ebay-denies-stolen-database-on-sale…
Published: May 22, 2014

Cyber Security Tips

10 Tips on how to Protect Your Personal Data

Target, Google, Yahoo, and eBay have all sent out announcements to change your password and secure your personal data.

When visiting a website you enter personal information sometimes without even knowing it.

eBay said that its corporate network was hacked and hackers obtained names, encrypted passwords, e-mail addresses, home addresses, and phone numbers.

Cyber-security experts say that this information leak could lead to spam e-mails and bogus applications.

To avoid cyber-criminals from accessing your personal data, follow these tips on how to protect yourself.

1.  Strong Passwords

Never, never, never use an easy-to-guess password for any of your accounts.  ie. password, 123456, admin

You know you are not supposed to do it, but you do anyway, right?

That is until your identity gets stolen and your life has entered into a state of chaos.

2.  Creative Passwords

Experts advise you to use complex passwords with multiple characters and numbers in them.

Thankfully most technologically advanced companies know the importance in this, so you are forced to create a complex password.

3.  Use Different Passwords

This is a very bad habit and increases the risk of all your accounts being tampered with.

A hacker can begin to profile a victim that uses the same password or very similar variations of a password to hack into accounts.

If one of the accounts are linked with a payment method, then your money is that much closer to being stolen.

4.  Do Not Use Family Names or Pet Names

Social media sites give-a-way more information than sometimes realized.  Personal data like; birthdays, pet names, and even a persons obsessions are public to followers and depending on your preference settings, possibly everyone.

Many people use their pet’s name for their password.  If a person is so into their pet that they would use it as a password, that pets name is probably posted on their social media site somewhere.

5.  Avoid Sharing Information

Avoid sharing credit card information on retail, e-commerce, or social networking sites.

Just by stating you have a specific credit card, provides information that cyber-crooks can tug on.

When posting personal information online, be sure not to share personal details because it can remain online for an infinite amount of time.

6.  Know Your Stuff

When receiving an email from an unknown sender, check the information to make sure all details make sense.

Gauge the name, email address, spelling, and format to see if their are visible red flags.  Cyber-criminals are getting witty and starting to put more detail into these emails.

Logos are being swiped from the legitimate companies and put into emails to fool users.

Even if you receive an email that is from a friend, it is important to know that their account may have been tampered with.

7.  Know Whats Bogus

If you reply to a bogus email, then a signal to hackers may be sent to other hackers for more spam emails to be sent out to you.

If anyone asks for log-in details, personal details, or for you to call a number within the email, refrain from further compliance.

8.  Legitimacy

Place your cursor or mouse over the website url and see what appears.  If there are a bunch of numbers or random characters, it may be a spam site.

Fake sites and web links sometimes have addresses that do not match the organization in the stated email.

Look for any grammar mistakes or spelling errors.  If the site is secure, the Web address should start with a “https”.

A green padlock in the address bar will often show that the website is secure and safe to visit.

9.  What to do if hacked

Change all your FTP, software, and email passwords.  Write them down on paper, do not save your password to your computer.

Run an antivirus scan on your computer.  Here are come recommended resources:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/
Excellent malware scanning software, with a free download option.
http://www.microsoft.com/security/default.aspx
Start with Microsoft’s website for free or low cost security options.
http://download.cnet.com/windows/internet-security-software-suites/
CNET writes fairly current reviews on the latest antivirus apps. I would start here.

10.  Close Your Account

Sometimes closing your account is safer and will limit the risk of hackers taking over your personal data.

Information associated with compromised accounts can be stored in other places.   Take into consideration to see weather information on a website is encrypted from one end to another, and stored securely.

Users are responsible for checking the website and making sure it is trustworthy.

Do you need professional advise to know if your computer has been compromised?

Follow us on Twitter at @hyphenet or “Like” us on Facebook to stay up-to-date on the latest tech news and PC security alerts.

References:
Chee, Kenny
10 tips on how to protect your personal data online
http://news.asiaone.com/news/digital1/10-tips-how-protect-your-personal-data-online?page=0%2C0
Published: May 26, 2014

IT Security and Risk Management Review

With the world turning digital, people are connected to multiple  devices throughout the day. Listening to your iPod at home, connecting to Wi-Fi at the coffee shop, or accessing your smartphone at work can leave you open to all kinds of cybercrime.

