Hit The Spartan For $15K

April 29, 2015 — Leave a comment

Here is a new bug bounty in our cyber-town. Someone may say that our dear old grandpa Microsoft is desperate, but to us it looks as a thoughtful move. If you can find a vulnerability in the new IE called Spartan, the grandpa Microsoft will reward your cyber bug bounty with the $15,000 cash.

The new browser Spartan is supposed to be a crown jewel of the latest and brightest Windows 10. Therefore, Microsoft just cannot afford itself a luxury of going through an embarrassing and troubling security problem associated with the Spartan itself. Is this amount enough for the trouble?

Well, for what is worth, these are tough times for the professional cyber-bug-bounty-hunters. If you avoid a common trap of not being paid at all, in the first place, the best case scenario ends up with the $5,000. On the other side, this is the cheapest and the most efficient solution for Microsoft.

It is better to pay before a security failure escalates, than to heal it afterwards. Because, it is going to be much cheaper and significantly less painful for both Microsoft and its users. Our hats off to Microsoft for this bug bounty decision, which comes right on time. Bug hunters get to work. Right now.

Your New WatchDog WatchDox

April 29, 2015 — Leave a comment

BlackBerry has acquired the WatchDox. So, what is the big deal about this takeover? And, who is this WatchDox? What does it do? Well, for what is worth, BlackBerry got its cyber hands on one of the most serious players in the field of content security. Now, we are confused. What is the plan?

It is not a secret that BlackBerry struggles really hard in order to stay alive under the new mobile circumstances, including the new smart kids on the block. Once upon a business time, one in every two mobile phones in the USA was a BlackBerry model. Now, all we have is a famous brand name.

When it comes to the business survival, you do not do what you like, but rather what you can sell. One serious rumor has it that Google is eager to team up with the BlackBerry itself. Why? What could possibly BlackBerry offer to Google? Some cyber security know-how and security software, as well.

The latest BlackBerry models Passport and Classic are more of a reminder what is this proud mobile pioneer all about, than a serious threat to Apple or Samsung. Who knows, maybe we are to discover again that the cyber security can be a nice way to ensure both business survival and stimulative profit.

The US XP Army

April 24, 2015 — Leave a comment

There are up to 10,000 computers in the US Army, which still run Windows XP. It is not an easy thing, migrating such a huge and sensitive system to a new OS. Right? So, what are the available options? Well, for what is worth, the US Army would like to play around with the XP for at least one more year.

The grandpa Microsoft was extremely patriotic and helpful, for an appropriate price, of course. Because the XP is officially off the Windows support radar, the additional security patches cost approximately $200 per year. Have we forgotten to mention that this is a price for a single computer.

Now, you see what is the potential problem here. Here is another, even a bigger one. If you want to jump in the next year in terms of support, then you have to double your expenses. So, it is not $200, but rather $400 for a single computer. That means $4 million instead of $2 million. Is that right?

That is why, the US Army is looking for a third-party to take care of its precious XP for a more affordable price. Seriously? The entire defense system is potentially jeopardized, because of the price issue. Seriously? Something is not right here. What is the price of updating the XP with the Windows 8?

Microsoft vs Pirates

April 23, 2015 — Leave a comment

It took grandpa Microsoft eleven years to shut down the pirate Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0 source code. Better ever than never. Is that a new motto in an endless and epic fight against the online piracy? Or, maybe we are supposed to send a completely different kind of a message to the pirates.

No matter where you are, and no matter how long is going to take, we are going to get you, sooner or later, this way or another. However, the damage has already been done. What is there for Microsoft possible to gain? Some kind of a personal satisfaction in a constant pursuit after the cyber justice?

So many things are in the troubled mind of our dear grandpa Microsoft. Windows 10 is so much more than the latest OS. The pirate versions of the extremely popular and stubborn XP and Windows 7 OS systems are the self-eating cancer in the once very profitable Microsoft’s tissue, for real.

You just cannot shut down millions of computers all over the world, which are running the private versions, can you? On the other hand, you cannot pretend that business is as usual. Right? One pirate ship is down. The entire fleet is still around somewhere. Is grandpa Microsoft to tired to sail again?

The Vawtrak Is On The Attack

April 22, 2015 — Leave a comment

The latest cyber monster, which is after your virtual money, has a name. The Vawtrak malware has begun with its global domination in Japan. So far, the serious estimates say that more than 100,000 computers have been infected. This malicious software follows your online banking transactions.

