Tag Archive for: Home

Ransomware attack delaying Jackson County, Missouri home sales

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INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — She fought for our country. But now a ransomware attack reportedly carried out by Russians has a local veteran whose disabled fighting to be able to sell her home.

It’s the latest effect from a cyber security breach in Jackson County last week.


Jackson County’s website says offices will remain closed at the Historic Truman Courthouse in Independence Wednesday.

A ransomware attack last Tuesday has closed the Jackson County Recorder of Deeds, Assessment and Collections Office. The county said Monday its making progress on restoration and system recovery. But for some that progress can’t come soon enough.

“It’s had a huge impact on our buyers and sellers in particular,” United Real Estate Kansas City Broker Marta Grace said.

The buyer of Jae Ramsey’s Independence home was hoping for an early closing.

“They told me to get out by April 1st, so I said OK, I did,” she said.

She hired movers with closing originally set for April 4, two days after that ransomware attack.

“They had like ten people in my house taking everything. I have no idea what I even have anymore,” Ramsey said.

Now she’s living with a relative waiting for proceeds from the sale of her home now set to close Thursday. But there’s no indication whether the Recorder of Deeds will open by then or how quickly they’ll get through at least a weeks worth of work missed.

“They are unable to close so the lenders won’t fund. They won’t lend you the money if they cannot record it with the county,” Grace explained.

“Primarily it’s we don’t know when they are going to get to close that’s caused the confusion and kind of a catastrophe,” TG Homes in the Heartland Owner Tina Groumoutis said.

Contracts to sell homes have expiration dates to close by. In Ramsey’s case that deadline is quickly approaching.

“He could very well get cold feet and say I don’t know what’s going on over there, but I’m good I’ll find something else,” Groumoutis said of the…

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That home router botnet the Feds took down? Moscow’s probably going to try again • The Register

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Authorities from eleven nations have delivered a sequel to the January takedown of a botnet run by Russia on compromised Ubiquiti Edge OS routers – in the form of a warning that Russia may try again, so owners of the devices should take precautions.

Revealed in February, the takedown was led by US authorities and at the time was said to have “disabled” a campaign staged by Russia’s GRU military intelligence unit. The crew cracked the SOHO routers and infected them with malware named Moobot – a variant of the infamous Mirai malware.

Moobot allowed GRU and its minions to install and run scripts to build a 1,000-strong botnet, which it used for power phishing, spying, credential harvesting, and data theft.

Given the triumphant tone of the takedown announcement, Ubiquiti users may have felt they were no longer at risk.

But on Tuesday the FBI issued a joint advisory [PDF] on behalf of the US, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. The document urges Ubiquiti owners to get patching.

“Owners of relevant devices should take the remedial actions described below to ensure the long-term success of the disruption effort and to identify and remediate any similar compromises,” the document cautions.

Those actions are:

  • Perform a hardware factory reset;
  • Upgrade to the latest firmware version;
  • Change any default usernames and passwords;
  • Implement strategic firewall rules on WAN-side interfaces.

The advisory also offers more detail on how GRU – specifically 85th Main Special Service Center (GTsSS), also known as APT28, Fancy Bear, and Forest Blizzard (Strontium) – went about its dirty deeds.

At the time of the takedown, US authorities remarked that this botnet differed from past GRU efforts in that it used off-the-shelf malware. The advisory reveals that APT28 also wrote its own package for this heist.

Called MASEPIE, the malware was directed by the Ubiquiti-based botnet and is described as “a small Python backdoor capable of executing arbitrary commands on victim machines.”

“Data sent to and from the EdgeRouters was encrypted using a randomly generated 16-character AES key,” the advisory…

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ESET Home Security Essential Review

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ESET’s security programs have steered away from the traditional trio of antivirus, security suite, and feature-rich mega-suite. Now, you step up from the antivirus to a bundle called ESET Home Security Essential, which contains the familiar security suite and several other independent security apps. Between the suite and the ancillary programs, it really packs in features—some top-notch, others not. If you’re shopping for a feature-packed entry-level security suite, we more highly recommend Bitdefender Internet Security, our Editors’ Choice winner.

What Goes Into ESET Home Security Essential?

In years past, ESET followed the typical pattern, offering an entry-level security suite (ESET Internet Security) and an advanced suite with additional features (ESET Smart Security Premium). These two still exist, but they’re not sold as separate programs. Rather, each forms the core of an ESET Home Security bundle. ESET Home Security Essential, reviewed here, incorporates ESET Internet Security, ESET NOD32 Antivirus, ESET Cyber Security for Mac, ESET Parental Control, and the unusual ESET Smart TV Security (an Android app for smart TVs).

Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. See how we test.

You manage this gaggle of components through the aptly named ESET Home online dashboard. Log in to ESET Home to view all your licenses and protected devices. Right from this dashboard, you can open a license and add protection to the current device or send an email link to install it on another device.

ESET Home Security Essential ESET Home

(Credit: ESET/PCMag)

Shifting to the devices view, you can quickly see if your devices have security issues. You can get details on any problems, but you must go to the affected computer to act on them. There’s no remote configuration control like what you get with Sophos Home Premium, Webroot, and others. The online dashboard is also the spot to manage the parental control and anti-theft components discussed below and the password manager introduced in the next-tier suite.

How Much Does ESET Home Security Essential Cost?

A one-license subscription to this suite costs $49.99 per year. Additional licenses, up to 10, add $5…

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Eset unifies home digital protection – Gadget

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Eset, a global leader in cybersecurity, has streamlined its digital protection for South African consumers. The company is unifying its consumer product portfolio in three new customer-centric subscription tiers, each designed to offer comprehensive digital life protection. Notable features include a virtual private network (VPN), and a browser privacy and security extension.

Given the increasing reliance on online platforms, safeguarding identities and information is critical. South Africans frequently use online platforms for financial transactions, purchases, and business setups, making them vulnerable to identity theft. Notably, impersonation fraud in SA has surged by 356% from 2022 to 2023.

As cyber threats evolve, there is a growing demand for reliable digital life protection. Eset recognises both the challenges of cybersecurity and the evolving needs of consumers.

“Eset is a global digital security company whose award-winning technology secures over one-billion internet users and hundreds of thousands of businesses,” says  Eset Southern Africa CEO Carey van Vlaanderen. “We’re well aware of consumers’ need for user-friendly security solutions for their digital lives. A simple antivirus is simply not enough anymore.”

Eset home, the new subscription-based offering, provides a comprehensive security management platform with integrated device protection, subscription management, and user-friendly interfaces.

Eset provided the following information on its three subscription tiers and their features:

  1. Eset Home Security Essential:
  • Modern endpoint security with pre, during, and post-execution software scans.
  • Enhanced real-time protection and multilayered defence against threats.
  • Key features include Safe Banking & Browsing, Network Inspector for router security, and new browser extensions for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.
  1. Eset Home Security Premium:
  • Includes all Essential features.
  • Additional functionalities like Password Manager with form completion for time-saving web form entries.
  • Secure Data feature encrypts files and removable media, preventing data theft in case of…

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