Antivirus Vendors
The latest salacious video – promising ‘Naked Woman Eaten by a Shark’ – is just one in a long chain of viral video scams spread via Faceboook.
The post Facebook scams – ‘Naked woman eaten by shark’ is latest bait appeared first on We Live Security.
Factor in the booming Internet of Things and researchers estimate there will be 50 billion connected devices in the market by 2020! These are big numbers with big implications for the tech industry and our customers.
When you break it down, it means every day millions of new users will get their first smartphone or tablet, or change to a new device, or add other connected digital device such as wearables, activity monitors, health apps, and even their cars…and be coming online with all the data that goes with them. These aren’t just faceless people, but our nephews, nieces, children and grandchildren.
Now, think about when you first came online. For many of us, we had the benefit of growing up with the Internet and were able to make mistakes and learn from them as we went along. The next two billion users won’t have that luxury. They are coming online in the age of the Social Internet of Things and will experience a much larger interconnected world. They will surely find great delight, but every mistake made could be broadcast to billions of people, along with increasing pitfalls and exponentially greater consequences.
Just think about the rise in teen and celebrity sexting scandals and over-disclosure, cyber-bulling, and the mounting security breaches at major banks and retailers putting millions of credit card users at risk.
The bottom line is that businesses have to earn the right to engage with the next two billion web users and that is achieved by earning their trust.
Global research we did with MEF Global Forum earlier this year also reinforces this point. We found that:
At AVG with three million Facebook followers and 25,000-50,000 conversations happening daily – we also hear this echoed from our customers. Now magnify the concern consumers will have in a world where every smart connected device is sending our data to the Internet!
Love this story? Share it:
I explored the topic of “Building Trust for the Social Internet of Things,†at the MEF Global Forum event In San Francisco last week during a session and panel called, “Know thy Customer, Mastering the Consumer Experience.â€Â Our mission was to explore shifting consumer experiences and what it means to those of us in the industry and businesses.  I wanted to bring the perspective of what users want and need, and what it means from a mobile security, privacy and trust point of view.
We in the industry need to start planning now for the next two billion users. People need to know that they don’t have to give up their privacy every time they go online.  How do we make that experience all that it promises to be and develop their trust in our brands? How do we equip them for the Social Internet of Things?
Brands must adapt to address the concerns of a new and more connected audience and be willing to help build a future where it is as easy to be safe online as it is to connect a device to the net. People need to change as well. They need to prepare themselves for new technologies and an interconnected age of Digital Citizenship.
At AVG we envision a world of “smart users.†That’s why we recently started a Smart User Initiative as part of the Clinton Global Initiative.  Our goal is to increase the ratio of smart users to smartphones by teaching the next two billion Digital Citizens skills in how to engage in the digital world safely and securely in a way that protects them and others. And we’re putting out a call for partners– other brands, businesses, organizations, carriers, manufactures, and content producers – to join us on this mission.
You can read more about AVG’s Smart User Initiative in a blog by our CLO Harvey Anderson. His Op-Ed on this topic also appeared on Re/code recently.
Let’s strive to make the experience for the next two billion people coming online in the age of Social Internet of Things, more personal, trusted and the best it can possibly be…
The Avast Mobile team had a couple of busy days in November – we participated at CARTES Secure Connexions 2014 and showcased some of our best mobile apps in the “Mobile payments†pavilion. In our traditional and authentic guerrilla style, we drove a truck to Paris, we built the stand ourselves (and almost got killed dismantling it the last day), and we greeted our friends and product users in person, with no external hostesses; only Avast Mobile crew members equipped with mint candies, product fliers, and an unlimited dose of enthusiasm. 
You may ask yourself, what was my mobile antivirus provider doing at CARTES, a global event for the digital security industry?
Because of the experience the Inmite acquisition brought to Avast Mobile, the Avast team knows a thing or two about mobile payments security, and we believe we can bring additional value to this topic with our products.
While there are many techniques app makers or payment institutions such as a banks use to secure their mobile applications, recent attacks show that the weakest part of the chain are end clients – in other words – you and me. Face it, most people tend to underestimate potential threats, they fall for phishing attacks or attacks by social engineering, they connect to insecure public Wi-Fi hotspots, and they know in most cases, that banks will handle possible issues they have gracefully. In many cases, banks will even refund complete financial loss in order to keep their reputation high. The value Avast can bring to the table is the fact that most of our solutions are oriented towards the end users and their devices – we help where the additional help is needed.
Securing your mobile device better is simple At CARTES, we presented three products for mobile:
This selection of products was not random. Each of the products protect people and their payments at different “stagesâ€.
AIR BOND is our patent pending HW authentication token based on Bluetooth Low Energy. It wirelessly communicates with your smartphone or tablet and co-signs your transactions before they are sent to the server. It requires no special effort, like rewriting a numeric code or putting an NFC tag close to your iPhone (that does not support NFC this way anyway ;-). )You can use your mobile banking or payment app as long as your AIR BOND is nearby. If you lose your phone or somebody steals it, your banking is instantly safe – proximity to the AIR BOND device is required in order to execute transactions (all of them or only some of them depend on AIR BOND deployment type at each individual bank).
SecureLine VPN is an easy-to-use VPN solution for mobile and desktop. You can download the app from the iTunes App Store or from Google Play, turn the switch on and use your phone normally. No special setup is needed on your end; we take care of the server infrastructure and all the nasty configuration that is usually required for VPN solutions to work.
SecureLine encrypts and anonymizes your communication while your payments are being sent to the server. Since most of the mobile communication happens in the public space, often at an unknown and improperly secured Wi-Fi hotspots, this mechanism brings a great deal of “practical security†to normal people. Most of the current network security issues are with the nearest router or with ISP infrastructure – basically in the first 10 miles of communication.
Avast Mobile Security & Antivirus is the hottest mobile product today and it recently got a major facelift in order to become even more sleek and sexy. It is an Android app that includes antivirus, anti-theft (must be installed separately to the app, since anti-theft goes deep in the system), and several very handy security / privacy features, like App locking (adds a PIN code login screen to any app you have), or Call & SMS filter (blocks annoying calls and unwanted SMS messages). This application can protect your payments when your Android phone is under fire and everything is about to go wrong. For example, when you install a potentially malicious application, or when you lose your phone or somebody steals it from you, this app is here to protect you.
In my personal experience, banks and payment institutions usually make mobile apps that are reasonably well secured in their implementation. However, security is a complex issue where an interplay of many components is needed to achieve good results. Protection at the end user level is one of these components, being a valuable addition to the built-in application security or security implemented within the bank’s back-end systems.
Banks and other payment institutions should educate their clients and recommend  products that protect their accounts and payments on their devices. Does your bank do that for you? If not, this is an opportunity – help us spread the word about Avast products!
Did you like the article? Follow the author at @joshis_tweets.
Avast Software’s security applications for PC, Mac, and Android are trusted by more than 200-million people and businesses. Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
Security warnings are routinely ignored, according to a new study by Brigham Young University, which also cast interesting insight in what people’s reactions are when they realize their computer has been compromised, according to News Room America.
The post Study shows how subjects respond to security warnings… and being ‘hacked’ appeared first on We Live Security.
Hacking group DerpTrolling has leaked 5,604 logins for three gaming networks to Pastebin, and claims that this is a “very small portion” of the credentials they have stolen, LifeHacker reports.
The post DerpTrolling leaks 5,604 logins for PSN, 2K and Windows Live appeared first on We Live Security.
