Archive for June 10, 2021

Electronic Arts Pwned….. Data Was Swiped

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 10, 2021 by itnerd

Hackers have broken into gaming giant Electronic Arts, the publisher of Battlefield, FIFA, and The Sims, and stole a wealth of game source code and related internal tools, Motherboard reported Thursday:

“You have full capability of exploiting on all EA services,” the hackers claimed in various posts on underground hacking forums viewed by Motherboard. A source with access to the forums, some of which are locked from public view, provided Motherboard with screenshots of the messages. In those forum posts the hackers said they have taken the source code for FIFA 21, as well as code for its matchmaking server. The hackers also said they have obtained source code and tools for the Frostbite engine, which powers a number of EA games including Battlefield. Other stolen information includes proprietary EA frameworks and software development kits (SDKs), bundles of code that can make game development more streamlined. In all, the hackers say they have 780gb of data, and are advertising it for sale in various underground hacking forum posts viewed by Motherboard.

Lovely. This is a bad look for Electronic Arts. And Electronic Arts have confirmed to Motherboard that it had suffered a data breach and that the information listed by the hackers was the data that was stolen. So you can expect that there is a ton of damage control going on inside the company right now as the damage is going to be extensive and multi-faceted.

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HP+ The Smarter Printing System Is Launching In Canada

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 10, 2021 by itnerd

Today, more than 80 per cent of Canadians who began working remote, say they hope to maintain a hybrid schedule, working at least half their hours from home in a post-COVID world, according to Stats Canada. As these structural shifts create more freedom and flexibility for today’s worker, HP Inc. is debuting HP+ in Canada as a smart and modern printing experience designed for a post-COVID world.  

Since the pandemic began, the demand for printing has grown immensely. To meet this growing need, HP+ is helping modernize home offices, while ensuring seamless integration by: 

  • Offering a new cloud ecosystem, that provides enhanced security and reliability to print from virtually anywhere. 
  • Enabling you to scan, upload and share documents wherever you are powered by the HP Smart App.
  • Helping you never run out of ink by pairing HP+ with HP Instant Ink. 
  • Putting the planet first by promoting zero-deforestation printing and closed-loop cartridge recycling through HP’s Planet Partners program. 

Launched Globally in April, HP+ has arrived in Canada and offers the freedom and flexibility WFH requires. If you’re interested, you can learn more about HP+ here.

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Guest Post: Atlas VPN Says That In 2020 The Number Of Vulnerabilities In Microsoft Products Exceeded 1,000 For the first time

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 10, 2021 by itnerd

Microsoft products are used by billions of people worldwide. Historically, however, they are known to have many vulnerabilities that pose security risks to users of the software. 

According to data presented by the Atlas VPN team, the total number of vulnerabilities in Microsoft products reached 1,268 in 2020 — an increase of 181% in five years. 

Windows was the most vulnerability-ridden Microsoft product. It had a total of 907 issues, of which 132 were critical. However, Windows Server had the largest number of critical issues. In 2020, 902 vulnerabilities were detected in Windows Server, of which 138 were critical. 

Issues were also found in other Microsoft products, such as Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer. Together, these browsers had 92 vulnerabilities in 2020. In total, 61 or even 66% of these vulnerabilities were of critical level. Meanwhile, Microsoft Office had 79 vulnerabilities, 5 of which were critical. 

Ruth Cizynski, the cybersecurity researcher and author at Atlas VPN, shares her thoughts on the situation : 

“These numbers are a massive problem because every Microsoft product has millions of users. Therefore, it is important that consumers update their software applications on time. Software updates can include security patches that can fix vulnerabilities and save users from getting hacked.”

Elevation of privilege is the most common Microsoft vulnerability

A wide range of vulnerabilities was discovered in various Microsoft products last year.  However, some types of vulnerabilities were more common than others.  

Elevation of privilege was the most frequently detected issue in Microsoft products. It was discovered 559 times and made up 44% of all Microsoft vulnerabilities in 2020. 

Next up is remote code execution. In total, 345 such vulnerabilities were found last year, putting it in second place on the list. Remote code execution accounted for 27% of the total number of Microsoft vulnerabilities in 2020.  

Information disclosure occupies the third spot on the list. There were 179 such issues discovered in 2020. Together, they made up 14% of all Microsoft vulnerabilities that year. 

