Tag Archives: security

Yesterday, fresh faced and bushy tailed, new head of the GCHQ, Robert Hannigan announced that he wanted tech firms of the UK to strike a new deal with intelligence agencies to ensure more cooperation. His reasoning for this call on social networks and similar companies, was to (of course) help …

Windows 10 is set to safe-guard users against data breaches by implementing multiple factor authentication for PC logins. According to Microsoft, the new OS will optionally treat a device as on authentication factor when signing in to a local or internet based account, a pin code or biometric reader will …

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have got off to a good start in China since last week but those attempting to connect to iCloud may face a nasty surprise as last night, the Chinese firewall began blocking all local connections to iCloud.com, redirecting those to a dummy site designed …

Facebook has come to the realization that securing a server just isn’t enough to keep passwords out of the hands of cyber criminals anymore, which is why the company is approaching security a little differently. Facebook has announced that for the past few months, they’ve been searching anonymous posting sites …

Apple now lets potential second hand iPhone buyers check if the device is stolen or not before users hand over their money. The new tool requires an IMEI code or serial number, it will then check if an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch has been previously locked down by its …

Startups are a great thing for any industry, as they bring in new people, new ideas and often that leads to innovation. However when it comes to smartphone apps, it can also lead to vulnerabilities and stolen data, as the developers don’t quite cover the bases in terms of security. …

While Apple denies that it was a flaw in its iCloud system that allowed hundreds of private celebrity photos to be leaked on to the web last week, it has admitted that it could do more to protect its users and will introduce additional security measures within two weeks. Apple’s …

It turns out that an Android Smartphone’s gyroscope can be transformed into a microphone capable of listening in on you without your express permission. The discovery was made by security researchers at Stanford University in conjunction with defense firm, Rafael, which developed a new app called ‘Gyrophone’. While apps have …

Less than two weeks after Apple and IBM agreed to offer enterprise-tailored services with sophisticated security, BlackBerry, whose main customers are enterprises, governments and other organizations requiring advanced security, announced a plan to acquire Secusmart GmbH. The take-over enriches BlackBerry’s extensive security technologies with high-security voice and data encryption and …

Google has decided that enough is enough. Hackers, be they government sponsored security experts or bedroom nerds with a gift for social engineering, are the latest target of Google investment, as it has announced the creation of a new team of researchers called Project Zero, which is designed to find …

International Business Machines Corp. is expected to accomplish two important transactions this year: it is projected to complete sale of its x86 server division to Lenovo Group and it is rumoured that the company will also agree to sell its semiconductor manufacturing business to GlobalFoundries. However, the U.S. regulators may …

If anything has been learned by the tech community over the past few years, it’s that determined hackers will almost always get what they want. Whether you take a look back at Anonymous’ impressive resume of successful take downs and leaks, to Edward Snowden dumping thousands of classified files on …

The Heartbleed bug has been around for a couple of years but it caused quite a stir when it was publicly revealed last week. However, there had been no reports of people abusing the bug until now, a Canadian hacker has become the first person to get arrested for abusing …

Heartbleed is bad. For those that haven’t heard yet, it’s a security flaw that’s potentially opened up as many as two thirds of the world’s websites to digital thieves and the worst part is that the flaw has existed for over two years. However, while many parts of the web …

Kaspersky Labs recently conducted a study on cyber criminal activity and found that last year the number of financial malware attacks rose to 28.4 million, which is 27.6 per cent more than 2012. Not only are programs being designed to steal your financial information but now criminals are going after …

Kaspersky Labs has been closely monitoring the Tor network for some time now and believes that as more people and services make use of it, the cyber criminal element is growing. While the Tor infrastructure isn’t remotely on the same scale as the conventional internet, Kaspersky’s experts still managed to …

Sony is sending out emails to users across the world recommending that they change their passwords. Two members of staff at The Verge received these warning emails, which included the following statement from Sony: “The Sony Entertainment Network team routinely monitors for any irregular activity, and if such activity is …

Huawei has been the centre of discussion recently, we already know that the British ISP TalkTalk use the company to maintain its filters and that both the ISP and Huawei can add or remove sites from the filter as they see fit. Recently David Cameron praised the company’s filtering system in …

Well you wouldn’t expect it to do a Microsoft now would you? Putting its big dog forward, the NSA chief General Keith Alexander spoke out at a cyber security conference yesterday, where he addressed security professionals from around the world, promising to answer any questions they had. While Wired points …

You’d think with Sony’s big security hiccup last year, where most PlayStation 3 owners had their details stolen by hackers, that companies would have learned their lesson. Virgin, despite having a founder who I heartily agree with on a few things, seems to be one of those companies, as according …

Since the Middle Ages, Swiss Banks have had a reputation for keeping your most valuable assets safe. The country also has a ton of secrecy laws enshrined into its national identity. Cue the 21st Century. KitGuru gets Bourne again. The Cypriot government decided to snatch money directly from bank customer’s …

US government officials could be the next poster boys and girls for the Samsung Galaxy S4, after the Pentagon gave the nod of approval for its Knox security software – meaning the S4 handset will soon be getting access to some of the world’s most secretive information. Approval from the …

If you play World of Tanks, listen up. Developer Wargaming is urging everyone to change their passwords, after a possible breach of security, “may have compromised,” user information. It’s unknown at this point what if any information was taken by those responsible for the breach, but it’s better to be …

Microsoft’s Entertainment Rewards voting procedure has been blighted after it was revealed that the information of everyone that had voted in order to become eligible for a prize draw, was freely available to anyone that knew a few simple steps. According to MCV, one of its readers sent over a …

Similar to the way that Kim Dotcom’s Mega has been doling out rewards to those that manage to find flaws in its security, a pair of hackers from Serbia have been given prizes for hacking into a local billboard and playing space invaders on it. We reported on the duo …

The European Union has announced a new cybersecurity directive, that will place legal bindings on companies in key internet positions to report any breaches of their security, such as hacking attacks. This would bring companies like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and other large scale services in-line and force them to keep …

Hot off the back of its Instagram gaff, Facebook has suffered another blow to its reputation, as its Midnight Message Delivery app, that was designed to allow people to leave messages for loved ones that would be sent automatically as the New Year rolled around, had a gaping hole in …

While we’re used to seeing Hollywood depict hacking and computer access as some sort of 3D world to be explored, whether it’s in Tron, or Jurassic Park, those seemingly ridiculous scenarios might actually be closer to computer security of the future than we might think. Traditionally, security officials spend their time looking …

CCTV cameras capable of recording in high definition, could spark a public outcry, it has been warned by the UK’s surveillance commissioner, Andrew Rennison. While many would argue that better quality cameras are more likely to be able to identify criminals, plenty of people still fear the ‘Big Brother’ future …

There’s a security flaw to be aware of with iOS 5.0.1 which allows someone to bypass the lock screen on GSM-based iPhones and have unauthorized access to contacts as well as the phone’s calling features. The method used is admittedly fairly complicated and involves inserting and ejecting the phone’s SIM …