Tag Archive for: VPNs

Americans turn to VPNs to prevent online fraud and hacking

/in


Since March 2020 there has been an increase of of VPN (Virtual Private Network) discount-related searches as Americans search for a way to feel secure online, according to a new report.



a close up of a woman

© Tweetyspics


New York, NY-based coupon engine CouponFollow, part of NextGen Shopping surveyed 1,666 US adults before the pandemic and a further 1,834 US adults in February 2021 to understand how Americans view their internet security and data privacy.

Also: What is a VPN and why do you need one? Everything you have to know

The report showed that almost seven in ten (69%) of Americans are concerned about the security of their data when using public Wi-fi, and nearly two in three (64%) are worried about it when using the internet at home.

A similar percentage (65%) are concerned that their medical or financial data might be shared — or sold on — by their ISP.

Online privacy worries almost half (47%) of Americans who are concerned about their privacy when using public Wi-Fi. Nearly a third (30%) worry about their privacy even when using the Internet at home.



chart, bar chart: CouponFollow

© Provided by ZDNet
CouponFollow

Online fraud and hacking is a concern for Americans with over one in three (35%) knowing someone who has had their social media account hacked or hijacked — including them. Almost half of Millennials (48%) reported this happening.

Loading...

Load Error

In October 2020 the UK’s data privacy watchdog fined the Marriott hotel chain for a data breach that could have affected up to 339 million guests. Even social media sites like Facebook has suffered data leaks.

One in three have had, or know someone who has had their password stolen, and (52%) of Millennials and Gen Z reported the same.

Also: How to set up and use a VPN on Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android

Only 12% of Baby Boomers reported having their password stolen, and one in five (20%) had a social media account hacked or hijacked — reflecting the amount of time they spend online.

Although one in three (35%) Americas use a VPN, 33% reported that they do not know what a VPN is.

Men are more likely to know what a VPN is, but almost half of Baby Boomers (49%) do not know what a VPN is. Even two in five (40%) of VPN users do not…

Source…

The Ultimate Cybersecurity Hack: How VPNs are Helping Businesses fight Cybercriminals

/in


A study by the University of Maryland reported that hackers attack every 39 seconds, on average 2,244 times a day. In 2016, the NY Times reported that 3 billion Yahoo accounts were hacked in one of the biggest breaches of all time. The activities of cybercriminals are real, and businesses must do all within their power to protect themselves from these attacks, capable of paralyzing their operations.

Cases of cyber-attacks on businesses are on the rise. According to a 2019 report, 68% of business leaders feel their cybersecurity risks are increasing. In reality, most of these businesses are fighting an enemy they are ill-equipped to face. Even businesses with IT departments or third-party IT partners struggle with keeping their data and business operations safe from cybersecurity issues.

Your business is certainly online, whether it is for full operations or merely as an interface for exchanging information with your customers. Any data breach could cost both you and your customers a great deal. Internal cybersecurity processes and procedures are necessary but are not enough without a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

What is a VPN?

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network.

Essentially, a VPN allows people to access the internet securely and remotely. With a VPN, your online actions are virtually untraceable, private, and anonymous. A VPN is a must-have tool for any business that is serious about cybersecurity. VPN is the ultimate cybersecurity hack and below are a few ways VPNs are helping businesses fight cybercriminals.

1) VPN provides additional security infrastructure

One of the easiest ways to stop cybercriminals from gaining access to your systems is by having strong firewall protection installed on each piece of your business infrastructure. With firewall…

Source…

Discover why VPNs are so crucial in today’s world – Film Daily

/in


VPNs are becoming increasingly more useful in the internet age. They not only provide access to sites that would otherwise be blocked, but they can ensure you aren’t being tracked by outside sources. VPNs are especially useful if one is browsing the internet from their own home and want to make sure their data is encrypted.

But how does a VPN work? Does it require special tech skills? Does the installation process differ when you purchase a VPN for multiple devices? We’ve decided to answer each of these pressing questions so that readers can use their VPN to its fullest capacity.

VPNs on mobile devices

In years past, the installation of VPNs on mobile devices was a lengthy process. Thankfully, today, it’s much simpler. If a user has an iPhone or an Android and wants to ensure that the data is not being tracked, they can simply download the VPN app of their choosing and install it. Once the installation is complete, the user’s data will automatically become encrypted.

There are several different VPN options, most NordVPN remains one of the most popular due to its flexibility. NordVPN allows up to six installs per account, so users can encrypt all of their tech in addition to those owned by friends and family.  

Free VNPs vs paid VPNs

There’s some confusion about VPNs that are free versus the ones that are paid. Both appear to be beneficial, but the free options are oftentimes a huge risk. Some free VPN options will not encrypt data at all times, and perhaps even worse, they will keep logs of your data in order to sell it to the highest-bidding advertiser. In the case of the latter, the VPN would be putting your personal information at risk instead of protecting it.

We recommend using paid VPN options exclusively. Some of the most popular VNPs include ExpressVPN, Tunnelbear, StrongVPN, and the aforementioned NordVPN.

VPN compatibility with internet provider

A valid concern that some users might have is whether a VPN would mess with their current internet/Wi-fi connection. Fortunately, the answer to both is no. A VPN only affects the virtual end of your internet use, which will make it seem like you are running through a different network when really you are…

Source…

Hacker posts exploits for over 49,000 vulnerable Fortinet VPNs

/in


A hacker has posted a list of one-line exploits to steal VPN credentials from almost 50,000 Fortinet VPN devices.

Present on the list of vulnerable targets are domains belonging to high street banks and government organizations from around the world.

Researchers find thousands of targets

The vulnerability being referred to here is CVE-2018-13379, a path traversal flaw impacting a large number of unpatched Fortinet FortiOS SSL VPN devices.

By exploiting this vulnerability, unauthenticated remote attackers can access system files via specially crafted HTTP requests.

The exploit posted by the hacker lets attackers access the sslvpn_websession files from Fortinet VPNs to steal login credentials. These stolen credentials could then be used to compromise a network and deploy ransomware.

Although the 2018 bug was publicly disclosed over a year ago, researchers have spotted around 50,000 targets that can still be targeted by attackers.

This week, threat intelligence analyst Bank_Security found a hacker forum thread where a threat actor shared a large 49,577 device list of such exploitable targets

Bank_Security spots domains
Researcher comes across a thread with vulnerable hosts
Source: Twitter

After analyzing the list, it was found that the vulnerable targets included government domains from around the world, and those belonging to well-known banks and finance companies.

Banks, finance, and govt organizations vulnerable

As observed by BleepingComputer, out of the 50,000 domains, over four dozen belonged to reputable banking, finance, and governmental organizations.

Gov domains and leading bank websites remain vulnerable to CVE-2018-13379
Govt domains and leading bank websites remain vulnerable to CVE-2018-13379
Source: BleepingComputer​​​​

Bank Security told BleepingComputer after he saw the forum post, he started analyzing the list of IPs to identify what all organizations were impacted.

“To better find out which companies were impacted, I launched an nslookup on all the IPs on the list and for many of them, I found the associated domain.”

The analyst then refined the obtained results to identify domain names associated with organizations of interest and notable banks.

The analyst further told BleepingComputer, although this is an old bug that is trivial…

Source…