The IT Nerd

McAfee’s annual Most Dangerous Celebrity study found this year’s most dangerous Canadian celebrity is singer-songwriter Jann Arden. Arden supplanted Shawn Mendes who topped last year’s list. The Most Dangerous Celebrity study, which is in its twelfth year, reveals the celebrities who generate the riskiest search results that could expose fans to malicious websites.

This year’s list of dangerous Canadian celebrities includes:

Half of the celebrities in the top ten have appeared in superhero movies, including The Avengers’ Cobie Smulders (No. 2), Carrie-Anne Moss of Jessica Jones (No. 3), Ellen Page, who appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand (No. 4), and Evangeline Lilly of Ant-Man and the Wasp (No. 5).

McAfee offered tips on how consumers can search for news on their favourite celebrities more safely.

How to Search Safely

• Be careful what you click. Users looking for a sneak-peek of Jann Arden’s upcoming CTV mockumentary series Jannshould be cautious and only download directly from a reliable source. The safest thing to do is to wait for the official release instead of visiting a third-party website that could contain malware.
• Apply system and application updates as soon as they are available. Very often the operating system and application updates include security fixes. Applying updates is an important step to help ensure devices stay protected.
• Browse with security protection. McAfee Total Protection is a comprehensive security solution that can help keep devices protected against malware, phishing attacks, and other threats. It includes McAfee WebAdvisor which can help protect against going to malicious websites.

• Use parental control software. Kids are fans of celebrities too, so ensure that limits are set on the child’s device and use software that can help minimize exposure to potentially malicious or inappropriate websites.

A week ago McAfee began getting complaints from users who said that the August update for Endpoint Security 10.5.4 was causing both blue screen crashes and random restarts. After investigating it, the company is now taken down the update and is advising the world plus dog not to install it if they have already downloaded it. If you have installed it, your only option is to remove it and install an older version. As for when a fixed version will hit the streets, no word on that front as of yet.

Consider yourselves warned.

McAfee unveiled its latest survey, The Age of Consent, which found 15 per cent of Canadian parents post a photo or video of their child at least once a day on their social media accounts with four per cent posting four or more times per day. Most parents identified the following concerns associated with sharing images online including pedophilia (53 per cent), stalking (48 per cent), kidnapping (42 per cent) and cyberbullying (38 per cent), but many (40 per cent) don’t even consider if their child would consent to their image being posted online.

Despite voicing these worries, this concern doesn’t translate into action, as many parents admit to still including children’s personal information and private details in online images. For example, a quarter of the parents surveyed admit that they have or would share a photo of their child in their school uniform despite the risk of giving away personal information. Yet, it’s comforting to see the majority (74 per cent) of parents are only sharing photos of children on private social media accounts. This is certainly a good first step, but there is much more needed to be done to ensure parents are protecting their children’s identity.

McAfee shared some tips for parents looking to share photos of their children.

Parental Tips for Safe Sharing

Watch out for geo-tagging. Many social networks will tag a user’s location when a photo is uploaded. Parents should ensure this feature is turned off to avoid disclosing their location. This is especially important when posting photos away from home.

Lock down privacy settings. Parents should only share photos and other social media posts with their intended audience. Services like Facebook and Instagram have features that allow posts to be shared only with confirmed connections, but everything posted on a social network should be treated as if it’s public.

Set ground rules with friends, family and children. Be clear with friends and family about guidelines when posting images. These rules can help avoid unwanted situations where a family member has shared photos without explicit permission. Don’t forget that these ground rules should also apply to parents to protect the children in the images from embarrassment, anxiety or even cyberbullying.

Take control of your personal information. As the number of reported data breaches continue to rise, so too does the possibility of identity theft. For children who are too young for a credit card, parents should freeze their credit to avoid any unauthorized use. An identity theft protection solution like McAfee Identity Theft Protection can help consumers proactively protect their identity and keep their personal information secured from misuse.

Survey Methodology

McAfee commissioned OnePoll to conduct a survey of 1,000 parents of children aged 1 month to 16 years old in Canada.

McAfee Labs’ most recent threats report – McAfee Labs Threats Report: June 2018 – found cryptojacking and cryptocurrency mining malware increased over the quarter. Coin miner malware, which installs a cryptocurrency mining program on infected PCs, grew 629% in Q1 2018, while the Lazarus cybercrime ring launched a sophisticated Bitcoin-stealing phishing campaign, targeting global financial organizations and Bitcoin users.

Overall, McAfee Labs saw an average of five new threat samples every second in Q1.

