The Pros and Cons of Different Two-Factor Authentication Types and Methods
Along with the first digital devices rose a need to ensure the security of stored data and to differentiate access to various functions. A variety of methods for unambiguous authentication of users on which security is based are called authentication factors. These include codes, logins, passwords, certificates, hardware keys, and so on. The whole set of authentication factors can be divided into three groups: Factors of knowledge...
Top 7 Tips How to Protect Yourself from Phishing Scams
What phishing is has been well-known for some time now. The first phishing attacks were noted shortly after the World Wide Web appeared. But despite the efforts of IT security specialists to create more effective ways of anti phishing protection, new phishing sites continue to appear every day. According to the data from several studies, there were about 5000 new phishing sites created every day in 2016. In 2017, this figure will be...
Social Engineering: What It Is and Why It Works
What do advanced network hackers have in common with run-of-the-mill scammers lying in wait for unsuspecting victims on the street? Both of them make extensive use of social engineering. …though many of them don’t even know this term. Social engineering refers to a method of acquiring desired information by using psychology; in particular, the weakness of the human factor. The fact that the reaction of Homo sapiens is largely...
Malvertising: Can It Be Stopped?
Yet another threat to users’ safety is becoming increasingly prevalent — malicious advertising or malvertising. Malicious advertising itself isn’t new, but recently, its use has become alarmingly widespread: last year, there have been almost twice as many instances of malicious advertisements than there were in 2015. Of the 80 million sites analyzed by researchers in 2015, 19,000 pages were found to be infected; in 2016,...
Which messaging apps are trustworthy?
Last time we analyzed the question of what makes for secure messaging apps. Now we’ll take a look at the level of security provided by several of today’s popular message exchange programs. Facebook Messenger and Google Hangouts These apps are built into their respective social networks. For this reason alone, they’re certainly not in the running to win “most secure messaging apps of 2016”. The lion’s share of these companies’ profits...