How Apple and Google let your phone warn you if you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus while protecting your privacy

Johannes Becker, Boston University and David Starobinski, Boston University Virginia has enabled app-less COVID-19 exposure notification services for iPhone users, joining California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, Washington, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia. This means iPhone users in those states won’t need to install exposure notification apps and can instead turn on notifications… Continue reading How Apple and Google let your phone warn you if you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus while protecting your privacy

Ransomware gangs are running riot – paying them off doesn’t help

Jan Lemnitzer, Copenhagen Business School In the past five years, ransomware attacks have evolved from rare misfortunes into common and disruptive threats. Hijacking the IT systems of organisations and forcing them to pay a ransom in order to reclaim them, cybercriminals are freely extorting millions of pounds from companies – and they’re enjoying a remarkably… Continue reading Ransomware gangs are running riot – paying them off doesn’t help

After the Optus data breach, Australia needs mandatory disclosure laws

Jane Andrew, University of Sydney; Max Baker, University of Sydney, and Monique Sheehan, University of Sydney The Optus data breach, which has affected close to 10 million Australians, has sparked calls for changes to Australia’s privacy laws, placing limits on what and for how long organisations can hold our personal data. Equally important is to… Continue reading After the Optus data breach, Australia needs mandatory disclosure laws

RMIT attack underlines need to train all uni staff in cyber safety

Abu Barkat ullah, University of Canberra and Mohiuddin Ahmed, Edith Cowan University Cyber criminals are very persistent and the daily numbers of cyber attacks show no sign of decreasing. The latest reported attack on an Australian university has disrupted the start of the semester at RMIT. The suspected phishing attack – luring the recipient of… Continue reading RMIT attack underlines need to train all uni staff in cyber safety

FamilySearch Account Email

Just received the following email from FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/en/). Funny thing is that I do not recall signing up on that website. Not saying I didn’t, probably just slipped my mind. Anyways, email follows:

Security flaws in Microsoft email software raise questions over Australia’s cybersecurity approach

Carsten Rudolph, Monash University On March 2, 2021, Microsoft published information about four critical vulnerabilities in its widely used Exchange email server software that are being actively exploited. It also released security updates for all versions of Exchange back to 2010. Microsoft has told cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs it was notified of the vulnerabilities in… Continue reading Security flaws in Microsoft email software raise questions over Australia’s cybersecurity approach

Facebook data breach: what happened and why it’s hard to know if your data was leaked

Paul Haskell-Dowland, Edith Cowan University Over the long weekend reports emerged of an alleged data breach, impacting half a billion Facebook users from 106 countries. And while this figure is staggering, there’s more to the story than 533 million sets of data. This breach once again highlights how many of the systems we use aren’t… Continue reading Facebook data breach: what happened and why it’s hard to know if your data was leaked

The FBI is breaking into corporate computers to remove malicious code – smart cyber defense or government overreach?

Scott Shackelford, Indiana University The FBI has the authority right now to access privately owned computers without their owners’ knowledge or consent, and to delete software. It’s part of a government effort to contain the continuing attacks on corporate networks running Microsoft Exchange software, and it’s an unprecedented intrusion that’s raising legal questions about just… Continue reading The FBI is breaking into corporate computers to remove malicious code – smart cyber defense or government overreach?

Four ways to make sure your passwords are safe and easy to remember

Steven Furnell, University of Nottingham For more than 15 years, there have been various predictions from tech leaders about the death of passwords. Bill Gates predicted it back in 2004 and Microsoft has predicted it for 2021. There have been numerous similar proclamations in between, alongside ongoing criticism of passwords as an inadequate means of… Continue reading Four ways to make sure your passwords are safe and easy to remember

Boris Johnson’s phone: what can hackers do with your mobile number?

Edward Apeh, Bournemouth University Boris Johnson’s personal phone number has been publicly available on the internet for 15 years, it has been revealed. Listed at the bottom of a 2006 press release, the number has reportedly been accessible online from the time the prime minister was shadow higher education minister through to his rise to… Continue reading Boris Johnson’s phone: what can hackers do with your mobile number?