Jodie Lauren Smith

A new phishing campaign is underway that should make even the most tech-illiterate people suspicious. The campaign involves stating that your email has been blacklisted, and then proceeds to ask to you confirm it by entering your credentials. This is fairly standard as phishing scams go, but the odd thing is that it uses phishing links that contain…

On the run-up to the 2016 Presidential election, Twitter was full of disinformation campaigns ran by bots or fake accounts. Twitter was disproportionately hit compared to other social media platforms, but why? Twitter is the most open social media platform which makes it an attractive platform for anyone who wants to share a message and have a…

A design flaw recently discovered in Apple's macOS Mojave could allow malicious applications to steal a victims Safari browsing history. Mojave is the fifteenth major release of MacOS and the latest. It was released in September 2018, and while it wasn't groundbreaking in terms of new features, it offered some nice new enhancements and is free…

Since 2017, cybersecurity company Agari has been tracking and gathering intel on a Nigeria based crime ring dubbed "Scarlet Widow". The group operates romance scams targeting vulnerable people. Romance scams are often talked about less than other types of scams such a sextortion, inheritance and business email compromise scams, but they remain a…

A hacker has managed to wipe every server and backup of the VFEmail this week. VFEmail is, or more accurately was, a US-based secure email provider that has offered anonymous free and paid services since 2001. VFEmail founder, Rick Romero, said in a tweet: Yes, @VFEmail is effectively gone. It will likely not return. I never thought anyone…

The Swiss government has invited hackers to penetration test its e-voting system to ensure it is safe and secure for voters. The hacking will take place during a Public Intrusion Test (PIT), where interested parties from around the words will be offered cash rewards based on what they do. The PIT will run between 25 Feb and 2 March, and rewards…

The 911 systems provide a quick and reliable way for citizens to access emergency services, and it is one that is frequently used. It is estimated that 240 million calls are made to 911 annually. How much disruption would be caused if the service was hacked and went down? Background to 911 In 1957 the National Association of Fire Chiefs…

Popular British parenting site, Mumsnet has suffered a data breach following a software upgrade. The problem arose when Mumsnet moved onto the cloud and as a result made some software changes. These changes meant that users could see the details of other users. Mumsnet said: “There was a problem affecting Mumsnet user logins between 2pm of…

Cybercrime is the fastest growing economic crime and cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated. As of January 2019, the value of the cybercrime industry was estimated to be $1.5 trillion. Not only is cybercrime becoming more sophisticated, but it is also becoming more prevalent and more lucrative for the criminals. With the…

A white hat hacker who discovered a vulnerability in Magyar Telekom's IT systems is facing 8 years in prison. The hacker discovered the vulnerability Hungarian telecommunications company's system in April 2018. He informed Magyar Telekom of the security issues and met with them to discuss a possible future collaboration, however, nothing became of…