Does your smartphone need an antivirus app? The answer is absolutely yes, and the truth of the matter is that there are a multitude from which to choose. As an aid to consumers, independent testing lab AV-Comparatives periodically assesses security software to evaluate its effectiveness. The lab did such a study recently on Android antivirus products and learned that over half of those tested were “risky,” meaning they were at best buggy and at worst deceptive. Avast, however, received a perfect score of 100% malware detection.
Attention, Avast SafeZone users — our newest update is going to help defend your digital life more than ever before.
Atlanta suffers massive ransomware attack
At this very moment, your inbox is teeming with them. Like an annual migration upriver, phishing emails swim their way into the inboxes of all Americans when tax season rolls around. Every January 1st through April 15th, cybercriminals blitz the public with their most clever deceits. They pose as someone you know or an institution you use, stating in an official-sounding way that “there’s a problem with your account, just click here to clean it up.” That’s their bait. It’s all decoy.
In January, independent IT-security institute AV-TEST conducted a study of twenty mobile security products for Android. The goal was to test the three main pillars of a strong mobile security solution — malware detection, false positive prevention, and performance impact. Avast Mobile Security was evaluated in the study and aced all categories.
A lot of people (including us!) will tell you that you need to get a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to ensure your privacy and security when surfing the web. A VPN like Avast SecureLine creates an encrypted connection between you and a VPN server, which…
Zuckerberg apologizes for Cambridge Analytica ‘breach’
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg finally broke cover after nearly a week of silence as the fallout from the row over how a data company, Cambridge Analytica, was able to access the profiles of some 50m people who hadn’t consented to share their data with the company.
You’ve probably heard countless terms relating to cybersecurity, but here we are going to focus on just one: attack surface. An “attack surface” is simply the number of possible ways an attacker can get into a device or network and extract data. It’s an especially important measurement for SMBs because most think they are too small to be a target, but a quick look at their attack surface shows that it is in fact quite large, increasing their exposure to risk.
Everyone’s favorite social media site is currently the subject of hot debate, and we’re here to keep you grounded amidst the madness. First, let’s talk about what happened. Back in 2014, a quiz made the rounds on Facebook. 270,000 users took the quiz, which harvested data not just about them, but also their friends. As a result, the quiz aggregated the private info of 50 million Facebook users. All that data was then allegedly sold to the Trump presidential campaign.
The example on everyone’s minds is, of course, Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, now further confirmed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The Kremlin’s use of social media to stoke existing partisan tensions in the U.S., achieved through a sophisticated multi-million-dollar operation, resulted in the indictment in February of thirteen Russian nationals and three companies.