The digital world consists of the widespread use of mobile devices that cybercriminals are able to access through platforms, social networks, and the public cloud.

Organizations in particular need to protect against multi-faceted ‘advanced persistent threats’ (APTs – also known as ‘advanced targeted attacks, or ATAs).

The key attributes are:  the use of social engineering (such as spear phishing) to gain initial entry to a target organization’s network and execute a zero-day attack; the acquisition of privileges to further penetrate the target network; the establishment of communication links with external ‘command and control’ (C&C) servers; the theft or compromise of assets; and the covering of tracks after completing the mission.

Source: The Ponemon Institute/HP

 

Cost of a Cyberattack

The Ponemon Institute’s 2013 survey has found that the average annul cost of  cybercrime is $7.2 million per organization.

This represents a 30% increase from the year before.  The United States takes the greatest hit out of all countries surveyed.

Denial of Services (DoS) attacks account for the highest percentage of costs in both smaller(16%) and larger (22%) companies.

Attacks like viruses, worms and trojans, and phishing and social engineering (both 1.7x more prevalent in smaller organizations), malware (2.5x) and botnets (2.7x).

The larger companies are hit the hardest by Dos, and malicious insiders attacks.

Source: The Ponemon Institute/HP

Source: The Ponemon Institute/HP

The survey shows the average number of days that it takes to resolve the cyberattack ranges from 2.6 days for viruses, worms and trojans up to 53 days for malicious insider attacks:

Source: The Ponemon Institute/HP

To view more Internet Security full reports:

1. Symantec – Internet Security Threat Report 2013
2. Trustwave – 2013 Trustwave Gloval Security Report
3. PwC – 2013 Information Security Breaches Survey

Hyphenet can help you find the right type of cyberdefence for your company.  Rackmount appliances, cloud-based services and threat defense are all precautions you can take to protect your business and keep the bad guys out.

Call us today!  619-325-0990

Don’t miss out on the latest tech news and computer security alerts! Follow us on Twitter at @hyphenet,  “Like” us on Facebook or add us to your circle on Google+.

References:

McLellan, Charles
IT Security and Risk Management: An overview
http://www.zdnet.com/it-security-and-risk-management-an-overview_p3-7000022659/

Do you know how to avoid Android ransomware malware?

Ransomware is a type of malware that restricts the access to your computer system and infects it.
Then a ransom is demanded to be paid to the creator of the malware in order for the restriction to be removed.

Ransomware can be the encryption of files on the system’s hard drive and usually locks the system demanding payment for it to be lifted.

Another form of ransomware is CryptoLocker.  This leaves your computer running while scrambling your data and demands a fee for the decryption key to get your data back.

The fee is usually around $300.  Recently, the pay-to-unlock ransomware has made its way into the Android ecosystem, and charges $300 to un-lock.

“Koler”

One of the most ransomware through the Android is known as “Koler”.  Koler is very similar to the Reveton malware, which leaves your data in tack but locks you out of your computer.

It’s thought that the Reveton gang is the one behind Koler.  Both malware’s follow a criminal formula that has worked for them on Windows computers.

As soon as the malware pops up, it downloads a display warning screen stating you are accused of viewing something illegally, like pornography.

According to reports, the crooks use the time-honored trick of telling you to install a specific “video player” app, then offering you help with downloading it.

**Because Koler has not made it into the Google Play Store, you need to have “Allow installation of apps from unknown sources” enabled in your Android security settings to be at risk.

Just like with Windows-based police warning ransomware, the malware can adapt the content it displays depending on your country or language settings.

The malware warnings have been coming from “U.S.A. Cyber Crime Center” and “FBI Department of Defense” (which doesn’t make sense because the FBI is not part of the DoD).





The screen shot shows fake government seals and an assortment of ripped-off images coaxing the victims to do what they are told on the screen.

These scare tactics often work for many, how many times do you have The President pointing his finger at you in a scolding manner?

