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Nasty malware could be hiding on your Android. Here’s how to spot it

Swamped with ads? Don’t recognize an app? Start here to deal with it.  Android malware can find ways to trick you. A mobile app called Ads Blocker, for instance, billed itself as a useful service for cutting back on pesky mobile ads, which can pop up to cover your screen just when you’re about to access something important. But users would soon find the app was malware that just served up more ads, according to security researchers. …

CNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

How do you keep your android phone free of malware?
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Microsoft Teams: Complete Starter Guide for Business Owners

For organizations that are settled into Microsoft’s family of apps and services, the obvious collaboration platform is Microsoft Teams. And the killer feature is that Teams supports a robust API for add-ins.  The more far-flung your organization is, the more your people need software to help them communicate and collaborate.  … Teams integrates a collection of Microsoft 365 online services, making it possible for members of your organization to talk face to face, chat, hold virtual meetings, share files, and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets, and other projects in real time. The chat capabilities cover the same ground as those found in Slack, while the meeting and video conferencing features compare favorably with those available in Zoom and other video conferencing tools. And the killer feature for Microsoft Teams is that it supports a robust API for add-ins …

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

Has your business taken a serious look at the entire Teams platform yet?
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Why You Should Speed Up Your Digital Transformation During the Crisis

Before the crisis, if your company depended on a physical business location and in-person interactions with customers, vendors and employees, it might have made sense to cling primarily to legacy systems and paper processes. Adding digital components like a website, mobile app  or electronic payment processing didn’t necessarily mean you’d undergone a complete digital transformation.   The current health crisis has changed the business community with guidelines and mandates on remote work and social distancing. Even if you’re fortunate enough to continue operating, this radical change may mean it’s time to take a deep dive into a digital transformation, rather than just baby steps. …

Entrepreneur.com click the link to read the rest of the story.

Are you accelerating your digital transformation?

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Home Router Alert!! All Have Known Flaws & Most Are Unpatched

There are no routers in the study from the Fraunhofer Institute without known security flaws.  Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Communication (FKIE) has carried out a study involving 127 home routers from seven brands to check for the presence of known security vulnerabilities in the latest firmware. The results are appalling. The FKIE study found that 46 routers hadn’t got a single security update within the past year and that many routers are affected by hundreds of known vulnerabilities. …

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A Private Satellite Wi-Fi network is cheaper and easier than ever

The ubiquity of cellular coverage is something that’s easy to take for granted. Even if you live in a relatively rural area, seeing zero bars on your smartphone is quite rare these days. But it still happens. Another problem is network saturation as a result of too many people trying to make use of the network at any one time.  Then there’s the issue of reliability during emergencies. …

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

How you ever needed an internet connection and can’t get one?Join the conversation on our Facebook Page!

 

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Has your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch been hacked? Here’s how to find out

Has your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch been hacked? Probably not, but there’s so much information on a smartphone — not to mention the fact that it can also be used to precisely pinpoint its owner — that more and more tools exist to help unscrupulous people get a foot in the door of your digital fortress. The good news is that tools exist to help you determine whether your device has been compromised. One such tool that I’ve been testing is Certo AntiSpy. …

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

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Phishing attacks: Sophisticated new group found operating undiscovered for a year

A newly uncovered phishing group is targeting big companies around the world. It’s thought to be the first major scam gang of its type operating out of Russia, indicating a potential shift in the cyber-threat landscape.  Business email compromise (BEC) scams can be highly lucrative for cyber criminals, with organisations losing hundreds of millions of dollars a month after being tricked into sending finances into accounts owned by criminals.  … Cosmic Lynx – the campaign has targeted individuals in 46 countries across six continents and combines in-depth research on target organisations and their executives…

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

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New ThiefQuest ransomware discovered targeting macOS users

Security researchers have discovered this week a new ransomware strain targeting macOS users.  Named OSX.ThiefQuest (or EvilQuest), this ransomware is different from previous macOS ransomware threats because besides encrypting the victim’s files, ThiefQuest also installs a keylogger, a reverse shell, and steals cryptocurrency wallet-related files from infected hosts. “Armed with these capabilities, the attacker can main full control over an infected host,” …

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

How do you protect your Mac?Join the conversation on our Facebook Page!

