CryptoLocker gang teams with botnet-builders on ransomware

"The gang itself is paying criminal botnet owners operating vast command-and-control systems of compromised computers to distribute CryptoLocker as a dangerous attachment in spam"  Link

EFF grades major companies encryption efforts

Includes a chart for easy reference.

Stolen Identities Price Cuts

"ID theft and bank account credentials are getting cheaper because there is just so much inventory (a.k.a. stolen personal information) out there"   Link

 

How to avoid Identity Theft.

Google settles Safari cookie case for $17 million

Google will fork out $17 million to settle allegations by 37 states and the District of Colombia that it secretly tracked Apple users by placing special digital files on the Safari web browser.

Link

Google Makes Latest Chrome Build Open PDFs By Default

"bypassing any third-party programs such as Adobe Reader or Foxit Reader"  Link

Google warns of 'splinternet' but NSA does not budge

"If countries proceed with data localization and similar efforts, the Internet will be broken up into a "splinternet" of smaller national and regional pieces, with barriers around each of the splintered Internets, he added."

Link

How Long Can You Reasonably Expect Your Hard Drive To Last?

Drives don't last forever.

November Patch Tuesday

Time to update your Microsoft products, Google Chrome, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Reader.

 

PIN Skimming: Turn your back when you enter your PIN.

"The researchers’ software runs on the mobile device and when a user types in her PIN code, the software records keystroke sounds through the microphone and uses the camera to judge the phone’s orientation and watch the user’s face while she’s typing. " Link

Mail Update for Mavericks

This update improves stability and compatibility with Gmail, and includes fixes for users with custom Gmail settings.

Available via the link or Software Update.

Anatomy of a password disaster - Adobe's giant-sized cryptographic blunder

"As breaches go, you may very well see this one in the book of Guinness World Records next year, which would make it astonishing enough on its own. But there's more."

Microsoft TIFF Vulnerability

Vista, 2008 and older Offices. Not XPSP3 or Windows 7+

 

"The vulnerability is a remote code execution vulnerability that exists in the way affected components handle specially crafted TIFF images. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by convincing a user to preview or open a specially crafted email message, open a specially crafted file, or browse specially crafted web content. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights."  Microsoft

Phishing Warning: "New Account Look"

If you receive an email from "updateaccounts@utc.edu" or the Maintenance department, please just delete it.