In a veritable cyber-SWAT action, the Feds remotely removed the infections without warning businesses beforehand.

Microsoft fixes 110 vulnerabilities, with 19 classified as critical and another flaw under active attack.

Search-engine optimization (SEO) tactics direct users searching for common business forms such as invoices, receipts or other templates to hacker-controlled Google-hosted domains.

The office of the Director of National Intelligence released its “Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.” Cybersecurity is covered on pages 20-21. Nothing surprising:

• Cyber threats from nation states and their surrogates will remain acute.
• States’ increasing use of cyber operations as a tool of national power, including increasing use by militaries around the world, raises the prospect of more destructive and disruptive cyber activity.
• Authoritarian and illiberal regimes around the world will increasingly exploit digital tools to surveil their citizens, control free expression, and censor and manipulate information to maintain control over their populations.
• During the last decade, state sponsored hackers have compromised software and IT service supply chains, helping them conduct operations — espionage, sabotage, and potentially prepositioning for warfighting.

The supply chain line is new; I hope the government is paying attention.

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are flocking to the Wild West of Bitcoin and Monero to cash in on the recent gold rush. Bitcoin’s meteoric rise in value is making coin mining an appealing hobby or even a whole new career. Coin mining software is the main tool in a prospector’s belt.  

Some coin miners, also known as cryptocurrency miners, are tempted by the dark side of the industry and resort to nefarious means to harness the immense computing power needed for cryptocurrency profits. Greedy cryptocurrency criminals employ a practice called cryptojacking, stealing the computer power of unsuspecting devices to help them mine faster. Your device could be at risk at being recruited to their efforts.  

Let’s dig into how coin mining programs work, why they turn malicious, and how you can stay safe from cryptojackers. 

How Coin Mining Works 

Mining cryptocurrency takes a lot of time and computer processing power. A coin mining home setup requires a graphics processing unit (GPU) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Coin mining software then runs off the GPU or ASIC. Each central processing unit (CPU), or the brain of the computer, plus the GPU or ASIC is referred to as a mining rig. 

Once the software is installed, the rig is ready to mine, running mathematical calculations to verify and collect new cryptocurrency transactions. Each calculation is known as a hash, and hash rates are the number of calculations that can be run per second. 

From there, casual miners may choose to join a mining pool, which is a club of miners who agree to consolidate their computing power and split the profits based on how much work each miner contributed to the output. 

Bitcoin rewards miners every 10 minutes for their efforts. Each time miners solve a string of mathematical puzzles, they validate a chain of transactions, thus helping make the entire Bitcoin system more secure. Miners are paid in bitcoin and they also receive a transactional fee. 

Why Coin Mining Turns Malicious 

While coin mining typically starts off as a casual hobby, coin mining programs can turn malicious when cryptocurrency miners want to earn more without investing in boosting their own computing power. Instead, they reroute their targets’ computing power without asking. This is called cryptojacking. 

Mining requires incredible amounts of electricity and the more rigs involved; the more cryptocurrency can be mined. Usually, the utility bills and the cost of running coin mining software negates any profit. For example, a casual miner may have one rig devoted to mining. An average rig processes approximately 500 hashes per second on the Monero network (a type of cryptocurrency). However, 500 hashes per second translates to less than a dollar per week in traditional, or fiat, currency. 

Greedy cryptocurrency criminals recruit CPU soldiers to their mining army to improve their hash rate. To do so, criminals download coin mining software to a device and then program it to report back to their server. The device’s thinking power is diverted from the owner and funneled straight to the criminal’s server that now controls it. Compromised devices run considerably slower and can overheat, and the strain on the device can eventually destroy it. 

How to Stay Safe from Cryptojacking 

Cryptojackers are not your everyday thieves. Their target is your CPU power, and they employ devious methods to funnel it for their own use. Luckily, there are a few easy ways to thwart their efforts: 

1. Beware of phishing 

Personal devices are often infected through phishing within emails and texts. There are many tell-tale signs of a phishing message. For example, they are often poorly written and use language that indicates that the sender wants a hasty response. Also, phishing attempts often charade as official organizations, like banks and credit card companies. If you are ever suspicious of an email or text, do not open any of the links and do not reply. Instead, contact the organization’s customer support to verify the legitimacy of the message. 