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The slow death of the Mac as we know it

The future of the Mac is in the hands of people who see a laptop or a desktop as an accessory to an iPhone or iPad, not the other way around.  … For existing Mac users, this is the slow death of the Mac as we know it. Now, nothing is going to happen overnight. …

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

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Adobe wants users to uninstall Flash Player by the end of the year

Adobe plans to prompt users and ask them to uninstall Flash Player from their computers by the end of the year when the software is scheduled to reach End-Of-Life (EOL), on December 31, 2020.  The move was announced in a new Flash Player EOL support page that Adobe published earlier this month, six months before the EOL date. …

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

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5 habits of people who are especially productive working from home

Before many office workers transitioned to remote arrangements, the thought of working from home sounded like a dream. Who doesn’t love the idea of ditching the commute and staying in your sweats? But those of us who have been working from home for years know the reality, and it isn’t always as stress-free as it sounds.  Loneliness, isolation, distractions, and Zoom fatigue are real, and they are challenges to overcome…

FastCompany.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

What is the biggest issue for you with our new remote workplaces?
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Ransomware attacks on the rise

Ransomware attacks against shipping companies have spiked in number and severity over the past year, according to security firms. Norwegian shipbuilder Vard, part of Italy’s Fincantieri, was hit last week but has declined to give details …

LlyodList click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

How do you dealing with the increase in ransomware?
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When More Information Leads to More Uncertainty

How can I figure out which news sources and leaders to trust?  Every day we are faced with a torrent of information from news articles, cable networks, social media, the White House, the Center for Disease Control – and yet, there are no clear answers.  As humans, we innately find uncertainty to be an aversive state and are motivated to reduce it, even at a cost. …

Harvard Business Review click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

How do you deal with uncertainty?
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China-based group is hacking Asia-Pacific governments

A China-based hacking group has been quietly carrying out a five-year cyber espionage campaign against Asia-Pacific governments after it previously “slipped off the radar,” a new report claims.  The group, known as Naikon, has targeted nations including Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Brunei, according to Israeli cybersecurity firm Check Point. …

CNNBC.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

What can our government do?Join the conversation on our Facebook Page!

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Cortana’s Promotion Is Tied To Microsoft 365

Today, if you click the Cortana button on a Windows 10 PC, you still get the “Ask Cortana” prompt, and you can click the microphone button to start talking. But saying “Hey Cortana” does nothing. All those third-party skills are no longer operative, and Cortana’s notebook has officially been tossed into the digital dumpster. … Cortana is “Your personal productivity assistant in Microsoft 365,” and the tasks are no longer about music and fitness and home automation. Instead, the skill set includes things like catching up with your email, coordinating meetings, and filing expense reports. …

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

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The 4 Ps of Marketing: A Step-by-Step Guide

The 4 Ps of marketing…  You’ve probably heard about them from a friend, a textbook, or even at school. I know it sounds like a boring topic that’s common sense, but there is more to it than meets the eye.  And no, it’s not just for large companies… the smaller you are, the more important for you it is to leverage the 4 Ps.  So before we dive into it, let’s first break down what they are they?  The 4 Ps of marketing is a famous concept that summarizes the 4 basic pillars of any marketing strategy: product, price, place, and promotion. …

neilpatel.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

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Cybersecurity: Four ways you can keep the hackers away

CIOs are under more pressure than ever before when it comes to cybersecurity concerns, especially now that many or even all of the staff in their organisation are working from home, perhaps using unfamiliar software and hardware as they try to do their jobs on lockdown.  The array of devices and applications that they have to take responsibility for has been rapidly expanded by the coronavirus crisis, and criminals have been keen to exploit any organisations thrown off-balance by the rapidly changing circumstances, which means taking a fresh look at what IT security really means. …

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

How are you protecting your business?Join the conversation on our Facebook Page!