Another message that is often seen:


ATTENTION! Your phone has been blocked up for safety reasons listed below. All the actions performed on this phone are fixed. All your files are encrypted. CONDUCTED AUDIO AND VIDEO.





Note. Sophos products, including Sophos Free Anti-Virus and Security for Android, detect this malware as Andr/Koler-A.

Get rid of Koler

Koler doesn’t scramble your data or disengage your audio.  It locks your phone with a pop-over browser window that automatically reappears if you try to get rid of it.

News that continually reappears through pop-up windows makes it nearly impossible to get into the Settings menu to remove the malware.

When trying to reboot, the malware kicks back in at the beginning of restarting your device.
If this happens, a factory reset will get rid of it.  The reset will remove the malware along with any other apps and stored data installed on your device.

It is recommended to use the Android “Safe Mode”, also detailed explination can be found in Sophos’  companion article.

via: NakedSecurity – Sophos

Stay protected from police warning ransomware Here are five easy tips to help you deal with Android malware of all sorts, including “police lockers”:

• Install a reputable anti-virus program to vet all new apps automatically before they run for the first time.
• Be cautious of apps you are offered in ads and pop-ups.
• Stick to Android’s default setting of allowing installs from the Google Play store only.
• Keep off-device backups of your important data.
• Read our article about using “Safe Mode”, just in case you ever need it in a hurry.

Don’t miss out on the latest tech news and computer security alerts! Follow us on Twitter at @hyphenet,  “Like” us on Facebook or add us to your circle on Google+.

References:
Zorabedian, John
NakedSecurity from SOPHOS
Android “police warning” ransomware – how to avoid it, and what to do if you get caught
Published: May 19, 2014
http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2014/05/19/android-police-warning-ransomware-how-to-avoid-it-and-what-to-do-if-you-get-caught/

This Day in Tech History: May 16, 2014

Happy Birthday Ivan Sutherland!! The Inventor and Developer of Interactive Computer Graphics!


   

Ivan Sutherland was the mastermind inventor and developer of MIT's Sketchpad. The Computer Graphics pioneer, Sutherland was born in 1938, and in 1963, while an MIT student, created a highly interactive drawing-and-design program called Sketchpad.

Sketchpad's many innovations included a display file to refresh the screen, a hierarchical structure for modeling graphical objects, recursive methods for geometric transformations, and an object-oriented programming style. In 1968, Sutherland co-founded Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation, he was vice president and chief scientist of the company.

He was also the chairman of the computer science department at Caltech from 1976 to 1980. In the 1980's, Sutherland left Caltech to establish the consulting firm Sutherland, Sproull and Associates. He also founded Advanced Technology Ventures, a venture capital firm. In 1964, MIT produced a TV show about Sketchpad, this featured researchers talking about the product and software. The demo section of the video starts at 3:30, if you would like to skip to that section.






 Dr. Ivan Sutherland won the Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology in 2012. Ivan Sutherland did not know exactly how he was jump-starting a revolution that would carry on for decades. He was asked if he knew how he was changing the tech world. This is what he said:

“The future is very hard to see. I had no idea of what would happen in the future, nor did I think of it much. I just wanted to make nice pictures.”

Other Accomplishments

 

In 1968, Sutherland and fellow University of Utah computer-science professor David Evans founded Evens & Sutherland, which was responsible for the flight simulators.

Sutherland was a very humble man, when asked which one of his accomplishments pleased him the most. He replied with "the thing I'm most proud of is my grandchildren." He later mentioned an achievement in his 1999 book Logical Effort, co-written with Sproull and David Harris, on designing fast circuits.

Sutherland's research focused on making a forward leap in circuit design by ditching one of the fundamental facts about almost all processors.

They performed tasks synchronously, at a rate governed by the processor's clock. The clockspeeds led to faster processors. Sutherland's concern with the paradigm is that it doesn't scale.

When Sutherland was asked what he thought about the industry's future, he responded, “You’d have to ask someone who’s 25 years old, not someone who’s 74. I haven’t done any computer graphics in the last 35 years. I’ve just been doing my thing and having fun.”  

