Fraudsters are using black SEO, Google Sites and spam pages to push fake data breach notifications impersonating big name companies in an effort to distribute malware and scams.

As reported by BleepingComputer, Google Alerts help to spread these fake notifications as the service monitors search results looking for user-defined keywords. To spread their malware, the scammers either created pages or used compromised websites to combine the term data breach with well-known brands.

The news outlet has seen fake breach notifications for many companies including EA, Dropbox, Hulu, PayPal, Target, Mjoang and more. However, what ties all of these companies together is the fact that they have all fallen victim to a data breach in the past.

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If a user clicks on any of the links picked up by Google Alerts, they end up going to pages with fake giveaways, download offers for unwanted extensions and malware. The fraudsters have made it harder to detect their malicious behavior though by making it so that these pages don't directly reveal the true nature of their campaign. Instead, users may see a “page not found” error or a text-filled page created to promote a fake data breach.

Ranking higher in search results

BleepingComputer also discovered a hacked website containing a directory with around 2,000 text files which contain specific keywords in order to promote a topic in Google's search results. The information inside these blobs of text was copied from public sources and covers a wide variety of subjects. When a user searchers for a certain topic online, the scammer's results rank higher in search results and are more likely to be clicked on.

In addition to using compromised websites, the scammers may also set up their own pages and in many cases they used a free tool from Google called Google Sites to do so. When a user clicks on a Google link for one of these fake pages, the link actually redirects them through multiple addresses before the final site is reached.

The scammers also used fake Adobe Flash update notifications to spread their malware. These fake alerts popped up in both Google Chrome and in Mozilla Firefox. Fake giveaways were also used by the scammers to lure potential victims.

To prevent falling victim to these scams, users should remain alert online, especially when clicking on links in search results, and remember that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

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Via BleepingComputer

EU antitrust regulators are currently investigating Apple over its App Store and its mobile payment system Apple Pay.

According to the European Commission, its investigation will look into the iPhone maker's requirement of forcing app developers to sell to potential customers using its own in-app purchase system in the App Store as well as rules which prevent them from telling users about how cheaper products can be found elsewhere.

In a press release, executive vice-president of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager explained that Apple has become a gatekeeper that can prevent apps and content from reaching its devices, saying:

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“Mobile applications have fundamentally changed the way we access content. Apple sets the rules for the distribution of apps to users of iPhones and iPads. It appears that Apple obtained a “gatekeeper” role when it comes to the distribution of apps and content to users of Apple's popular devices. We need to ensure that Apple's rules do not distort competition in markets where Apple is competing with other app developers.”

The probe into Apple comes after Spotify made a complaint last year in which it said the company was unfairly restricting rivals to its own music streaming service, Apple Music.

Apple Pay

The second case against Apple focuses on the terms and conditions regarding how Apple Pay should be used in the apps and websites of online merchants as well as its refusal to allow rival services to access its payment system.

Regulators have raised concerns about the fact that Apple Pay is the only mobile payment service that is allowed to use the “tap and go” functionality on Apple's iPhones. As contactless payments have become increasingly popular during the pandemic, other services should be able to use this functionality to help prevent the spread of Covid-19 as businesses around the world reopen.

In a statement though, Apple fired back at the European Commission and its investigation into the company, saying:

“It’s disappointing the European Commission is advancing baseless complaints from a handful of companies who simply want a free ride, and don’t want to play by the same rules as everyone else. We don’t think that’s right — we want to maintain a level playing field where anyone with determination and a great idea can succeed.”

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Via Reuters

Amazon has launched a new AI-based tracking system at its offices and warehouses in an effort to enforce social distancing among employees.

The new system, called Distance Assistant, uses cameras and monitors to highlight workers keeping a safe distance in green circles while those who are too close to one another are highlighted in red circles.

Vice president and distinguished engineer at Amazon's robotics division, Brad Porter explained how the team came up with the idea in a blog post, saying:

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“Given social distancing isn’t always natural, this team set out to use augmented reality to create a magic-mirror-like tool that helps associates see their physical distancing from others. Working backwards from a concept of immediate visual feedback, and inspired by existing examples like radar speed check signs, our 'Distance Assistant' provides employees with live feedback on social distancing via a 50 inch monitor, a camera, and a local computing device. The standalone unit uses machine learning models to differentiate people from their surroundings. Combined with depth sensors, it creates an accurate distance measurement between associates.”

