Davey Winder

1 week ago | forbes.com | Davey Winder

Windows updates, especially Windows security updates, are an essential yet often annoying consequence of using Microsoft’s operating system. Without them, you would be unable to stay on top of the threat from newly discovered vulnerabilities, for example. However, when one of these updates installs a mysterious new folder, without proper explanation, and sets off a whole new social media privacy conspiracy, the annoying side comes to the fore.

1 week ago | forbes.com | Davey Winder

Update, April 14, 2025: This story, originally published April 13, has now been updated with more information from Trustwave detailing how attackers obfuscate their 2FA bypass phishing threats. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but if you didn’t already realize, you are under attack. No matter the operating system you use, the applications you rely upon or the faith you have in Big Tech to protect you, attackers are coming for your accounts and your data.

1 week ago | forbes.com | Davey Winder

Hackers are nothing if not creative. When it comes to uncovering previously unknown vulnerabilities in Google products and services or earning big money from Microsoft bug bounty programs, that’s a good thing. Perhaps less so if zero-day vulnerabilities are being sought for sale to the Russian government, or those skills are being used for purely malicious purposes.

1 week ago | forbes.com | Davey Winder

If there’s one thing that cybercriminals love, it’s a deadline. Anything that injects a sense of urgency into an attack massively increases the chances of that threat turning into a successful exploit. It’s why you see so many attacks start with a message or notification warning you that your account has been compromised, and you must act now, or a request from a relative in urgent need of cash. Sometimes, however, the immediacy trigger is based around a very real deadline.

1 week ago | forbes.com | Davey Winder

I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but if you didn’t already realize, you are under attack. No matter the operating system you use, the applications you rely upon or the faith you have in Big Tech to protect you, attackers are coming for your accounts and your data. The higher the profile of those accounts, the more valuable they are and the more hacking scrutiny they are under.