RSS_Virtulization

Extortion, and especially “sextortion” emails, are becoming more frequent, and they can be extremely alarming when received. Such emails work by using threats to extort money, evoking intense fear. This type of correspondence comes in many guises and features various elements, but essentially, they work in the same way. These activities can refer to real-life experience such as cheating on a partner or online behaviors such as visiting porn sites. They are called sextortion scams…

Authored by Anuradha M McAfee Labs have observed a new phishing campaign that utilizes macro capabilities available in Microsoft PowerPoint. In this campaign, the spam email comes with a PowerPoint file as an attachment. Upon opening the malicious attachment, the VBA macro executes to deliver variants of AgentTesla which is a well-known password stealer. These spam emails purport to be related to financial transactions.   AgentTesla is a RAT (Remote Access Trojan) malware that has been active since…

Retribution by hacking back might make you feel better, but experts urge caution and explain why it’s a bad idea. Image: xijian / Getty Images Throughout history, acts of revenge, retaliation, retribution and reciprocation have been used to deter further deeds by a perceived wrongdoer. Michael McCullough, a professor of psychology at the University of Miami, suggested to Jennifer Breheny Wallace in her Washington Post article Why getting even may make you feel worse in…

Europol, along with Italian and Spanish police, dismantled a major crime organization linked to the Italian Mafia that focuses on online frauds. Europol, along with law enforcement agencies in Italy and Spain, has dismantled a major crime group linked to the Italian Mafia that was involved in online fraud, drug trafficking, money laundering, and property crime. According to the press release published by Europol, the illegal profit of the crime ring is estimated at about…

The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense has apologized for sending an email that exposed the data of more than 250 Afghan interpreters who worked for British forces.  The impacted interpreters are seeking to be relocated to the UK either from Afghanistan, where many are currently in hiding from the Taliban, which seized power in August, or from another country to which they have relocated.  The email – in which the interpreters’ email addresses, names, and some linked profile images were…

The University of Minnesota has announced a new center that aims to ensure that medical devices are safe and secured against cybersecurity threats.  The Center for Medical Device Cybersecurity (CMDC) was created after members of the medical device manufacturing industry called for a collaborative hub to facilitate discovery, outreach, and workforce training in device security.  CMDC will foster university-industry-government collaborations focusing on developing new education and training, technologies, and research to address potential threats to the cybersecurity…