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Harvard Business Review: How To Deal with Collaborative Overload

Collaboration is taking over the workplace. As business becomes increasingly global and cross-functional, silos are breaking down, connectivity is increasing, and teamwork is seen as a key to organizational success. According to data we have collected over the past two decades, the time spent by managers and employees in collaborative activities has ballooned by 50% or more.  Certainly, we find much to applaud in these developments. However, when consumption of a valuable resource spikes that dramatically, it should also give us pause.  …

Harvard Business Review click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

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Hackers are targeting your smartphone as way into the company network

The number of phishing attacks targeting smartphones as the entry point for attempting to compromise enterprise networks has risen by more than a third over the course of just a few months.  Analysis by cybersecurity company Lookout found that there’s been a 37% increase in mobile phishing attacks worldwide between the last three months of 2019 and the first few months of 2020 alone.  Phishing emails have long been a problem for desktop and laptop users, but the increased use of mobile devices – especially as more people are working remotely …

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

How are you protecting your business mobile phones?Join the conversation on our Facebook Page!

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Microsoft’s Firmware Scanner Takes Security to a Whole New Level

Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (Microsoft Defender ATP) is extending its protection capabilities to the firmware level with a new Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) scanner.  Hardware and firmware-level attacks have continued to rise in recent years, as modern security solutions made persistence and detection evasion on the operating system more difficult. Attackers compromise the boot flow to achieve low-level malware behavior that’s hard to detect, posing a significant risk to an organization’s security posture.  Windows Defender System Guard helps defend against firmware attacks by providing guarantees for secure boot through hardware-backed security features…

Microsoft.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

Has your firm begun using Microsoft ATP yet?
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5 habits of people who are especially productive working from home

Effective remote work involves these five habits, which prevent feelings of burnout and isolation. Before many office workers transitioned to remote arrangements, the thought of working from home sounded like a dream. Who doesn’t love the idea of ditching the commute and staying in your sweats? But those of us who have been working from home for years know the reality, and it isn’t always as stress-free as it sounds. Loneliness, isolation, distractions, and Zoom fatigue are real, and they are challenges to overcome…

FastCompany.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

What is the biggest hurdle you have to overcome in our new remote workplaces?
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Ripple20 vulnerabilities will haunt the IoT landscape for years to come

Cyber-security experts have revealed today 19 vulnerabilities in a small library designed in the 90s that has been widely used and integrated into countless of enterprise and consumer-grade products over the last 20+ years.  The number if impacted products is estimated at “hundreds of millions” and includes products such as smart home devices, power grid equipment, healthcare systems, industrial gear, transportation systems, printers, routers, mobile/satellite communications equipment, data center devices, commercial aircraft devices, various enterprise solutions, and many others.  Experts now fear that all products using this library will most likely remain unpatched due to complex or untracked software supply chains. …

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

How are you going to protect your IOT devices?Join the conversation on our Facebook Page!

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New Trickbot malware update makes it even harder to detect

Trickbot malware has been updated with a new method of propagation that makes it even harder to detect.  Starting life as a banking trojan, Trickbot first emerged in 2016 but in the years since it has been repeatedly re-purposed for other means including being used as a fully-fledged information stealer, as well as providing backdoor access to infected machines, enabling cyber criminal groups to use it as gateway for delivering other malware onto already compromised networks. Trickbot can also operate as a botnet to help spread itself to additional victims, commonly using phishing email spam campaigns to distribute malicious attachments that execute it on a Windows machine if opened. Once executed on a machine, Trickbot can also exploit the EternalBlue vulnerability to move laterally around a network. …

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

How are you protecting your business from this?Join the conversation on our Facebook Page!

