FTC Releases Alert on Earthquake Disaster Email Scams

The Federal Trade Commission FTC has released an alert on email scams that cite the recent earthquakes in Ecuador and Japan. The scam emails may contain links or attachments that direct users to phishing or malware-infected websites. Donation requests from fraudulent charitable organizations...

FTC Releases Alert on Tech-Support Scams

The Federal Trade Commission FTC has released an alert on tech-support themed telephone scams. In these schemes, fraudulent callers claim to be from legitimate technical support organizations and offer to fix computer problems that don't exist. Users should not give control of their computers to...

Asus Faces 20 years of Audits Over Poor Wi-Fi Router Security

Currently, Asus is undergoing through a troublesome situation after a lawsuit had been filed by the US Federal Trade Commission FTC regarding its Router Insecurity. On Tuesday, FTC settled charges with Asus, where the hardware manufacturing company agrees to: Undergo Independent Security Audits...

FTC And Asus Settle Over Router Security

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with ASUSTeK Computer over sloppy security settings tied to its routers that left the personal data of 12,900 consumers’ publicly available. On Tuesday, the Taiwanese electronics company agreed to 20 years of periodic security audits along...

FTC Shares Security Tips for ASUS Wireless Routers

The Federal Trade Commission FTC has provided network security tips for vulnerable ASUS-branded wireless routers. Major security flaws in these routers may have exposed customers' sensitive information to malicious actors. FTC urges consumers to download the latest security updates for their...

FTC Announces Enhancements to IdentityTheft.gov

The Federal Trade Commission FTC has upgraded its IdentityTheft.gov site to provide improved help to victims of identity theft. Enhancements include more personalized response plans for consumers, automatic generation of documents to aid in recovery, and better integration of the site with the...

Many Health and Fitness Apps Remain Vulnerable

It seems little has changed over the last several years when it comes to how health and fitness apps go about securing user information. According to a survey carried out by the firm Arxan last fall, 86 percent of health apps it reviewed at had at least two critical vulnerabilities and 55 percent...

Oracle Java FTC Settlement

Oracle’s stewardship of Java has been scrutinized by the security community, which in 2013 languished through nearly a full year of targeted attacks exploiting zero days and other vulnerabilities in the platform. Since then, Oracle has improved the Java user experience by denying unsigned applets...

Oracle Ordered to Publicly Admit Misleading Java Security Updates

Security issues have long tantalized over 850 Million users that have Oracle's Java software installed on their computers. The worst thing is that the software was not fully updated or secure for years, exposing millions of PCs to attack. And for this reason, Oracle is now paying the price. Oracl...

Hotel Chain Hilton Worldwide Investigating Potential POS Breach

Hilton Hotels and Resorts is reportedly looking into claims that some of its point-of-sale devices were compromised, some potentially as far back as November 2014. Security blogger Brian Krebs notes that Visa sent alerts to financial institutions warning of a breach from April 21 to July 27, but...

Gary McGraw on Scalable Software Security and Medical Device Security

Dennis Fisher talks to Gary McGraw about the challenges of scaling software security programs, the FTC’s security programs, and the current push for better security in medical devices. Download: digitalunderground220.mp3 Music by Chris Gonsalves...

FTC, Experts Push Startups to Think About Security From the Beginning

About a decade ago, many large software makers learned some very difficult lessons about software security and building security into their products from the start. Some are still learning. The FTC and a variety of security experts are hoping that today’s crop of start-ups will not have to go...

A huge applause from the NIST-OCR-HIPAA 2015 conference

It looked like the 8th annual conference may have garnered record-breaking attendance as I noticed hotel staff rushing to add skirted tables and chairs to the back of the room to accommodate a standing-room-only crowd. I guess that was to be expected given the star-studded line-up of presenters...

Court Rules FTC Has Authority to Punish Wyndham Over Breaches

In the latest installment of a long and winding court case related to multiple data beaches at Wyndham Worldwide several years ago, an appellate court has upheld the authority of the Federal Trade Commission to punish the hotel chain for lax security practices that allegedly led to the breaches...

Government Asks for Security Community's Help on Technical Issues

LAS VEGAS–Washington is looking for a few good hackers. Politicians and policymakers in the United States generally are not thought of as being the most technically savvy lot. It’s a reputation that’s well-earned in some cases, with some politicians boasting about their inability to use email and...

FTC Details the Top 10 Imposter Scams of 2014

The Federal Trade Commission FTC has released an advisory describing the top 10 reported imposter scams for 2014. Scam operators often impersonate individuals, companies, and organizations to entice targets to participate in fraudulent financial transactions. Users are encouraged to review the FT...

Google Won't Patch WebView Prior to Android Jelly Bean

Hackers may have a perpetual shooting gallery of unpatched Android vulnerabilities at their disposal after it was disclosed today that Google no longer will provide WebView patches for older versions of its operating system. Researchers at Rapid7 have made mincemeat of WebView in Android Jelly...

FTC Releases "Package Delivery" Themed Scam Alert

The Federal Trade Commission FTC has released a Scam Alert addressing a "Package Delivery" themed phishing campaign regarding package delivery notifications from the U.S. Postal Service. Scam operators often use false information linked to reputable organizations to imply the email is legitimate...

US-CERT Alerts Users to Holiday Phishing Scams and Malware Campaigns

US-CERT reminds users to remain vigilant when browsing online this holiday season. E-cards from unknown senders may contain malicious links. Fake advertisements or shipping notifications may deliver infected attachments. Spoofed e-mail messages and fraudulent posts on social networking sites may...

FTC Shutters $120 Million Tech Support, Bogus Software Scam

Earlier this week a federal court in Florida issued a temporary restraining order shutting down a series of organizations in the business of peddling fake software and nonexistent tech support services, temporarily freezing the assets of those companies’ and placing them under the control of a...