Other report highlights included:

• Gold Dragon targets Winter Games to steal data using fileless techniques
• GhostSecret campaigns target health care, finance, entertainment, and telecommunications
• Gandcrab ransomware infects around 50,000 systems in first three weeks of Q1
• Total new LNK malware grows 59% as enhanced PowerShell techniques proliferate

For more information on these threat trends and statistics, please visit:

• McAfee Labs Threats Report: June 2018 
• Understanding How Bitcoin Mining Poses Security Risks

McAfee has that found the majority (95 per cent) of parents are worried about the risks their kids are exposed to while playing online video games, such as exposure to inappropriate content or nefarious people.

Highlights from the study:

• 92 per cent of parents allow their children to play at least one hour of video games every day, with 8 per cent admitting that they allow their children to play more than five hours a day.
• On average, children play video games for 2.13 hours a day or nearly 15 hours a week.
• 62 per cent of children play games where they directly interact with other players, drastically increasing their risk of being targeted with inappropriate content or asked to share sensitive information.
• 89 per cent of parents are aware of the dangers of this, with 71 per cent particularly concerned about them being groomed to share sensitive details or being shown inappropriate content such as violence (71 per cent), sexual images (77 per cent) or drugs (63 per cent).
• 9 per cent admit to not monitoring at all, and 6 per cent don’t talk to their children about what is and isn’t appropriate behavior.
• 44 per cent of parents admit to letting their children play games even when they are younger than the game’s age rating, with 13 per cent letting children play games with age ratings more than 5 years over their own age. This means that children as young as 12 could be playing games that have been exclusively rated for mature audiences due to intense portrayals of violence, strong sexual themes including nudity and rape, glamorization of use of drugs and more.

To learn more about the study and tips on how families can protect themselves from the risks of playing games online, check out this blog from McAfee’s Gary Davis:
https://securingtomorrow.mcafee.com/consumer/consumer-threat-notices/gaming-risks/

Survey Methodology
McAfee commissioned OnePoll to conduct a survey of 5,000 parents of children ages 6 to 16 who play online or console games in Australia, Germany, Singapore, the U.S. and the U.K.

McAfee unveiled its third annual cloud report on April 16, and while it found demand for cloud services continues to grow, it also discovered significantly fewer organizations are pursuing a cloud-first strategy.

Called “Navigating a Cloudy Sky: Practical Guidance and the State of Cloud Security,” the report covers the state of cloud adoption and the concerns with private and public cloud services for the more than 1,400 IT professionals surveyed.

Visibility is one of the biggest issues organizations have with cloud adoption. Some executives are more hesitant to invest in cloud services because they can’t see exactly what’s happening in cloud environments.

Some of the report’s key findings include:

• 83 per cent store sensitive data in the public cloud
• 69 per cent trust the public cloud to keep their sensitive data secure
• One in four organizations has experienced data theft from the public cloud
• One in five organizations has experienced an advanced attack against its public cloud infrastructure
• 97 per cent of organizations use cloud services (public, private, or a combination of both), up from 93 per cent one year ago

McAfee listed three best practices and recommendations based on the report. They include:

• DevOps and DevSecOps have been demonstrated to improve code quality and reduce exploits and vulnerabilities. Integrating development, quality assurance and security processes within the business unit or application team is crucial to operating at the speed today’s business environment demands.
• Even the most experienced security professionals find it difficult to keep up with the volume and pace of cloud deployments on their own. Automation that augments human advantages with machine advantages, such as that found in tools such as Chef, Puppet or Ansible, is a fundamental component of modern IT operations.
• Multiple management tools make it too easy to for something to slip through. A unified management system across multiple clouds with an open integration fabric reduces complexity.

There’s also an informative infographic here that hits the key points.

Source: McAfee

McAfee Survey Reveals One in Five Consumers Would Knowingly Buy a Connected Device Vulnerable to Hackin 

Cybersecurity company McAfee has announced the results of its third annual Most Hackable Holiday Gifts survey. Not surprisingly, laptops, tablets and smartphones lead the list, followed by drones, digital assistants, connected toys, and connected appliances.

Most consumers (69%) said laptops, tablets and smartphones should be secured. But only 22 per cent thought connected toys needed security and just 29 percent believed drones should be protected.

 This Year’s Most Hackable Holiday Gifts Include:

1. Laptops/Smartphones/Tablets – Laptops, smartphones, and tablets are traditional targets for cybercriminals, but if not properly secured, can get infected with malicious applications.
2. Drones – Sales of drones are expected to top US$1 billion in 2017, but security hasn’t quite caught up. Consumers need to stay mindful of risks associated with drone jacking and fake Wi-Fi signals from rogue drones.
3. Digital Assistants – These device-based assistants can help order household items, play music, provide answers to questions, and much more. However, with microphones that are always listening for a wake-up command, and many devices now equipped with cameras it’s vital to understand privacy implications.
4. Connected Toys – Toys keep getting smarter, but unfortunately so do cybercriminals. For many manufacturers, security is an afterthought that can leave toys vulnerable to attack when hackers target built-in microphones and location-based services.
5. Connected Appliances – A smart home appliance can make daily life easier, but be aware that these devices could be used as pawns in an online attack or leak information about you or your home.

