Your Home Is Safe. Your Information Might Not Be

Brinks Home is supposed to help keep criminals out of your house. Unfortunately, the company itself recently became a target. Cybercriminal group ShinyHunters claims it stole millions of records from Brinks Home and, after the company refused to pay a ransom, published roughly 41 GB of stolen data. The good news is that the company's alarm monitoring systems were not compromised. The bad news? Personal information potentially exposed in the attack could give scammers another way to target customers with convincing phishing emails, texts and phone calls. READ FULL STORY

Hackers Are Targeting AI to Infect the Apps You Trust

Artificial intelligence is helping developers write software faster than ever before. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have noticed. Security researchers recently uncovered a growing wave of attacks that target AI coding assistants and software developers with poisoned code designed to quietly slip malware into legitimate applications. While the attacks aren't aimed directly at everyday consumers, the software you download, the apps you use, and even future updates could be affected if malicious code makes its way into trusted products. Here's what you need to know. READ FULL STORY

Your Shared Financial, Legal, or Healthcare Documents Could Be at Risk

An emergency cybersecurity warning has organizations across the country shutting down file-sharing servers to protect sensitive data from a credible cyber threat. While this isn't a household name like Facebook or Gmail, millions of Americans interact with ShareFile without even realizing it. It's commonly used by banks, accountants, law firms, insurance agencies, healthcare providers, and mortgage companies to exchange tax returns, financial records, medical documents, and other sensitive files. Here's what happened, why experts are taking this threat so seriously, and what you should do if you've recently shared documents through a ShareFile portal. READ FULL STORY

Your Health Data May Have Been Hunted

A cyberattack involving legacy systems belonging to Exact Sciences (now owned by Abbot) has put potentially sensitive patient information in the hands of cybercriminals. The ShinyHunters group claims it stole and later published data that includes millions of email addresses along with names, addresses, phone numbers and health-related information. Abbott says it is investigating the incident and has not confirmed exactly what information was taken. For patients and healthcare providers, this is another reminder that medical information can remain exposed long after the systems that originally collected it are considered "legacy." Your Health Data May Have Been Hunted READ FULL STORY

Simple Habits That Make You a Tougher Target for Cybercrooks

It’s already well into the new year and a fresh year usually brings fresh goals—exercise more, spend less, maybe try a new hobby. But one resolution that deserves a permanent spot on everyone’s list is tightening up your personal cybersecurity. Cyberthreats don’t take holidays, and scammers aren’t slowing down. In fact, they’re getting bolder, trickier, and faster at finding new ways to get into your accounts and steal your money or data. READ FULL STORY

Are You A Money Mule? What You Need To Know

Criminals of all kinds traffic in stolen money and need middlemen to relocate the funds. From romance scams to phishing attacks and more, there’s plenty of fraudsters with hijacked money needing laundering—and that’s where money mules come in handy. Unfortunately, sometimes those people are unaware of what they are doing, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be punished for it. Check out the red flags of avoiding becoming a money mule—and a criminal. READ FULL STORY

Social Media Brings Out The Worst Scammers

Social media attacks are a favorite of those pesky cybercriminals. One might wonder why. Well, it’s because it’s easy pickin's going for those accounts. Researchers at Arkose Labs found that of 1.2 billion social media interactions, 53% of the logins were fraudulent and 25% of new accounts were phony. Millions of people use one form of social media or another, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, or something else. That leaves a barrel full of phish used for targets for hackers and scammers. READ FULL STORY

Understanding Multi-Factor Authentication

We all know that passwords alone just don’t cut it anymore. Between data breaches, phishing attacks, and password reuse, relying on a single password to protect your most valuable accounts is like locking your front door but leaving the windows wide open. That’s where multi-factor authentication (MFA) comes in. It adds extra layers of protection to your online accounts. While many companies are implementing passkeys, not all of them have it available. So, MFA is the next best way to protect your accounts, MFA makes it so that even if your password falls into the wrong hands, no one can get in without passing additional verification steps. READ FULL STORY

MFA Push Bombing Can Wear You Down

Cybercriminals are getting smarter about bypassing multi-factor authentication (MFA), and one of their favorite tricks is something called push bombing. It’s a simple tactic, but extremely effective when victims are caught off guard or overwhelmed. It's designed to wear us down. And most of us have probably been overwhelmed by notifications at some point, which is why this type of attack has proven successful time and again for attackers. READ FULL STORY

Click the Box to Prove You're Human to Hackers

We've all done it countless times. It's so routine that we don't think about it much. Click the "I'm not a robot" box, solve a simple puzzle, and move on. But cybercriminals are now taking advantage of that routine by creating fake CAPTCHA pages that trick users into infecting their own computers. Instead of proving you're human, victims unknowingly install malware capable of stealing passwords, banking information, cryptocurrency wallets, and other sensitive data. The scam is spreading quickly because it looks so familiar. Knowing what to watch for could be the difference between safely browsing the web and handing criminals the keys to your digital life. READ FULL STORY

The Quick and Dirty on QR Codes

QR codes, those little square mazes, are everywhere nowadays. From accessing restaurant menus to entering sweepstakes and registering new products, they’ve become a staple in modern convenience. However, like any technology, cybercriminals have found ways to exploit these codes, turning them into digital traps. There are many ways these boxes of squiggles can be misused, including via phishing, in advertisements, and overlaid on real ones. READ FULL STORY

The 10 Most Common 4-Digit PINs: Is Yours One of Them?

By now, it’s common knowledge that anything to do with your online security that’s easy-to-guess presents personal security risks. One of those risks involves using a 4-digit PIN code for your smartphone, additional devices, ATM accounts, and payment cards. Commonly used PINs make it easy for you to remember but they also make it easy for hackers to guess. Below are 10 of the most common 4-digit PIN codes cybercriminals try first, so take a look and see if yours is on the list. READ FULL STORY