Distance Assistant

Amazon has already set up Distance Assistant installations at a handful of its buildings though it plans to deploy hundreds more over the next few weeks.

The company has also begun the process of open sourcing the software and AI behind its system so that other businesses and organizations can create their own Distance Assistant installations. While Amazon is currently using the system in its offices and warehouses, retail businesses beginning to open their stores to the public could also deploy it to help shoppers maintain social distancing.

Accord to an internal memo seen by Reuters, Amazon is also testing a wearable device for workers that lights up and emits an audio alert when they are too close to each other. This device is currently being tested at a warehouse outside Seattle and if successful, could find its way into the company's facilities as well.

Distance Assistant is a clever use of AI and machine learning that could end up being crucial to businesses trying to reopen as installing the system in their stores would show workers, customers and even insurers that they are actively monitoring and enforcing safe practices.

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Via Reuters

Dell has announced a new family of storage systems called Dell EMC PowerScale which have been engineered with new storage software and server hardware to help organizations capture and capitalize on unstructured data.

President and general manager of storage at Dell Technologies, Dan Inbar explained how the company's new family of storage systems can help organizations leverage unstructured data in a press release, saying:

“The amount of unstructured data enterprises store as file or object storage is expected to triple by 2024, and there are no signs of it slowing. In this data era, businesses need a simple, seamless and cost-effective way to store and use unstructured data to innovate, create differentiation and bring products to market faster. The Dell EMC PowerScale family provides the foundation companies need to unlock the potential of their data, no matter where it resides, and use it to drive meaningful business impact.”

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Dell EMC PowerScale runs on the next generation of the OneFS operating system which is best known for powering Dell EMC Isilon. The new family of storage systems features new 1U Power-Edge-based PowerScale all-flash and NVMe nodes as well as existing Isilon all-flash, hybrid and archive nodes running the PowerScale OneFS 9.0 operating system.

Dell EMC PowerScale

The PowerScale family is capable of delivering up to 15.8m input-output operations (IOPS) per cluster to allow organizations to handle AI, analytics, IoT and other demanding workloads. New all-flash PowerScale F200 nodes are also up to five times faster than their predecessor.

PowerScale clusters can scale from 11TB of raw capacity to 60PB and millions of file operations without disrupting a business' operations or resulting in costly downtime. In fact, nodes can be added to either PowerScale or an existing Isilon cluster in just 60 seconds.

PowerScale OneFS 9.0 features broad multiprotocol support including new S3 support for modern apps that rely on object storage. The latest version of the operating system also supports the NFS, SMB and HDFS protocols so that organizations can run a large number of both traditional and modern applications without compatibility issues.

PowerScale can be deployed in data centers, in edge locations or as part of a multi-cloud strategy. Since Dell's new storage systems have a compact 1U footprint, they are an ideal option for edge deployments.

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Dropbox has unveiled a number of new features designed to help users get more organized at home and at work  including a password manager and a super-secure vault for their files.

After acquiring the password management company Valt last year, Dropbox has now integrated its technology into a new product called Dropbox Passwords. The service allows users to seamlessly log in to websites and apps by storing their passwords and syncing them across devices with zero-knowledge encryption.

Dropbox has also launched a private beta for its new product Vault for select Dropbox Plus users. Vault secures and organizes users' most important documents while also giving them the ability to grant emergency access to select friends or family. The service offers an additional layer of security in the form of a 6-digit PIN on top of Dropbox's existing security features.

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The company is even making it easier for users to back up folders on their Mac or PC with a new computer backup feature. Computer backup makes it possible for users to access their files securely on-the-go and retrieve them when their hardware fails or is lost.

Dropbox Family

Dropbox also revealed its plans to introduce a new plan for up to six members called Dropbox Family. The plan features individual account views and logins with unified billing to keep things simple. 

Dropbox Family users can create a shared Family space to easily make photos and other important documents available to all members. Each individual member will also have space to privately store their files and they can use all of Dropbox Plus' features. The new feature will become available to Dropbox Plus users in the coming weeks and to everyone else later this year.

