Loyola Information Security Blog

SANS has released their April edition of OUCH!, covering passphrases, and why they are better than passwords. “We are excited to announce the April issue of OUCH! This month, led by Guest Editor Guy Bruneau, we cover passphrases.  Specifically, what passphrases are, why they are better than passwords and how to use them securely.  As always, […]

SANS has released their November edition of OUCH!, covering social engineering. “We are excited to announce the November issue of OUCH! This month, led by Guest Editor Alissa Torres, we cover Social Engineering.  Specifically, we explain what it is, how cyber attackers use social engineering to get what they want and the different ways people […]

Starting on January 12, 2016, Microsoft is going to stop releasing updates for versions of Internet Explorer earlier than IE 11. While this won’t be an issue for most Windows 8 users, users who are still using Windows Vista and Windows 7 will need to ensure that their version of Internet Explorer is updated within […]

BOISE, ID – August 14, 2014 – AB Acquisition LLC, which operates Albertsons stores under Albertson’s LLC and ACME Markets, Jewel-Osco, and Shaw’s and Star Markets under New Albertson’s, Inc., recently learned of an unlawful intrusion to obtain credit and debit card payment information in some of its stores.  For more information see the article: […]

Tennessee-based Community Health Systems (CHS) says that intruders accessed its system over a three-month period earlier this year, compromising patient names, addresses, and Social Security numbers (SSNs) of 4.5 million people. The company maintains that medical and financial information was not affected. CHS operates more than 200 hospitals in 29 US states. The company claims […]

Last week, security researchers identified a new ransomware trojan in the wild. This new variant, deemed ZeroLocker, operates in a similar fashion to last year’s CryptoLocker. Ransomware is a category of malware that restricts access to a computer or files and demands a ransom be paid to restore access. CryptoLocker and ZeroLocker accomplish this by […]

Earlier today, Daily Dot reported that nearly 5 million Gmail usernames and passwords have been hacked and posted on a Russian Bitcoin forum.  The unknown hacker posted a screenshot of the database on the forum Tuesday evening, revealing some of the stolen usernames and passwords. As of earlier today, the list has been taken down […]

A French IT manager recently discovered a flaw in the way millions of devices communicate across the internet.  The bug is found in “bash,” which is a program that translates human-readable commands into a language readable by the computer’s operating system.  This bug affects any device that can connect to the internet and uses the operating […]

SANS has released their October edition of OUCH! with five steps to staying secure with all types of technology. “We are excited to announce the October issue of OUCH! This month, led by Guest Editor Lenny Zeltser, we cover the top five steps to staying secure. With both technology and threats constantly evolving, people are […]

Brief History: In October 2004, the National Cyber Security Alliance and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security declared October as National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) to spread awareness of cyber security, and to provide all Americans the information needed to stay secure online.  Since its beginning 11 years ago, the idea and awareness has spread […]