Tech is Vital to Storage, Sharing, and Internet Security

“Buzzwords” are very popular in the tech industry, but these often vague and uninformative terms are not always clear to consumers. One of these terms is “the cloud,” one that everyone knows but of which fewer can explain the particulars. To put it simply, it refers to software and services that operate on the Internet rather than your computer, which you can access in a browser like Microsoft Edge, Firefox, or Google Chrome as well as some dedicated mobile apps. When your data is in the cloud, or you work in the cloud, that data goes somewhere for storage. In the case of the cloud, is goes to numerous locations from which a network of servers can find and deliver it when needed. With remote servers handling most computing and storage, you can do any work on any computer and access it from any other computer with an Internet connection at any time. Read more »

Almost everyone stores passwords for everything from their email, business and personal banking, social media, and other extremely sensitive information on their computers.  Unfortunately, not even Mac users are as safe from attacks from malicious programs online as they once thought they were.  A new report released by a team of researchers from Indiana University has found that Apple, one of the most reliable computer manufacturers in the world, has developed a flaw in its software that could allow hackers to steal user passwords from Macs. Read more »

RESCUECOM has tallied up all the computer repair calls it received, including tablets, for the 2015 Q1 Computer Repair Report, showing a surprising leap in certain problem areas.

The Computer Repair Report is created by tallying the data from all calls RESCUECOM receives at its 1-800-RESCUE-PC call center to form a list of the most common computer and tablet problems. RESCUECOM ranks the top ten computer repair problems in order from most frequent to least and explains them by category, creating a useful tool to inform users about the threats their tech devices face.

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While the Internet powers most everything we do on a day-to-day basis, it also makes it possible for a number of invasions of our privacy to occur on a regular basis. RESCUECOM is releasing a series of articles, of which this is the first, that will examine privacy issues people face online and demonstrate methods people can use to prevent invasions of their online privacy.  Read more »

Internet security concerns seem to grow more and more problematic every year.  Many people find themselves deeply concerned about phishing attempts and hackers gaining unwanted access to their PC or service accounts.  This also means large amounts of people constantly worry about the quality and security of their passwords.  PixelPin is a cool product in technology that allows users to replace the password function on their PC with picture passwords.  A picture password forgoes the usual text-based procedure for an authentication system where users click on four “passpoints” within an image to gain access to their computer or digital service accounts.  Users choose a picture from their computer to use for authentication.  Leaving the picture choice in the hands of the user is deliberate.  It allows people to choose an image where they are most likely to remember the specific four passpoints that they need to click on to get by PixelPin’s protection.  Users can sign up for PixelPin directly.  Service providers and manufacturers do not have to partner with the company directly for someone to use PixelPin to access accounts or devices.  Read more »

The cyber-criminals behind a threatening malware called CryptoLocker have infected computers around the world – from large company systems to home use computers.  The virus has been hitting hard for the past six weeks or so, and, due to state-of-the-art encryption used, the only ones who have the key to unlock the files are the criminals themselves. Read more »

Recently, there has been a malicious browser extension discovered that is threatening the Internet security of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox users.  The browser extension has been hijacking users’ Facebook accounts and gaining access to many people’s personal information.  However, the extension doesn’t only access your information.  It also actively takes complete control of your Facebook account and performs multiple actions without your consent.

This Trojan, identified as Trojan:JS/Febipos.A, can perform many actions when it gains access to your Facebook profile.  These actions include liking pages, commenting on pages, sharing links, inviting friends to new groups and even directly chatting with your friends through Facebook Messenger.  The Trojan uses these capabilities make posts that link other Facebook users to malicious websites.  People have also reported this software as posting links to a website for automobile sales on infected users’ profiles.  Read more »

Many have toiled over problems regarding how to handle young computer users.  It is practically a requirement for children of all ages to use computers in our connected age.  Their homework often requires it and even kids must complete many of their everyday tasks online now.  However, Internet security has always been a difficult issue in regards to children on the computer.  Parents have struggled for years to find a solution that will truly teach their children about proper use of the Internet and keep their PC safe in the process.  Richard Shah and the MiiPC team at ZeroDesktop believe they’ve developed a product that can tackle these difficult issues.  The MiiPC is an affordable desktop running on the Android operating system that comes with a mobile app that allows parents to monitor their children’s computer activity in real time.  Read more »

Phishing attacks have become an increasing problem as of late both for everyday computer users and even major publications.  In the last month, there have been widespread phishing attacks aimed at both Apple and Twitter accounts.  These attacks come in the form of e-mails or web pages that seem as if they were from a service the recipient uses.  These e-mails trick recipients into giving over information, which then lets the cybercriminals access their accounts.

The phishing attacks aimed at Apple users mimicked an account verification page from Apple and prompted users to give their e-mail, credit card information, and account password.  This particular attack compromised over one hundred websites, which displayed the page that tricked Apple users into handing over their information.  Without proper Internet security service or software, it would be difficult to detect the attack for most people.  The intent of such attacks is to gain access to people’s Apple accounts.  Criminals will then sell the information or use it to compromise the accounts themselves. Read more »

Google recently announced that they have integrated app activities into their desktop web search service.  This means that when Google users search for specific sites or services that use web apps—such as popular movie site Fandango—they will see aggregate information related to the web app.  For example, if you search for Fandango, promotional posters from popular movies among Google users at that time will appear to the right of your search results.  Clicking on one of these movie posters will link you directly to the film’s Fandango page.  If your search is more specific, the aggregate data will also be more specific.  Google means for the function to erase some steps when you’re searching for content in certain web apps.  Read more »