In a press release, Dropbox's CEO Drew Houston explained why the company has decided to roll out these new features now, saying:

“The lines between work and home are blurred, and we’re all being pulled in a million directions right now. It can feel chaotic and overwhelming. We’re working quickly to provide new features to help people stay better organized in all aspects of their lives so they can focus on what really matters—like health and family.” 

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Email is the most common method for sharing files between users despite the fact that it poses the biggest security risk, according to new research from NordLocker.

The company anonymously surveyed 1,400 people in the UK and US in order to learn more about users' habits when it comes to file storage and sharing to reveal that 58 percent of US and 56 percent of UK users prefer to share files over email.

Encryption specialist at NordLocker, Oliver Noble warned about the dangers of sharing files over email, saying:

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“Even though email is one of the most popular targets for cyberattacks, people still trust it with their personal information. If your email gets hacked, all of your attachments, such as sensitive documents or private photos, can fall into the hands of criminals.”

Securing sensitive files

In both the US and UK, every second person shares their personal computer with other people including spouses, children or parents. However, security risks increase when more than one person has access to a computer leading users to protect their files in one way or another.

Of those surveyed, 75 percent claim they use some sort of protection for their files with passwords being the most popular choice (46%). NordLocker also found that just 16 percent of users use encrypted cloud storage to protect their files while 12 percent hide their files on a computer manually.

When it comes to what users consider as private information and how valuable they think it is, results differed significantly in the US and UK. US users value their tax records, personally identifiable information and medical records equally while UK users value their photos more than any other type of files stored on their computers.

NordLocker's study also revealed that losing a personal computer or discovering someone else has access to it is almost as concerning as losing a wallet (85%), having important documents stolen (83%) or returning home to find your front door is open (865).

In today's digital age, keeping your sensitive files secured is more important than ever as losing them could potentially lead to identity theft or other serious problems down the road.

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The video communications platform Zoom is currently working on technology that will allow it to block certain users from meetings.

The move comes after the US-based firm faced criticism for shutting down the accounts of three prominent human rights activists who were trying to commemorate the anniversary of Tienanmen Square. 

As reported by Forbes, Zoom shut down the meetings and suspended or terminated the host accounts after it discovered that people from mainland China were participating.

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The company has since admitted that it made a mistake by shutting down the meetings entirely as opposed to blocking participants by country. 

Complying with local laws

Going forward, Zoom will not allow requests from the Chinese government to impact any of its users outside of mainland China.

In a blog post, the company provided further details on the technology it's developing to block meeting participants based on their geographic location, saying:

“Zoom is developing technology over the next several days that will enable us to remove or block at the participant level based on geography. This will enable us to comply with requests from local authorities when they determine activity on our platform is illegal within their borders; however, we will also be able to protect these conversations for participants outside of those borders where the activity is allowed.”

While Zoom's new technology will allow it to remove or block participants based on their location, its video conferencing software can still be accessed using a VPN.

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Via City AM

In effort to make it easier for educators and students to access books during the pandemic, the Internet Archive launched its National Emergency Library back in March of this year with 1.3m books available for checkout, free of charge.

In a blog post, the Internet Archive provided more details on how its National Emergency Library system works, saying:

“Users will be able to borrow books from the National Emergency Library without joining a waitlist, ensuring that students will have access to assigned readings and library materials that the Internet Archive has digitized for the remainder of the US academic calendar, and that people who cannot physically access their local libraries because of closure or self-quarantine can continue to read and thrive during this time of crisis, keeping themselves and others safe.”  

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While the creation of the National Emergency Library by the Internet Archive was well-intended, publishers argued that it “exceeded legitimate library services” in a suit filed in New York federal court.

National Emergency Library

Hachette, HarperCollins, Wiley and Penguin Random House's lawsuit against the Internet Archive's National Emergency Library never ended up going to court, though it did have the desired effect.

Internet Archive has now announced that its library will close on June 15 which is two weeks ahead of the date it was originally scheduled to close. While the publishers may have won this round, Internet Archive explained in a second blog post that their complaint challenges the the very idea of what a library is in the digital world, saying:

“The complaint attacks the concept of any library owning and lending digital books, challenging the very idea of what a library is in the digital world. This lawsuit stands in contrast to some academic publishers who initially expressed concerns about the NEL, but ultimately decided to work with us to provide access to people cut off from their physical schools and libraries. We hope that similar cooperation is possible here, and the publishers call off their costly assault.”