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Forget sextortion scams, we’re more worried about deepfake ransomware

Appetite for deepfake scams is expanding among users of underground forums, leading to concerns the technology could be used as part of extortion-based ransomware attacks. Deepfakes are AI-generated videos and images that transplant the face of another individual – traditionally a celebrity or politician – into a scene in which they were not originally present. In recent years, deepfakes have been used primarily in the dissemination of fake news and the creation of hoax pornography – and have become increasingly convincing. Here’s why you shouldn’t watch ‘inappropriate content’ on remote working devices: Adult streaming site leaks info on millions of users, Stalkerware now poses a greater privacy risk than ever.  According to a report from security firm Trend Micro, deepfake technology could soon be used to blackmail members of the public or workforce into divulging sensitive information or paying significant ransom fees.

TechRadar click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

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Great Leaders Are Thoughtful and Deliberate, Not Impulsive and Reactive

You set aside the first hour of your day to work on a strategy document that you’ve been putting off for a week. You haven’t been disciplined about getting to it, but you’ve had one crisis after another to deal with in the past week. Now, finally, you’ve carved out 90 early morning minutes to work on it.  First, however, you take a quick peek at the email that has piled up in your inbox overnight. Before you know it, you’ve used up the whole 90 minutes responding to emails, even though none of them were truly urgent. By the time you walk into your next meeting, you’re feeling frustrated that you failed to stick by your plan. …

Harvard Business Review click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

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Microsoft Teams: Free version can now create video meetings

Users of the free version of Teams, the Microsoft 365 online collaboration platform, can now create video meetings.  The change, spotted by OnMSFT, means Teams free users can create a Teams meeting from their account, rather than only being able to join a meeting created by paying customers. … Microsoft Teams, which launched in 2017, has grown from 44 million daily active users in March, 2020 to 75 million in April, 2020. …

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

Have you used it yet?Join the conversation on our Facebook Page!

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Google tracking your private browsing activity?

A class action was filed against Google on Tuesday, accusing the tech giant of invading the privacy of millions of users without their knowledge by tracking internet use even when using private browsing mode.   The class action accuses Google of tracking and collecting consumer browsing history and other web activity data even when using private browsing mode.  The complaint, filed to the District Court of Northern California, claims Google tracks users’ browsing data and other identifying information through Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager, and various other application and website plug-ins, such as Google applications on mobile devices and the Google Sign-In button for websites regardless of what mode of browsing is chosen. …

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

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The PC is suddenly in fashion again, but there are tough times ahead

Remote working may have caused many people to value their laptop and desktops a lot more, but the PC industry is likely to struggle as companies and consumers cut back on spending. PCs may have been viewed as yesterday’s news thanks to the rise of smaller form factors like smartphones, tablets and wearables, but trusty laptops and desktops (and variations on them like Chromebooks and even Raspberry Pis) have proven their worth during lockdown for workers and kids doing home schooling.

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

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Hidden Android malware infects thousands of smartphones

A carefully managed hacking and espionage campaign is infecting smartphones with a potent form of Android malware, providing those behind it with total control of the device, while also remaining completely hidden from the user. Mandrake spyware abuses legitimate Android functions to help gain access to everything on the compromised device in attacks that can gather almost any information about the user. The attacker can browse and collect all data on the device, steal account credentials for accounts including banking applications. secretly take recordings of activity on the screen, track the GPS location of the user and more, all while continuously covering their tracks…

ZDNet.com click the link to read the rest of the story.  Get our free tools here.

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Time Blocking: How to Get The Most Out of Your Schedule

Some of the most productive people in the world swear by a technique called time blocking.  Ever heard of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, or Cal Newport? Yep – all time-blockers. And they’re not doing it because they like coloring in their bullet journals. They’re squeezing every drop of productivity from their days. It’s simple and it works. And I’m going to show you how. So, let’s see if this sounds familiar: You have too many things to do, and the list never gets smaller. …

Dansilvestre.com click the link to read the rest of the story. Our FREE Tools can help!

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