60 percent of Americans have smart TVs but many remain unprotected
Almost 60 percent of Americans have smart TVs in their homes, yet almost one in four do nothing to protect their smart devices.
This is according to a new study by NordVPN which highlights a number of risks, including hackers being able to access a smart TV's camera and microphone through malware.
Second quarter of 2021 sees huge spike in ransomware
The latest threat report from Nuspire shows that the second quarter of 2021 saw a massive 55,239 percent increase in ransomware activity during the second and third weeks.
This took place just prior to the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack conducted by the DarkSide ransomware group. The reason for the increase is not known, however, and it may not be related to the attack.
Lack of IT support causes frustration for home workers
Loss of productivity due to IT failure has always been a problem for businesses, and it's made worse by suddenly switching to a workforce that's based at home.
According to new research commissioned by Velocity Smart, 54 percent of US employees have waited up to three hours extra to resolve an IT issue since moving to remote work. Something that's doubly frustrating if there's no fall back option.
Data privacy and consent in the age of CCPA, GDPR and impending federal privacy law [Q&A]
When it comes to consent and data privacy, the rise of regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), along with increased consumer awareness of data infractions and breaches, has raised the stakes.
When the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) passed in 2018, many states began following California's lead. Currently, more than 30 states have comprehensive privacy bills that are close to passing or in early stages of being drafted.
Why changing legislation means companies need to rethink their data protection [Q&A]
Businesses have embraced the use of data to drive decisions and digital transformation. In many cases consumers are happy to have their details captured too, as long as they benefit from it.
But as more and more countries introduce privacy and data protection legislation, and as California clarifies some of its cookie-based tracking definitions, and increases enforcement of both intentional and unintentional violations under CCPA, enterprises need to tighten up their data handling.
Over two million web servers still running on vulnerable legacy software
More than two million web servers worldwide are still running on outdated and vulnerable versions of Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) software according to research from CyberNews.
With 12.4 percent of the market worldwide IIS is the third-most-popular suite of web server software, used to power at least 51.6 million websites and web applications.
IT teams under pressure to compromise security
A new report from HP Wolf Security reveals that 76 percent of IT teams admit security has taken a backseat to business continuity during the pandemic, while 91 percent feel pressure to compromise security for business continuity.
It also shows that almost half (48 percent) of younger office workers (18-24 years old) surveyed view security tools as a hindrance, leading to nearly a third (31 percent) trying to bypass corporate security policies to get their work done.
5G -- coming soon to a bus shelter near you
The roll out of 5G with its download speeds up to 100 times faster than 4G looks set to revolutionize mobile communication. However, it does require considerable infrastructure investment from the operators.
A new initiative launched today by the UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport will see a £4 million ($5.5 million) competition to make it simpler and quicker for mobile companies to use publicly-owned buildings and curbside infrastructure -- such as CCTV poles, traffic signals, lampposts and bus shelters -- to host 5G radio equipment.
The threat of ransomware through Active Directory [Q&A]
Ransomware has hit the headlines in recent months with attacks on infrastructure and supply chains closing down operations. But ransomware has the potential to be even more devastating if it’s spread via Active Directory, as demonstrated by the SolarWinds attack.
We talked to Derek Melber, chief technology and security strategist of Tenable to find out more about AD attacks and how to combat them.
Cloud adoption remains a top enterprise priority for 2021
According to a new report, in mid-sized to large enterprises 50 percent of the software applications being developed are cloud based and another 30 percent are expected to migrate to the cloud within the next two years.
83 percent of respondents state that cloud-based development and deployment is a top IT priority in 2021 for applications their company develops and deploys.
Employees are pretty good at spotting phishing emails
Although people are sometimes seen as a weak link in information security, a new report from F-Secure shows that a third of emails that employees report as suspicious are actually phishing.
The finding comes from an analysis of emails reported by employees from organizations around the world, using F-Secure's mail reporting plugin for Office 365, during the first half of 2021.
IBM and Exium collaborate to deliver edge solutions
A recent IBM report showed that over 90 percent of organizations are planning to implement edge computing strategies within the next five years.
Now 5G security company Exium is collaborating with Big Blue to help clients adopt an edge computing strategy designed to enable them to run AI or IoT applications seamlessly across hybrid cloud environments.
Canonical launches new cloud service to aid Android app development
Creating the code for an Android app is only part of the job, you also need to consider mobile app management and mobile device virtualization as well as testing.
To help with this process Canonical is launching its Anbox Cloud Appliance on the AWS Marketplace from today. A small-scale version of Canonical's Anbox Cloud, developers can use it for rapid prototyping of Android-in-the-Cloud solutions.
Why enterprises need to make the shift to DevSecOps now [Q&A]
Many enterprises have adopted DevOps practices in order to streamline their development. But security is all too often treated as an afterthought.
There is of course a way around this which is to integrate security into the DevOps pipeline, in other words move to DevSecOps.
Malicious office documents make up 43 percent of malware downloads
Infecting office files has been a popular malware technique for some time but is still popular among cybercriminals as it allows them to evade many detection solutions. New research from AtlasVPN reveals that 43 percent of all malware downloads in the second quarter of this year were malicious office documents.
This is an increase from the same period in 2020 when only 14 percent of malware came in office files. In the third quarter of last year the volume jumped to 38 percent before declining to 34 percent in Q4 2020 and Q1 2021.
Ian's Bio
Ian spent almost 20 years working with computers before he discovered that writing about them was easier than fixing them. Since then he's written for a number of computer magazines and is a former editor of PC Utilities. Follow him on Mastodon
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