Entries by Robert Siciliano

Fake News is Becoming Too Real

Fake news is a problem that is taking the internet by storm, and it ran rampant during the 2016 Presidential Election. In fact, many believe that fake news stories had a strong impact on the outcome of the election. In a survey following the election by the Pew Research Center, a whopping 64 percent of…

Top 3 Social Engineering Scams

Think about hackers breaking into accounts. If you think they need top-notch computer skills, you would be wrong. These days, instead of requiring skills behind a keyboard, hackers generally rely on strategy…specifically a strategy called social engineering. This means that hackers don’t have to be technical, but they DO have to be clever and crafty…

Small Business a favorite Attack Vector

Small businesses are hardly immune to attacks by hackers. The illusion of low attack risks comes from the publicity that only huge corporations get when they are breached, like Target, Sony and Anthem. These are giants, so of course it makes headline news. But when a “ma and pa” business gets attacked, it’s not newsworthy.…

Stop being a Social Media Idiot

Leave personal details off your Facebook page. Does the whole world—or even your private circle, many of whom you haven’t seen in person for years, or even at all—have to know you’re laid up from hernia surgery (i.e., vulnerable, defenseless)? Try this experiment for a week: Assume that the only visitors to your Facebook are…

Oh No, iOS Hacked by NSO

Recently, says a report at wired.com, it’s been unveiled that the obscure Israel-based NSO Group has been selling spyware delivered to smartphones through vulnerabilities in Apple’s iOS operating system. “Pegasus” spyware can put a surveillance out on nearly everything including keystrokes, e-mails, video feeds and phone calls. Apple says that the three vulnerabilities with this…

How to erase Yourself from your Job

You shouldn’t leave any digital trace of yourself after you leave a job. Hopefully, you’ll be leaving voluntarily and thus have the time to first make backups before you delete anything. This may seem easy, but you need to take inventory to make sure you get EVERYTHING. Note: make sure that every suggestion below is…

10 ways to beef up Digital Security

#1. Keep everything up to date. You know those annoying popups telling you updates are available? Do you ever click out of them? Don’t. Always update at the time these appear. #2. Two-step verification. Two-step verification or authentication should be set up for all your accounts that offer it. A unique one-time code is sent…

Thieves steal 30 Cars using Software

Who needs a hanger to steal a car when you can use a laptop? Despite today’s vehicles having far more sophisticated security protection, thieves can still break in—like the two crooks who stole at least 30 Dodge and Jeep vehicles…with just a laptop computer. In Houston, video showed the pair in the act, though authorities…

Hacking the CEO with Social Media

If the super big wigs could get their social media accounts hacked, you can too. If you can believe it, the Twitter accounts of the following were recently hacked: Google CEO Sundar Pichai Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey Shouldn’t these CEOs know how to prevent getting hacked? One…