In the end, publishers took issue with the fact that the National Emergency Library lacked licensing fees as well as other agreed upon restrictions that traditional libraries have.

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Via TechCrunch

A new keylogger called “Mass Logger” is currently being tracked by Cofense Intelligence and security researchers believe that it could significantly impact the larger keylogger market as well as the phishing threat landscape.

Keloggers make up the largest volume of unique phishing campaigns by malware type today and they continue to grow in both popularity and sophistication.

The reason that Cofense is so concerned about Mass Logger is due to how quickly the malware is updated. Its author consistently updates and improves Mass Logger and this allows cybercriminals deploying the malware to overcome security measures taken to detect and defend against it. This rapid development also allows the malware's creator to quickly add features in response to customer feedback.

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Cofense Intelligence has identified a campaign that used an attached GuLoader executable to deliver an encrypted Mass Logger binary. GuLoader itself is a popular malware delivery mechanism that downloads encrypted payloads hosted on legitimate file sharing platforms. The email used in the campaign was also recently seen in an Agent Tesla keylogger campaign which could indicate that some cybercriminals have already decided to switch from using Agent Tesla to using Mass Logger.

Additional functionality

Mass Logger's creator, known as NYANxCAT, is also responsible for several other well-known malware types including LimeRAT, AsyncRAT and other remote access trojans. NYANxCAT's malware is usually feature rich and easy to use which allows for easy adoption by amateur threat actors. However, many of the features incorporated into Mass Logger are quite advanced such as as its USB spreading capability.

NYANxCAT continues to improve the functionality of Mass Logger through updates and recently, 13 updates were released in only a three-week period. In patch notes, NYANxCAT explained that new targets have been added for the keylogger's credential stealing functionality and that measures have been taken to reduce automated detection.

Sophisticated features help set Mass Logger apart from other common malware. For example, it includes a function that allows cybercriminals to search for files with a specific file extension and exfiltrate them.

To defend against Mass Logger and other similar threats, Cofense recommends that network admins watch out for FTP sessions or emails sent from local networks that do not conform to their organization's standards.

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If you're having trouble launching applications in Windows 10 then a bug, which has now been patched, in security software from AVG and Avast could be responsible.

Some Windows 10 users recently discovered that they were unable to launch Microsoft Office and other applications on their systems. When they tried to do so, the were shown a message that said Windows was unable to find the software they were trying to open.

At first, it was believed that either an Avast or Windows 10 cumulative update issue was to blame but now it has been confirmed that the issue was caused by programs from Avast and AVG being installed on a user's machine.

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A component in AVG/Avast's security software leads to Image File Execution Options registry entries to be created for a number of programs that would launch applications through a filter. However, a recent update led to something in this filter being broken which caused the programs listed in it not to launch.

Failure to launch

For users experiencing issues launching programs in Windows 10, don't worry as the issue has now been fixed through an automatic update. In a post on its forum, a product manager from Avast provided more details on the issue as well as a download link to manually patch it, saying:

“I am sorry that it took so long but the fixed version is finally here! If you don't want to wait for the automatic update, please download the installation package here: https://honzik.avcdn.net/setup/avast-tu/release/avast_cleanup_online_setup.exe and reinstall the product manually to get the latest available version including the fix. We've tested all the affected scenarios and everything shall get back to the original state after the update/reinstall to the latest version. We sincerely apologize for all the inconveniences.”

Microsoft also added the issue to the Windows 10 2004 health dashboard where it stated that Windows 10 2004, Windows 10 1909, Windows 10 1903, Windows Server 2004, Windows Server 1909 and Windows Server 1903 are all affected.

Users experiencing issues can either wait for the automatic update or download this installation package to fix the issue themselves.

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Via BleepingComputer

AWS has announced that the sixth generation of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances are now generally available with three new instances powered by the company's own, Arm-based Graviton2 processors.

The new general purpose (M6g), compute-optimized (C6g) and memory-optimized (R6g) instances deliver up to 40 percent better price to performance over comparable current gen x86-based instances.

