Category Archives: Consumer Alerts

How to spot a fake VPN

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With the FCC chair’s recent push to dismantle net neutrality, on top of last month’s rollback of FCC regulations that would have protected online privacy, interest in virtual private networks (VPNs) is probably at an all-time high. Targeted marketing, based on your online searching, viewing, shopping – everything – habits, is already prevalent. These new changes will most certainly result in companies’ scrutinizing and selling your data even more aggressively. And the death of net neutrality means these same companies can use that data to determine which streaming services you use, for instance, then charge you a premium to access them.

Collision 2017: Avast CEO addressing the dark side of the IoT

IoT just doesn’t stand for the Internet of Things. It also means the Insecurity of Things. As we race to create new technological innovations, the lack of security for all our “smart” devices isn’t getting as much attention as it should, at our peril. How can we ensure today’s and tomorrow’s connected things don’t make our lives easier by costing us our privacy, safety, and security?

You have the right to remain private

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All the recent hype surrounding internet deregulation has plenty of people in a panic. But if you’re an ordinary citizen like most of us here at Avast, never fear. Many of us (not all of us are threat-detecting, code-writing geniuses, after all) are sometimes tempted to slam our laptops shut, wrap them in barbed wire, and toss them off the nearest cliff. Swear.

Keeping web browsing private from your ISP is as easy as VPN

By now you’ve probably read that Congress passed and President Trump signed legislation undoing measures that would have prevented internet service providers (ISPs) from sharing or selling your web browsing history without your permission. That signature means companies such as Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T – who already can see your every online move – can profit from your private search data by selling it to advertisers. 

Mobile spyware uses sandbox to  avoid antivirus detections

We recently came across mobile malware that uses a sandbox, like the malware that posed as dual instance and took advantage of VirtualApp, to steal user’s Twitter credentials. We suspect that cybercriminals are once again using a sandbox to try to avoid antivirus detection.