It has a simple goal. The Vawtrak transfers your money to the third party bank accounts. The users all over Asia have already lost more than hundreds of millions of dollars. Now, when we are fully aware about this financial danger, what can we do in order to eliminate it, for good?

You can rest assured that quite a few busy little bees in the cyber security sector work day and night on an efficient solution. As always, it is a merciless race against the time itself. The Vawtrak is moving from the West toward the East. How much time we have left before the real trouble?

As soon as it hits the cyber shores of Europe and the USA, we will be facing the completely new level of the cyber disaster. One important piece of the cyber puzzle is missing, though. No one told us, how all of those computers got infected in the first place. That is worth knowing. Is not that right?

The Deadly Window

April 22, 2015 — Leave a comment

The busy little bee called the Cylance come up with the disturbing discovery. It turns out that every single Windows version, including the Windows 10 Technical Preview, can be hacked and passwords easily extracted. How? Who left the window open for the hackers? What about Cylance’s discovery?

It is a weak comfort, but the grandpa Microsoft has already acknowledged the “mistake”, which allows you to control a device in an unprecedented way. How? According to the Cylance, all you have to do is to infiltrate a malicious link into the targeted computer. And voila, you are in the full control.

While Microsoft is already working on an appropriate security patch, we have a simple question to ask. Even the most sophisticated and deadliest viruses known to the cyber community need a helping hand from the inside. Unless you open a door yourself, there is no real danger of the cyber doom.

We are hopelessly obsessed with the harmful effect of a certain virus that we completely neglect, how we got infected in the first place. That is the catch we are neglecting so easily. Do not be an easy target for a newbie or an average hacker. This is something you can really do. How hard could it be?

The United Colors Of Apple

April 19, 2015 — Leave a comment

Even the IT giants, such as Apple itself, can make ridiculous, unreasonable, and very often damaging mistakes. Emoticons for the different races of Apple users. This sounds like a nice idea in theory. However, when you try to implement it in the real life, then you hit a wall with a surprising strength.

What were they thinking? You are desperately trying to enter the Asian market with the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and at the same time you are using yellow emoticons for the users with the Asian origin. This is impossible to comment properly. What happened to the universal values?

You can rest assured that these race-out-of-the-place emoticons are going to be used by the extremely short and unpleasant expiration date. At the same time, we still have this funny and awkward feeling that this was a bad prank. You can do us a huge favor by checking what is happening right now.

Either way the book about the biggest mistakes in the IT marketing just got itself an additional invaluable chapter. We sure hope that the other major IT league players have figured out what is the moral of this story. We sure hope that the iPhones will not change their colors in accordance with your race.

On The Blue Cyber Danube

April 19, 2015 — Leave a comment

What is happening under the Alps? For the most of us Austria is a dream vacation country. What can possibly go wrong in this peaceful country with the breathtaking landscapes? Well, it turns out that the hackers are extremely active in this small country with the huge business potential. How and why?

It is really hard to believe that only a handful of companies take care about their cyber security in the right way. On the other hand, one in four Austrian companies gets under a serious cyber fire. As a result of the malicious hacker’s attacks the average damage includes more than 400,000 Euros.

If this is not enough to make the Austrian busy little business bees reconsidering the involvement of the top IT security consultants, then we do not know what is. With the average damage sum of $400,000 or Euros you can do so much job in the field of cyber security for more than one company.

However, there is a catch. First, you have to take care of all prejudices, which rooted deeply in the minds of the Austrian business people. They tend to believe that these nasty cyber things happen to someone else by default. Yet, sooner or later, your cyber address got picked up for trouble. Right?

Ridding The TrustWave

April 15, 2015 — Leave a comment

Who says that the most profitable transfers and takeovers in the cyber world are reserved for the luxurious world of social networks and apps. The Asian IT giant Singtel is to prove us all wrong. For what is worth, these busy little bees have decided to ride the TrustWave for a change. What is the goal?

Well, the TrustWave is one of the most recognizable names in the world of cyber security. This takeover was worth more than $800 million. Finally, someone has figured out that the IT security is both profitable and important. We dare to say that this is only the beginning of the eye-catching cyber security takeovers.

If you have not been secured, then how can you make profit in the first place? You want to cut costs and improve company’s efficiency, then there is no better and simpler way than through the cyber security field. Do you think that the Singtel paid too much for the TrustWave takeover? Seriously?

If you are one of those cyber bees, who think that the IT security is an unreasonable cost or even a luxury, then the next time your system gets infected you will realize how reckless was to have thoughts such as this one. Rest assured that the Singtel will make billions of dollars in the near future.

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Month: April 2015