A year ago, AWS introduced Arm-based Amazon EC2 A1 instances powered by its first generation Graviton processor and they have provided customers running scale-out workloads or containerized microservices and web tier applications with significant savings. However, customers now want to be able to run even more demanding workloads on AWS Graviton-based instances which is why the company has released its new M6g, C6g and R6g instances.

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All of these instances are powered by AWS' new Graviton2 processors that offers up to seven times more performance, four times more computer cores and five times faster memory than A1 instances.

Graviton 2

In addition to offering better price for performance, AWS Graviton2 processors also introduce a number of powerful optimizations, features and capabilities. AWS' new processors use 64-bit Arm Neoverse cores and custom silicon designed by the company, built using advanced 7 nanometer manufacturing technology.

When compared to first gen Graviton processors, Graviton2 processors provide two times faster floating point performance per core, optimized instructions for faster machine learning inference, customer hardware acceleration, always-on fully encrypted DDR4 memory and 50 percent faster per core encryption performance for enhances security.

Vice president of Amazon EC2 at AWS, David Brown provided further insight on the benefits of the company's new EC2 instances in a press release, saying:

“Today more than ever, customers are looking for innovative ways to increase performance and reduce cost, and Arm processors have emerged as an exciting and mainstream alternative to x86 processors for a wide variety of existing and emerging workloads. The new Amazon EC2 instances powered by AWS-designed, Arm-based, Graviton2 processors represent a significant generational leap for customers, delivering 40% better price/performance over comparable x86-based instances, and already we’ve seen a broad set of customers embrace them across a wide variety of general purpose, compute optimized, and memory optimized workloads.”

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The three most popular programming languages are Java, JavaScript and Python but a new survey from JetBrains has revealed that Java has retained its top spot among developers.

To compile its new State of Developer Ecosystem 2020 report, the IDE maker surveyed almost 20,000 developers to identify the latest trends when it comes to programming languages, tools and technologies.

While Java remains the most popular programming language around, JetBrains found that JavaScript is the most used language.

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As part of its fourth annual Developer Ecosystem Survey, the company asked developers to choose up to three languages that they consider to be their primary programming language. Although Java is the most popular overall, in this context JavaScript took the top spot at 39 percent followed by Java (37%) and Python (31%).

In an interview with The Register, JetBrains said that one of the reasons Java is the most popular programming language is because a lot of developers use JavaScript as part of a project. However, while they use JavaScript in their projects, developers don't spend most of their time working with it.

Rising programming languages

JetBrains' report also showed that Python has managed to overtake Java when it comes to languages used in the past year. The growth of machine learning is one of the reasons behind this and Python was actually the most-studied language according to developers with almost a third of respondents beginning to or continuing to study it last year.

Developers are also increasingly using Microsoft's TypeScript to work with large JavaScript codebases. Use of the programming language has grown significantly and in fact, it is now the primary language of for 12 percent of developers.

When it comes to adopting new languages, developers plan to adopt Google's system programming language Go, JetBrains' Kotlin and Python. Mozilla's system programming language Rust came in fourth place on the list of planned languages followed by TypeScript, Apple's Swift and Google's Dart.

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Via ZDNet

Trend Micro has made the decision to remove the Privacy Browser from its Dr Safety Android security suite after a reoccurring flaw was discovered in its software.

As reported by The Register, the vulnerability, which could be abused to trick users into believing that malicious web pages were legitimate, was first discovered by security consultant Dhiraj Mishra who responsibly reported it to the company back in April.

If exploited by an attacker, the bug could be used to alter the address bar on pages viewed in Trend Micro's Privacy Browser. For example, a phishing page designed to steal users' banking credentials could rewrite the URL bar to show the bank's real domain name as opposed to the URL used by the attackers.

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Privacy Browser

Mishra explained that the flaw would be fairly easy to exploit and that an attacker would have plenty of targets to choose from given its install base of 10m people in an interview with The Register, saying:

"To exploit such flaws remotely, an attacker would host a malicious JavaScript packet and if a user visits a page hosting that malicious code, a new window or tab can be opened with a fake URL. There is no way of determining if the URL is authentic or not due to which this could result in capturing sensitive information such as username passwords. Additionally, along with address bar spoofing, attackers could also spoof SSL which makes the attack more difficult to determine the authenticity of the URL."

