Author Archives: Avast Blog

Equifax website hacked: Now what?

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Here’s what we know: consumer credit report giant Equifax announced today that hackers have exploited a vulnerability in the Equifax website, gaining access to names, addresses, birth dates, social security numbers, and in some cases, driver’s license info. This breach is among the largest on record in the U.S., affecting 44% of the entire population.

Smart but not secure?

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In today’s digital world, we are literally surrounded by IoT (Internet of Things) devices. Manufacturers of toys, furniture, cars, and medical tools add appeal to their products by including “smart” features. (Even bottle manufacturers sell smart, connected water bottles!) Unfortunately, in this rush to get smart devices to market, there’s a critical component that is all too often an afterthought: security.

Why IoT devices lack security

With no regulations around smart-device security, manufacturers are left to create their own proprietary standards for communication. You can imagine the consequences. Consider a toaster manufacturer, now producing “smart toasters.” Beyond enabling your mobile device to fine-tune the browning levels, now the manufacturer also has to consider how to protect those toasters from hackers?! It’s easy to see how basic principles of modern security can be often neglected, causing unprotected products to get shipped out to consumers who are eagerly awaiting their next “connected” device.

A game of cyber cat-and-mouse: Preview of Avast IoT presentation at MWCA

Constant pursuit. Near captures. Repeated escapes. Hackers and their targets seem to be caught in this unending loop of cat-and-mouse action. The hackers pursue incessantly, and while their targets may sometimes escape, at other times they’re not so lucky. How can we change the game?

New research reveals increased mobile threats

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Avast unveiled new data today that shows a 40% surge in cyberattacks on Android smartphones and tablets. We have addressed these concerns with updates to both Avast Mobile Security & Antivirus and AVG Antivirus mobile apps, now combining the best of each brand’s mobile threat-detection technology in one strong engine.  More data will be released next week during Mobile World Congress Americas. Check back here for an update on mobile cybercrime.

Real-time threat intelligence at Avast

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Meet our Network Operation Center. Its main display is an enormous world map that constantly receives new information about malware threats from over 400 million sensors around the globe. The map displays points of light, representative of the cities in which our protected users reside. (User location is approximated from their IP addresses.) The info this map receives essentially arrives in real time, or within four seconds. When a threat is detected, we immediately take action to identify and block the cyberattack. This aggressively proactive defense is necessary, and it’s made possible using AI-based and machine learning technology—what we call “next-gen cybersecurity.”

Introducing Avast Business: Optimized Security for SMBs and Service Providers

Today, I have the great honor to introduce Avast Business, the combination of the best of AVG and Avast. Since last year, our focus has been on combining the best of both business product portfolios, partner programs, tools, and systems to eliminate th…

Avast helps small business recover from ransomware attack

It’s a Saturday morning in April. Customers are beginning to trickle into a small, popular plumbing wholesaler in Northern Bohemia. But in the back, four employees stare at their computer screens, bewildered. Their accounting system has been blocked, they cannot issue invoices, and all files are suddenly inaccessible.