Don’t miss out on the latest tech news and computer security alerts! Follow us on Twitter at @hyphenet, “Like” us on Facebook or add us to your circle on Google+.  

References: 

This Day in History
http://www.computerhistory.org/tdih/

McCracken,Harry
A Talk with Computer Graphics Pioneer Ivan Sutherland  
Publsihed April 12, 2014
http://techland.time.com/2013/04/12/a-talk-with-computer-graphics-pioneer-ivan-sutherland/

WARNING: Microsoft tech-support scam responsible for $175,000 loss

Police are warning computer owners about a scam involving a bogus company claiming to be Microsoft’s technical support.

The calls are not coming from Microsoft’s technical support department, Microsoft is not involved in any way.

An 84-year old man from Edmonton, has lost over $175,000 in the past two years to these cyber-criminals.
The scammers contacted the victim almost daily.

At the beginning, he took a phone call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft, who then informed the man he had a virus on his computer and they would fix it for $200.

The man gave them his credit card number, in which he was charged for $600.

The victim noticed the amount taken from his credit card and contacted the believed Microsoft company to get a refund.

The fraudsters told him in order to get his refund, he needed to wire them money to get a transaction started.






The man became so obsessed with receiving the refund document it affected his daily routine.  He wouldn’t attend family functions or even take a shower the day he thought the delivery would arrive.

When the mans family tried to intervene, he started hiding his interactions with the scammers from them.

“He was lonely. His whole day revolved around these phone calls,” stated Detective Bill Allen. “Whenever he ran into a stumbling block in the whole scheme, they would give him instructions on how to get around those stumbling blocks.
“These people have this guy totally under their control.  Even to this day, he feels I interfered with his document. He wasn’t understanding that he was being deceived and there was not going to be a refund, and it didn’t matter if he sent $100,000.”

It is believed that the fraudsters are operating out of India.  The Detective said Western Union shut down wire transfer outlets in that country because they were being used excessively to receive hustled money.

Senior citizens are particularly vulnerable to these types of scams.  This is partly because they do not realize how advanced computer technology is.  Seniors also tend to be more trusting and do not understand how slick cyber-criminals are.

Allen said, many victims are afraid to admit to relatives they have been deceived, as it may convince relative they can no longer live independently.





Learn the ways to protect yourself from telephone tech support scams:

1. Do not purchase software or services from callers
2. If there is a fee or subscription, do not comply
3. Never hand over control to your computer unless you can verify the company’s legitimacy
4. Take down the callers information and report them
5. Never provide your credit card or financial information

One-third of attempted scams are successful.  These cyber-criminals are professional pirates.

If you have been a victim to a cyber scam you can go to these sites to report them.

http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
http://www.stopfraud.gov/report.html
http://www.bbb.org/council/bbb-scam-stopper/
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0076-phone-scams

Don’t miss out on the latest tech news and computer security alerts! Follow us on Twitter at @hyphenet,  “Like” us on Facebook or add us to your circle on Google+.

References:

By Keith Gerein, Edmonton Journal
Police warn about computer tech-support scam after Edmonton man loses $175,000
Published May 14, 2014
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Police+warn+about+computer+tech+support+scam+after+Edmonton+loses/9835538/story.html

IT security budget increase by 41 percent in 2014

It’s usually not until you get something stolen that you beef up your security and pay more attention to safety.

This past year has proven just how critical IT security is to companies.

New reports of data breaches and leaks, combined with internal threats have significantly increased concern for security woes.

The recent Tech Pro Research survey focused on IT security and discovered that 41 percent of survey respondents say they will increase their IT security budget for the next year.

This is a 16 percent increase compared to the number of budgets that rose from last year.

Only 11 percent say they plan to decrease their security budget next year.



Almost two-thirds of the survey takers said they are now more concerned with security, following media reports, breaches and leaks.

Smaller companies are usually the ones who lag when it comes to IT security.  Large organizations with more than 1,000 employees say they are planning to improve their IT security.

That doesn’t come as a surprise because they generally have more at steak.



The number one security concern is “Bring Your Own Device”, (BYOD) to work.

