Hi everyone,
I hope you’re having a great Wednesday. Here are a few stories in cyber security and artificial intelligence that I think you might be interested in. You will never look at your toaster in the same way again.
Fake adverts.
Here’s a story from Malwarebytes about how cybercriminals are actually purchasing advertising space so that when you search for your local bank name on a search engine, you will see the fake version of your bank listed above the criminals are buying advertising space. Be extra careful about clicking on advertisements. A lot of people would assume an advertisement is safe to click on, particularly if it’s on a Microsoft search engine or if it’s coming up from google.com. Still, the reality is that cybercriminals have taken over or have infiltrated the advertising networks and are promoting themselves ahead of the real bank (or other companies). Never assume that an advertisement is safe.
Hacked kitchen appliances 🙂
This article here serves as a reminder that kitchen appliances, or devices in our home cannot be trusted. In this example here, it turns out that your air fryer (or other device) could represent a cyber threat! . Most people don’t realise that when they bring one of the smart devices into their home, they are giving it (and its developers) access to quite a lot of information. It may have full access to the Wi-Fi network, which means all of the devices on the network are well. Have a read of the article here, but just remember when you bring a smart device into your home you’re giving access to everything so choose carefully. Also, in that article, you can see a listing of some of the top smart devices and the privacy holes that they bring to your life. If you are in doubt, you can always ask us. But as a rule of thumb, I don’t think we should be bringing all of the smart devices into our lives.
Make sure you are running the latest version of Android.
The October security update fixed a load of problems and exploits that were being actively used by cybercriminals. I read today, about another exploit that the October security update fixes. It’s a pretty nasty one, and if a cyber criminal for example uses it against you they could gain full access to everything on your device including your bank accounts et cetera. Please make sure you’re using the latest version of Android. If you need any help updating send me a message through the application.
Artificial Intelligence
We talk a lot about artificial intelligence here, but it is affecting a lot of people who contact us. Know what to look out for.
– Here is a really good YouTube video from CBC News, from earlier in the year giving you some examples of deepfakes. Some of them are quite astonishing. Some of them are very obvious as well.
– Here is an educational website from Microsoft, where you can learn how to spot a deepfake. Go to the website here, and you can play a fun game, which will also test your skills
Lastly, if you have security cameras that are connected to the Internet make sure you’re not using the default password and that they are properly and securely connected to the Internet. There have been loads of stories about how unauthorised people have been able to remotely access security cameras and even smart tv’s and baby monitors by just using the default username and password. If you need direction on how to secure, whatever system you have, we can give guidance.
Lastly, iOS will be back in December 🙂 and also a big update for Android is final testing mode…any day now … 🙂
Sending you all the best,
Max