Month: March 2021

The United States’ Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a warning over an ongoing phishing scam targeting higher education establishments in the United States.  In a statement released yesterday, the IRS said that it was being actively impersonated over email by cyber-attackers seeking to trick victims into handing over sensitive data.   Students and staff have received
Merritt Hummer Contributor Merritt Hummer is a partner at Bain Capital Ventures, where she invests in the fintech, e-commerce and proptech sectors. In 2019, my colleague Matt Harris coined the term “embedded fintech” to describe how virtually all software-driven companies will soon embed financial services into their applications, from sending and receiving payments to enabling
A fictional dog is to teach elementary and middle school kids how to maintain a secure digital footprint in a new book co-authored by Fortinet’s deputy CISO.  Lacey the pooch is the creation of Renee Tarun, a cybersecurity veteran of two and half decades. The character is based on Tarun’s pet chocolate Labrador, Lacey, who died
Autonomous, electric mobility service provider Optimus Ride announced a partnership with powersports vehicle manufacturer Polaris to bring fully autonomous GEM electric vehicles to market. The two will introduce a new line of Polaris GEM low-speed vehicles that will be engineered to fully integrate Optimus Ride’s autonomous software and hardware suite. The microtransit vehicles are expected
Protect Your Digital Wellness: Don’t Post Your Vaccination Card Online  Think Twice Before Posting Your Vaccination Card on Social Media After much anticipation, you finally get a notification that you’re eligible to receive your COVID-19 vaccine. Upon getting your first dose, you may be eager to celebrate by sharing a picture of your vaccination card
As many as five vulnerabilities have been uncovered in Ovarro’s TBox remote terminal units (RTUs) that, if left unpatched, could open the door for escalating attacks against critical infrastructures, like remote code execution and denial-of-service. “Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could result in remote code execution, which may cause a denial-of-service condition,” the U.S. Cybersecurity
A Plano resident has been sent to prison for his part in a multimillion-dollar fraud and money-laundering scheme that victimized school districts, charities, and senior citizens.  In October last year, Babatope Joseph Aderinoye was found guilty of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering; wire fraud; aggravated identity theft; and mail fraud.  According to
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued a flash alert to Americans highlighting the dangers of Mamba ransomware. According to the Bureau, Mamba has been deployed against local governments, public transportation agencies, legal services, technology services, and industrial, commercial, manufacturing, and construction businesses. The ransomware works by weaponizing an open source full-disk encryption software called DiskCryptor. By encrypting an entire
The COVID-19 pandemic sparked a dramatic rise in online activity, including online purchases, learning and financial transactions. With the spike in internet traffic came an increase in internet fraud, and, on the other side, more use of fraud prevention technology. Jumio, an identity verification technology vendor, is among the fraud prevention companies seeing a boost
Researchers have discovered a new information-stealing trojan, which targets Android devices with an onslaught of data-exfiltration capabilities — from collecting browser searches to recording audio and phone calls. While malware on Android has previously taken the guise of copycat apps, which go under names similar to legitimate pieces of software, this sophisticated new malicious app
Four states have been chosen by the National Governors Association (NGA) for its 2021 Policy Academy to Advance Whole-of-State Cybersecurity.  Kansas, Missouri, Montana, and Washington have all been selected by the NGA Center for Best Practices to work directly with the NGA on cybersecurity governance, workforce development, and government partnership policies.  “Representatives of the four states will
Who knew building a vertical software as a service toolkit focused on home heating and cooling could be worth $8.3 billion? That’s how much Los Angeles-based ServiceTitan, a startup founded just eight years ago is worth now, thanks to some massive tailwinds around homebuilding and energy efficiency that are serving to boost the company’s bottom
When it comes to dealing with an unplanned and potentially disruptive event that affects the security and integrity of an organization’s IT infrastructure, incident response plans are the first line of defense. Without an incident response plan in place, an organization’s response to an incident — especially a cyber attack — could be haphazard and