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Woman dies during a Ransomware attack on a German hospital

Woman dies during a Ransomware attack on a German hospital It could be the first death directly linked to a cybersecurity attack A woman in Germany died during a ransomware attack on the Duesseldorf University Hospital, in what may be the first death directly linked to a cyberattack on a hospital. The hospital couldn’t accept emergency patients because of the attack, and the woman was sent to a health care facility around 20 miles away, the Associated Press reported. The cyberattack was not intended for the hospital, according to a report from the German news outlet RTL. The ransom note was addressed to a nearby university. The attackers stopped the attack after authorities told them it had actually shut down a hospital. Health care facilities are one of the biggest targets for cyberattacks, and cybersecurity experts have warned for years that most hospitals aren’t prepared . They rely heavily on devices, like radiology equipment, that are often connected to the internet. Without those
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Facebook Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras

Facebook Accused of Watching Instagram Users Through Cameras Source:- bloomberg.com Facebook Inc. is again being sued for allegedly spying on Instagram users, this time through the unauthorized use of their mobile phone cameras. The lawsuit springs from media reports in July that the photo-sharing app appeared to be accessing iPhone cameras even when they weren’t actively being used. Facebook denied the reports and blamed a bug, which it said it was correcting, for triggering what it described as false notifications that Instagram was accessing iPhone cameras. In the complaint filed Thursday in federal court in San Francisco, New Jersey Instagram user Brittany Conditi contends the app’s use of the camera is intentional and done for the purpose of collecting “lucrative and valuable data on its users that it would not otherwise have access to.” By “obtaining extremely private and intimate personal data on their users, including in the privacy of their own homes,” Instagram and Facebook

10 tips for Zoom security and privacy

10 tips for Zoom security and privacy By- Aarti Jatan Gain full control over your Zoom video conferences, family gatherings, and online bar crawls . With social distancing and quarantine measures implemented around the globe, people quickly started searching for effective means of communicating with each other. With its reported ease of use and attractive pricing, Zoom quickly rose in popularity — and people quickly figured out that Zoom’s developers weren’t fully prepared for the level of scrutiny it would receive. With so much use, Zoom’s flaws came rapidly to light. The company handled the tremendous increase of workload seamlessly and quickly reacted to security researchers’ discoveries. However, just like with each and every service, code updates will not address every complaint, but some issues are very much worth keeping in mind. So, here we offer 10 security and privacy tips for Zoom users. 1. Protect your account A Zoom account is just another account, and in setting yours up,

What end-to-end encryption is, and why you need it

What end-to-end encryption is, and why you need it By- Aarti Jatan We explain for laypeople what end-to-end encryption is and how it enables private, secure communication for us all. In recent years, communications services ranging from WhatsApp to Zoom have announced their implementation of end-to-end encryption . What does that mean? Well, the idea of encryption is pretty straightforward: It turns data into something that cannot be read. But what does end-to-end mean? What are its pros and cons? Without getting into the underlying math and technical terms, we’ll explain it as simply as we can. What end-to-end encryption is — and its alternatives End-to-end encryption  is the act of applying encryption to messages on one device such that only the device to which it is sent can decrypt it. The message travels all the way from the sender to the recipient in encrypted form. What are the alternatives? One alternative is to transfer the data in clear text, that is, without encrypting th

Kids' Smartwatches Are a Security Nightmare

Kids' Smartwatches Are a Security Nightmare Despite Years of Warnings Story by WIERD Five out of six brands tested by researchers would have allowed hackers to track kids—and in some cases eavesdrop on them. CONNECTING EVERY POSSIBLE device in our lives to the internet has always represented a security risk . But that risk is far more pronounced when it involves a smartwatch strapped to your child's wrist. Now, even after years of warnings about the security failings of many of those devices, one group of researchers has shown that several remain appallingly easy for hackers to abuse. In a paper published late last month, researchers at the Münster University of Applied Sciences in Germany detailed their testing of the security of six brands of smartwatches marketed for kids. They're designed to send and receive voice and text messages, and let parents track their child's location from a smartphone app. The researchers found that hackers could abuse those features to

Student surprise: Malware masked as textbooks and essays

Student surprise: Malware masked as textbooks and essays By- Kaspersky Malware can masquerade not only as games and TV shows, but also as educational materials. We help you understand what this malware is and how to avoid being infected. It is far too easy to pick up nasty stuff when you try to download   popular TV shows   or   game cheats . However, cybercriminals do not limit themselves to tainting entertainment; you can also stumble upon a virus when looking for work- or study-related materials. This is particularly important to keep in mind as the academic year starts, because the cost of textbooks and other materials for K–12 and college students often leads to many looking for more affordable and free alternatives online. Download an essay, get some malware thrown in Wanting to find out how frequently malicious content is encountered among materials that are posted for free access, we checked how many infections Kaspersky solutions identified in files with school- and student-re

Five regular checks for SMBs

Five regular checks for SMBs By- Aarti Jatan Five things that, if neglected, can cost SMBs dearly. It is not always economically viable for small and medium-size businesses to maintain a dedicated IT security team, so it often happens that one person is in charge of monitoring the entire infrastructure. Sometimes he or she is not even a permanent, full-time employee. Sure, a good administrator can do a lot, but even a pro might miss something, particularly if issues are mounting and time is short. So, it’s worth establishing a few habits. Here are our Top 5 regular checks. Renew the corporate site security certificate Any website that requests or processes user data must have an SSL certificate. It protects information entered by visitors from being intercepted, and almost all modern browsers  warn  users that sites without an SSL certificate are insecure. That can scare off potential customers. Your website most likely has an SSL certificate, but its validity period is limited. Depend