The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2018-18334, has been confirmed by Trend Micro, though the company has decided to disable the browser outright instead of developing a patch for the flaw. Just by looking at the CVE assignment, you can see that the bug was first discovered in 2018 and the company has tried to deal with it in the past.

Back in January of last year, Trend Micro tried to patch the vulnerability but this year, Mishra was able to identify multiple address spoofing bugs of the same type that had not been fixed in the software. This explains why Trend Micro has now chosen to disable the Privacy Browser all together in its Dr Safety Android app.

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Via The Register

Ransomware attacks often disrupt business operations and Australians could soon find it difficult to get a hold of their favorite beer as the country's beverage giant Lion recently disclosed a cyber incident that forced it to halt production.

In a new post on its website, the company confirmed that it has fallen victim to a ransomware attack, saying:

“Our investigations to date have shown that a system outage has been caused by ransomware. The ransomware targeted our computer systems. In response, we immediately shut down key systems as a precaution. Our IT teams and expert cyber advisors are working around the clock, investigating the issue and assessing how long the impacts will continue. Our focus is on bringing systems back online safely so we can resume our business as usual manufacturing, and customer services.”

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Lion had hoped to have full access to its systems restored by now but unfortunately the process is taking longer than it expected. Thankfully though, the company's investigation has found no evidence that any of the financial or personal information contained in its systems has been affected.

Beer shortage

While other businesses were forced to close during the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, Lion was able to continue to safely brew beer and currently has stock at hand.

The company is continuing to work to bring its breweries back online while managing its stock levels closely. However, it did warn that there could be some temporary shortages as a result of the ransomware attack.

In addition to beer, Lion also produces and distributes milk, yogurt, other dairy items and juice. According to the company, some parts of its Dairy & Drinks business customer service are still impacted by the cyber incident and some of its manufacturing sites are also still offline.

We often hear about businesses in the financial and tech sector being hit with ransomware attacks but this latest  attack shows that companies across all industries can fall victim to them as well.

• Keep your devices protected with the best antivirus software

Via ZDNet

Alongside updates to its HPE Primera and HPE Nimble Storage products, HPE has also introduced a new AI-driven, self-healing and self-optimized system capable of delivering real-time autonomous operations.

These announcements were all part of a comprehensive update to the company's Intelligent Data Platform which provides customers with an AI-driven, built for cloud as a service offering.

HPE Primera is built with an embedded AI engine that processes globally trained machine learning models to deliver real-time predictions into application behavior and performance patterns. Now though, it will take action on these predictions to self-optimize system operations in real-time by dynamically optimizing resource utilization to ensure fast and predictable performance.

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Two machine learning models run inside HPE Primera with one being a machine learning neural network trained from data collected across its install base and the other being along short-term memory model based on the local environment. These two models work together to predict app performance and resource needs while also acting to optimize resource utilization.

Near-instant data recovery

In order to ensure that applications are protected requires data to be located in multiple place with flexible options across sites. 

HPE Primera already had a 100 percent data availability guarantee but now it also includes enhanced HPE Peer Persistence. This delivers transparent business continuity along with flexibility to replicate to a third site to recover from major disasters and near-instant asynchronous replication over extended distances with a one minute recover point objective.

HPE Nimble Storage provides enterprises with a highly available platform with six-nines of measured availability, HPE Peer Persistence with automatic failover across 2-sites and asynchronous replication on-premises or to the cloud for extended distances. Now though, multi-site replication enables 3-site replication.

VP and GM of HPE Primera and HPE Nimble Storage, Omer Asad explained how HPE can help businesses better protect their data in a press release, saying:

“Now more than ever, to maintain business continuity, organizations must protect their data in order to operate efficiently and without disruption. HPE Primera and HPE Nimble Storage customers are able to accelerate innovation and adapt to the changing circumstances of their businesses, while also preserving cash flow via HPE GreenLake, without compromise to applications. HPE reduces risk, eliminates complexity and lowers costs associated with data protection, and has the world’s smartest storage that utilizes AI to self-optimize in real-time, giving customers the power to run their infrastructure with agility and reliability.”

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