Category: Security
Tech Time Warp: Koobface worm begins to spread
Back in August 2008—when you were still juggling Facebook and MySpace profiles—unsuspecting social networkers found their machines infected by Koobface, a particularly nasty computer worm. Koobface (an anagram for Facebook) caught its victims by tempting them with tantalizing Facebook links...
MSPs need to sell the economics of mutual IT security defense
When it comes to IT security defense, the most attractive thing about MSPs is that the cost of implementing security technologies becomes a shared expense. MSPs invest in all the technologies and labor needed to secure the IT environment, but...
Demand for external GDPR expertise needs more time to build
As the deadline grows closer for complying with the General Data Protection Rule (GDPR) being put into effect May 25, 2018, by the European Union, there’s a marked difference in attitudes between IT organizations in Europe and in the U.S. concerning the...
MSPs need to be on the frontline of any ransomware defense
While there is still much unknown about the latest wave of Petya/GoldenEye ransomware attacks, it’s all too clear that organizations that don’t keep pace with the latest patches are being targeted faster than ever. It used to take cybercriminals a...
Threat Watch: NotPetya ransomware
Update: As researchers learn more about the malware that quickly spread around the world earlier this week, it has become clear the malware wasn’t what it first appeared to be. According to Forbes, multiple security researchers have uncovered flaws in...
Tech Time Warp: The First Case of Ransomware
The WannaCry ransomware attack once again brings the need for backup and security solutions into focus, but ransomware is nothing new. The first case of ransomware, chock-full of “truth is stranger than fiction” details, occurred in 1989. The PC Cyborg...
WannaCry ransomware should eventually blow some good for MSPs
While the fallout from the WannaCry ransomware attack will reach into the billions of dollars, the one positive outcome should be a wave of upgrades for millions of older Windows PCs that unfortunately are still widely deployed. The malware employed...
UK study shines spotlight on scope of IT security challenge
Despite the increased awareness concerning IT security threats, a new survey from the United Kingdom suggests far too many organizations still don’t have anything approaching a formal IT security strategy. Three-fifths (57 percent) of the respondents to a survey conducted...
What is a phlashing attack?
Throughout the past year, our inboxes and RSS feeds have been flooded with news about malware and ransomware. But what about phlashing attacks? Phlashing attacks have been designed by hackers with one sole purpose: to infect and permanently damage —...
The woes of password management
If you’re like anybody who uses computers today, you’re dealing with passwords. I alone have more than 58 just for the websites I use on a regular basis. That doesn’t include any hardware passwords, Wi-Fi passwords, computer logins, or clients’...