Lack of employee awareness regarding social engineering, is a topic that Tech Pro Research has put their focus into.

They have created a ready-made BYOD policy that companies can download to use as their own policy.




Other reports that address IT security topics are:

• Employee awareness challenges
• Improved risk management leads
• Managing internal threats
• Moving to risk management
• BYOD challenges

If you would like to Download the full Tech Pro Research report, IT Security: Concerns, budgets, trends and plans.  The report is free to all Tech Pro Research subscribers.

Are you a small business thinking about increasing your budget?  Let us know why in the comments below!

Don’t miss out on the latest tech news and computer security alerts! Follow us on Twitter at @hyphenet,  “Like” us on Facebook or add us to your circle on Google+.


References:

Hammond, Teena
Research: 41 percent increasing IT security budget in 2014
12/03/2013
http://www.zdnet.com/research-41-increasing-it-security-budget-in-2014-7000023597/

Internet Giants Come Together to Attack Ad Scams

Internet giants; Google, Facebook, Twitter and AOL have come together with a campaign to protect users from malicious online advertisements.

More ads, more pop-ups, and more annoyances are overpopulating the internet.

Online ads have been reported as dangerous phishing scams and tech support rip-offs.

These Internet companies have launched TrustInAds.org this past Thursday.

The campaign is designed to raise consumer awareness of emerging online advertising scams.

This will allow companies to share information on the misleading ads and their trends.

Ads on Google and Facebook are usually legitimate and trusted, although there are ingenious scammers that will go great lengths to fool you.

Fake businesses, deceptive websites, and phony voice-mail messages are created to dupe users into believing their company is legitimate.

“However, there are some very sophisticated bad actors out there trying to game the system.  This is something companies deal with on a very regular basis,” stated the group’s executive director, Rob Haralson.

The organization has plans to release reports on the stats of the new online ad scams as well as information for the consumers on how to protect themselves.

The group’s first report focused on fraudulent online tech support schemes.  Google and Facebook employees found that scammers were placing display ads that lured consumers into calling 1-800 numbers for tech support.  After they would contact the “tech support” for help, consumers were then lured into downloading software which is a keystroke logger and other malicious software on their PCs.

The companies have removed 4,000 suspicious accounts linking to 2,400 tech support websites.

The FTC has issued a consumer bulletin warning about online tech support scams in January.

This has been an ongoing problem because scammers are constantly working on outsmarting consumers and coming up with new scams.

What do you think about the tech giants coming together?  I think this should have been done a long time
ago, maybe identity theft wouldn’t be so prominent today if this was done at the brink of cyberattacks.

Go to TrustInAds.org to find out more!

Don’t miss out on the latest tech news and computer security alerts! Follow us on Twitter at @hyphenet, “Like” us on Facebook or add us to your circle on Google+.

References:

Internet Firms Launch Effort to Expose Deceptive Ads – Recode
http://recode.net/2014/05/07/internet-firms-launch-effort-to-expose-deceptive-ads/

Microsoft helps Windows XP One last Time

Microsoft made the decision to patch Windows XP one last time.  A serious Internet Explorer flaw has caught the attention of Microsoft as they worked on security issues for XP.

Industry observers were shocked when Microsoft issued the Internet Explorer zero-day browser vulnerability patch.

Microsoft made an exception last week after support for Windows XP ended on April 8, 2014.

Fighting a Good Fight

Even though Microsoft issued the patch after the end of their support, Microsoft seriously urges Windows XP users to upgrade to a newer operating system such as Windows 7 or Windows 8.1.

“Just because this update is out now doesn’t mean you should stop thinking about getting off Windows XP and moving to a newer version of Windows and the latest version of Internet Explorer,” Adrienne Hall wrote, the General Manager of Trustworthy Computing.

The latest version of Internet Explorer, “has increased support for modern web standards, better performance, and expanded the ability to deliver an immersive experience from within the web browser.  In other words, cool stuff that you need even if you didn’t know you need it, ” Hall proclaimed.





Windows XP is a widely used OS that has proven to be resilient, possibly the reason why people are sticking by XP even after the discontinued support.

