Information Security Forum

In the modern world, it’s easy to understand that data is absolutely essential to many corporations and organizations. There is an ever-growing need to understand the needs and desires of your customer base, so that you may tailor your products/services/platform as much as possible to meet these particular needs. However, we also are coming to a point where human beings are beginning to realize that the way that their data is being used can be quite harmful. One of the most obvious examples is the [Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/technology/facebook-cambridge-analytica-explained.html), in which data from Facebook’s user base was used to influence a …

Let me share how I began to understand Microsoft: A long time back when I went to Microsoft Redmond's campus for a seminar. I had two things I wanted to share since I thought Microsoft would want to look into this. 1. A CD that when put into the PC would cause the PC to lock up. I didn't know why, I just thought it showed a bug. 2. A jpeg file that when copied to the desktop would render that user's account dead. Even in safe mode until the file was deleted. I waited my turn to meet with …

For those very new to this area, please google SIM SWAP and discover a very nasty security issue with all phones we use today. At first glance the new security researcher might think I'm exaggerating. Do your own research and tell me you don't find this to be one of the most foul, nasty exploits I've seen in years. This exploit was recently used to highjack a writer's phone at https://www.zdnet.com/article/sim-swap-horror-story-ive-lost-decades-of-data-and-google-wont-lift-a-finger/ His case is still developing with loss of accounts, tax returns he stored on the Clouds, and a 25,000USD Bitcoin purchase. And we're not talking thousands of dollars in …

A survey of attendees at Infosecurity Europe earlier this month showed 70 percent in favour of the dictionary definition (in this case the Cambridge Dictionary) of a hacker being amended. The amendment in question being to remove 'illegality' from the definition. The current definition of a hacker is "a person who is skilled in the use of computer systems, often one who illegally obtains access to private computer systems". So what do you reckon, DaniWebbers? Is it time that hacker was reclaimed entirely (rather than relying upon black and white labels) and if so what word should replace it as …

Hello guys, Recently my site was infected with malware, which caused me a lot of problems. In particular, many spam links have been created and indexed. I managed to get a lot out of them with Google search console, but it still appears in some key searches. Is there any chance of blocking the link prefix in robots.txt to deleting itself from google? <snip> I want somehow to block indexing all links I know i can block like this: User-agent: * Disallow: /product/categories But this one is different, its not like a parent page/category. I would appreciate very much if …

One of the mantras of computing and just about anything data related is "**We only lose what we don't backup**" but some are taking offense that this is still the current state of computing today. Recently some owners call this out as "blaming the user", "you're holding it wrong" or snobby. Everyone I know will try their best to help you get your machine back in working order even if people say such things. They've lost it all and upset that they can't get their stuff back. Last week's example was another smart phone, forgot their password, unlock code and …

Greetings everyone, I've been away from this forum for a long time, must be more than 10 years since my last post. That's how long I've been pretty much trouble free, as far as the Internet and data safety was concerned. Back then I was experimenting all too often with the free anti-spyware and anti-virus programs (Avast, AVG, etc.), getting in trouble in the process, as those freebies would often interfere with each other cause all sorts of headaches, mainly because those conflicts produced a breeding ground for some real nasty Internet threat. I can still remember the friendly atmosphere …

Guardian newspaper columnist [Dawn Foster](https://twitter.com/DawnHFoster) posted images on Twitter this weekend showing how she was able to login to the official Conservative party conference app as Boris Johnson, until recently the UK Foreign Secretary. Not only was there no password required to login to the app, all that was required was an email address, but once in all the details of user registration were accessible. So, in the case of Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (yes, that is his real name) that meant contact details such as his mobile phone number. It also meant that the logged in user could …