Cyber crime is only likely to increase, despite the best efforts of government agencies and cyber security experts. Its growth is being driven by the expanding number of services available online and the increasing sophistication of cyber criminals who are engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with security experts. With the right level of preparation and specialist external assistance, it is possible to control damages, and recover from a cyber breach and its consequences.
Security experts have discovered a vulnerability in WhatsApp, that could have allowed hackers to take over “hundreds of millions” of users’ accounts and access everything in them. The flaw was discovered by Check Point and reported to WhatsApp on 7 March. The company has since taken steps to fix the issue.It affected WhatsApp’s online platform, WhatsApp Web, which allows users to chat with their friends from a computer instead of their phone.
A growing number of Twitter accounts including verified big-name brands, from Justin Bieber to Forbes Magazine, have been hacked to display Nazi symbols, a message written in Turkish and two hashtags that translate to “NaziGermany” and “NaziHolland.” Compromised accounts so far include BBC North America, Reuters Japan, Forbes Magazine, Justin Bieber Japan, German newspaper Die Welt and cybersecurity commentator Graham Cluley. Many are now in the process of regaining access to their accounts.
Hackers have stolen 2.2 million email addresses and 287,000 cellphone numbers from Wishbone users, many of whom are young women under the age of 18. A popular social networking app that allows users to create and vote on simple two-choice quizzes lost millions of users records, including more than 2 million email addresses and full names, and almost 300,000 cellphone numbers. Unknown hackers apparently found an unprotected database for the app Wishbone and stole its contents, which are now circulating on the internet’s undergrounds, according to Troy Hunt, a security researcher who runs the well-known breach notification website “Have I Been Pwned?“.
In the March 2017 Android Security Bulletin, Google released a patch to CVE-2017-0510, a critical severity vulnerability in Nexus 9 we discovered and responsiblity disclosed a few months ago. This vulnerability has a very unusual attack vector – headphones. By exploiting this vulnerability we managed to leak stack canaries, derandomize ASLR, conduct a factory reset, and even access HBOOT, allowing for communication with internal System-on-Chips (SoCs)
Cybersecurity Tips for Online Banking
Whether you use online banking, mobile banking, or mobile remote deposit capture, it’s important to make sure your financial information is safe and secure. Click the link to read helpful Cybersecurity tips for safe online and mobile banking.
- Set a unique User ID and passcode.
Select a different User ID and passcode for each of your M&T services. Choose security questions that are difficult for others to guess, but easy for you to remember. - Keep your information to yourself.
Do not share your User ID or passcode with anyone. - Always log out.
Make sure that you always log out of your online or mobile banking session when you’re done, so no one else can access your account information. And if you need to step away from your computer, log out of your online banking session or from your mobile banking session before putting your device down, so no one sees your sensitive information. - Avoid public or unprotected Wi-Fi.
Use a trusted and secure Wi-Fi source whenever you log in to online or mobile banking. - Use a trusted computer.
Always use a trusted computer, such as a dedicated personal computer, for your online banking. Never make financial transactions on a shared public computer. - Protect your mobile devices.
Don’t compromise the built-in security protection of your device by “jailbreaking” or “rooting” it to access the operating system code. Doing this can make your device more vulnerable to malwar
Intrusions happen, threats emerge and your security operation needs to be at its peak efficiency. Anglo African solutions can quickly intercept threats and thus help in avoiding data breaches. For more information about cyber security kindly contact Anglo African on 2331636 or by e-mail at contact@infosystems.mu