Tips from McAfee for Consumers to Stay Protected This Holiday Season:

To help keep your family safe during the holidays, McAfee has the following tips:

• Think before you click: One of the easiest ways for cybercriminals to compromise your device is through a malicious link. Be skeptical if you receive a link or other solicitation that you are not expecting.
• Update your software: Whether it’s your PC, smartphone, digital assistant or even your drone, keep the software up to date. Manufacturers plug security holes with device updates so it’s important to always install the latest versions as soon as possible. Where applicable use up-to-date security software.
• Beware of shady public Wi-Fi hotspots: Cybercriminals often deploy fake Wi-Fi hotspots that appear to be legitimate, but give them visibility into your browsing habits. If you have to use public Wi-Fi refrain from online shopping or banking. If you need to shop or bank on public Wi-Fi use a Virtual Private Network (VPN), like McAfee Safe Connect, to encrypt your network traffic.
• Do your homework: Not all manufacturers take security seriously, especially when it comes to connected toys, so it’s important to research if there have been any reported security vulnerabilities before purchasing.
• Protect your home network: Secure all of your connected devices and your home internet at its source with McAfee Secure Home Platform. This solution gives you insight into what devices are on your network, and protects all of your connected devices.

McAfee today released a new report, Do you know where your data is? Beyond GDPR: Data residency insights from around the world, which highlights businesses’ approach to data residency, management, and protection in light of global events, policies and the changing regulatory data protection landscape.

Based on a survey of 800 senior business decision-makers from across multiple industry sectors and eight countries, the report provides a comprehensive view of how organizations view 11 key data regulations from around the world, including the E.U. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will toughen and simplify laws protecting personal data for over 500 million people residing in the European Union once implemented in May 2018.

The report shows that nearly half (48 per cent) of organizations will migrate their data to a new location because of regulations like GDPR. A similar amount will migrate their data because of changing geopolitics or the approach to relevant policies in the United States. Seventy per cent of respondents believe the implementation of GDPR will make Europe a world leader in data protection; however, the United States remains the most popular data storage destination, preferred by nearly half of all organizations surveyed.

Some key findings from the report include the following:

• Privacy sells: Data protection delivers commercial advantage. Seventy-four per cent of respondents believe organizations that properly apply data protection laws will attract new customers.
• Regulations and policies present barriers to technology acquisition and investment: Approximately two-thirds of respondents say that GDPR (66 per cent), U.S. policies (63 per cent) and Brexit (63 per cent) either already have or will impact their organization’s technology acquisition investments, while approximately 20 per cent don’t yet know how these issues will impact their spending. More specifically, 51 per cent of all respondents say their organization is being held back from technology investment because of external data protection regulations.
• Public opinion key to data decision-making. Eighty-three per cent of organizations take public sentiment towards data privacy into account when making data residency decisions.
• Organizations take 11 days on average to report a breach.
• Organizations put faith in cloud service providers. Eight in 10 respondent organizations are planning, at least in part, to leverage their cloud service provider to help achieve data protection compliance.
• Most organizations are ‘unsure’ of where their data is stored. Only 47 per cent of organizations know where their data is stored at all times. The majority are unsure, at least some of the time.
• Only two per cent of management really understand the laws that apply to their organizations. While a majority of respondents (54 per cent) believe their organization has a “complete understanding” of the data protection regulations that apply to them, just two per cent of senior decision-makers know all the clauses of regulations that apply to their organizations.

Overall, the report reveals conflicting beliefs about data protection regulations. While global events and a tightening of data protection rules give senior decision-makers pause when determining their company’s technology investment, most organizations look to store their data in those countries with the most stringent data protection policies. Clearly, there is recognition that, while businesses might not like strict compliance laws, they are beneficial to both customers and a company’s bottom line, even providing a competitive advantage in some cases. Moving forward, increased awareness and understanding about a company’s data assets will lead to better usage and protection.

For more information about today’s data protection landscape and to view the full report, visit: http://bit.ly/2wiOp6N

Methodology

McAfee commissioned independent technology market research specialist Vanson Bourne to undertake the research upon which this report is based. The findings are based on the responses of more than 800 senior business decision-makers from across eight countries at companies ranging in size from 500 employees to more than 5,000 across a range of industry sectors, including financial services, private healthcare and the public sector. The survey targeted respondents with a range of business functions, from IT professionals to client services, HR, and engineering. Countries represented by respondents include Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, United Kingdom and United States.

McAfee Canada maintains a website called “The State of Consumer and Enterprise Security in Canada” in order to provide a one-stop shop for writers looking for information on a variety of trends and issues affecting and shaping the Canadian security landscape. Feel free to check out the resource site for security information, statistics, story ideas, and access to published McAfee surveys and studies.