To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/bloghttps://atlasvpn.com/blog/in-2020-number-of-vulnerabilities-in-microsoft-products-exceeded-1-000-for-the-first-time

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TELUS Health Launches MyCare Expanded Virtual Care Offering

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 10, 2021 by itnerd

TELUS Health, Canada’s largest health IT company and the leading provider of virtual care across the country, today introduced TELUS Health MyCare following the recent acquisition of Babylon Health Canada. Previously known as Babylon by TELUS Health, TELUS Health MyCare is an important evolution of virtual care for Canadians offering a robust suite of health and wellbeing services and new and improved features. More Canadians are accessing preventative tools to guide changes in lifestyle for improved overall health, TELUS Health MyCare provides increased access to high-quality primary care with locally-licensed physicians in numerous languages, but also supports access to mental health counsellors and dietitians.

Latest evolution of TELUS Health MyCare

Since 2019, TELUS Health MyCare has empowered Canadians and their families to access many important features and continues to innovate with improved access and functionality including:

  • New Clinics: Recently, TELUS Health MyCare opened two digital-first public clinics in Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia. Patients who live nearby now have the option to see doctors in person if they require an appointment following a virtual consultation. If they are without a regular family doctor, they can choose to have the TELUS Health MyCare clinic as their “medical home,” strengthening the continuity of their care. Plans are underway to open more TELUS Health MyCare clinics across Canada.
  • Mental Health and Dietitians: To help users address mental and nutritional health concerns TELUS Health MyCare has broadened services beyond primary care to include access to licensed mental health counsellors and dietitians for a more proactive, holistic approach to managing their overall health.
  • Enabling proactive health: TELUS Health has added new features to the app including the Healthcheck digital assessment tool which allows patients to proactively manage their health by better understanding their overall well-being, potential risk factors for illnesses, and steps they can take to help reduce those risks. Monitor is also a new tool that allows users to sync data from activity trackers, wearables, and other health apps to help track mood and activity to gain valuable insights on maintaining optimal health, all in one place.

By the Numbers

  • Every 30 seconds someone in Canada downloads the TELUS Health MyCare app
    • Every 90 seconds a patient sees a doctor via the app
  • A recent survey of TELUS Health MyCare users who completed a virtual consultation with a local physician or allied healthcare professional found:
    • 94 per cent agreed the service addressed their concern;
    • 96 per cent said they felt cared for by the physician; and
    • 96 per cent said they are likely to recommend the service to others.
  • 60 per cent of patients do not have a family doctor
  • 15 per cent of consultations are related to mental health
  • 77 per cent of users are between the ages of 20-49

Privacy by Design

TELUS Health is committed to building privacy safeguards into every one of its products and services, and we take special care when it comes to personal health information. Operating under the highest standards for security by design, TELUS Health MyCare stores all patient medical records in Canada in compliance with federal and provincial privacy legislation and securely transmits information using encryption mechanisms that meet or even exceed, the highest industry-recognized standards. The TELUS Health MyCare service will now fall under the robust TELUS Privacy Management Program Framework, with a new TELUS Health MyCare Privacy Commitment that describes the specifics of how we protect individual privacy and handle data in TELUS Health MyCare.

The TELUS Health MyCare app is available across the country in English and French as a free download for iOS or Android devices.

For more information on TELUS Health MyCare, please visit: telus.com/MyCare.

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JBS Foods Pays Cyberattackers To Get Themselves Back Online

Posted in Commentary with tags on June 10, 2021 by itnerd

You might recall that I brought you the story of JBS Foods who got pwned in a cyberattack that shut the company down globally. Well it seems that they decided to pay up to get themselves back online:

The world’s largest meat processing company has paid the equivalent of $11m (£7.8m) in ransom to put an end to a major cyber-attack.

Computer networks at JBS were hacked last week, temporarily shutting down some operations in Australia, Canada and the US.

The payment was reportedly made using Bitcoin after plants had come back online.

JBS says it was necessary to pay to protect customers.

Paying these guys is a mistake. Why? The fact that we are still talking about cyberattack after cyberattack every single day shows that paying the attackers isn’t the solution to the problem as all that paying them does is encourage more attacks.

The solution is stronger cyber-defenses that all companies big and small must introduce. More aggressive law enforcement action, especially against those who backed by nation states like China and Russia. And more moves like the one the FBI did the other day to go after the proceeds of these crimes. Actions like those will turn the tide on this issue. Paying them is not the answer.

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