Hi there! We are Emily and James Hamilton.
We are a responsible family with two kids, we run a small home-based business in the IT field, and we are here to discuss the dangers of technology.
Discover some of our articles below, or read our Blog to explore them all. Contact us if you need any help with your network and/or computers.
Hackers preinstall viruses in several Android phones
Ahh, the thrill of purchasing a new smart phone! Often, if you take your time to do some research online, you will be able to get more than what you were expecting in exchange for your money. Some people have gotten a bonus battery pack, a high-quality pair of headphones or a Bluetooth speaker, for example. However, for others, the "bonus" was an unexpected surprise: their new phones were shipped with preinstalled malware.
Almost 40 high-end smart phone models which were produced by Samsung, LG, Asus and Lenovo have been infected with viruses. Check Point, a known security researcher, has detected the malware on brand-new devices; the viruses were installed straight to the ROM, even though they were not present in the official read-only memory image which was supplied by the manufacturer.
So, what happened? It looks like the malicious software was installed by hackers along the supply chain. Most malware consisted of programs that can gather, and then send confidential information to their makers. In addition to this, a mobile ransomware version of Slocker, which uses the almost unbreakable AES encryption algorithm to scramble the content of all the files on the phone, has been detected as well. Loki Malware, a complex virus which utilizes various software components to display illegitimate ads, and thus get its creators money, has also...
Security experts craft a mask that unlocks iPhone X
I've got to admit that I like technology innovations just like the next random person, especially when it comes to inventions that add new features to our smart phones. So, I was pleasantly surprised to learn about Apple's new FaceID system, which has replaced fingerprint-based authentication in their most recent iPhone model. And truth be told, what's not to like about a feature that unlocks your phone when you look at it and can't be fooled by photos or masks?
The only problem is that FaceID can be easily beaten by printing and using a simple 3D mask. Bkav, a security research company, has successfully bypassed Apple's security mechanism by creating a mask that costs under $200. The Vietnamese researchers have built a 3D mask using stone powder, and then they have glued the images of the eyes to it. Sadly, the resulting mask has successfully unlocked the iPhone from the first try.
According to Ngo Tuan Anh, Vice-president of Cyber Security at Bkav, people and especially big companies should never use FaceID for transactions. In fact, Apple itself agreed that if you've got an evil twin, you should also use a password in addition to your face whenever you want to unlock your iPhone. However, this basically renders FaceID useless, right?
Some people may argue and say that it's almost impossible to create a 3D mask of a specific person without he or she knowing about it. However, if you took that person to a room that has several hidden cameras...
Discover how cybercriminals steal your private data
Everyone loves free Wi-Fi, isn't it? And fortunately, we've got access to free wireless-based Internet almost everywhere! We can connect to free hotspots in coffee shops, restaurants, libraries, hotels, airports, and in many other places.
Still, if you use free Internet access, you should be aware of the fact that anytime you connect your device to a public hotspot, you risk exposing, and sometimes even losing all the data that is stored on your phone, tablet or laptop. Yes, if you've got private pictures of your family and/or credit card data in your device, an attacker can get access to them the minute you've connected to your coffee shop's hotspot.
To understand how this can happen, and what you can do to stay safe, we have asked George Hardesty, CEO of Data Alliance, to give us some information about the potential dangers, as well as advice that will help us keep private information and data secure.
According to him, a hacker will often spend his entire day in a coffee shop, ordering a coffee in the morning, and then asking the password of the local hotspot. Then, he will connect his specially engineered laptop to the network, and get the name of all the clients that are currently connected to...
Critical Technology Dangers