2. Use ad blockers 

Another way miners gain access to personal devices is by camouflaging malicious code in pop-up ads. An easy way to avoid being cryptojacked is to simply never click on these ads. Or even better, install an ad blocker to help eliminate the risk. 

3. Connect to a VPN 

Public wi-fi and poorly protected networks present a vulnerable entry point for cybercriminals to hack into your devices. Cybercriminals often attempt to download software remotely to your laptop, desktop, or mobile device to reroute its computing power for their own selfish gains. Always connect to a VPN like McAfee Safe Connect VPN to safely surf unsecure networks. 

4. Run antivirus software 

Cryptojacking code is inconspicuous and generally hidden in legitimate code. Antivirus software, such as McAfee Total Protection, is a recommended way to proactively scan for malware and even identify fraudulent websites. McAfee WebAdvisor has a Chrome extension that specifically blocks cryptojackers. 

5. Monitor your devices 

Be aware of the signs your devices have been cryptojacked. For example, monitor any changes in the speed of your devices and check out your utility bills for dramatic spikes. By remaining vigilant with these tips, you will keep your devices safe from cryptocurrency miners gone rogue. 

Stay Updated 

To stay updated on all things McAfee and on top of the latest consumer and mobile security threats, follow @McAfee_Home on Twitter, subscribe to our email, listen to our podcast Hackable?, and ‘Like’ us on Facebook. 

The post Why Coin Miners Go Bad & How to Protect Your Tech When They Do appeared first on McAfee Blogs.

Let’s Make Security Easy

I’ve been hearing a lot lately about tech and information overload, which is understandable given that the average U.S. household now has access to more than ten devices. (No wonder we are all spending more time online!) While technology allows us to be incredibly productive and connected, it can make our lives more complicated, especially if we are concerned about our privacy.

We know that with each new digital capability or device we add to our lives— whether it be a new computer, gaming device, smart speaker, app, or online account—the bad guys have another potential way to reach our personal information. And although surveys show that consumers are clearly concerned about this, they also aren’t sure exactly what to do about it, leading to privacy inertia. When we don’t know which actions to take, sometimes we freeze, and take none.

That’s why as security providers, we have to offer protection against a wide variety of threats without adding more complexity to your already busy life. Managing your security should be easy, and even enjoyable.

So, we set out to make your security software work better for you. We streamlined the experience to simplify what you see, while still offering robust protection. After all, true security is the security that you use every day, and it’s up to us as providers to make it accessible.

Smooth Setup & A Central Hub

Our new setup process now includes easier navigation, fewer screens, and clearer action items and alerts. It smoothly moves you through setting up protection across all the ways you interact online and your compatible devices. This way, you know that we’re helping to keep you safe whether you’re messaging, browsing, or shopping and banking online.

Another area where we put a lot of focus is the new home screen. This is your home base, where we clearly show you what your current protection status is in the areas that matter the most to you. This includes making it easier to monitor your personal information and strengthen protections you already use, like passwords.

 

The home screen is also where you come to perform essential tasks, such as running an antivirus scan. It guides you to take actions when needed, giving you proactive protection, and a clear view of your overall security in one convenient place. From here you can access details on the status of your PC, web, and identity protection.

 

 

 

 

Effective Security, Made Easier

While we’re always focused on helping you feel confident and protected online, we realize that making our tools easy to use is just as important. The digital security landscape will continue to be a complicated one, with threats growing by the hundreds each minute, but we can and are making security simpler, and therefore, more effective.

With easier setup and protection that turns on automatically at the right moments, we want to make security easier for you so that you can feel safer online. We’ve heard your feedback about how we can improve, and we would like to bring all that goodness in a product that you can use every day.

I hope you will check out our new interface in McAfee® Total Protection and McAfee® Live Safe as we bring this new experience to people around the globe over the next few months. We are excited and looking forward to you using our security software daily.

 Stay Updated

To stay updated on all things McAfee and on top of the latest consumer and mobile security threats, follow @McAfee_Home  on Twitter, subscribe to our email, listen to our podcast Hackable?, and ‘Like’ us on Facebook.

 

The post Let’s Make Security Easy appeared first on McAfee Blogs.

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