A few weeks ago in Toronto, Chelsea Clark and her boyfriend were snuggling in their own home watching Netflix together on his laptop. This sounds very similar to what lots of people do to relax at home in the evening. What makes this story stand out is that someone was in the room with them…

https://blog.avast.com/2015/08/18/could-someone-be-watching-you-through-your-webcam/#more-37355

Feel safe with your fully-patched computer? If you use Flash and land on the wrong website, you may get a virus or even a cryptolocker that renders your machine unusable. That’s because a sophisticated “zero-day” exploit stolen from Hacking Team has now been released into the wild. As a reminder, Hacking Team is the infamous outfit that supplies US law enforcement and various governments around the world with digital spying tools. However, the company suffered an embarrassing attack on its own servers, and among the 400GB of data stolen were some nasty tools originally intended for use by agencies like the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

Security experts say attackers have now unleashed those tools on the internet, leaving all computers vulnerable until Adobe patches Flash, which it’s expected to do tomorrow. Malwarebytes called it “one of the fastest documented cases of an immediate weaponization in the wild, possibly thanks to the detailed instructions left by the Hacking Team.” So what can you do about it? Obviously, be careful about which sites you visit, but you may also want to either enable “click-to-play” for the Flash plug-in or disable it completely, as detailed by How-To Geek.

Source: Engadget, Malwarebytes

To protect yourself until Adobe updates flash to prevent the exploit please install this:

https://www.malwarebytes.org/antiexploit/

Wordfence security published a blog about a major Microsoft owned WordPress site getting hacked, how it happened and how you can avoid the same fate.

Get the blog post  here.

There is a new phishing email circulating today that appears to be from Amazon letting you know your order has been confirmed. This is another phishing email. Please do not open it or click on any links. Permanently deleted immediately . IF you did order something from Amazon, login to your account to check the status.

Unless you regularly sync and back up the data stored in your phone or tablet, you’ll lose it when you lose your device.

Here’s what you can do:

• Tracking, locking, and wiping – many anti-theft apps have a way to remotely turn on the LED flash, play an alert sound, and enable the gyroscope sensors, history maps, and remote wipe features.
  • Android – Try to track your device with the Android Device Manager. This app helps you to locate your device, reset your device PIN code, and erase all data on the phone.
  • iPhone – Find My iPhone app can help you locate your phone and track it online or by using another device. You can also lock your device remotely to prevent anyone from using your device, as well as wipe your data and restore it to factory defaults.

• Change your passwords – If you can’t recover the device or have the means to track it, lock it, or wipe it remotely, you can at least make sure that your data is secure by changing your passwords right away. List down the apps and online accounts that you allowed your device to access and reset your passwords for all of them to prevent anyone from getting into your accounts through your lost device. This also protects your contacts from possible scams done using your credentials. Remember to use unique and complex passwords, and something that is completely different from your previous ones.

• Inform your carrier – call your service carrier immediately to allow them to block calls and transactions being made using your line.

• File a report – while recovering your device on your own might work, it’s important to document the theft that occurred. Your local authorities could assist you in obtaining a reference number for your insurance (if you’re covered) to help you claim on your loss.