The Camden County Police Department experienced a ransomware attack that has been locking many criminal investigative files and day-to-day internal administration abilities, several law enforcement officials said. NBC10 investigative reporter Claudia Vargas has the details.
THESE three quick tricks will keep upgrade your phone’s security.
You might be tempted to download a security subscription service to keep your Android safe from hackers or thieves.
But there are free, ready-to-go safety tricks hidden on your phone — you simply need to know where to look.
Here are three life-saving tips that will padlock your phone shut, according to Computer World.
Chrome‘s Safe Browsing mode is enabled by default, but there is a newer and more effective version.
It’s called “Enhanced Safe Browsing” and will operate “in the background to provide faster, proactive protection against dangerous websites, downloads, and extensions,” according to Google’s website.
Here’s how you access it:
An extra helpful tip: Return to Chrome’s Settings menu and select “Safety check.”
This will open a useful one-tap tool for scanning browser settings and saved passwords, and will let you know of any possible breaches or weak spots in your security.
Android’s Smart Lock feature is designed to make security simpler, by pausing the extra protections when it’s in your hands.
It will automatically allow you to keep your phone unlocked whenever you’re in a trusted place like your home or office, or when you’re connected to a commonly-used Bluetooth device, like your earbuds.
Here’s how depending on your device type:
No, not that kind of lockdown.
The handy Android setting called “Lockdown Mode” provides you with an easy way to temporarily lockdown your phone.
In this mode, only a pattern, PIN, or password can get a person past your lock screen and into your device.
It temporarily shuts down your phone from all biometric and Smart Lock…
A group of security researchers has found a way to circumvent digital locks and other security systems that rely on the proximity of a Bluetooth fob or smartphone for authentication.
Using what’s known as a “link layer relay attack,” security consulting firm NCC Group was able to unlock, start, and drive vehicles and unlock and open certain residential smart locks without the Bluetooth-based key anywhere in the vicinity.
Sultan Qasim Khan, the principal security consultant and researcher with NCC Group, demonstrated the attack on a Tesla Model 3, although he notes that the problem isn’t specific to Tesla. Any vehicle that uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for its keyless entry system would be vulnerable to this attack.
Many smart locks are also vulnerable, Khan adds. His firm specifically called out the Kwikset/Weiser Kevo models since these use a touch-to-open feature that relies on passive detection of a Bluetooth fob or smartphone nearby. Since the lock’s owner doesn’t need to interact with the Bluetooth device to confirm they want to unlock the door, a hacker can relay the key’s Bluetooth credentials from a remote location and open someone’s door even if the homeowner is thousands of miles away.
This exploit still requires that the attacker have access to the owner’s actual Bluetooth device or key fob. However, what makes it potentially dangerous is that the real Bluetooth key doesn’t need to be anywhere near the vehicle, lock, or other secured devices.
Instead, Bluetooth signals are relayed between the lock and key through a pair of intermediate Bluetooth devices connected using another method — typically over a regular internet link. The result is that the lock treats the hacker’s nearby Bluetooth device as if it’s the valid key.
As Khan explains, “we can convince a Bluetooth device that we are near it — even from hundreds of miles away […] even when the vendor has taken defensive mitigations like encryption and latency bounding to theoretically protect these communications from attackers at a distance.”
The exploit bypasses the usual relay attack protections as it works at a very low level of the Bluetooth stack, so it doesn’t…
While many consumers were celebrating the Fourth of July, a ring of international hackers were celebrating for an entirely different reason. Over the holiday weekend, the cybercrooks locked up more than a million individual computer devices and were demanding $70 million in bitcoin as a ransom.
The hackers have been identified as REvil, the Russian group known for hacking meat supplier JBS earlier this year. This time around, REvil compromised Kaseya Limited, a U.S. software company that develops IT management software.
The hack affected many of Kaseya’s customers, including the Swedish grocery store chain Coop. It forced the company to close more than half of its 800 stores and rendered the retailer’s cash registers and self-service checkouts inoperable.
Cybersecurity analysts worry that REvil has pushed the limits of hacking further than experts are equipped to handle. Some of Kaseya’s customers are firms that oversee internet services for other companies, so REvil was able to snowball the number of victims rapidly.
While many hack attacks try to tie up a single, standalone company, REvil was able to isolate each computer in Kaseya’s list of customers and ransom it separately. Reports say that REvil’s initial ransom request was for $45,000 to unlock each individual device.
On its face, Kaseya’s situation sounds dire. However, the company said things aren’t as bad as they seem.
“While impacting approximately 50 of Kaseya’s customers, this attack was never a threat nor had any impact to critical infrastructure,” said Fred Voccola, the company’s CEO. “Many of Kaseya’s customers are managed service providers, using Kaseya’s technology to manage IT infrastructure for local and small businesses with less than 30 employees, such as dentists’ offices, small accounting offices and local restaurants.”
Added up, Voccola said only 800 to 1,500 of Kaseya’s customers were compromised by the hack out of an estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 local and small businesses it manages. Nonetheless, Voccola said his company’s global teams were working around the clock to get our customers back up…