A new strain of malware is infecting Apple computers, and it can’t be removed.

“Silver Sparrow” has been found on both Intel processor-based Macs as well as the newer models with the company’s proprietary M1 chips. 30,000 computers in 153 countries have it so far, with most of them in Europe and the US.

The malware has spread rapidly, seems to use a few tricks previously unseen in other macOS-based malware, and communicates with a remote server once an hour to look for new instructions. Researchers have not yet been able to determine what this malware does.

Now for the…

March is right around the corner, and for many that means a little digital spring cleaning. This year we’re going to focus on those relics from your digital life that you don’t use and give your passwords a once-over.

Unlike physical Spring cleaning, digital Spring cleaning can help protect your identity, your finances, and any accounts you’re still using online.

#1 Check the breach status of accounts: It’s important to know how many of your accounts have been compromised in earlier data breaches, because they make you vulnerable. Hackers don’t even need to be tech-savvy at this point, they can…

You may have heard about the mother of all data breaches over the past couple of days. More than 3.2 billion email-password pairs were posted online. That’s bigger than the Yahoo compromise last year, which exposed a billion users.

The trove is being dubbed COMB, short for Compilation of Many Breaches. The name explains the situation fairly well. There’s no real news here. The posting of COMB is really only meaningful if you’re an identity thief, since it provides a great one-stop-shopping experience for every stripe of identity-related crime.

Why It Matters:

The COMB post is just in time for…

It’s nearly Valentine’s Day and that means catfishing. If you’re new to this particular scam, it involves a subtle twisting of the heart-strings via digital media (dating sites, social media, chat rooms) by a make-believe Mrs. or Mr. Right who promises a love connection but is focused solely on money collection.

The catfisher is a social engineer, which is a fancy term for con artist. They are adept at getting strangers to provide information, sensitive data or money–and all online without ever meeting their mark in person. It’s a scam tailor-made for the Covid-19 pandemic.

This year it’s turned political…

Early 2021 has seen an inspiring evolution in the way people communicate online. Unfortunately hackers are eager to find ways to exploit these advances particularly in forums where politics are discussed, particularly the conservative side.

Case in point the various platforms where citizens discussed QAnon conspiracy theories and MAGA agenda. Most of the platforms experienced a shake-up following the riots that resulted in the breach of the Capitol in Washington, DC.

The platforms derided by what has become a mass exodus from traditional Big Data social media are Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and TikTok. The companies that hosted the “problem”…

The threat landscape of cybersecurity changes daily, with hackers and cybersecurity professionals in a perpetual cat-and-mouse chase; hackers discover new ways to infiltrate and exploit their targets, and the cybersecurity industry looks for vulnerabilities, tries to anticipate new threats and responds when cyber security issues arise.

The cybersecurity industry faced a challenging combination of new and familiar challenges in 2020. …

• Think before you click that email link: 2020 was a record-breaking year for ransomware, malware, and phishing, and many, if not most of these attacks were launched with the click on a link in an email. Take time to look for anything suspicious in an emails, and if you’re in doubt about a link, ask the sender about it before clicking on it.
• Don’t re-use passwords: Yes, keeping track of passwords for all of your accounts can be a chore, but using the same password means that one breached account can be used to others that use the same user…

The holiday season is the most wonderful time of the year for scammers. And like everything else in 2020, these next few weeks promise to be a disaster. With this in mind, all eyes should be on Black Friday.

According to Adobe Analytics’ recent holiday forecast, online sales are projected to surge 33% year over year to a record $189 billion as “Cyber-week turns to Cyber-months” amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

This prolonged season of online shopping (and stress) will provide ample opportunity for phishers, smishers, vishers and identity thieves to pilfer your valuable personal and/or payment information. So, whether…