Researchers operating out of the University of Florida, Stony Brook University and Samsung Research America have made a disturbing discovery. Millions of Android smartphones manufactured by eleven different OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) were found to be vulnerable to attack via AT Commands. If you're not sure what an "AT Command" is, you're not alone. Part of the Hayes Command Set, ATtention Commands were developed in the early 1980s and designed to be transmitted via phone lines to … Read more
Millions Of T-Mobile Customers Data May Have Been Leaked
Telecommunications giant T-Mobile is the latest victim of a large-scale data breach, with personal data belonging to more than two million of its customers having been leaked. The exposed information included customer name, phone number, email address, billing zip code, account number and whether the account was pre-paid or post-paid. As bad as that is, it could have been far worse. Fortunately, no financial information, passwords, or social security numbers were compromised. According to … Read more
Survey Shows Teens Are Concerned About Their Screen Time
According to a recent survey conducted by Pew Research Center, 54 percent of teens say that they spend too much time on their cellphones. Acknowledging you have a problem is the first, necessary step toward correcting it, and the survey reports that significant percentages of teens are taking steps to do just that. The Survey Specifically States: 52 percent of teens report that they are actively trying to cut back on their mobile phone use 57 percent report that they're taking steps … Read more
Encrypted Chats Are Now Available In Skype
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it had entered into a partnership with Open Whisper Systems, the makers of the Signal app. The purpose of the partnership was to bring Signal's open source, end-to-end encryption protocol to Skype. As of the latest Skype builds, that is now a reality. Stable versions of Skype have been released for Windows, macOS, Linux, android, and iOS. If you haven't yet upgraded to the latest versions and want to begin making use of the new protocol, you … Read more
Macs Can Be Hacked With Synthetic Dismissal On Warning Boxes
Depending on the lens you view him through, Patrick Wardle (former hacker for the NSA and macOS security expert) is either your best friend or your worst nightmare. Most people (whether fans of Apple or not) will readily concede that the company works hard to make their products as secure as possible. Unfortunately, at this year's Def Con hacker convention in Las Vegas, Wardle made a presentation that is currently sending shockwaves through the Apple user community. He exposed a major … Read more
Microsoft Is Keeping Classic Skype, For Now
Microsoft recently found itself on the receiving end of more than a little user rage when they made significant changes to Skype, with the release of version 8. The company's original plan was to model Skype 8 after several different social media services, but the users found the new interface to be both annoying and frustrating. On the face of it, Skype 8 boasts a number of impressive enhancements, enabling users to screenshare inside calls, connecting with up to 24 users simultaneously and … Read more
Click Rates For Spam Emails Are Increasing
F-Secure recently published a new report, and their findings are disturbing. The click rates on spam emails increased to 14.2 percent for the second half of 2017, up from 13.4 percent reported in the first half of 2017. The increase seems to be driven by two factors. First, more intense targeting of smartphone users, who are typically more distracted and not paying as much attention when opening and reading emails. Second, a slight increase in sophistication. For instance, an email … Read more
New Tools Help You Limit Your Social Media Time
Facebook and Instagram are rolling out new tools designed to help manage how much time you're spending on those two social media platforms. On Facebook, the new feature is called "your time on Facebook," and on Instagram, it's called "Your Activity," but both features do essentially the same thing. They monitor and report on how much time you're spending on the platform and can be fine-tuned by users to temporarily mute your push notifications. The changes are being rolled out in an … Read more
New Scam Targets Apple Users
There's a new, surprisingly elaborate phishing scam targeting iPhone users. The scam starts with an email informing users that their phones have been locked due to "illegal activity" and instructing them to call "Apple Care" to get the problem fixed. Of course, there is no such company as Apple Care, but it's an official enough sounding name that it's luring a surprising percentage of victims into calling. In fact, opening the email will open a call dialog box, making connecting to "help" a … Read more
Automatic Mobile Picture Sync Coming To Windows 10
Microsoft has made numerous ventures into the smartphone ecosystem, but so far, they've only been met with limited success. This time, they're trying something a little different. Instead of making their own Windows-based phones, they've created a "Your Phone" app that syncs your phone with your PC. The app is still in testing and is slated to be released sometime in October. At present, while there are two versions (Android and iOS), the Android version is currently more limited than … Read more