Windows 7 had nearly 50% of the desktop operating system market in April.  Windows XP had more than 26% of users, that is more than all the players put together.

Senior security researcher for Malwarebytes, Jerome Segura told TechNewsWorld, “It somehow shoots itself in the foot by encouraging users to stick with [that OS] for at least a little longer.”

What’s the Risk

“The financial services and healthcare industries may have the most to lose if XP remains unsupported,” Darren Hayes, a professor at Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, told TechNewsWorld.

Utility companies, ATM’s, and many medical devices are still running on Windows XP.

The move toward cloud computing will make things worse, warned Eric Chiu, president and co-founder of HyTrust.

With the cloud, virtualization will just about let the OS live forever.  The technology runs on 70% of the data center by removing the hardware dependence of the operating system.  The older operating systems like XP can run on the cloud easily for 20 years.

 Possible Outcome

Malwarebytes and many antivirus vendors, that include Kaspersky, Avira, Symantec and Trend Micro, are the companies that will continue to support XP.

The antivirus software will not resolve the underlying vulnerabilities cyber-criminals are likely to discover.
If you have questions about your OS, we can help!  Call Hyphenet @ 619-325-0990 today!

Don’t miss out on the latest tech news and computer security alerts! Follow us on Twitter at @hyphenet,  “Like” us on Facebook or add us to your circle on Google+.

References:

Microsoft Gives XP One last Hug – TechNewsWorld
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/Microsoft-Gives-XP-One-last-Hug-80390.html
Published: May 3, 2014

Symantec warns antivirus is ‘doomed’

According to Symantec, antivirus products are “doomed to failure,” says Brian Dye, senior vice president for information security at Symantec.

From The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, end-point security technology isn’t a “moneymaker”,  antivirus companies need to adjust and adapt.

Antivirus products have been proven to prevent hackers from obtaining your private information from your computer.  Today, hackers are often able to bypass the antivirus’ and get into your computer’s source code.




Antivirus technology scans networks for malicious-looking computer code and spots hackers before there is any real damage.

It’s like an immune system on your computer.

Brian Dye, Symantec’s senior vice president for information security estimates the antivirus catches 45% of cyber-attacks.

Mr. Dye says Symantec’s Norton security suite has evolved beyond antivirus software and searches for suspicious activity that may have come from previous unseen viruses.

The software includes a password manager, spam blocker, and scans a user’s Facebook feed to guard against dangerous links.

Area of concern

China, Iran, and the former Soviet bloc., are the countries whom pose the most concerning threats.





Hackers that were linked to Iran last spring breached the digital perimeters of energy companies and one of the U.S.’s five biggest banks.  They were caught before moving further into the systems.

Last year before the Target Corp. was breached, FireEye security equipment alerted the retailer of the suspicious activity found.  When the company failed to follow up with the warning, they were hacked.

Former Target employees say the reason why the system failed is because they lacked the resources to pursue all posed threats.

The malware market is now declining and hackers are aiming their focus on cyber-attacks.  A few avenues are; denial-of-service assaults, spear-phishing, and network intrusion.





Cyber-criminals previously used mass-emailing to catch millions of people off-guard in order to steal their information.

Now, Symantec has partnered with IBM, with a new cyber-security offering to protect networks and critical data from zero-day attacks, by identifying  irregular patterns in network traffic.

Although cyber-criminals are finding ways around antiviruses, the antivirus market is doing their part in working around hackers.

Are you still unprotected from cyber-crimes?  We can help give you the best protection for your home or small business.  Call us today! 619-325-0990

Don’t miss out on the latest tech news and computer security alerts! Follow us on Twitter at @hyphenet,  “Like” us on Facebook or add us to your circle on Google+

References:

Symantec calls antivirus ‘doomed’ as security giants fight for survival – ZDNet
http://www.zdnet.com/antivirus-is-dead-long-live-the-antivirus-7000029078/?s_cid=e539&ttag=e539&ftag=TRE17cfd61
Published May 5, 2014

Symantec Develops New Attack on Cyberhacking – The Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/news/article_email/SB10001424052702303417104579542140235850578-lMyQjAxMTA0MDAwNTEwNDUyWj
Published May 4, 2014