| « Mind The Gap | Monday Morning Technologist » |
Wednesday Morning Technologist?
Sorry a bit late this week - just got back from doing Ironman Texas and I'm a bit behind (and more than a little sore). Couple of items for you this week...
Androids Can Be Hacked?
One of the top stories last week was that some researchers found a way to compromise some of the login certificates and hack Android data. The story was alarming but lost in all of the buzz was a key point...the hack only works if you're connecting via an unsecured wireless access point. If you're using your carrier's 3G (or 4G) network you're not vulnerable to this attack. If you're connecting to your private, secured access point or the one at your company which is also secured (right?) then you're o.k.
It's just at Starbucks or other places with open WiFi that you might be in danger.
Scareware Preys on Users
Two big malware items right now - both of them rely upon preying upon user fears to activate.
The first is a piece of scareware that tries to fool PC users into thinking their hard drive is about to die. It convinces them to download something like a video or something which proceeds to hide/move files and desktop icons on the users' computer then tells them they need to buy a $79 system diagnostic utility to fix it.
The second is a piece of malware for the Mac. Right now a few of you have covered your eyes and pushed your monitor away because you've been convinced that Macs are immune from malware. They're not.
Dubbed "Mac Defender" it's a piece of phony security software that like it's PC counterparts tries to lure the user into buying it and installing it. More shocking than the fact that some scareware exists for the Mac is that Apple's initial response to it for affected users (who may number into the 100,000+) had been to tell their support people NOT to help people fix it.
Subsequently, perhaps due to the obvious bad press that curious move generated, Apple has released an article on how to fix the problem. You can find that article here.
You can reach Ben M. Schorr at bens@rolandschorr.com or by phone at 808-782-6306. Follow him on Twitter at @bschorr.