Archive for December 2016

The University of Massachusetts’ Amherst campus just learned a hard and incredibly expensive lesson about how serious the Department of Health and Human Services is about cracking down on HIPAA noncompliance. In the 13th high profile fine of the year, the university was hit with a staggering $650,000 fine. Based on agency comments, it could…

Last week, San Francisco’s Municipal Railway became the latest in a long line of ransomware victims. Hackers locked their entire system down and made it impossible for them to collect fares, or even function for a time. They demanded payment of 100 BitCoins to unlock the servers and restore functionality. The railway’s IT staff worked…

A group of Israeli security researchers operating out of Ben Gurion University have created a proof-of-concept app (malware) that can weaponize your computer’s speakers, turning them against you. The particulars of their code sound like something out of a blockbuster Sci Fi movie script, but it’s all too real, and what’s worse is that it…

Kryptowire, an American digital security firm, recently made a disturbing discovery about smartphones being sold by Blu Products, a company which makes low-cost phones like the Blu R1 HD, which was recently offered on Amazon for just $50. According to Kryptowire, they discovered that a copy of Adups, a software from a Chinese vendor, was…

In 2014, the IRS put BitCoin users on notice. They were informed that they had to report all BitCoin gains on their taxes. The Federal Agency considers them to be property, and not currency per se, but so far, during the course of a national investigation, the agency has unearthed several examples of people using…

If you’re a frequent flyer on American Airlines, then you’re probably already aware of one of that company’s biggest drawbacks. Their in-flight Wi-Fi is notoriously slow. The company has been in partnership with Wi-Fi provider Gogo for years, but recently took Gogo to court, citing the drastic difference between their Wi-Fi network speeds and the…

Do you own an iPhone 6S? If you do, and it was manufactured in September or October of last year, it might be experiencing problems that cause it to shut down unexpectedly. If you’ve experienced that type of issue, you could get a free battery replacement from Apple to solve the problem. The first step…